Januaky I, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



491 



-prepared the produce of India would be trebled, and she 

 would supply the world with Sugar. ^Vmong other reports the 

 Governmeut have recently received one from Mr. Smeaton 

 on Sugar in British Buriuah. This is reprmted iu a recent 

 Iiul ill ii At/i-icu/luriiit, a.nd the following are extracts from it. 

 The lauds visited aU appear admirably suited for the growth, 

 but the production is very small, and the means of cultivation 

 are primitive. In the district of Thonegwa (the first risited) 

 the Cane is cultivated in plots of about half an acre, and 

 always in close proximity to th>i banks of the creek or its 

 feeders, for the sake of irrigarion at the spring tides. The 

 Canes -here on a clay soil average from ten to twelve feet 

 in height, and from one to one and a half inches in thick- 

 ness. They appeared hard and coai-se, were white in colour, 

 and contained more water than saccharine matter. The cul- 

 tivators, chiefly Upper Burmans, show great care with their 

 crops, which is evident from the bamboo supports, the prim- 

 ing, and the trenches dug from the flow of fresh water at 

 the rise and fall of the tide. The mode of cultivation is 

 rude. In March the cultivator takes up his plot of grass 

 aud tree jungle, cuts down the trees and burns the grass, 

 and leaves everything in a state of ashes. The land is then 

 left doling the" remainder of the hot season, by which time, 

 grass and weeds having sprung up, he proceeds to plant, 

 no ploughing taking place, but the weeds are pulled up as 

 he goes on. The planting is done in lines and the roots 

 backed up, and wlieu this process is completed the business 

 of planting is at an end, with the exception of a weediag 

 day once a month, the backing up of the stems with bamboo, 

 aud priming the stems when three or four months old. No 

 manure is given to the land, which is virgin soil, cultivators 

 declaring they would not grow Cane on any but new land, 

 which could have the fertilising ashes of burnt grass and 

 tree roots. Two crops as a rule are taken from the .same 

 roots, but the second is quite inferior and the cultivator 

 pays little attention to it. The average yield in this dis- 

 trict is about 4,(J00 canes to two and a half acres, the gross 

 value of which may be estimated at about K36, or say 

 £3 12s. The canes grown are used as sweetmeats and are 

 not pressed for .Sugar ; with such a ru^ie method the labour 

 involved is comparatively trifling, so that the cultivator 

 really obtains the whole produce for himself. 



