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Title: The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom - Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c.
Author: Simmonds, P. L.
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom - Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c." ***
THE COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM,
CONSIDERED IN THEIR VARIOUS USES TO MAN AND IN THEIR RELATION TO THE
ARTS AND MANUFACTURES;
FORMING A PRACTICAL TREATISE & HANDBOOK OF REFERENCE FOR THE
Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer,
ON THE CULTIVATION, PREPARATION FOR SHIPMENT, AND COMMERCIAL VALUE,
&c. OF THE VARIOUS SUBSTANCES OBTAINED FROM TREES AND PLANTS,
ENTERING INTO THE HUSBANDRY OF TROPICAL AND SUB-TROPICAL REGIONS, &c.
BY P.L. SIMMONDS,
HONORARY AND CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL AND
COMMERCIAL SOCIETIES OF JAMAICA, BRITISH GUIANA, ANTIGUA, BARBADOS,
KONIGSBERG, CAPE OF GOOD HOPE, NATAL, THE NEW YORK STATE SOCIETY, THE
NOVA SCOTIA CENTRAL BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, THE SOCIETIES FOR PROMOTING
AGRICULTURE IN PHILADELPHIA AND NEW ORLEANS; ONE OF THE EDITORS OF
"JOHNSON'S FARMER'S ENCYCLOPÆDIA;" MANY YEARS EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR OF
THE "COLONIAL MAGAZINE," &c. &c.
MDCCCLIV.
LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS.
African Steam Ship Company, 3, Mincing Lane
Archbell, J., Esq., Pietermaritzburg, Natal
Assam Company, 30, Great Winchester-street
Aubert, Honourable J.M.A., M.C., St. Lucia
Botanical Society (the Royal), Regent's Park
Burton, C.H., Esq., 133, Fenchurch-street
Boddington, Messrs. & Co., 9, St. Helen's Place
Bristol Chamber of Commerce, Bristol
Brown, Messrs. & Co., 4, Pancras Lane
Begg, Thomas, Esq., 3, Corbett Court, Gracechurch-street
Bow, J.B. De., Editor of Commercial Review, New Orleans
Breede, L. Von, Esq., Natal
Breen, H.H., Esq., St. Lucia
Barbados General Agricultural Society
British Guiana Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society
Browne, Hunter & Co., Messrs., Liverpool
Bagshaw, John, Esq., M.P., Cliff House, Harwich
Berry, Richard L., Esq., Chagford, Devonshire
Blyth, Messrs., J. & A., Steam Engine House, Limehouse
Blyth, Philip P., Esq., 23, Upper Wimpole Street
Brown, Messrs. Robert & Co., 25, Lawrence Pountney Lane
Carmichael, Sir James, Bart., Sussex Gardens
Christopher, J.S., Esq., 26, Coleman-street
Challis, Alderman, 32, Wilson Street, Finsbury
Childs, R.W., Esq., 26, Coleman Street
Cape of Good Hope Agricultural Society
Campbell, C.T., Graham's Town, Cape of Good Hope (3 copies)
Central Board of Agriculture, Halifax, Nova Scotia (5 copies)
Crum, H.E., Esq., (Messrs. J. Ewing & Co's.,) Glasgow
Clegg, T., Esq., Manchester
Carleton, Percival A., Esq., Stipendiary Magistrate, Bahamas
Davis, Messrs. T.E. & W.W., manufacturers, 159 and 160, Whitechapel Road
Dinneford, Messrs. & Co, 172, New Bond-street
Denoon, Messrs. D. & Co., 6, Adam's Court, Old Broad-st.
