TlMEHRI. 
There has been much talk about improving the way in 
which the contents of the punts are to be placed on the 
carrier. It has been suggested that the punts could be 
raised bodily out of the water, either by a hydraulic 
ram, or any other suitable means, and the contents shot 
out on to the carrier, by simply turning the punts upside 
down, but I do not think that there has ever been any 
attempt to try the experiment, except, perhaps, with 
small models. The only improvement that I know of, is 
the elongation of the carriers of the large mills, so that 
four punts can be discharged at the same time, whereby 
the throwers are not so crowded and there is not so much 
' keep back' when the punts are changed. 
With regard to cane throwers, it is a singular thing 
that the number of men allowed for this work is nearly 
the same on every estate, though this similarity is quite 
accidental ; nearly every estate employs a man for every 
ton of sugar made per day. Thus, an estate making 15 
tons of sugar a day will have about 15 men throwing 
canes. 
The next thing we come to is the cane engine and 
mill, and to describe the alterations attempted in this 
department, during the last twenty years, would take a 
whole Timehri to itself. 
To begin with the engine. There used to be much 
dispute as to the relative fuel economy of condensing 
and ' high pressure' engines. In old days it was not an 
uncommon sight to see an estate throw the whole of its 
f back-pressure* steam into the air, and in such cases 
there could be no doubt that a condensing engine was 
the most economical. But we are much more careful 
now-a-days; the present price of sugar cannot afford such 
