Vol. V. No. 106. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



U9 



STEAM PLOUGHING IN THE WEST 

 INDIES. 



In recent numbers of the Agricultural Xeuv 

 (Vol. V, pp. (37 and 83) mention has been made of the 

 improved machinery in use in the West Indies in 

 connexion with the sugar and other industries. The 

 accompanying illustration shows a steam plough at 

 work on the Caroni estate in Trinidad, and is from 

 a photograph taken by a member of the West Indian 

 Agricultural Conference in January- of last year. Steam 

 ploughs have also been in use at the two central 

 factories in -Antigua, while, as mentioned in the Agri- 

 cultural N'eu's (Vol. V, p. 60), the Colonial Company's 

 plantation Harmony Hall, in Trinidad, has recently 

 been similarly equipped. 



The latest issue of the West India Coinm'dtre 

 Circular refers to the use of steam ploughs in the 

 West Indies as follows : — 



and they are not only ploughing the land, but pulverizing it 

 very satisfactorily. On Gunthoriie's they are also doing 

 excellent work on land which has hitherto defied the old- 

 fashioned methods of tillage. This is all very satisfactory, 

 and with these results before the planters there is a proba- 

 bility of an extension of the system of steam ploughing in the 

 West Indies. 



Fig. 4. Steam Plovghis<; in Trinidad. 



We have received by the homeward mail striking 

 evidence regarding the efficacy of the system of steam 

 ploughing on sugar estates, which has been adopted in two 

 such dissimilar colonies as Trinidad and Antigua. Mr. George 

 Christail, whom we are glad to welcome back in greatly 

 improved health, tells us that on the Caroni estate in 

 Trinidad a considerable area of canes grown on land 

 ploughed by steam has been cut this year, and that the 

 average yield of plant canes per acre has been .3-1 tons as 

 compared with 23 tons from land cultivated under the old 

 system. The total cost of cultivation of the steam-ploughed 

 lands, after allowing for wages and expenses of English 

 ploughmen, and for 10 per cent, depreciation on the cost of 

 the ploughs, proved to be somewhat less than under the old 

 methods, so that the result is an increase of 50 per cent, in 

 the yield of canes per acre, without any increase in expendi- 

 ture. In Antigua, steam ploughs are now at work on 

 Belvidere and Gunthorpe's, the two new central factory 

 estates. On the former estate they are ploughing a piece of 

 land which would, otherwise, be practically untillable in its 

 pre.sent condition with either ox ploughs or manual labour. 



BARBADOS AND TRINIDAD MANJAK. 



The following comparison between Barbados and 

 Trinidad manjak is extracted from a report on the 

 San Fernando manjak field, Trinidad, by the Govern- 

 ment Geologist, published as Council Paper No. 35 of 

 1906 :— 



Specimens obtained from .some of the mines in BarbadoiJ 

 have enabled some comparison to be drawn between the 

 manjak from that colony and from Trinidad. The evidence 

 obtained amply confirms the theory as to the formation of 

 manjak veins put forward in the former report. Manjak has 



been mined in Barbados 

 at greater depths than 

 have been reached, as 

 yet, in Trinidad, and 

 higher percentages of 

 petrolene are the rule. 

 It appears, however, 

 that this does not 

 depend entirely upon 

 the depths. Barbados 

 manjak has, on the 

 average, a higher per- 

 centage of petrolene 

 and a lower percentage 

 of inorganic matter 

 than Trinidad manjak. 

 Consequently it fre- 

 quently has a lower 

 melting point and 

 a brighter lustre. The 

 columnar variety of 

 manjak exists also in. 

 Barbado.s, occurring as 

 a selvage to the veins 

 of lustrous manjak 

 with conchoidal frac- 

 ture, which, however, is the most prevalent type in Barbados. 

 Precisely similar phenomena are described as character- 

 istic of the Gilsonite veins of Uinta. As in Trinidad, the 

 columnar and conchoidal varieties differ in percentages of 

 petrolene. One Barbados specimen showing both types in 

 contact was analysed, with the result that the columnar 

 variety gave 18 per cent, and the conchoidal 35 per cent, of 

 petrolene. The loss of volatile matter on exposure to the air 

 is also well exhibited by the Barbados manjak. 



As the manjak in the San Fernando field is worked to 

 greater depths, and especially when veins which do not 

 crop out at the surface are mined, it may be expected that 

 material equalling the best type of Barbados manjak in lustre- 

 and percentage of petrolene will be found. 



The value of the exports of manjak from Barbados 

 in the year 1904-.5 was £.5,012; from Trinidad during 

 the same period there were exported 3,428 tons, of 

 the value of £8,569. Further information on Trinidad 

 manjak will be found in the Agricultural News, 

 Vol. Ill, p. 105. 



