[ARUM 



CENTRAL FACTORY OWCIMAHUH 



Manufacture 

 M! suggestions both as to method* of cultivation Mid system* 



i- -ttirv tluit miiiht be adopted in Bihar. -nfly 



the Bihar planters to adopt the diffusion in pla- crushing 



of t.vatmeiit of canes. [C/. Burkill </</., 1903, No. 8; 



Hurkiil ;in<l Weii, I /.*fy., 11>' (,'hapiua: 



/trit. .*/)/>/.) 



Perhaps one of the most hopeful direc tinn-, ,,{ m. mediate improvement 



.ilt with by O'Conor, Hamilton and H . k in their liihar Sugar 



>n /?e/>ort (1901), where they discussed the advantages of the 



central-factory system. They .studied rritimlly the whole question of the 



cultivation of cane and the combined manufacture of sugar and indigo. 



setting forth many aijnrultural and other refon . Ivocated 



ngly the adoption of the system . nulls ai as 



the most economical method of manufacture. But it may be urged that 



the |i . Utility of the combination of two such widely remote technical 



industries as the production of sugar and of indigo, is the weak point of the 



si -In -me. Whichever proved the more profitable would secure the greater 



ion, until one or other might be ruinously neglected. Moreover, the 



power required for the one may very likely prove unnecessarily large and 



expensive for the other. But that reforms are not impossible with India 



generally can be seen from an inspection of the splendid results attained 



I'v .Mr. F. J. V. Minchin at Aska in Ganjam. In 1852 he settled in 



that district, and in his own lifetime built up a great enterprise which 



has been described as having become the dominant feature of the trade 



and prosperity of a wide area. His example is one that might well be 



followed in every sugar-cane growing district in India both by Natives 



and Europeans, but in each centre a Minchin is required. 



[Cf. Second Ann. Rept. Agri. Chemist, Mysore, 1901 ; Mukerji, Handbook 

 Ind. Agri., 1901, 384-91 ; Mukerji, Improv. Sugar Indutt., 1901 ; Ann. Rept. 

 Dept. Agri. Cent. Prov., 1904-5, 79; Hadi, Improv. Native Method* Sugar 

 Manuf., Dept. Agri. U. Prov. Bull., 1905, No. 19.] 



By-products. The by-products of the sugar factory are most By- 

 important. The megass, or bruised canes, left after the extraction of the P n 

 juice or ras, is in India usually employed as part of the fuel required for 

 boiling down the juice. Minchin holds that by the diffusion process the 

 whole of the sugar is removed from the cane, while by the Native process 

 a large amount still remains. To prove this point, he purchased locally 

 40 tons of megass. Passing this through his apparatus, he was able to 

 obtain from each ton 50 gallons of molasses, which yielded 30 gallons 

 spirits of proof strength. Assuming an equal loss all over India, he made Tout 

 a calculation which he graphically represented by saying that the saving 

 effected would go far to meet the interest of the public debt in India. 



So again, it has often been said that the megass might be employed in p|> 

 paper-making ; but in the greater part of India, at any rate, the difficulty of 

 procuring firewood and the cost of collecting and transporting megass to 

 the paper-mill would very possibly argue in favour of its present utibsa* 

 In the United Provinces it was estimated that the fuel required for boiling FML 

 ami making the gur from an acre of cane would be 108 maund-s dry cane* 

 refuse, 50 maunds dry cane-leavea, worth say Rs. 5, and about 5 maunds 

 firewood worth Rs. 2. If firewood alone were used, 108 maunds, costing 

 with cartage to the field say Rs. 31, would be necessary. There is thus a 

 saving of Rs. 24 by using all the megass supplemented with firewood as 

 compared with firewood only. 



