s:i 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Maiich U. 1914. 



book*: 'The world's stores of petroleum, coal, and 

 shale are all being rapidly depleted, and in the not 

 very distant future it will be to alcohol that we shall 

 have to turn, and it will then be found that alcohol, 

 denatured with 10 per cent, of benzol and tinged by 

 a trace of aniline dye, will give a motor spirit at once 

 safer, more pleasant in use, and sweeter in exhaust 

 than the petrol of to-day; and that although the 

 calorific value of such a mixture is only 6 of the 

 value of petrol, the smaller amount of air needed for 

 its combustion, the increased explosive range of the 

 mixture, and the higher compression that could be 

 used in the cylinder, all combine to make it the ideal 

 motor spirit, and one about which no doubts can be 

 raised as to the possibility of future supply.' 



The passage ends, it will be observed, with a state- 

 ment ^of no little interest to the agriculturist. What 

 are the possibilities in the direction of alcohol produc- 

 tion for fuel in the Tropics? For local consumption, 

 at all events, the possibilities are very great, and 

 this phase of the question may be considered 

 first. In regard to the utilization of alcohol as a 

 by-product on the cacao estate, credit is due to 

 Mr. Hamel Smith for urging the importance of this 

 matter. He writesf: 'In theory there is no reason 

 why a well organized cacao estate should not pro- 

 duce its own spirit, if not its own vegetable oil 

 as fuel for any power required in the sweating or 

 drying houses, or for tractors transporting the pro- 

 duce.' The same author also quotes at considerable 

 length in the book referred to, passages from several 

 important articles recently published on the utilization 

 of alcohol as a fuel — information which will repay 

 study by those who are interested in the subject under 

 consideration. To Mr. Hamel Smith is also due credit 

 for urging coco-nut planters, instead of losing the milk 

 contained in the fruit, to ferment it, thereby producing 

 alcohol. The same thing applies in the case of estates 

 which have Manila and sisal fibre refuse. On the 

 banana plantation, ^Ir. Fawcett* has recently shown 

 there is great scope before the production of alcohol. 

 'In all the [banana] exporting countries put together 

 there are probably as many as eight million bun- 

 ches that annually fail to come up to the high 

 standard rightly insisted upon by the shippers.' This 

 is the material which, in part, at any rate, could 



* Oil Fuel. By Professor Vivian B. Lewes, F.I.O., F.C.S. 

 (1913). 



t The Fermentation of Cacao. Edited by Harold Hamel 

 Smith (191.3). 



+ Tlie Banana: Its Cviltivation, Distribution and Com- 

 mercial Uses. By W. Fawcett, B.Sc. (1913). 



be used for the production of alcohol. It would seem 

 that 100 kilogrammes of banana meal washed with 

 malt extract and then fermented with yeast yields 

 478 litres of alcohol. 



But it is in the sugar estate that the production 

 of alcohol offers the greatest commercial possibilities. 

 The manufacture of rum is of course one profitable way 

 of using uKilasses: But it is a question whether molasses 

 might not be used economically in the factory and 

 on neighbouring estates for fuel purposes by its con- 

 version into alcohol. The central sugar-cane factory 

 like the beet factory, possesses special advantages 

 in regard to the production of alcohol, since distilla- 

 tion plants are available together with proper heating 

 arrangements and what is equally important — chemical 

 control. Moreover, it must be remembered that at the 

 present day there are difficulties in the matter of 

 disposing of molasses as such, so that a new and profit- 

 able way of utilizing this by-producb is really urgently 

 required. 



The production of alcohol thus far considered 

 has been for fuel purposes on the estates or in 

 the factory. But it is quite possible that in the 

 large tropical colonies it might pay to manufac- 

 ture alcohol for transport purposes. This subject 

 has already received definite attention in regard 

 to South Africa for instance, but in the Feder- 

 ated Malay States, where the roads are good and in 

 West Africa and in British Guiana where they may 

 be some day, the idea of establishing a definite industry 

 of alcohol manufacture is worthy of consideration. Of 

 course, in (Jermany which is reuiarkably deficient in 

 sources of oil fuel, many of the agricultural districts 

 produce abundant crops of potatoes and beets for the 

 production of alcohol fo)' fuel purposes. Proposals are 

 now being made in England for following suit in this 

 matter, and it is estimated that with a remission of 

 the Government duty, alcohol could be retailed to the 

 consumer at Is. per gallon as against about Is. Id. per 

 gallon for petrol. 



The question whether it would ever be possible 

 for the Tropics to grow crops systematically for alcohol 

 production, that is to say for export purposes, is diffi- 

 to answer at the present time. A great deal would 

 depend upon prices, fiscal arrangements and transport. 

 For the present 'it is almost sufficient to urge each 

 tropical country to look after itself and to endeavour 

 by utilizing by-products in sugar, cacao, banana and 

 fibre cultivations to provide itself with motor fuel for 

 local consumption. In regard to sugar, in particular 



