Vol. XYI. No. 40'?. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



313 



Combining General Agriculture with Sugar 

 Growing in Queensland. 



According to the London correspondent of the 

 North Queen^and Register, the grower of sugar in 

 Queensland who combines the cultivation of other crops 

 with that of cane usually makes more out of agriculture 

 than his neighbour who depends solely on the one crop. 

 All the sugar-growing areas of Queensland are admirably 

 adapted for the successful cultivation of quite a number 

 of crops. For instance, maize, potatoes, root crops, and 

 frui.s of many Ivinds do exceptionally well, and give 

 very profitable returns. Then again, the tropical 

 portions of the State are also suitable for the growing 

 of rubber, coffee, rice, tea, cotton, vanilla, etc., as has 

 betn demonstrated tor a number of years past. There 

 are also big possibilities in dairying, and many cane- 

 growers today are- supplementing their receipts from 

 the cultivation of cane by the regular monthly 

 cheques received for the cream sent to the local butteV 

 factories. 



The Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies 



The fourth meeting of the Conjoint Board of 

 Scientific Societies was held at the Royal Society on 

 June 13, Sir Joseph J. Thomson, O.M.. President of 

 the Royal Society in the Chair, to receive the report 

 of the Executive Committee, on the work of the 

 previous six months. 



As the Report indicates, a number of important 

 questions of scientific and industrial importance have 

 occupied the attention of the Board. 



Among these were matters dealt with by an 

 Agricultural Sub-Committee, with the Earl of Ports- 

 mouth as Chairman, which reported that it is at present 

 devoting itself mainly to engineering questions. 

 It is engaged in collecting information with regard to 

 the transport of raw materials to farms and agricul- 

 tural products from them, to the power required for 

 this purpose, and for seasonal operations on the land, 

 ■with a view to comparing the relative advantages and 

 costs of steam or internal combustion engines and 

 electrically operated machines. It is dealing also with 

 the p issibility of co-operation in repairs and skilled 

 labour, and is considering the various types of tractor 

 most suitable to large and chiefly arable farms, and to 

 moderate sized mixed farms, having regard to the 

 differenti local circumstances and requirements. 



The Quality of Canes Damaged by Fire. 



The following is taken from an article by Dr. 

 Urich, the Entomologist of the Agricultural Board, 

 Trinidad, which appears in the Louisiana Planter, 

 .August 11, 1917. 



'The factory manager has often to deal with 

 canes from burnt fields. Not only that cane fields 

 get accidentally or maliciou.sly burnt, but the firing 

 of fields under old or negk'cted ratoons is often 

 resorted to in order to facilitate the task of the cane 

 cutters. 



Given fairly dry weather, the chemical change 

 in the juice from burnt canes is less than might be 



anticipated. The following statement sliows that 

 during five days there was hirdly any perceptible loss 

 in the siicrose content of the juice. Afterwards 

 deterioration set in as shown by a rise of the 

 glucose content, and a declinintr purity. While the 

 normal cane juice from this district had a purity of 84. 

 to 87 per cent, with 13 to 16 per cent, glucose, the 

 juice on the tenth day after the fire contained •2-94 

 per cent, glucose with a purity of 7.5-9. The sucrose 

 content, however, was still veVy high, viz., 1.5-69 or 

 1-70 lb. sucrose per imperial gallon.' 



Molasses as a Manure 



The Arc /u>/ of the Syndicate of Sugar Manufac- 

 turers in the Dutch East Indies, dated January 1917, 

 gives the results of certain bacteriological and biochem- 

 ical soil studies by F. C. Gerretson, in the course of 

 which observations were made as to the effect of 

 molasses used as a manure. In some soils there was 

 a notable increase in nitrifying bacteria and of com- 

 bined nitrogen; in others, although no such increase 

 could be detected, there was still a favourable influence 

 exerted on the crop. This is attributed to the forma- 

 tion of humus from the decomposition products of the 

 molasses by fungi and bacteria, with the result that the 

 water-retaining power of light soils is very considerably^ 

 augmented. 



New Industries in the Caicos Islands. 



The report of an official visit paid by Mr. H. H. 

 Hutchmgs, Secretary of the Turks Islands Agri- 

 cultural and Industrial Society, to the Caicos 

 Islands, published in the Gazette, Turks and Caicos 

 Islands, August 25, 1917, furnishes evidence that 

 considerable interest is being awakened in that group 

 in vatious new and useful directions, which should 

 eventually serve to improve the condition of those small 

 islands. 



In the first place six rope- making machines have 

 been placed at various centres, and public demonstra- 

 tions of rope making have been given, so that the 

 principles of the manufacture should be well understood. 

 These demonstrations were watched with interest by 

 appreciative audiences. The machines will doubtless be 

 of great service, for sisal fibre is locally produced, new 

 plantings of sisal being of considerable extent. Remu- 

 nerative prices are being obtained for hand-cleaned 

 fibi-e, in which industry there appears great activity in 

 all the islands. 



There is also expressed a lively interest in cotton 

 growing among the peasant proprietors, and the 

 prospects in that direction are promising. 



Shark skin, tanned locally, seems to have some 

 future possibilities. The tanning material used is the 

 bark of the mangrove tree, and the process is said to 

 be short and simple. 



The early crop of corn in all the islands is reported 

 to have been the best for many years. In view of the 

 greatly increased price of imported foodstuffs, the 

 islanders have been advised to store as much corn as 

 possible for local use. 



