Vol. IV. No. S9. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Martinique. 



The Corisnhrr licp:jii on the trade of Martinique 

 for 1904 reviews the position of the ishind's sugar 

 industry as follows: — 



The ex|iort of sugar duiing the year was 23,938 tons, 

 valued at £28 f, 35.5, being 5,097 tons less in quantity, and 

 £74,375 less in value, than the shii>ments made in 1903. If 

 we exceiit the crop of 1892, the year after the great cyclone, 

 this is tlie smallest output for any one year since 1855. 



The year was a bad one for the local sugar industry, 

 and consequently for the colony, which is almost wholly 

 dependent upon it. Very few factories were able to [lay 

 a dividend, owing to the low prices of sugar. Three were 

 closed during the year, viz., St. Jacques, Trinite, and Trois 

 Rivieres. The first two were seized and sold by the 

 mortgagees at a heavy loss, and will no longer be worked. 

 The third has changed liand.s and will resume grinding in 

 1906. 



During the year 1,50D,276 gallons of rum. valued at 

 £97,849, were exported, as against 1,947,299 gallons, valued 

 at £124,596, in 1903, a decrease in quantity of 438,023 

 gallons, and in value of £26,747. This is the smallest 

 quantity exported from Martinique in one year for the last 

 twenty-seven year.s, and shows a great falling-ofi' from the 

 figures of the 'eighties' and 'nineties,' when from 2,000,000 

 to over 4,000,000 gallons were exported annually. The 

 industry is undoubtedly in an unsatisfactory condition, which 

 is all the more to be regretted as the sugar factories in most 

 cases themselves distil their molasses, and are tluis deprived 

 of what ought to be a valuable helii towards tiding over the 

 sugar crisis. 



The rum distilled from the cane juice and known as 

 'grappe blanche,' is admitted by connoisseurs to be far 

 superior in flavour and aroma to the ' rhum industriel,' 

 which is made from molasses. Vet the ' grappe blanche ' 

 obtains a lower price in the French market than the ' rhum 

 industriel.' The reason of this is alleged by the buyers 

 to be that the former does not keep. This explanation is 

 rejected by the Fort-de-France Chandier of Commerce. 



TRINIDAD CACAO INDUSTRY. 



The following information is extracted from 

 Professor Carniody's pamphlet containing 'Statistics of 

 U'rinidad Trade,' referred to on p. 24S of this volume 

 of the Agrlcidtund A^eics : — 



Trinidad cacao has a very high reputation in the world's 

 markets. As exported, the beans have undergone a process 

 of fermentation and subsequent drying in the scorching 

 tropical sun or by artificial heat. The keeping qualities of 

 Trinidad-cured cacao are remarkable. It undergoes a further 

 process of manufacture in the importing countries, and is 

 usually sold : (1) with portion of the fat extracted ; (2) with 

 the addition of starch (jirepared cacao) : (3) with the addition 

 of sugar (cliocolate). 



The sale of chocolate confectionery has increased 

 enormously in recent years, and the general consumption of 

 cacao is increasing every year. 



Trinidad cacao is now exported to the United States to 

 a much greater extent than to Great Britain or France, 

 wdiieh were pre\iously the principal markets. 



The cacao and chocolate made in the colony contain all 

 the fat (50 per cent.) natural to the cacao bean, and without 

 any adnuxture of starch or sugar. Cacao butter is not 

 a local production, but a by-product in the manufacture of 

 the first type of cacao referred to above. 



TOBACCO CULTIVATION IN CUBA. 



The following information relating to the growing 

 of tobacco in Cuba is extracted from the Monthly 

 Samimtri/ of the U. S. Department of Commerce and 

 Labour for May : — 



The tobacco crop is grown from nursery or transplanted 

 plants. These plants are raised in seed beds located and 

 prepared with great care and protected, as far as [lossible, 

 from insects. The seeds are very small, much smaller than 

 hay seeds, and while there are between three and four 

 hundred thousand in 1 oz., the seed coat is so hard that 

 only about 75 per cent, of the seeds will sprout. On this 

 basis, 1 oz. of seed ought to produce between 30,000 

 and 40,000 plants, costing the i)lanter in the neighbour- 

 hood of $1'50 per thousand. The seed beds and seeds 

 liaving been carefully prepared, the seeds are sown in 

 September, and in from six to seven week.s, when the young 

 plants are from 8 to 10 inches high, they are ready for 

 transjilanting. This is done with the greatest care, as a very 

 slight injury will kill them, and they are set out from 12 to 

 18 inches apart in furrows. The distance between the 

 latter varies from 2 to 3 feet. It is said that tobacco grown 

 luider shade trees is of better quality than that grown in 

 the open. The plants are planted by hand and not by 

 machine, as in many piarts of the United States, and the 

 operation is necessarily much slower. 



It requires about four months for the plants to reach 

 maturity, so that the harvest is in January. During this 

 interval they recpiire the greatest care to protect them 

 against the tobacco worm and other insects and against weeds. 

 From time to time, and especially after rams, they are 

 cultivated, the buds, or top, and all suckers as they appear 

 are removed, and every precaution taken to ensure the full 

 development of the leaf. 



The pruning is done with the thumb nail, as its dull 

 edge closes the wound and prevents bleeding. According as 

 the plants are topped high or low, there will be from eight to 

 ten or from eighteen to twenty leaves on a stalk. As soon 

 as the leaves have ripened, the cutting begins. Each stalk 

 is cut in sections having two leaves on each ; they are hung 

 on poles and carried to the drying sheds. A section of each 

 stalk with a good strong sucker on it is left in the field, from 

 wdiich a second, or what is called a sucker crop, results, and 

 while the quality of this crop is not as good as the true crop, 

 it answers very well for fillers. 



The drying or curing process continues for three or four 

 weeks or even longer. During this period 'great attention 

 must be given to the moisture, temperature, and ventilation 

 of the drying house in order to produce those changes which 

 characterize cured tobacco of a superior quality.' 



Sweating or fermentation follows the curing, and it is 

 to this that the tobacco owes its peculiar flavour. During 

 or after this process the leaves are sprayed with water or 

 a petuning liquid which is suppo.sed to give the leaf a darker 

 colour and a better flavour, but this is questioned by some 

 tobacco manufacturers. When fermentation has taken place, 

 the leaves are sorted and made up into bundles, and these 

 into bales of about 50 kilograms (110 R.) each. The 

 tobacco is now ready for transport to market. 



The quality of Cuban tobacco is world renowned, more 

 especially that known as Vuelta Abajo, which is used in the 

 manufacture of the finest cigars. To what this is specially due 

 will probably be known when the soils in which it has been 

 cultivated shall have been carefully analysed and compared, 

 and the chemical changes due to curing and fermentation 

 are better miderstood. 



