Scientific Agriculture. 



360 



[AfrRlL, 1909. 



it give more heat!' But the results 

 were tangible and important, and so 

 with the weighing of canes it would 

 soon be found that the results more 

 than repaid the cost. 



It is not difficult to predict some of 

 the directions in which the weighing 

 of canes would yield remunerative 

 results. Observations have shown that 

 the work done by cane mills is extremely 

 irregular, and that very great losses 

 may remain undetected unless close 

 records are kept. This is so fully recog- 

 nized in large modern factories that 

 very great attention is paid to the 

 work done by the mill, both by the 

 chemists and engineers, and constant 

 results are recorded. Even with a 

 small mill, if the canes were weighed, 

 wasteful fluctuations would soon be 

 discovered and stopped. 



Further, in the absence of weighing, 

 it is exteremely difficult to know what 

 results are obtained from any particular 

 kind of cane, or from the use of any 

 particular manure, or from the perform- 

 ance of any particular cultural oper- 

 ation- A knowledge of the weight of 

 canes obtained would throw a flood 

 of light on all these questions. 



The judgment of the planter, unaid- 

 ed by a knowledge of the weight of 

 cane, is frequently at fault in appreci- 

 ating the value of new variety of cane. 

 He may over-estimate, or under-esti- 

 mate its merits, and so money will be 

 wasted. With a knowledge ot the 

 weight obtained he would act with 

 precision, so that rapid and steady pro- 

 gress would set in. How many planters 

 can say with precision to what extent 

 ratoon canes are remunerative in com- 

 parision with plant canes ? A know- 

 ledge of weights would give precision 

 to their ideas, and lead to the saving 

 of money. 



Similarly, much money is probably 

 wasted in the matter of manures from 

 want of knowledge, either too much 

 manure or too little being employed. 

 A knowledge of weights would, alter a 

 few years' experience, lead to a much 

 more economical use of manures ot all 

 kinds. 



The value of measuring and record- 

 ing is not confined only to weighing 

 of canes. It holds good of most facts 

 relating to estate woik. Records ot the 

 cost of various operations, if carefully 



made and properly arranged, will tend 

 to economy. Records of the food con- 

 sumed by stock, of work done, and 

 of the cost, etc., worked out under 

 various heads, will soon indicate when 

 economies may be practised, and 

 increased returns obtained. Economies 

 mean not merely diminished expendi 

 ture but expenditure to better advan- 

 tage, and this in time may mean 

 increased expenditure based upon 

 accurate knowledge. 



A distinction must be made between 

 records and mere memoranda. The 

 latter are notes taken for temporary 

 use, the former are notes carefully 

 preserved and arranged for future 

 reference. The mere making of the 

 record is not all-sufficient ; it is necessary 

 that the results obtained should be 

 compared and correlated so that the 

 conclusions to be drawn from them may 

 be set out. There doubtless exists much 

 material in the form of memoranda and 

 records from which valuable deductions 

 might be drawn if some one would take 

 the trouble to arrange the information 

 in a form of comparison. As a good 

 example of what may be done in this 

 direction may be instanced Mr, J. R. 

 Bovell's paper on the ' Cost of growing 

 Sugar-canes in Barbados' (West Indian 

 Bulletin, Vol. I., p. 64). It would prove 

 of considerable advantage if much more 

 work of this kind were done. 



If records such as those referred to 

 could be obtained for a wide range of 

 plantation work in various parts of 

 the West Indies, and the results com- 

 pared from time to time, it would be 

 found that many changes by way of 

 improvement would speedily spread 

 from district to district, and the im- 

 proved ideas of one place would quick- 

 ly exert a beneficial influence at a dis- 

 tance, instead of as now, influencing only 

 a small area, and even there producing 

 but limited results for want of further 

 stimulation. 



One effect of the keeping and com- 

 paring of records must not be over- 

 looked. This work reacts upon the 

 planter, making him more alert and 

 more observant, and he becomes keener 

 to detect losses and to forward improve- 

 ments, so that the general advancement 

 of agriculture is ensured thereby. — 

 Agricultural News, Vol. VII. , 168. 

 October, 1908, p. 305. 



