Report of Society's Meetings. 389 



would assist in keeping them up to the mark in 

 future. 



The Hon. Mr. Luard said he did not state that the 

 managers were ignorant of the cost of the different 

 operations but only that some did not go into the 

 details. 



The Hon. N. D. Davis said that the paper referred to 

 the burning of trash in Berbice. If this was done there 

 with satisfaftory results why was it not adopted in other 

 parts of the colony ? He understood that it was a pre- 

 ventative of the borer and also useful to destroy rats. 



The President referring to the remarks of the Hon. 

 Mr. Jones, said that he did not think any manager could 

 make sugar at $68 a ton under present conditions, and 

 he was willing to admit that during late heavy seasons it 

 had cost $100 in some places. His obje6l was to point 

 out that unless they could produce sugar for an average 

 of years with present prices they would be unable to go 

 on at all. He wished them to look this fa6t squarely in 

 the face, and he did not think they would argue that the 

 sum ought not to be sufficient under average conditions. 

 Sugar was going down again and something must be done 

 to reduce the cost of manufa6lure. In regard to trash 

 burning, he believed it had originally arisen from cane- 

 cutters refusing to work unless it were done, probably for 

 fear of snakes. As far as he knew no damage was done 

 by the pra6lice and it saved the expense of burying the 

 trash. In Demerara the trash was buried as manure, 

 and where the land was not as rich as in Berbice this was 

 desirable, but he thought the pra6lice could be intro- 

 duced on many estates without injury. 



The Hon. Mr. Jones said he had seen the eyes of the 



3D 



