December i, i8qi,1 THE TROPICAL A^HICtJLTUmST. 
419 
McCulloch in his Commercial Dictionary, in 1832, tells 
us that "a few years ago Eng. and was principally 
supplied with clean rice direct from Carolina ; latterly 
it has been much reduced. An improved niode of 
separating the husks, which throws out the grain clean 
and unbroken, has been lately practised in this 
country. As the grain preserves its sweetness and 
flavor Ijetter during a long voyage then when shelled, 
it is now principally imported rough from Bengal and 
the United States. No doubt the heavy duty (15s. 
per cwt.) on American cleaned rice has powerfully 
contributed to this result. "He says the consumption 
which was lately only 2,000 to 2,.500 tons annually is 
rapidly increasing," partly owing to the late reduction 
of the duty on Indian rice from 1 5s. to la. per cwt. 
It has now, however, been very generally introduced 
among the middle and to a certain extent among the 
lower classes ; there can be little doubt that its con- 
sumption will continue to increase according as the 
various qualities of this cheap and highly useful grain 
come to be known. It is likely therofore, that it will 
in the future form an article of importance in the 
trade with India. 
The experiences of the last half century show how 
these anticipations have been more than fulfilled. 
The rice imports have during that period increased 
a hundred fold: the increase still continues, and 
there is fair reason to suppose that the commercial 
enterprise, industry and mechanical ingenuity of the 
English people will, for many years to come, in spite 
of continental opposition, enable them to still farther 
develop and retain the foremost position in. the rice 
trade of the whole world.— i.oia'sidHa Planter and £!u</ar 
Manufacturer. 
■ — — — 
SUGAR IN IJNDIA. 
It may be remembered that in May last year, 
Messrs. Travera and Co., Limited, wrote to the 
Secretary of State for India on the subject of sugar 
production in this country. Reference was made 
on the point raised to the various local governments, 
and the following is the letter from the Government 
of India to the Secretary of State, covering the 
correspondence, dated " Calcutta, 24th December, 
1889, " and is as follows:— 
" The improvement of sugar production and 
manufacture in this country has been the subject 
of attention both of the authorities and of cap- 
italists since the beginning of the century, and 
various attempts have been made to establish factories, 
none of which appear to have been attended with any 
permanent success unless supplemented by the sale 
of rum and liquors. Sugar refining alone has not 
proved sufficiently profitable to maintain a factory. 
If this had been the case, there appears to be no 
reason why the industry should not have been 
largely taken up by private capitalists. 
" Some of the main difficulties against which the 
industry has to contend are believed to be these: — 
" (a) The cultivation of sugarcane is limited by 
the supply not only of water for irrigation, but also 
of manure. 
" (b ) As cultivation in India is confined to small 
farms or holdings, each cultivator who is able to 
grow the crop at all can only find manure enough 
tor a small area, generally less than half an acre, 
of sugarcane. The plots of sugarcane are therefore 
greatly scattered, even in a canal-irrigated tract. 
"(c) A central factory has accordingly to bring 
in its supplies of cane in small quantities over 
varying distances, in many cases tlie distance being 
great. 
" (d) The carriage of canes over long distance 
even in a climate like that of the Mauritius, is 
tletrimental to the juice for purposes of siigar-making. 
It is much more so in India, where the canes ripen 
at the season when the atmosphere is driest and suffer, 
therefore, the maximxim of injury. 
"ftj The Mauritius system of growing large canes 
at intervals is not adapted to the greater part of 
nidia whore, in order to prevent the ingress of dry- 
air into the fields, small canes have to be grown in 
close contact. 
" (f) The amount of cane which can be grown, 
limited as it is by the supply of water and manure, 
barely suffices for the wants of the Indian population. 
It seems to be at present as profitable to produce 
coarse sugar for their use, as highly refined sugar for 
export. There is, therefore, no sufficient inducement 
to capital to embark on the more difficult and expensive 
system. 
" A further obstacle to stigar refining in India exists 
in the high diffierential rate which the conditions of 
our excise system require to be placed upon spirits 
made on the Biiropean method, as compared with 
that levied on spirits manufactured by the indigenous 
process. The sugar refiner in India is thus placed at 
a disadvantage in respect to the iitilisation of his 
molasses in the form of spirits. 
" In view of the circumstances above noted, we are 
unable to advocate any attempt being made at the 
cost of the State to establish model factories. We 
are inclined to attach much confidence to the views 
and conclusions formed by Messrs. Thomson and 
Mylne, who have paid, for many years, practical 
attention to the subject of sugar cultivation and 
manufacture by ryots, and were the first to introduce 
the portable sugar-mills which have now spread over 
India. They advocate the gradual improvement of the 
ryots' method of manufacture rather than the introduc- 
tion of more expensive and centralising systems. The 
Provincial Departments of Agriculture have, of recent 
years, directed attention to this question, and may 
usefully be desired to continue to do so. 
"We are also willing to advocate the establishment 
of agricultural experiments in those comparatively 
limited tracts of the country (such as Eastern Bengal, 
where there is a moist climate and a more or less 
abundant supply of manure) in which the Mauritius 
methods of cultivation have prima facie prospects of 
success, and we are prepared to advise our local 
governments and administrations to give every reason- 
able support to sugar factories and refineries which may 
be established by private enterprise. " 
Messrs. Travers's reply to the correspondence is. 
dated 21st February, 1890 :— 
" We observe that while all the officials who 
have reported fully confirm our information as to. 
the great, and indeed excessive, waste in Indian sugar 
manufacture, yet that they are able in some degree 
to explain the causes of the existing state of things, 
while the opinion is general that it would not be 
wise for the Government to establish experimental 
central sugar factories. . ;, 
" It would be presumptuous on our part to offer 
any comments on a question so fully taken iip by 
the local authorities on the initiative of the Secretary 
of State. 
" It only remains for us, in coQcluding the corres- 
pondence, to acknowledge the very great courtesy 
with which our necessarily, imperfectly informed 
emarks have been received, ana the promptitude 
with which action has been taken owing to the 
recognition by the India Office and the local 
authorities of the great importance of sugar manu- 
facture to India, and the possibility of a great 
development in it. — We are, &c., 
" Pro. J. Travers and Son, Limited, 
" (Signed) J. W. Rogers. 
"P.S. — We may mention that ' German granulated' 
a small white dry crystal sugar made direct from 
the beetroot, is now being shipped from Hamburg 
to India ; so that the ryots will not have Mauritius only 
to compete with at home. We believe this sugar 
costs about 16s. per cwt. laid down in Bombay, and 
that the boimty on its export does not exceed (>d. 
to 9c?. per cwt. " — Pioneer. 
RICE CLEANING IN HONG KONG. 
The United States Consul at Hong Kong say® 
that all the rice received there is unclean, with the 
exception of that brought from China, the average of 
paddy being about 20 per cent. It is prepared for 
market at Hong Kong, with the exception of those 
shipped to Canton, which, owing to the cheapness 
of laboiu- in comparison with Houg Koiigi is cleanecl 
