kvoiiirr I, 1887^ f HE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST* 
THE WEST INDIES AT THE COLONIAL 
AND INDIAN EXHIBITION 1886 : NEW 
TROPICAL PRODUCTS PORTION. 
Bt Sir Augustus Adbeeley, k.c.m.g. 
(From address delivered before the Society of Arts.) 
Sugar. — Sugar, as the main staple, has become so 
much reduced in value that it is a serious question 
whether cultivation by the same proprietors can 
be continued for long unless some remedy can 
be found to counterbalance the effect of the Europ- 
ean bounty system upon our unsubsidised cane-sugar 
production. The extension to the British AVest Ind- 
ies of the most favoured nation clause iu existing 
treaties with the United States, is alno of much im- 
portance. The bounty system is gradually forcing the 
production of sugar out of its natural channel. This 
is evident by the fact that 2,500,000 tons of bpet 
sugar are now produced, all under the bounty system, 
while the production of the unsubsidised sugar is 
reduced to 2,000,000 of tons, all the product of the 
sugarcane. This is free trade with a vengeance, 
and the serious part of it is that we are ruining 
our own industries to create a monopoly for foreign 
countries. A great responsibility rests on England for 
all these troubles — troubles which, fortunatly perhaps for 
the West Indies, are extending to the home industries. 
A serious effort should be made to stop the storm 
of discontent which is slowly and surely spreading 
throughout England and in the West India Colonies. 
" A stitch in time saves nine ; " unfair trading ought 
no longer to be tolerated by our rulers or people. 
The sugar supply of the world is mostly derived 
from the sugar-cane, from beet-root, and to a small 
extent from tlio sugar-maple and other vegetable sources. 
The two largest consuming countries are England 
and the United States, the latter country slightly 
in excess of the former — say 1,300,000 tons for United 
States, as against 1,200,000 tons for England. 
All the sugars at the exhibition from the "West 
Indies were produced from the sugarcane, and the 
approximate annual production is about 280,000 tons, 
if we include British Guiana. 
Mr. Lubbock thus reports on these: — 
" The sugars exhibited by these Colonies are various, 
and include the brown Muscovado, so much liked by 
our refiners and those of the United States ; fine 
yellow Muscovado, suited for grocery purposes, which 
chiefly come from Barbadoes; the well-known bright 
yellow crystallised, mostly from Demerara, but now 
also largely produced in Trinidad, Barbadoes, and 
some of the other islands ; and finally, white crystals. 
These sugars are all eminently suitable for the English 
market, except the white crystals, which cannot 
compete with those of our refiners, not on account 
of any real inferiority, but from the impossibility 
of producing, at a cost which would be profitable, 
that sparkling appearance which our refiners, working 
on a large scale, can produce at a merely trifling 
expense. 
Raw cane-sugars are most agreeable to the taste, 
whilst a similar kind of beet-sugar is most disagree- 
able in taste and smell, which adjuncts are only 
to bo eliminated by a refining process. Consumers 
should note this. Kidney diseases are also said to 
be developed where beet root sugar is consumed. 
Oocoa. — Cocoa, or cacao, is the prepared seed of a 
tree originally discovered in the tropical parts of 
America. Its botanical name is Theobromi cacao. 
The seed is enclosed in a long pod, varying from 
7 to 10 inches. The plants with pods on were ex- 
hibited in the Trinidad Court. lis value depends 
a good deal upon the treatment of the seed. 
Mr. Henry Pasteur gives the following particulars 
ol cocoa : — 
Cocoa, unlike colVee, requires no expensive machin- 
ery for its preparation ; wooden boxes for the fer- 
mentation, and wooden platforms for the drying, 
OOVered with a moveable shed, are all that is wanted; 
and it. is strange that tuch a large proportion of 
our West India Colonies should ship their produce 
without using these simple means of curing properly. 
