Vol. IX. No. 220. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



307 



in the air to form oxides of iiitroi^'en: these by their 

 solution in water give nitric acid, which is neutralized 

 with lime to form calcium nitrate. In the manu- 

 facture of calcium cyanamide, as well, the electricity is 

 required to produce heat; actually, it brings calcium 

 carbide to a temj^erature at which it is cajiable of 

 absorbing nitrogen that has bet-n obtained from the air, 

 to form the cyanamide. In the latter case, the special 

 reason for employing electricity is that it can be 

 generated cheaply where there is an abundance of 

 energy supplied by falling water; that is in the neigh- 

 bourhood of extensive waterfalls. 



In what has been said above, there is no attempt 

 to make mention of all the investigations that are being 

 undertaken in connexion with the application of elec- 

 tricity to the uses of the agriculturist. The purpose 

 has been to summarize the methods of such application, 

 in a broad way, as a means of increasing interest in 

 a matter that is becoming of extended importance in 

 connexion with the jjroduction of plants. 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



PRODUCTION OF SEEDLING CANES 



IN JAVA. 



An article dealing with the nieliiods for the production 

 of seedling canes in .Java appeared recently in tlie Agricul- 

 tural Nnvs (Vol. IX, p. 19.5), and since this, attention has 

 been drawn in several publications to the means that are 

 employed there in such work. In view of the importance of 

 the matter, an attempt has been made to gain a view ot the 

 conditions .surrounding the work of obtaining and cultivating 

 cane seedlings in that country, as it is evidently necessary to 

 take account of these in endeavouring to form a true estimate 

 of the improvements that have arisen solely and directly from 

 the })roduction and adoption of the seedlings themselves. 

 Information which will enable this to be done has been kindly 

 supplied by Mr. J. Lely, Chemist to the Antigua Sugar 

 Factory, who has spent some years in Java as a Sugar 

 (Jhemist: and the chief matters in connexion with the inform- 

 ation are embodied in this article. 



Mr. Lely points out, first ot all, that the general adoption 

 of the factory system in Java naturally brings it about that 

 sugar is produced there under more economical conditions 

 than in the West Indies, so that the cost of manufacture is 

 much lower. In regard to the yields of sugar-cane that are 

 obtained, these are mainly a result of cultivation and irriga- 

 tion. The diiference in the conditions which obtain in Java, 

 as contrasted with the West Indies, makes it impossible to 

 form any direct comparison of their respective sugar yields, 

 on the basis of the influence of .seedling canes alone. The 

 climate of Java is much hotter, with a distinct rainy .season, 

 during which the precipitation amounts to 200 inches of rain, 

 or sometimes much more. The supply of labour in the Dutch 



colony is better than that in the West Indies, and the labour- 

 ers are more intelligent, and better agricultural workers. 

 Again, in Java there is no ratooning of the cane; it is grown 

 as a strict rotation crop, and the land may be thrown out ot 

 cultivation for several years, for the discouragement of pests 

 and diseases. One of the chief circumstances, however, that 

 helps to render the conditions in that island superior to those 

 in the West Indies, is the extent to which irrigation is 

 employed. There is added to all these circumstances the fact 

 that the sugar lands are cultivated by the factories, so that 

 there is greater economy, efficiency and consistency in working. 



It is the general opinion that the richest canes in Java 

 give the best yields. This is not in accordance with fact, at 

 present, although it is an ideal which is being aimed at in the 

 experiment station work conducted there. An additional 

 point of interest is that the methods of obtaining seedling 

 canes in Java appear to have much the same value as those 

 employed for the same purpose in the West Indies. As 

 a matter of fact, althougli a far larger number of seedling 

 canes is produced in the first mentioned country, the percent- 

 age of these that have to be rejected for inferiority is higher 

 than that in the West Indies. 



These considerations lead to the conclusion that the 

 improved yields of sugar-cane that are being obtained in 

 Java at present are as much a matter of improved methods of 

 cultivation and employment of irrigation as of the pro- 

 duction of better varieties of sugar-cane. It is certain, in 

 any case, that the great differences in the conditions of 

 cultivation and climate in the West Indies will prevent the 

 yields obtained here from ever becoming as large as they 

 are in that countrv. 



SPONGES COLLECTED FBOM THE 



GRENADINES. 



His Honour the AdminLstrator of St. Vincent (the Hon. 

 C. Gideon Murray) has sent, for publication in the Agricultural 

 Xeirs, a list of sponges collected from the Grenadines, and 

 identified at the Xatural History Museum, to which the speci- 

 mens were forwarded by the Director of the Imperial Insti- 

 tute, on their receipt from St. Vincent. The list is as 

 follows: — 



Ilipposponffia camiliculata, var. microiuba, Leudenfeld. 

 Ilipposponffia canaliculata, var. elastica, Leudenfeld. 

 Hippiospowjia dura, Leudenfeld. 

 Spinosella sororia (Duchassaing, Michelotti), var. 



dilafata, Dendy. 

 Spi7wsella maxima, Dendy. 

 Aijelas diiipar (Duchassaing, Michelotti). 

 Hircinia sp. 

 Stelosponijia sp. 

 A Chalinid sponge. 



DEPARTMENT NEWS. 



The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture left 

 Barbados by the R.M.S. ' Berbice', for Grenada, on 

 September 27, for the jiurpose of conferring with his 

 Excellency the Governor of thi' Windward Islands on 

 agricultural matters connected with that colony. Dr. 

 Watts is expected to return to Barbados by the R.M.S. 

 'Balantia', on the 4th inst. 



