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1 May, 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 375 
FERTILISATION OF PINEAPPLES IN FORT MYERS, FLORIDA, U.S. 
A field was manured with a mixture of— 
1,000 lb. cotton-seed meal, 
500 ,, kainit, 
500 ,, superphosphate, 
500 ,, equal parts of bone-meal and dried blood, 
2,000 ,, cow manure, 
of which 2,000 lb. were applied to the acre. 
This mixture corresponds to a fertiliser containing LO8 lb. nitrogen, 
177 lb. phosphoric acid, and 78 1b. potash, the quantities of these ingredients 
applied to the acre being therefore as follows:—45 Ib. nitrogen, 80 lb. 
phosphoric acid, and 35 lb. potash. 
The field was planted at the beginning of June, 1892, after having been 
fertilised with 2 tons per acre of the mixture given above. Later the plants 
received a top-dressing of hen-manure ; no record was kept of the quantities of 
this material applied. y 
The quality of the soil was light and sandy, corresponding to the typical 
Florida soil, which is considered of little value. The soil in question contained 
pretty large quantities of-humus and sand at the surface, and had a hard-pan 
bottom at a depth of from 1 to 2 feet. As far as the physical properties of the 
soil were concerned, it was well suited for pineapple culture. In June, 1893, 
5,000 pineapples worth 5 cents (410 18s, 4d.) a piece were harvested, and in 
Tune, 1894, the yield increased to 11,724 per acre, worth 10 cents a piece at 
the Hort Myers market (£97 14s.). The yield is allowed in the report to have 
been a complete success. 
SUGAR IN THE BARBADOS. 
A ware cablezram from London says that the sugar-planters m Barbados 
have rejected the offer of Sir Thomas Lipton to buy their cane at 10s. per ton 
in the event of his establishing his proposed central factories. They have 
suggested that in order to assist the sugar industry, legislation should be 
introduced on the lines of the Queensland Sugar Works Guarantee Act. 
This refusal appears rather strange considering that sugar-cane is grown 
in Barbados under more favourable labour conditions than obtain at least in 
the south of Queensland. 
The price paid for cane in this colony varies from 10s. to 15s. per ton, and 
from this is deducted 1s. 6d. per ton for cutting, from Gd. to 7d. per ton for 
loading into drays, and when further loading into punts or railway trucks is 
necessary another3d. per ton is paid. Yetthe Queensland sugar-growers, who sell 
their cane to the mill-owners, manage to make a good profit at the prices named, In 
the South, white labour at current rates of wages is employed, whilst in the 
North the work is mainly done by the aid of black labour. At the present day, 
however, black labour does not mean cheap labour, it really means reliable 
labour —labour which will not strike at critical periods, such as at cutting and 
erushing time. As far as actual outlay is concerned, the planters might as 
well employ white labour-in the cooler portions of the colony, but it is pretty _ 
generally conceded, even by the opponents of black labour, that climatic 
influences militate against the white man in the open field in the far North, 
although there is abundant employment for them in the mill in the higher and 
“more responsible work of manufacture. We do not know what rates 
are paid to the Barbadian labourers, but if, with coloured labour, it is 
found that the grower cannot make both ends meet when receiving 10s. 
per ton for his cane, then conditions must be vastly different from those in 
Queensland, where the cane farmer is satisfied with that price in certain parts 
of the colony. ‘To give an instance: One planter at the Pimpama sold 50 acres 
of cane to the Nerang Central Mill, 12 miles from his farm. He agreed to accept 
5s. per ton, the milling company cutting and carting his cane. The crop 
