_Production in the United States_.--Suga_The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c.

States, is a subject of increasing interest. The demand is rapidly

advancing. Its production in the State of Louisiana, to which it is

there principally confined, is a source of much wealth. In 1840, the

number of slaves employed in sugar culture was 148,890, and the

product, 119,947 hhds. of 1,000 lbs. each; besides 600,000 gallons of

molasses. Last year, the crop exceeded 240,000 hhds., worth 12,000,000

of dollars. The capital now employed, is 75,000,000 of dollars. The

protection afforded by the American tariff, has greatly increased the

production of sugar in the United States. From 1816 to 1850, this

increase was from 15,000 hhds. to 250,000 hhds.

In 1843, the State of Louisiana had 700 plantations, 525 in

operation, producing about 90,000 hhds. In 1844, the number of

hogsheads was 191,324, and of pounds, 204,913,000; but this was

exclusive of the molasses, rated at 9,000,000 gallons. In 1845 there

were in Louisiana 2,077 sugar plantations, in 25 parishes; 1,240 sugar

houses, 630 steam power, 610 working horse power; and the yield of

sugar was 186,650 hhds., or 207,337,000 lbs.

The introduction of the sugar cane into Florida, Texas, California,

and Louisiana, probably dates back to their earliest settlement by the

Spaniards or French. It was not cultivated in the latter, however, as

a staple product before the year 1751, when it was introduced, with

several negroes, by the Jesuits, from St. Domingo. They commenced a

small plantation on the banks of the Mississippi, just above the old

city of New Orleans. The year following, others, cultivated the plant

and made some rude attempts at the manufacture of sugar. In 1758, M.

Dubreuil established a sugar estate on a large scale, and erected the

first sugar mill in Louisiana, in what is now the lower part of New

Orleans. His success was followed by other plantations, and in the

year 1765 there was sugar enough manufactured for home consumption;

and in 1770, sugar had become one of the staple products of the

colony. Soon after the revolution a large number of enterprising

adventurers emigrated from the United States to Lower Louisiana,

where, among other objects of industry, they engaged in the

cultivation of cane, and by the year 1803 there were no less than

eighty-one sugar estates on the Delta alone. Since that period, while

the production of cane sugar has been annually increasing at the

south, the manufacture of maple sugar has been extending in the north

and west.

Hitherto, the amount of sugar and molasses consumed in the United

States has exceeded the quantities produced--consequently there has

been no direct occasion for their exportation. In the year 1815 it was

estimated that the sugar made on the banks of the Mississippi amounted

to 10,000,000 lbs.

According to the census of 1840, the amount of cane and maple sugar

produced in the United States was 155,100,089 lbs., of which

119,947,720 lbs. were raised in Louisiana. By the census of 1850, the

cane sugar made in the United States was 247,581,000 lbs., besides

12,700,606 gallons of molasses; maple sugar, 34,249,886 lbs., showing

an increase, in ten years, of 126,730,077 lbs.

The culture and manufacture of sugar from the cane, with the exception

of a small quantity produced in Texas, centres in the State of

Louisiana--where the cane is now cultivated and worked into sugar in

twenty-four parishes. The extent of sugar lands available in those

parishes is sufficient to supply the whole consumption of the United

States. Sugar cultivation was carried on in Louisiana to a small

extent before its cession to the United States. In 1818 the crop had

reached 25,000 hogsheads. In 1834-35 it was 110,000 hogsheads, and in

1844-45 204,913 hogsheads. Each hogshead averaging 1,000 lbs. net,

and yielding from 45 to 50 gallons of molasses.

The number of sugar estates in operation in 1830, was 600. The manual

power employed on these plantations, was 36,091 slaves, 282

steam-engines, and 406 horse power. The capital invested being

estimated at 50 million dollars. In 1844 the estates had increased to

762, employing 50,670 slaves, 468 steam-engines, 354 horse power.

The sugar-cane is now cultivated on both branches of the Mississippi

from 57 miles below New Orleans to nearly 190 miles above. The whole

number of sugar houses in the State is 1,536, of which 865 employ

steam, and the rest horse power.

The crop of 1849-50 was 247,923 hhds. of 1,000 lbs., which, at an

average of 3½ cents., amounted to nearly 9½ million dollars. The

quantity of molasses produced was more than 12 million gallons, worth,

at 20 cents the gallon, about 2,400,000 dollars, giving a total value

of close upon 12 million dollars, or an average to each of the 1,455

working sugar houses of 8,148 dollars.

The overflow of the Mississippi and Red Rivers in 1850, shortened the

crop near 20,000 hhds., and was felt in subsequent years. Since 1846,

not less than 355 sugar mills and engines have been erected in this

State. The sugar crop of 1851-52 was 236,547 hhds., produced by 1,474

sugar houses, 914 of which were worked by steam, and the rest by

horse-power. Texas raises about 8,000 to 10,000 hhds. of sugar, and

Florida and Georgia smaller quantities.

In the year ending December, 1851, there were taken for consumption in

the United States about 132,832 tons of cane sugar, of which 120,599

were foreign imported. The quantity consumed in 1850 was 104,071 tons,

of which 65,089 was foreign.

_Production in Cuba_.--The average yearly production of sugar in Cuba

has been, in the five years from 1846 to 1850, 18,690,560 arrobas,

equal to 467,261,500 lbs., or 292,031 hhds. of 1,600 lbs. weight. The

crop of 1851 was estimated at twenty-one and a-half million arrobas,

equal to about 335,937 West India hhds. Thus, the increase from 1836

to 1841, has been as 29 per cent.; from 1841 to 1846, as 25 per cent.;

and from 1846 to 1851, as 45 per cent. A portion of sugar is also

smuggled out, to evade the export duty, and by some this is set down

as high as a fourth of the foregoing amounts.

In the three years ending 1841, the exports of the whole island were

2,227,624 boxes; in the three years ending 1844, 2,716,319 boxes; in

the three years ending with 1847, 2,805,530 boxes.

Between 1839 and 1847, the exports had risen from 500,000 to 1,000,000

boxes. The following table exhibits the quantity shipped from the

leading port of Havana, to different countries:--

Countries. Sugar boxes of about 400 lbs. each.

1850. 1851.

Spain 81,267 101,762

United States 146,672 199,204

England 25,697 46,615

Cowes and a market 221,385 270,010

The Baltic 45,085 81,866

Hamburgh and Bremen 29,271 33,165

Holland 23,242 26,828

Belgium 62,849 29,814

France 44,947 46,517

Trieste and Venice 38,627 14,832

Italy 2,856 5,243

Other places 13,888 16,601

------- -------

Boxes 743,249 872,457

Our West India possessions have, owing to the want of a good supply of

labor and available capital to introduce various scientific

improvements, somewhat retrograded in the production of sugar; which,

from the low price ruling the past year or two, has not been found a

remunerative staple.

The two large islands of Jamaica and Cuba, may be fairly compared as

to their production of sugar. From 1804 to 1808, Jamaica exported, on

the average, annually 135,331 hhds., and from 1844 to 1848, it had

decreased to 41,872 hhds. The exports from the single port of Havana,

which in the first named period were 165,690 boxes, rose during the

latter period to 635,185 boxes; so that the shipments of sugar from

Jamaica, which were in 1804 to 1808 double those of Havana--in the

period from 1844 to 1848, were five times less!

Cuba will be able to withstand the crisis of the low price of sugars,

better than the emancipated British Colonies, for the following

reasons:--

1. It will find, in its present prosperity, a power of resistance that

no longer exists in the British sugar-growing colonies.

2. Because it enjoys in the Spanish markets a protection for at least

16,955 tons of its sugar, or about eight-tenths of its total

exportation.

3. Because it has secured a very strong position in the markets of the

United States; and both from its proximity to, and its commercial

relations with that country, as also from the better quality of its

sugar, will command the sale of at least 33,500 tons, or about 16 per

cent. of its total production.

4. Because in 1854, after the duties shall have been equalized, it

will be enabled to undersell the British article in its own market.

5. Because, not being an exclusively sugar-growing colony, as are

almost all British West India Islands, it may suffer from the present

depressed condition of the sugar market, but cannot be entirely

ruined, owing to its having commanding resources, and many other

valuable staples,--coffee, copper, cotton, &c.

6. Because, by improving its agriculture and introducing useful

machinery, railroads, &c., for which it has large available capital,

it can produce sugar at a diminished cost.

7. And lastly, because the proprietors have _continuous_ labour at

command, until slavery be abolished--of which there seems no present

prospect. The slave population numbers about 350,000, and the free

coloured population, about 90,000.

The consumption of sugar, during 1847, very singularly tallied with

the production of the British Colonies that year--being exactly

289,000 tons; but as 50,000 tons of foreign sugar were consumed, an

accumulation of British plantation sugar necessarily remained on hand.

The production of the French colonies was 100,000 tons, of which

France received nine-tenths.

In 1836, Jamaica made 1,136,554 cwt. of sugar. In 1840, its produce

had fallen off to 545,600 cwt.; but in the same years, Porto Rico had

increased its sugar crop, from 498,000 cwt., to 1,000,000 cwt. In

1837, Cuba made 9,060,058 arrobas of sugar, equal to 132,765 hhds.; in

1841, it had increased to 139,000 hhds. The largest crop grown in the

West Indies, since 1838, was that of 1847, which amounted to 159,600

tons.

The annexed returns of the sugar crops of Barbados and Jamaica, for a

series of years may, be interesting:--

SUGAR CROPS OF THE ISLAND OF BARBADOS, FROM 1827 TO 1846 AND 1851.

1827 18,109 hhds.

1828 28,533 "

1829 23,486 "

1830 26,360 "

1831 28,174 "

1832 19,761 "

1833 28,099 "

1834 28,710 "

1835 25,371 "

1836 26,358 "

1837 31,670 "

1838 33,058 "

1839 28,213 "

1840 13,589 "

1841 17,801 "

1842 21,607 "

1843 24,587 "

1844 23,147 "

1845 24,767 "

1846 21,936 "

1851 48,000 "

SUGAR CROPS OF THE ISLAND OF JAMAICA, FROM 1790 TO 1851.

1790 91,131 "

1791 91,020 "

1792 ... "

1793 82,136 "

1794 97,124 "

1795 95,372 "

1796 96,460 "

1797 85,109 "

1798 95,858 "

1799 110,646 "

1800 105,584 "

1801 139,036 "

1802 140,113 "

1803 115,496 "

1804 112,163 "

1805 150,352 "

1806 146,601 "

1807 135,203 "

1808 132,333 "

1809 114,630 "

1810 112,208 "

1811 138,292 "

1812 113,173 "

1813 109,158 "

1814 104,558 "

1815 127,209 "

1816 100,382 "

1817 123,766 "

1818 121,758 "

1819 116,382 "

1820 122,922 "

1821 119,560 "

1822 94,515 "

1823 101,271 "

1824 106,009 "

1825 72,090 "

1826 106,712 "

1827 87,399 "

1828 101,575 "

1829 97,893 "

1830 100,205 "

1831 94,381 "

1832 98,686 "

1833 85,161 "

1834 84,756 "

1835 77,970 "

1836 67,094 "

1837 61,505 "

1838 69,613 "

1839 49,243 "

1840 33,066 "

1841 34,491 "

1842 50,295 "

1843 44,169 "

1844 34,444 "

1845 47,926 "

1851 41,678 "

The average of the five years ending 1851, being the first five of

Free trade, shows an annual export from Jamaica of 41,678 hhds.

