, 1891-06-20

pldNliC dl utcH CueA are tOlt( NI SC4ellblilO
problems, but do not think they believe
verr much in them. CLaughter) They
like them rs matters TO talk about, but
unless IL planter can see with his own eyes
the result of certain experiments, he is apt,
ANA think very rightly so, to look upon
them with Il certain amount Of suspicion.
Now III DOldS, there are these eXpogimpn-
tai fields. Certain mAnureS have been
tried there, and they have given certain
results. SDmr OF them have been of Il very
satisfactory character. In fact it has been
proved that in many instances planters
nave been using mauureS IN this island
winch have loue little or no good III giving
Il larger yield OF sugar. | Will take one
point ~ an Illustration. Planters here
have been in the ha5ir Of planting cane
tops to establish their fields. Now expert
mentS carried on here, and in Louisiana,
show that after all cane tops are not the
best for establishing cultivation, because
some show .hat the Joints Of cane have
given better results. But | do not wish
TO suggest that cane tops are to be aban-
dOned, because the experiments carried
on in this island have shown that there
is Il great deal to be learned even with re-
gard to these came t0pS,-With regard to
their treatment, the age at which they are
put III, and various circumstances like
that. These experiments also have con
tirmed experiments carried on in Louisiana
and other places, and have Sh0w!t that in
spite of all the machinery and appliances
in use in the present day, nearly one ton
Of sugar per acre is still left in the mcgaSS,
and burnt. suppose that is Il fact well
known to planters here but still it is Il
fact which should awaken some amonnt
Of inquiry, and lead you to wish TO aScer-
tain how to GET all of the sugar out of the
cane. We have heard something of the
experiments in Demerara in the diffusion
process but | am not here to advocate
amy one system. All | say is that you
have been fortunate enough in this island
to have developed Your induStrY-I do
not say that you did it knowingly or de
liberatcIy-but somehow or Other the
results of the experiments at DOddS have
proved HAT most satisfactorily. 1t is very
remarkable that, although sugar has been
cultivated for so many years in the West
Indies, actually 10 steps whatever have
been taken to establish a large expert
mental station or a large trial estate to
aid that industry and give planters more
attenuation with regard to the very life,
may say, Of the staple industry Of such
IL colony as this. Well, you have begun
with this station and the results have
So far been satisfactory. But | do not
say that they are complete, because eX-
pcriments like these have to be repeated
over and over again, in order to discover
whether or not the satisfactory results
obtained were ewing to some accidental
circumstance. Iou have to repeat them
year after year under different conditions,
and then when you have tested them over
and over again and are satisfied that it
is either the soil OR ~nitrateS or pl!OSphateS
that you applied to The cane that have
produced these results, then that fact
can 60 fortb-it can then become current
coin,-the planters can accept it as Il
statement sufficiently proved to be acted
upon to any extent. The experiments at
DoGdS, as l say, have been satisfactory,
and although they have not so far become
entirely conclusive, yet | think the plant.
erS in Barbados will neglect their best
interests if they allow these experiments
to fall through. (Cheers.) l think they
should be taken up and prosecuted on altar
ger scale. (Renewed cheers | may tell you
that what you have done here have slim
uIated The other islands, and at present,
they are asking for the establishment of
an experimental station i'll Antigua, and
also at st. Kits and l was asked the other
day by some leading planters in Jamaica
whether it was not possible for them to
start something of the same kind there.
The late Sir Graham Briggs told me that
- I III ~.-t - A.: