80 



THE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



a beginning off the Bluff Lighthouse, and 

 worked up the coast in a zig-zag fashion, 

 coming in to the land, and then going out 

 again to the 100-fathoni depth. Sound- 

 ings were taken every mile. The furthest 

 northerly point reached was Cape A^idal, 

 135 miles from Durban, while on the 

 south side the trawler worked as far as 

 the Umtamvuna, 85 miles from the Bluff 

 Lighthouse. 



We learn from Capt. A. Turbyne, 

 master of the "Pieter Faure,'" that the 

 100-fathom Umit varies on our coast 

 from six miles to twenty-seven miles from 

 the shore. The former is the distance of 

 the limit from Durban, while the latter 

 distance divides the limit from the shore 

 at the mouth of the Tugela. For trawl- 

 ing purposes a clear, smooth b'ottom is 

 essential. Eocky ground tears the nets, 

 and trawling is consequently impossible. 

 The result of' the "Fieter Faure's" opera- 

 tions is that the whole of the Xatal coast 

 has been found to l)e unsuitable for 

 trawling. It was only at the mouth 

 of the Tugela that a few small patches 

 of good muddy ground were discovered. 

 On this ground some soles were found, 

 but, although they were in fair quantity, 

 they were too small to be of commercial 

 A-alue. Three species of the same kind 

 of fish Avere found just olf the TTndilanga 



Beach, 11 miles north of Durban. The 

 trawling ground at the Tugela was found 

 between a point a little to the south of 

 the river, and the Tenedos Shoal, north 

 of the Tugela. The temperature over 

 this area varied from 63 degrees to 73.7 

 degrees at the bottom. The surface tem- 

 perature averaged about 83 degrees. It 

 is diilicult to say what is the reason of 

 the absence of fish on this ground. The 

 iS'atal coast, with the exception given, 

 being of a rocky nature, is an impossible 

 ground for trawling. Samples of the 

 ground, and specimens of the fish found 

 on the coast, ha^■e been sent to Capetown 

 for examination by Dr. Gilchrist. It is 

 disa]:)pointing to learn that our coast is 

 unsuitable for trawling, but, even if we 

 have only learnt ibis, the work of the 

 "Pieter Faure" lias not been in vain. It 

 must not be concluded, from the result 

 of the operations of the trawler, that 

 there are no fi:di along our coast. The 

 experience points rather to the fact that 

 the fish are on rocky ground, and the 

 only way to catch them is by steam hand 

 lines, as is now being successfully done. 



The " Pieter Faure proceeds to 

 East London, where she will 

 trawl. for scientific ]»urposes, r.' 

 d'lnhs of !00 and 500 fathoir;-- 



Sugar-Cane ExpeHmenis in Barbados. 



THOUGH the sugar-cane has been culti- 

 vated in tropical countriesfor centuries 

 it was only about ten years ago it was dis- 

 covered that the plant produced seeds. 

 Previously it had been grown only from 

 cuttings, and it was not possible to obtain 

 any great improvement in the varieties of 

 canes. "With the discovery of the seeds it was 

 immsdiately realised how it would be 

 possil)le, by selection and cross-fertlization, 

 to vastly improve the ((uantity and quality 

 of cane sugar. This has been a subject to 

 which the Imperial Department of Agri- 

 culture has given a great deal of its atten- 

 tion, and during the past season important 

 experiments have been conducted in IW- 

 bados by Professor d'Albu(iuerque, Honor- 

 ary Consulting Chemist to tlie Depart- 



ment, and Mr. Bo veil, Superintendent of 

 the Botanic Station, to test the commercial 

 value of various descriptions of seedling 

 and other sugar canes, with the object of 

 assisting the planters in selecting the 

 canes most suitable and profitable. _ The 

 extreme varieties of soil and climate, 

 typical of comparatively large areas in 

 Barbados are high red soils and low black 

 ones, and between these two come every 

 intermediate variety, so it is obvious that 

 some canes would be more productive in 

 one locality than in another. The cane 

 most favoured by the planters recently is 

 the white transparent, and this has been 

 adopted as the standard for comparison. 

 An arrangement was made by which the 

 canes to be used for the investigation were 



