Vol. XIII. Xo. 32.3. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



321 



The history of We.st Indian labour and of the sugar 

 industry from its genesis ha^e been dealt with by 

 several writei-s. They seem hardly aspects of the subject 

 to be suitably considered here. Our object has been 

 to indicate that the just apportionim-nt of credit for 

 work, true estimates of progress, and a li\e under- 

 standing that one is carrying on what others have set 

 in motion, can be got best by a study of the history 

 of agriculture. 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



tural Review foi- May 1914, which says: 'the Buri or .sago pahii> 

 will uudoulitedly l>e lield in high e.steeiu in the future, when 

 the nifthod.s of tapping it are better worked out and a way 

 around the ditticuhy of its late maturity i.s found.' Speaking^ 

 of the Xijja |)ahn the same journal says: 'it is likely to be for- 

 some time used more as an alcohol crop.' 



The increased price of sugar and the rapidly increasing 

 demand for alcohol makes the subject of sugar palms of ' 

 special interest in places where there i.s a large amount of 

 availaVile land not under field cultivation. It is not to be 

 expected that these palms will ever displace the intensive 

 cultivation of sugar-cane and similar crops, but they may 

 he found to form a valuable supplement to the more .sy.stem- 

 atized agricultural industries in the larger tropical colonies. 



THE POSSIBILITIES OF PALM SUGAR 



PRODUCTION. 



L'onsideralile interest was aroused i]i certain islands in 

 the West Indies as the outcome of the prominence given to 

 the .-ugar palm as a source of sugar in the A;/ricultural A'eirs 

 for August 1. 1914, a* well as in the fVest Inriia Committee 

 Circul'ir. Attention to this plant has been given mostly by 

 American investigator.s in the Philippines and Hawaii and by 

 the Departments of Agricultiue in British India. The dis- 

 cussion at the Eighth International Congress of Applied 

 Chemistry included some remarks on the production of sugar 

 and alcohol from the sap of the Nijja palm, and it is intended 

 U< reproduce some of these remarks in this article. First of 

 all, however, to avoid confusion, it is intended to give the 

 popular and scientific names of the principal palms which are 

 at [.resent regarded as providing pirititable supplies of sugar. 



The names of these are as follows: the palmyra palm 

 (^Borassus Jlibdliformis) investigated in Ijdia: the sugar 

 palm I Arenga sacc/<arifera) investigated in the Philippines; the 

 wild date palm (Phoenix m/ivestrii) of Bengal; the Sago palm 

 or Puri palm {Vorypha e/at-i) of the Philippines; and the 

 Ni^^' palm (Xipa tructicana) of the Philippines. As well as 

 tlu'se. there are other species of Arenga that offer possibilities, 

 and even the coco-nut is not to be forgotten as a possible 

 f^oiuce as a by-product of sugar, or rather of alcohol. 



For the moment it is the Xipa palm and the Sago palm 

 to which we wish to call attention as a source of sugar and 

 alcohol. It was stated at the Congress that there was con- 

 siderable scope in the direction of using this palm which 

 grC'«> wild amongst an industrious native population, 

 and it would appear that the reason why it has not 

 been used as a source of alcohol is the want of 

 investigation and the establishment of some system 

 whereby the native agriculturists could conveniently 

 carry on an industry. In reganl to the sago palm, 

 this tree lives for about thirty-five years and during 

 this time stores up a large amount of starch as reserve 

 'material in the trunk. If an incision be made in the top of 

 the tree below the bud, a piu'e juice can be «ollected which 

 contains as much as 18 per cent, of sucrose. From 300 to 

 250 Bb of sugar can be obtained in a season from a single 

 tree. The sucrose thus formed is derived from starch, the 

 latter being found to disappear from the top of the trunk 

 downward. This conversion of starch into sucrose is 

 ascribed to a specific enzyme. With further reference to this 

 pahii it may be of interest t« quiite the Philippine Affricul- 



DEPARTMENT NEWS. 



Mr. H. A. Tempany, B.Sc, F.I.C, Superintendent 

 of Agriculture for the Leeward Islands, arrived at 

 Barbados after five months' leave . in England, by the 

 R.M.S. 'Danube', on October .5, 1914. Mr. Tempany 

 will proceed to Antigua by the R.M.S. "Chaudiere' on 

 October 8. after spending the intervening days at the 

 Head Office in Barbados, for the purpose of discussing 

 ofticial nuxtters with the Imperial Commissioner of 

 Atjricultui-e. 



Mr. W. Nowell, D.I.C., left Barbados by the 

 S.S. 'Guiana' on October 7, 1914, for the purpose of 

 pa^-ing an official visit to Dominica. During his stay, 

 the Mycologist will investigate lime root diseases and, 

 in connexion with these, conduct trials with carbon 

 bisulphide emulsion. Mr. Nowell is expected to return 

 by the Royal Mail Canadian Steamer airiving in 

 Barbados on October 21, 1914. 



Information has been received to the effect that 

 the Secretary of State for the Colonies has been pleased 

 to promote Mr. J. C. j\Ioore, Agricultural Superintend- 

 ent, St. Lucia, to the position of Superintendent of 

 Agriculture, Grenada. Mr. Moore is expected to arrive 

 in Grenada from leave in England on October 20, 1914.. 



In the article on coco-nut experiments in Ceylon, which 

 appeared in the last issue of the Agricultural News 

 (Vol. XIII, p. 292). it will be seen that on plot 2, where- 

 sulphate of potash was used, the number of nuts per candy 

 of copra was high, showing that this manure tends to exert 

 an unfavourable effect in this particular respect. A similar 

 influence was observable where nitrate of soda was the 

 dominant manure. The best result as regards tiie number of 

 nuts per candy of copra was obtained from that plot which 

 was simply ploughed twice annually. Here the numlier of 

 nuts per unit referred to was remarkably small and therefore- 

 ■satisfactory. In the report under consideration this latter- 

 result is commented on as being difficult to explaia. '' 