There are several modes used iu our Colonies for 
curing cocoa, to render it fit for shipment to the 
consuming countries. The simplest method is to take 
the pod, and strip it from the seed, wash the seed, 
and then dry it in the sun. The better plan is to 
place a quantity of seed— still enveloped in its 
copious, sweetish pulp— ju boxes closely covered, and 
to allow it to ferment for some days ; it is then 
washed free of the mucilage that is still left on the 
surface, and after that picked and dried. A further 
improvement has been made upon this treatment by 
refraining from the washing away of the mucilage 
after the fermentation has taken place, and allowing 
it to dry upon the shell whioh encloses the seed. 
This process is coming more generally into use, both 
iu Trinidad and Grenada. Oocoa requires a rich, 
deep, moist soil, and seems to flourish best at a low 
elevation. The rainfall in Trinidad averages CG inches 
annually, and the finest cocoa is grown at an elevation 
of from 60 to 200 feet above the sea leval ; the difficulty 
is in finding land and climate approaohing to these 
conditions. The planter, finding the position and 
soil suitable for the enterprise, and willing to be 
patient until his eocsa tree has arrived at maturity, 
will find in the fourth year results sufficient to pay 
him. The world's production of cocoa has been 
variously estimated at 100,000 000 lb. to 120,000,000, 
of which our English Colonies furnish quite 25,000,000 
lb. which mostly find their way to London. Iu Trini- 
dad only, there is a competition on the part of the 
United States of America and Frcnce for the inferior 
qualities, which are sold at the shipping port, all 
the. finer estate cocoa being sent here. The home 
consumption of Great Britain shows a steady increase 
of about 750,000 lb. yearly, the consumption, in 1885, 
being 14,600,000 lb. The English Government has 
taken Trinidad and Grenada cocoa for the Navy 
during the last seven or eight years, in preference to 
other sorts. 
The largest growing country is Ecuador, of which 
the produce is known in the mar ket under the name 
of Guayaquil cocoa, and the extent of its crop, as 
well as that of the Brazilian province of Para, have 
a marked influence on the prices realised for all kinds 
of cocoa. Those crops vary considerably from year to 
year in extent, Guayaquil more especially. In our 
own Colonies, Trinidad shows an increase, the crop 
of 1885 amounting to 14,000,000 lb, ; but in Grenada, 
St. Lucia, Dominica, and Jamaica, the quantity produced 
the last year or two does not seem to have varied. 
In seeking for a reason for the want of the extension 
of planting and cultivation to meet the increase of 
consumption, it may perhaps be found in the initial 
expense in the forming of new plantations. The 
trees do not yield tribute sufficiently remunerative 
until the fourth year. This waiting for results has 
no doubt prevented enterprise. The following is from 
my special report: — In making a report upon the 
value and quality of West India cocoa, I have, in 
the first place, to take into consideration the ultimate 
destination to which the varieties of cocoa go. In 
the manufacture iu Great Britain during the last 
fifteen years, an important alteration has taken place 
in the mode in which it is distributed for 
consumption. A few large manufacturers have taken 
the trade out of the hands of the general whloesalo 
dealer, who used to have, each his own way, a prepar- 
ation of cocoa, such as what is called " nibs, ' " flake,'' 
',' soluble,", &c. This individual treatmeut has been 
mostly superseded by large manufacturers, who, by 
a specific and scientific treatmet of the article, 
have introduced preparations superior to those made 
by the efforts of the dealers. In a measure this 
partial monopoly has been brought about by tht i 1 
taking care to make known to the public their 
several productions ; the public, when wanting cocoa 
or chocolate, asking for the " advertised article."' 
As rogards Trinidad cocoa, in the curing of it for tlio 
IDuglish manufacturer, I should hardly like to propose 
any alteration, but in view of the increasing pro- 
duction, which I should hope, judging from the vers 
permanent value established for it, ffifl induoe planters 
still to go on freely cultivating it. I'ooeider.iv 
m\i->t be given to the value of cocoa iu tho Pfinififl 
