Vol. XV. No. 370 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 



217 



a more lasting etfect both uIduc- and iu combitntion 

 with pi-ecipiiated phosphate. The effect ot fish 

 manure was marked lor one year after the manure 

 stopped, but the yield then fell oti' rapidly. Castor cake 

 alone, or with basic slag had a more lasting effect than 

 ground nut cake alone, or with pota.ssium sulphate. 

 Blood meal also had a g'.ijd effect over two years after 

 the last application, this plot rising to the second 

 place. The three plots receiving organic manures 

 (blood meal and castor cake alone, or with basic slag) 

 gave the best results throughout the whole period, and 

 it would appear that this is the best form of applying 

 nitrogen to cacao. 



It might be observed in eonnexioti with the last 

 conclusion reached, that in the West Indies — notably 

 in Demerara, Dominica, and (Jrenada — it has been 

 demonstrated that mulching is by far the best 

 manurial treatment for cacao. The effect is not merely 

 shown in greatly increased yields of cacao, but in 

 a larger development and more healthy appearance of 

 the trees. 



The British Sugar Industry. 



The Wc!~t India Comiiiittee Circular for May 18 

 last, gives prominence to a notable address by 

 Mr. W. M. Hughes, Prime Minister of Australia, deliv- 

 ered at the inaugural meeting of'a Conference held at 

 Glasgow, under the auspices of the newly- formed 

 British Empire Producers' Organization. This Con- 

 ference has been attended by sugar producers from, or 

 connected with, India, Australia, the British West 

 Indies, Natal and Mauritius, and it is hoped that when 

 a policy has been clearly defined and the constitution 

 is complete, the new Organization the establishment of 

 which should obviate the need for the formation of the 

 proposed British Sugar League, will receive the cordial 

 support — financial and otherwise — of every sugar- 

 growing pait. of the Empire. 



In the course of an impressive speech Mr. Hughes 

 br"?flv stated the object of the Organization, as he 

 understood it, to be this: to make Great Britain in 

 particular, and the Empire generally, independent of 

 foreign producers, and especially enemy producers, as 

 far as sugar was concerned. He poinlied out that in 

 dealing with sugar production they were really not 

 concerned with one industry alone, but with many 

 which expanded and spread outward until they were 

 enveloped in the great ocean of British industry. In 

 the operation of buying up sugar on behalf of the 

 Commonwealth Government to supplement their home 

 sources of supply he had the conviction forced upon 

 him, that there was absolutely no reason why the 

 Empire should not supply the whole of its own require- 

 ments in sugar. What we had now to consider was 

 what kind of policy was necessary to conserve the 

 industrial and commercial welfare of the nation, and the 

 happiness and well-being of the people concerned. 



Nothing more need be said, declared Mr. Hughes, 

 in condemnation of the existing policy, than that while 

 it sought to meet the industrial situation, it made no 

 provision whatever for the production of food for the 

 people in these islands, or to <'ncoui-age its production 



in other parts of the Empire. It was a policy which 

 had driven colonial lands out of sugar production and 

 encouraged those who had been our prospective 

 enemies, and were now -bur actual enemies, to produce 

 the sugar required for British consumption. 



Mr. Hughes pointed to the danger, when the war 

 was over and peace was declared, of Germany and 

 Austria dumping their accumulated stocks of beet sugar 

 upon the English market and the markets of other 

 British countries, and said that the only vvay to avert that 

 danger was to prepare to meet it now. It was no good 

 waiting until the war was over to begin to safeguard 

 our sugar supplies. The sugar production and supply 

 was. after all, a question that must be settled on 

 a business basis by business men. He was of opinion 

 that duties alone would not avail to safeguard the 

 industry in its earl}- stages. The only way he could 

 see to safeguard the industry in its iniancy, was for the 

 British Government to enter into a series of agree- 

 ments with the sugar producers and manufacturers of 

 England and the Dominions, under which the}' would. 

 be guaranteed by the Imperial Government a minimum 

 price for a minimum quantit}^ In concluding he 

 emphasized the necessity, in founding this sugar 

 industry, of taking into consideration the labour ques- 

 tion as well as the producers' and manutiicturers' 

 interests, because if the industry was to be sor.nd, it 

 must rest upon a solid national basis. 



The Reason for High Sugar Prices. 



It is well known that the cessation of the German 

 and Austrian exportation of sugar, and German occupa- 

 tion in France, have rendered Great Britain and her Ally 

 dependent upon cane-producing countries for most of 

 their immediate supplies. It is chiefiy to the United 

 States and Cuba they have tui-ned for their require- 

 ments. The output of the TTnited States, Mexico, 

 Cuba, Porto Rico, Hawaii and the Philippine Islands is 

 nearly 5,000,000 tons. For the continental United 

 States it is estimated nearlj^ 4,000,000' tons will be 

 needed, which will leave in round numbers 1,000,000 

 tons for shipment to England and France, (ireat 

 Britain consumed over li million tons of sugar in 1915, 

 while France used 700 000 tons, making a total of 

 nearly "2i million tons. Although Java and various 

 British colonies like Mauritius and the West Indies 

 have assisted in the supply of sugar to Great Britain, 

 this has only been done in response to an urgentdemand 

 which has naturally been accompanied by high prices. 

 It is stated in the Louisiana Planter in regard to the 

 prospects for the Cuban crop of 1917, that reports 

 received from that island tell of a ramfall during the 

 past two months (April and May) that has not been 

 sufficient to allow the cane to leach its normal mid- 

 June development. So, despite the new plantings 

 that are also reported, it seems entirely probable that 

 Cuba's 1917 crop may fall below the one whose harvest 

 is now most completed. There is good reason to believe 

 that next year, therefore, in spite of the increased area 

 under cane in many tropical countries, the price of 

 sugar will be maintained at the extraordinarily hio-h 

 level experienced during the past season. 



