60 SUGAR 



Government — as represented by the Imperial Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture — are pursuing a progressive policy 

 in connection with cane-growing and sugar-making. 

 Briefly summarized, this policy may be said to aim at 

 simultaneously decreasing expenditure and increasing 

 production. Foremost among the means taken to 

 realize this end are : experiments in raising seedling 

 canes, and in creating new varieties by cross-fertiliza- 

 tion, with a view to discovering the richest and healthiest 

 canes that can be grown under local conditions ; the 

 use of artificial manures ; the substitution of modern 

 implements of cultivation for the hoe and fork ; the 

 provision of facilities for youths to become trained 

 agriculturists ; the adoption of modern sugar-making 

 machinery ; and the erection of central mills, where 

 sugar can be made on a wholesale scale much more 

 economically than small crops can be converted 

 severally into sugar by old-fashioned methods. 



Following immediately on your wanderings in the 

 flat region of Demerara, the gorgeous panorama of the 

 precipitous West Indian islands makes you realize very 

 clearly the universal necessity for a careful study of 

 local conditions in the interests of successful cane 

 cultivation. Here, the cane-lands occupy the plains, 

 dells, and lower slopes of hills amongst serried ranks 

 of mountain-ranges, volcanic piles and peaks. Obvi- 

 ously, there is a natural drainage system, but there 

 are districts in which it must be modified, and the 

 methods employed must vary from those which are 

 suitable to low-lying, flat country. Moreover, the soil 

 is different, and the rainfall differs as regards degree^ 

 annual average and season. Specialized study of cane 

 cultivation is pai ticularl}- necestaiy in the West Indies, 



