182 SUGAR. 



6. The Worm "is another evil, which generally visits them every 

 few years. A beetle deposits its eggs in the young canes ; the 

 caterpillars of these remain in the cane, living on its medullary 

 parts, till they are ready to be metamorphosed into the chrysalis 

 state. Sometimes this evil is so great as to injure a sixth or an 

 eighth part of the field ; but, what is worse, the disease is commonly 

 general when it happens few fields escaping." 



7. The Flowering " is the last accident they reckon upon, al- 

 though it scarce deserves the name, for it rarely happens, and never 

 but to a very small proportion of some few fields. Those canes 

 that flower have very little juice left, and it is by no means so 

 sweet as that of the rest." 



In the Brazils, the fact of the slave trade being at an end must 

 influence the future produce of sugar, and attention has been 

 lately chiefly directed to coffee, cotton, and other staples. The 

 exports of that empire in 1842, were 59,000 tons ; in 1843, 54,500 ; 

 in 1844, 76,400 ; in 1845, 91,000 ; average of these four years 

 69,720. The exports in the next four years averaged 96,150 tons, 

 viz : 76,100, in 1846 ; 96,300, in 1847; 112,500, in 1848; and 

 99,700, in 1849. 



Mode of Cultivation in Brazil. The lands in Brazil are never 

 grubbed up, either for planting the sugar cane, or for any 

 other agricultural purposes. The inconveniences of this custom 

 are perceivable more particularly in high lands ; because all of 

 these that are of any value are naturally covered with thick woods. 

 The cane is planted amongst the numerous stumps of trees, by 

 which means much ground is lost, and as the sprouts from these 

 stumps almost immediately spring forth (such is the rapidity of 

 vegetation) the cleanings are rendered very laborious. These 

 shoots require to be cut down sometimes, even before the cane 

 has found its way to the surface of the ground. The lab'or like- 

 wise is great every time a piece of land is to be put under cultivation, 

 for the wood must be cut down afresh ; and although it cannot 

 have reached the same size which the original timber had attained, 

 still as several years are allowed to pass between each period at 

 which the ground is planted, the trees are generally of considerable 

 thickness. The wood is suffered to remain upon the land until 

 the leaves become dry ; then it is set on fire, and these are de- 

 stroyed with the brush wood and the smaller branches of the trees. 

 Heaps are now made of the remaining timber, which is likewise 

 burnt. This process is universally practised in preparing land for 

 the cultivation of any plant. I have often heard the method much 

 censured as being injurious in the main to the soil, though the crop 

 immediately succeeding the operation may be rendered more 

 luxuriant by it. I have observed that the canes which grew upon 

 the spots where the heaps of timber and large branches of trees 

 had been burnt, were of a darker and richer green than those 

 around them, and that they likewise over-topped them. After the 



Elant-t-anes, or those of the first year's growth, are taken from the 

 inds, the field-trash, that is the dried leaves and stems of the 