Decasseres, Phineas, Esq., Falmouth, Jamaica
Dod, Francis, Esq., Savanna le Mar, Jamaica
Duke, Sir James, M.P., Portland Place
Dunbar, Messrs. D., & Sons, 95, Fore-street, Limehouse
Dennistoun, Messrs. J. & A., Glasgow
Drysdale, Hon. J.V., Colonial Secretary, St. Lucia
Drumm, Mr. W., Chemist, Barbados (12 copies)
Ede, Francis, Esq., Great Winchester-street
Ede, Limbrey, Esq., merchant, Winchester-street
Edmonds, E., junr., Esq., Bilcomb Brook, Bradford, Wilts
Evett, Thomas, Esq., Trelawney, Jamaica
Forbes, Dr., F.R.S., Burlington-street
Fielden, J. Leyland, Esq., Feniscowles, Blackburn
Fox, Mr. C., Paternoster Row
Foster, T.C., Esq., Natal
Framgee, Neeswanjee & Co., Bombay
Forman, Mr. R.B., 14, Mincing Lane
Franks & Co., Messrs., 36, Fenchurch-street
Grey, The Right Honourable Earl
Grassett, Elliot, Esq., 6, Chesham-street, Belgrave Square
Gray, Messrs. B.C.T. & Co., Great St. Helen's
Gray & Co., Messrs., Commercial Chambers, Mincing Lane
Glasgow, Messrs. Alexander & Co., Glasgow
Glasgow Chamber of Commerce and Manufactures
Harker, George, Esq., 102 and 103, Upper Thames-street
Henry, J.G., Esq., Bicknollon House, Williton, Somerset
Holloway, Thomas, Esq., 244, Strand
Hanbury, Daniel, Esq, 2, Plough Court
Howard, Messrs. James & Frederick, Bedford
Haywood, James, Esq., Birmingham
Henley, The Right Honourable J.W., M.P.
Humphreys, E.R., L.L.D., Cheltenham School
Haynes, Robert, Esq., Thimbleby Lodge, Northallerton
Howson, Rev. J.S., M.A., Principal of Liverpool Collegiate School
Howard, W.M., Esq., Barbados
Hitchins, Richard, Esq., Kingston, Jamaica
Hamilton, William, Esq., 29, St. Vincent Place, Glasgow
Hodge, Honorable Langford L., Antigua
Ifill, Benjamin, Esq., 86, Gloucester Terrace, Hyde Park Gardens
Innes, J., Esq., Moorgate-street
Isle of Thanet Agricultural Association, Ramsgate
Jamaica Association, 1, New Square, Lincoln's Inn
Jamaica Royal Agricultural Society
Jennings, J.H., Esq., Stipendiary Magistrate, St. Lucia
Jung & Burgtheel, Messrs., 2, Winchester Buildings
Johnson, C.W., Esq., F.R.S., Croydon
Keane, Charles C., Esq., Bermuda
Keating, Thomas, Esq., St. Paul's Churchyard
Keeling & Hunt, Messrs., Monument Yard
Laird, J.M., Esq., African Steam Ship Co., Mincing Lane
Laurie, W.C., Esq. 6, Great Winchester-street
Lane, Crawford & Co., Messrs., Hong Kong (12 copies)
Lee, D. McPhee, Esq., Bermuda
Livesay, Drs., R.N., 35, Nelson Square
Lloyd, B.S., Esq., Birchin Lane
Liverpool, Library of Collegiate Institution
Lawton, Isaac, Esq., Kingston, Jamaica (2 copies)
Lyons, George, Esq., Falmouth, Jamaica (2 copies)
Lawrence & Co., Messrs., Madras (3 copies)
Losack, F.C., Esq., Trelawney, Jamaica
Lord Mayor, The Right Honourable, Mansion House
Molesworth, The Right Honourable Sir William, Bart., M.P., Eaton Square
McCulloch, J.R., Esq., Her Majesty's Stationery Office
Morewood, Edward Esq., Compensation, Natal
Morewood, J.J., Esq., 1, Winchester Buildings
Martin, R. Montgomery, Esq., 21, Victoria Road, Kensington
McHenry, George, M.D., 12, Danzie Street, Liverpool
Masterman, John, Esq., M.P., Nicholas Lane, City
Mayers, J.P. Esq., Staplegrove, Barbados
Mouat, Richard, Esq., R.N., H.M. Dockyard, Port Royal, Jamaica
McHugh, R.G., Esq., St. Lucia
Marryatt, Charles, Esq., Laurence Pountney Lane
Mason, J.P. and Co., 18, Mincing Lane
Mosely, Mr. E.N., Nassau, Bahamas.
Michelli, Mr. F., Gould Square
Nesbit, J.C. Esq., F.G.S., Scientific School, Kennington Lane
Newdegate, C.N., Esq., M.P., Blackheath
Natal Agricultural and Horticultural Society
Newcastle, his Grace the Duke of, (2 copies)
New York State Agricultural Society, Albany
Noble, Messrs. G. & J.A., 11, George Yard, Lombard Street,
Pakington, Right Hon. Sir John S., M.P.
