712 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[March i, 1883. 



spirited pests who are for ever clogs on the wheels of 

 our progress, step forth, autl with much bluster frustrate 

 their enlightened and benevolent designs. Even yet, though, 

 there is hope, as there are' some available spots in 

 " lumdreds " where water is to be got, but the field of 

 action contemplated and hoped-for is sadly restricted. 

 Healthy schemes are never popular at first somehow. I 

 suppose evil man judges man as evil; and yet the right 

 will triumph in the end. In fact, it is a kind of general 

 secret that Mr. Malcolm has already actually chartered 

 a ship fur South Africa, and has sent an order for 100 

 ostriches. I close. Sir, with a final plea for the olives 

 and wattles. As the honest old Scotch laird .said, " They'll 

 he growing while we're sleeping." I am. Sir, &c., 



. D. C. F. MooDiE. 



Adelaide, November 20. 



THE MANUFACTURE OP SUGAR IN INDIA. 



The Revenue Board lately submitted to Collectors of 

 districts a form to the filled up showing the area covered 

 by sugarcane, coconut, palmyra and date trees in 1881- 

 82 together with a full and concise report as to the mode 

 of cultivation of the cane, the process of manufacture of 

 sugar and other points referred to in the memorandum 

 appended to the letter from the Secretary to the Govern- 

 ment of India, Revenue and Agricultural Department, 

 communicated with the Government Orders on the subject. 

 In diiscribiiig the mode of cultivation, the different processes 

 followed from the first preparation of the ground to the 

 lime of cutting the cane, the description and quantity 

 of manure usually applied, the differeut species of canes 

 grown, the distances at which the cuttings are planted, 

 the amount of irrigation required, the period during which 

 the crop can be raised in succession on the same land 

 without rotation, and any other points of interest sliould 

 be briefly noticed. Information should also be furnished 

 as to the number and description of the mills in use, the 

 quantity of juice extracted with reference to the kind of 

 mill employed and the description of cane used, the num- 

 ber of times the cane is ])assed through the mill to extract 

 the full quantity of the juice, and the improvements which 

 have been attempted or effected from time to time in 

 the mode of cultivation and manufacture. Full details 

 of the system pursued in other Presidencies will be found 

 in the Resolution of the Government of India, dated 30th 

 May 1882, published in the Supplement of the Gazette of 

 Imlia of the 10th June 1882. Collectors are requested 

 to give theur careful attention to the subject and to point 

 out any differences in the mode of cultivation and manu- 

 facture followed in this Presidency and the improvements 

 which they can suggest for the encouragement of this 

 industry. Messrs. Minchin & Co., who have a large Sugar 

 Factory at Aska, and Messrs. Parry & Co., who own a 

 Factory in South Arcot, will doubtless be able to furnish 

 much useful information on the subject. The Collectors 

 of Gaujam and South Arcot will accordingly be requested 

 to consult those firms and report their opinion on the 

 several points noticed by the Government of India. The 

 Superintendent of Government Farms will also be re- 

 quBsted to favour the Board with his views on the whole 

 question. They note that last year some trials were made 

 with the Beheea Mill in the Hospet taluk in the Bellary 

 .listrict, and that the result, though not quite satisfactory, 

 was on the whole in favour of the new, as compared 

 with the local, mill. In preparing the statement, there 

 should be no difficulty in giving the area under sugar- 

 cane and coconut. The extent of cultivation under these 

 crops is shown in the village accounts, and it can be easily 

 ascertained by local inquiry how much of the produce is 

 used for the manufactm-e of sugar or jaggery and how 

 much for other purposes. Regarding whole luam villages 

 and Zemindaris, Collectors doubtless know already in what 

 localities sugar cultivation is carried on, and they should 

 be able to obtain the required information without de- 

 lay. As regards palmyra and date trees, which are for 

 the most part of spontaneous growth, the areas will have 

 to be determined by a rough estimate of the number of 

 trees on occupied and unoccupied lauds, taking 400 trees 

 to be equivalent to an acre— vide Boards Proceedings, 

 dated 13th August 1879, No. 2319. From an analysis of 



the returns furnished by Collectors for 1878-79, it 

 ap pears that 5(^(/rt)' is nowhere manufactured from palmyra 

 and date-palm juice, but that a kind of jaggery is 

 made in some districts. In Ganjam, Cuddapah, Bellary, 

 Kurnool, Bladras, Coimbatore and Nilgiris not even 

 and Trichinopoly the quantity mude is small, and 31 

 jaggery is made from this juice, while in Vizagapatam 

 tons respectively. If this information is correct it 

 would probably be unnecessary for the Collectors of 

 these districts to obtain statistics of the number of 

 palmyra and date trees for the past year, though such in- 

 formation might usefully be collected for future retm'ns. 