The quantity of unrefined sugar imported from the British West Indies

and Guiana in a series of years since the emancipation, is shown by

the following abstract:--

Cwts. Cwts.

Sugar. Molasses.

1831 4,103,800 323,306

1832 3,773,456 553,663

1833 3,646,205 686,794

1834 3,843,976 650,366

1835 3,524,209 507,495

1836 3,601,791 526,535

1837 3,306,775 575,657

1838 3,520,676 638,007

1839 2,824,372 474,307

1840 2,214,764 424,141

1841 2,148,218 430,221

1842 2,508,725 471,759

1843 2,509,701 605,632

1844 2,451,063 579,458

1845 2,853,995 491,083

1846 2,147,347 477,623

1847 3,199,814 531,171

1848 2,794,987 385,484

1849 2,839,888 605,487

1850 2,586,429 470,187

_Mauritius_.--In the year 1813 the exports of sugar from this island

were but 549,465 lbs., and increasing gradually to 128,476,547 lbs. in

1849, or two-hundred fold in thirty-six years.

The equalisation of the duties in 1825, and the admission of Mauritius

sugars into England on the same footing as those from the West Indies,

had the effect of stimulating the sugar trade of Mauritius, and

advancing it to its present remarkable success. Notwithstanding its

immense crops, scarcely more than three-fifths of the island is yet

under cultivation; but it has the advantage of a cheap and abundant

supply of labor, and much improved machinery has been introduced. The

planters first commenced introducing Coolies in 1835, and were for

some time restricted to the single port of Calcutta for their supply.

The recent advices from Mauritius furnish some interesting information

regarding the progress making in the sugar production of that colony.

In reference to the cultivation of the cane, it is stated that by the

introduction of guano upon several estates in the interior, the

production has been very largely increased; but as the value and

economy of manure has not been hitherto sufficiently estimated, its

introduction has not been so general as could be desired. The

importance of free labor to the cultivation of the estates, has now

become fully appreciated by the planters; it being found that an equal

amount of work can be obtained by this means from a less number of

hands, and that at lower rates of wages than were current in previous

years, the average of which is shown in the following table:--

+--------+-----------------+------------------+--------------+

+--------+-----------------+------------------+--------------+

| | | £ | s. d. |

| 1846 | 47,733 | 33,484 | 14 0 |

| 1847 | 48,314 | 35,338 | 14 9 |

| 1848 | 41,777 | 26,627 | 12 9 |

| 1849 | 45,384 | 27,625 | 12 2 |

| 1850 | 47,912 | 31,664 | 12 3 |

| 1851 | 42,275 | 27,832 | 12 2 |

+--------+-----------------+------------------+--------------+

In 1826, to make from 25 to 30,000,000 lbs. of sugar, it required

30,000 laborers (slaves); at the present time, with less than 45,000

(from which number fully 5,000 must be deducted as absent from work

from various causes), 135,000,000 lbs. are produced, or about five

times the quantity under slavery. The coolies are found to be an

intelligent race, who have become inured to the work required, and by

whose labor this small island can produce the fifth part of the

consumption of the United Kingdom, and that with only about 70,000

acres under cane cultivation. About 10,000 male immigrants, introduced

since 1843, are not now working under engagement, but are following

other occupations, and thus become permanent consumers. Some cultivate

land on a small scale, on their own account, but very few plant canes,

as it requires from eighteen to twenty months before they obtain any

return for their labor; but the most important fact established by

this and other official statements is, that only a small number of

immigrants leave the colony at the expiration of their industrial

residence. In the manufacture of sugar from the cane, considerable

improvement has been effected by the introduction of new methods of

boiling and grinding. The vacuum pan and the system of Wetsell are all

tending to economise the cost of production, and to save that loss

which for years amounted, in grinding alone, to nearly one-third of

the juice of the cane. The planters begin to find that they can

increase the value of their sugar 30 to 40 per cent. by these

improvements, and that their future prosperity depends upon carrying

them out. Unfortunately, however, here, as in many other of our

colonies, a very large number of planters do not yet appreciate the

advantages to be obtained by the adoption of improved machinery and

manufacture, or by improved cultivation, and still struggle on under

the old system of waste and negligence, which can only result in the

ruin and destruction of their property.

In 1827, the number of sugar estates in operation in Mauritius, were

49 worked by water power, 50 by cattle or horses, and 22 by

steam--total 111; in 1836, this number had increased to 186, viz.--64

moved by water power, 10 by horse, and 112 by steam. In 1839, the

number was 211, of which 138 were worked by steam power--70,292 acres

were then under cultivation with sugar. There are now about 490 sugar

estates, whereof only 231 have mills--42 are worked by water power,

the rest by steam.

The annual Mauritius crops, as exported, for the last ten years, have

been as follows. The shipments frequently extend beyond a year, hence

a discrepancy sometimes between the year's crop and the year's

export:--

Tons,

1842-43 24,400

1843-44 28,600

1844-45 37,600

1845-46 49,100

1846-47 64,100

1847-48 59,021

1848-49 50,782

1849-50 51,811

1850-51 55,000

1851-52 65,080

Besides its exports to Great Britain, Mauritius ships large

quantities of sugar to the Cape of Good Hope and Australia.

Its local consumption is moreover set down at about 2,500 tons.

The progressive increase in its exports is marked by the following

return of imports into Great Britain from the island:--

Cwt.

1826 93,723

1827 186,782

1828 204,344

1829 361,325

1830 297,958

1831 485,710

1832 517,553

1833 521,904

1834 516,077

1835 553,891

1836 558,237

1837 497,302

1838 537,455

1839 604,671

1840 690,294

1841 545,356

1842 716,009

1843 696,652

1844 545,415

1845 716,173

1846 845,197

1847 1,193,571

1848 886,184

1849 893,524

1850 1,003,296

1851 999,337

_East Indies_.--Sugar is a very old and extensive cultivation in

India. It would probably be within the mark, to estimate the annual

produce of the country at a million of tons. An official return shows

that the quantity of sugar carried on one road of the interior, for

provincial consumption, is about equal to the whole quantity shipped

from Calcutta--some 50,000 or 60,000 tons.

India is fast becoming a great sugar producing country, although its

produce and processes of manufacture are rude and imperfect. The

Coolies who return from time to time to the Indian ports, bring with

them much acquired knowledge and experience from the Mauritius.

In 1825, the import of sugar from the East Indies was but 146,000

cwt., and it fluctuated greatly in succeeding years, being

occasionally as low as 76,600 cwt. In 1837 the quantity imported was

just double what it was in 1827. In 1841, it had reached as high as

1,239,738 cwt., and subsequently kept steady for a few years at

1,100,000 cwt.--and for the last four years has averaged 1,400,000

cwt.

_Java_.--Attention has been withdrawn, in a great measure, from sugar

cultivation in Java, owing to coffee being found a more remunerative

staple. The following figures serve to show the extent of its exports

of sugar:--

Cwt.

1826 23,565

1827 38,357

1828 31,301

1829 91,227

1830 129,300

1831 144,077

1832 292,705

1833 151,128

1834 443,911

1835 523,162

1836 607,336

1837 820,063

1838 873,056

1839 999,895

1840 1,231,135

1841 1,252,041

1842 1,105,856

1843 1,162,211

1844 1,260,790

1845 1,812,500

1848 1,798,612

1850 1,797,874

1851 1,987,957

1852 2,090,845

In 1840, we imported from Java 75,533 cwt.; in 1841, 87,342 cwt.; in

1842, 24,922 cwt.; in 1843, 35,161 cwt.; and in 1844, about 72,000

cwt.; but most of this was only sent to Cowes, for orders, to be

transhipped to the Continent.

_Philippines_.--The exports from Manila into this country in 1841,

were 133,482 cwt.; in 1842, 63,464 cwt.; and in 1843, 48,977 cwt. In

the fifteen years between 1835 and 1850, the export of sugar from the

Philippine Islands more than doubled:--

Tons.

1835 11,542

1836 14,875

1837 12,293

1838 12,375

1839 15,631

1840 16,563

1841 15,321

1842 18,540

1843 22,239

1844 21,528

1845 24,500

1850 28,745

About a third of this is raw sugar, the rest is clayed or refined. It

is singular, that though these islands belong to Spain, the export of

this staple product to that country should be limited to about 600

tons; America taking about one-sixth, and England and her colonies the

remainder. There is now an increased demand for the Australian

colonies, consequent upon the large influx of population to that

quarter.

Export of sugar from Manila in 1850.

Piculs.

To Great Britain 146,926

" Continent of Europe 50,830

" Australian Colonies 142,359

" Singapore, Batavia, and Bombay 12,749

" California and the Pacific 29,144

" The United States 77,919

-------

459,927

The sugar cane occurs in a wild state on many of the islands of the

Pacific, but in no part of the American continent, notwithstanding a

contrary opinion has been expressed.

The following are the chief varieties cultivated in the West Indies,

Louisiana, the East Indies, and Mauritius:--

1. Common or creole cane, so called from being introduced from the New

World.

2. Yellow Bourbon.

3. Yellow Otaheite.

4. Otaheite with purple bands.

5. Purple Otaheite.

6. Ribbon cane.

My friend, Mr. L. Wray, in his "Practical Sugar Planter," considers

the Bourbon, and yellow, or straw-coloured Otaheite cane, as

identical, but merely altered by change of soil and climate. The yield

from these cane-plants seems to be about the same in either Indies,

viz., in good land about two-and-a-half tons of dry sugar per

acre--sometimes three tons.

A very large species of red cane, grown at Gowhatty, in Assam, is

made favorable mention of for its strength of growth, early maturity,

and juiciness; and Mr. Wray strongly recommends the introduction into

the West Indies of another fine variety, generally grown in the

Straits' settlements, where it is known by the name of the Salangore

cane. He considers they would ratoon better than any other cane, and

the return from it is on the average 3,600 lbs. of dry sugar to the

acre.

"For my own part, I have always reckoned as an average, 3,600 lbs.

of dry sugar to the acre as the return this cane will give, on

anything like good land, in the Straits, according to the present

imperfect mode of expressing and manufacture; but, considering the

surpassing richness of land in the West India Islands, Demerara, and

Mauritius, I should not be in any way surprised to find that it

would there give even three tons an acre.

The Salangore cane grows firm and strong; stands upright much better

than the Otaheite; gives juice most abundantly, which is sweet and

easy of clarification, boils well, and produces a very fine, fair

sugar, of a bold and sparkling grain."

Much discussion has arisen on the subject of raising the sugar cane

from seed, and the possibility has been universally denied among the

planters and agricultural societies of the West India colonies. Mr.

Pritchard, a sugar planter of Louisiana, in the "United States Patent

Report for 1850," however, states:--

"It is an error to suppose that the cane cannot be propagated from

the seed. This may be the case when the seed is obtained from plants

that have been produced for a number of years from buds, or eyes.

All plants that have been produced in this way for a series of

years, lose the faculty of forming prolific seeds; and the sugar

cane is governed by the same laws which govern the whole vegetable

kingdom. It cannot, therefore, be expected to produce seeds after it

has been cultivated for a great length of time."

The sugar cane is composed of water, woody fibre, and soluble matter,

or sugar. In round numbers it may be stated that the proportions are

72 per cent. of water, 10 per cent. of woody fibre, and 18 per cent.

of sugar.

The fluid contents of a cane, according to Dr. Evans, contain 90 per

cent. of the entire structure of the stem.