Poole, David, Esq., Analytical Chemist, 18, Jubilee Street, Mile End Road.
Poole, Braithwaite, Esq., London and North Western Railway, Liverpool.
Pitts and Gavin, Messrs., Kandy, Ceylon.
Porteous, The Honorable James, Jamaica.
Prescott, George W., Esq., 62, Threadneedle Street
Rowland, Messrs. Alex. and Sons, 20, Hatton Garden (3 copies)
Ransomes and Sims, Messrs., Implement Makers, Ipswich (2 copies)
Rolph, Thomas, Esq., M.D., Portsmouth.
Richardson, Robert, Esq., 3, Jermyn Street, St. James's
Richardson, Mr. J.M., Cornhill
Rowe, Sir Joshua, Chief Justice of Jamaica
Roberts, Charles, Esq., 38, Mincing Lane
Russell, Graham, Esq., 63, Miller Street, Glasgow
Rothschild, Baron, Lionel De, M.P., New Court, Swithin's Lane
Sampson, M.B., Esq., City Editor of the _Times_, Lombard Street
Saunders, Trelawney W., Esq., F.R.G.S., 6, Charing Cross
Staunton, Sir George Thomas, Bart., M.P., F.B.S., Hants
Strousberg, B.H., Esq., F.R.G.S., Editor of "The Merchant's Magazine."
Straube, Dr., 36, Moorgate Street
Stewart, Charles, Esq., 4, Adam's Court, Old Bond-street (2 copies)
Schomburgk, Sir R.H., British Consul, St. Domingo
Sewell, William, Esq., St. James's, Jamaica
Stephenson, R. Macdonald, Esq., East India Railway, Calcutta
Simmonds, Richard, Esq., R.N., Admiralty, Somerset House
Simmonds, J.G., Esq., R.N., H.M.S. _Crane_, West Coast of Africa
Simeon, Hardy and Sons, Messrs., Cork
Samuelson, B., Esq., Britannia Iron Works, Banbury
Stanford, Mr., 6, Charing Cross
Trade, The Honorable the Board of
Tennent, Sir J. Emerson, M.P.
Travers, Messrs., and Co., 19, St. Swithin's Lane
Thibou, James B., Esq., Antigua
Tollemache, Honorable F., Hillmagham Hall, Ipswich
Thornton, Edward, Esq., Statistical Department, East India House
Weeding, Thomas, Esq., 6, Great Winchester Street (2 copies)
Weguelin, T.M., Esq., 7, Austin Friars
Wyld, James, Esq, Great Globe, Leicester Square
Westgarth, Ross and Co., Messrs., Melbourne, Port Philip
Wortley, S.S., Esq., Cumberland Pen, Spanish Town, Jamaica
Wray, Leonard, Esq., Natal
Wells, Charles, Esq., Grenada
Woodifield, R.D., Esq., Custom House
Woods, R.C., Esq., Straits Times, Singapore (20 copies)
Wilson, Mr. Effingham, Royal Exchange Buildings (2 copies)
Yeatman, Rev. H.F., L.L.B., Stockhouse, near Sherborne
Young, Bryan, T., Esq., Barbados
WORKS CONSULTED.
SIMMONDS'S COLONIAL MAGAZINE, 15 vols.
PORTER'S TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST.
PAXTON'S BOTANICAL DICTIONARY.
LAWSON'S MERCHANT'S MAGAZINE, 2 vols.
PROFESSOR ROYLE, on the Productive Resources of India.
CRAWFORD'S HISTORY OF THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO, 3 vols.
LOGAN'S JOURNAL OF THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO, 3 vols.
REPORTS AND DOCUMENTS CONNECTED WITH THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE EAST INDIA
COMPANY, in regard to the Cultivation and Manufacture of Cotton, Wool,
Raw Silk, and Indigo in India.
JOURNAL OF THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
MILBURN'S ORIENTAL COMMERCE.
URE'S DICTIONARY OF ARTS AND MANUFACTURES, AND SUPPLEMENTS.
