The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Part 26

The general mode of preparing the land for the cane is by holing it with hoes. The negroes stand in a row, and each man strikes his hoe into the ground immediately before him, and forms a trench of five or six inches in depth; he then falls back, the whole row doing the same, and they continue this operation from one side of the cleared land to the other, or from the top of a hill to the bottom. The earth which is thrown out of the trench remains on the lower side of it. In the British West India colonies this work is done in a manner nearly similar, but more systematically. The lands in Brazil are not measured, and everything is done by the eye. The quant.i.ty of cane which a piece will require for planting is estimated by so many cart-loads; and nothing can be more vague than this mode of computation, for the load which a cart can carry depends upon the condition of the oxen, upon the nature of the road, and upon the length of the cane. Such is the awkward make of these vehicles, that much nicety is necessary in packing them, and if two canes will about fit into a cart lengthways, much more will be conveyed than if the canes are longer and they double over each other.

The plough is sometimes used in low lands, upon which draining has not been found necessary; but such is the clumsy construction of the machine of which they make use, that six oxen are yoked to it. A plough drawn by two oxen, constructed after a model which was brought from Cayenne, has been introduced in one or two instances. Upon high lands the stumps of the trees almost preclude the possibility of thus relieving the laborers. The trenches being prepared, the cuttings are laid longitudinally in the bottom of them, and are covered with the greatest part of the mould which had been taken out of the trench. The shoots begin to rise above the surface of the ground in the course of twelve or fourteen days. The canes undergo three cleanings from the weeds and the sprouts proceeding from the stumps of the trees; and when the land is poor, and produces a greater quant.i.ty of the former, and contains fewer of the latter, the canes require to be cleaned a fourth time. The cuttings are usually 12 to 18 inches in length, but it is judged that the shorter they are the better. If they are short, and one piece of cane rots, the s.p.a.ce which remains vacant is not so large as when the cuttings are long, and they by any accident fail.

The canes which are used for planting are generally ratoons, if any exist upon the plantation; but if there are none of these, the inferior plant canes supply their places. It is accounted more economical to make use of the ratoons for this purpose; and many persons say that they are less liable to rot than the plant canes. In the British sugar islands the cuttings for planting are commonly the tops of the canes which have been ground for sugar. But in Brazil the tops of the canes are all thrown to the cattle, for there is usually a want of gra.s.s during the season that the mills are at work. In the British colonies, the canes are at first covered with only a small portion of mould, and yet they are as long in forcing their way to the surface as in Brazil, though in the latter a more considerable quant.i.ty of earth is laid upon them. I suppose that the superior richness of the Brazilian soil accounts for this. Upon rich soils the cuttings are laid at a greater distance, and the trenches are dug farther from each other, than upon those which have undergone more frequent cultivation, or which are known to possess less power from their natural composition. The canes which are planted upon the former throw out great numbers of sprouts, which spread each way; and, although when they are young, the land may appear to promise but a scanty crop, they soon close, and no opening is to be seen. It is often judged proper to thin the canes, by removing some of the suckers at the time that the last cleaning is given; and some persons recommend that a portion of the dry leaves should also be stripped off at the same period, but on other plantations this is not practised.

The proper season for planting is from the middle of July to the middle of September, upon high lands, and from September to the middle of November in low lands. Occasionally, the great moisture of the soil induces the planter to continue his work until the beginning of December, if his people are sufficiently numerous to answer all the necessary purposes. The first of the canes are ready to be cut for the mill in September of the following year, and the crop is finished usually in January or February. In the British sugar islands the canes are planted from August to November, and are ripe for the mill in the beginning of the second year. Thus this plant in Brazil requires from thirteen to fifteen months to attain its proper state for the mill; and in the West India islands it remains standing sixteen or seventeen months.

The Otaheitan, or the Bourbon cane, has been brought from Cayenne to Pernambuco since the Portuguese obtained possession of that settlement. I believe the two species of cane are much alike, and I have not been able to discover which of them it is. Its advantages are so apparent, that after one trial on each estate, it has superseded the small cane which was in general use. The Cayenne cane, as it is called in Pernambuco, is of a much larger size than the common cane; it branches so very greatly, that the labor in planting a piece of cane is much decreased, and the returns from it are at the same time much more considerable. It is not planted in trenches, but holes are dug at equal distances from each other, in which these cuttings are laid. This cane bears the dry weather better than the small cane; and when the leaves of the latter begin to turn brown, those of the former still preserve their natural color. A planter in the _Varzea_ told me that he had obtained four crops from one piece of land in three years, and that the soil in question had been considered by him as nearly worn out, before he planted the Cayenne cane upon it.--("Koster's Travels in Brazil," vol. 2.)

