650 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[March i, 1884. 



(lemanrt, l:>r,'e and greatly Increased as the latter is. 

 Before (lealiig with the ligures, ws may just revert to 

 wh'it '■ O. S." saya about the che:ip coarse sugar grown in 

 the Phillippinea and other islamls of the Eastern Archi- 

 pelago. At the great sugar rtfining works on the banks 

 of the Yarra below Melbourne (buildinge, plant and 

 miierial insured up to i'200,000), wj saw masses of dirty 

 euill' which .ve could eo.ircely recognize as sugar, or even 

 j iggery, and from which clay enough to be made into 

 bricks was separated, — we saw this fillhy black 

 Btulf so Miiimpulated and subjected to chemical and 

 centrifugal processes, ns to yield saccharine crystals o£ 

 snowy whiteness. The palmyra jaggery of the north- 

 ern portion of Ceylon is certainly superior to the 

 cheap and nasty raw saccharine m.atter we refer to, 

 and we had felt long before Mr. Vincent's able Report 

 oil the Forests of Ceylon appeared that, to the en- 

 cour.agement of the culture of this palm which yields 

 excellent timber, nutritious fruits s.nd good sugar, 

 the Ceylon Government ought to devote special at- 

 teutiou. It will grow on ground where irrigation 13 im- 

 possible at the rate probably of six to ten ti^iies as many 

 trees to the acre as in the case of coconut palms. 

 While the trees are growing, ihe lea»'es are useful for 

 thatch, writing ol.as, the manuring of tields and other 

 Ijurposes. When frnits are liorne they are useful as 

 food, directly or in the shape of " punattu " (the 

 inspisjtited saccharine juice), while from the wounded 

 fijwer apathe large supplies of sugar can be obta'ned. 

 i''inaliy, the trees yi'li a timber cimparable to ebony 

 for density and uskIuI above all other wood as rafters 

 .•md reepers in houte-buddiug. We do not see that 

 Government would be travelling beyond its function.s in 

 planting regular forests of this tree, which they could ul- 

 tim cely sell in .small lots, as demand arose. In any case, 

 tlieovcicrowded population of the JafTaaPeniDsula.cught 

 t> Ijc templed to the m,tinland of the Northern, North- 

 Ce'.itial and Eastern Provinces, by offers of uuirrigable 

 land on easy terms for the cultivations of this most 

 usvfnl leaf, fruit, timber and sugar-yielding palm. 

 By its nieaus alone, Ceylon miglit become an ex- 

 p'rter of a very considerable amount of raw sugar, even 

 if refineries were not ultimately established in the island. 

 It is true that JJorassus jiabdlforms takes a long 

 liine before it yields sugar or timber, but "be aye 

 f.ticking in a tree, .lock ; it will be growing when 

 yc are sl'-eping." Let us request Sir Arthur Gordon's 

 .special attention to the palmyra palm, the thousand 

 uses of which were fully dealt with in Mr. W. Ferguson's 

 iiiono_,raph, of which a new edition would be very 

 acceptable, to natives as well as Europeans. The 

 ]jo]}ulation of this island as well as of the world at 

 large is growing, and su^ar will be more and more 

 in request as wealtli advances and comfort is appre- 

 ciated. At present an interference with the natural 

 laws of commerce by the German and other govern- 

 ments has placed sugar in almost the same position 

 as Coffee in regard t > price as affected by over- 

 production. From the latest number of the' Siifjar- 

 Cane ^ve quote an article on the subject, premising 

 th;it the consumption of sugar, raw and refined has 

 risen in Britain from 206,472 tons, or 16'77 per head. 

 01 the population in 1.S44, to 1,060,464, tons, or66',"6 lb 

 per head in 18S4. The iccrease per head in the 39 

 years has been 45 times, which means an incalulable 

 addition to food, comfort and health ; for the con- 

 sumption of tea and preserves has increased with 

 that of sugar. But details in this direction we re- 

 srve for another article, merely quoting now 

 the statement which shows the present overdone and 

 depressed state of the sugar market : — 



KTATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE ENGLKH 



SUGAR MARKET. 

