THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[April i, 1882. 
interesting as being that in which sugar was first 
regularly made in the district. This was through the 
enterprise of Mr. Davidson, a West India planter, in 
1868. soon after Mr. Spiller's successful experiment 
at the Pioneer. A vacuum pan by Pontiles and Wood, 
of Loudon, is in use, and the capacity of the mill 
is equal to 800 tons of unrefined sugar in a season. 
There is a rum distillery in connection with the 
works, the produce of which I mentioned iu a former 
article. This property is now in the hands of an 
enterprising Melbourne firm, Messrs. Sloane and Co., 
and managed by Mr. Davidson, to whom we are in- 
debted for a series of valuable metereological observ- 
ations, which he has made at this place for several 
years, and by which I was much assisted while dis- 
cussing the climate of the district. The crop of cane 
on this estate, as on contiguous properties, is ex- 
ceedingly heavy and in healthy condition. 
Pleystowe Estate is situated on !he south bank of 
the Pioneer River, about 11 miles from town. Of the 
5000 acres forming the property, 850 acres are either 
under cane, or ploughed in readiness for planting. 
It is owned by Messrs. Hewit and Co., who have 
recently introduced several valuable improvements, 
including a 7 feet 6 inches vacum pan by Messrs. 
Smith and Co., Glasgow, four boilers of 40 horse-power, 
and a splendid hydraulic apparatus by which an in- 
exhaustible steam of pure water can be pumped from 
the adjoining river by steam power. The mill, con- 
structed by Russell, of Sydney, is capable of turning 
out 800 tons of sugar in a season. Here is the distillery 
which produces the celebrated Anchor brand rum, 
which has taken p'izes at several Exhibitions, and of 
which I have formerly spoken. The bottling depart- 
ment is very compact, the labelling being ornamental, 
while the corking and capsuling is done by machinery. 
The surroundings of the premises cannot fail to 
attract the visitor as being very beautiful, the resi- 
dence overlooking the forest-fringed river over a verdant 
slope, on which the mango, the citron, the cocoanut, 
the t'amarind, and other tropical fruit and ornamental 
trees luxuriate in splendour. 
Foulden estate, owned by Mr. Amhurst, now in Eng- 
land, and managed by Mr. Walker, lies partly on 
the south, but chiefly on the north bank of the Pioneer, 
where there is a. ford at low water. By the use of 
the charcoal process, the first sugar is here refined 
until it equals in appearance the best produce of the 
Sydney Sugar works, but it is said that it does not 
surpass in price that made at Te Kowai, without the 
use of charcoal. The syrup is forced by steam from 
the subsiders into seven large cylinders charged with 
animal charcoal, from which the dark-coloured liquid 
emerges a pale amber colour. The vessels are cleaned 
out and recharged once a week, the charcoal being 
purified by heating to redness in a closed oven. 
By this process it is maintained in a state fit to 
serve for many repeated operations, but in course of 
time its powers become diminished, so that fresh 
charcoal has to be used. This is made on the premises 
from bones, as is also superphospate of lime to be 
employed as manure. With an rrea of S00 acres, this 
estate has only 560 acres of land available for culti- 
vation. The best sugar made is packed in linen bags, 
imported from England, the contents weighing about 
70 lbs. ; mat bags being used only for inferior sorts, 
but this substance admits the escape of a great deal of 
line sugar during the rough handling the bags receive 
on board ship. There are four centrifugals, four 
boilers of 85 horse power, and there are GO horses 
employed. It is anticipated that the mill will produce 
800 tons of sugar during the present year. The 
molasses from the last sugar is passed through the 
animal charcoal cylinders in order to make golden 
Kyrup, and this is the only place in the district where 
the article i« manufactured, the molasses at the 
other mills being either sold to a Melbourne firm, or 
stored up for feeding horses, and for serving out as 
rations to the kanakas. The manager's residence, 
close to the mill, cannot but win the admiration of 
every traveller by the exceedingly beautiful landscape 
garden that has been laid out in front. 
I have before adverted to the fact of southern capital 
finding its way to Mackay for investment, and not- 
ably from Melbourne. Two companies, of whom I 
may again have occasion to speak, have commenced 
operations on a large scale, and next year we may 
learn something of their doings. Property is also 
changing hands. A few days ago, the beautiful Pioneer 
estate of Mr. Spiller, of which a brief account appeared 
in a former issue of the Mail, accompanied with 
illustrations, was sold to Mr. M'Kinnon, of Melbourne, 
for £95,000 cash and he entered into possession at 
once. 
Since I wrote last the Government have notified that 
on the 19th of October there will be open for selection 
in the Mackay district the land which in May last 
they had withdrawn, and this will serve as the start- 
ing-point of a new impetus in the sugar industry. 
At the present moment there is an agitation in 
Brisbane against the introduction of coolie labour 
from British India, where it is proposed to appoint 
an emigration agent. It is anticipated that great 
difficulty will be experienced in the future in obtain- 
ing an adequate supply of labour from the South Sea 
Islands, and the attention of the Government has been 
directed, to India as a country from which that labour 
can be abundantly obtained to meet the increasing 
demand, and without which it is alleged the sug^r 
industry cannot be profitably carried on. — Sydney Mail. 
ARTIFICIAL INDIGO. 
The ortho-nitrophenyl-propiolic acid, the colourless 
substance which on treatment with a reducing agent 
yields indigo blue, is already in the hands of the 
Manch ester calico printers, and is furnished by 
the Baden Aniline Company at the price of 6s. 
per pound for a piaste coniaining 25 pev cent of 
the dry acid. With regard to the nature of the 
competition .between the artificial and the natural 
colouring matters, it is necessary to say a few words. 
In the first place, the present price at which the 
manufacturers are able to sell their propiolic acid is 
50s. per kilog. But 100 parts of this can only yield, 
according to theory, 68 - 58 parts of indigo blue, so that 
the price of the artificial (being 73s. per kilog.) is 
more than twice that of the pure naiural colour. 
Hence competition with the natural dyestuff is not to 
be thought of until the makers can reduce the price 
of dry propiolic acid to 20s. per kilog., and also ob- 
tain a theoretical yield from their acid. This may, 
or it may not, be some day accomplished, but at 
present it will not pay to produce indigo from nitro- 
phenyl-propiolic acid. Nevertheless a large field lies 
open to the immediate future for turning Baeyer's 
discovery to practical account. The proper way of 
looking at this question at present is, to consider 
ortho-nitro-phenyl-propiolic acid and Indigo as two 
distinct products not comparable with each other, 
inasmuch as the one can be put to uses for which the 
other is unfitted, and there is surely scope enough for 
both. Looking at this question of the possible com- 
petition of artificial with the natural Indigo from 
another point of view, it must, on the other hand, 
be borne in mind that the present mode of manu- 
facturing indigo from the plant is extremely rude and 
imperfect, and that, by an improved and more careful 
carrying out of the process, great saving in colouring 
matter may be effected, so that it may prove possible 
to produce a purer article at a lower price, and 
thus to counterbalance the production of the artificial 