CHASE'S HISTORY OF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.
PROFESSOR BALFOUR'S MANUAL OF BOTANY.
DUPON'S TRAVELS IN SOUTH AMERICA, 2 vols.
COUNT DANDOLO on the art of Rearing Silk Worms.
JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS OF THE NEW YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, 7
vols.
PRIDHAM'S HISTORY OF CEYLON AND ITS DEPENDENCIES, 2 vols.
PRIDHAM'S HISTORY OF THE MAURITIUS.
TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF JAMAICA, 5 vols.
THE BARBADOS AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY'S REPORTER, 2 vols.
LOW'S DISSERTATION ON THE AGRICULTURE OF THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.
M'CULLOCH'S COMMERCIAL DICTIONARY, last Edition and Supplements.
HUNT'S NEW YORK MERCHANT'S MAGAZINE, 27 vols.
DE BOW'S COMMERCIAL REVIEW, New Orleans, 6 vols.
RENNY'S HISTORY OF JAMAICA.
SCHOMBURGK'S HISTORY OF BARBADOS.
BREEN'S HISTORY OF ST. LUCIA.
CAPTAIN BEEVER'S AFRICAN MEMORANDA.
PERREIRA'S ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MEDICA.
SPRY'S PLANTS, &c., required for India.
HOOPER'S MEDICAL DICTIONARY.
PERLEY'S REPORTS ON THE FOREST TREES AND FISHERIES OF NEW BRUNSWICK.
ESSAYS ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE TEA PLANT IN THE UNITED STATES, by
Junius Smith, L.L.D.
THE MAHOGANY TREE, its Range, &c.
THE STATES OF CENTRAL AMERICA, by John Bailey, R.M.
THE INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES OF NOVA SCOTIA, by A Gesner.
REPORTS ON THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF H.M.'s COLONIAL POSSESSIONS,
for the years 1849-50.
POOLE'S STATISTICS OF COMMERCE.
PATENT OFFICE REPORTS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1849-50.
DE BOW'S INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES OF THE SOUTHERN AND WESTERN STATES OF
AMERICA, 4 vols.
OFFICIAL AND DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF THE GREAT EXHIBITION; Part
1.--RAW MATERIALS.
DR. O'SHAUGHNESSY'S BENGAL DISPENSATORY.
ARCHER'S ECONOMIC BOTANY.
A FEW WORDS ON THE TEA DUTIES, by J. Ingram Travers.
OBSERVATIONS ON THE VEGETABLE PRODUCTS OF CEYLON.
GENERAL STATISTICS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, by James McQueen.
A HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM, by W. Rhind.
THE STATISTICAL COMPANION, by Banfield and Weld.
FORTUNE'S TRAVELS IN CHINA.
BALL ON TEA CULTURE.
PROFESSOR ROYLE ON COTTON.
LECTURES ON THE RESULTS OF THE GREAT EXHIBITION, delivered before the
Society of Arts, 2 vols.
JOHNSON'S FARMER'S ENCYCLOPÆDIA.
A DISSERTATION UPON TEA, by Thomas Short, M.D.; 1753.
PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS ON TRADE AND NAVIGATION.
THE HONG KONG ALMANAC AND DIRECTORY.
JAMAICA ALMANACS, &c.
KEEFER'S PRIZE ESSAY ON THE CANALS OF CANADA, 1850.
COLMAN'S CONTINENTAL AGRICULTURE, 1848.
CUBA IN 1851, by Alexander Jones.
MARTIN, on China.
CEYLON ALMANACS.
EARL'S ENTERPRISE IN TROPICAL AUSTRALIA.
CUNNINGHAM'S HINTS FOR AUSTRALIAN EMIGRANTS.
DR. TURNBULL'S CUBA, with Notes of Porto Rico.
LT. MOODIE'S TEN YEARS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 2 vols.
FARMER'S MAGAZINE, 20 vols.
ROBERTSON'S LETTERS ON SOUTH AMERICA, 3 vols.
STEVENSON'S TWENTY YEARS RESIDENCE IN SOUTH AMERICA, 3 vols.
JOURNALS OF THE STATISTICAL SOCIETIES OF LONDON AND PARIS.
PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL, 10 vols.
