13S SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



dencies. Otherwise, unless the "war bounties" cease, 

 inevitable ruin stares these Colonies in the face. 



In the presence of this great economic problem^ 

 all other considerations are placed in the background. 

 The future seems only too clearly defined, although 

 there may be temporary relief because of the state of 

 affairs in Cuba, by whose war close upon 1,000,000 

 tons a year are withdrawn from the markets of the 

 world. 



There are other circumstances handicapping the cane- 

 growing countries for which the beet growers are not 

 responsible. The machinery on many of the estates is of a 

 very inferior character indeed, and the amount of money 

 sunk in this old machinery makes it very difficult for the 

 impoverished owners to replace it by new. The method 

 of extraction is therefore very inferior, and stands little 

 chance of improvement. This matter of methods has always 

 been held in the forefront by beet growers, because of the 

 much greater difficulty in obtaining a pure sugar from their 

 plant than from the cane ; and the successive stages by which 

 the beet plant itself has been improved in its saccharine 

 content, and the processes of extraction and purification 

 have been perfected, are well worthy of study, forming, as 

 they do, a signal triumph in applied botany and chemistry. 

 Suffice it to say that while in 1S36 eighteen parts of roots 

 were necessary to produce one of sugar, this quantity 

 was reduced to 13 "8 parts in 1850, 127 in i860 and 9 '2 5 

 parts in 1887. 



Lulled into a false security, the cane growers have been 

 content meanwhile to retain the same machinery by which 

 a large proportion of available sugar has been passed to the 

 refuse heap ; and now that more economical working is 

 necessary, circumstances render it difficult for them to 

 extricate themselves from their false position. The time 

 appears to have arrived when bankruptcy will clear away 

 these cumberers of the earth and make room for others 

 more ready to take advantage of the lessons which science 

 is teachin"- them. 