Mr. E. Morewood, of Compensation, Natal, who has paid much attention to sugar culture in that colony, has favored me with the following details, which will be useful for the guidance of others, as being the results of his own experience:--

lbs.

Produce of one acre of sugar cane 72,240 Juice expressed, (or 64 per cent.) 46,308 Dry sugar 7,356 Green syrup or mola.s.ses 2,829 This syrup carrying with it a good deal of sugar out of the coolers, contains fully 75 per cent. of crystalizable sugar, or 2,121 Thus the total amount of sugar per acre is 9,477

The average density of the cane juice was 12 degrees Beaume, or 21 per cent. All the improved cane mills are now constructed to give at least 75 per cent. of juice. With such a mill, an acre would yield 11,075 lbs. of sugar. With proper cultivation I have no doubt the produce could be largely increased; for, as the numerous visitors who have seen this place can testify, my cane fields were not attended to.

To enable me to show the cost of producing a crop of canes, you must allow me to go into the expense of cultivating the land first.

To keep one ploughman going, a person requires--

20 Oxen at 3 60 0 0 1 Plough 7 10 0 1 set Harrows 7 10 0 Yokes, Trektows, Reins, &c. 5 0 0 ---------- 80 0 0

Then the expenses per month will be:--

Ploughman's wages 2 10 0 Board 1 10 0 1 Driver, 10s., Leaders, 5s. 0 15 0 Food for two natives 0 10 0 Wear and tear of oxen and gear, at 25 per cent. per annum 1 10 4 --------- 6 18 4

These two spans of oxen will comfortably plough and harrow twenty acres per month, and the cost will thus be about 7s. per acre.

Now, let us suppose that a person wishes to put in twenty acres of canes, the expense would be about as follows:--

4 Ploughings and harrowings, 80 acres at 7s. 28 0 0 Drawing canefurrows, 4 acres per day, 5 days at 6s. 1 10 0 2,000 Cane tops per acre, at 50s. 100 0 0 4 Horsehoeings, at 2s. 6d. 10 0 0 4 Handweedings in the rows, at 2s. 6d. 10 0 0 Cutting and carrying out canes, at 30s. 30 0 0 Carriage to Mill, thirty tons per acre, at 2s. 60 0 0 ---------- 239 10 0

or 12 per acre. To this must be added the rent of land, say 10s.

per acre, with right of grazing cattle, for two years, when the first crop will come in, would bring the expense to 13 per acre.

The cane yielding say only three tons of sugar per acre, of which the planter would, most likely, have to give the manufacturer one-third, he will receive forty tons of sugar, costing him 6 10s.

per ton, and worth on the spot, according to advices received from England and the Cape, 15 per ton, at the lowest estimate, or 600.

The greatest expense, you will perceive, is the article of tops for planting; but this ought not to discourage persons. The plants which I imported from the Mauritius some years ago, cost me, on account of many of them not vegetating, at the rate of 30 per acre. Parties who begin planting now have the great advantage that they can get plants, every one of which, if properly treated, will grow, at one-sixth of that price.

How many crops cane will give on good soil in Natal, I am of course unable to state, as the oldest cane I have got has been cut only three times--the last yield (second ratoons) was much finer than the preceding ones, and by adopting the improved manner of cane cultivation, viz., returning all but the cane juice to the soil, I am confident that replanting will be found quite unnecessary; the expenses for the second and following years will therefore be very trifling.

Comparative Statement of the ruling Prices at Natal and the Mauritius of Land, Live Stock, Implements, Labor, and other requirements connected with the cultivation of the Sugar Cane.

MAURITIUS NATAL s. d. | s. d.

| LAND, per acre, 3 10s. to 20 0 0 | LAND, per acre, 10s.

| to 1 0 0 RENT OF LAND. It is not | RENT OF LAND, 6d. to 0 5 0 customary to let land at | the Mauritius, except on | the system of an equal | division of the produce. | MANURE. Guano, commonly | CATTLE MANURE in used in its dry state, | abundance, according to also other manures or | distance, per load, composts, per ton, 6 to 7 0 0 | 1s. to 0 2 6 | (None required on | virgin soil for the | first three years of | cultivation.) | LIVE STOCK. Mules, 5 of | Oxen, of which 12 are which are required to each | required to each load, load of 3,000 to 4,000 | 3 each 36 0 0 lbs., 30 each 150 0 0 | Keep of oxen, on Keep of Mules each, per | pasturage free.

