, 1876-05-27
BEET ROOT SUGAR: MANURES,
THEIR CHEMICAL AND ME-
CHANTCAL EFFECTS.

lHH U lux lCu'NA3 GCEhCA ~
Barbados Wcst Indian has not lost anything
by it's being a couple months old
"Dear Mr.. Editor,-l was glad to read,
In your paper, a letter signed Planter
which he has headed i" Improved Tillage."
was q little disappointed to find that he
failed to elucidate any improvement in the
tillage, although he very wisely advises
the more copious use of manure. With
YOUR permission, Mr.. Editor, | can have
a saw in the matter also. There is not the
slightest doubt we are living in troub-
lous times, and unless the planters IN the
West Indies take recourse to chemical and
scientific knowledge our name as sugar
producers will be a thing OF the past |
say scientific bnowlcdge, since it IS too obNl-
Gus to the intelligent reader that 1T IS his
great motive power which has caused the
beet root to make such rapid strides, of
late years especially. 1t does not take a
PHILOSOPHER to discover that our sugar
cane is richer in saccharine matter than its
great and succ ssful rival beet root but
having on the spot scieatilic men, armed
. with chemical, mechanical, and other
necessary appliances, they have been able
to produce sugar with a rapIdIty and excel
lence almost incredible.
In 1866-G7, Mr.. Bnruchson calculated
that the entire production OF sugar through
out the world, including that from the
cane, beet, palm, and maple, amounted to
100000 tons, of which the product OF
the beet root amounted to oUe-tourth.
But, a suming from the considerations
already referred to, and which we have no
doubt will be borne out by the facts, THAI
the production of tropical sugars has been
practically stationary OF Ia'e years,-in
some countries it has actually diminished
we shall find that the produce OF the
beet root now constitutes nearly one-halt
of the entire quantity OF sugar produced
throughout the world. This is a rate OF
increase to which the history Of industrial
progress affords no parallel.
Now, Mr.. Editor, with these facts before
IFS, I think it is time to be up and doing,
if we desire to see our estates paying, and
our reputation as a great sugar producing
colony kept intact. But we need not be
alarmed, if we go to work in the right
way !; our staple is by no means an ex-
hausting crop, which I an quite prepared
10 pION6 Wy pldCtlOC ouu Ny |hSOAJ
an egregious mistake to say that our lands
generally are exhausted, since, in the ex-
portation of our sugar, we send away none
of the inorganic elements of our soils:
pure sugar crystals consist Of 10 atoms
carbon, % atoms hydrogen, and II atoms
oxygen, a vast quantity of which is drawn
from the atmosphere, provided the surface Of
sAs la@d is put IN such a shape as TO rece're
IT.. / wish I were able to impress this on
the intelligent attorney and planter OF
this island. The atmosphere is a never
falling source Of tillage, and manuring;
but how can this floating sea of gases ex-
ercise its wholesome influence on our cane
preparation, where they are perfectly ex-
cluded from our land by the thick foliage,
or vines of the potato slipi How can the
old roots Of the preceding crop of canes
be destroyed Or ploughed out, if the land
is severed up with Indian corn, potatoes,
or vans. 1t Is an established fact amongst
good planters that the sooner the old cane
roots are destroyed, after the trash is re-
moved, the better will be the preparation for