 Mr. Licht's first estimate of the heet crop for 188.3-84 

 \i-ns 1,!) 75,000 tons; his latest estimate is 2,240,000 



tons— an increase of 26-5,000 tons! His estimate in De- 

 cember last was 2,0.50,000 tons— 195,000 tons below his 

 present estimate ; and it now appears that the actual 

 crop of 1882-83 is 2,146,634 tons, ;md not 2,062,043 tons, 

 as previously given,— an increase of 84,000 tons. Assum- 

 ing the substantial correctness of the present estimate for 

 1883-84, it shows a difference in favour of the present 

 season of 93,500 tons. 



It is quite evident that the cultivation of beet— especially 

 in Germ.iny- has outgrown the possibility of auy reliable 

 computation of it? results being made before the yield in 

 sugar has been ascertained ; .and the conviction is growing 

 that these estim.ates are misleading and mischievous. 



With such supplies, it is not supriing that the groat 

 dulness, which has prevailed so long., continues unabated, 

 .and that prices both of raws and refined are again 

 down. 



In January 1883. 

 •s. d. s. d. " s. d. R. d. 



German Beet, 88 

 percent f.o.b. is now 17 4^ to 17 6 against 19 3 to 19 4J 

 MadrasJasrgery ., ...11 6 „ 12 „ 12 „ 12 6 

 CuhaMuscav,ado„...18 „ 18 6 „ 20 ,. 20 C 

 Tate's Cubes „ ...27 „ 31 



Paris Loaves „ ...23 G ,, 24 „' 26' 6 „ 27 3 

 Crystallized De- 



meiara „ ...23 6 „ 24 n „ 24 „ 26 6 



On January IPth, the imports of 1884 exceeded those for 

 the same period in 18S3 by 16,019 tons, and the deliveries 

 show an increase of 262 tons. 



The stock on January 19th was 260,056 tons, against 

 227,685 tons in 1883, and 162,029 tons in 1882. 



Present quotations for the stand.ard qualities, as under, 

 are : — 



Floating. Last month, 



s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. 



Porto Pico, fair to 

 good Refining ...18 6 to 19 0. against 19 to 19 G 



Cuba Centrifugals, 

 96 per cent polarization 29 9 „ 21 „ 21 6 „ 22 



Cuba IMuscavailoR, fair 

 to good Refining ... 18 .. IS 6 ., 19 O .. 19 6 



15ahia, middling to 

 good Brown No. 7 

 to 8i ... 14 C, „ li; I, „ 15 „ 17 



Pernaml'uco, good 

 tofiueBrowu 17 „ 17 9 ,, 18 ,, 18 3 



Java, No. 14 to l-'i, 

 * Probable.— Ed. 0. O. 

 t Improbable.— Ed. C O. 

 good to strong ... 21 6 „ 21 9 .. 22 3 ,, 22 6 



Landko. Last mou3 • 



Madras' Cane Jag- 

 gery 11 6 „ 12 „ 12 3 „ 12 9 



Manilla Cebu and 

 Ilo Ilo 12 „ 12 r, .. 12 G ., 13 



Paris Loaves, f.o.b... 23 6 „ 24 „ 24 „ 24 6 



Titters 25 „ 25 3 „ 27 



Tate's Cubes ... 27 ,, 28 U 

 Austrian-German 



Beetroot, 88 per cent 



f.o.b 17 4i„17 6 „ 18 „ 18 3 



SUGAR IN INDIA AND AUSTRALIA. 



[Now that the question of sugar cultivation in Ceylon 

 has been revived, the following article from the Pioneey 

 will be interesting. Our soil is not equal to that of Aus- 

 tr.alia, but we have other advantages, especially in labour 

 supply.— Ed.] 



A few stalks of sugarcane, which may be detected 

 by curious eyes among the raw products of Aus- 

 tralia, now on view in the Calcutta E.vliibition, are 

 well calculated to suggest serious reflections to 

 any man who is concerned in the welfare of one of 

 the chief agriculiural industries of India. They are long 

 canes of a red-di.sh colour and, even in their half- 

 withercrl state (they were cut. of cour.se, six months ago), 

 are still remnrk.ible for bulk and evenness of growth. It is 

 to be iir(-suined that they were selected as sainj^les of the 

 best, and probably there .are many Indian districts from which 