annum 7 0 0 | | LABOR. Drivers, each, per | Colored driver, month 1 0 0 | each, per month 0 15 0 Coolies, including keep, | Kafir leader, ditto 0 10 0 each 1 0 0 | Kafirs, including White labor, each 4 0 0 | keep, ditto 0 10 0 | White labor, each | per month, 3 10s. to 4 0 0 | FUEL. Cane trash or wood | Cane trash or wood MILL POWER. Steam or water | The same | IMPLEMENTS. All agricultural | All agricultural labor labor is performed by the | is performed with the hand-hoe, very expensive | plough, harrows, and in its nature. | scarifier, with oxen | so much less expensive | than the hand labor at | the Mauritius.

| PRODUCE of the Cane. Average | From 2 to 3 tons from 1 to 4 tons. | CANE. Periodical renewal of | Not yet ascertained, the cane, according to the | and depending on the soil quality of the soil, every | 3 to 10 years | | . s. d. | . s. d.

PROVISIONS, &c. Beef, | PROVISIONS, &c. Beef, per lb. 6d. to 0 0 8 | per lb., 1d. to 0 0 2 Bread, per loaf 0 0 6 | Bread, per loaf 0 0 6 b.u.t.ter, per lb., 1s. 3d. | b.u.t.ter, per lb., 6d. to 0 0 9 to 0 1 6 | Rice, the food of the | Indian corn, (maize per Coolies, per bag of | 180 lbs. 5s.) per 150 150 lbs., 12s. 6d. to 0 15 0 | lbs. 0 4 2 Oats, per bag, of 100 | Oats, per 104 lbs., 10s.

lbs. 12s. 6d. to 0 15 0 | to 1 0 0 Bran, ditto, 100 lbs. | Bran, not used.

12s. to 0 13 9 | Beans, ditto, 100 lbs. | Beans, per 180 lbs., 13s.

22s. 6d. to 1 5 0 | to 20s., or per 100 lbs.

| 7s. 2d. to 0 11 0 Coal, per ton, 40s. to 2 10 0 | The same | CHARGE OF MANUFACTURE. | The Mauritius principle The manufacturer reaps | may be adopted in this and carries to the mill | colony, with such the canes of the grower, | modifications as may be but the latter provides | called for by local his own bagging, and | exigencies.

carts away his half of | the sugar, the other | half being the | remuneration of the | manufacturer |

a.n.a.lysis of the foregoing Statement, showing the total comparative outlay for sundries connected with the cultivation of Sugar at Natal and Mauritius, computed at the lowest ruling prices.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- | MAURITIUS | NATAL | Difference | | | in | | |favor of Natal ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | Land, 100 acres |70s. 350 0 0 |10s. 50 0 0 | 300 0 0 Manure, Guano 10 loads |6 60 0 0 | | Cattle Manure, 10 loads| | 1s. 0 10 0 | Live Stock, 10 mules. |30 300 0 0 |15. 150 0 0 | 150 0 0 ---- 10 oxen |12 120 0 0 | 3. 30 0 0 | 90 0 0 Two drivers per mouth | 1 2 0 0 | 1 5 0 | 0 15 0 Coolies, 10 with keep | 10 0 0 | } | 2 10 0 Kafirs, 10 ditto | |15s. 7 10 0} | White men, 10 | 4 40 0 0 |4. 40 0 0 | Beef, 100 lbs. |at 6d. 2 10 0 |1d. 0 12 6 | 1 17 6 Bread, 100 loaves | 6d. 2 10 0 |6d. 2 10 0 | b.u.t.ter,100 lbs. |1s.3d. 6 5 0 |6d. 2 10 0 | 3 15 0 Rice, 100 lbs., food | 0 8 4 | } | for Coolies, Indian | | } | 0 5 7 Corn, 100 lbs., food | | 0 2 9} | for Kafirs | | } | Oats | 0 12 6 | 0 10 0 | 0 2 6 Beans, 100 lbs. | 1 2 6 | 0 10 0 | 0 12 6 Coals | 2 0 0 | 2 0 0 | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | 897 8 4 | 288 0 3 | 554 18 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

The immense saving obtained by ploughing, &c., over the Mauritius hand labor with the hoe, is not shown in the above figures.

Table showing the cost of producing Muscovado sugar, and the quant.i.ty produced or available in the several countries mentioned, as made up from the evidence given before the Committee on Sugar and Coffee Plantations; by T. Wilson.

