June i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



985 



ports receive from other parts of ludia, no saleable gur 

 had yet been made, aud even in America the mauufactm-o 

 of anytliing but syrup would seem to date from about 

 1S61. Experiments were tried with various re -agents for 

 defecating and claiifying the juice which is intensely acid, 

 much more so than that of sugarcane. Canes were cut 

 at various stages of growth to ascertain the most profit- 

 able period. Oanes were ground with the leaves oil to 

 economise the labour for stripping. The worm-eaten canes 

 were excluded. So a great deal of the crop was used 

 to gain experience and scarcely as much was used in 

 the manufacture of the best samples as would warrant the 

 building up thereon of a . commercial scheme. For this 

 another season or two must be awaited. The best results 

 were arrived at by stripping the canes in the field, cany- 

 ing them sti-aight to the mill as cut, putting them through 

 a Bihia mill at once, and boiling the juice in one pan, as 

 soon as removed from the mill. The best tiino for 

 cutting the canes is when the seed is in^e dough stage. 

 The head of seed is cut off with the top short, and left in the 

 sun to ripen, the whole of the seed being saved. As economy 

 is a great point, a portable mill that can be carried to the 

 field is a desideratum. Fermentation converts crystalisable 

 sugar into uncrystalisable. So does the acid in the juice at 

 high temperatures. Fermentation is set up in the juice on 

 exposure to the air ; hence the necessities for getting the 

 canes pressed and the juice neutralized as quickly as poss- 

 ible after cutting. To prevent fermentation also the mill, 

 boiling pan, aud vessel for holding the juice as it comes 

 from the mill were daily fumigated with a few sulphur 

 matches. A tew drops of castor oil were sprinkled on the 

 juice as it approached boiling poiut to aid in clarification, 

 and at boiling point, milk of lime was added carefully to a 

 poiut close on UBUliality. The scum as it rose was carefully 

 removed and the juice concentrated down to the proper con- 

 sistency for gur. A small quantity of " rab" was made 

 from which drained crystals were obtained as a sample : but 

 attention was chiefly concentrated on making gur. The 

 above details show no difference from those of the process of 

 manufacturing gur from sugarcane, as now practised by many 

 manufacturers. It is only given in detail because although 

 gur may be made from sugarcane juice, without using lime, 

 a skilful native sugar-boiler entirely failed in operating on 

 sorghum jiuce without lime, aud for the black sorghum the 

 failure was maintained even with lime, until a small quant- 

 ity of carbonate of soda, or sajji, had been aided as well 

 as the lime. 



The analysis by Messrs. Carew and Company, Limited, 

 of a sample was as under : — 



Cane sugar •■ ... ■■• 6r00 



Crlucose . . . . ■ . 2.3"85 



Moisture . . . . . . 7'09 



Ash .. .. .. 3-1.5 



Unknown . . . . . . I'd 



Total.. .100-00 



This analy.sis shows for refining purposes an objection- 

 able amonnt of glucose aud a larger amount than was 

 present in a sample of sorghum gur manufactured tliis year, 

 also, at the Aska Sugar Works in Ma(b-as. The sugar 

 ■would clearly be more suitable for brewing piu-poses than 

 for refining purposes so far as exjjort is concerned. But 

 a peculiarity of glucose sugar is, I believe, its similarity 

 in taste to honey, a taste w-liich was very marked hi some 

 samples of the sorghum gur and which seems to be to the 

 liking of the people. Coming as it does out of season and 

 foi-ming a good eating gur, there is testimony fi'om both 

 Carew and Company and from Messrs. Thomson aud Myhie 

 that it will fetch a top jirice in the market. It may 

 possibly then become at least as popular for eating as 

 sugarcane gur, and so free a large quantity of the latter 

 for export particularly, if :is may be hoped, further ex- 

 perience ft-ill lead of "further improvement. Sorghum re- 

 quires no ii-i-igation, nor docs it require much manui-ing. 

 It can be gi-own on high light land which grows ordinaiy 

 khiu-if crops, and has in America been cultivated year 

 after year on the some sod without deterioration. The seed 

 is all saved aud is good food for man or cattle, while the 

 tops, leaves, aud begass are all eaten greedily by cattle. 

 It is worth then the closer altcntion of Indian agriculturists; 

 aud a large supply for dishibutiou should bc' intended of 

 the best Early Amber Tariety from America against the 

 coming kluiiif season. 

 124, 



CINCHONA CULTIVATION: 



ASPECTS. 



