THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



June 16, 1906. 



nominal ; probably not more than, if as much as, the 

 growers obtain at present, but the latter would have 

 a stead}' market and a certainty of disposing of all their 

 fruit as it ripened. The canneries of the large sea-port 

 cities of the United States are able to pay only the 

 lowest price, so that they are obliged to use small fruit 

 or that from an over-stocked market. 



The canning of pine-apples is operated on a large 

 scale in Florida, Australia, the Straits Settlements, and, 

 of late years, also in the Hawaiian Islands and the 

 Bahamas. It would be necessary, in the event of an 

 attempt being made in the West Indies to establish 

 a similar industry, to enter into competition with those 

 countries. It is probable that the success of this 

 industry in the Sti-aits Settlements, whence no fewer 

 than 448,000 cases of preserved pine-apples (valued at 

 close on £521,000) were exported in 1904, has been 

 largely due to the advantage conferred by an abundant 

 supply of cheap Chinese labour. In the Hawaiian 

 Islands four canneries are working. The output in 

 1904 was some 20,000 cases, each containing twenty- 

 four cans ; the following year the output was estimated 

 at C5,000 cases. 



It may be of interest to review briefly the progress 

 which has been made in this connexion in the nearest 

 British colon}', viz., the Bahamas. About ten years ago 

 factories for the canning of pine-apples were established 

 at Nassau and Eleuthera. In 1897 more than 20,000 

 cases of preserved pine-apples were exported. Three 

 years later, the number had risen to close on 42,000, 

 of the value of £8,836. The highest figure was 

 reached in 1902-3, when 47,892 cases wei-e exported, 

 their value being £9,.515. The canning industry has 

 now largely superseded the export of fresh fruit. The 

 popular fruit for canning purposes in the Bahamas is 

 that known as the Red Spanish. This is a medium- 

 sized to small fruit, of somewhat variable shape, and of 

 a reddish-yellow colour. It is a hardy sort with a 

 moderately good flavour, a prolific cropper, ripening 

 early. The Red Spanish is the variety most extensively 

 grown in the United States, where it may be consid- 

 ered the standard variety for field culture. 



The process of canning is not complicated, although 

 experience is, of course, necessary for successful work. 

 The first operation is the removal of the rind ; this is 

 done by hand. Then the core is extracted ; after 

 which the fruit is cut into discs, which are fitted into 

 tins of corresponding size. The size of the cans and 

 the concentration of the syrup depend upon the market 

 that is to be supplied. In the Straits Settlements, the 

 pealed and cored fruit having been placed in the tins, 



syrup is added, which is made up of one part of sugar 

 to thirty-three parts of water. After the tin has been 

 soldered, it is placed for some time in a steam-heated 

 tank. The tin is then removed from the boiling water, 

 and a hole punched in its top to let out the steam; 

 after which the tins are re-soldered and again plunged 

 into hot water. 



A writer in tlie Hnicallan Forester and Acjri- 

 cidticrlst (December 1904) recommends that no pine- 

 apple should be gathered for canning until it is ripe 

 enough to be eaten fresh, and adds : ' nothing but its 

 own juice should l)e used for syrup, no matter what 

 anybody may say U> the contrary; this will pay in the 

 long run.' A shipment of canned pine-apples, by a com- 

 pany of which this writer was manager, realized S2'35 

 per dozen cases, of 2i lb. each, ex ship at San Francisco. 

 There appears to be a large sale for this product, 

 especially in the United States. 



With the view of aff"ording information in regard 

 to canning pine-apples, the Imperial Department of 

 Agriculture has brought together facts and figures 

 which might be published later in pamphlet form. In 

 the meanwhile, it would be useful if fuller details could 

 be obtained of the industry as carried on in the 

 Bahamas and the Straits Settlements, and more could 

 be learned of the essential points upon which success 

 depends. 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



The Bourbon Cane. 



The following is extracted from an article in the 

 Louisiana Planter, of May .5, entitled 'The Passing 

 of the Bourbon Cane ' : — 



The Bourbon sugar-cane, the foundation of the West 

 Indian sugar industry and the great favourite tliere in old 

 times, has fallen into disfavour of recent years, its easy injury 

 by parasitic attacks being the cause. In fact, much of the 

 impetus given to the investigation of seedling canes has come 

 from the failure of the old Bourbon to resist disease and from 

 the desire to secure there new varieties, capable of a higher 

 degree of resistance. 



In British Guiana careful investigations have been made 

 recently in regard to the Bourbon cane, and Mr. R. Ward, 

 the Agricultural Assistant, studying the fungus diseases on 

 the plantations in Essequibo, and the Government Botanist, 

 Mr. A. W. Bartlett, recently made an extensive report upon 

 the Bourbon canes there, in which they indicate tlie severe 

 attacks of the root disease upon the Bourbon varieties, while 

 the new seedling.s, in adjacent plots, under precisely similar 

 conditions, remained green and healthy and gave promi.se of 

 satisfactory yields where the Bourbon cane seemed to be dying 

 out. Professor Harrison, the well-known authority in such 

 matters, believes that the only effectual remedy for this 

 deterioration in the Bourbon cane is to abandon that variety 

 and to replace it with more resistant seedlings. 