-----------------+-------+---------+---------+-------+-------+-------+------ | | | | | |Excess | | | | | | |of cost| | | | | |Excess |of free| | | | | |of cost| over | | | | | Cost |of free| SLAVE | | | Average | Average |of pro-|labour | TRADE | | |available|available|ducing | over | labor,| | | produce | produce | one | slave |taking |In- |Average| under | during |cwt. of|or com-| the |crease |cost of| slavery |the last | sugar |pulsory|cost in|of cost |produc-| or com- | three | at | labor,|Brazil |in the | tion | pulsory |years of |present| per | at |British COUNTRY. | under | labor, | freedom,| date, | cwt., |7s. 6d.|planta- |slavery| for the | for the |exclu- |taking | per |tions |or com-|supply of|supply of|sive of| the | cwt. | since |pulsory| Europe | Europe |inter- |average|making |emanci- | labor.| and the | and the |est on |cost of| the |pation.

| | United | United | capi- | the |average| | | States,| States.| tal, |latter | of | | | | | etc. |at 11s.| slave | | | | | | per | trade | | | | | | cwt. | labor | | | | | | |8s. per| | | | | | | cwt. | -----------------+-------+---------+---------+-------+-------+-------+------ _British | s. d.| Tons. | Tons. | s d. | s. d. | s. d.| s. d.

Plantations_. | | | | | | | Antigua | 7 6 | 7,767 | 8,963 | 16 6 | 5 6 | 8 6 | 9 0 Barbados | 6 0 | 17,174 | 16,378 | 15 6 | 4 6 | 7 6 | 9 6 Grenada | 11 0 | 9,634 | 3,779 | 17 6 | 6 6 | 9 6 | 6 6 St. Kitts | 5 0 | 4,382 | 5,558 | 19 0 | 8 0 | 11 0 | 14 0 St. Vincent | 5 6 | 10,056 | 6,636 | 19 6 | 8 6 | 11 6 | 14 0 Tobago | 5 6 | 5,321 | 2,514 | 19 6 | 8 6 | 11 6 | 14 0 St. Lucia, etc. | 5 6 | 9,600 | 8,650 | 19 6 | 8 6 | 11 6 | 14 0 Jamaica | 10 0 | 68,626 | 30,807 | 22 6 | 11 6 | 14 6 | 12 6 Guiana | 6 8 | 44,178 | 24,817 | 25 10 | 14 10 | 17 10 | 19 2 Trinidad A* | 3 0 | 15,428 | 16,539 | 20 10 | 9 10 | 12 10 | 17 10 Mauritius | | 35,000 | 50,000 | 20 0 | 9 0 | 12 0 | Bengal | | | 62,000 | 23 0 | 12 0 | 15 0 | Madras | | | 7,000 | 20 0 | 9 0 | 12 0 | _Foreign | | | | | | | Free Labor | | | | | | | Country_. | | | | | | | Europe | | | | | | | (Beet-root) B* | | | 100,000 | 24 4 | 13 4 | 16 4 | _Foreign Slave, | | | | | | | or Compulsory | | | | | | | Labor | | | | | | | Countries_. | | | | | | | Java C* | 15 0 | 88,000 | | 15 0 | | | French Colonies | 15 0 | 90,000 | | 15 0 | Slave | | Cuba (Muscovado)| 8 0 | 220,000 | | 8 0 |or com-| | Porto Rico | 8 6 | 40,000 | | 8 6 |pulsory| | Louisiana | 12 6 | 100,000 | | 12 6 | labor | | Brazils D* | 11 11 | 90,000 | | 11 11 | | | -----------------+-------+---------+---------+-------+-------+-------+------

[A* This cost, as taken from the averages given in Lord Harris's despatches, is lower than the averages given by the witnesses before the Committee.]

[B* This beet-root sugar sells, in the continental markets, on account of its inferior quality, at about 4s. to 6s. per cwt. below Colonial Muscovado, so that Colonial Muscovado must be about 33s. per cwt. to enable beet sugar to sell in this market for cost and charges, and allowing no profit to the beet sugar maker.]

[C* The cost of producing sugar in Java is taken at the average between the Government contract sugar, and the free sugar, as given by Mr. San Martin.]

[D* The cost of producing sugar in Brazil is taken from the Consular return: this return has given no credit for rum or mola.s.ses, and has charged 6s. 5d. for manufacturing, fully 3s. 5d. more than the cost in Cuba,--allowance for these two items would give 7s. 6d. as the nett cost per cwt.]

BEET ROOT SUGAR.

