Feb. 1, 1900. J THE TROPICAL 
AGEICULTUEIST. 
565 
INDigtO AND SUGAR. 
The connection between the two products 
may not seem very apparent, especially to 
those who have not any practical acquain- 
tance with either ; but in India attention is 
being drawn to them as helpful to each 
other in alternate years. Our interest in the 
connection is neither academic, nor purely 
scientific. Though Indigo has never found 
a place among our varied industries — save 
for a few scattered experiments in the 
time of the Dutch and the beginning part 
of the present century — Siigar attracted 
considerable attention in the earlier years 
of British occupation : and it still flour- 
ishes on a small, btit, we fear, a steadily 
decreasing scale. We are however, now, 
entertaining the hope (as shown the other 
day) that it will yet figure, if not as 
one of our greatest industries, at least as 
a considerable one, if the expectation prove 
well founded, after the promised examina- 
tion of the land along the Mahaweliganga 
by experts in March and August next. 
In India, as our readei-s are aware. Indigo 
has for some time been in a bad way, 
chiefly through the competition of artificial 
dyes. As in the West Indies, so on the 
adjacent Continent, the opinion is gaining 
ground that the plnnters have the remedy 
to a great extent in their own hands. They 
may be helpless, without the aid of the 
State, to protect themselves against fraudu- 
lent imitations of Indigo, but the Govern- 
ment will surely help them, if they only 
ask it for help, against the false represent- 
ation of a substitute as Indigo. _ The se- 
curity thus gained is not all that is wanted. 
There will be a market for the artificial dye, 
even when so described, and even if it be 
proved inferior to the vegetable product 
originally known to the trade as Indigo ; 
and so far as the competition goes, the de- 
mand for the true Indigo will be lessened. 
In order to check the fall in prices inevit- 
able from over-production, a lessened output 
is counselled by a writer to the London 
Times, who advisfes the planters to agree 
among themselves to devote only the most 
suitable portion of their lands to Indigo. 
The counsel is undoubtedly easier to offer 
than to ifollow, but it is not impracticable, 
and when the alternative is loss, if not ruin, 
an earnest effort to act up to the advice 
will be true wisdom. And if the land thus 
left unoccupied can be put imder sugar-cane, 
as is suggested, there need be no special 
difficulty in following the advice. 
There is, of course, the prejudice against 
Sugar as an industry often whichleaves small 
profits : but it was shown in recent articles how 
ret\irns have been almost doubled by judicious . 
cultivation, and the proportion of Sugar has 
been increased by the choice of good seed. 
So far as India goes, there is the further 
protection which legislation has secured by 
countervailing duties against bounty-fed 
competition. It is further claimed that the 
new seedling canes which have been recently 
introduced into Barbadoes, have proved that 
profits are realisable from Sugar even at prices 
considerably lower than those which have 
.7J, 
been ruling lately. And further, Java is quoted 
as an illustration of the possibility of com- 
bining the cultivation of Sugar with that 
of Indigo. A botanical expert, reporting to 
the Belgian Government on the methods 
adopted in Java, mentions the practice of 
rotation with the best results by the Java 
planters who alternate the cane every third 
year with indigo and rice. It is not by rota- 
tion of crops alone that Java is deriving 
handsome returns from Sugar, It utilizes 
European science, and pays strict attention to 
details ; and, as we are ourselves organizing 
an Agricultural Department, there is no 
reason why Ceylon should be behind any 
other country in securing adequate results 
from the soil. This is what we read of 
Java : — 
" Instead of wringing their hands, like the West 
Indian planters, and crying to the mother-coun- 
try for aid, the Javans, when the crisis came, 
set to work to apply German science to their 
own plantations. The sugar-growers formed them- 
selves into an association for the purpose of the 
scientific study and development of their own in- 
dustry. Experimental stations were established, 
with chemical and biological laboratories attached, 
and European specialists were engaged at high 
salaries to superintend tlie work of these stations. 
The progress of the experiments was regularly 
communicated to all the planters throughout the 
island, by means of a periodical publication, 
which was also used to describe the latest machi- 
nery and to deal with any other matters affecting 
the industry. The result is that Java has com- 
pletely recovered from the temporary ruin brought 
about by low prices, and that her sugar industry is 
now going ahead by leaps and bounds. If this 
can be done in Java, why not in India ? Java has 
the disadvantage of being compelled to seek a for- 
eign market for her sugar, and in nearly every 
instance has to fight her way into that market; 
across a barrier of protective duties. In India 
there is an immense home market waiting for the 
capitalist who has the intelligence to produce sugar 
on European methods." 
What is said of India applies, of course, to 
Ceylon, which imports a very considerable 
quantity of Sugar. 
THE SHEEP OF THE WORLD. 
As regards the number of sheep, the followiag 
figures showing the number possessed by each country 
in the latest jear, for which fetUrns have been 
published, are noteworthy : — 
Algeria 
7,485,000 
Argentina 
75,000,000 
Australasia 
103,000,000 
Austria 
3,187,000 
Belgium 
236,000,000 
Bulgaria 
6,868,000 
Canada 
1,690,000 
Cape Good Hop 
s 14,000,000 
Denmark 
1,246,000 
France 
21,445,000 
Germany 
10,866,000 
Holland 
700,000 
Hungary 
8,122,000 
India British 
Italy 
Norway 
Poland 
Romania 
16,875,000 
6,900,000 
1,417,000 
3,755,000 
5,002,000 
Russia Europe 44,465,000 
Servia 
Spain 
Sweden 
Switzerland 
U. S. A. 
Uruguay 
3,094,000 
13,359,000 
1,298,000 
■272,000 
37,657,000 
16,397,000 
The great sheep-breeding countries of the world, 
therefore, so far as these figures show, are Austra- 
lasia, Argentina, Russia, and the United States. 
All of these possess more sheep than the United! 
Kingdom, which in 1898 had 31,102, 000. But in 
proportion to area the United Kingdom enor- 
mously surpasses them, the four countries men. 
tioned having, of course, immense territgrjea, 