In the Beelin district, however, everything was very dif- 

 ferent, for here the cultivation is paid considerable atten- 

 tion to. A good deal of money is yearly expanded on the 

 manufacture of course Sugar, aud large quantities are an- 

 nually exported. Mr. .Smeaton iu his report says the soil 

 is good, the land well watered and drained, and iu every 

 ' way suited to Cane cultivation. Though the industry is a 

 new one, Cane-gi'owing not being knowii twenty-five years 

 ago, there are .said to be about SOO cultivators at work; and 

 the Madras (white) Caue is the only one known. The land 

 is tilled, of which about 3,840 acres seem to be under Cane, 

 iu much the same way as at Thonegwa, for the jungle is 

 cut, burnt, and cleared duiing the dry months, and allowed 

 to lie till August ; but the same land is used over again, 

 for iu the Beelin district they plough the land after the 

 first crop. The soil does not appear to suffer, for year after 

 year Cauo is growu on the same fields, and even after the 

 Cane harvest paddy is planted, becaus3 the Planteis de- 

 clare the rotation lo be beneficial, both to the paddy and 

 to the Cane. The Sugar pressing mills are near the fields, 

 and the Cane is brought in and pressed as it is cut. As is to 

 be supposed, their mills are rude and primitive, but are said 

 to be thoroughly effective. The boiling process begins as 

 soon as there is a supply of juice, so that all three processes — 

 cutting, pressing, and boiling — go on simulataneously. The 

 article turned out, called Kyantaga, or Jaggery, is said to 

 be far superior to the Indian " Goor." The average yield 

 on the Beelin tract is 3,.o00 Hs. per acre, which comi>ares 

 favourably with the other Sugar-growing countries. The 

 cost of manufacturi: is said to be from SO to 120 rupees 

 per acre, averaging 100 rupees or £10. The value of the 

 Sugar produced is 300 rupees, leaving a profit of 200 rupees 

 of £20 per acre. The following are some further extracts 

 from INIr. Smea ton's report: — "The produce per acre does 

 not compare unfavourablj' with that of other Sugar-growing 

 countries. The best estates in the West, Indies rarely yield 

 more than .'>,000 lb. of Sugar to the acre. Trinidad yields on 

 the average about 2,200 lb. of Sugar per acre. The best 

 land in India only yields 1,.')00 lb. of Sugar to the acre 

 Beelin yields 3,500 lb. of a light brown, coarse Sugar. It 



remains for e.xperiment to determine what proportion of 

 white crystallized Sugar can be obtained from the present 

 product. Judging by appearance, colour, and taste, I should 

 say it is likely to be considerable. The market value of 

 Sugar land appears to be about R80 per acre. This is 

 nearly quadruple of the average value of paddy land iu the 

 Pegu Division ascertained ujj to date. The initial expenses to 

 a man without capital are heavy, because he has to go much 

 into debt with the local money lender, the peasants them- 

 selves being poor. The gross produce of the Beelin tract 

 must be something very considerable ; I should say, at the 

 lowest computation, 2,000,000 viss, or about 7,000,000 lb. 

 of Sugar. A great deal is consumed locally. There is a large 

 export to Rangoon, Moulmeiu, and the Shan states. The 

 money value of this gross produce is six lakhs of rupees. 

 The Government reveiU:; from the entire tract is K2,400. 

 There can be no doubt iu my mind, after what I have seen, 

 that the Beelin tract is in a remarkable degree suited to the 

 cultivation of Sugar-Cane. The fact that the same land 

 can go on from year to year producing Caue at a constant 

 and high rate is very striking, not to speak of the further 

 fact that the land can bear, and bear well, other crops in 

 the event of a rotation being expedient. Cotton would, I 

 am certain, thrive, and cottou-cane is a good rotation. AVheat 

 would thrive too, and in the river-side belt so woiUd tobacco. 

 "What I would propose, then, iu this part of, the country 

 is, first, to have the whole adjacent tracts carefully examined 

 to see if the same physical features are found in them. 

 Towards north and south I think the same sort of country 

 will be found. I would depute one of the settlement officers 

 to make the examination, and I would supplement their in- 

 quiry by analysis of the soil in a number of different places. 

 Then, should the surrounding country be foimil homogeneous 

 and likely to be as suitable for Cane as the present limited 

 tract, I woulel reserve the entire available area as a Sugar- 

 Caue tract to to be granted solely for Cane cultivation and 

 nothing else ; I woulel have a rough survey maele of it ; and 

 I would inedte cultivators to take uji land within it, and offer 

 a fi.xetl advance to each per acre taken up, to elefray the 

 initial expenses anel set the cultivator afloat, say from K30 

 to K50 per acre. The Sugar-cane tract which I have 

 just examined in the Hanthawaddy district is in theLawadee 

 circle of Angyee sub-division on the banks of the Irrawaddy. 

 The spring tides of March anel April give all the irrgation. 

 But the cultivators say that the plants would die if they 

 were not thus irrigated. I noticed one curious thing. The 

 current is so strong at times, that w hen the river is in flood, 

 anything Ijang loose on the ground is apt to be carried away. 

 So the cultivators, who hael just planted out some Cane, 

 pegged in the tops, and secnreel them by a bandjoo string, to 

 prevent them being washed away. The cane which I saw 

 standing was ccrtainl}' most luxuriant. The^re were a.s many 

 as six to eight Canes on each plant, and they were very 

 tall aud thick, quite Uke the large West India Cane, and 

 very hauilsome, over an inch in eliaraeter, and ten to twelve 

 feet high. All the Canes are sold for sucking, none are 

 pressed for Sugar. One cultivator declared h« got 10,800 

 Canes on about two acres, which he so'.d at B2 K2-8, to 

 K3 per 100. He paiel rent to another culti\ator for the land 

 (which he also hael partially to clear) at KI per acre. — 

 Produce Markets' Review. 



THE COFFEE QUESTION'. 



THE BEAZIL-COFFEE XT THE EXHIBITIO-V AND THE JAVA-COFFEE. 



The "Ilaiiitehbt-richt niii Rotterdam "'i^o. 1743, of 24th July 

 has done us the honour to take over and criticize our article 

 on coJtee in the "Algemeene Handelsblad" of 19th July last. 

 This article was merely written to give soTiie answer to the 

 questions put by the Chamber of Comm. rce at Batavia, 

 and this was, also in our eyes, rather to, 1 cursory for the 

 importance of the subject. We wish now to fill up a few 

 lacun.'e we have observed in it, by pursuing "tur observations 

 according to the views prevalent in Bra;:il, still in the 

 character of representative of the Society "Co itro da Lavom-a 

 eOommercio" at Rio de Janeiro. 



AVe now follow the very pertinent armaments of the 

 "Hanelelsbericht" of Rotterdam. 



In Europe, the Brazilian coffees presented at the different 

 markets, are really consielered as of ulterior quality. For 

 this, there are two reasons: the fii'st is th.at most of the 

 Kio coffees of superior quality go to the United States 



