Vol. V. No. 98. 



THE AGFJCULTUEAL NEWS. 



19 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the 

 Leeward Islands. 



The following; summary of the results of the 

 manurial experiments with sugar-canes, carried on in 

 the Leeward Islands, has been furnished by the 

 Hon. Francis Watts, C.M.G., D.Sc. : — 



The present series of manurial experiments with sugar- 

 canes has been carried on for five years with plant canes, 

 during which time each experiment has been repeated forty- 

 eight times, and for four years with ratoon canes, each 

 experiment having been repeated thirty-eight times. 



The following conclusions are arrived at : — 



PLANT CANES. 



(1) AVhen, in the preparation of the soil for planting, 

 about 15 to 20 tons per acre of good pen manure are used, 

 artificial manures do not prove remunerative. In the 

 thirty-three experiments, many times repeated, no artificial 

 manure, or combination of artificial manures, has, on the 

 average, so increased the yield of cane as to compensate for 

 the cost of the manure. 



(2) The use of pen manure, or of some equivalent 

 substance, is necessary to maintain the proper degree of 

 tilth, and, under the conditions prevailing in the Leeward 

 Islands, it is adequate for the production of good crops of 

 sugar-cane. 



EATOON CANES. 



(a) Nitrogen. 



(1) The use of nitrogenous manures increases the yield 

 of ratoon canes in a remunerative degree. 



(2) When employed in conjunction with phosphate and 

 potash, the yields produced by nitrogenous manures are 

 slightly greater than when nitrogenous manures are u.sed 

 alone : the increase is, however, insufficient to compensate 

 for the cost of the phosphate and jiotash. 



(■3) Rapidly acting forms of nitrogen, such as sulphate of 

 ammonia, or nitrate of soda, are remunerative; slow-acting 

 forms, such as dried blood or guano, are not. 



(4) The difl'erence in efiect between sulphate of ammonia 

 and nitrate of soda has been but small : the advantage is 

 very slightly in favour of nitrate of .soda. 



(.5) Forty pounds of nitrogen per acre appear to have 

 been the most profitable quantity, whether given in the form 

 of sulphate of ammonia or of nitrate of soda. Sixty 

 pounds proved less remunerative. 



(6) It has been found preferable to give the nitrogen in 

 one early application rather than to divide it into two doses. 



{h) Phosphates. 



(7) The use of phosphate, as basic phosphate, without 

 nitrogen and potash, has been without efiect on the yield of 

 canes. 



(8) Phosphate, either as basic phosphate, or as super- 

 phosphate, when applied in combination with nitrogen and 

 potash, has slightly increased the yield, but not in a remunera- 

 tive degree. Neither large nor small applications are 

 remunerative. 



(c) Potash. 



(9) The use of potash, as sulphate, without nitrogen 

 and phosphate, has been without effect on the yield of cane. 



(10) When potash is used in conjunction with nitrogen 

 and phosphate, it increases the yield of cane slightly, but not 

 remuneratively. 



{d) Guanv. 



(11) Guano, although it has slightly increased the yield 

 of cane, has not jiroved profitable. 



GENERAL. 



(12) It follows that ratoon canes, derived from plant 

 canes adequately manured with pen manure, may, in the 

 Leeward Islands, be most profitably grown with the aid of 

 about 10 B). of nitrogen alone, i.e., without phosphate or potash. 

 That is to say, with the aid of aliout 200 Ih. of sulphate of 

 ammonia, or of about 2-50 Bb. of nitrate of soda per acre. 



Sugar-cane Experiments in the Leeward 

 Islands. 



The following contains particulars of the approxi- 

 mate areas under sugar-cane experiments in the 

 Leeward Islands during the past two years (1904-.5): — 



Antigua. — 



Manurial experiments with plant canes ... 12 acres. 



„ ,, _ „ ratoon „ ... 11 „ 



Experiments with varieties of plant canes. . . 18 

 „ „ „ „ ratoon „ 



St. Kites.— 



JLanurial experiments with plant canes . 



„ _ ,, _ ,, ratoon ,, 



Experiments with varieties of plant canes. 



^ „ „ ,, „ ratoon „ . 



Total 



IS 

 62 



8 



10 



8 



8 



31 



Breeding Pedigree Sugar-canes. 



In reference to the editorial note in the present 

 issue of the Agricultural Neivs, it may be interesting 

 to place on record the following particulars, furnished 

 by Mr. Bovell, of the pedigree canes now under cultiva- 

 tion at Barbados as the rcsidt of the cross-fertilization 

 b}' hand during the year 1904 : — 



Three holes of H. 1 ; a cross between B. 1,376, as seed- 

 bearing parent, and B. 1,529, as pollen-bearing parent. 



One hole of H. 15 ; a cross between B. 3,289, as seed- 

 bearing parent, and B. 1,529, as pollen-bearing parent. 



One hole of H. 18 ; a cross between B. 3,289, as seed- 

 bearing parent, and B. 1,355, as pollen-bearing parent. 



Molascuit. 



A note was published in the last issue of the Agicultural 

 News (p. 2) in reference to the meetings of the Canadian 

 Tariff Commissioners. Reference was made to the suggestion 

 of !Mr. Russell ilurray that ' molascuit, a product of the 

 debris of ground sugar . . . should be placed on the free list.' 

 It is desirable to mention that molascuit is a mixture of 

 molasses and the finer parts of the fibre of the sugar-cane, 

 containing about 80 per cent, of the former and 20 per cent, 

 of the bagasse. Readers of the Agrieultural News are 

 referred to notes on this by-product, and its preisaration and 

 uses, in former issues (Vol. I, pp. 22 and 147, and Vol. Ill, 

 p. 370). 



