, 1885-01-14

1913 min W hive not Deen Iar wrong.
Mr.. Hagemann may we'll call beet cul-
tlvation a "lnk in a we'll carried ont ro-
t%ation." The effect of beet growing on
subsequent crops of cereals is astonishing.
while the whole industry has a most mark.
ed effect in evoking thrift, intelligence and
habits of industry on the part of the PEG.
pie employed.
Mr.. Hagemann's final remarks would
seem to point out that Denmark will short
~ be able to provide herself with all the
sugar she requires, and thus, while Al
NEST laudable industry is maintained, u
vast amount of money now expended on
foreign sugars will be saved to the country.
In other words, ST. Croix, with its waste
FIJI system of Agriculture and Manufac.
ture. may sink out of sight entirely, us
far as any benefit to the Mother Country
is concerned. 1t must not be forgotten
that while stock raising is now the best
outlook for the European farmer, the beet
root industry affords him excellent fodder
III shape of leaves and megass Tor pulp,
while in St. Croix our cane leaves are
almost valueleSs Though with the e~nsilage
system it might be far otherwise) and our
megaSs has to be used as fuel. There is
no doubt of it that the sugar cane indus
try has met at last with its match, per
haps with more than its match, i'll
the beet root industry, and unless we
learn to raise sugar cheaper than we have
vet done, we are doomed. We are not
going to have a return of the old prices,
though we, of course, can reasonably hope
for some little improvement OH the pre-
sent ones.
If we are to raise sugar at a less cost
than hitherto, it can only be done by the
exercise of greater intelligence and skill
and it seems to me that st. CrOiX might,
at this present crisis, copy with advan-
tage the example Of Germany. as France
has recently found herself obliged to do,
and instead of taxing the acreage OF land
cultivated and the sugar that is produced,
shift the tao on to the reight OF canes 0rO'on,
and thus give, as Germany has done with
such signal success, a premium or reward
for any increase OF Sacclarine matter, of
extraction Of Juice or of manufacture into
sugar.
If, for instance, the Planters were taxed
on the basis of a production of 4 Q o OF SUI
gar on the total weight Of canes ground at
their mills, every incentive would be given
to the growth, not of heavy canes, but OF
canes rich in sweets, and every incentive
to the most careful grinding and subse
quent treatment. If the Absentee Taxes
were calculated in the same way, the at
tention of the owners would be called to
the advantages of improved Agriculture
and machinery in u very marked degree.
The Factory, while still weighing the
canes for the purpose of the Government
Tax, should cease to purchase by weight
alone and adopt the beet-root system of pay
ment according to the density OF the juice.
If every tax now paid by the Planter
were concentrated into one simple tax as
proposed above, there is little doubt but
that thought skill and intelligence would
be brought to bear on sugar cultivation
and manufacture as has never yet
been known in st. Croix, and with posi-
bly, the happiest results. The imposition
of such a tax would involve the setting up
on each estate of a weigh house and scale,
no very great outlay considering the mag
nitude of the ends involved, while a
skilled Official Director of Agriculture
should, aided by a proper staff, have
complete control of the buildings, which
should, with the scales, be all OF one uni
form pattern and size. Government should
further enforce proper maps or plans beng
kept on each Estate so that the Director
of Agriculture cuuld thereby possess him
self of and furnish the Planters with de-
tails in a tabulated form, showing the pro-
duction of each piece or field Oh every es-
tate in the Island with remarks as to it's
cultivation and mode Of treatment. In
two or three years a mass of valuable III
formation would be collected, and the
Planters would no longer be in doubt as
to this or that sort of cane, this or that sys-
tenn of cultivation. this or that sort of
manure, and would once for all be able to