344 



SUGAR CROP AND RAIN IN BARBADOS. 



Sir R. AV. Eaw'son, as governor of the British colonies at Barba- 

 dos, published (1874) a colonial report, printed by the house of 

 assembly, giving an elaborate study of the dependence of the cane- 

 sugar crop upon the monthly and annual rainfall. Barbados offers 

 an exceptional opjDortunity for such study, since the cane is the only 

 staple and is nearly all exported, so that the records of the crop are 

 accessible in the customs' returns. Moreover, the number of rainfall 

 records averaged more than 1 to a square mile, being 178 for the 

 whole island and for a period of about twenty-five years, this re- 

 markable system of observations being due largely to the labors of 

 Dr. R. Bowie Walcott, who still resides in the parish of St. Joseph, 

 and was, in May, 1890, on the occasion of my recent visit to him, 

 still active in collecting rainfall data. To his devotion and Governor 

 Rawson's assistance we owe this unique study of rainfall and sugar 

 crop. It is impossible for me at present to do more than give the 

 accompanying Tables I, II, and III of monthly rainfalls and annual 

 crops. The crops, as given in Tables II and III, iix hogsheads, are 

 credited to the years in which they passed thrOugh the custom-house. 

 The cane is usually gathered and the sugar and molasses shipped 

 between January and May; after the latter date the fields are newly 

 planted and in eighteen months are again ready for cutting, so that 

 the crop of any year has been grown under the influence of the rain 

 of the preceding year and the latter half of the year preceding that. 

 In the second table I give the dates of the first shipment of sugar 

 each year, thus showing whether the crop was gathered early or late, 

 and also the general character of the croi? as credited to that year. 



Table III illustrates Governor Rawson's conclusion that the crop 

 of any year is influenced only in a slight degree by the rainfall of 

 that year, but depends upon the rainfall of the jjreceding year. Thus 

 it is arranged according to the quantity of rainfall, and the crop of 

 the following year is compared with the rain of the ciirrent year ; the 

 wet years are followed by large crops the next year, while the dry 

 years are followed by small crops; the increase being 10 per cent 

 after a wet year and the decrease being 12 per cent after a dry year. 



The general development of the sugar plant is illustrated in the 

 following extract (see p. ?>3, Rawson's Report) : 



The influence of the rainfall in particular months and seasons 

 y'.'jon the coming crop is generally felt and admitted, but not known 

 \vith any certainty. It is believed, writes an experienced agricul- 

 turist, that any marked excess of rain during the first six months of 

 the year is injurious both to the crop that is being reaped and to 

 that which is to follow. The cane plant during the early stages of 

 its growth is very hardy and requires but little moisture; the small 