THE LEADING AGRICULTURAL PERIODICALS OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE
COLONIES.
BALANZA GENERAL DE COMERCIO OF CUBA.
KNIGHT'S CYCLOPÆDIA OF THE INDUSTRY OF ALL NATIONS.
PREFACE.
The objects and purposes of the following Work are fully set forth in
the introductory chapter; but I may be permitted to remark here, that
its compilation and arrangement have occupied a very large share of my
time and attention, and I can therefore assert with confidence, that
it will be found the most full and complete book of the kind that has
ever yet appeared. It is not a mere condensation from Encyclopædias,
Commercial Dictionaries, and Parliamentary and Consular Reports; but
is the fruit of my own Colonial experience as a practical planter and
of much laborious research and studious investigation into a class of
ephemeral but useful publications, which seldom meet with any extended
or enduring circulation--assisted, moreover, by the contributions and
suggestions of many of the most eminent agricultural chemists,
planters, and merchants of our Colonial Possessions and Foreign
Countries.
Few are aware of the great labor and research required for digesting
and arranging conflicting accounts--for consulting the numerous
detached papers and foreign works treating of the subjects embraced in
this volume, and for referring to the home and colonial trade
circulars, Legislative papers, and scientific periodicals of different
countries. The harassing duties appertaining to the position of City
editor of a daily paper, coupled with numerous other literary
engagements, have afforded me insufficient time to do full justice to
the work while passing through the press; and several literal
typographical errors in the botanical names have, I find, escaped my
attention in the revision of the sheets. I have, however, thought it
scarcely necessary to make a list of errata for these. From want of
leisure, to reduce all the weights and measures named in the body of
the work into English, I have given their relative value in the Index.
I have taken considerable pains to make the Index most full and
complete, for it has always appeared to me, that in works embracing a
great variety of subjects, facility of reference is of paramount
importance.
Some discrepancy may here and there be found between the figures
quoted from Parliamentary returns and those derived from private trade
circulars; but the statistics are accurate enough for approximate
calculations.
Whilst the work has been passing through the press, several important
modifications and alterations have been made in our Tariff.
I have throughout found great difficulty in obtaining commercial
information from the various Colonial brokers and importers of the
City, who, with but few exceptions, have been stupidly jealous of any
publicity respecting the staples in the sale of which they were
specially interested. The greatest fear was expressed lest any details
as to the sources of supply, stocks on hand, and cost prices of many
of the minor articles, should transpire. After the results of the
Great Exhibition, the exertions making to establish Trade Museums, and
the prospect of information to be furnished at the new Crystal Palace,
this narrow-minded and selfish feeling seems singularly misplaced.
I had not originally contemplated touching upon the grain crops and
food plants of temperate regions; but the prospect of a failure in our
harvest, the disturbed state of political affairs on the Continent,
with short supplies from Russia and the Danubian provinces, and the
absence of any reliable statistics and information for convenient
reference on this all-important subject, added to the recommendations
of one or two well-informed correspondents, induced me to go more into
detail on the Food-plants and Breadstuffs than I had at first
intended, and to treat very fully upon Wheat, Barley, Potatoes, and
other subsidiary food crops. This has trenched somewhat largely on my
space; and although the volume has been swelled to an unexpected size,
I am reluctantly compelled to omit some few Sections, such as those
treating of elastic and other Gums, Resins, &c.; on tropical Fruits;
and on textile substances and products available for cordage and
clothing. The latter section, which includes Cotton, Flax, Jute, &c.,
and embraces a wide and important range of plants, I propose issuing
in a separate volume at an early date, with a large fund of
statistical and general information.
Among those gentlemen to whom I acknowledge myself most indebted for
valuable suggestions or important information, are my friends Sir R.H.
Schomburgk, British Consul at St. Domingo, and Mr. R. Montgomery
Martin, the well-known Statist and Colonial Historian; Mr. R.D.
Wodifield, Deputy Inspector of Imports at the port of London; Mr.
Leonard Wray, of Natal, author of "The Practical Sugar Planter;" Dr.
