NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



715 



The cane-fields are the largest in Europe ; they are replanted from March to 

 May. After 6-8 years the plantations should be renewed, and the same 

 fields occupied for a series of years with other cultures. Weeding is only 

 necessary during the first year, i.e. before the canes entirely cover the 

 ground. Copious water is given eight or ten times during the summer, 

 and the fields are richly manured with guano, and sulphate and nitrate of 

 soda. The canes are gathered in April and May, and the leaves afford 

 fodder for animals. Much Sorghum saccharatum is also grown, and is 

 cut in autumn. The cane-fields are very picturesque. — W. C. W. 



Sugar-cane Culture in the South-East, for the Manufacture 

 Of Table Syrup. By H. W. Wiley (U.S.A. Dept. Agr. Bur. Chem., 

 Bull. 75, 1903). — In the first part of this pamphlet the results of fertiliser 

 experiments on Sugar-cane are considered. 



Two different fields were treated, A having been in cultivation about 

 twenty years, and B about five or six years. The latter, moreover, had 

 had a very heavy crop of velvet beans ploughed under the preceding 

 autumn. 



The character of the canes from field B was good, but their purity and 

 sugar content were not as high as in those from the less fertile field A. It 

 is to be inferred that the large excess of nitrogenous matter in the soil of 

 B, while tending to produce a large crop, also tends to diminish the 

 excellence and purity of the product. 



Both cases showed that two applications of the fertiliser used are 

 preferable to one ; also that nitrate of soda seems to be a more satisfactory 

 source of nitrogen than either cotton-seed or cotton-seed meal, and that it 

 should be added in small quantities at a time, at rather frequent intervals, 

 to prevent loss from heavy rains. 



The second part of the bulletin deals with reports of special agents on 

 Sugar-cane culture. 



The manufacture of syrup of some kind is carried on throughout the 

 States, with the exception of Alaska, whether from Sugar-cane or Maple, 

 Sorghum or Maize. 



In Georgia especially the industry has largely increased. The experi- 

 ments were intended to show the quality of the canes as sent direct to the 

 factories for commercial purposes, not merely the results from specially 

 chosen canes, which would naturally be higher in every respect. 



It was found that the canes, while equalling those of Louisiana in 

 sugar content, have a shorter manufacturing season (i.e. in Georgia, 

 Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi), together with a higher quantity of 

 reducing sugar which, while it lessens their value for sugar-making, 

 renders them if anything superior for syrup manufacture, as this sugar is 

 quite as sweet and palatable as sucrose, and crystallises less easily. 



a h. c. 



Sugar-cane Soils of Jamaica. By H. H. Cousins (Bull. Dep. Agr. 

 Jam. vol. i. pts. 4, 5, pp. 7G, 97).— These contain analyses of soils from 

 the various districts in Jamaica. — G. H. 



Sweet Peas, Hybridising (Gaul. Mag. No. 2594, p. 486; 18/7 03). 

 — Diagrams of the flowers illustrate the organs of fertilisation, and the 

 instructions given for artificial fertilisation are simple and clear. — W. G. 



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