Jan. 13, 1887] 



NA TURE 



249 



have been greatly increased by the improved production 

 of beet-sugar in Europe. 



The chief sugar islands at present are Barbados, 

 Antigua, St. \'incent, Trinidad, St. Lucia, and Tobago. 

 At Jamaica, sugar and rum are still the staple industries, 

 and form 39 per cent, of the exports, the balance being 

 made up by other industries, such as coflee, fruit, and dye- 

 woods. At Trinidad cacao is largely grown, and the ex- 

 port value of this article is nearly two-thirds that of sugar. 

 Grenada, once a large sugar-growing colony, is now almost 

 entirely devoted to cacao. Montserrat is becoming noted 

 for its lime plantations, and exports of lime-juice ; while 

 Dominica exports concentrated lime-juice, cacao, cocoa- 

 nuts, and tropical fruits. The Bahamas have a large 

 tropical fruit trade with America, supplemented by the 

 export of sponges, to the value of ^60,000 annually. In 

 spite of these smaller industries, however, there is no 

 doubt that the chief business of the West Indies is still 

 that of sugar. A capital of something like fifty millions 

 sterling is invested in it, and the people are naturally 

 reluctant to relinquish an industry which has, in the cours; 

 of a century, become thoroughly established, and which is 

 familiar in its details to all classes of the community. But, 

 after all, it is impossible to overcome the logic of facts : 

 and it is admitted on all sides that sugar, under present 

 circumstances, can with difficulty be grown and manu- 

 factured to pay a profit. Hence it is not surprising that 

 there is a strong desire to enter upon other cultivations ; 

 and it is well for the future prosperity of the West Indies 

 that this should be so. The depression in the past and 

 the comparative poverty of the present are no doubt due 

 to the exclusive cultivation of one plant ; for under such 

 circumstances, when the sugar-market is depressed, every- 

 thing is depressed. If improvements in cultivation were 

 adopted, and if such high scientific skill as is applied to 

 the manufacture of beet-sugar were applied to the manu- 

 facture of cane-sugar, it is the opinion of many that the 

 planters would again become prosperous. But something 

 more is necessary. With the exception of two islands in 

 the whole group — namely, Antigua and Barbados — it is 

 estimated that more than one-half of the actual surface of 

 the West Indian Islands is suitable for other cultivations 

 than sugar-cane. This being so, the people injure their 

 best interests by neglecting the resources at their disposal. 



In purely sugar islands, such as Barbados and Anti- 

 gua, permanent improvement is to be sought in more 

 economic and improved systems of cultivation, added 

 to which there should be a concentration of all purely 

 manufacturing processes under what is known as the 

 Usine system. This latter system is already in exist- 

 ence at Trinidad, St. Lucia, British Guiana, and in the 

 French island of Martinique ; and it is proved beyond 

 question that where the manufacture of sugar is treated as 

 a highly specialised industry, finer and better qualities are 

 produced, and the expenses are considerably diminished. 

 Planters are therefore recommended to confine themselves 

 as much as possible to the cultural operations of a sugar 

 estate. L'nder such a division of labour there would follow 

 a more careful trial of different varieties of the sugar- 

 cane, adapted to the different soils, a more scientific 

 application of special manures, and such general regula- 

 tion of all cultural operations as would produce canes of 

 the highest saccharine richness. In Barbados, Trinidad, 

 and Jamaica, there are already Government analytical 

 chemists, who are qualified to give valuable information 

 to planters as regards soils and manures ; and from 

 a report recently prepared at Barbados by Prof. 

 Harrison it is evident that much good would result from 

 a larger utilisation of chemical knowledge as applied to 

 sugar cultivation, both in the interest of the individual and 

 of the general community. 



During the last five or six years eftbrts have been 

 made to increase the efficiency of West Indian industries 

 by a wider and more general application of scientific 



methods not only to the sugar-cane but to all other 

 plants which may be found suitable to the circumstances 

 of the several islands. Hitherto two botanical establish- 

 ments have been maintained for the West Indies— one at 

 Jamaica and the other at Trinidad. From these centres, 

 but especially from that of Jamaica, economic plants and 

 information by means of annual reports and other publica- 

 tions have been regularly furnished, and such agencies 

 have greatly assisted in enlarging the scope of experi- 

 mental culture. 



In the Report of the Royal (West Indian Finance) 

 Commission, appointed in 1883, it was stated that there 

 was a growing inclination on the part of the planters in 

 other West Indian colonies to apply for seeds and plants 

 to the Botanical Establishment in Jamaica, which could 

 supply each island with what it required in the most 

 economical manner. Sir Joseph Hooker, commenting on 

 this report, expressed the opinion that there could be no 

 doubt that the future prosperity of the West Indies would 

 be largely affected by the extension to other islands, un- 

 provided with any kind of botanical establishment, of the 

 operations so successfully pursued in Jamaica. And it 

 was suggested by Mr. Thiselton Dyer that, in addition to 

 the distribution of plants, there might be organised a 

 regular system of botanical bulletins, containing practical 

 hints as to the treatment of economic plants, and the con- 

 ditions under which they might be best utilised as objects 

 of remunerative industry. 



At the instance of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 

 it was ultimately decided that the whole of the West India 

 Islands should be asked to co-operate in a systematic en- 

 deavour to promote and extend the cultivation of economic 

 plants, and thus to develop more fully than heretofore their 

 natural resources. This proposition was duly laid before 

 the Governments of Barbados, the two groups of the Lee- 

 ward and Windward Islands, and the colony of British 

 Honduras. On account of the want of direct and regular 

 communication, it was found impossible to include the 

 Bahamas, while British Guiana is already supplied with its 

 own botanic garden. The conditions on which the islands 

 lying within the West India group were asked to join 

 in this industrial federation were, first, the provision 

 of an annual grant for the maintenance of a local station 

 to discharge the functions of a scientific outpost and a 

 nursery ; and secondly, the contribution of small sums 

 towards the support of operations at the central establish- 

 ment. These small sums were intended to cover the 

 special expenses incurred in behalf of each island in main- 

 taining a depot for seeds and plants, and to pay the 

 cost of publishing the botanical bulletins, which were 

 intended to form an important feature in the scheme. 

 The Legislative Councilof Jamaica has recently expressed 

 its willingness to give effect to the principle of the scheme 

 as regards making the Botanical Establishment in that 

 colony one of the central points of action ; and it is 

 anticipated that, while granting valuable aid to the smaller 

 islands, Jamaica itself will derive, both directly and in- 

 directly, considerable benefit from such vigorous and 

 systematic working as would naturally arise in its own 

 area, as well as from a larger interchange of plants and 

 seeds with the neighbouring islands. 



It is hardly necessary to observe that, in reply to the 

 Secretary of State's despatch, the smaller islands were 

 not slow to express their desire to be included in the 

 scheme, and steps were taken in several to give effect 

 to this desire by the establishment of local stations. 

 Barbados was fortunate in possessing favourable means 

 for starting a botanical station in connection with the 

 Boys' Reformatory at Dods, where land was already 

 under experimental cultivation in canes and in food- 

 plants suitable to the district. This station is now at work, 

 under a committee whose business is to supervise opera- 

 tions, and to communicate directly with the central 

 establishment. 



