-Dec. I, 1885.] THE TROPICA!, AGRICULTURIST, 



433 



SUGAS CULTrV^iTIOX IN BRITISH BUIiJIA. 

 A long report was lately published in the J/ritl-'lt 

 Bimna Uazttte on the system of sugar cultivation 

 adopted in that country. The system seems to be more 

 elaborate, and is certainly more expensive than that 

 adapted in Bengal. The 'land on which the cane is 

 grown is divided, into two tracts, one tract of shift nig 

 cultivation, in which the cane grown is generally 

 used for eating, and another tract of permanent cane 

 cultivation, in which the juice is pressed out and 

 manufactured into r/oor. The first is hardly wortli 

 uoticuig, as it consi^ts of only about 280 acres, divided 

 chietiy into holdings of one acre each, clcareil in the 

 evergreen jungles along the tidal creeks. The ]uice 

 contains but little saccharine matter, and no amount 

 of boiling causes cry.stallization of the sugar. The 

 quantity of land under permanent cane cultivation 

 is about C,9S0 acres, chieHy situated in the valleys 

 of rivers, the soil of which is generally deep rich loam. 

 The canes grown are chieHy that known as the 

 Madras or white cane, which grow to a height of 

 from 10 to li feet. The mode of cultivation is clnofly 

 by planting. The land is generally turned up with 

 a hoe in May or .lune, and is let alone till September, 

 when the cultivator digs holes about 10 inches deep 

 and one foot wide, at a distance of about 18 inches 

 from each other. Three pieces of cane, about five 

 inches long, are then placed in each of the holes, 

 and pactly covered up with loosened earth, care 

 being taken that one end protrudes about an inch 

 over the top of the hole. There aie generally three 

 joints in each of the three pieces, and each joint 

 has one eye from which the new canes spring. About 

 ten days after the pieces have been planted, the 

 earth is loosened in the intervals between the holes, 

 and the cane pieces are further covered up. This 

 operation is again repeated in January, and in May 

 the land is again cleared of weeds and grass, and 

 the plants are left until the month of August or 

 September, when they are cleared of the leaves that 

 have become old and withered. Irrigation is hardly 

 ever resortod to, except in a very dry season. The 

 canes bloom in November, when they ore cut down 

 and prepared for the mill. The cost of cultivation in 

 such a plantation, worked entirely with hand labour, 

 will amount to about R'M per acre; but as most 

 of the cultivators with their families work their own 

 land, the cost is estimated at from 1115 to R20 per 

 acre. The cost of manufacturing the goni; which is 

 at present done in a very crude fashion (although 

 this will probably soon be improvcil, as a partner 

 of the well-known firm of Thomson & Jtyhie lately 

 risited Burma and showed the people the advantage 

 of using his mills) comes to about R6n per acre. 

 The average outturn per acre is about :>,.500 lb., 

 which is worth R2.30 ; and the net profit per acre, 

 therefore, not including the cost of living, would be 

 ■about KIOO. The average amount of rjooi- .being 

 2,800 lb. per acre, the amount of sugar produced 

 in one year would come to about 8,750 tons. The 

 whole of this, with thi- exception of a small quant- 

 ity exported from Akyab to Chittagong, is consumed 

 in British Bnrm:i, aiiil, as about 7f<,8GO cwt. of 

 sugar are imported every year, there seems to he 

 abundant room in British Burma for an extension 

 of sugar cultvation. — Calcutta Enylishmun, 



HOW COFFEE iS PREPARED FOR SHIPMENT. 



Few people, perhaps, ever give a thought, when 

 drinking their morning cup of coffee, of the ways 

 and means used for procuring them this refreshing 

 beverage. 'Without going into particulars of the 

 troubles and difficulties experienced by coffee planters 

 in acquiring and opening out land, clearing and felling 

 jungle, planting, and \vaiting prttienlly for three 

 years for their virgin crop, a few detail.** of the different 

 processes the bean undergoes from the time it is 

 taken off the trees, till it is shipped, may be of 

 interest. 

