Vol. V. No. 115. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



291 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Cane Farming in Trinidad. 



The following information is abstracted from returns 

 to the Trinidad cane farmers' crop of 1906 

 (with figures for the eight previous j-ears), published 

 as Agricultural Sofiety Paper Xo. 244 : — 



relating 



* Sugax' made from estate canes not weighed. 



Sugar-cane in Queensland. 



In Australia To-day, a special issue of the 

 Australasian Traveller, of December 1-5, 1905, the 

 following reference is made to the cultivation of sugar- 

 cane in Queensland : — 



The sugar industry is at present in a very flourishing 

 condition. Only cane sugar is produced, attempts to establish 

 the sugar beet having failed, because our farmers have 

 considered that tliey can do better with other products 

 whose production does not involve so much labour as the 

 growing of beet. Several large districts are, however, 

 essentially suited to the sugar beet, a good yield of roots 

 with a high sugar content being very easily obtained. No 

 doubt the industry will be added to the resources of the 

 state when the commercial conditions become favourable. 



Sugar-cane has been grown on tlie Clarence, Richmond, 

 and Tweed rivers for many years. Before a refinery was 

 established in Sydney, large suras were lost in the manufac- 

 turing part of the business. Scores of sugar mills sprang up 

 in the river districts, but when a large sugar company came 

 into business and created its own refineries, the other 

 Crushing mills were gradually silenced. Now almost all the 

 cane is bought by the company at its mills, the farmers 

 being paid a fi.xed price each year, with a bonus on cane 

 containing more than 12 percent, of sugar. The company, 

 which carries on large operations in Fiji and in Queensland, 

 thus provides the market, and, while its shareholders receive 

 good dividends, the farmers manage to make the cane pay. 



PRODUCTION FROM CANE. 



The output in 1904 was 227,511 tons from 10,405 acres 

 of cane cut for the mills. The value of the crop is £195,856. 



The number of holdings on which sugarcane is planted is 

 1,060. The average yield is about 20 tons per acre. In 

 pursuance of a ' White Australia ' policy, the Commonwealth 

 Government allows a bonus of 4s. per ton on all cane grown 

 by white labour, and in this state almost the whole crop is 

 now produced in this way. The bonus is accounted for in 

 the value given above. The company pays from about 9s. to 

 12s. per ton for cane, cut and delivered at the mills. The 

 average return to the farmer is, with the bonus, about £12 

 per acre, which makes sugar-cane the most valuable crop 

 produced in the state. 



The cane is established by ploughing land where the 

 surface is clear of stones and timber, but many of the 

 small men plant by hand between stones and' stumps, 

 and the cane grows and flourishes in the splendid soil. 

 It is planted in pieces cut from the upper half of the 

 cane and laid horizontally in the ground. Each set has three 

 or four good ' eyes ' and from these the cane shoots upwards. 

 As the cane grows, the land must be cultivated and weeded, 

 until the foliage above becomes so dense that the weeds 

 cannot make headway for lack of sunlight. 



Sugar-cane in Louisiana. 



In an article in the Yearbook of the U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, entitled 'Illustrations of the 

 Influence of E.xperiment Station Work on the Culture 

 of Field Crops,' the following reference is made to the 

 sugar-cane in Louisiana: — 



E.xperiment station work with sugar-cane is practically- 

 limited to the Louisiana station. When this station was 

 established, the crop was almost entirely cultivated with the 

 turning plough, but at present it is estimated that not more: 

 than 10 per cent, of the crop grown in the state is cultivated 

 by this method. The station was the first to demonstrate to- 

 the planter the value of the cultivator in the more economical 

 production of the cane crop, and this implement is now quite 

 generally used. This result was achieved by the station 

 inducing certain planters to give the cultivator a trial, and 

 when these had proved its value, others followed their 

 example. In addition, the manufacturers of cultivators 

 used this testimony in selling their implements and thus 

 became an important faqtor in extending their use. The 

 cultivator, as compared with the turning plough, not only 

 saves labour but is also more efficient in the eradication of 

 weeds, especially in rainy seasons. The work of the station 

 has also been the greatest factor in reducing the width of the 

 cane rows, and at present very few planters are still using 

 the 7-foot rows, while practically none are using 7i-foot rows. 



Among the new varieties of sugar-cane introduced by 

 this station, .seedling canes D. 74 and D. 95 are giving most 

 promising results. These canes were sent out about nine 

 years ago and have now been so thoroughly tested that some 

 of the planters are at present growing from one-half to two- 

 thirds of their crop of the D. 74. The mill and field tests of 

 this cane during the past few years have established a good 

 record, and if the results continue to be as satisfactory as 

 they have been, it is fair to assume that, in a few years, much 

 the greater proportion, if not the entire crop of the state, 

 will be of D. 74. 



Patent Process in Rum Manufacture. It is 



officially announced that a patent has been registered for 

 a process of which Mr. H. H. Cousins, Government Chemist, 

 Jamaica, ' claims to be the inventor or proprietor, being an 

 invention for processes for treating spirituous licptors.' 



