238 



HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



ripe cones are then conveyed to the mill in Inin- 

 dles on the backs of mnles, or are passed down 

 to the bottom of the hill through wooden spouts. 



The hoeing of a cane-field is a most laborious 

 operation when performed, as it must be, under 

 the rays of a tropical sun. Formerly this task 

 was always effected by hand labour ; but of late 

 years, where the nature of the ground will admit 

 of the employment of a plough, that instrument 

 has been substituted, to the mutual advantage 

 of the planter and his labourers. The planting 

 of canes does not require to be renewed annually; 

 in such a case the utmost number of labourers 

 now employed on a sugar plantation would be 

 wholly inadequate to its performance. The most 

 general plan is for a certain portion of the land 

 in cultivation to be planted annually and in suc- 

 cession, the roots and stoles of the canes of the 

 former year being left through the remaining 

 parts of the plantation. From these, fresh canes, 

 which are called rattoons, spring up, and are 

 nearly as large the first year as plant canes. 

 Rattoon canes have a tendency to deteriorate, at 

 least in size, every year they are continued, for 

 which reason the progressive renewal of the 

 plants is adopted. This plan may, however, be 

 continued with very good effect for several years, 

 provided the roots are furnished every year with 

 a liberal supply of manure, that the ground about 

 them is well loosened, and that aU weeds are 

 carefully removed. In this way it is said the 

 same roots have been made to send up canes dur- 

 ing twenty years. In some few cases the planters 

 adopt a different course, and never wholly re- 

 new any individual field of canes, but content 

 themselves with supplying new cuttings in such 

 particular spots as from time to time appear to 

 be thin. 



The mode of cultivation varies in some parti- 

 culars in different countries. In India, where 

 the price paid for daily labour is exceedingly 

 small, great pains are taken in preparing the 

 ground for the reception of the plants, which are 

 carefully weeded and watered, and freed from 

 insects, at all periods of their growth, when such 

 operations are called for. Unfortunately for the 

 Indian sugar-cultivator, something more than 

 mere labour is required for the proper manufac- 

 ture of his produce — an acquaintance with che- 

 mical science, and the possession of adequate ap- 

 paratus — in both which particulars ho is lament- 

 ably deficient. The Indian agriculturist would 

 suffer martyrdom rather than be guilty of the 

 crime of innovation. The discoveries of scienti- 

 fic men are to him as though they never had 

 been made; and in conducting processes he is 

 contented with apparatus, the total cost of which 

 docs not exceed many shillings, where manu- 

 facturers of other countries think it necessary to 

 expend many hundred pounds. If their invete- 

 rate prejudices could be overcome, and the Indian 



sugar-planters were furnished ^vith adequate 

 utensils, there is every reason to believe that the 

 markets of Europe could be supplied thence with 

 sugar of a quality quite equal to that of West- 

 India manufacture, and at a considerably lower 

 cost. 



The manufacture of sugar is a somewhat com- 

 plicated process, requiring for its successful per- 

 formance not only some degree of chemical know- 

 ledge, but likewise a considerable amount of 

 practical experience. We have already quoted 

 Willoughby's description of sugar-making in 

 Spain before its introduction into the West In- 

 dies, and the following is a summary of the mo- 

 dern practice in the colonies. 



When the canes are fully ripe they are cut 

 close to the stole, and being then divided into 

 convenient lengths, are tied up in bundles, and 

 conveyed to the mill. This always consists of 

 three iron cylinders, sometimes standing perpen- 

 dicularly in a line with each other, and at othei 

 times placed horizontally, and disposed in the 

 form of a triangle, and so adjusted that the canes, 

 on being passed twice between the cylinders of 

 cither kind of mill, shall have all their juice ex- 

 pressed. This is collected in a cistern, and must 

 be immediately placed under process by heat to 

 prevent its becoming acid, an effect which has 

 sometimes commenced as early as twenty mi- 

 nutes from the time of its being expressed. A 

 certain qxiantity of lime in powder, or of lime- 

 water, is added at this time to promote the sepa- 

 ration of the feculent matters contained in the 

 juice ; and these being as far as possible removed 

 at a heat just sufficient to cause the impurities 

 to collect together on the surface, the cane-liquor 

 is then subjected to a very rapid boiling, in order 

 to evaporate the watery particles, and bring the 

 syrup to such a consistency that it will granulate 

 on cooling. The quantity of sugar obtainable 

 from a given measure of cane-juice varies accord- 

 ing to the season, the soil, the period of the year, 

 and the quality of the canes ; but it may be cal- 

 culated, that, taking one state of circumstances 

 with another in these respects, every five gallons, 

 imperial measure, of cane-juice, will yield six 

 pounds of crystallized sugar, and will be obtained 

 from about one hundred and ten weU-growTi 

 canes. 



The fuel used for thus concentrating the juice 

 is furnished by the cane itself, which, after the 

 expressing of that juice, is dried for the jjurpose 

 by exposure to the sun. 



When the sugar is sufficiently cooled in shal- 

 low trays, it is put into the hogsheads wherein 

 it is shipped to Europe. These casks have their 

 bottoms pierced with holes, and are placed up- 

 right over a large cistern into which the molasses 

 — which is the portion of saccharine matter that 

 will not crystallize^drains away, leaving the 

 raw sugar in the state wherein we see it in our 



