5 
thirty years’ experience of that work ; the result 
was the same, he did not make a grain of sugar 
from the Bourbon canes, but the ribbon 
canes did very well. Mr. Baff sent some 
Bourbon plant canes from the Cabulture for 
me to test ; they made very good Bugar without 
any sign of sulphate of lime. I do not think 
there will be any difficulty in making sugar at 
the Cabulture from the Bourbon cane ; per- 
haps some other variety may do badly there. 
This experience shows how necessary it is to 
plant a variety of canes, at first so as to dis- 
cover as soon as possible which is the best 
suited to any particular soil. 
In Jamaica, in the low-lying parish of West- 
moreland, where the estates are situated on the 
alluvial flats, along the banks of the Cabberetta 
Eiver, the Bourbon cane is the favourite, but 
in the higher parishes of Hanover and Trelaw- 
ney the ribbon and violet canes are pre- 
ferred, so much so that on many of the 
estates a Bourbon cane is not to be seen. 
There will not be the slightest difficulty in 
making sugar at Cleveland in future, as there 
are no bad canes left. There were no Bourbon 
canes planted there after after May, 1864, and 
most of the Bourbon rattoons were ploughed 
up and ribbon canes planted instead. Out of 
the 80 acres of canes now growing at Cleve- 
land, there are only 10 acres of Bourbon 
canes, and those are rattoons, which will give 
no trouble. 
In January, 1866, Mr. Martin sold at his 
auction rooms, in Brisbane, one ton of sugar, 
being samples of sugar made at Cleveland. 
The following are the prices at which they 
were sold : — 
per cwt. 
Sugar made from ribbon plant canes 44s. 
2nd sugar from ditto 37s. 
Sugar made from Bourbon rattoons 47e. 
2nd sugar from ditto 37s. 
Sugar made from Bourbon plant 
canes after the sulphate of lime 
was separated ... 35s. 
A few days after that sale, 1 ground half an 
acre of ribbon canes, consisting of 1,000 stoles, 
which gave 3,080 gallons of juice, density 11 
degrees, and the result wa3 1 ton 13 cwt. 3 qrs. 
and 20 lbs. of dry sugar. Of that quantity, 
2,380 lbs. was of a better quality than that 
which was sold for 47s. per cwt. I left 20 
tons of molasses at Cleveland. If the canes 
had been good, that might have been 20 tons 
of sugar, or, with a still, that molasses would 
have made 3,000 gallons of rum. I may also 
mention that a traction engine and steam- 
plough, like the one I referred to, can 
be delivered here for £1,000 ; the engine 
is warranted to pull 50 tons along a level road. 
In addition to carting canes and ploughing, I 
found the engine very useful in clearing land, 
as it was able to pull all oak and small gum 
trees right out of the ground without any 
stumping. 
In these remarks that I have made this even- 
ing, I have very far from exhausted the subject, 
there being many points to which I have not 
even referred. But if I have succeeded in 
throwing any satisfactory light on a subject 
that is of so much importance to Queensland at 
the present time, I shall feel satisfied. 
Printed at the “Guardian Office,” Brisbane, 
