Vol. V. No. 114. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



275 



Sugar-cane Experiments in Britisti Guiana. 



A report has recenti\- been issued by Professor 

 J. B. Harrison, G.M.G., M'.A., on behalf of the Sugar- 

 cane Experiments' Committee of the British Guiana 

 Board of Agi-iculture, on the results of the e.xperiments 

 with varieties of canes carried on on sugar plantations 

 in the colony during the two crops of the year ended 

 December 31, 1905. 



'J'he following extracts from this report are of 

 special interest : — 



Thirty-one of the plantations ^vhich have placed their 

 results at the disposal of the Board have carried on large- 

 scale experiments during the crops, and the following shows 

 the number of trials with certain varieties of canes and the 

 acreage occupied therewith during the two crops of the year 

 1905-6 :— 



A large number of experiments with other varieties were 

 reported, but as they were either small-scale experiments, in 

 which each variety occupied an area less than 1 acre, or in 

 which a variety had been experimented upon on fewer than 

 three plantations, the results, although in many cases 

 interesting, are not included in this report. 



EEL.\TIVE VALUES OF PLANTS AND EATOONS. 



The following shows the mean returns, in tons of 

 commercial sugar per acre, of the varieties of canes as 

 plants and as ratoons : — 



This indicates generally that the varieties raised and 

 selected locally are, as a rule, good ratooning canes, and that 

 the imported Barbados varieties (Sealy, B. 147, and White 

 Transparent) are not of equal merit with them in this respect. 



The experiments indicate that many varieties of sugar- 

 canes can be relied upon in British Guiana to give yields of 

 .sugar in quantities e(pial to, or greater than, those obtained 

 from the Bourbon, and that several varieties, for instance, 



D. 62-5, D. 14-"), and D. 109, possess well-marked ratooning 

 qualities. These canes can be safely recommended to 

 cane farmers for trial, the two former on relatively heavy 

 lands, the latter on lighter soils. Certciin varieties— D. 74, 

 and especially D. 78 and the White Transparent— show 

 signs of falling off in their yields, and the Committee feel 

 that their cultivation ought not to be continued except on 

 lands which have proved very suitable to their growth. 



The means of the contents of saccharose in pounds per 

 gallon, of the quotients of purity, of the quotients of 

 non-sugars, and of the recovery of commercial sugars per cent, 

 of indicated sugar in the juices of the varieties cultivated 

 during 1901-5 are as follows : — 



In considering these results it must be borne in mind 

 that, in the cases of many of the experiments, the varieties of 

 sugar-cane have been grown on land on which the Bourbon 

 does not flourish, while the Bourbon returns are, as a rule, 

 from land of average quality. 



IMPROVEMENT OF FORESTS. 



The Report of the Forest Officer in Trinidad 

 (Mr. C. S. Rogers) for the year 1905-(j has the following 

 brief outline of work which he regards as necessary for 

 the improvement of the forests of the colony : — 



No plantation work has been undertaken so far. It is, 

 however, hoped that at the end of next year the demarcation 

 will be sufficiently advanced for this most important work to 

 be taken in hand. A scheme will then be drawn up for 

 sanction. It is obviously essential that whatever planting is 

 done must be carried out in a regular and systematic manner. 

 The area to be planted up must be divided into compart- 

 ments, equal in number to the years it takes for the species 

 of trees planted to arrive at maturity ; one such compartment 

 must be planted annually till the time for felling comes 

 round. As soon as the first-planted compartment is felled, it 

 must be replanted and the cycle thus completed. It can 

 then carry on indefinitely producing a handsome revenue. 



Besides the actual plantation work, much can be done 

 to improve our forests by systematic creeper cutting, and by 

 making small clearings to leeward of valuable timber trees — ■ 

 which at present form far too small a proportion of the crop 

 — and allowing them to seed them.selves in the spaces so 

 cleared. Such work, however, must be done in a regular and 

 systematic manner on a sanctioned scheme. The improve- 

 ment of our forests by this method will be cheaper than by 

 planting after clearing. 