 The only districts in which palmyra-jaggery is made in any 

 quantity worth mentioning appear to be Godavari, Kistna, 

 Nellore, Ohingleput, South Arcot, Tanjore, Madura, Tinne- 

 velly, Salem, South Canara and IMalabar. Date jaggery is 

 made only in Godavari, Nellore, North Arcot and Salem 

 to the extent of a few hundred tons. The variations in 

 the yield of sugar and of jaggery are very startling in 

 several cases. In the case of sugar it may be that suf- 

 ficient allowance has not been made iu some Districts 

 for the fact that the cane is sold as such for consumption 

 and that only a small portion of the crop is passed 

 through the mill for purposes of manufacture. There 

 must be something wrong in the yield given of jaggery 

 made from palmyra and date, the former of which is 

 shown as varying from 1 cwt. per acre in Vizagapatam 

 to 532 cwts. in IMalabar, and the latter from 1 cwt. in 

 Kistna to 157 cwts. in South Arcot. The yield of coco- 

 nut jaggery varies from 9 cwts. in Chingleput to 157 cwts 

 in South Arcot. There are also considerable differences in 

 the prices of the articles iu different districts — differences 

 which can hardly be due to mere local causes. All these 

 points should be properly inquired into and correct figures 

 furnished with the report now called for. The extent to 

 which refined sugar is made should also be stated. This 

 report need not be delayed if iu any cases difliculty is felt 

 iu collecting the statistics regarding the area occupied by 

 palmyra and date trees. The statement regarding it can 

 be !?ent in subsequently. The Collectors of Kurnool, Bel- 

 lary and Trichinopoly are requested to furnish the in- 

 formation above called for, for the native States of Bangana- 

 palle, Sandur and Pudukota, respectively. A statement 

 should in future be submitted with the administration re- 

 port, together with a short account showing the progi'ess 

 of the sugar industry and the measm'es adopted for its 

 improvement. A copy of these Proceedings will be fur- 

 nished to the Resident of Travancore and Cochin with 

 the request that a similar statement may be furnished for 

 1881-82, together with another showing the exports and 

 imports of sugar and jaggery say for the past ten years. 

 The Board will be glad also to have any information 

 which may be available as to the progress of sugar cul- 

 tivation in those territories, and to be furnished with an 

 annual statement in future in the from referred to. — Madras 

 Standard. 



PREPARATION OF JAVA COFFEE. 



TO THE EDITOR OF " DE INDISCHE MEECUDK." 



Sir, — On page twenty of your November number (1882) 

 ]Mr. John Smid published an extract from a letter of one 

 of the greatest coffee planters iu Java, concluding with 

 the following sentences : " No man can believe that peeling 

 coffefe in the *' parchment " will be continued. The Govern- 

 ment sends its coffee prepared, and private planters have 

 abandoneil the idea of doing it." 



In a note you state that you would be pleased to receive 

 authentic refutations upon the subject. I will not say that 

 I will convince every principal, but, nevertheless, a general 

 interest encourages nie to make an effort. I pi'opose, 

 therefore to briefly review the history of coffee peeling 

 in the Netherlands. Your esteemed correspondent at Java 

 says that the expenses in Holland would be too high to 

 send the prepared coffee for sale there, and that as a 

 result it is preferred to send it direct to Marseilles for 

 sale. This, he says, can easily be done by the ten days 

 service of the steamers of the Netherlands Company. 

 This has nothing to d > with the question of the shipment 

 of coft'ee iu the parchment to the Netherlands, but I 

 shall give it my attention as everybody here would regret 

 it, if our colonial producers thought they were compelled 



