lxviii. Timchri. 



mating in market-value to the Sea Island. Owing doubtless to labour- 

 conditions no interest has been taken in this commercially. Its utilisation 

 is a problem of the future. 



Attention has also been directed towards Sisal cultivation ; Sprostons' 

 making the first large sisal cultivation at Cole's Glen on the 

 Demerara-Essequibo Kailway. As long as the land was new and con- 

 tained some of the accumulated plant-residua of its former forest-growth 

 the sisal grew excellently ; but as these residua became exhausted, and 

 the vigour of the plants thereby lessened, the sisal was attacked by the 

 highly destructive sisal leaf-disease, Colletotrichum agaves, and the 

 plants were practically all destroyed. 



Spsostons' were followed by the sisal-planting enterprise undertaken 

 by the Bartica Agricultural Estates Company at the Hills, Mazaruni 

 Eiver. Over 250 acres were planted with sisal and a very effective sisal- 

 cleaning factory was erected. Excellent fibre was produced, but the high 

 price of production, owing to labour-conditions, combined with the low 

 yield of fibre per acre on the sandy soils stood in the way of the venture 

 being a commercial success. As the light soils at the Hills became impover- 

 ished in plant-residua the sisal leaf-disease broke out. and did great 

 injury to the plants. The company, being of opinion that on the soils and 

 under the meteorological conditions existent at the Hills the cultivation of 

 Para rubber should prove far more remunerative than that of sisal could 

 be, ceased to cultivate the latter and shut down their fibiv- producing 

 enterprise. 



Provision-crop Growing or Farming. 



I have already alluded to the cultivation of rice, bananas and plan- 

 tains. As you are all aware the production of vegetable foodstuffs for 

 very many years past has been left almost entirely in the hands of small 

 farmers, although some of the large companies interested in the exploita- 

 tion of cacao and rubber in the earlier years of their ventures have pro- 

 duced considerable quantities of ground-provisions as catch-crops between 

 their trees. The area carrying provision-crops in the colony i3 not a large 

 one in proportion to the number of inhabitants. In 1897 a larger area 

 was under provision-crops other than rice on the empoldered sugar-estates 

 than at present. In that year 4,100 British acres were so occupied; for 1918 

 the area is only 1,550 acres. On the other hand, as I have already shown, 

 the area under rice on sugar-plantations is now very large and hence their 

 production of foodstuffs has greatly increased duiing the period under 

 review. 



The principal reason for the reduction of the area under plantains 

 and similar food-crops on the sugar-estates is that land is now fallowed 

 by flooding instead of being let out to farmers for provision-planting. 



Our records as to the area under provision-crops in the 

 colony generally do not extend back to 1897 ; the earliest fairly reliable 

 ones being those of 1904-5 which showed that 19,450 British acres were 