1,000 grains of sugar cane, being burnt, gave 7½ grains of ash, which,

on analysis, furnished the following components:--

Silica 1.78

Phosphate of lime 3.41

Red oxide of iron and clay .17

Carbonate of potash 1.46

Sulphate of potash .15

Carbonate of magnesia .43

Sulphate of lime 6

----

7.46

The following is the quantative analysis of a portion of soil taken

from the surface of a cane field, on the Diamond estate, in St.

Vincent, West Indies: --

Alumina soluble in acids 12.87

Organic matter 11.26

Gypsum .23

Carbonate of lime 12.52

---- of magnesia .71

Oxide of iron 8.51

Oxide of manganese .33

Insoluble silicious and aluminous matter 53.57

------

100.00

The sugar of the cane and grape sugar are distinguished by the

following difference in their elements, as proved by analysis:--

Cane sugar. Grape sugar.

Carbon 12 12

Hydrogen 10 12

Oxygen 10 12

Water 1 2

There is a remarkable difference, however, between their fermentable

properties. When a solution is made of the same quantities of these

two sugars, in equal proportions of distilled water, it will be

necessary to add eight times as much of the same ferment to induce

alcoholic fermentation in the solution of cane sugar, as in that of

grape sugar. Under the action of a larger quantity of ferment, cane

sugar is transformed into grape sugar.

If you cut a sugar cane in two, and examine the interior part of it

with a magnifying glass, you perceive the crystals of sugar as

distinct and as white as those of double-refined sugar. The object of

the operator should be then either to extract those crystals without

altering their color, or, if that be found impracticable, to separate

them from the impurities mixed with them, while the juice is in its

natural state, and yet contains but little coloring matter. Instead of

this, the juice is limed while all the impurities are in it. In

separating the feculencies from the juice and uniting them in large

flakes, lime dissolves a portion of them and forms with them coloring

matter, which we all know at once discolors the juice, when lime is

used in excess. Afterwards heat is applied, either in clarifiers or in

the grand copper, but most of the impurities found in the juice will

decompose, and burn at a degree of heat far below the boiling point,

say at 120 deg. of Fahrenheit. This is shown by the thick scales

continually forming in the grande. From that degree of heat the

decomposition goes on in the clarifier till the juice is drawn, and

continues in the grande so long as there are feculencies left. This

decomposition greatly increases the quantity of coloring matter, so

that, as the juice is being clarified, it loses in color what it gains

in purity. And here let me show the relative value of the "grande" and

of clarifiers as agents of clarification. In the grande, if it is well

attended to, the scummings are taken up as soon as they rise. A

portion of them is removed before they begin to decompose, and the

process goes on, so that before the juice reaches the boiling point

nearly all the feculencies are removed, and the source of coloring

matter is removed with them. Clarifiers reach the boiling point much

quicker, and cannot easily be scummed. The general practice is to

bring them to that point without scumming, to let the feculencies

separate from the juice by cooling and by rest, and to wash out the

clarifiers every second or third time they are filled. Heat and

alkalies acting in them upon the accumulated feculencies of one, two,

or three charges, dissolve a much larger portion of those feculencies

than they can possibly do in the grande. The formation of coloring

matter continues during the time of rest, and accordingly planters,

after repeated trials, generally agree that juice well clarified in

the grande, has a lighter and brighter color, and makes better sugar

than that obtained from clarifiers.

The first object of research should be to find means of clarifying the

juice without creating coloring matter. It is said that presses

something like those used to press cotton, have lately been

successfully employed in the West Indies, instead of rollers; that the

juice obtained is much purer, and that a much larger quantity of it is

extracted from the cane. If so, this will be a great improvement, and

the first step of the process I should recommend. From juice thus

obtained, I have no doubt that all impurities less soluble than itself

may be separated by mechanical means before heat and alkalies are

applied, or at least with a very small quantity of alkalies. All other

liquids, all fatty substances and oils, except cotton seed oil, are

clarified by a very rapid process. Cane juice can no doubt be

clarified by similar means, and if this were accomplished the process

of sugar making would be very much simplified.

The clarified juice might then be placed in an evaporator, heated by

the waste steam of the engine; then be limed and scummed if necessary,

and concentrated to fifteen or sixteen of the prese sirop; then

purified by filtration through animal charcoal, if white sugar was

wanted, or by rest for other qualities; and finally concentrated in

vacuum pans of great power, such pans as Mr. Thomas A. Morgan, of

Louisiana, now uses, and which, I am informed, are only made in

America.

The superiority of the vacuum pan is not universally admitted, and we

are told that in France it is superseded by open pans, similar to

those called in America "Mape's Evaporators." However this may be, I

cannot help believing that the vacuum pan has many decided advantages

over all others. One is manifest; the sugar may be grained in the pan,

and the granulation is completely under the control of the operator.

He may accelerate or retard it at pleasure; he may carry it so far

that sugar will not run from the pan, and will have to be taken out of

it; he may so conduct the operation as to increase, almost at will,

the size and hardness of the crystals. This last is an indispensable

requisite if the practice of draining sugar in pneumatic pans should

be adopted.

The atmospheric pressure is made too powerful for sugars boiled in any

other manner; it breaks and destroys the crystals, and in a very few

days sets the sugar to fermenting.

The pneumatic draining of sugar has many things to recommend it--the

usual loss by drainage is avoided, sugar is got ready for market day

by day, as it is made, and it may be bleached by pouring white syrup

over it and forcing it through the mass. It is said that the process

is attended with considerable loss in weight, but as all that drains

from the pan may be boiled over once or twice, it is not easy to

conceive how the loss can occur.

Cane juice contains many ingredients besides sugar, the principal of

which are albumen, gluten, gum, starch, resin, wax, coloring matter,

and certain salts, all of which, either collectively or individually,

have the power of preventing granulation, as may be proved by their

addition to a syrup of pure sugar, which will then defy all attempts

to make it crystallise. If, therefore, we want to make good sugar, we

must endeavour to free our cane juice as much as possible from those

substances.

Now, cane juice is no more the sap of the cane, than apple juice is

that of the apple tree; it is the natural product of the cane, and, in

all probability, would contain but a small proportion of these foreign

matters if it could be expressed without being accompanied by the sap,

they being the natural constituents of the last-named fluid. A patent

has, I believe, been lately taken out for separating the cane juice

without the sap. However, in the absence of such an improvement, much

may be done by care and attention at the mill; the green bands and

trash which usually accompany the canes from the field, should,

therefore, be carefully removed before they are passed through, as

they contain no saccharine matter, abound in the deleterious

substances already mentioned, and communicate a bad color to the

juice; therefore, _the ripe cane only should pass through the mill_.

There are but few planters who have not had to contend with sour

juice, and they attribute the difficulty they experience in making

sugar therefrom, to the presence of acetic acid, or vinegar; but this

is quite an erroneous idea, as the acetic acid is very volatile, and

evaporates quickly on the application of heat, which may be proved by

throwing a gallon of strong vinegar into a pan of liquor; it will do

no harm, provided it be boiled before tempering; on the contrary, the

effect, if it be properly done, will be beneficial, as it will promote

the coagulation of the albumen; it is the gum which is always formed

during the acetous fermentation of sugar that prevents granulation;

hence, then, acidity is strictly to be guarded against, as

fermentation once commenced, it will be impossible to make good sugar,

it will continue throughout the process, and even in the hogshead; so

that canes should be ground as soon as possible after they are cut,

and all rat-eaten and broken ones carefully excluded. Canes may,

however, be kept some days without fermenting, provided they be not

broken or damaged, it being, as we said before, the mixture of the sap

and the cane juice that makes the liquid so prone to fermentation; and

the mill, gutters, and everything with which the juice is likely to

come in contact, should be kept carefully clean, and whitewashed

immediately after, and the whitewash removed before use, as acetate of

lime being an exceedingly soluble and deliquescent salt, will not

improve the quality of the sugar; whilst the gutter should be short,

and sheltered from the sun's rays, they having the effect of greatly

expediting chemical action.

I shall say no more on this subject, but will proceed to consider the

mode of tempering and clarifying cane juice, and the action of lime on

the various substances contained therein. The expression "tempering"

has, I presume, been, adopted in consequence of the use of tempered

lime for the purpose of precipitating the feculencies, held in

solution in the cane juice, into a state of suspension; and

clarification is the process by which we afterwards clear the liquor

of these and other foreign matter. Now, as I before observed,

"fermentation should be most strictly guarded against;" our first

efforts should be directed to free the cane juice from those

substances most conducive to that process; and on inquiry we find

these to be albumen and gluten; so far, however, from getting rid of

them in cold tempering, we adopt a course which retains them

permanently in solution, as lime has the power of rendering them

permanently soluble, and of forming soapy compounds with resin, wax,

and chlorophyle, or the green coloring matter of leaves, forming an

insoluble compound with and precipitating only the starch, and

converting at the same time the green color of the chlorophyle (which

is, in all probability, attached to the resin), into a dark brown, of

a greater or less intensity, according to the composition of the cane

juice, and, consequently, the quantity of lime required; it follows,

therefore, as a matter of course, that if juice be tempered before

these substances have been removed, they must be permanently retained,

and they have all the power of preventing granulation.

Albumen, and gluten are both coagulable by heat; if, therefore, we

raise the liquor to the boiling point prior to applying the lime,

taking care to remove the scum as soon as it shows signs of breaking,

and continuing the boiling until the scum thrown to the surface

becomes inconsiderable, we shall find that the albumen and gluten, in

coagulating and rising, have carried with them the small particles of

woody fibre, the wax, and a large proportion of the coloring matter,

and that the lime will now throw down the starch, and any other little

impurities remaining in suspension in the liquor, leaving it perfectly

clear and bright. Tempering is an exceedingly delicate chemical

operation, and I have no hesitation in saying, that on its proper

performance depends the quality of the produce. The following simple

experiments, which all have it in their power to try, will, if they

give themselves the trouble, fully satisfy them of two important

points--the superiority of the hot over the cold mode, and the

necessity for great attention to the operation of tempering. Let them

take a tumbler of cane-juice and a bottle containing lime water, add

the latter to the former by drops, pausing and stirring between each,

and they will find that, after the addition of a certain quantity, the

opaque gummy appearance of the liquor undergoes a change, and the

impurities contained in it separate into flakes, which increase in

size with each drop of lime added, until they become extinct, and the

supernatant liquor perfectly transparent; this is the precise point at

which the liquor is tempered, and each drop of lime added after this,

causes the flakes to diminish rapidly in size, at last entirely to

disappear (being re-dissolved), and the liquor to resume its former

gummy appearance; it is, therefore, evident that there should be no

such expressions as tempering high or low.

The reason why some liquor is so difficult to clean is, that it is

either tempered high or low; if it be exactly tempered, the impurities

contained in it being entirely separated and thrown out of solution,

rise to the surface immediately on the application of heat, and are

easily removed; but if there be too little lime, a great portion

remains in solution, and if too much, a proportional quantity is

re-dissolved; and in either case cannot be removed by any mechanical

means. It is, therefore, necessary to have some precise test for the

application of lime.

As regards the superiority of the hot over the cold tempering, let any

one take, in separate vessels, two gallons of cane-juice, and temper

one, adding the lime in small quantities--say, of three grains at a

time--and keeping an account of the quantity used; he will find that

the first portions produce no effect whatever, and that it is only

after the addition of a considerable quantity that the desired

precipitation of the impurities manifest itself. Why is this? Because

albumen, gluten, resin, and chlorophyle, being soluble in lime, lime

is equally so in them, and they must first be saturated before it will

produce any other effect. Let the liquor thus tempered, be then placed

on one side. Put the other gallon over a fire, and boil it, removing

the scum just before, and during, ebullition; let it then be taken off

the fire, and tempered in the same way as the other. The very first

quantity of lime added causes the appearance of the floccy

precipitate; and if the addition of the lime be continued until it be

precisely tempered, it will be found that the hot possesses the

following advantages over the cold-tempered liquor:--In a quarter of

an hour its impurities will have subsided to a sixteenth of its bulk,

leaving the supernatant liquor as bright and clear as pale brandy;

while those in the other have only sunk to one-quarter of its bulk.

