374 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION B. 
At the end of each quarter for the refinery, and of each 
crushing season at the mills, the weekly returns which have been 
prepared are summarised and tabulated, and careful comparison 
made between the results at the various factories, improvements 
effected or new methods suggested being brought under the 
notice of the leading officers, as are also the occasional short- 
comings relentlessly exposed by the figures recorded. The refinery 
returns are all under the charge of the head chemist, the mill 
returns under that of the inspecting chemist ; and the whole of 
them are made out in such a way that the administrative heads 
of the different departments—who, as a rule, know nothing of 
chemistry—can grasp the main features very easily, and then at 
once deal with any matters which call for attention or explanation. 
All the work in connection with sugar is carried out by the aid 
of the polariscope, and indeed could hardly be done without this 
instrument, which has been devised to make a practical applica- 
tion of the property that a solution of sugar has of altering the 
character of polarised light allowed to shine through it. The 
degree of change thus experienced by the rays of light is in exact 
proportion to the quantity of sugar present in the solution, and 
when measured by suitable prisms the amount of sugar thus 
becomes known. This apparatus is the outcome of a long series 
of experiments and discoveries commenced nearly seventy years 
ago, and it serves well to illustrate the dependence of practical 
work on purely scientific enquiry conducted for the acquisition of 
knowledge, and in this instance, I think, without thought of 
personal gain. 
So far I have spoken altogether of the manufacturing work, 
but I should here state that we have now also taken the chemical 
staff into our counsel in regard to the cultivation of the cane 
grown on our own plantations, at present about 14,000 or 15,000 
acres. In past years we have not availed ourselves to any extent of 
the assistance of the chemists in this department, partly because 
we were working virgin land, and partly because, till a 
short time ago, nearly the whole of our supply of cane—and 
still a large proportion—was grown by others and sold to us when 
cut. However, the partial exhaustion of our lands and the 
necessity for applying manure, the desirability for improving the 
present canes and for introducing new varieties, and some little 
trouble with diseases in the canes, compelled us to seek the aid of 
our chemical staff in this branch also, and we are now carrying 
out an elaborate investigation into the composition of the soils of 
our various estates; and, under the supervision of the chemists, 
a vast number of trials in the special cane nurseries established 
by us two or three years ago, and in the fields with manure of 
various compositions applied in different ways, and with irrigation 
and many systems of planting. From all these experiments we 
shall, in the course of time, derive much benefit ; but though there 
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