, 1874-08-05

islands where coasting steamers are un-
known should take note of this
BARBADOS. Barbados is certainly first
and foremost among the colonies in a sys-
tematic study of the rainfall. A portly
volume of 165 pages, which has Just CON
home, may be put forward in support of
this assertion. Observation for a series of
years has demonstrated that the crop of
the island is great or small according to
the quantity of rain which has fallen.
Governor Rawson, whose exertions In this
matter form not the least OF his services to
the colony, is therefore fully justified in
saying that these data have q special inter-
est for the planters and inhabitants OF
Barbados. The primitive forests of the
colony have disappeared, and there are
now scarcely any trees. The island pre-
sents one vast cultivated field, undivided
except by roads, planted with sugar cane
or grain and root crops, with rare and very
small patches of pasture land. Even the
ponds are being taken into cultivation as
they dry. The island is exposed to the
trade winds, varying but slightly from
northeast during three-fourths of the year.
The rain comes chiefly from the same
quarter. Barbados lies nearly in the lati-
tude in which the circular storms of the
northern hemisphere are supposed to be
generated. There is little In the surface
of the island to attract or to cause rain.
For the most part the rainfall depends,
apart from elevation, upon the exposure of
the land 20 those winds, which at different
seasons of the year strike the island laden
with moisture, and then discharge their
contents. The temperature in the colony
is very equable. The whole of the island
has been subjected to scientific observation,
and the result is seen in the vast mass Of
detail contained in the book now under
notice. The inquiry has, indeed, been an
exhaustive one. Whilst thoroughly APP
preciating the great industry and anxious
care bestowed upon this compilation, it is
impossible to notice in this column more
than one or two points of general interest.
For instance, under the head OF yearly
rainfall, it is stated that the mean of this
for Barbados is established on the average
of % years Q~847-1871G at STA inches.
The greatest yearly rainfall during that
period was in 1855, when it was 1871
inches !; and the smallest in 1871, reach
ing only to 4I.46 inches. The crop
averaged in 1879 1,429 hhds. In 1910
owing to the drought of 1889, and the
emancipation it fell to 1880 hhds. From
I841 to 1845 it rose gradually from
1871 to "a III hhds. In 1916 there
was a bad crop, and the average of
1919 was 31,65O hhds. From that time
it has gone on increasing until it has
nearly doubled the highest crops before
emancipation, and it's present dependence
upon the rainfall chiefly may be clearly
traced and measured. The result of the
calculations is that about 800 hogsheads of
sugar are produced to every inch of rain.
The proportion used to be much smaller
before recent improvements in cultivation.
The rainfall influences not the crop of the
year in which it occurs, but that of the
succeeding one. From observing the
rainfall in the present year, for instance, as
the months 60 by, the planter knows
what to expect in 1875. A great deal
depends upon the period of the year in
which the rain principally falls. The
governor, in explanation of this, makes
some statements that are peculiarly valua-
BILE, as when he shows the influence upon
crops, of rainfall in certain months, and