The color of the former clear liquor will not be less than one-half

the intensity of that of the latter. The lime used in the hot has been

less by one-third than the quantity used in the cold tempering.

Of course, on level estates there is little difficulty in tempering

liquor, but on hilly properties scarcely two pans will require the

same quantity.

It is generally believed that the object of adding lime to cane-juice

is for the purpose of neutralising an acid, and it is to the reception

of this fallacious idea that it is indebted for its long and continued

use, and the present backward state of sugar manufacture is

attributable: I unhesitatingly assert that, if there be an acid

present in the cane-juice, the addition of lime to it will be

injurious instead of beneficial. There are only four acids that we

could expect to find in cane juice--mucous, saccholactic or saclactic,

oxalic, and acetic acids. The three first named of these, however,

have never been traced, even in the most minute quantities; and if the

latter be present, which, unfortunately, is but too often the case,

the addition of lime would only result in the formation of acetate of

lime, which is, as I have already observed, an exceedingly difficult

crystallisable, very soluble, and deliquescent salt. It has a bitter,

saline taste; 100 parts consist of 64.5 acid, 35.5 lime, and it is

easily recognisable by its taste in the molasses made from sour

cane-juice: so that, supposing the cane-juice sour, every pint of acid

present would require nearly half a pound of lime for its

neutralisation, independent of the quantity required for the tempering

or precipitation of the feculencies contained in it, and would result

in the formation of one-and-a-half pound of the above mentioned highly

deleterious salt.

Suppose we boil the cane-juice prior to tempering it, we then drive

off a great portion of acetic acid, much less lime will be required,

and if we could, by filtration or subsidence, get rid of the

precipitated feculencies, we should make a tolerably good sugar; but

as, under the present plan, we have no means of so doing, the acetic

acid, which is forming during the whole process of evaporation (as

fermentation still goes on), unites with the lime before it can be

dissipated by the heat, and thus not only forms acetate of lime, but

causes the re-solution of the precipitated feculencies, thus rendering

it necessary to add a fresh portion of lime in the tache, a proceeding

always to be avoided, if possible, but generally necessary in boiling

down sour liquor. Take a small portion of cane-juice (hot or cold) in

a tumbler, and temper it with lime until the feculencies are

precipitated and the flakes perfectly visible, then add vinegar by

drops, and it will be found that the flakes will speedily disappear

and be re-dissolved, showing that lime has a greater affinity for

acetic acid than starch, and that, although when added to sour

cane-juice, it neutralises the acidity, still that result is a

consequence, not the cause, of the application, and is highly

injurious. Lime is one of the greatest known solvents of vegetable

matter; it dissolves albumen, gluten, gum and lignin, or woody fibre,

forming soapy compounds with wax, resin, and, chlorophyle. Ordinary

cane-juice contains about three parts of resin to every 100 of sugar,

and the projection of a small piece of soap into a tache full of

granulating syrup will soon convince any one of the effect likely to

result from the presence of that material. Although, by tempering hot,

we get rid of a very great quantity of the substances on which lime

acts injuriously, a considerable portion of them remain in suspension,

the quantity of albumen contained in the cane-juice not being

sufficient to carry them all off by coagulation; on the addition of

the lime, however, they are entirely dissolved and as the impurities

left behind consist chiefly of gluten, the liability of the liquor to

ferment is greatly increased by its retention, that being the

fermenting principle contained in wheat and other vegetable

productions prone to that process.

One hundred parts of Albumen consist of Carbon, 52.88; Oxygen, 23.88;

Hydrogen, 7-54; Nitrogen, 15.70. Gluten, nearly same as Albumen.

-------------+-------+-------+-------+---------+-------++------+--------

100 parts | | | | | ||Excess! Excess

consist of |Carbon.|Oxygen.|Hydro- | Carbon. | Water.|| of | of

| | | gen. | | ||Oxygen|Hydrogen

-------------+-------+-------+-------+---------+-------++------+--------

Lignin, or | | | | | || |

Woody Fibre| 51.45 | 42.73 | 5.82 | or51.45 | 48.55 || |

Starch | 43.55 | 49.63 | 6.77 | 43.55 | 56.45 || |

Sugar | 42.47 | 50.63 | 6.90 | 42.47 | 57.53 || |

Gum | 42.23 | 50.84 | 6.93 | 42.23 | 57.77 || |

Alcohol | 51.98 | 34.32 | 13.70 | 51.98 | 38.99 || | 9.03

Acetic Acid | 50.22 | 44.15 | 5.63 | 50.22 | 46.91 || 2.87 |

Resin | 75.94 | 13.34 | 10.72 | 75.94 | 15.16 || | 8.90

Wax | 81.79 | 5.54 | 12.76 | 81.79 | 6.30 || | 11.01

-------------+-------+-------+-------+---------+-------++------+--------

By a reference to the foregoing table it will be easily understood how

slight a change in the proportion of the ingredients of any one of the

substances contained therein will convert it into an entirely

different one. In chemistry we are able, to a certain extent, to

imitate the operations of nature; but we must follow in the same

course laid down by her; thus, we can convert woody fibre, or sawdust

and starch, into sugar, gum, alcohol, and acetic acid; but we cannot

convert alcohol, acetic acid, or gum into sugar, starch or woody

fibre; and of such importance is a slight alteration of the

proportions of these elements--carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen--that the

abstraction of carbon from sugar, and the addition of a portion of the

prime support of life, vegetation and combustion, oxygen, changes the

harmless sugar into the most violent of poisons, oxalic acid, which

consists of 26.57 carbon, 70.69 oxygen, and 2.74 hydrogen.

Let us now examine the action of lime on sugar, and we shall find it

equally, if not more, injurious than on the other substances. Sugar is

capable of dissolving half its weight of lime, by which its sweet

taste is destroyed, and it becomes converted into gum; the lime

abstracting carbonic acid from it to form a carbonate of lime or

chalk. It will be seen by the above table that--

100 parts of sugar contain 42.47 carbon.

100 parts of gum contain 42.23 ditto.

-----

Difference 24

So that, if we extract 24-100ths of a grain of carbon from 100 grains

of sugar, we convert them into gum. Let us suppose that about two

ounces of lime, or say 1,000 grains, remain in solution in a pan, (say

200 gallons of liquor,) those 1,000 grains of lime will require 761 of

carbonic acid to convert them into carbonate of lime or chalk, 100

grains of which consist of 56.2 lime and 43.8 carbonic acid. So that

1,761 grains of chalk consist of 1,000 lime and 761 carbonic acid. Now

100 grains of carbonic add consist of 27.53 carbon and 72.47 oxygen;

therefore 761 grains will consist of 209.50 carbon and 551.53 oxygen.

Consequently, 1,000 grains of lime will require 209.50 grains of

carbon to convert them into carbonate of lime; and as we have seen

that the abstraction of 24 from 100 grains of sugar convert them into

gum, it follows, that the abstraction of 209.50 grains would have a

similar effect on 87,000 grains, or about 15 lbs. of sugar, which,

being converted into gum, would prevent the crystallisation of several

times its weight of sugar; and this is the cause of the formation of

molasses. The loss of sugar is not the only bad consequence of the use

of lime, as the greater the quantity of gum in the liquor, the more it

must be boiled--the more it is boiled the darker it gets--and the

higher the temperature at which the skip is struck, the smaller the

grain. The following is a good proof that lime dissolves albumen, and

becomes converted into chalk:--Take a spoonful of syrup out of the

tache of any estate on which the liquor is tempered cold; it will be

found filled with small flakes; these are albumen set free from its

solution in the lime by the conversion of the latter into carbonate of

lime, and coagulated by heat. It is perfectly possible to temper

liquor, so that scarcely any uncrystallisable sugar will remain; but

planters do not like this; they must have molasses for the

still-house; they could, however, boil low, by which the grain and

color would be improved, and plenty of uncrystallised, although not

uncrystallisable, syrup would be left to take the place of molasses.

I think I have now fully proved the following facts, viz.:--That the

use of lime in sugar-making is not to neutralise an acid; that if

acidity be present, the application of lime is injurious; that its

action on gluten, albumen, wax, resin, and chlorophyle is equally so;

that by decomposing the sugar and forming gum, the quantity of

molasses or uncrystallisable sugar is much increased, whereby high

boiling is rendered necessary, with its consequent heightening of

color and injury to the grain of the produce, and that therefore it is

perfectly unfit for the purpose of tempering cane-juice.

Messrs. Thomas Begg and Co., of London, have procured from E.F.

Telchemacher and J. Denham Smith, an analysis of one gallon of

ordinary plantain juice, and one gallon of Ramos' prepared plantain

juice "for the purpose of ascertaining whether any substance can be

used which, in conjunction with water, will answer as a substitute for

the plantain juice in the receipt which accompanied the samples." The

chemists say they find that one gallon of ordinary plantain juice

holds in solution;--

Extract similar to tannin 25.60 grains

Vegetable extract and fatty matter 57.70 "

Carbonate of potash 150.40 "

Muriate of potash 33.60 "

Muriate of soda 2.00 "

Silica 1.20 "

-------------

Contents of one imperial gallon 270.50 grains

--whilst one gallon of "Ramos' prepared plantain juice" contains,

besides vegetable extract, 226 grains of solid matter, consisting of

sulphuret and potash, in the following proportions:--

Sulphur 40 grains

Lime 156 "

Potash 30 "

----------

226 grains

They do not think it likely that the potash exists in fresh plantain

juice as carbonate, but rather that this salt is the product of

decomposition, arising from a compound of potash and a vegetable acid,

such as tartaric or oxalic acid present in the fresh juice; be this as

it may, any utility derivable from the plantain juice is evidently

owing to the potash it contains.

They then give as a substitute for Ramos' liquid, and to be used in a

similar way, the following--

Take of subcarbonate of potash 2 ounces, avoirdupois; sulphur, 2¼

ounces; best British lime slaked, 1½ lb.; mix them into a paste in an

earthen pan or wooden tub, with one quart of water (warm) and when

thoroughly mixed, pour in ten gallons of boiling water--rain water is

the best to use--and stir from time to time until it has cooled, when

it may be drawn off from the sediment and kept for use. If rain water

cannot be obtained, the purest water obtainable may be used.

One of the causes most fatal to West Indian prosperity, is that

exuberance of advantages which they enjoy from serenity of climate and

fertility of soil--causes which, in the absence of proper stimulus to

industry and improvement, have led to an improvident system of

cultivation, and to a blind and ignorant adherence to wasteful methods

of manufacture.

The cane is believed to contain from 90 to 95 per cent. of its own

weight of saccharine juice; and yet (as Mr. Fownes, a Professor of

Practical Chemistry in University College, London, informs us, in an

excellent paper "On the Manufacture of Sugar in Barbados,"[17] from

which much of what follows has been borrowed) owing to the defective

construction of the mills, hardly so much as 50 per cent. is obtained,

although he believes it practicable, by an improvement in the mills,

to obtain from 70 to 75 per cent.; and of the remaining 10 or 15 per

cent. which he regards it as impossible to extract, much, if not the

whole, might, I conceive, be obtained, by macerating the pressed canes

or megass, as it issues from the mill, and repassing it through the

rollers; and, be it remembered, that from 40 to 45 per cent. of

saccharine juice is nearly, if not altogether, equivalent to a similar

per centage of sugar; so that by these initiatory improvements alone,

and with little additional trouble, the produce of sugar might be

nearly doubled from any given quantity of canes.

