156 TIMEHRI. 
Ae OE MLR 5 AGO ME 
such a leéture will be highly instru€tive to you, and I 
consider that you ought to endeavour to persuade Mr. 
Morris to give you a leéture on tropical produéts other than 
sugar. From what I know of the agriculture and manu- 
faéture of the staple produ& here and elsewhere, I am 
perfectly confident that the Commissioners will find on 
the great majority of estates in this colony that agri- 
culture is being carried on in a scientific and up to date 
manner as applied to heavy clay soils; and that your 
Sugar extraction, as judged by the percentage of the 
sucrose recovered, is fully equal to modern results and 
compares favourably even with the Beet producing coun- 
tries when allowance is made for the differences in struc- 
ture and compositions of the raw materials. British Guiana 
planters have even availed themselves of the services of 
German chemical experts. Of'course there are smaller 
estates in the colony not so well equipped as are the larger 
ones, but the Commissioners will be sure to arrive at the 
conclusion that this is due, not in any way to apathy but 
to alack of cask and credit which has been caused direétly 
by the low and unremunerative range of prices produced 
by the Continental Bounty system. Among the principal 
poiats to which the Agricultural Committee must dire& 
their attention are the causes of the prevalence of certain 
obscure plant diseases. The most reliable information re- 
garding these comes from scientific experts in Java, but, 
unfortunately for us in this colony, their work appears to 
be done;chiefly with the White and Purple transparent 
varieties which are immune to some of the diseases 
affe€ting the Bourbon, while more subjeét to others 
such as the leaf-rust fungus. Hence we find the Java 
authorities inclined to consider Trichospheria sacchari 
