Feb. 1, 1902.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
563 
SUGAR AND INDIGO. 
The coffee planter of 1880 wa.s proud of his coffee 
and looked down upon tea. The indigo P'^-nter 
of today is in an equally natural manner attachea 
to his ohl love, and preters that it should not 
be displaced even to his own proht and it is 
possible even, like the Ceylon planter, he Roes 
the length of lookiDK down upon sugar. My im- 
pression is that the most eftective way to tight 
the indigo battle to the issue is for the indigo 
planter to find something, such as I hope this 
sut'ar will prove, which will relieve any anxiety 
he^may feel, and which at the same time will 
enable him to look upon his indigo cultivation 
as to some extent a by product, You will tlien 
very soon find out how long the Badische Com- 
pany can fight on tliose terms, and if he can 
see " you, you will use the least expensive 
manure for sugar and thank heaven that hf did not 
only see you, but break you before you could attord 
to let him. 
We have gone into this business on a some- 
what extensive scale for an experiment, in fa,ct, 
what we have done already can only be regarded 
as the very strongest expression of our own con- 
fidence in the scheme. While the extent of the 
experiment has actually caused us no inconsider- 
able amoant of anxiety, I consider we are re- 
paid by the knowledge of the fact that there 
would have been serious danger, had it been on 
any smaller scale of its not meeting the require- 
ment of the case. I have spoken of an experiment 
in sugar— I should rather have spoken of experi- 
ments for we are growing and manufacturing 
su"-ar'at five different places, and there has been 
at'^more than one of these places almost enough 
to have given a serious set back to the whole idea, 
had any individual case stood by itself for the 
whole experiment. 
SATISFACTORY EXPERIMENTS. 
At one place we have demonstrated to the 
planter that machinery cannot be run with an 
insufficient head of steam. A t another, that cane 
planted in the native fashion, and by a mere 
scratching of the ground, and not afterwards 
properly cultivated, will entirely fail to stand 
such a season as the one which we are now- 
experiencing. At anof.her, we have demonstrated 
that only the best varieties of cane, even with 
cultivation of an approved character, will carry 
the plant through abnormal weither conditions, 
as at present obtaining. But at still an- 
other place, we have shown that where seed 
of native thin cane has been carefully selected, 
and wheie cultivation has been carried on in 
the modern way, in spite of abnormal weather 
conditions, we have got a result, I think, ivhich 
would not be considered unsatisfactory in most 
countries in the world— for a start. I say for a 
start, because years of the highest expert attention 
have bePK devoted to the scientific cultivation 
of cane, to attain the highest possible of today. 
But there is yet another and liighly important 
point which we have made good. Whereas we 
have shiiwn that, given fairly selected seed and 
proper cultivation, in an abnormal season, not 
unsatisfactory results can be got, we liave shown 
at two distinct centres tlii'.t seed oi inipioved 
varieties, imported into the district, gives results 
of which any sugar-growing country in the world 
would be proud, and this in the face of the most 
unsatisfactory weather conditions for sugar tha 
have been experienced in this province of Behar 
for the last 25 years. I cannot but feel a certain 
satisfaction that we should have got so far as this 
within less than a year of the issuing of the Gov- 
ernment report, which report confirmed in almosfc 
every particular the report of our own expert, 
I had almost omitted to remark upon the engi" 
neering difficulties which have been overcome, I be- 
lieve that no 2,000 tons of machinery have been or- 
dered, transferred many thousand miles by sea, and 
come so far by rail, and been erected in anything 
like the time, and the engineers who pioneered this 
business are deserving of all praise, as anyone 
will no doubt agree who sees the progress of our 
principal works at Ottur. We have had many 
critics who have said that sugar was tried before. 
Mr O'Conor's very able report entirely answers this 
objection in the most conclusive manner. 
A WORD OF CAUTION. 
With my experience of today, I can find half 
a dozen other reasons why sugar failed before. 
Just one word of caution, and take it from me 
that sugar manufacturing is a chemical science. 
Reports have been current that our machinery is 
not producing a hard solid sugar as made by the 
native manufacturers. This solid, so-called, sugar, 
contains all the extraneous matter and dirt ori- 
ginally in the juice, and this coagulating hurries 
the solidification. We take all this dirt out before 
boiling— we can give a solid result thereafter, if 
we wished to — but the result is to caramelise or 
turn a large quantity of the cane sugar, and this 
is absolutely lost. I can only trust that what I 
have said justifies the claim which I have made 
upon your attention, and for the very hearty way 
in which the toast of your guests was responded 
to ; it only remains to me to thank you on iheir 
belijyf. — Pioneer, Jan. 25. 
CENTRAL TRAVANCORE PLANTERS* 
ASSOCIATION. 
THE TEA DUTY PROTEST. 
An extraordinary General Meeting of this 
Association was held at the Glenmary Bungalow 
on Saturday to protest against the suggestion »f 
increasing the tea duty : — 
Present.- Messrs F M Parker (Chairman), 
Hon'ble Mr. G L Acworth (by proxy), Messrs H 
M Knight, F Bissefc, Buxton Laurie, G A Kutter, 
E Latter (by proxy), Mrs Munro (by proxy), 
Messrs HG Blandford (by proxy), R S Imray (by 
proxy) and D McArthur (Honorary Secretary.) 
The Chairman in opeuing the meeting read a 
telegram from the Hon'ble Mr G L Acworth regretting 
his absence and then addressed the meeting aa 
follows: — " Gentlemen, I have called this General 
Meeting of our Association for the purpose of asking 
yon to protest, against the suggestion of Sir Rebert 
Giffen embodied in a letter to the Times and which, 
according to the telegrams, has been endorsed 
by that Journal, to increase the duty on tea by 
another two pence or three pence per lb. I can 
hardly take this suggestion seriously or think that 
it will have any chance of being accepted by Govern- 
ment. It is fully aware of the depressed condition of 
the industry and it knows that we are already saddled 
with a very heavy duly, out of all proportion to the 
value of the aiticle on which it is levied. We cauuot 
foiS[et the Chancellor of the Exchequer's last Budget 
speech so f jU of sympathy, almost of hope that this year 
he would propose a reduction and not an increase of duty 
It is only natural that prior to the Budget all sorts of 