From the action of lime-water when added in a slight excess to the

cane juice or raw liquor, as it is vernacularly termed, immediately on

issuing from the mill, as well as from the effect produced by ammonia

or potash, this liquid appears to contain a considerable quantity of

cane sugar, mixed with much glucose, or that saccharine matter which

is found in fruits; gum or dextrine, phosphates, and probably malates

of lime and magnesia, with sulphates and chlorides, potash and soda,

and a peculiar azotised matter, allied to albumen, which forms an

insoluble compound with lime, is not coagulable by heat or acids, and

runs readily into putrefactive fermentation.

To free it from these constituents, and enable it to yield pure and

crystallisable sugar, the liquor, on entering the boiling-house, is

received into the first of three clarifiers, of the capacity of from

three hundred to a thousand gallons each. Here it is subjected to the

action of lime-water, which checks the tendency to fermentation, and

neutralises any free acid which it may contain. "The common defection

process," says Mr. Fownes, "in careful hands, seems susceptible of

little improvement. Many other substances than lime have been proposed

and tried with more or less success, some of which, in particular

states of the cane juice, may prove very useful; but, for general

purposes, nothing seems to answer so well as neutralisation by lime,

either in the form of lime-water or milk of lime, added until the

slightest possible tendency to alkalinity, as ascertained by delicate

reddened litmus paper, is perceived. The juice should be somewhat

heated before the lime is added, and afterwards raised quite to the

boiling point. The fire is then to be withdrawn, and the whole allowed

to rest a short time." Such is Mr. Fownes' description of the process

of clarification; to which I will venture to add, upon the authority

of those who have experienced its good effects, the joint use of the

mucilage of the _Guazuma ulmifolia_, or gun-stock tree, as it is

popularly termed in Nevis from the use to which its timber has been

applied. This is the bastard cedar of Jamaica, or Orme d'Amerique, and

Bois d'Orme of the French, which may be found described by Lunan, in

the first volume of his "Hortus Jamaicensis," page 59, under the name

of _Bubroma Guazuma_.

This tree presents in the interval between its outer bark of sap-wood,

a mass of fibrous matter about half an inch in thickness, richly

impregnated with mucilage, which is obtained by macerating the fibrous

mass, conveniently divided into small shreds, for about twelve hours,

in warm water, in the proportion of about two handsful to eight

gallons of water. Of this solution, which is of a light, straw color,

and somewhat thickened, one gallon is to be added for every hundred

gallons of cane juice, after the clarifier has been charged with the

proper quantity of lime-water, and has become lukewarm. The mixture

should then be stirred, and afterwards allowed to settle till the scum

has risen to the surface. The fire must next be cautiously and

gradually raised to the point of boiling, when it must again be

slackened, and the whole left to stand for about forty minutes, by

which time the mass of feculencies will have risen to the surface,

when the clear liquor underneath may either be drawn off by a siphon

or cock; the whole may be filtered as Mr. Fownes recommends, by which

means the liquor would be more effectually clarified, and much, if not

all, the subsequent labour of skimming dispensed with. The matter

remaining on the filter may be employed, either as a ferment in the

still-house, or added to the manure heap. Much of the beneficial

effect of the mucilage of the _guazuma_ arises probably from an

admixture of tannin, or some other astringent; for I have often been

struck with the peculiar whiteness of the potted sugar in the

curing-house, in the immediate vicinity of the Banana stalks,

resulting, no doubt, from their powerful astringency; and tannin has

already been found useful in the manufacture of sugar from beet-root

in France, and is no doubt equally applicable to cane-sugar.

The liquor, when clarified in the manner described, must be

concentrated, by regulated evaporation, to the degree requisite for

crystallisation. This Mr. Fownes advises to be done by steam of a

moderate pressure circulating in a spiral of copper-pipe laid at the

bottom of the evaporating vessels, which should be large and shallow,

and wholly unlike those in present use. Here it may be rapidly boiled

down till the heat rises to about 225 deg., without risk of burning.

When cold, it should have a density of about 1.38, and mark the 38th

degree of Baume's hydrometer; beyond which point of inspissation it

would be dangerous to go. The remaining concentration will be most

safely conducted in the vacuum pan, where a scarcity of water does

not, as in Barbados, militate against its use.

Mr. Fownes exposes the absurdity of using shallow coolers, exposing a

large surface, and producing a rapid evaporation, for the process of

crystallisation. By the use of the shallow coolers formerly, and, I

believe, yet to be found on most estates, from the rapidity of the

evaporation, the sugar is obtained in a mass of confused and

imperfectly-formed crystals, entangling in their interstices a

considerable quantity of molasses, which impairs the color of the

product, and escaping slowly, and with difficulty, is, to a

considerable extent, lost on the homeward voyage by drainage into the

hold, occasioning much positive loss to the owner, and giving the

bilge-water a most offensive odor. He therefore recommends the use of

deep vessels, and avoidance of all agitation in this part of the

process, so as to enable the crystallisable portion of the syrup to

effect a more complete separation from the uncrystallisable portion or

the molasses. By this simple method, not only sugar of a finer and

whiter quality would be obtained, but a large per centage of loss both

of crystallisable and uncrystallisable sugar at present caused by the

leakage of the hogshead into the hold, would be prevented, not only to

the great advantage of the planter, but to the great comfort of the

captain, passengers, and crew of the vessel freighted with it.

It is not improbable that, by re-boiling the molasses in the

vacuum-pan, and employing tannin in the manner adopted in the process

for making sugar from beet-root, from one to five per cent. of

crystallisable sugar could be recovered from it, and this per centage

might possibly even be found to admit of increase by the further

treatment with lime-water and the gun-stock tree s already suggested,

for the first clarification of the liquor received from the mill. With

this view, Mr. Fownes recommends the substitution of puncheons, or

casks, for the molasses cisterns ordinarily employed in the

curing-house, to receive the molasses as it drains from the new sugar,

and thus retaining it until after the busy period of crop time has

closed.

Should sugar of a whiter quality than the ordinary muscovado of

commerce be desired, this advantage may be readily obtained, as Mr.

Fownes judiciously observes, by filtering the thin syrup, ready for

the vacuum-pan, through a bed of fine charcoal, as is done by the

sugar refiners, and afterwards washing the crystals of sugar with

white syrup, when the molasses has thoroughly drained from them. By

this process, which, however, is attended with some increase of

expense, and may not, in consequence, be always advisable, muscovado

sugar may be obtained, of a quality hardly inferior to that of refined

sugar. Mr. Fownes thus sums up the principal points to which he is

desirous of calling the attention of the intelligent and enterprising

planter.

1. "To obtain, by the use of a properly-constructed mill, the greatest

possible amount of juice from the cane."

By this, according to Mr. Fownes, a gain of from 20 to 30 per cent.,

equivalent to as much marketable sugar, may be obtained without any

additional expense; but as, from Mr. Fownes' own showing, there is a

residuum of 10 to 15 per cent of liquor obstinately retained by the

megass, or cane trash, after the most powerful pressure to which it

can be subjected; much, if not all, even of this loss might be

prevented by subjecting the megass, on issuing from between the

rollers, to the action of water for a brief time, passing it once more

through the mill, and adding the saccharine solution so obtained, or

that obtained directly from the cane on its first crushing. The water

thus employed would serve for many successive portions of megass,

until at length it became so richly loaded with saccharine matter as

to be worth attention in the boiling-house; or, at all events, it

would be serviceable for the cattle, who would fatten rapidly upon it.

By this additional process a further gain of at least five per cent.

might be expected, raising the total gain from improvements in this

_first_ stage of the process, to from 25 to 35 per cent.

2. "To clarify and filter this juice with expedition, and to evaporate

it rapidly, either over the open fire or by steam heat, as far as it

can be done with safety."

By the use of steam, not only is a vast economy of fuel effected, but

the temperature is maintained at a uniform and sufficient standard,

and the liquor effectually guarded against the risks of carelessness

or ignorance. Coal may be obtained on far cheaper terms, in exchange

for produce, from the United States or from Cape Breton, than from

England; and as colliers from those quarters would find it their

interest to bring cargoes at their own risk, and take return cargoes

of sugar, rum, or molasses, at the market price, the planter will be

doubly a gainer by the system, obtaining his fuel at a reduced rate,

and having his trash and megass left free as manure for the use of his

cane fields.

3. "To complete the concentration in a vacuum pan, or by other means,

at a moderate temperature, not hurtful to the sugar, and facilitate

the natural process of crystallisation, so as to obtain sugar of a

large and distinct grain."

4. "To drain and dry the sugar perfectly, and to save all the

molasses."

The advantages to be anticipated from these improvements, superadded

to an improvement in cultivation, cannot be estimated at less, upon a

moderate calculation, than from 150 to 200 per cent. of increase in

the production of sugar, with hardly an appreciable increase of labor

or expense; for we have, in the first place, a gain by improved

culture of, at least, two hogsheads an acre in sugar, equivalent to

100 per cent.; in the next, by employing improved mills and extracting

the residuum, 30 per cent.; by conducting the process of manufacture

more judiciously, 10 per cent.; and by the prevention of waste during

the transit to market, 10 per cent., making a total of at least 150

per cent.

The common sugar-mill consists of three cylinders, tightened either by

wedges, if in a wooden frame, or by screws in a cast-iron frame. If in

an iron frame, the above-mentioned noise is obviated, but the friction

and loss of power is the same, which is ascertainable by subsequent

investigation. The cylinders or rollers, which are moving either

horizontally or vertically, are from eighteen to twenty-four inches in

diameter, with bearings or shafts of one fourth of their diameter. If

the bearings or shafts of the cylinders were of less substance, they

could not resist the great strain to which they are subjected when in

operation. The whole of the prime mover (steam-engine, water-wheel, or

animals), minus the friction of intermediate machinery, is transmitted

to the plains of these rollers and resisted by their bearings; hence

the action is equal to a weight moving on low wheels of eighteen or

twenty-four inches in diameter, on axles of from four to six inches

thickness, which weight is equal to the force applied; consequently,

if the strain is greater than the resistance of the rollers or the

bearings, they must be wrenched off, or if greater than the force

applied, the mill will be stopped. The power necessary to move weights

upon wheels, on a smooth and level surface, is in proportion to the

respective diameters of wheels and axles. The same pull which moves

one ton at a given velocity upon a wheel of two feet, with an axle of

six inches, will move four tons, if on a wheel of four feet diameter,

with an axle of six inches. Consequently, cylinders of small diameter,

with strong and substantial bearings, are only admissible as working

machines, if no other mechanical means are applicable, as, for

instance, in rolling out metals, compressing the surface of various

bodies for a glossy appearance, or, generally speaking, to produce a

certain and equal form of the substance which is pressed and passed

between them. They compress the atoms of bodies, and for this reason

alone are ill suited to separate the fibres of the sugar canes, and to

express effectively the saccharine matter between them. A practical

proof of this demonstration is furnished by every sugar cane which has

gone through the mill. Fresh megass is at present better suited for

fattening animals than for fuel under the sugar pans.

The loss of material thus sustained, which is, on an average, equal in

every mill, whether driven by steam, water, or animal power, is

entirely chargeable to the construction of the mill, and amounts to

about ten per cent. of the saccharine matter contained in the sugar

canes.

