27 SACGHARUM SINENSE. 
Nectary of two large, broad cuneate, crenulate, fleshy scales, which 
occupy the two posterior sides of the germ, opposite to the 
two valves of the corol. 
This new species, for such it appears to me, was introduced 
from China into the Botanic Garden at Calcutta, at the close of the 
year 1796 ; with the hopes of finding it in some respects better 
than the common cane cultivated over India, and hitherto it has 
promised considerable advantage ; particularly as the cane is so 
solid and hard, as to resist the forceps of the white-ants and teeth 
of the jackal, two great enemies to our East Indian sugar planta- 
tions. At the same time it bears drought much better than the 
sorts in general cultivation. Lasts (ratoons,) so as to be a profit- 
able crop even to the third year; (while the common cane of India 
must be renewed every year ;) and yields juice of a richer quality. 
It seems to be the sort employed over China for making their 
sugars from, as appears from the following extract of a letter from 
Mr. A. Duncan, the Surgeon to the Factory at Canton, to Richard 
Hall, Esq. President, &c. Select Committee, dated Canton, 26th 
October 1796, which accompanied this cane from China; ex- 
plaining the mode of cultivation, and manufacturing the sugar in 
the Province of Canton. 
‘* OF sugar-canes, two sorts are cultivated in the Province of 
** Canton; one which is small, compact, and highly saccharine, 
‘* is manufactured into sugar: whereas the other of a larger size, 
and looser texture, is generally cut into joints and ate by the 
natives, either raw or gently heated. 
‘© The culture of Sugar-canes commences about the middle of 
March, or beginning of April, in proportion to the temperance 
of the weather, when a good, light, sandy soil is thrown up 
into beds of about four feet diameter, leaving intermediate 
spaces of one and a half, which serves as drains, and passes 
for the husbandmen. A compost of human manure and water 
is now thrown over the beds; and tops of sugar-canes, fifteen 
inches long (the Chinese are here ceconomical) are planted in 
a slanting position, and occasionally watered at sun-set, till the 
young shoots rise a cubit high, when the husks and refuse of 
the ground-nut, or of some oleaginous seeds, after the oil is 
extracted, are well beaten into a kind of powder, and put round 
the roots of the plants in small quantities, and afterwards 
covered over with earth. The canes are now left to the fertility 
of the soil, except it proves such a dry season, that watering 
becomes requisite till they arrive at maturity, and are cut down 
‘* about the first of November. The first sort planted in the 
foregoing manner, generally yields three crops, while the 
second requires fresh planting. 
‘«« The sugar canes are now removed from the grounds to the 
mill for expression. The juice being extracted, is carefully 
strained, mixed with a small quantity of chunam lime water, 
then poured into large warm iron pans, placed ona platform 
of brickwork, with fire places below ; it is now boiled for a 
length of time, and being removed from the fire, and allowed to 
cool, it is a second time strained, and being again returned to 
the pans, the boiling is repeated for once or twice, till it ac; 
quires a saccharine consistence. 
6é 
ee 
The sugar, still very moist, 
is now put into cylindrical jars, which have a small hole in 
each of their bottoms, for the intent of draining, and their tops 
covered over with about half an inch of elayey moist earth ; 
« 
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SACCHARUM SINENSE. 28 
‘* these are placed on stands, and remain for three or.four days, 
‘* when the old earthen covering is removed, and a fresh one put 
‘* on; they continue in that situation for three or four days more; 
‘* the covering is then.taken off, and the sugar being sufficiently 
‘* clarified, is removed from the jars, and spread out on flat bas- 
‘* kets, exposed to the sun till dry, when it is fit for use. The 
‘* mill for expressing the juice, (of which I have sent a very exact 
‘miniature model) appears, so far as I recollect, preferable to 
‘“those used in India. The machine is wrought by a buffalo 
‘* yoked to the small end of the crooked beam, while its thick end 
‘* is fastened to the long axle of one of the cylinders ; the canes 
‘‘ having undergone one expression, and consequently in a split 
‘* state, are not thrust a second time through, till all the irons are 
‘‘ greased. The cylinders are not always of the same dimensions, 
‘¢ those I examined were two cubits high, and one and two-thirds 
‘* in diameter, these are the common size; I am however told 
‘* they are sometimes much larger.” 
To point out the benefit that may accrue to the cultivators of 
sugar cane, it may be necessary to add the following copy of a 
letter from Mr. Richard Cardin, superintendant of the Honourable 
Company’s rum and sugar works at Mirzapore, in Bengal, to 
Dr. Roxburgh, dated 13th August 1801, nearly five years after 
the introduction of the cane. 
‘‘ With respect to the produce of the common Bengal sugar 
‘** canes, I have never been able to collect an account that can be 
‘‘ depended upon; the natives generally manufacture the Juice 
‘‘ into jaggery in my neighbourhood, which yields them nearly 
14 cutcha muds (maunds) of 60 sicca weight per biggah on an 
‘* average, anda profit of about 11 or 12 rupees per biggah. Nei- 
** ther the white ants or jackals have committed any depredations 
‘‘ on the China canes that I have planted, although the latter has 
‘* often been seen among them, which certainly gives these canes a 
I do not think 
“the China degenerate in the least, nor do they improve ; they 
If planted at 
‘* the same time the natives put their canes in the ground, they 
in 
‘* decided preference to the Bengal sugar-canes. 
‘* appear to me to remain nearly in the same state. 
‘* will not make such good returns as the Bengal sort ; but planted 
‘in the West India mode, in the month of October or September, 
‘and suffered to remain on the ground till the December or 
‘¢ January twelve months, they will then yield double the returns 
‘‘ of what the Bengal canes do, which is owing, in part, to the 
‘« length of time they are in the ground, and principally to the 
“ants and jackals not destroying them; whereas, if the Bengal 
‘* cane was to remain so long on the ground, the natives would 
‘have great difficulty to prevent the most of them from being 
** destroyed, and the young shoots suffer very much from the hot 
‘‘ winds and ants, which I witnessed the second year I came to 
‘* Mirzapore ; but the China shoots from these canes I cut last 
‘¢ January, stood the last hot season uncommonly well, and will 
‘* next January, I have reason to believe, from the present appear- 
‘* ance, make half, or nearly three-fourths the quantity of sugar 
‘« they did last January, and that with the trifling expense of 
‘‘ cleaning them twice, cutting and manufacturing the juice. I 
‘‘ should be extremely happy to have sent you a more particular 
“account, which is not in my power, as the statement of the 
‘‘ natives is not to be depended upon. I did purchase 12 cottahs 
“ of the best Bengal canes last January, merely as an experiment, 
ce 
which yielded just half the quantity of sugar my China canes 
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