CHAP. V SUGAR CANE 133 



with success. To expect the EngHsh farmer to raise corn 

 and then to make it into flour and bread, would be regarded 

 as absurd. The farmer is the cultivator, and he confines his 

 attention to matters agricultural ; the miller is a manufac- 

 turer, and it is for him to prepare what the farmer has 

 grown. The same argument applies to the West Indian 

 sugar planter. He should be content to raise the canes on Advantages 

 his land, and to allow the manufacturer to make the sugar, system!^^'"^ 

 The planter will then raise better and more abundant crops, 

 and the manufacturer will make better and cheaper sugar. 

 In a large factory, scientific matters can receive due atten- Economy 

 tion, and the management must be cheaper and more effec- ciency in tiie 

 tive than it can possibly be in any of the many small " sugar ^^the^emml 



works." ' factories. 



Soil.— The sugar cane will grow upon almost any soil. Most soil 



•-> i J suitable. 



Clays, loam, marls, and calcareous soils, are all suitable, 



more or less, for cane cultivation. Indeed, considering that 



canes are grown in all the principal West Indian colonies, 



with their wide diversity of soils, one might feel inclined to 



come to the conclusion that the nature of the soil was of no 



account in the cultivation. And neither was it of great Large profits 



moment when large profits were made by the sugar planters, day*^^"^^"^ 



but now that such low prices are got for the produce, the 



canes can be cultivated profitably only on land that is best 



suited for them. Rich, porous clays, and alluvial soils on The best 



low lands through which rivers run, are the most favourable 



for cane cultivation, with the exception, perhaps, of loams 



formed by the decomposition of volcanic rocks. Such a The soil of 



soil as the last mentioned is found in St. Kitts, and sugar can ^'' ^"^^' 



be produced in that island cheaper than in any other part of 



the West Indies. 



Lime is a necessary ingredient in all cane lands, and thus 

 when there is a deficiency of it in the soil, it must be added 

 as a manure. A writer on the sugar cane says, " Lime is Lime in the 

 beneficial to almost any soil, particularly new, and especially ^^'^ neces- 

 where the salts of iron are found : " but, of course, this does 



