Vol. XV. No. 373. 



THE AGKICULTUKAL NEWS. 



263 



MACHINE PLOUGHING IN CUBA. 



The Director of the Cuban Agricultural Experiment St ition, 

 writing in a recent issue of the Lniisl,in-i I'hmtn; .says that 

 from experience covering a number of years in the tropics, he 

 believes that most agricultural machinery used in the United 

 States is too light for the tropics, and thi.s applies to hoes, 

 cultivators ploughs, waggons, tractors— in fact, to the whole 

 list of machinery used in the cultivation ot sugar-cane, or 

 for general u.se on the plantations. This is the reason why 

 many manufacturers after going t... considerable expense to 

 introduce certain tools or machines have finally failed. Every 

 sugar plant-.tion that has gone e.vtensively into cultivation 

 has its scrap heap of machines that failed chiefly because 

 they were too light and weak. Some of these tractors with 

 their ploughs have failed because they were put to heavy work 

 for whicli they were not made, and their machinery con- 

 demned bccau.se the tests were too rigid. This applies par- 

 ticularly in connexion with the heavy .soils of Cuba. 



Turning to the prospects before the more general 

 cicloption of motor power in field cultivation, he believes that 

 with the continued development of the sugar business, there 

 will come a consequent scarcity of pasture lands, or .sugar- 

 cane lands Will become too expensive for pasturing cattle 

 under the jjresent system. Labour is also becoming 

 more expensive, and it is foreseen that the labour will 

 be one of the greatest limiting factors in sugar pro- 

 duction. All of these indications point to the use of 

 machinery in all possible farming operations, and especi- 

 ally in the preparation of land for sugar-cane planting. 

 There is another reason perhaps more potent than any one 

 thus far mentioned. The mills have been improved to such 

 an extent that they are the equal, perhaps, of those found in 

 any country, and the processes of manufacture leave very 

 little to be desired. A great deal of money has been spent 

 in perfecting the manufacturing si<le, and the best talent lias 

 been employed in this branch of the industry. But after all 

 is said, the .sugar is made in the lield, and the next great 

 improvement must be made on the cultural side. It is 

 nothing for a manufacturer to spend $100,000 in so improv- 

 ing hi.s factory that he may get S per cent, more yield, but 

 he hesitates a long time before spending one-half of that sum 

 in the field that might easily result in a 10 per cent, increased 

 yield. Heretofore cultural operations have waited on the 

 operations of the mills, and preparation for plantings could 

 not be made during the harvest season, since all oxen and 

 men were recjuired to harvest cane and manufacture sugar. 

 As a consequence, very little spring planting has been done, 

 and it is usually done rather late to secure a good crop the 

 first year. With power ploughs land can be prepared at any 

 season of the year with but little hindrance to the other work 

 that is being carried on. 



QUARANTINE, AND THE INTRODUCTION 



OF NEW VARIETIES OF SUGAR-CANE 



INTO THE UNITED STATES. 



Some apprehension is felt by those interested in the 



.sugar-cane industry lest the Federal quarantine that now 



forbids all importations of sugar-cane will prevent further 



work along the line of introducing new and improved varieties 



of sugar-cane. The United States Department uf Agriculture 



recognizes, however, that in the introduction of new varieties 



lies one of our strongest hopes for improvements in yield 



disease resistance, or other desirable characteristics of the 



cane. There has been provided for years by this department 



in its office of foreign seed and plant introduction in the 



Bureau of Plant Industry, an avenue through which the intro- 



duction on a small scale can be made of promising new 

 varieties of sugar-cane as well as other quarantined plant 

 material and also non-(|uarantined plants and seeds; without 

 exi^osing our home industries to the risks involved in the 

 indiscriminate, uncontrolled introduction of varieties. Until 

 more extensive facilities are made available for propagatinc 

 such imported varieties under quarantine, limited "space 

 in the quarantine greenhouses of the department at 

 Washington, D.C., is available for the propagation of small 

 shipments of cuttings which officials of this department, 

 or of any State sugar experiment station may desire to 

 introduce. For the present, the amount of such .ship- 

 ments must necessarily be limited to a few stalks each. 

 After such samples are propagated in quarantine long 

 enough to make sure that they harbour no dangerous disease 

 or pests, they may be released from ijuarantine and planted 

 wherever the introducer may wish. 



Private individuals, learning of new varieties that seem 

 desirable ones to introduce, should communicate with the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry of the department, or with the 

 officials of a State sugar experiment station relative to the 

 introduction of such variety, giving a full description of the 

 variety in question, its origin, and where it may be .secured 

 for importation. Unless such variety is a new .seedling variety, 

 originated by some foreign ex[)eriment station, the chances 

 are that it has already been introduced and tried, and that, if 

 it has been found promising, it may now be available some- 

 where within the United States. 



A few serious pests which are now annually doing an im- 

 mense amount of damage to our sugar-cane crop have already 

 been introduced. Other very dangerous pests and diseases 

 not known to have been introduced as yet in the United 

 States, are known to occur in foreign sugar-cane countries, 

 making it important that measures be taken to guard against 

 their introduction. Among the di.seases which either are not 

 yet introduced, or are not widely dis.seminated in this country 

 may be mentioned the sereh, of Java, various root rots, the 

 (^u^ensland stripe di.sease, the Formo.sa down mildew, the 

 iliau, and the pine-appledisea.se. Because cane is propagated 

 by planting from the stalks and not from seed, it is especially 

 difficult with this crop to make sure that the plant material 

 does not harbour pests or diseases— hence the occasion for 

 first growing it in quarantine. 



The need of the precaution of growing newly imported 

 samples first in quarantine is well illustrated in an incident 

 that occurred two years ago. The Porto P.ico Agricultural 

 Experiment Station desired to introduce a variety of cane 

 from Hawaii. Officials of this department offered to assist 

 in .securing the sample, and when it arrived at Washington, 

 they took the precaution of propagating it the first season in 

 the quarantine greenhouse. In spite of the fact that the cane 

 was very carefully selected and prepared for shipment by an 

 official of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters" Experiment Station, 

 and of the fact that when it arrived it appeared free of pests 

 or diseases, it developed during that .season an abundant 

 crop of the Hawaiian leaf-hopper, one of the most destructive 

 in.sect pests that has ever been known to attack the sucar- 

 cane. The Porto Rican planters, through this simple precau- 

 tion and the subsequent destruction of this cane, doubtless 

 were saved from losses on account of this pest, such as the 

 Hawaiian planters once suffered. In Hawaii at one time 

 these losses mounted into millions of dollars annually, and 

 threatened the complete destruction of their great sugar 

 industry. 



Seed of sugar-cane for use in originating seedling 

 varieties also may be imported, through the department, 

 from localities which are known to be free of dangerous 

 diseases or pests, {Louisiana Planter.) 



