FebruarV i, 1888.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
535 
The production of a crop of about 1300 tons of 
sugar means an expenditure for oats and oil mea' 
alone for tbe stock, of some §10,000, and although a 
moderate outlay would suffice to produce from the 
estate lands the necessary amount of grain and meal, 
leaving a large profit to the proprietor, yet the ex- 
periment has not been mude, and we are satisfied 
to continue in the old groove and fear to free our- 
selves from old prejudices. 
The heavy losses hitherto sustained by the use of 
antiquated and defective machinery and appliances 
can no longer be tolerated, if those interested in the 
cane sugar industry expect to compete successfully 
with the producers of Beet Sugar. The age in which 
we live does not admit of any hesitation, which, under 
pr< sent circumstances, would bo fatal to the former 
industry. The return of Boet por acre in Germany 
is about 12 tons, which yield about 1^ tons of sugar 
of a quality very inferior to our vacuum pans, and 
the total cost varies from £8 to £11 per ton. 
With the best machiuury here now in use (the 
average number of tons of canes por acre being about 
20), the yield of vaouum pan sugar per acre may be 
computed at about H tons. But by improving the 
modes of culture, and thereby increasing tho yield 
from 20 to 20 tone of canes per acre, and even over, 
and by substituting the Diffusion process with all the 
recent improvements for our mills and copper walls, 
an increase to 3 tons of superior vacuum ban sugar 
per acre may fairly be anticipated, with the result 
of a diminution in the actual cost of production of 
at least 25 per cent, while effecting a considerable im- 
provement in quality. And let me ask, under such 
circumstances can any one now doubt that a new era 
of prosperity is opening for the cane sugar producer, 
if he can only manage to secure the necessary capital 
to take advantage of the great scientific improve- 
ments in machinery and manufacturing appliances of 
recent years, which prove beyond a doubt that no 
plant can yield sugar at as great a profit as the sugar 
cane; for the Diffusion system is now au accomplished 
fact. Tho defects which at one time existed, havo 
vanished beforo the scientific researches of those, who, 
from the very beginning, predicted for it a bright 
future. The cane slicing machines have now beeu 
brought to gri-it perfection, and everything else con- 
nected with the process. 
Inferring to this subject, tho following extract from 
an article by Mr. Edmond Kiffard, an eminent 
authority < n such matters, will bear out my state- 
ment as to the relative value of the cane and beet. 
" E11 prisma de res /'nits la sucrtrie indighie bettcraviire 
a lr droit d'enrirr I'industrie coloniale. iVbiu n'apprnii- 
voni pat d'auantage Its recriminations de ces demiers, car 
ill sont les maltres de la situation si tautest que leuT 
rolnnti de sitirre le pi ogres soit bien arretv." 
As a na'ive of the colony and as one who has 
always taken the liveliest interests in its prosperity, 
I cannot refrain from referring here to the recent for- 
mation by His Excellency Sir William Kobiusou of 
District Agricultural Boards. The great interest which 
Mis Excellency continues to take in their success, is 
a pledge of his earnestness to develop every branch 
of our agricultural resources and secure for the country 
that measure of prosperity, which it is beginning to 
lack, and which, as a rule, is enjoyed in agricultural 
eoniruunities with similar institutions. 
The liberal policy of the present Government to- 
wards agricultural industries in general, is such as 
to jeetify the belief in tho revival on a sound anil 
permanent basis of the cane sugar industry, while 
pr, nil ids which are now included among Minor In- 
dustries will in a few years henoe form no iusigui- 
nrnnt part of our exports. 
