THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [February i, 1888. 
the Ecaroity of labour, the expediency of encourag- 
ing by every reasonable means a resident peasantry 
on the sugar estates was attended with very satis- 
factory results, and was seldom overlooked. Many 
inducements were held out to the labourer to reside 
on the estate on which hia services were required. 
He was generally provided with suitable house ac- 
commodation, and sometimes free medical attendance, 
and some land was allotted to him to cultivate provi- 
sions. He was even allowed, when found to be very 
steady and industrious, to rear stock. It can readily 
be imagined that such privileges were a great induce- 
ment to many to establish themselves and their 
families permanently on the estates, and cost the pro- 
prietors very little. Time has shown whether the 
gradual withdrawal of those privileges was a wise 
measure. They were no doubt discontinued in 
order to extend cultivation, which it would have been 
more prudent to restrict, and increase by superior 
tillage the return from the land. Some of tbe la- 
bourers became settlers on Crown Lands, while the 
greater number removed to the neighbouring villages 
where inducements to lead an intemperate and idle 
life led to an increase of pauperism and crime. As 
the price of food increased by the discontinuance to 
cultivate ground provisions, and owing probably to 
the improved state of the sugar market, the labour- 
er's pretensions to higher wages naturally increased, 
and the practice of paying higher wages to non-resi- 
dent labourers became general, but has recently and 
very properly been discontinued as being most im- 
politic. 
Whatever sacrifices it may be deemed necess- 
ary to make, with the view of encouraging 
a large resident peasantry on the sugar estates, 
it cannot be doubted that the benefit which 
would arise from such sacrifices would amply com- 
pensate the planter, and there is reason to believe that 
while some of our Creole labourers might be induced 
to become resident labourers, thousands of labourers 
now in the neighbouring islands, where the distress 
among them seems to he increasing daily, would be glad 
to avail themselves of an offer to settle here if a liberal 
scheme were devised, satisfying the immigrants that 
their condition wovdd be improved by making Trinidad 
their home. 
The introduction also of a system of tenant farmers, 
wherever practicable, would help very much towards 
improving the condition of the labouring classes, while 
it would prove equally beneficial to the proprietor of 
sugar estates. But in order to insure success such 
schemes as suggested must be well matured, for it is 
no easy matter to conciliate interests, which, although 
apparently conflicting, are nevertheless identical ; and 
when it is considered that the welfare of two classes, 
the employers and the employed are involved, a 
policy which will tend to produce mutual concessions 
and inspire mutual confidence cannot be too strongly 
advocated. 
In considering the question of remunerative labour, 
it is very important not to loose sight of the fact that 
it oaDnot be obtained with the prevailing low prices 
of sugar in the absence of cheap food for the people, 
aind it can hardly be doubted that the suggestions just 
made if carried out will tend much towards reducing 
the price of food. 
A good supply of labour alone, however, will not 
suffice to restore the prosperity of the sugar oaue 
planter, although it will help him on considerably. 
The sharp competition that now prevails necessitates 
through reforms in the modes of culture, while the 
manufacturing appliances must comprise the latest im- 
provements, and it is to be hoped that the present 
depression will be viewed with a keen appreciation 
of what has been done in older countries towards 
reduoing the coBt of production. 
The agricultural resources of the colony a.e great, 
yet comparatively little indeed is done towards im- 
proving them. It is a fact that while the best British 
soils now bear four times the crop they bore a few 
centuries ago — and this is due to improved tillage — 
our soils have been considerably deteriorated by defect- 
ive tillage, but not exhausted as supposed by some 
planters. In referring to this subject, Messrs. Wall 
and Sawkins, in their very able report on the geology 
of Trinidad, page 117, state that—" The term exhausted 
has been employed as usual in the colony, but it is 
highly objectionable, as soils which have been worked 
fifty years may be more productive and more remuner- 
ative if properly operated than others which are only 
just brought under cultivation." 
It is also a fact that manures are imported yearly from 
different countries at no small expense, and applied to 
our cane fields, while no attention is paid to their 
preparation on a large scale from local resources, 
which are allowed to waste, and here again let me 
quote from the same report the following observations 
and advice which will bear out my statemeut, and, 
it is to be hoped, prove interesting to those who may 
read this paper : — 
" It has been customary to attempt to ward off 
exhaustion by the application of expensive imported 
manures. The following suggestions for supplying the 
essential substances more cheaply, and equally perhaps 
more efficiently, may be useful, especially since the 
deposits of guano are described as diminishing in 
consequence of tbe enormous quantities which are 
annually carried away. Phosphoric Acid and Phosphate 
of Lime by the introduction of crushed bones, or if 
collected in the Colony to be crushed before applica- 
tion, mixed with Sulphuric Acid and allowed to digett 
some time, this latter process frees the former acid 
and renders it available for the plant. Carbonate of 
Potash and Sulphate of Ammonia in small quantities 
would afford the necessary alkalies. These substances 
with the application of lime, already referred to, 
would supply the mineral matter of the cane. 
"The piinciple of extending the area under canes 
to the utmost limits and pioducing the last hogshead 
possible, seems to be far too exclusively pursued, and 
the question of reduced cost of production to be effected 
by superior systems of cultivation and manufacture 
almost entirely neglected, and yet the latter is not 
only the most promising course of procedure to secure 
the Colony from disaster in the case of further 
competition with cheaper grown produce, but it may 
be predicted would iuitiate an entirely new era in 
its industrial history." 
Although Messrs. Wall and Sawkins wrote the 
above extracts 26 years ago, they are still applicable 
to the present state of agriculture in the Colony, and 
although more attention is now paid to improved 
modes of culture, and some improvements have been 
effected in manufacturing appliances, yet the results 
as to the cost of production show that much remains 
to be done. The importance of a cheap supply of 
fuel, a heavy item of expenditure in the manufac- 
ture of sugar, and one which will be considerably 
increased by the adoption of the diffusion system, 
appears as a rule to be disregarded, so far at least 
as the procuring of it from local resources is involved; 
Large shipments of coals and patent fuel come across 
the ocean yearly — a distance of 4,000 miles, while it 
is well-known that important carbonaceous deposits 
exist in different parts of the Island, and one not 
further than a mile from this town on the " Vista 
Bella" Estate, at about half a mile from the Govern- 
ment Railway. No serious action has ever been taken 
towards developing the resources of such valuable 
mineral fuels. On the other hand, thousands of 
uncultivated acres that could be made to produce at 
an inconsiderable outlay an abundant supply of bam- 
boos for fuel are neglected. 
There are other products necessary to the main- 
tenance of the cane sugar industry, which it is the 
practice to import from other countries, such as oats 
and oil meal, and which might very well be substi- 
tuted by Indian corn and corn meal, products which 
by the exercise of a little extra trouble could be 
supplied by the planter himself at a comparatively 
small expenditure. But as there are sometimes cer- 
tain interests at par with those of the planter which 
unfortunately have to be satisfied to his detriment, 
this circumstance has probably operated towards the 
neglect of the minor industries in connection with 
the cane cultivation , 