M. Duprez, an agent of the French Government, having experimented on

the canes in Guadaloupe, found the quantity of juice in every 100 lbs.

crushed--

lbs.

1 By mills having horizontal rollers; the

motive power not stated 61.2

2 By mills, motive power, steam 60.9

3 By mills, motive power, wind and steam 59.3

4 By mills, having vertical rollers 59.2

5 By mills, motive power, cattle 58.5

6 By mills, motive power, wind * 56.4

[* Dr. Evans' "Treatise on Sugar," p. 75.]

The average of all these experiments being 56 per cent. only. The

result of M. Avequin, on Louisiana cane, was 50 per cent. Mr.

Thompson, of Jamaica, states 50 per cent. as the average throughout

the island of Martinique. Dr. Evans ventures 47 per cent. as the

lowest, and 61 per cent. as the highest in the West Indies. A mill in

Madeira gave 47.5 and 70.2 of juice--the larger yield being obtained

by bracing the horizontal rollers more than usually tight, and

introducing only a few canes at a time, the motive power being cattle.

The three roller mill has the disadvantage of re-absorbing a part of

the cane juice in the spongy megass, (or trash as it is termed in the

West Indies), and a loss of power.

Those with five rollers have been used in Cuba, Bourbon and the

Mauritius, which gave 70 per cent., but a great increase of motive

power is necessary. Four roller mills, two below and two above,

requiring little more motive power than three rollers, have given 70

to 75 per cent of juice.

Some years since, the East India Company instituted inquiries relative

to the cultivation of the sugar cane in Hindostan, and the information

obtained was published in a large folio volume. The Reports furnished

by their officers, from almost every district, concur in stating that

there were three kinds cultivated:--1. The purple. 2. The white. 3. A

variety of the white, requiring a large supply of water. The epitome

of the Reports affords this information:--

1. The purple colored cane yields a sweeter, richer juice, than the

yellow or light colored, but in less quantity, and is harder to press.

Grows on dry lands. Scarce any other sort in Beerbhoom, much in

Radnagore, some about Santipore, mixed with light colored cane. Grows

also near Calcutta; in some fields separate, in others mixed with

pooree or light colored cane. When eaten raw, is more dry and pithy in

the mouth, but esteemed better sugar than the pooree, and appears to

be the superior sort of cane. Persons who have been West Indian

planters do not know it as a West Indian cane.

2. The light colored cane, yellow, inclining to white; deeper yellow

when ripe, and on rich ground, it is the same sort as that which grows

in the West India Islands; softer, more juicy than the Cadjoolee, but

juice less rich, and produces sugar less strong; requires seven maunds

of pooree juice to make as much goor or inspissated juice as is

produced from six of the Cadjoolee. Much of this kind is brought to

the Calcutta markets, and eaten raw.

3. The white variety, which grows in swampy, lands, is light colored,

and grows to a great height. Its juice is more watery, and yields a

weaker sugar than the Cadjoolee. However, as much of Bengal consists

of low grounds, and as the upland canes are liable to suffer from

drought, it may be advisable to encourage the cultivation of it,

should the sugar it produces be approved, though in a less degree than

other sugars, in order to guard against the effects of dry seasons.

Experience alone can determine how far the idea of encouraging this

sort may answer.

Besides the foregoing, several kinds are now known to the Indian

planter. One of them, the China sugar cane, was considered by Dr.

Roxburgh to be a distinct species, and distinguished by him as

_Saccharum sinensis_. It was introduced into India in 1796, by Earl

Cornwallis, as being superior to the native kinds. It is characterised

by a hardness which effectually resists most of the country rude

mills; but this hardness is importantly beneficial, inasmuch as that

it withstands the attack of the white ants, hogs, and jackals, which

destroy annually a large portion of the common cane.[18] Dr. Buchanan

found that four kinds are known in Mysore. Two of these are evidently

the purple and white generally known; but as this is not distinctly

stated, I have retained the form in which he notices them. _Restali_,

the native sugar of the Mysore, can only be planted in the last two

weeks of March and two first of April. It completes its growth in

twelve months, and does not survive for a second crop. Its cultivation

has been superseded by the other.

_Putta-putti_.--This was introduced from Arcot, during the reign of

Hyder Ali. It is the only one from which the natives can extract

sugar; it also produces the best _Bella_ or _Jaggery_. It can be

planted at the same season as the other, as well as at the end of July

and beginning of August. It is fourteen months in completing its

growth; but the stools produce a second crop, like the ratoons of the

West Indies, which ripen in twelve months.

_Maracabo_, _Cuttaycabo_.--These two are very small, seldom exceeding

half an inch in diameter; yet in some districts of Mysore, as about

Colar, the last-named is the variety usually cultivated; but this

arises from its requiring less water than the larger varieties.

The best varieties are those introduced from the Islands of Otaheite

and Bourbon. Hindostan is indebted for their introduction to Captain

Sleeman, who brought them hither from the Mauritius in 1827. He

committed them to Dr. Wallich, under whose care, at the Botanic

Garden, they have flourished, and been the source from whence the

benefit has been generally diffused. Their superiority over those

which have been usually cultivated by the natives has been completely

established. The largest of the Hindostan canes, ripe and trimmed

ready for the mill, has never been found to exceed five pounds; but it

is not uncommon for an Otaheite cane,[19] under similar circumstances,

to weigh seven pounds. The extra weight arises proportionately from an

increased secretion of superior sap. The sugar is more abundant,

granulates more readily, and has less scum. Other superior qualities

are, that the canes ripen earlier, and are less injured by the

occurrence of protracted dry weather.

Of the history of the sugar cane a popular tradition obtains amongst

the natives, that, in very ancient times, a vessel belonging to their

country chanced by accident to leave one of her crew, under a

desperate fit of sickness, at a desert island, at a considerable

distance in the Eastern Seas, and that, returning by the same route,

curiosity prompted them to inquire after the fate of their companion,

when, to their utter astonishment, the man presented himself to their

view, completely recovered from his sickness, and even in a state of

more than common health. With anxiety they inquired for the physic he

had so successfully applied, and were conducted by him to the sugar

cane, on which he acquainted them he had solely subsisted from the

time of their departure. Attracted by such powerful recommendation,

every care and attention was bestowed, we may suppose, to convey such

an invaluable acquisition to their own lands, where the soil and

climate have mutually since contributed to its present prosperity.

_Soil_.--The soil best suiting the sugar cane is aluminous rather than

the contrary, tenacious without being heavy, readily allowing

excessive moisture to drain away, yet not light. One gentleman, Mr.

Ballard, has endeavoured to make this point clear by describing the

most favorable soils about Gazepore as "_light clays_," called there

_Mootearee_, or _doansa_, according as there is more or less sand in

their composition.--_Trans. Agri-Hort. Soc._ i. 121.

Mr. Peddington seems to think that calcareous matter, and iron in the

state of _peroxide_, are essential to be present in a soil for the

production of the superior sugar cane. There can be no doubt that the

calcareous matter is necessary, but experience is opposed to his

opinion relative to the peroxide.

The soil preferred at Radnagore is there distinguished as the soil of

"two qualities," being a mixture of rich clay and sand, and which Mr.

Touchet believed to be known in England as a light brick mould.

About Rungpore, Dinajpoor, and other places where the ground is low,

they raise the beds where the cane is to be planted four or five feet

above the level of the land adjacent.

The experience of Dr. Roxburgh agrees with the preceding statements.

He says, "The soil that suits the cane best in this climate is, a rich

vegetable earth, which on exposure to the air readily crumbles down

into very fine mould. It is also necessary for it to be of such a

level as allows of its being watered from the river by simply damming

it up (which almost the whole of the land adjoining to this river, the

Godavery, admits of), and yet so high as to be easily drained during

heavy rains. Such a soil, and in such a situation, having been well

meliorated by various crops of leguminous plants, or fallowing, for

two or three years, is slightly manured, or has had for some time

cattle pent upon it. A favourite manure for the cane with the Hindoo

farmer is the rotten straw of green and black pessaloo (_Phaseolus

Mungo max_)."[20] Many accordant opinions might be added to the

preceding, but it seems only necessary to observe further, that "the

sugar cane requires a soil sufficiently elevated to be entirely free

from inundation, but not so high as to be deprived of moisture, or as

to encourage the production of white ants (_termes_)."

The sugar cane is an exhausting crop, and it is seldom cultivated by

the ryot more frequently than once in three or four years on the same

land. During the intermediate period, such plants are grown as are

found to improve the soil, of which, says Dr. Tennant, the Indian

farmer is a perfect judge. They find the leguminous tribe the best for

the purpose. Such long intervals of repose from the cane would not be

requisite if a better system of manuring were adopted.

Mr. J. Prinsep has recorded the following analysis of three soils

distinguished for producing sugar. They were all a soft, fine-grained

alluvium, without pebbles. No. 1 was from a village called Mothe, on

the Sarjee, about ten miles north of the Ganges, at Buxar, and the

others from the south bank of the Ganges, near the same place. There

is a substratum of _kunkar_ throughout the whole of that part of the

country, and to some mixture of this earth with the surface soil the

fertility of the latter is ascribed:--

1 2 3

Hygrometric moisture, on drying at 212 deg. 2.5 2.1 3.6

Carbonaceous and vegetable matter, on calcination 1.8 2.1 4.0

Carbonate of lime (No. 3 effervesced) 1.6 0.6 3.9

Alkaline salt, soluble 1.0 1.1 0.3

Silex and alumina 94.1 94.1 88.2

----- ----- -----

100.0 100.0 100.0

The earths unfortunately were not separated. Mr. Prinsep says the two

first were chiefly of sand, and the third somewhat argillaceous. The

former required irrigation, but the other was sufficiently retentive

of moisture to render it unnecessary.--(Journ. Asiatic Soc., ii. 435.)

_Manures_.--The sugar cane being one of the most valued crops of the

ryot, he always devotes to it a portion of the fertilising matters he

has at command, though in every instance this is too small.

In the Rajahmundry district, previously to planting, the soil is

slightly manured, either by having cattle folded upon it, or by a

light covering of the rotten straw of the green and black pessalloo,

which is here a favourite fertiliser. In some parts of Mysore the mud

from the bottom of tanks is employed, and this practice is more

generally adopted in other places. Thus the fields being divided by

deep ditches in Dinajpoor, the mud from which is enriched by the

remains of decayed aquatic plants and animals, forms an excellent

manure for the sugar cane, and of this the ryots make use, spreading

it over the surface before the ploughing is commenced; and when that

operation is completed, the soil is further fertilised by a dressing

of oil-cake and ashes.

Crushed bones would unquestionably be of the greatest benefit if

applied to the sugar cane crop. Not only would their animal matter

serve as food for the plants, but the phosphate of lime of the bones

is one of the chief saline constituents of the sugar cane.

Salt is another valuable manure for this crop. Dr. Nugent, in a Report

made to the Agricultural Society of Antigua, observes that salt has

been found a valuable auxiliary in cultivating the sugar cane. Many

trials of it, he says, have been made during successive seasons,

applied generally to the extent of about nine or ten bushels per acre.

It destroys grubs and other insects, and gives the canes an increased

vigor and ability to resist drought. It is a singular remark of the

intelligent traveller, M. de Humboldt, while speaking of the practice

adopted in the Missions of the Orinoco, when a coco-nut plantation is

made, of throwing a certain quantity of salt into the hole which

receives the nut; that of all the plants cultivated by man there are

only the sugar cane, the plantain, the mammee, and the Avocado pear,

which endure equally irrigation with fresh and salt water.

