Artificial Manures for Sugar Canes. 
By A. R. Gilzean. 
N hard times for the proprietors of sugar estates 
when the estimates of expenditure have to be 
very carefully considered, the large sum usually 
expended on manure catches the eye as an item that 
might be reduced or removed. Many properties have 
been successfully managed with the use of artificial 
manures while others have paid equally well without 
their use. The proportion of estates that use manure is 
very much in excess of those that do not ; and as the in- 
telligence employed in the management of Demerara 
estates is of no mean standard, this must be received as 
evidence in favour of its use. It is, however, necessary 
to consider, whether or not there is a likelihood of the 
majority having been deceived into following a wrong 
course. When the use of artificial manure was discon- 
tinued on an estate on the East Coast of Demerara most 
planters thought the result would be disastrous. The 
opposite has proved to be the case. In my experience 
the result of the application of nitrogenous manures to 
alternate beds in some cases has been that the manured 
beds when young looked as if they would give fifty per 
cent, more cane than the unmanured ones, but when ripe 
it was impossible to distinguish any difference. This 
disappointing result has generally taken place in compar- 
atively new land, but it has also been noticed in old 
land. On first becoming a manager, I was convinced 
that the use of manure paid, and went to work to prove 
