The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1877-01-27

ana.-Rats and Rust" - Exchanges with
Qaeensland--sugsr in Cuba.-COmParisons with
Queensland.-St Thouas-APproach to GGade-
loupe--Central Fae:ories.-The System in Mar
tinique-Cans Farming and Sugar Making.-
Contented People. Does the. System Psy?-
Double Roller Mills in America
FoerRosE. y. B., Aug. %, 1876.
The varieties Of cane cultivated in the United States
and that section Of the West Indies it has been my
privilege to visit are surprisingly few. In the United
Malabar, Otaheite, green cane Of New Caledonia
manned Creole there), and Treboe are common IN
Queensland. / did not see our old friend Bourbon IN
the States, which was the more surprising, owing TO
a previous impression that that variety is amongst
the hardy sorts. in so far as cold weather Is con-
eerned.
The place of the Bourbon in Louisiana is occupied
by what seems TO be a thoroughly good variety of
Robin cane. which I had not previously seen This
variety is much the same in stripes and color as the
large Robin of the colonies bat the joints are
different. The centre of each joint goes in instead of
bullying out, and the habit of growth is more like
that Of Chigacca than ordinary Robin cane. It's
undoubtedly u hardy y~ariety-the hardest, richest,
and altogether the best grower in the States. Touch
ed by frost as most Of their canes are nearly every
year, they run greater risks, one naturally supposes,
of falling a prey to disease than in more favored eli
mates. Yet the only complaints concerning this cane
heard in America refer TO attacks by bOTer and by
rats. In Texas aud Florida l heard of a disease
something like rust. The cane suffered badly from 1t
some years since but no specimens OF cane SO di-
seased could be obtained. The crop was growing
very thriftily while I was there. | hope to make
another visit however. being DESTROYS of learning as
much as possible of this disease.
Rats are n rather serious pest, and amongst other
remedies it was proposed at one time to introduce va
rieties of snakes that war against rats-that kill and
deyour them. just to think of such a thing Cats,
it appears, become bewiIdered amonst the canes and
will not hunt, as "'tis their nature to-" But the
trouble is not extra serious. although one sees a good
many gnaxed canes thrown aside at the mills, and a
still greater number in the field.
The ribbon cane referred to seems a desirable sort
for Australia, and arrangements have been made with
IL =" n1fan for no e ~ hpin0 SAINT ~
the colony in exchange for Bourbon, S~aangore, Chi
gacca. and some other sorts which American planters
would like to try. The road, I trust, is thus opened
for exchanges with planters in both countries.
In the places visited during this trip one sees a
great variety of machinery and appurtenances for
making sugar, as we'll as considerable differences in
the treatment of the cane in the field, and the con-
version of its juices into sugar. Yet there is a SINH
larity nearly everywhere to the machinery and prac-
tice of one or other of the plantations of our own CO.
lony. To go through the whole seTidtiml, therefore,
would make these communications by letter tedious
ly long. To avoid this I shall, for the present. at
tempt TO describe the most noteworthy and the least
noteworthy for Queensland planters-the points or
practice from which we may be able to learn, and
those whose mistakes may form a something for US to
steer clear of.
The examples from which we may be able to profit
are confined to Louisiana in the United States, and
to Martinique and Guadeloupe in the French West
Indies. There is very fine sugar machinery of Brit
ish, American and French manufacture, in Cuba.