ITS FINANCIAL 



A planter, S. E. Wynaad, writes : — There has, within tlie 

 last 3 yearf^, been quite a rage for cinchona planting. 

 Everyone has taken to planting cinchonas, to a great or 

 less extent ; and we ail have, or have had hopes uf making 

 fortunes out of the bark, antl being able notwitiistaudiug 

 the fickleness of our old love of coffee, to retire some of 

 us after many years of exile, to England, and those home 

 comforts which memory paints for us in the brightest 

 hues. 



The cinchona-mania has some raison d'etre. Money has 

 undoubtedly been inade, and is now being made, from 

 cinchonas ; ami estimates, drawn up by authorities on the 

 subject shew us what handsome profits are still likely in 

 their opinion to be derived from the cultivation. But, 

 looking at the rapid extension which has been made in 

 cinchona cidtivation of late, the question naturally arises 

 will the demand for, and consumption of, the bark keej) 

 up with the supply, so as to insure paying prices some 

 years hence, when trees now being planted will have reached 

 the producing stage ? Philanthropists may rejoice when 

 "the bitter blessing" is brought within reach of the poorest 

 in the land ; it will be well for the world generally ; but 

 win it be altogether satisfactory for the iiKlividual planter i* 

 Though he has Ids fail- share of the milk (unadulter- 

 ated) of human kindness ; it was not philantlu-opy alone 

 which induced the planter to spend his best years in 

 fostei-ing the Fever-slayer ; cvia va fianfi du-n. Neither was 

 it revenge on the malignant goddess Malaria, for a 

 shattered constitution. 



I calculate that there are now growing in Pykara, 

 Neddiwattum, Ouchterlouy Valley, and S. E. Wvnaad. 

 5,000,(100 cinchona plants: 10,000,1100 may be put' down 

 for North aud South Wynaad, Ootacamimd, Coonoor, 

 Kotageri, Kartary, Kooudahs, &c., giving a total of 

 15,000,000 plants for the Wynaad and Nilgiris. We 

 have besides Mysore, Coorg, Travancore, and other cUs- 

 tricts in Southern India, and Sikhim and Daijeeling in 

 the North, where cinchonas have been extensively planted ; 

 and I do not think I would be far wrong in putting 

 down another 15,000,000 as the number of plants uo»- 

 growing iu these parts ; giving, with the cultivation in 

 Wynaad aud Nilgu-is, a total of 30.000,000 plants for the 

 whole of British India. During the next two planting sea- 

 sous, 188.3 aud 1884, I believe a larger number of cinchon- 

 as will be planted out than in any previous years ; and 

 by the year 1890, there will be in British India not less 

 than 40,000,1)00 cinchona trees (yellow, crown, and rcil 

 barks) none of tliem less than Syears' old, with an annual 

 producing power, allowing |tb. ^ tree, of 10,000,0001b. of 

 bark, tliat is to say more than half the amount of the 

 present average annual outturn of bark in South America 

 from all sources. Then there are I eylon, Java, Jamaica, 

 Mexico, and other countries which have gone, and are still 

 going, in largely for this cultivation ; and though it ha-s 

 been reported Tliat the South American cinchona forests, 

 owing to the wholesale harvesting, are rapidly decreasing, 

 it is difficult to get reliable information on the subject, 

 and it seems unlikely that South America will cease to be 

 a large proiUicer of bark for several years to come. I do 

 not think it would be too much to put down the pro- 

 duction of l)ark,in lNiO,in countries other than British India, 

 at 40,000.0001b., which would bring the whole worhl's pro- 

 duction to the gr.nnd total of 50,000,0001b., annually; or, ».■. 

 far as I have means of learning, more than double the 

 present ainuud consumption, and, even, allowing for a large 

 yearly increase in the demand for 1 ark, tar more than is 

 likely to bc required to supply the world's w-auts at that 

 data. 



At the present time, inferior b:irk (twig and branch; 

 is not w-ortb shipping; being ''a .Irug" in the market 

 the druggists will have none of it ; aud if tlie German 

 brewers want to make use of it instead of hops for their 

 beer, one would naturally suppose that they would be 

 willing to give for it n-hat would al least pay the grower 

 for the freight and charges, especially this year when the 

 supply of hops was reported to be >hort. It remains to 

 he seen whether the price of a gnat deal of our stem 

 bark w-ill not, within tin- next few years, foil to a point 

 at which it will barely pay us to grow it. There is scope 

 for the extension of the consumption of quinine of couiee, 



