- 



SACCHARUM 



CULTIVATION IN I i KM \ ornciNAiiu* 



consumed in the raw state ; (2) that of permanent oolthraMoa, where the cane is 

 manufactured into j/iir. 



Th.- tir.-t tract includeM roughly all tin* land* <>n the seaboard Miilun the region 



of tidal creeks. The land, as ,, *>r and v 



years in succession, so that it is met with only in isolated patched. The form of 

 cane grown is called kyaukhrin or leyaukettaung. a large cane of light colour with fUt* Owm. 

 -h..i-t tliick joint-. -.. brittle th.it u hn passed through the null it KMtorally Breaks 

 at the jomt*. The timl.er on the land tu'lected iii 

 the dry weather, and l.urnt in .March. Ve- 



ashes and afterwards sold at a small profit. In September the land is cleared 

 . (Is and cane pieces are placed in holes at a distance of 2 or S feet. 

 the holes being in rows 3 or 4 feet apart. The cane-sets are fastened down 

 i..imli..o lashing to prevent them being washed away. In January and 

 l-'.-!.i .:. loose soil is thrown up round the young plants, a ana June 



Mipp.it- ;> w hich they are tid are placed near each cane-stool. In some parte 

 : r. 'lichen are mode to admit water during the dry season and drain the land during 

 1 1..' i-. ,.-.-. and in other partn the plants arc watered by bamboo water 

 Ahout August and September the canes are out and sold in pieces. If hired 

 labour is employed, the cost of cultivation is Rs. 00 per a. 



The most important portion of the tract of permanent cultivation is situated ML 

 in the valleys of the Hilin and Thehyu rivers. The toil here i* almost entirely 

 am, nrtxed here and there with li^ht clay. The land is covered du 

 my season by river floods for a few days at a time, and a 

 alluvium deposited on it. The soil on which cane is grown for man'; 

 purposes in the other districts of the province is generally a dep rich ! 

 \\ here new land is cleared, or land already cultivated has been left fallow, the 

 cultivator turns up the soil with a hoe at the U^'inning of the rains (Ma 

 June), and then leaves it to rest till September, when he digs holes 10 inches 

 deep and one foot wide at intervals of 1 J feet from each other. Throe pieces of propitftttoa. 

 cane (aijyaiin'j), about 5 inches long, are then placed in a standing position m 

 each of these holes, and partly covered up with loosened earth. Some 

 vators plough the land three times at the beginning of the rains instead of turning 

 it up with a hoe, but the more general practice is simply to run deep furrows 

 through the land in September, and then place the cane-pieces longitudinally 

 along the bottom. The space between the furrows varies from 2 to 3 feet. 

 Before planting, the land is cleared of grass and weeds. Ten days after the 

 cane-pieces have been planted, the earth is loosened between the holes and the 

 sets further covered with mould. In the beginning of January the earth is once 

 more loosened and the plants again covered up. About May the land is once 

 more cleared of weeds and the canes left till August or September, v. 

 .are stripped of old and withered leaves. They are ripe about the month of 

 November in Burma proper, and are then cut close to the ground. The branches 

 at the top are given to cattle as food and the tops preserved for planting. The 

 remainder of the cane is divided into two pieces, tied up in bundles, and carried 

 to the mill. 



Generally three or four young shoots, or ratoons, spring from the old stool. Btooo*d ( 

 If these are sufficiently thick, no new plants are put d..\\ n alter the cane has been 

 cut, but as a rule cane-tops are planted in the intervals between the ratoons, after 

 the land has been cleared of grass and weeds. These tops ore about 5 ^inohe* 

 long and are planted from November to January. After the second year's crop 

 the land is either left fallow for a year, or again is replanted with cane-tops and 

 left fallow the following year. Mr. Bridges gives the cost of cultivation in a 

 plantation worked entirely by hired labour as Rs. 90 per acre. The greater Cost 

 number of cultivators, however, work the land themselves with their families, 

 -and the average cost of cultivation is calculated at Rs. 15 to Rs. 20 per acre. 

 With regard to the outturn of jaggery per acre, Capt. H. Desvoeux states that 

 in the Kyaikto district (Settl. Rept., 1898, 58) the average from CUut I. eoil u 

 2,984-05 Ib. ; from Class II. soil, 1,648'76 Ib., and in the Toungoo district (Settl. 

 Rept., 1900, 57) the first-class average is 6,733 Ib. per acre. [Cf. Bridges, Sugar- 

 cane in Brit. Burma, 1885 ; Settl. Operat. Rrpts. Burma ; Max and Bertha Ferrers, 

 Burma, 1900, 85; Niabet, Burma under Brit. Rule and Be/ore, 1901, i., 366, 445. J 



MANUFACTURE. Manulmo- 



INDIAN INDUSTRY. Popularly it is often said that there are two ture , 



main kinds of sugar " Muscovado " (or raw) and ' Crystal- 



951 



The Indian. 