and during a brief stay on that island | saw several
plantations on the route via Campo Florida to Mat
anZas, but the country was SO unsettled by war, and
by military movements, that I was advised to keep
well within the lines of " the royal army" Prudence
added that this was the best course, but it prevented
my seeing so much of the sugar business in Cuba as
I should have liked. Visitors to the island are much
restricted, owing to the activity of the I" rebels"
unfortunate starving Creoles, negroes, and China
men, in so far as ! saw who were, judging by the
reports sent into Havana, burning and Staying every
day. The officials were, therefore, suspicious and
cautious in granting privileges to foreigners II have
been a foreigner for some ten months now. and a
journey or any investigation could only be made
under surveillance. It was rough, while peaceably
looking through a field of cane and inspecting the
varieties, to be suspected of looking whether the
whole concern were in fit condition to burn, and sus-
pected too by gangs of dark visaged gentry, every
one of whom had one or more shooting appliances,
and probably a finger on a trigger. Cuba is u very
interesting country, very but strangers do not re-
main there any longer than they can help. That
was my case. In the neighbOrhood of Matanzs are
several fine plantations, most of the labor of which l
was surprised to find is done by Cinnamon. The tri-
pie vacuum arrangement for evaporating. bone black
for fltering, the single vacuum pan for finishing the
boiling up to granulation point, and ordinary under
driven contrifugals, make up the machinery in use.
After a short stay at St. Thomas (the central point
of West Indian trafic) I reached Guadeloupe, the
| nearest of the French West India islands, which were
the main object of the journey. From st. Thomas
any of the islands can be reached with comfort and
facility. Sugar is the staple of conversation among
travellers in these mail boats, and one is thus enabled
to learn what is being done in the various islands,
and what Improvements are going on. The labor
question is a frequent subject of conversation, and
speaking with and hearing the expressed convictions
of gentlemen of Jamaica, Demerara, Trinidad, Gui-
ana, and other sugar growing countries where coolie
labor in one form or other is employed, and after
comparing the opinions of these gentlemen with what
one learns in Cuba and Porto Rico-where slavery of
the patriarchal character prevails-and again com-
pares with the small tenant and absolute free labor
system of the French islands, the conviction is an en-
forced one that the latter system is the best for a
country like ours. It certainly is the most reliable,
and, judging by the present state of prosperity of the
respective islands, it is the most satisfactory to the
capitalists. as well as to the smaller land owners.
Although there is a similarity in the approach TO
all tha West india Islands raache6 IN To this tim
Guadeloupe differs from the others in being still more
billy and rugged than they that is at first sight.
As the vessel approaches the land, its character
changes rapidly, and we have in each of the islands
visited pictures on n grand scale of rich tropical
scenery. Although purely accidental, it has SO hap
pened that each of the islands in succession has been
reached at nightfall, and it became an object of lively
interest to see the rough mountain outline of midday
flor these islands are seen many hours ere a landing
is reached) gradually melt into the. familiar patches
of green indicative of cane-felds, and then TO see the
lights glimmer out as night fell and the port reached.
The foreigner is not mOlested much on landing at
Basseterre, Gaudeloupe. The hotel to which I was
recommended is said to be conducted upon the
American plan. That is, the guests are provided
with board as well as sleeping accommodation. But
the Basseterre American hotel is the quaintest and
incest of its kind its American features are not of
the high pressure order, and I, for one, did not re-
greet the change from the excessively systematic life
of America to the extreme polteness of this ever
smiling French hostess. Next day I started for
Pont-Pitree, near which are the largest central sugar
factories in the West Indies. There are several other
factories on the island. or rather on both sections of
the island, for Gaudeloupe is divided into two parts
by a marrow channel. The system of manufacture
followed is alike in all, and all seem to purchase cane
from the growers, paying for it in the same way as
the factory in Porto-Pico-viz; by allowing the mar
ket value of 5 lbs. of " usine " sugar per 100 lbs. OF
cane delivered to the mill. or rather to the tramway
of the mill, delivery in all instances, I believe, being
taken at the nearest point to the canefeld Of the
grower reached by the factory tramway.
With the exception of one American mill, all the
machinery is French and apparently the very best
of its class. The rollers range from 4 feet to 5 feet
in length, and from - inches to so inches in diane
ter. The mills are neither so large nor heavy as I
expected to see. from what has been said of these
factories. But what is deficient in weight of crush
ing power is made up by multiplying the mills, of
which some of the factories have two, and occasional
iy three, for supplying juice.