May- i, 1882.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
9S5 
though freights 
passages of stear 
aminally higher. The shorter 
away with a great deal of that 
drainage that so lessens the hulk or value of many of 
the coarser-made Raw Sugars. Then, too, Jamaica is 
a large island with many ports. The Sugar estates near 
these ports ship their Sugar from them. In the old 
sailing-ship days, such was tin 1 expensive delay of load- 
ing from port to port — a few hogsheads at each, and 
subject to every change of weather — that freights from 
the north side of the island were actually £1 more per 
ton than from Kingston. The present Governor has in a 
great measure obviated this difficulty by his inauguration 
of weekly and regular steam service round the Island. 
Hut where most hope is looked for in regard to this 
transference to big markets is in a coming era of new 
commercial freedom, which shall emancipate tin- new 
order of proprietors from that complex commercial sys- 
tem by which tin- transference of all Sugar to the Eng- 
lish market fell to the monopoly of a group of indi- 
viduals in England. From the flays of slavery down- 
wards capital lias been advanced to planters from ex- 
traneous sources, and in coarse of time estates became 
not only mortgage I heavily, Iml encumbered with jointures 
and charges of all kinds. The capitalists held to their 
liens, and the intervening merchants, both in the supply 
of stores and machinery to the estates and in the 
carnage of the Sugar to England and its sale there, 
found scope for the making of great profits. But the 
low prices that have come in late years show that there 
is no longer >u Kcient profit for all, and the mid.lleinan 
must be content to transfer much of his activity to other 
fields. His profits on the cost of transit alone have 
been placed by good authorities as high as 2s. a cwt. 
Hut already this system is passing away. The mortgagees 
are sellin,' for what they can get ; old proprietors are 
setting their houses in order to meet the new necessities 
of the times. Thorough change is necessary, and even 
old planters have already so far thrown off their tram- 
mels as to be enabled to ship their Sugar direct to 
the United States market — a market at present highly 
favourable for coarser raw Sugars. Some of the most 
[lend 
d Bus 
"I" 
ipnei 
in be pr< 
pnetors, not only interested in. but actually resident in the 
Wot Indies; and these men will have a different, an alto- 
gether different, argument to put forward in regard to the 
bounties about which so much has been said and written. 
Theso men notice that the most extreme leaders in 
this bounty agitation allow two points — -one, that a 
duty of 2s. a cwt. on Sugar from bounty-fed countries 
would altogether countervail all the efforts of the bounties ; 
the other, that of 700,000 tons of Sugar we annually 
import, only 250,000 tons come from bounty-giving 
countries. In other words, bounties, even if the worse 
ca-e be made out of them, lower the price of VV*est 
tnuiau Sugar only to the amount of 9d. a cwt. Even 
so the price has not as yet been forced down to the 
lowest level at which Sugar cau be now grown in 
Jamaica at a profit ; ami, as we have seen, any single 
one of the numerous improvements in producing actually 
promised in Jamaica would far more than 0 mnter 
balance the a serted effect of these bounties, and all the 
other body of inipr ivements woul I be so much clear 
gain. It may. im eed, be argued that it would be a 
great benefit to Jamaican planters if this temporary effort 
on the bounties should rouse them to improve their 
methods of production, for in bringing about such im- 
provements, far greater advance would be madi than 
would be Buffloient t inntervail tins small eflte •». 
To those who buvc studied the m-c it is well known 
that the bounties are nowhere, more unpopular than in 
the countries that give them, and tin- only and sole 
method of retaining them in those countries is persist- 
ently and eloquently to point out to the growers of Beet 
that (he bounties are destroying I be production of Sugar 
from Cane. To persistently and eloquent!} nrge thai 
this is then- actual effect seems to be the strange policy 
adopted by the present representatives of the West Indian 
Sugar industries in Kngland. It is to be hoped others 
will now come forward, establish the facts of the case, 
and so put forward the opposite argument. These will 
at once show that so far from destroying rival in- 
dustries in British colonies, the bounties, even if we allow 
them their full effect, have been altogether unable to 
lower prices even to the level of the profitable cost of 
production of Cane Sugar possible in the fertile soils 
and genial climates of the West India Islands. Thus, 
even setting aside the asserted plea that so long as 
we consume Moist Sugar so long must we grow Cane 
Sugar, we find that in Jamaica, at all events, Cane 
Sugar can be grown cheaper even than "bounty-fed" 
Beet Sugar, and that so far as the bounties have been 
intended to destroy Cane-growing in the West Indies, in 
so far they have resulted in signal failure. — London Timex. 
TEA CULTURE: THE BEST MODE OF 
RETAINING TIP. 
TO THE KDITOB OF THE " INDIAN TEA GAZETTE." 
Dear Sir, — In reply to " H. T. C. K.'s" queries anent 
" Tip," I have found that the best way to get tip is 
to pluck it separately and spread it out thinly on mats 
to dry in a warm atmosphere. When there is sun, an 
hour or two's exposure to it's rays gives it a good 
finish ; otherwise finish off the drying process over a 
slow fire by thinly spreading the leaf on a dolla, covering 
up with another, and not touching it a;ain until it is 
ready. If the tips be rolled at all ; they will lose the 
silver " spangle," which will turn golden and then black 
according to the amount of rolling, which causes the 
juice to ooze out and discolor the leaf. 
Pure Assam plants give the best silver tip, and pure 
China the best golden tip. You .can't roll together all 
your leaf (especially if you pluck five leaf shoots) and 
expect to get much tip, but in such case I should advise 
heavy withering (spreading the leaf thinly), rolling slightly, 
fermenting to an even copper color, and quick firing.— 
Yours faithfully, ' Silver Tip." 
TEA PLUCKING. 
Sin, — There seems to he some diversity of opinion on 
the subject of plucking, so as to obtain the greatest 
amount of leaf from one's bushes. The question is, 
whether it is best to pluck two or three who If leaves 
and the bud, as the cause may be, or to pluck two and 
a half or three and a half, and half the one below if 
soft, leaving the axis of the third and fourth leaves and 
the interlode or stalk between them. I am an advocate, 
after years of fair trial of both systems, of the second 
plan. My reasons are briefly these : — 
Int. The rapidity with which the next flush comes on. 
2m/. The absence of unsightly stalk in the tea. 
Hnl. The greater facility in sorting the roll before 
fermentation, and separating the fine from the ooarae leaf, 
so as to be aide to treat each according to its require- 
ments,. 
The first reason is the most important, as (he differ- 
ence iii yield I think is very marked. My leaving a 
whole leaf ladow, experience shc.vs that [bat leaf must, 
ami does filly mature itse'f before the new shoot break- 
away, whaiew, by leaving the a\i with a small portion 
of the third leaf, the sap of the plant go«\s direct I v to 
nourish the young shoots, instead of wasting i; ., .: ,,„ 
matin. 1; the whole leaf left h\ tie other plan. V „ 0 t 
uuco'riMOl' rnpenruncu is to r lit' whol | '11, king BUT 
fi >f a hu«h covered with bard d-'k gi 1 lenv. \ 
