, 1916-06-21

friends was presented to Mr.. Weiss by MI.
F. Lindqvist.
We join with Rev. ard Mrs. Weiss,
many friends III this Island in wishing them
a safe and pleasant voyage home and that
in the future we may have the pleasure of
welcoming them again III our midst.
The American 3 masted auxiliary schnr.
"Frances Hyde" Capt. c.. W. Spragne, from
Philadelphia, arrived on Monday morning
with GOALS for the Central Factory.
The Football Match played at the Holgef
Danske Ground on Sunday afternoon between
the Dreadnought Football Club of Chris
tiansted and the Hero Football Club of
Frederiksted resulted in II tie, each side
securing 2 goals.
The 8. g. "Parima'' for New York is due
at Frederiksted at 6 o'clock on Saturday
morning, leaving shortly after arrival.
We have received from the Director of
Agriculture a copy of the Report of the
Agricultural Experiment Station for the year
from July /, 1914 20 June 80, 1915. The
Report deals mainly with the results Of ex-
peIiments with cane, cotton and fodder crops.
With regard to sugar cane, the expert
ments deal with the raising of new varieties
from seeds, the trial of these varieties in
plots of various sizes, the trial OF varieties
imported from other countries, manurial
experiments, planting cane different distance
apart, and the treatment OF cane suffering
from pests.
Several of the new varieties of cane and
of the imported varieties have shewn them
selves superior to the standard varieties
Ribbon and Crystalline. OF the new va'ie-
ties Santa Cruz Nos. 1881, 1912 and 42l4
have given the best results among the 1912
seedlings, while among the 1913 seedlings
Nos. 1888, 1928, 1917 and 1892 have
taken the first place. All of these varieties
have given a large increase over the stand
ard canes planted alongside. We learn
from the Director that he has tried cane
No. 1871 at Mt. Pleasant Estate this
year on a acre plot and that it has
yielded there over 500 more cane sugar
per acre than Crystalline cane planted
alongside. These results ale very encour-
aging and may be confidently expected
to have an important bearing on the future
of the Sugar Cane Industry of the Island.
A large number OF imported varieties of
cane have been tried out at different Estates
in the island, and good results have been
obtained with several, though it is not al
ways the same variety which gives the
best results on each estute. AT the Expert
ment Station itself the best results appear
to have been obtained with canes B 34O5,
ID 100, B 6331, and B 1859. Several other
sorts have also done we'll and given yields
considerably in excess Of the standard Rib
bon cane.
We note that the yields of cane on all
the experimental plots have been small
owing to the severe drought experienced
during the year under review.
The manurial experiments with canes
show that increases i'll yield are not likely
to be obtained by the application of artii-
cial manuree. This, the Director explains,
may perhaps be due to the limited rainfall
of the Island which does not permit more
than q certain growth, no matter how much
plant food may be present III the soil.
The experiments with planting canes dis
tances apart show that close planting gives
a better yield than wide planting.
With regard to experiments with cotton,
we note that a large amount of work has
been done, over 200 different selections
having been planted.
The best yielding Sea Island variety was one
named Santa Cruz 1876 which was itself q
selection from the selected variety Santa
Cruz 1912. 1t yielded 69Olbs of seed cotton