The rapid progress of the production of beet root sugar on the continent, especially in France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, and Russia, and its recent introduction and cultivation as an article of commerce in Ireland, renders the detail of its culture and manufacture on the continent interesting. I have, therefore, been induced to bestow some pains on an investigation of the rise and progress of its production and consumption in those countries.

During the past three years, the smallest estimate which can be formed of the quant.i.ty of cane sugar that has been replaced by beet root sugar in the chief European countries, is about 80,000 tons annually, with the certainty that, year after year, the consumption will become exclusively confined to the former, to the greater exclusion of the latter; unless some great change shall take place in the relative perfection and manufacture of the two different descriptions of produce.

Although, observes the _Economist_, the beet root sugar produced in France, Belgium, Germany, and other parts of the continent is not brought into compet.i.tion in our own markets with the produce of the British colonies, yet it must be plain that the exclusion of so much foreign cane sugar from the continent, which was formerly consumed there, must throw a much larger quant.i.ty of Cuba and Brazilian sugar upon this market; and by this means the increased production of beet root sugar, even in those countries where it is highly protected, does indirectly increase the compet.i.tion among the producers of cane sugar in our market.

So early as 1747, a chemist of Berlin, named Margraf, discovered that beet root contained a certain quant.i.ty of sugar, but it was not until 1796 that the discovery was properly brought under the attention of the scientific in Europe by Achard, who was also a chemist and resident of Berlin, and who published a circ.u.mstantial account of the progress by which he extracted from 3 to 4 per cent. of sugar from beet root.

Several attempts have been made, from time to time, to manufacture beet root sugar in England, but never, hitherto, on a large and systematic scale. Some years ago a company was established for the purpose, but they did not proceed in their operations.

A refinery of sugar from the beet root was erected at Thames Bank, Chelsea, in the early part of 1837. During the summer of 1839 a great many acres of land were put into cultivation with the root, at Wandsworth and other places in the vicinity of the metropolis. The machinery used in the manufacture was princ.i.p.ally on the plan of the vacuum pans, and a fine refined sugar was produced from the juice by the first process of evaporation, after it had undergone discolorization. Another part of the premises was appropriated to the manufacture of coa.r.s.e brown paper from the refuse, for which it is extensively used in France.

A refinery was also established about this period at Belfast, in the vicinity of which town upwards of 200 acres of land were put into cultivation with beet root for the manufacture of sugar.

The experience of France ought to be a sufficient guarantee that the manufacture of beet root sugar is not a speculative but a great staple trade, in which the supply can be regulated by the demand, with a precision scarcely attainable in any other ease, and when, in addition, this demand tends rather to increase than to diminish. That the trade is profitable there can also be no doubt from the large capital embarked in it on the Continent--a capital which is steadily increasing even in France, where protection has been gradually withdrawn, and where, since 1848, it has competed upon equal terms with colonial sugars.

The produce of France in 1851 was nearly 60,000 tons. The beet root sugar made in the Zollverein in 1851 was about 45,000 tons. Probably half as much more as is made in France and the Zollverein, is made in all the other parts of the Continent. In Belgium, the quant.i.ty made is said to be 7,000 tons; in Russia, 35,000; making a total of beet root sugar now manufactured in Europe of at least 150,000 and probably more, or nearly one-sixth part of the present consumption of Europe, America, and our various colonies. In 1847 this was estimated at upwards of 1,000,000 tons; and, as the production has increased considerably since that period, it is now not less than 1,100,000 tons. The soil of the Continent, it is said, will give 16 tons to the acre, and that of Ireland, 26 tons to the acre. The former yields from 6 to 7 per cent.--the latter from 7 to 8 per cent. as the extreme maximum strength of saccharine matter. The cost of the root in Ireland--for it is with that, and not with the cost of the Continental root, with which the West Indies will have to contend--is said to be at the rate of 16s. per ton this; but will probably be 13s. next season. The cost of manufacture is set down at 7 5s. per ton.

Calculating the yield of the root to be 7 lbs. to every 100 lbs., for 26 tons the yield would be nearly 2 tons of sugar, which would give about 9 10s. per ton, putting down the raw material to cost 14s, 6d.

per ton, the medium between 16s. and 13s. Thus a ton of Irish-grown and manufactured beet root sugar, would cost 16 15s. per ton. Mr.

Sullivan, the scientific guide to those who are undertaking to make beet root sugar at Mountmellick, Queen's County, Ireland, estimates the cost of obtaining pure sugar at from 16 17s. to 19 18s. per ton, according to the quant.i.ty of sugar in the root.