In the West Indies, when the cane is affected by what is called there

the _blast_, which is a withering or drying up of the plants, an

unfailing remedy is found to be watering them with an infusion of dung

in salt water.[21] _Preparation of soil_.--In the Rajahmundry

district, during the months of April and May, the ground is frequently

ploughed, until brought into a very fine tilth. About the end of May,

or beginning of June, the rains usually commence, and the canes are

then to be planted. If the rains do not set in so early, the land is

flooded artificially, and when converted into a soft mud, whether by

the rain or by flooding, the canes are planted.

In Mysore the ground is watered for three days, and then, after drying

for the same period, ploughing commences, this operation being

repeated five times during the following eight days. The clods during

this time are broken small by an instrument called _colkudali_. The

field is then manured and ploughed a sixth time. After fifteen days it

is ploughed again, twice in the course of one or two days. After a

lapse of eight days it is ploughed a ninth time. Altogether these

operations occupy about forty-four days.

For planting, which is done six days, an implement called _yella

kudali_ is employed.

In Dinajpoor, "the field, from about the middle of October until about

the 10th of January, receives ten or twelve double ploughings, and

after each is smoothed with the _moyi_. During the last three months

of this time it is manured with cow-dung and mud from ponds and

ditches. On this account, the land fit for sugar cane is generally

divided into fields by wide ditches, into which much mud is washed by

the rain, and is again thrown on the fields when the country dries,

and leaves it enriched by innumerable aquatic vegetables and animals

that have died as the water left them. When the ploughing has been

completed, the field is manured with ashes and oil-cake."

About Malda, "the land is first ploughed in the month of Cartick,

length and breadth ways, and harrowed in like manner; four or five

days after it is again ploughed and harrowed, as before, twice. In the

month of Aghun, the whole land is covered with fresh earth, again

twice ploughed, and harrowed in different directions, and then manured

with dung. Fifteen or twenty days afterwards it is to be twice

ploughed, as before; eight or ten days after which, it is to be

slightly manured with dung, and the refuse of oil, mixed together;

then twice ploughed and harrowed in different directions, so that the

clods of earth brought be well mixed together with the land. This

preparation continues until the 20th or 25th of the month Pows."

In the vicinity of Dacca, during "Cautic or Augun (October, November)

the Ryots begin to prepare their ground. They first dig a trench round

their fields, and raise a mound of about three feet in height. If the

ground to be cultivated is waste, about nine inches of the surface

are taken off, and thrown without the enclosure. The ground is

ploughed to the depth of nine inches more. The clods are broken, and

the earth made fine. In Maug or Faugun (January, February) the sugar

cane is planted; a month afterwards earth is raised about the plants;

after another month this is repeated. The crop is cut in Poous and

Maug (December, January). If the ground be not waste, but cultivated,

the surface is not taken off. After cutting the crop, it is not usual

again to grow sugar cane on the same ground for eighteen months, on

account of the indifferent produce afforded by a more early planting.

In the Zillah, North Mooradabad, the land is broken up at the end of

June. After the rains have ceased it is manured, and has eight or ten

ploughings. This clears it of weeds. In February it is again manured

and ploughed four or five times, and just before the sets are planted,

some dung, four cart-loads to each cutcha beegah of low land, and five

cart-loads to high land, are added. The land is well rolled after the

four last ploughings, and again after the cuttings are set.

About Benares and the neighbouring districts, Mr. Haines says, that

owing to the hot winds which prevail "from March until the setting in

of the annual rains in June or July, the lands remain fallow till that

period. In the mean time, those fields that are selected for sugar

cane are partially manured by throwing upon them all manner of rubbish

they can collect, and by herding their buffaloes and cattle upon them

at night, though most of the manure from the latter source is again

collected and dried for fuel.

When the annual rains have fairly set in, and the Assarree crops sown

(in some instances I have seen an Assarree crop taken from the lands

intended for sugar cane), they commence ploughing the cane lands, and

continue to do so four or five times monthly (as they consider the

greater number of times the fields are turned up at this period of the

season, the better the crop of cane will be), till the end of October,

continuing to throw on the little manure they can collect.

Towards the end of October, and in November, their ploughs are much

engaged in sowing their winter (or rubbee) crops of wheat, barley,

grain, &c.; and at this period they make arrangements with the

shepherds who have large flocks of sheep, to fold them upon the fields

at night, for which they pay so much per beegah in grain.

During the latter part of November, and early in December, the fields

are again ploughed well, and all grass, weeds, &c., removed with the

hoe; then the surface of the field is made as smooth as possible by

putting the hengah (a piece of wood eight to ten feet in length, and

five to six inches in breadth, and three or four inches in thickness,

drawn by two pairs of bullocks, and the man standing upon the wood to

give it weight), over several times for three or four days in

succession. This makes the surface of the field very even and somewhat

hard, which prevents the sun and dry west wind from abstracting the

moisture, which is of great importance at this period of the season,

for, should there be no rain, there would not be sufficient moisture

at the time of planting the cane to cause vegetation.

In this state the land remains till the time of planting the cane

cuttings, which is generally the 1st to the 15th of February; but

should there have been a fall of rain in the mean time, or excess of

moisture appear, the field is again ploughed, and the hengah put over

as before.

A day or two previous to planting the cane, the field is ploughed and

the hengah lightly put over."--(Trans. Agri-Hort. Soc. vi. 4, 5.)

_Sets_.--When the canes are cut at harvest time, twelve or eighteen

inches of their tops are usually taken off, and stored, to be employed

for sets. Each top has several joints, from each of which a shoot

rises, but seldom more than one or two arrive at a proper growth.

When first cut from the stem, the tops intended for plants are tied in

bundles of forty or fifty each, and are carefully kept moist. In a few

days they put forth new leaves: they are then cleared of the old

leaves, and separately dipped into a mixture of cow-dung, pressed

mustard seed, and water. A dry spot is prepared, and rich loose mould

and a small quantity of pressed mustard-seed; the plants are

separately placed therein, a small quantity of earth strewed amongst

them, and then covered with leaves and grass to preserve them from

heat. Ten or twelve days afterwards they are planted in the fields.

In Burdwan, the tops, before they are planted, are cut into pieces

from four to six inches long, so that there are not more than four

knots in each. Two or three of these plant tops are put together in

the ground, and a beegah requires from 7,500 to 10,240 plants.

In Rungpore and Dinajpoor, about 9,000 plants are required for a

beegah, each being about a foot in length.

In Beerbhoom, 3,000 plants are said to be requisite for a beegah, each

cane top being about fifteen inches long.

Near Calcutta, from 3,000 to 8,000 plants are required for a beegah,

according to the goodness of the soil, the worst soil needing most

plants. In Mysore an acre contains 2,420 stools, and yields about

11,000 ripe canes.

Near Rajahmundry, about 400 cuttings are planted on a cutcha beegah

(one-eighth of an acre). In Zilla, North Mooradabad, 4,200 sets, each

eight inches long, are inserted upon each cutcha beegah of low land,

and 5,250 upon high land.

In the district of Gollagore the Ryots cut a ripe cane into several

pieces, preserving two or three joints to each, and put them into a

small bed of rich mould, dung, and mustard-seed from which the oil has

been expressed. At Radnagore, when the time of cutting the canes

arrives, their tops are taken off, and these are placed upright in a

bed of mud for thirty or forty days, and covered with leaves or straw.

The leaves are then stripped from them, and they are cut into pieces,

not having less than two nor more than four joints each. These sets

are kept for ten or fifteen days in a bed prepared for them, from

whence they are taken and planted in rows two or three together,

eighteen inches or two feet intervening between each stool.

_Planting_.--The time and mode of planting vary. In the Rajahmundry

Circar, Dr. Roxburgh says, that "during the months of April and May

the land is repeatedly ploughed with the common Hindoo plough, which

soon brings the loose rich soil (speaking of the Delta of the

Godavery) into very excellent order. About the end of May and

beginning of June, the rains generally set in, in frequent heavy

showers. Now is the time to plant the cane; but should the rains hold

back, the prepared field is watered or flooded from the river, and,

while perfectly wet, like soft mud, the cane is planted.

"The method is most simple. Laborers with baskets of the cuttings, of

one or two joints each, arrange themselves along one side of the

field. They walk side by side, in as straight a line as their eye and

judgment enable them, dropping the sets at the distance of about

eighteen inches asunder in rows, and about four feet from row to row.

Other laborers follow, and with the foot press the set about two

inches into the soft, mud-like soil, which, with a sweep or two with

the sole of the foot, they most easily and readily cover."--(Roxburgh

on the Culture of Sugar.)

About Malda, in the month of Maug (January, February), the land is to

be twice ploughed, and harrowed repeatedly, length and breadth ways;

after which it is furrowed, the furrows half a cubit apart, in which

the plants are to be set at about four fingers' distance from each

other, when the furrows are filled up with the land that lay upon its

ridges. The plants being thus set, the land is harrowed twice in

different directions; fifteen or twenty days afterwards the cane

begins to grow, when the weeds which appear with it must be taken up;

ten or twelve days after this the weeds will again appear. They must

again be taken up, and the earth at the roots of the canes be removed,

when all the plants which have grown will appear.

At Ghazepore the rains set in at the beginning of March, and planting

then commences. Near Calcutta the planting takes place in May and

June. In Dinajpoor and Rungpore the planting time is February.

About Commercolly it is performed in January. The field is divided

into beds six cubits broad, separated from each other by small

trenches fourteen inches wide and eight inches deep. In every second

trench are small wells, about two feet deep. The irrigating water

flowing along the trenches fills the wells, and is taken thence and

applied to the canes by hand.

Each bed has five rows of canes. The sets are planted in holes about

six inches in diameter, and three deep; two sets, each having three

joints, are laid horizontally in every hole, covered slightly with

earth, and over this is a little dung.

When, the canes are planted in the spring, the trenches must be

filled with water, and some poured into every hole. At the other

season of planting the trenches are full, it being rainy weather; but

even then the sets must be watered for the first month.

Mr. Haines says that in Mirzapore and the neighbouring districts, "in

planting the cane they commence a furrow round the field, in which

they drop the cuttings. The second furrow is left empty; cuttings

again in the third; so they continue dropping cuttings in every second

furrow till the whole field is completed, finishing in the centre of

the field. The field remains in this state till the second or third

day, when for two or three days in succession it is made even and hard

upon the surface with the hengah, as before stated."--(Trans.

Agri-Hort. Soc. vi. 5.)

Mr. Vaupell, in describing the most successful mode of cultivating the

Mauritius sugar cane in Bombay, says, that "after the ground is

levelled with the small plough, called 'paur,' in the manner of the

cultivators, pits of two feet in diameter, and two feet in depth,

should be dug throughout the field at the distance of five feet apart,

and filled with manure and soil to about three inches of the surface.

Set in these pits your canes, cut in pieces about a foot and a half

long, laying them down in a triangular from, thus /\. Keep as much of

the eyes or shoots of the cane uppermost as you can; then cover them

with manure and soil; beds should next be formed to retain water,

having four pits in each bed, leaving passages for watering them. The

cutting should be watered every third day during hot weather, and the

field should always be kept in a moist state."--(Ibid. iii. 43.)

About Benares, the sets require, after planting, from four to six

waterings, until the rains commence, and as many hoeings to loosen the

surface, which becomes caked after every watering. The moister nature

of the soil renders these operations generally unnecessary in Bengal.

