566 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[February i, 1892. 
to these men and to crush their cane for thorn. 
There are eighteen men due to come to this district 
and will be located on Havana estate- The 
Bcheme is not popular, and the politicians who 
have no responsibility are doing the best to stop 
the experiment before ever it receives a trial. They 
are not likely, however, to succeed, and pretty much 
the same may, I think, be said of the experiments. 
The Australian farmer? are, moreover, rapidly 
taking up the work of cane growing, some 50,000 
tons of cane having been produced this year, 
while the amourt for next year will show an 
increase of at least 75 p^r cent. 
As I have said this year's results are proving 
disappointiog. The density stands steadily Bt 
lOi Baum6, but the crops are light, and though 
the forest land is producing somewhat richer cane, 
that from the scrub lands, a most important por- 
tion of the crop, only shows sucrose at a little 
over 14 per cent. 
This with us, is poor, aa we have been accus- 
tomed 'to at least 16 per cent, but the season is 
chiefly accountable for it though some do assert 
that the quality of the cane grown here la 
steadily deteriorating. When we compare the 
results obtained by the beet manufacturers our 
extraction is not very satisfactory. An analysis of 
second megass from cane showing 14-07 percent 
sucrose betrays the fact that we still lose 4-90 per 
cent or in other words, our percentage of extraction 
is only 89-13 per cent. Even this result is not 
obtained in many of our smaller mills. 
I note that Homebush and Havana, the two 
laraest factories in this district, have adopted an 
improvement in the method of applying macera- 
tion, so as to try and save more of the sugar. 
Hitherto the megass on leaving the first rollers 
was sprinkled by a perforated pipe with water and 
steam but now it is proved advisable to further 
increase the heat of the megass, which hitherto, 
after the operation, stood at 180 deg. F, Under the 
present arrangement the megass travels from the 
first to the second rollers, at a slow speed, over a 
bed of perforated iron, the whole being enclosed 
and made steam-tight, except at the ends. As 
the megass travels through this enclosed space, 
steam enters into it from underneath, thus 
raising the temperature considerably. Already this 
plan has served to efiect an appreciable saving, 
and unless already adopted by your millers would 
be well worth their attention. I may add that 
the proportion of water which should be used to 
the ton of cane in maceration has been found to 
be about seventy gallons. 
As I do not know exactly the order ot work 
in your sugar houses, your readers must excuse 
me if at times I give them stale news. I only 
profess to give Queensland information and to 
note the change here, even if they be a matter 
of history with you. Our ordinary plan hitherto 
in the mill has been to treat the juice in the 
olarifiers first, then subside, then clean and con- 
centrate and subside again ready for the vacuum 
pan Now the order is being somewhat changed. 
By an increase in the use of lime the first sub- 
Bidenoe is made more complete and the cleaning 
pans are entirely unused at one mill, while they 
are used after the triple efiect instead of before 
in another. In the latter, also, the juice is 
passed through bag filters between the first sub- 
Bider« and the triple effect. It is more than 
probable that still further efiorts will be made 
to clean the juice more thoroughly in the clari- 
fiors as it is obviously the safest and wisest to 
get the dirt out of the juice as quickly as 
possible the moment it leaves the cane. 
[We add an extract from an Australian source. 
—Ed. T. a.] 
THE QUEENSLAND SUGAR INDUSTEY. 
A correspondent of the Melbourne Argus, writing 
from Mackay on the 15th of July says : — The evolu- 
tion of the Queensland sugar imtustry on the lines I 
forecasted at the end of last year is now almost an 
aocomplifheci fact. The strongest company engaged 
in sugar making in Australia— the Colonial Sugar 
Eefining Company — has taken the matter in hand, 
and in this district, at any rate, have already made 
great progres?. Donbtlees the terms on which the 
Homc-bUbh lunds are being leased and sold to farmers 
have ere this betn communicsttd to your readers ; 
also the fact that the applicants have been eo r nme- 
rous that the company is already in a position to pick 
and choose its tenants. 
The price to be paid for cane grown by these 
sellers may run as high as 16s. per ton, if a 
sufficient quantity is produced, thus bearing out 
a statement I made last year that a manager 
who could not make sugar at a profit wiih cane 
at 143. a ton, and sugar £13 on the local wharf, 
was not worth his salt. It is now generally admitted 
that even with colored labor, cane can not be 
produced at less than 14s., and, consequently, when 
it can be obtained at that figure, minus all anxiety 
and risk, the mill owner is obviously at an ad- 
vantage. The season on which we are now en- 
tering promises to be a fairly good one. The 
amount of sugar produced throughout the colony 
will be about the same as last year, the two princi- 
pal districts, Mackay and Bundaberg, producing 
nearly, if not quite, 40,000 tons between them. 
This will leave the rest of the colony to contri- 
bute 20,000 tons. Owing to short plantings and the 
fact that little cane was left unharvested last year, 
it is believed that the output of this district will 
be considerably less than last year, but for next year 
the acreage under cane and the results will probably 
be equal to the best on record. 
A noticeable feature in connection with the 
present season's operations will be the produc- 
tion by one of the central mills — with white labor 
only — of some 1500 tons of sugar, showing that 
Europeans have cultivated no lees than 15,000 tons 
ot cane. On all hands contracts are being let to 
Europeans for cutting, loading and carting same, 
the first two operations having been in the past 
looked upon as exclusively kanaka's work. There 
is no likelihood of a scarcity of white labor during 
the next six months, as large numbers of the men 
who by striking lost their usual employment in the 
western pastoral districts, have drifted here in 
search of work. Near one mill alone there are over 
100 men camped and awaiting the commencement 
of crushing. Since the first of the year over 75 in. 
of rain have fallen, this being 5 in. over the mean 
annual fall. In the face of this it is hardly surpris- 
ing that the cane should be somewhat backward, 
but during this month with the splendid weather we 
have lately been having, it will be ripe enough for 
harvesting, — Queensland Planter and Farmer. 
" AN APPEAL TO TBETOTALEKS." 
To the Editor of the Manchester Courier. 
Sir, — On the 27th ultimo you were good enough to 
admit into your columns a letter of mine entitled 
" W. E. Gladstone and Unadulterated Cofifee." On 
the evening of the day referred to the " United King- 
dom Alliance " held their great meeting in your city, 
on which oooasion the Hon. John Morley made him- 
self very conspicuous. The concluding sentence in 
my letter was : — 
"The leaders of temperance alliances should first clear 
the non-alcoholic beverages of all abuses before they 
