THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [July i, 1887. 
proportions of the different fertilizers to be employed, 
bo as to produce the greatest quantity of sugar at 
the lowest possihle cost. 
This is a problem, for the solution of which, the 
primary data are almost entirely wanting. We know 
as a general rule, that we have to supply the plants 
with azote, phosphoric acid, lime and potash, but we 
are still iguoraut of the nature of the action of these 
different elements on vegetation, or what the effect 
is, which each of them exercises ou the sugar 
contained in the cane. Nor are we any better in- 
formed as to the form in which each is most advan- 
tageously presented to the plant, nor are opinions 
fixed even as to the best method of application. 
Is it better to place them on the surface leaving the 
rain to cause them to penetrate into the soil P Or 
is it preferable to incorporate them with the soil 
by a systematic digging, or ought we rather to 
concentrate them at the foot of each plant? 
Again, what are we to think as regards renovating 
the soil by means of cultivation more or less un- 
productive, such as peas, the embrevatte, &c, which 
cultivation improves the soil in a certain measure, 
but which has the disadvantage of leaving capital 
idle for a longer or shorter period on which interest 
has to be paid? May it be possible by the employ- 
ment of manure to do without the rotation of un- 
productive crops? 
Such are the principal questions raised by the 
problem for increased production, questions which can 
only be solved by numerous and minute experiments, 
carried on methodically on establishments especially 
devoted to such researches. If we turn from cultiv- 
tion to manufacture, we find before us questions fully 
as important and equally complex. 
The first point is the separation of the cane juice 
from the. woody fibre of the plant. Hitherto this 
operation has been effected by the crushing power of 
cylinders turned by machinery. 
But, although we seem to have attained the max- 
imum crushing power which is mechanically possible, 
this separation is accomplished in a very imperfect 
way, the best mills still leaving in the "bagasse" or 
cane refuse from 20 to 25 per cent of the total juice 
contained in the cane, which represents 25 to 33 per 
100 of the juice obtained. Amongst the numerous 
methods which have been proposed for the purpose 
of reducing this loss to the minimum that which 
seems to present the best chances of success is 
" la diffusion," or extraction of the succharine matter 
by boiling the cane. But the application of this method 
to the sugar cane presents difficulties which do not 
appear to have been as yet overcome. 
Besides the modifications of the apparatus used in 
the case of beet root, in order to adapt it to the 
manipulation of sugar cane, which modifications in 
some respects are at the present time subjects of 
experimental investigation, there are other difficulties 
of a grave nature which must be kept in mind. 
First, the increased quantity of fluid to be evaporated, 
increasing the quantity more or less considerable of 
coal which is rendered necessary. 
Secondly, the difficulty of drying the husk of the 
cane when removed from the boilers (diffuseurs) or 
digesters, so as to render it fit for fuel, as is now 
done with the "bagasse" (cane trash or " ampas " 
as it is called in Java), 
The idea has been suggested of abandoning the use 
of the refuse of the cane as fuel, and the opinion 
has been put forward that by digging it into the 
fields as manure, it would represent a value f quivalent 
to the cost of replacing it as fuel by coal, but this is an 
opinon that has not yet been confirmed by experience. 
The loss of sugar consequent on the incomplete 
extraction of juice from the cane is not the only 
results of the imperfection in our processes of manu- 
facture ; we must also bear in mind the quantity of 
sugar ntained in the molasses and which may be 
estimate I as a ten'h of the quiutity of sugar con- 
tained in the cane juice. This is caused by the 
presence in the juico of glucose, mucilage ami differ- 
ent salts, all of which substances have the tffect of 
opposing the crystallisation of the sugar. 
And this loss of quantity is not the only result of 
the presence of such mollasses forming matter, we 
must remember that the loss in quality in the 2ud, 
3rd and 4ih boilings caused by the discoloring pro- 
duced by these same matters may be calculated at 
from 3 to 10 per cent of the value of the whole 
crop. 
Let us uow add the sugar which remains in the 
skimmings that which is dispersed in evaporation 
in the triple effects, and lastly the unavoidable waste 
which takes place in some proportion, and we shall 
arrive at the conclusion that the loss incurred in 
manipulation of the juice is equal to that arising 
from its imperfect extraction from the cane, and that 
each of these losses represents fully 20 per cent of 
the sugar produced. There is thus a total loss of 
43 per cent resulting from imperfect manufacture. 
Thus it will be seen that there is a wide field open 
to the researches of scientific men, and it is greatly 
to be desired that agreeably to the request addressed 
to Government by the Chamber of Agriculture, sub- 
stantial rewards should be offered for the discovery 
of the means of reducing this loss to a minimum. 
To sum up the result of the imperfection of our 
process of manipulation as well as of our system of 
cultivation is, that our soil produces hardly the half 
of what it ought to yield, and that there is room 
for the hope that important improvements might be 
effected in these matters, if a plan of serious studies 
could be organized, systematically conducted and 
pursued with that perseverance which can alone 
jead to success. O. B. 
Exhibition at Oonegliano. — An important ex- 
hibition of apparatus and implements for the pre- 
vention of the diseases of the vine, and for destroy- 
ing insects that infest it, was held last month at 
Oonegliano. The exhibitors, who were not limited to 
Italians, were 197 in number, and of the 524 different 
machines, apparatus, and implements shown, 450 were 
connected with application of milk of lime, the most 
effectual remedy for the disease called jyeronospora, 
the proportion being from 8 to 10 of slaked lime to 
100 of water. The experiments, made before a jury 
composed of the most eminent viticulturists and 
scientific men, which lasted five days, will be de- 
scribed in a report to the Minister of Agriculture, 
and will contain a variety of useful information and 
plates. Three gold medals, three silver with money 
prize of 150 francs, seven silver ones, and four bronze 
ones were awarded, and besides these, three special 
premiums were given by the local agricultural com- 
mittee. — Journal of the Society of Arts. 
Mb. Gow's Tea Witheree and its Woek. — I 
have this morning seen and tasted samples of tea 
made by Mr. Gow's witherer, sold at the same 
time and by the same broker as a break of tea from 
the same estate, but made by the ordinary process 
during the same week and in similar weather : the 
one tea was finished off in two hours, the other in 
twenty-four hours. The broker who sold them knew 
rolling of these conditions, and it is worthy of note 
that the two parcels sold for the same price within 
a fjrthing, a difference not worth considering. So 
far as I was able to judge, there was really notbiflg 
to choose between the two lots, a fact which proved 
beyond doubt that the new withering process is ab- 
solutely successful, although these teas were made in 
favourable weather, and, therefore, did not show as 
might otherwise have been done, the advantages of 
Mr. Gow's system in unfavourable weather. For 
sp< cial reasons this tea from the Mariwatte estate 
was sold ui der a different mark— a plain " M."— 
and there is an opinion that had it gone forward 
under iis proper mark, more money might have 
been obtained for it, as buyers as a rule pay little 
attention to teas with unknown marks. — Home Cor,, 
Local " Times." 
