Vol. IV. No. 7; 



THE AGEICULTURAL NEWS. 



8.3 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Seedling Canes in Jamaica. 



In an account of the proposed extension of the 

 sugar-cane e.xperimental work in Jamaica the Gleaner 

 has the following reference to the cultivation of 

 seedling canes : — 



Tlie Sugar Department has t-liarge nf the seedling canes 

 wliicli are grown at Hope for experimental purposes, and 

 Mr. Cousbis informed our representative that the best 

 seedHng cane grown there this year was B. 208. Over an acre 

 has been planted in this variety. This cane has done 

 splendidly in the dry districts of St. .James and Trelawny, 

 and ilr. Cousins was of opinion that that variety wa.s the 

 best for .Jamaica as far as he had been able to judge. 



Over .30,000 selected tops have been sent out from the 

 •experimental plots, and ilr. Cousiirs hopes that planters will 

 prtit a considerable acreage under cultivation of seedling 

 ■canes and so increase their yields. 



West Indian Seedling Canes. 



The following article on seedling 

 appeared in the Louisiana Planter of February 18 :- 



At the recent West Indian Agricultural Conference it 

 was brought out in debate by Sir Daniel 5[orris, the Imperial 

 ■Conniiissioner of Agriculture, that our British cousins in the 

 West Indies, in their desire to improve their cane culture, 

 were rapidly utilizing the improved seedling sugar-canes 

 until it is now found that in British (luiana alone there arc 

 some 13,000 acres [ilanted in the newer varieties, and in the 

 island of Antigua 8,000, with considerable quantities in the 

 other islands. It is well for us to consider this in connexion 

 with our own experiments here in Louisiana with Demerara 

 .seedlings Nos. 74 and 9-5, which promise so much success in 

 this state as new varieties. Our Sugar Experiment Station 

 Ihas already demonstrated the value of these canes from 

 experiments carried on during a series of years, and at the 

 next meeting of the Louisiana Sugar Planters' Association 

 the industrial side of the question will be brought up and 

 carefully considered, ilany of our planters have pi-oduced 

 large fields of these canes and the re[iorted results are 

 generally very satisfactory. Prof. Blouin, at Audubon Park 

 is now collating all the data that he can secure, and all the 

 sugar planters of the state who have been experimenting 

 with these canes are urgently asked to send in to Prof- 

 essor Blouin such data as they may have, so that from the 

 data such general information may be secured as will be 

 advantageous for every one connected with the sugar 

 industry. 



We are sometimes disposed to think that our British 

 West Indian confreres are a little slow in their sugar 

 methods, and yet investigations have always shown that for 

 decades the sugar planters of Barbados led the world, so far 

 as excellence in cane culture was co)icerned; and the sugar 

 planters of British Guiana led the world so far as excellence 

 in the manufacture of sugar was concerned. If we are to 

 maintain our leadership in the cane sugar industry, .so far as 

 its advancement along scientific lines is concerned, we shall 

 need to be especially enterprising in the matter of our 



experimentation and ascertainment of the merits of seedling 

 canes. 



If D. 74 and D. 9-5 canes are better than our standard 

 purple or striped canes, we should ascertain the facts, and if 

 good judgement indicates such a line of action, we should go 

 into the new canes and let the old varieties become 

 obsolete. 



RABBIT KEEPING. 



The Movable Hutch. 



The following description of the movable hutch, 

 known as the Morant system, is extracted from the 

 Senior Comifry Reader, III. * This system is recom- 

 mended as likely to give the best results : — 



If you have a piece of grass that is doing next to 

 nothing, the herbage of which is a bit coarse, place on it 

 movable rabbit hutches. 



These movable hutches have a small elosed-in sleeping 

 or breeding compartment at one end, and a hole througli the 

 partition of the sleeping place leads into a larger run. The 

 run has small-meshed wire fixed along the bottom, small 

 enough to prevent the rabbit getting its legs through it, but 



Fig. -5. .Mov.^bLK Hutch. 

 [Frum Si/iii'ii- (Jiiitutry Beader, III.] 



large enough to allow the herbage to come through the 

 meshes of the wire. 



The hutch opens with a lid at the top. It has two 

 handles, one at either end, so that to move it you lift up one 

 end of the hutch by the handle and i)lace the wire bottom on 

 a fresh piece of grass, and having done this lift the other end 

 by the handle till the whole hutch is placed upon a fresh 

 piece of ground. 



The hutches are very light so that a small child can 

 move them about. They should be moved three tinres a day. 



Further details as to the management of rabbits 

 upon this system will be found in the Agricultural 

 News (Vol. ill, p. 118). 



It will be remembered that this .system is cordially 

 commended to rabbit keepers in the West Indies by 

 Mr. John Barclay in the pamphlet (no. 34) recently 

 issued by this Department, entitled Notes on Rahtjit 

 Keeping in the West Indies. 



Senior Cuuidry Reader, I7J ; by H. B. M. Buchanan, B.A., 

 Lmidun: MacmdJan dj Co., Ltd. 1904. 