_After-culture._--In Mysore, the surface of the earth in the hollows

in which the sets are planted is stirred with a stick as soon as the

shoots appear, and a little dung is added. Next month the daily

watering is continued, and then the whole field dug over with the hoe,

a cavity being made round each stool, and a little dung added. In the

third month water is given every second day: at its close, if the

canes are luxuriant, the ground is again dug; but if weakly, the

watering is continued during the fourth month, before the digging is

given. At this time the earth is drawn up about the canes, so as to

leave the hollows between the rows at right angles with the trenches.

No more water is given to the plants, but the trenches between the

beds are kept full for three days. It is then left off for a week, and

if rain occurs, no further water is requisite; but if the weather is

dry, water is admitted once a week during the next month. The digging

is then repeated, and the earth levelled with the hand about the

stools.

The stems of each stool are ten or twelve in number, which are

reduced to five or six by the most weakly of them being now removed.

The healthy canes are to be tied with one of their own leaves, two or

three together, to check their spreading; and this binding is repeated

as required by their increased growth.

In the absence of rain, the trenches are filled with water once a

fortnight.

When the _Putta-putti_ is to be kept for a second crop, the dry leaves

cut off in the crop season are burnt upon the field, and this is dug

over, and trenches filled with water, and during six weeks the plants

watered once in every six or eight days (unless rain falls), and the

digging repeated three times, dung being added at each digging. The

after-culture is the same as for the first crop.

In the Upper Provinces, Dr. Tennant says, if moderate showers occur

after planting, nothing more is done until the shoots from the sets

have attained a height of two or three inches. The soil immediately

around them is then loosened with a small weeding iron, something like

a chisel; but if the season should prove dry, the field is

occasionally watered; the weeding is also continued, and the soil

occasionally loosened about the plants.

In August, small trenches are cut through the field, with small

intervals between them, for the purpose of draining off the water, if

the season is too wet. This is very requisite, for if the canes are

now supplied with too much moisture, the juice is rendered watery and

unprofitable. If the season happens to be dry, the same dikes serve to

conduct the irrigating water through the field, and to carry off what

does not soak into the earth in a few hours. Stagnant water they

consider very injurious to the cane, and on the drains being well

contrived depends in a great measure the future hope of profit.

Immediately after the field is trenched, the canes are propped. They

are now about three feet high, and each set has produced from three to

six canes. The lower leaves of each are first carefully wrapt up

around it, so as to cover it completely in every part; a small strong

bamboo, eight or ten feet long, is then inserted firmly in the middle

of each stool, and the canes tied to it. This secures them in an erect

position, and facilitates the circulation of the air.

Hoeing cannot be repeated too frequently. This is demonstrated by the

practice of the most successful cultivators. In Zilla, N. Mooradabad,

in April, about six weeks after planting, the earth on each side of

the cane-rows is loosened by a sharp-pointed hoe, shaped somewhat like

a bricklayer's trowel. This is repeated six times before the field is

laid out in beds and channels for irrigation. There, likewise, if the

season is unusually dry, the fields in the low ground are watered in

May and June. This supposes there are either nullahs, or ancient pucka

wells, otherwise the canes are allowed to take their chance, for the

cost of making a well on the uplands is from ten to twenty rupees--an

expense too heavy for an individual cultivator, and not many would dig

in partnership, for they would fight for the water.

In the vicinity of Benares, as the canes advance in growth, they

continue to wrap the leaves as they begin to wither up round the

advancing stem, and to tie this to the bamboo higher up. If the

weather continue wet, the trenches are carefully kept open; and, on

the other hand, if dry weather occurs, water is occasionally supplied.

Hoeing is also performed every five or six weeks. Wrapping the leaves

around the cane is found to prevent them cracking by the heat of the

sun, and hinders their throwing out lateral branches.

In January and February the canes are ready for cutting. The average

height of the cane is about nine feet, foliage included, and the naked

cane from one inch to one inch and a quarter in diameter.

Near Maduna, the hand-watering is facilitated by cutting a small

trench down the centre of each bed. The beds are there a cubit wide,

but only four rows of canes are planted in each.

It is deserving of notice, that the eastern and north-eastern parts of

Bengal are more subject to rain at every season of the year, but

especially in the hot months, than the western; which accounts for the

land being prepared and the plants set so much earlier in Rungpore

than in Beerbhoom. This latter country has also a dryer soil

generally; for this reason, so much is said in the report from thence

of the necessity of watering.

The Benares country is also dryer than Bengal, therefore more

waterings are requisite.

At Malda, ten or fifteen days after the earth has been removed from

the roots of the canes and the plants have appeared, the land is to be

slightly manured, well cleared of weeds, and the earth that was

removed again laid about the canes; after which, ten or fifteen days,

it must be well weeded, and again twenty or twenty-five days

afterwards. This mode of cultivation it is necessary to follow until

the month of Joystee. The land must be ploughed and manured between

the rows of canes in the month of Assaar; after which, fifteen or

twenty days, the canes are to be tied two or three together with the

leaves, the earth about them well cleaned, and the earth that was

ploughed up laid about the roots of the canes something raised. In the

month of Saubun, twenty or twenty-five days from the preceding

operation, the canes are tied as before, and again ten or fifteen days

afterwards; which done, nine or ten clumps are then to be tied

together.

In the Rojahmundry Circar, on the Delta of the Godavery, Dr. Roxburgh

states, "that nothing more is done after the cane is planted, if the

weather be moderately showery, till the young shoots are some two or

three inches high; the earth is then loosened for a few inches round

them with the weeding iron. Should the season prove dry, the field is

occasionally watered from the river, continuing to weed and to keep

the ground loose round the stools. In August, two or three months from

the time of planting, small trenches are cut through the field at

short distances, and so contrived as to serve to drain off the water,

should the season prove too wet for the canes, which is often the

case, and would render their juices weak and unprofitable. The farmer,

therefore, never fails to have his field plentifully and judiciously

intersected with drains while the cane is small, and before the usual

time for the violent rains. Immediately after the field is trenched,

the canes are all propped; this is an operation which seems peculiar

to these parts.

In Dinajpoor, in about a month after planting, "the young plants are

two or three inches high; the earth is then raised from the cuttings

by means of a spade, and the dry leaves by which they are surrounded

are removed. For a day or two they remain exposed to the air, and are

then manured with ashes and oil-cake, and covered with earth. Weeds

must be removed as they spring; and when the plants are about a cubit

high, the field must be ploughed. When they have grown a cubit higher,

which is between the 13th of June and 14th of July, they are tied

together in bundles of three or four, by wrapping them round with

their own leaves. This is done partly to prevent them from being laid

down by the wind, and partly to prevent them from being eaten by

jackals. During the next month three or four of these bunches are tied

together; and about the end of September, when the canes grow rank,

they are supported by bamboo stakes driven in the ground. They are cut

between the middle of December and the end of March."

If the canes grow too vigorously, developing a superabundance of

leaves, it is a good practice to remove those leaves which are

decayed, that the stems may be exposed fully to the sun. In the West

Indies, this is called _trashing_ the canes. It requires discretion;

for in dry soils or seasons, or if the leaves are removed before

sufficiently dead, more injury than benefit will be occasioned.

_Harvesting_.--The season in which the canes become ripe in various

districts has already been noticed when considering their cultivation.

In addition I may state, that in the Rajahmundry Circar, about the

mouth of the Godavery, Dr. Roxburgh adds, "that in January and

February the canes begin to be ready to cut, which is about nine

months from the time of planting. This operation is the same as in

other sugar countries--of course I need not describe it. Their height,

when standing on the field, will be from eight to ten feet (foliage

included), and the naked cane from an inch to an inch and a quarter in

diameter."

In Malda, the canes are cut in January and February. In N. Mooradabad,

upon the low land, the canes are ripe in October, and upon the high

lands a month later. The fitness of the cane for cutting may be

ascertained by making an incision across the cane, and observing the

internal grain. If it is soft and moist, like a turnip, it is not yet

ripe; but if the face of the cut is dry, and white particles appear,

it is fit for harvesting.--(_Fitzmaurice on the Culture of the Sugar

Cane_.)

_Injuries_.--1. _A wet season_, either during the very early or in the

concluding period of the cane's vegetation, is one of the worst causes

of injury. In such a season, the absence of the usual intensity of

light and heat causes the sap to be very materially deficient in

saccharine matter. But, on the other hand,

2. _A very dry season_, immediately after the sets are planted, though

the want of rain may in some degree be supplied by artificial means,

causes the produce to be but indifferent. These inconveniences are of

a general nature, and irremediable.

3. _Animals_.--In India not only the incursions of domesticated

animals, but in some districts of the wild elephant, buffalo, and hog,

are frequent sources of injury. Almost every plantation is liable,

also, to the attack of the jackal, and rats are destructive enemies.

4. _White Ants_.--The sets of the sugar cane have to be carefully

watched, to preserve them from the white ant (_Termes fatalis_), to

attacks from which they are liable until they have begun to shoot. To

prevent this injury, the following mixture has been recommended:--

Asafoetida (hing), 8 chittacks.

Mustard-seed cake (sarsum ki khalli), 8 seers.

Putrid fish, 4 seers.

Bruised butch root, 2 seers;

or muddur, 2 seers.

Mix the above together in a large vessel, with water sufficient to

make them into the thickness of curds; then steep each slip of cane in

it for half an hour after planting; and, lastly, water the lines three

times previous to setting the cane, by irrigating the water-course

with water mixed up with bruised butch root, or muddur if the former

be not procurable.[22] A very effectual mode of destroying the white

ant, is by mixing a small quantity of arsenic with a few ounces of

burned bread, pulverised flour, or oatmeal, moistened with molasses,

and placing pieces of the dough thus made, each about the size of a

turkey's egg, on a flat board, and covered over with a wooden bowl, in

several parts of the plantation. The ants soon take possession of

these, and the poison has a continuous effect, for the ants which die

are eaten by those which succeed them.[23] They are said to be driven

from a soil by frequently hoeing it. They are found to prevail most

upon newly broken-up lands.

In Central India, the penetration of the white ants into the interior

of the sets, and the consequent destruction of the latter, is

prevented by dipping each end into buttermilk, asafoetida, and

powdered mustard-seed, mixed into a thick compound.

5. _Storms_.--Unless they are very violent, Dr. Roxburgh observes,

"they do no great harm, because the canes are propped. However, if

they are once laid down, which sometimes happens, they become branchy

and thin, yielding a poor, watery juice."

6. _The Worm_ "is another evil, which generally visits them every few

years. A beetle deposits its eggs in the young canes; the caterpillars

of these remain in the cane, living on its medullary parts, till they

are ready to be metamorphosed into the chrysalis state. Sometimes this

evil is so great as to injure a sixth or an eighth part of the field;

but, what is worse, the disease is commonly general when it

happens--few fields escaping."

7. _The Flowering_ "is the last accident they reckon upon, although it

scarce deserves the name, for it rarely happens, and never but to a

very small proportion of some few fields. Those canes that flower have

very little juice left, and it is by no means so sweet as that of the

rest."

In the Brazils, the fact of the slave trade being at an end must

influence the future produce of sugar, and attention has been lately

chiefly directed to coffee, cotton, and other staples. The exports of

that empire in 1842, were 59,000 tons; in 1843, 54,500; in 1844,

76,400; in 1845, 91,000; average of these four years 69,720. The

exports in the next four years averaged 96,150 tons, viz:--76,100, in

1846; 96,300, in 1847; 112,500, in 1848; and 99,700, in 1849.

The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c. · 第 5 / 20 章

_Production in the United States_.--Sugar cultivation, in the United