agridat (version 1.25)

evans.sugarcane.uniformity: Uniformity trial of sugarcane

Description

Uniformity trial of sugarcane in Mauritius.

Usage

data("evans.sugarcane.uniformity")

Format

A data frame with 710 observations on the following 3 variables.

row

row ordinate

col

column ordinate

yield

plot yield

Details

Described in a letter from H.Evans of the Sugarcane Research Station at Reduit, Mauritius, to Frank Yates written 21 May 1935.

A field of ratoon canes was harvested in 20-hole plots. Ratoon cane is from the offshoots of the plant AFTER the first season (2nd, 3rd, etc.0>

Field length: 5 plots x 50 feet (20 stools per plot; 30 inches between stools) = 250 feet.

Field width: 142 plots x 5 feet = 710 feet

The mean value is 202 per plot. No units are given in the source document. Robertson (1930) The Sugar Industry of Mauritius https://doi.org/10.2307/140527 says the average yield in the 1920s was 20 tons per arpent, which works out to be about 286 pounds per 250 sq ft plot. It seems likely that the units are pounds.

This data was made available with special help from the staff at Rothamsted Research Library.

References

None.

Examples

if (FALSE) {
  data(evans.sugarcane.uniformity)
  dat <- evans.sugarcane.uniformity
  libs(desplot)
  desplot(dat, yield ~ col*row,
          flip=TRUE, aspect=(5*50)/(142*5), # true aspect
          main="evans.sugarcane.uniformity")

  table( substring(dat$yield,3) ) # yields ending in 0,5 are much more common
}