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“...are also nurseries
and trial fields, covering an area of about 40 acres,
where experiments with many varieties of economic
products, and especially with seedling canes, are
conducted. Formerly, new varieties of cane were
only obtainable by chance variation. Now the
“ arrow ” or bloom of a full-sized cane is laid on
the top of a rich soil in a wooden tray, the soil
having been previously baked in order to kill all
weeds, and the fertilised seeds germinated in the
ordinary manner. When about an inch high, the
tiny grass-like shoots are transplanted into baskets
and eventually bedded out in the experimental cane
grounds adjoining. Throughout its whole career,
each cane selected for further test is known by a
number prefixed with a letter indicating the colony
of origin—thus D. stands for Demerara—so that
when a variety turns out favourably its history can...”
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“...MARTINIQUE 257
half an inch. When the fall of ashes ceased, the
weather remained gloomy and calm, and the crater
still continued to emit smoke. Excessive heat
was experienced throughout the West Indies at
this time. The volcano increased in activity
until the 2nd and 3rd of May, when a tremendous
outburst of fire and lava overwhelmed the large
Guérin sugar estate, situated to the north of St.
Pierre, burying, it is estimated, more than 150
persons. Although the fall of ashes did not
cease, and some of the inhabitants left for St.
Lucia, most persons in Martinique were in hopes
that this was the culminating effort of Mont Pelé;
and these hopes were heightened on Wednesday,
7th May, by the news that the St. Vincent Sou-
frière was in eruption, and by the thought that the
Martinique volcano would thereby be relieved.
After the destruction of the Guérin and other
estates to the north, the terrified and destitute
labourers crowded into St. Pierre, to the number
of 5000, thus adding considerably...”
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“...Tobago
its cultivation is extending very rapidly. The
average annual quantity of the total exports of
cocoa from the British West Indies is now nearly
25,000 tons.
The Cocoa The cocoa plant (called by Linnaeus Theobroma,
the food of the gods) is an evergreen which grows
to the height of 15 to 30 feet, with bright-
pointed leaves from 8 to 20 inches long. The
flowers and fruit, which it bears at all seasons
of the year, grow off the trunk and the thickest
part of the branches, with stalks only an inch in...”
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