, 1894-01-27
THE PLANTERS OUTLOOK
From the Aygosy

II letter PNblished in our columns today
anIer;eemed correspondent whose personal
,xperience Of sugar planting IN the West
Indies ranks second to very few, Jolns issue
with that web known %colOnlst, easily reooe-
nisable lv his initials X. u. H., VINO IN ms
annual notes on agriculture published by us
last week. takes raj Der gloomy view OF the
local sugar planters future. On such "io0
on.stion as tie probability of the sugarplanter
maintaining his ground in British Gniana
there is room for diversity ofopinion, but we
have never wavered Tn the belief that an
estate in this colony under certain aftalna-
Bile conditions, can compete III the open mar
ket wifi the sugar estates OF any other pat.t
Of the elobe. Nor do we find any dlttculty
in Giving a reason for the faith that IS ia U.s.
During the past rs years the number OF IN
diyidual estates throughout the colony has
lecn reduced by at least one half, but the
quantity Of sugar exported has CONSIDERABLY
increased owing to an extension OF the acre
npo Of the II naming estates, ne improve
ment in their tillage, and the adoption OF
modern economic machinery and chemical
annliapces. Over and again during the past
quarter Of q century we have heard the pes'
S~,oi1tic CIV that the colony was ruined
the Overwhelming crop Of Cuba, the boun-
IL system Of the Continent, the Introduction
of sorghum ly the farmer in the States, or
some other enemy, being pointed to as the
direction from which our death blow was to be
received But the blow somehow or other,never
fell with amy widely-spread fatality; for al
thoroh competition, fair and unfair, has
driven certain of our estates out of c%ul,iva-
ton INTO weeds, it has signally failed to
o. overcome any Of the properties whose owners
could and did pat them III the position to
take advantage Of the latest important I'M
nrov,m, nts in the modern art of sugar max
ing. At the present day we could mention
estates in every one OF the three counties,
the owners of which, through good and bad
report, have kept faith in the intrinsic value
Of their properties, and year after year have
srept upon them as much as they could afford
IN the way of cultivation and machinery, and
who are now in the position to make sugar
at n proft-a small one it might be- even
If the market were to go lower than it has
Leen at any time during the past ten years.
What can be done on one estate cannot al
WAYS be done on another, for occasionally a
hi Of land is exceptionally situated, either
with regard to lqbour supply or drainage, but
as a rule the difference between estate and
estate is very slightly marked as regards
"natulal advantages, and has to be looked for
in the result Of the several owners views as
10 how thtir estates ought TO be conducted.
The property Of the wiser owners has
weatherei stotmier times than any likely to
bo encountered AGAIN, and we cannot enter
into the dependency of those Of our felloV
colopists who think the end of our little
world is close at hand, the moge especially.
when our chiefest enemythe bounty system has
received its death Blow in tie United.stotes
and is now on it's last legs on the Contirent@
There is plenty OF labonr to be had from
India, our immigration system having at last
obtained the unparalleled approval Of the
Indian Government; the water OF the llincl-
nal districts Of the colony IS pretty well
assured: and there is a possibility of creating
for Demerara cane sugar a special demand
in the United Kingdom if pains are taken
to bring this about. This brings us to another
noint in our correspondents lettsr,-the
degradation, as il may be called, of first classe