FEBRUARy I, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



549 



THE NEW CHEMICAL PROCESS FOK 



SUGAR EXTRACTION. 



la the opiuion of the patentees more has been 

 said about the practical ditHoultiea in the vray of 

 working the Ekmaii-Espeut-Fry process than the facta 

 of the ciae really wanaut, we mean especially with 

 reference to the necessity for employing lead-lined 

 converters. It, must be borne in mind that the two 

 processes of treating the cane for sugar and the 

 megasse for paper stock are conducted under very 

 ditferont conditions, aiid we are told that though a 

 lead-liued vessel ia absolutely essential for the latter 

 because bi-sulphito of magnesia and 90 lb. pressure 

 of steam are used, it is not so in the former, where 

 only a mono-sulphite and 15 to 20 lb. of pressure 

 are the conditions to be provided for, and that, in 

 fact, copper will answer this purpose admirably, whilst 

 to counterbalance its greater first cost, there is its 

 greater durability. It is satisfactory to know that, at 

 any rate there need be no practical difficulty about 

 constructing converters out of copper at a cost not by 

 any means prohibitory which will serve for the treat- 

 meut of the sliced canes in the (irst or e.xtraotion 

 process ; :ind, as regards the conversion of megasse, 

 which it will bo admitted is one of the most import- 

 ant features of tlie process, there is no reason to 

 suppose that it will defy the skill of our engineers. 

 On the contrary, Messrs. Poutifex and Wood, of the 

 Farringdon Works, who have long occupied a leading 

 place amongst makers of sngar machinery and plant, 

 claim to have already solved the problem with a steam- 

 jacketed converter constructed iu concentric rings, 

 and with the lead lining a'tached to the iron plates 

 in a peculiar way, allowing of its being easily and 

 cheaply renewed iu any part where a fault may be 

 discovered. Tho advantages of such an arriingemeut 

 aie obvious, and there is another not less so, viz., 

 that, being built iu rings, which are b(dted together 

 when tho converter is set up for use, there is no 

 single piece even of the largest size converter which 

 weighs more than between two and three tons, where- 

 as the whole vessel will not weigh less than from 

 sixteen to eighteen tous, and our readers will read- 

 ily appreciate what it means to he handling such a 

 mass as this latter, whereas in jjicces it could easily 

 be disposed of. Nor must it be supposed that this 

 is in any sense experimental work with Messrs. Pon- 

 tifex and Wood, as they have for many years been 

 constructing lead-lined cjjliuders for the conversion of 

 starch into sugar, and these have answered admir- 

 ably, but then they are not steam-jacketed. — Plant- 

 '!rn' Gazelle. 



the people — iu other words, to the negroes them- 

 selves, who form the practical working body of the 

 colony. If they have jjaid so much the less to out- 

 siders for food, it is because they have raised so much 

 the more themselves for consumption. When we come 

 to examine the details of the- figures, the results are 

 still more striking. The industries peculiarly affected 

 by the free black on his own acciunt show a great 

 general increase. True, last year was a bad one, owincr 

 to drought, for the coffee crop, the principal stand- 

 by of the industrious hill negroes ; and the exports 

 fell to 66,000 cwt., valued at £133,000 as against 

 87,000 cwt. (£231,000) in the preceding year, and 

 96,000 cwt. (£2.19,C)00) in 1S79. This is a serious loss, 

 but the fact that in spite of it the total of exports 

 was more than maintained is a very promising one 

 for the future of the colony. At present the industries 

 are becoming more varied, and a loss in one direction 

 may be more than counterbalanced by a gain in another. 

 The most noticeable of all the features iu the report is 

 the immense and steady increase in the small negro's 

 business par excellence, the fruit trade with America. 

 In 1SG7 this consisted of a few bunches of bananas 

 and barrels of oranges, valued at £72.5 ; last year the 

 export of oranges alone had risen to .35 millions, and 

 the value of the trade was £124,000. For a small 

 couutry like Jamaica, with only half a million of in- 

 habitants, this is a very large sum indeed ; but wh,at 

 makes it all the more important is the fact that tho 

 fruit is almost entinly grown by the small negro 

 poiisaiit proprietor, .and that tho moucy thus goes 

 directly into the hands of the people. Tho total 

 number of holdings of land iu the island is fifty-two 

 thousaiul, of which nearly ten thousand are less 

 than one acre, and twenty-six thousand are between 

 one and three acres ; aud the proportion of these 

 small holdings under cultivation is far and away 

 greater than tho lirge estates, a vast part of which 

 still remains in wild laud. All these tacts go to con- 

 tirm tho belief, already held by most of those who 

 know the West Indian negro porscmally, that the 

 small proprietors are steadily, though slowly, pro- 

 gressing iu habits of industry, thrift, aud civilisation. — 

 Planters' GazUte. 



NEGRO PROPRIETORS IN JABIAICA. 



The current number of the Jamaica HantUooh, to 

 which we briefly called ntteutiou in our last, contains 

 valuable information upon tho trade and production 

 of tho Island, from which it is evident not merely 

 that European enterprise is extending iu various new 

 directions, such as cinchona, cocoa, &c., whilst the ex- 

 ports of sugar aud rum last year were larger than for 

 nearly forty years previously, but that the economical 

 condition of tho negroes forming the bulk of the po- 

 pulation has also greatly improved. The total exports 

 for the past financial year amount in value to over 

 a million aud h.ilf sterling, being an iucre:i9e of 

 more than £370,000, (wo give round figures through- 

 out) on the previous year, and of £205,000 on the 

 average of the five years preceding. On the other 

 hand, the imports have decreased by £70,000, and 

 as this decrease was mainly due to the Urgely-in 

 CI eased production of ground provisions aud other 

 Dccessarica grown by the native pnpulation, it must 

 really bo counted as bo much gain on the whole to 



PANAMA. 



An interesting report on Panama has been issued 

 by the Foreign Office iu their last volume of trade 

 reports. The acting Consul at Colon writes : — " Panama 

 has increased iu population siuce the establishment 

 of the Interooeauic Canal Company. There are now 

 in Panama and its immediate suliurbs over 20,000 in- 

 habikints according to last year'.s census. Th.re is 

 a village just being finished outside the town called 

 Pueblo Nucvo, where a mixe.l population of West 

 Indians and Colombians reside. Along the line of 

 the canal there are about 6,000 British subjects, and 

 at Colon there are fully 4,000 to 5,000. Panama, 

 with the villages on the line aud Colon, musters a 

 population of 3u,000 souls, of wli'mi half are of British 

 nationality. The climate of Panama during the dry 

 season (December to April) enjoys a steady aud equal 

 temperature of 27 to 29 centigrade. During the wet 

 season (April to November) the heat is very oppressive, 

 owing to the great dampness of the atmosphere and 

 the want of breezes. Light southerly winds prevail 

 during tlio wet mouths, and strong northerly trade 

 winds during the dry. A singul.ar coincidence to bo 

 remarked at Panama is that the winds during the 

 dry season fall aud rise with the tide. This pheno- 

 menon also takes place with the wet season, when, 

 at low tide, there is scarcely a breath of air. The 

 showers generally fall at this ifiduieut, preceded by 

 heavy etoi'ius of thunder .and lightning. The air ia 

 charged with electiiclty, aud heavy rain clouds hang 



