They will be greater still under the improved methods of manufacture which will be employed now that the sugar duties have been at least rationally reformed by Mr.Lowe.

And therefore, for some time to come, capital will naturally flow towards sugar-planting; and great sheets of the forest will be, too probably, ruthlessly and wastefully swept away to make room for canes.

And yet one must ask, regretfully, are there no other cultures save that of cane which will yield a fair, even an ample, return, to men of small capital and energetic habits?
What of the culture of bamboo for paper-fibre, of which I have spoken already?
It has been, I understand, taken up successfully in Jamaica, to supply the United States' paper market.

Why should it not be taken up in Trinidad?
Why should not Plantain-meal {318a} be hereafter largely exported for the use of the English working classes?
Why should not Trinidad, and other islands, export fruits- -preserved fruits especially?
Surely such a trade might be profitable, if only a quarter as much care were taken in the West Indies as is taken in England to improve the varieties by selection and culture; and care taken also not to spoil the preserves, as now, for the English market, by swamping them with sugar or sling.

Can nothing be done in growing the oil-producing seeds with which the Tropics abound, and for which a demand is rising in England, if it be only for use about machinery?
Nothing, too, toward growing drugs for the home market?
Nothing toward using the treasures of gutta- percha which are now wasting in the Balatas?
Above all, can nothing be done to increase the yield of the cacao-farms, and the quality of Trinidad cacao?
For this latter industry, at least, I have hope.