Notes on the Society's Work in 1897-1918. 



lxxi. 



cient for ranching 650,000 head of cattle, whilst the hinterland savannahs, 

 upon which it is estimated there are at present upwards of 20,000 head of 

 cattle with probably about 600 horses, could at a very low estimate carry a 

 quarter of a million head.* The colony should not alone be the granary 

 for the British West Indies but it should become the main source of 

 beef and of horst-flesh for the more southerly West Indian Islands. 



Resume' of Agricultural Progress 1897 to 1918. 



In British Guiana we are all of us prone to run ourselves, but more 

 espec'dly others than ourselves, down on grounds of the lack of pro- 

 gress in the colony. Has the colony made any progress in its agricul- 

 tural pursuits during the period which has elapsed from the visit of the 

 West Indian Royal Commissioners in 1897, the year in which I for the 

 first time presided over the Society ? 1 have, I think, shown that whilst 

 some agricultural industries, especially the staple one of 1897, have 

 not made satisfactory progress or have remained in a state of relative 

 stagnation, others have made from fair to well-marked progress. This 

 can be seen at a glance in the following tabular resume giving in round 

 figures the statistical facts I have alluded to in this address : — 



Cultivated Lands in British Guiana 1897 and 1918. 

 British Acres. 



*Should these ranching lands prove to be equal in grass-producing- power fca some of 

 those of the Western United States, they should suffice for grazing half a million head ; 

 the above low estimate is based on Brazilian savannah experience (about 40 head to a square 

 mile). 



t Including farmers' canes. 



