SACCHARUM 



Sugar-yielding 

 Plants 



D.E.P., 



vi., pt. ii., 



1-380. 



Sugars. 



Maple. 



Javan 

 Palm. 



D.E.P., 

 i., 448-50. 

 Beet. 



Indian 

 Interest. 



Season. 

 Outturn. 



Yield. 



Failures. 



Palmyra. 



SUGAR AND SUGAR-CANE 



s 



SACCHARUM, Linn. ; Fl. Br. Ind., vii., 118-21. A genus of 

 perennial grasses containing twelve species, chiefly Asiatic. Five are 

 indigenous to India, in addition to sugar-cane, which is extensively culti- 

 vated. 



SUGAR AND SUGAR-CANE. Though chiefly obtained from sugar-cane, 

 sugar may be procured from many other plants, of which the following, 

 arranged alphabetically, are those best known : 



Acer saccharum, the Sugar-maple of the Northern States of America and of 

 Canada. 



Arenga saccharifera, the Sago-palm of the Malaya, also met '[with in Burma 

 and Orissa. In Java, palm- sugar is prepared from the sap in much the same 

 manner as f rom the date-palm in India. Marco Polo (Travels, etc., 1290 (ed. Yule), 

 ii., 235-6) alludes to tho wine of Sumatra made from this tree (see pp. 91-2). 



Beta VUlgaris, Linn. ; Fl. Br. Ind., v., 5. Beetroot and Mangold-wurzel, 

 palang, palak or biipalang ; CHENOPODIAOEJS. Is fairly largely cultivated in 

 Indian market gardens as a vegetable, and the seeds are used as a cooling 

 medicine. Much attention has also been paid to the possibilities of mangold as an 

 article of cattle food. It is mentioned by Buchanan-Hamilton (Stat. Ace. Dinaj., 

 194) and described by Roxburgh, but there can be no doubt it is of quite modem 

 introduction and has neither a classic nor any good vernacular names. Most 

 of the Asiatic names given to it are special adaptations from the names of 

 older and better known vegetables. 



But for many years the subject of beet-sugar has in India become one of great 

 moment. So long ago as 1863 Royle, in his address to the Royal Asiatic Society, 

 commended the subject to the attention of Indian investigators and adminis- 

 trators as worthy of serious consideration. Numerous experiments have been 

 conducted in India with the object of establishing beet cultivation as a field crop, 

 but so far with indifferent results. In the Report of the Department of Land 

 Records and Argiculture, Panjab, 1899, it is stated that the Cawnpore Sugar 

 Works Company had been able to produce beet up to the average on the Con- 

 tinent of Europe. Experiments were accordingly started in Hazara, but without 

 much success. Mention is made of experiments at the Botanic Gardens of the 

 Nilgiri hills. In subsequent experiments at Saharanpur the crop was considered 

 fair, and at Cawnpore in 1899-1900 the opinion was formed that to obtain the 

 best result beet should be sown about the middle of October. Leather gave the 

 opinion that both in outturn of root and yield of sugar, beet can be successfully 

 grown in North India as a rabi crop, provided suitable land and facilities for 

 liberal irrigation be devoted to it. The Report of the Botanic C4ardens of Sa- 

 haranpur for 1900 gives a detailed account of further experiments. Proudlock, 

 writing of the Nilgiri hills, says that with ordinary care sugar-beet can be 

 successfully grown. But the yield of sugar from all the Indian experiments 

 rarely exceeded 13' 10 per cent., while in some instances only 5'6 or even 3 - 3 per 

 cent, were recorded. As a rule the roots grew too large, and in consequence the 

 percentage of sugar decreased. A serious objection to beet cultivation is the 

 necessity for deep ploughing, which the Indian cultivator is both unable and 

 unwilling to perform. 



P. V. Subbiah (Principal of the Agricultural School, Cawnpore) issued (Dept. 

 Agri. U. Prov. Bull., 1901, No. 13) a complete review of all past experiences, and, 

 commenting on that, Moreland observes, " It will be seen that attempts to make 

 gur by the ordinary methods were complete failures, and it seems probable that 

 this must be the case, as unrefined beet-sugar made in Europe retains certain 

 organic matter which gives it an unpleasant flavour." It is, therefore, assumed 

 that " if beet is grown it will be on the central factory system, the cultivator 

 receiving an advance and engaging to grow beet, the roots to be taken to the 

 factory." [Cf. Mukerji, Handbook Ind. Agri., 1901, 388-9.] 



Borassus flabellifer, the Palmyra Palm or brab tree of Bombay and Madras 

 Presidencies. This is one of the sources of the substance known in Indian 

 commerce as jaggery. Rheede (Hort. Mai., 1686, i., 11-13, tt. 9-10) alludes 

 to the present species of palm as being tapped for its sweet juico (ras), 

 but says nothing of its sugir. It affords much of the sugar of South India, 



928 



