Late Rainfalls; some of their Effects,* 



By Jatnes Gillespie, Manager, Plantation Houston. 



jHEN our worthy President did me the honour 

 in January last, of asking for a paper to 

 be read before a general meeting of this 

 Society, I think it was not surprising when casting about 

 for a subje6l my mind should revert to what was then, 

 from a Planter's point of view, the most burning, or 

 rather the most cool question of the day. I refer to the 

 very heavy rainfalls we have been experiencing during 

 the last 5 years, and if you will kindly bear with me for 

 a short time, I shall endeavour to point out some of the 

 difficulties and ill-effe6ls caused thereby, especially on 

 stiff clay soils, to which my remarks will principally 

 apply. 



If you will turn to the rainfall table in that valuable 

 book of reference, the British Guiana Direflory, you 

 will find that the average fall for 25 years previous to 

 1 889 v.as 7925 " and that the mean for the last 5 years was 

 io9*38," a difference in excess for the latter period of 

 30* 13 inches or 38 0/0 above the ordinary rainfall. 



The largest crop ever made in the colony was in the 

 year 1887 with a fall of 88*63, and somewhere near this 

 figure we may take to be, when evenly distributed, the 

 most suitable rainfall for our sugar crops. I do not 

 think any accurate infoimation as to the yearly crops of 

 sugar is to be obtained ; the Blue Books give us the 

 numbers of acres cultivated each year and from the same 



* Read before the April Meeting of the Society. 



