Vol. X. No. 228. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



19 



SUGAR-CANE VARIETY EXPERIMENTS IN 

 ANTIGUA. 



The fallowing report of a paper read recently bv 

 him in Antigua has been forwarded by Mr. H. A. Tem- 

 pany, B. Sc. : — 



At a meeting of the Agricultural and Commercial 

 Society, Antigua, held on November 9, 1910, Mr. H. A. 

 Tempany, B.Sc, Superintendent of Agriculture, Leeward 

 Islands, gave an account of the e.viieriments which were 

 conducted in Antigua during the season 1909-10, by the 

 Department of Agriculture, with diti'erent varieties of 

 sugar-cane. 



The trials were the eleventh series which had been made 

 in Antigua, and had been carried out on the same lines as in 

 previous years. The experimental plots had been in fields of 

 certain estates, viz. Cassada Garden, Hendals, Blubber 

 Valley, Tomlinsons, Thiljous, The Diamond, Friars Hill, 

 Ffryes, Big Duers, and the canes under investigation 

 had received the same care and attention as those on the 

 remaining portions of the estates, so that the results from 

 these would be directly comparable with crop re.sults. 



The rainfall for the yt_-ar had been moderately favour- 

 able, and the distribution fairly good, but the growing crop 

 received something of a check owing to the absence of 

 rain during the months of March and September. The total 

 outjiut of sugar from the whole island was 13,41-5 tons; this 

 was greatly in excess of the previous season's crop of 8,GU0 

 tons. 



The varieties experimented with were forty-three in 

 number and were practically identical with those grown in 

 the previous season. 



Of the plant canes, the following fourteen had given the 

 best restilts : — 



Name of cane. Sucrose, 



Pounds per Pounds per 



gallon. acre. 



1. Sealy Seedling 2-09 7,300 



2. B.4596 1-88 7,290 



3. B.208 2-30 6,540 



4. B.393 2-22 6,400 



5. D.625 1-83 6,360 



6. D.llll 1-84 6,360 



7. B.156 1-99 6,140 



8. White Transparent 2-18 6,060 



9. B.306 2-14 5,940 



10. B.13.55 2-13 5,680 



11. D.llG 1-88 5,610 



12. D.132 1-92 5,560 



13. B.3096 1-95 5,540 



14. B.1528 2-04 5,.500 



The resitlts were good, and compared favourably with 

 the average returns for the past nine years. Sealy Seedling, 

 which had for a number of years taken a leading place in 

 these experiments, and was well known as a valuable cane, 

 headed the list for the past season. It was very clo.sely fol- 

 lowed by B.4596- -a cane introduced into Antigua .some- 

 what leccntly — which had given e-xcellent results on every 



occasion, and had come first in numerous experiments; this 

 might be recommended to planters for careful trial in Antigua. 



White Transparent had taken a somewhat unusually 

 prominent place in the season 1909-10; it was retained in the 

 experiments for purposes of comparison, as it was generally 

 regarded as the standard cane of Antigua. 



B. 1355, B. 3696 and B. 1528, varieties of recent intro- 

 duction, had once more given fairly good results. 



Comparing the results from each station by the method 

 employed in tht; past by Dr. Francis A\'atts, it was found that: 



B.4596 stands among the first fourteen canea on 7 stations 



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The yields from ratoon canes had not been as great as 

 the season under review would have warranted, and in all 

 probability this was due to the presence of the root disease 

 {A/arasmius sacchari). The ratoon canes were those which had 

 been reaped during the previous season as experimental plant 

 canes, and were forty-two in number; B.1528 had given the 

 best returns, and appeared to be a good ratooning variety ; while 

 of the newer varieties, B.1753 B.4596, D. 1452 and B.3696 

 had taken good positions. The following were the best four- 

 teen among the ratoon canes: — 



Name of cane. 



Sucrose, 



Pounds per Pounds per 



gallon. acre. 



2-16 .3,440 



2'14 3,340 



1-9G 3,240 



2 01 : 3,230 



1-94 ' 3,230 



2-12 3,120 



2-20 3,020 



2 07 3,020 



2-33 3,020 



1-98 2,900 



2'15 2,900 



1-93 2,880 



2-04 2,880 



1-95 2,860 



1. B.1528 



2. B.156 



3. B.1753 



4. B.147 



5. B.4596 



6. D.109 



7. D.1452 



8. B.109 



9. B.208 



10. B.3696 



11. B.306 



12. B.376 



13. Sealy Seedling 



14. D.116 

 Dr. Watt&'s method of comparison for the ratoon 



variety results afforded the following information: — 



B.4596 has come within the first fourteen on 7 stations 



■t*. too ,, ,, )» )) )) n J) O J, 



B 1528 5 



Sealy Seedling „ ,, „ „ „ „ 5 „ 



T> 1452 5 



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h.oUO ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,} i» 't )i 



Mr. Tempany concluded by thanking the planters and 

 estate owners for the active assistance they had rendered to 

 this Department, which had enabled the sugar-cane experi- 

 ments to be carried out, once more, with success. 



