Vol. IX. No. 217. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



271 



DAMAGE TO CROPS BY HURRICANES. 



The following interesting information concerning 

 the damage that may be suffered, during a hurricane, 

 by different crops, is contained in a report on the recent 

 hurricane in Fiji (March 1910). by the Governor, Sir 

 Everard F. im Thurn, K.C.M.G., i.ssued as Colonial 

 Reports, M iscellaveous, No. 72: — 



Turning now to the subject of growing crops, on which 

 so much of the prosperity of these islands depends, I will 

 deal first with crops grown for export, and then with those 

 grown to supply the natives with food. 



With regard to sugar, the cane fields on the Rewa river, 

 unfortunately very e.\ten.sive, were alone subject to the full 

 force of the wind. I am told, on good authority, that the 

 estimated loss of these will probably amount to about 2.5 i)er 

 cent. The greater part of the Fiji banana crop is grown 

 within the affected area, and the damage to this has been 

 very severe. I am told that the value of this crop, as it 

 stood immediately before the blow, has now been reduced by 

 •50, or perhaps 60, per cent. The crop is an important one 

 to Europeans engaged in dealing with it, and it is still more 

 important to the native growers, who have recently derived 

 from it the greater part of their ready cash. It is, however, a rap- 

 idly maturing crop, which will probably rt'cu|ierate in less than 

 a year. Cocoa-nuts, or at least those from which copi-a is 

 derived, are for the most part grown in i)arts of the islands 

 outside the influence of the recent hurricane, with the probable 

 result that the output for this year will be but little reduced, 

 though, owing to the destruction of a con.siderable number 

 of very young nuts in those parts of the Lau Islands where 

 the force of the wind was great, the output for next year 

 may po.ssibly be somewhat more seriously affected. One of 

 the largest growers of cocoa-nuts told me, however, two days 

 ago, that he estimated the loss on the copra crop, over the 

 whole group, as not more than from 2 to 5 per cent. On the 

 •whole, therefore, the loss on the export crop^ is probably not 

 yery excessive. 



It may be well that I should here explain, that india- 

 rubber, though it has been .somewhat extensively planted, and 

 though the tendency to plant rubber (Para) in Fiji has 

 latterly shown signs of increase, is nowhere in these islands, 

 I think, ready for tapping. I had always supposed that the 

 one danger which would probably attend rubber growing in 

 Fiji would be the breaking of these somewhat brittle trees 

 by hurricane winds. I am glad, therefore, to report, that our 

 young rubber trees suffered very little on the occasion of the re- 

 cent blow. The leaves — as was practically the case with all 

 leaves throughout the storm area — were entirely stripped; but 

 the branches, probably because of the stripping of the leaves, 

 and the main stems were very little broken. It is remarkable, 

 though I am not satisfied that any sequence of cause and 

 effect is thereby indicated, that almost the only rubber trees 

 which were much broken were certain treis at the Govern- 

 ment station at Nasinu which had been 'topped' at an early 

 stage of their growth. This treatment resulted in an increase 

 in the size of their 'heads,' as well as of their stems, and 

 possibly a correlative greater liability to damage from wind. 



The food crops of the natives — I am still referring only 

 to the storm area — have certainly been much damaged, 

 though perhaps not to the extent which is at present 

 supposed. The most deplorable loss is that of the bread fruit, 

 a very great crop of which was almost ready for use. Only 

 a. few weeks ago, in riding through a large Fijian village, 

 I was admiring a heavier crop of this splendid fruit than 



I had ever before seen; but in an an hour or two, the hurri 

 cane, where it passed, had utterly destroyed both leaves and 

 fruit of these noble trees. Taro and dalo (Coloc-isia 

 esculenta) — important root crops of the Arum family — were 

 almost entirely destroyed. But luckily, the yam crop, owing 

 to the accident of its being matured, was but little damaged, 

 and will probably help to tide the Fijians of the affected area 

 over their difficulties 



YIELD FROM CEARA TREES IN UGANDA. 



The Assistant in the Botanical Forestry and Scien- 

 tific Department, Uganda, gives the following report, 

 on the tapping of Ceara rubber trees on a plantation 

 in that country, which appears in the Official Gazette 

 (if the Uijaada Protectorate, June 15, 1910: — 



On April 16 last, I took the girth measurements of 

 twenty trees at a height of 3 feet; the average girth of these 

 trees was 19 inches, the largest being 26 inches and the 

 smallest 16 inches. On the same date I tapped these on the 

 'half herringbone' system. 



Tapping was done to a height of 3i feet, and from tlie 

 .system adopted, it will be .seen that only halt of each tree was 

 tapped. The trees are approximately two years and nine 

 months old. 



The trees were tapped every alternate evening, between 

 the hours of 5 and 6.30 p.m., for a period of one month. Each 

 tree was tapped fifteen times. The flow of latex was encour- 

 aged by paring and pricking, and woiind response was excellent 

 throughout the experiment. 



The cjuantitj' of dry rubber obtained is 2 tt). -Sioz., of 

 which IB). 14^0/.. is biscuit rubber, tlie remainder being coni- 

 po.sed of the latex, which coagulated in the cuts and was 

 collected as scrap rubber. The above represents an average 

 yield of loz. 14dr. per tree for the period, and allowing that 

 tapping could be done on 180 days per year, this would repre- 

 sent an annual yield of lib. 6.Voz. per tree, which is exceeding- 

 ly good, con.sidering the growth of the trees, and the fact that 

 they have been tapped to a heiglit of 3i feet, and that only 

 one-half of the tree was tapped. A very weak solution of 

 formalin was added as a preservative, and the latex was 

 coagulated, in enamel plates, by adding a weak solution of 

 acetic acid. 



A few trees gave much higher yields than others, and 

 this clearly demonstrates the necessity of .selecting seed for 

 propagation from the trees which yield the largest quantity 

 of latex. 



Demerara Seedlings in Louisiana. —The grow- 

 ing crop is fortunately composed of a very large proportion 

 of the imported seedlings D.74 and D.95. With a good 

 chance, these varieties of cane make astonishing advances in 

 their relative condition in some growing seasons: and in the 

 harvest they very largely exceed the yields of the old home 

 cane per ton. The superiority of the new canes may go more 

 than is expected to make up the probable or certain deficiency 

 in the present crop. But, as we have previously observed, 

 whatever may be the conditions of work and weather from 

 now on, this year's cane crop can never be turned into 

 a good one. CThe Swjai- Planters' Journal, .July 2, 1910). 



