588 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



PRODUCTION OF SUGAR IN THE EAST INDIES. 



The April number of Hunt'' s Merchants'' Magazine contains an interesting let- 

 ter from J. Balestier, Esq., the United States Consul at Singapore, in the East 

 Indies. The letter was not intended for publication, but was addressed to a 

 planter in Porto Rico, and was forwarded, via New-York, to J. IN. Balestier, a 

 brother of the American Consul, who took the liberty of transcribing the mate- 

 rial parts of it for publication in the Merchants' Magazine. Mr. Balestier has 

 resided in Singapore since the year 1833, and is largely engaged in the business 

 of suc^ar growing. His intelligence, as well as intimate acquaintance with the 

 commercial and agricultural statistics of the East, entitle his statements to the 

 utmost respect. The present communication relates to the prospective produc- 

 tion of sugar, and embraces a sketch of the condition of sugar planting in Java,. 

 Cochin China, Siam, &:c. It will be read with interest by our numerous sub- 

 scribers in the sugar-growing region of the United States: 



Extracts from the Letter of J. Balestier, Esq. 



What vvith the reduction in the duties in 

 England and Amei-ica, and the prevailing 

 spirit in the remainder of Europe for cheap 

 sugars, the consumption must greatly in- 

 crease ; and as growers of the article are not 

 prepared to supply this unexpected call, it 

 would seem to follow that, for some years to 

 come, prices will rather advance than de- 

 cline. No part of America, except the Uni- 

 ted States, is in a condition to add much to 

 the stock now raised. 



There is abundance of first-rate soil, but a 

 great scarcity of laborers ; and without them 

 the land has but little value. To this quar- 

 ter — the eastern hemisphere, abounding in 

 suitable soil and ellicient hands— expectation 

 is naturally turned to furnish the uicreased de- 

 mand. 



But there will be found gi'cat obstacles in 

 the realization of this expectation, causing 

 great disappointment. This eastern world, 

 though possessed of unbounded soil and poj)- 

 ulation, is wanting in capital and in enter- 

 prising Europeans, without wliich there can 

 be no considerable adilititju to sugar produc- 

 tion. The natives, left to themselves, are too 

 much wanting in industrious habits, or in am- 

 bition of riches, ever to make good a defi- 

 ciency in so costly and complicated a manu- 

 facture as that of sugar. .lava, under its sys- 

 tem of forced labor, is strained beyond pru- 

 dence, as is proved by two successive years 

 of famine brought on by turning the industry 

 of that island from rice cultivation— the bread 

 of that co'intry— into other channels, such as 

 indigo, tea, coti'ec and sugar. The i'li'lip- 

 pines, vast and rich in soil, are in the bauds 

 of pirates and Indians, and by law or habit 

 are rendered unapproachable to foreigners 

 beyond the limits of Manilla, the Capital; 

 (n.^.8) 



and although thei-e is a yearly development 

 of their productiveness, still they are fai* 

 i'rom being productive to the extent they 

 would be wej-e Europeans pennitted to estab- 

 lish themselves in the interior, and turn the 

 population to industrious habits by giving 

 them adequate wages for then- labor. Cliina 

 produces much sugar ; but as their own con- 

 sumption is great, and as they even import 

 considerable coarse sugar from Cochin China 

 and Siam, it would seem that no considerable 

 surplus could be looked for from that quarter. 

 Cochin Cliina is m the hands of a despot, who 

 I'eaps what his people are made to plant, 

 they receiving, either in articles of food, 

 clothing or money, what His Majesty is 

 pleased to give them. Everj'thing comes 

 into his granaries for future disposal, and he 

 alone exports, in his own ships, to this port 

 and to Batavia, whatever is marketable — say 

 about 'JO, 000 j)iculs of ordinary sugar and 

 some cotlee. Siam is another of those vast 

 countries vs'here largo (quantities of sugar 

 might be grown were it not for the ctq)idity 

 of its sovereign. He of Cochin China, as 1 

 have said, obliges his people to sow. to en- 

 rich himself with the reaping, while his 

 brother of Siam encouraged the innnigration 

 of colonies of Chinese into his States, to ob- 

 tain a revenue from the rich alluvial wastes 

 which his own subjects had not energy and 

 industry to cultivate. The Cliinese paid a 

 regular lixed rent for their allotments, and 

 their j'l'odnction of sugar greatly increased. 

 But an unlooked-for jiurcbaser made his ap- 

 ])eaiance. Hiilierto the Chinese had been 

 iiee to sell their crops to the highest bidder; 

 but now the King's emissiu'ies demanded the 

 delivery »)f the sugar at a price fixed by hini- 

 selC, and which, being less than the market 

 value, leaves to his merchant majesty a hand- 