 55 



The coffc:> berry when ripe is of a bright scarlet 

 colour, and the fruit itself is very sweet and pleasant 

 to thi! taste. AN'hen gathered it is carried to the 

 puljility-liiiitsi; where it is measured and passed up 

 to a loft, from wliiek it passes into a receiver which 

 feeds the pulper. This pulper consists of a cyliii- 

 dric;;' iron barrel, fitted with copper sheets, which 

 revolves under a toothed coinb-liUe projection ; it i.s 

 generally work'd by cattle power or by a water- 

 wheel and :ulni.iling the fruit separates the outer 

 skin or rind from the bean or seed, which then 

 passes into, a cistern or vat. It is left there and 

 .allowed to ferment from 12 to IM hours, which 

 contributes greatly to facilitate the w,-isliing. AVhen 

 the beans are being washe.l there should be a con- 

 stant flow of water through these cisterns or vats, 

 and it is therefore absolutely necessary, when a 

 planter chooses a spot whereon to erect his ;)"/yi- 

 hou/sc, that it should be on low ground cominanding 

 a liberal and consLint supply of water. Failure of 

 water has been known to have seriously im-onvenienced 

 pulping operations and ruined the ontliini of what 

 otherwise should have b( en a fair crop. After the 

 bean has been well washed and rid of :ill the pulpy 

 matter it is culled pim-hmr ,it rnffW. This niinie is 

 given to it in consequence of the husk or parcliment- 

 like covering remaining on the bean after it has 

 been pulped and washed. It is then removed from 

 the cisterns on to the barbecues or drying grounds 

 on the estate, where it remains for a few days till 

 it is dry. In the absence of barbecues, the coffee is 

 dried on tables, made by stretching coir matting 

 over temporary bamboo or other wooden structures. 

 Great care is required in drying coffee before it is 

 despatched to the curing works, as unless the coffee 

 is sufiiciently dried it is apt to ferment, and thus 

 discolors the bean and lowers its marketable value. 

 When dried the coffee is sent away in carts to the 

 curers on the 'Western Coast or elsewhere. (Those 

 remarks apply to coffee grown in Ooorg.) The 

 ordinary country cart is used, each cart carries 1(1 

 bushels or about half a ton of parchment coffee, packed 

 in bulk in mats; the journey from (loorg to the 

 "Western Coast occupies from three to four days, 

 the carters however are usually allowed six d.ays and 

 take it easy all the way, travelling when it suits 

 their convenience best. Cart hire varies yearly. A 

 couple of years ago it ran very high owing to the 

 prevalence of disease among cattle, but ordinarily 

 it ranges from Rl 1 to 16 for the double jouvney ; 

 that is to say, a cart that takes down coffee to the 

 coast brings back a load of manure and vice verm. 

 This year, however, the shears of economy have been 

 vigorously applied on .all sides, and very little manure 

 is likely to be sent to the estates; this will naturally 

 enhance the cost of transport as comp.ared with 

 other years. 'When the parchment coffee arrives at 

 the curing works it is remeasured, aiwl put out 

 again on the barbecues, there to dry a little more. 

 and when the parchment or skin becomes nice :ind 

 crispy it is put into the peeler. 



Thi! peeler con.sists of two large iron wheels ribbed 

 round the rim ; these wheels are )nopelled vHtli great 

 velocity by a sm.all steam engine, and run in a circular 

 masonry gutter or groove into which the parcliment 

 coffee is shot, and by their rotatory motiiui tlie coffee. 

 bean is deprived of its parchment-like covering or 

 husk. The coffee thus cleared falls into a cistern 

 from which it is taken up into a loft and thrown 

 into the fizivf, the chaff being separateil froin the 

 beans by means of a fanner. This chaff alone is used 

 for working the engine, or perhaps a little wood is 

 sometimes .added. These sizers are large cylinders of 

 perforated zinc or iron. In three of them the perior- 

 ations are oblong and of different sizes, and circular 

 in the fourth. The sizers revolve an. I tb.- eotlee falls 

 out of four different kinds or sizes 

 A or No. 1 the largest 



B „ 2 the next .and . , , , ,, 



C ,. 3 the third size; through the circular lioles all 



1 the globular beans find their way and are called I'la 



' Berri/. This sort of coffee commauds geiiewlly a superior 