The poliey of the Mother Country is so much op- 
posed to protection, that it is unreasonable to expect 
any relief which would involve the m ssitv for a 
ohan({« of that poliry. But adversity, which is a 
severe is al«o at times a useful teacher, and if I 
may be allowed to predict the future from the past 
history of tho country, it is not unreasonable to ex- 
poet that the great sugar crisis, by which all classes of 
the comuiuuity are more or leas • tfectud, will in due 
time give way to a more prosperous state of things 
which will be brought about by a more general 
observance of the relations of science to agriculture; 
and by the prompt and decisive action of those 
capitalists who have already such large investments 
in the Colony : for if results basod on scientific 
principles are to be depended upon, no one can any 
longer doubt, that to use tho words of Mr. Edmond 
Riffard, quoted above, the cane sugar producers are 
now masters of tho situation. 
So far as we are concerned, the question seems 
to resolve itself to this, that considering the special 
advantages, situation, climate, fertility of soil, etc., 
possessed by Trinidad, if the necessary capital to 
permit of the introduction of more scientific methods 
of culture, and at the same time the most approved 
modern appliances be brought to bear on tho cane 
sugar as has been the case with the beet sugar in- 
dustry, the result must be a complete victory for 
the for net. And under present circumstances it 
may l/fi askol, what are the agricultural industries 
that olfer to capitalists a safer investment than that 
of the cane sugar in this Colony and in some of 
the neighbouring Colonies enjoying the same advan- 
tages of climate, stability of tho Government, and 
absence from popular commotions. 
Possibly the struggle that has been going on bet- 
ween the two great industries for many years on 
very unequal terms, may have somewhat, in certain 
localities, reduced the chances in favour of carrying 
ou the cane sugar industry successfully by private 
enterprise- But the remedy in such cases seems to 
be a simple one, viz., the formation of joint stock 
companies. The immunity from losses so far as 
human foresight can be relied upon, and the large 
dividends such companies would enjoy, cannot, I 
think, be doubted, in the presence of such facts as 
havo been, I trust, satisfactorily proved in this paper. 
— San Fernando Gazette. 
COD-LIVEK OIL AS A CATTLE FOOD. 
Tbe suggestion of C jd-Liver Oil as a cattle food per- 
haps savours of the incredible ; but it ia nevorthelosa 
a fact that the experiment has been tried with success 
in England. In a country like India, where from want 
of proper food, and tbe wasting diseases which are 
so common to the oattle in this Country} as often to 
make them resemble ' Pharaoh 's lean kine,' this dis- 
covery of tho properties of Cod-Liver Oil for fattening 
cattle ia worthy of attention. Cod-Liver Oil has hither- 
to been associated in our minds with tho nourishment 
of tho human system, but when it is understood that 
this oil differs in its nature from castor and other apo- 
rieiil oiL, and is distinctly nutritive, it will be easily 
understood how it can be used for fattening cattle, 
as well as tho roaring of sickly and inferior stock. 
Animals, like human beings, requiro a certain amount 
of fat or oil to supply them with tho requisite amount 
of caloric. The fact is recognised in many forms both 
for man and beast. In tho case of such animals as 
horses, sheep ami homed cattle, the fat has usually 
been 'Supplier! tb them in the form of linseed or cotton 
cake-, a 'd bhi substitution of a more nutritive oil is 
therefore u question of comparative expouso. This 
would, therefore, appear to be solved by tho use of 
cod-liver oil. Any pasturage from roots and twigs, 
deficient iu nutrition, may bo made tho vehicle for 
tho transmission into the stomach of the commisariat 
camol and mule of a small quantity of a cod-liver oil, 
which will sustain and keep in condition transport 
animals on the line of march. The pasturage of our 
troops, so inferior iu seasons of drought, and so liable 
to engender colic in wet whether, can now DS.ufe- 
guarded. Mr. Alfred Bjnwick, tho managing director 
of Messrs. Jensen k Co., wo loam, himself greatly 
interested iu agricultural pursuits, conceived tho idea 
of trying tho experiment of feeding cod-liver oil on 
a commercial scale. It would bo a long history to 
relate tho moaus by which the perfecting and cheap- 
ening of tho supplies havo beou elfeote I. Thoy in- 
Tolved the outlay of much capital. In carryiug them 
