934 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[May i, 1882. 
on those that ought to have been at once put out of | 
"cultivation was more than made good by the profit from ; 
the others more favourably situated. But this was obvi- i 
ously a serious drag on the aggregate prosperity of the 
industry. And of late years a wholesome change has 
come. The mortgagees have been largely realising, and 
a new class of unfettered' and resident proprietors has 
arisen and bids fair to increase. These men will not 
grow Sugar unless the soil and aspect are sufficient to 
make the cultivation pay at present prices. And some 
of the shrewdest local men are investing largely in such 
cultivation. It is the inauguration of a new order of 
things, in thorough and wholesome keeping with the 
times and then- needs. 
There was much that was altogether wrong and " un- 
economical " in this survival of a state of things hope- 
lessly out of accord with the times. The case was pithily 
put to me the other day : — " Each estate of 300 acres 
is expected to keep five carnages — the owner in Eng- 
land must have his brougham; the merchant in Eng- 
land must drive his barouche ; and the merchant in 
Kingston, the owner's attorney, and the overseer on the 
estate must each of them maintain his buggy." In the 
old days of £60 a ton such maintenance was perfectly 
practicable, but when • receipts fell from £18,000 to 
£5,000 per annum, such claim on the resources of the 
estate could no longer be met, for expenses at the least 
remained the same as of old. And now each one of 
these five classes, from his own point of view, declares 
Sugar-growing hopelessly rained for ever. It has now 
been found that when the profits are lowered by two- 
thirds similar profits are still to be made, provided the 
number of those who share in these profits is reduced 
l>ro tanto. And this discovery is the secret both of the 
calumniations and of the present prosperity of the Sugar- 
growing in Jamaica. 
Thus, if we penetrate these and other misconceptions, 
we shall appreciate aright both the present actual cost 
of production of Sugar and, above all, its future pros- 
pects. These costs divide themselves under two great 
heads, respectively dealing with cost of cultivation on 
the one hand, and cost of transferring the commodities 
and putting them up for sale in the English market 
on the other. In regard to the present cost of cultiv- 
ation, a wide experience of estates leads to the decided 
opinion that so long as Sugar commands £12 or £14 a 
ton in the local market fair profits are made by the 
growers. Beetroot-growers should pay attention not only 
to this fact, but to the further consequent fact that 
there are many improvements in prospect, or at all 
events possible, that will considerably modify even this 
low first cost of Sugar grown in Jamaica. 
For some time past there has been a forward move- 
ment hi Jamaica in regard to Sugar-planting, and those ' 
who enjoy local knowledge are fairly nonplussed at some 
of the evidence tendered to Mr. Ritchie's committee as 
to the backward and unintelligent state of Sugar cul- 
tivation here. It is true that in Jamaica there is a 
greater variety of estates than in other colonies ; this 
is due to the fact that they extend over a far greater 
area and an area of far greater natural variety. Con- 
sequently, there is no 1 one uniform type of procedure, 
and on many estates it is reckoned far more profitable 
to produce the coarser than the finer types of raw Sugar. 
This is specially so on estates where a large proportion 
of rum is made. But every year more care is being 
"ivcu to improvements. The great item of cost, " haul- 
in" " the cane from the fields to the works, is now 
receiving much scientific treatment, Tramways and wire 
railways laid down steep slopes and over ravines, are 
being introduced for this purpose. It was no uncommon 
thing in the old days for the working beasts to survive 
for but two, or at most three, years. Now on many 
estates, by better handling and more skilled treatment, 
the oxen work for six and seven years at a stretch, 
thereby reducing largely the cost of production. Better 
machinery is being introduced for the crushing of the 
cane and the manufacture of the Sugar; in fact, the 
very ruined windmills and water-mills that one meets in 
the country are the evidence of the iutroductian of the 
more economical steam-power. 
The actual cultivation is also capable of vast improve- 
ment. At present the tendency is to cultivate too much 
soil : this is plentiful and cheap, and the temptation to 
cultivate roughly is stronger than the reasoning which 
shows that such cultivation enhances the evils, and fails 
fully to utilize the advantages of the work. The diffi- 
culties of weeding, of planting, of hauling, of manuring, 
of irrigation, all implying extra labour, are simply in- 
creased by this system of working roughly a large area, 
rather than carefully cultivating a smaller area. It has 
been repeatedly proved that the smaller area, if really 
thorougldy cultivated, will often yield two, three, arid 
even more tons to the acre, whereas by the rough-and- 
ready method barely one ton will result, while all the 
necessary expenses, as above detailed, will increase rather 
than be lessened. This item of improvement alone would 
double profits in many cases. 
Thus, the reasons for entertaining high hopes of yet 
cheaper production of Sugar in Jamaica are many. They 
are greatly dependent on the fact that Jamaica has, 
since the old state of things was definitely done away 
with, become more and more a flourishing community in 
itself, and less and less a mere exporting farm existing 
for the benefit of distant propriet rs. Thus, though 
Sugar continues to increase in output, it does not do 
more than keep pace with the increase in other Jamaican 
products ; and so the planter is now enabled to cultivate 
in other crops large areas that were valueless unless 
they could be devoted to Sugar. Pimento, logwood, 
coffee, and more especially fruit of all sorts, have largely 
developed as articles of export. The breeding of cattle, 
too, has become most profitable, chiefly because of the 
rise of a local demand, which already consumes over 
1,000 beasts per annum, and there are prospects of a 
large export trade to Cuba and other neighbouring islands. 
The consequences of this new-born activity is that 
the negro population is in a condition of much material 
prosperity. Its numbers increase year by year, and that 
they are successful is seen by the fact of then- in- 
creasing expenditure in "luxuries." They buy largely 
the beef above alluded to, which fetches 6d. a pound. 
They are large consumers of bottled ale and stout, and, 
the crucial fact of all this in regard to Sugar planting 
is that this wholesome growth means an increasing and 
reliable supply of labour. Even at the present it is 
difficult to find a district where negro labour cannot 
be had for under Is. a day. This is an advantage of 
no mean significance when we find it reported that 
similar labour in the Sugar States of the United States 
costs over 2s. a day. The negroes are well known to 
be capable workers ; the sole difficulty hitherto has been 
to prevail upon them to work. However, both the in- 
centive and the threat have been discovered in the 
importation of coolie labour. The present Government 
of Jamaica has wisely seen that this coolie labour is 
not of mere direct use to those who actually put coolies 
on to their estates, but that it is far more than this— 
that it is of high benefit to the whole community, black 
as well as white, in rousing the negro to exertion in 
his own interest. In this respect the importation of a 
few Chinamen would, no doubt, add additional stimulus. 
The negro can and will work, and work well, provided 
he can be roused from its natural inclination to " save 
his strength," prone on the broad of his back in the 
sun. • y,-.:'r 
Thus the prospects of reducing the cost of cultivation, 
are good and sure ; but there is also a very ' good pros- 
pect of reducing the other item — viz., the cost of put- 
ting the Sugar into the English market. Steam is 
assisting greatly; and it is now possible to transfer 
Sugar cheaper by steam than by sailing vessels, even 
