Saccharum. triandria digynia. 241 



economical) are planted in a slanting position, and occasion- 

 ally watered at sun-set, till the young- shoots rise a cubit 

 high ; when the husk and refuse of the ground nut, or of 

 some oleaginous seeds after the oil is extracted, are well 

 beaten into a kind of powder and put round the root of the 

 plants, in small quantities, and afterwards covered over with 

 earth. The canes are now left to the fertility of the soil till 

 they arrive at maturity, except when it proves such a dry sea- 

 son, that watering becomes requisite, and are cut down about 

 the 1st of November. The first sort planted in the foregoing 

 manner, generally yields three crops while the second re- 

 quires fresh planting. 



"The sugar canes are now removed from the ground to the 

 mill for expression. The juice, being extracted, is carefully 

 strained, mixed with a small quantity of lime water, then 

 poured into large warm iron pans, placed on a platform of 

 brick work, with fire places below ; it is now boiled for a length 

 of time, and being removed from the fire, and allowed to cool, 

 it is a second time strained, and being again returned to the 

 pans the boiling is repeated for once, or twice, till it acquires 

 a saccharine consistence. The sugar, still very moist, is now 

 put into cylindrical jars, which have a small hole in each of 

 their bottoms, for the purpose of draining ; and their tops 

 bein" - covered over with from half an inch to an inch of 

 clayey moist earth, these are placed on stands, and remain for 

 three or four days ; when the old earthen covering is remov- 

 ed, and a fresh one put on. They continue in that situation 

 for three or four days more, the covering is then taken of, and 

 the sugar being sufficiently clarified is removed from the 

 jars, and spread out on flat baskets, exposed to the sun till 

 dry, when it is fit for use. 



" The mill for expressing the juice, of which I have sent a 

 very exact miniature model, appears so far as I recollect, pre- 

 ferable to those used in India. The machine is wrought by a 

 buffalo yoked to the small end of the crooked beam, while 

 its thick end is fastened to the long axle of one of the cyliu- 



VOL. I. p 