W. Hamilton, of Plymouth, a talented and frequent contributor to the
scientific periodicals of the day; Mr. T.C. Archer, of Liverpool,
author of "Economic Botany;" Mr. Greene, of the firm of Blyth,
Brothers, and Greene; Mr. J.S. Christopher, author of several works on
the Cape Colony, and Natal; Mr. B.H. Strousberg, editor of "The
Merchant's Magazine," and Mr. G.W. Johnson, the eminent agricultural
writer, author of various elaborate "Essays on the Agriculture of
Hindostan," which were written for my "Colonial Magazine."
P.L. SIMMONDS.
5, BARGE YARD, BUCKLERSBURY,
December, 1853.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER
Objects of the work.
Prof. Solly on the demand for a practical book on raw
materials.
Objects of the Society of Arts and Great Exhibition.
Necessity for an attention to the culture of the minor
staples of the soil.
New objects of industry worthy the attention of
Science.
Principal part of our homeward commerce composed of raw
materials from the Vegetable Kingdom.
Mutual dependence of countries on Commerce for the
supply of their wants.
System of arrangement of subjects adopted by the
author.
Many articles of commerce omitted for want of space.
Those of tropical and sub-tropical regions chiefly
discussed.
Hints for the cultivator. Division of zones, and
countries lying within each, with their range of
temperature.
Table of climate; duration and production of the
principal cultivated plants.
SECTION I.--DRIED LEAVES, SEEDS, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES USED IN
THE PREPARATION OF POPULAR DIETETIC BEVERAGES
_Cacao_ or _Cocoa_.
Varieties and description of the tree.
Mode of cultivation in the Colombian Republics.
Enemies of the tree.
Expenses of a plantation in Jamaica.
Cultivation in Trinidad and St. Lucia.
Statistics and consumption.
_Coffee_.
Home consumption and revenue of coffee.
Chicory largely substituted for; history of the fiscal
changes.
Continental demand.
Present produce and consumption in various countries.
Cultivation in Mocha.
Cultivation in India; in Ceylon.
Exports from that island.
Manures suitable for the tree.
Peeling, pulping, and winnowing.
Improved machinery.
New use for coffee leaves.
Culture in Java.
Production of America and the West Indies; Venezuela.
Statistics of the Brazils.
Shipments of various countries to the United States.
Comparative consumption by different nations.
Cultivation in Jamaica; Trinidad; British Guiana; Cuba;
decline of production in this island.
Statistics of exports.
Preparation of coffee leaves for infusion according to
Dr. Gardner's patent.
Dr. Hooker's opinion thereon.
_Tea_.
Immense consumption of.
Liebig's analysis of.
Varieties of the plant.
Imports of tea for a series of years.
Alterations in the duties.
Statistics of import and consumption, revenue and
prices.
Value and extent of the tea exported from China; first
cost at the ports; enormous prices paid for superior
teas.
Total outlay for tea.
Consumption of tea in China.
Export to various countries.
Total production.
Consumption per head in England; not properly within
the reach of the poorer classes.
China could furnish any quantity.
Mr. Travers on the tea duties.
Brick tea of Thibet.
Tea annually imported into the United States;
proportion of green to black.
Range of the plant.
Countries in which its culture has been attempted.
Its progress in America.
The Assam Company and its plantations.
Extension of tea culture by the East India Co.
Mr. Fortune's travels in the tea districts of China.
Instructions and details as to soil, management and
manufacture, by Dr. Jameson and Mr. Fortune.
Dr. Campbell's notes.
Mr. A. Macfarlane's Report.
The East India tea plantations in the North-West
Provinces.
Experimental cultivation of the tea plant in Brazil; M.
Geullemin's report thereon.
Paraguay Tea: Mr. Robertson's description of the
collection and manufacture.
_Sugar_.
Plants from which it is usually obtained.
The sugar cane; its range of cultivation.
Production in our colonies.
Consumption in the last ten years.
Improvements in sugar machinery and manufacture.
Quantity of cane sugar annually produced and sent into
the markets.
Local consumption in India.
Present European supply; demand according to the
consumption in England.
Estimated annual production throughout the world.
Consumption in the principal European countries.
Average annual consumption in the United Kingdom.
Comparative amount of beet-root and cane sugar produced
in the last four years. _Gazette_ prices of sugar
in the last ten years.
Production of sugar in the United States.
Production in Cuba.
Production in the British West Indies.
Production in Mauritius.
Statistics of imports from the Mauritius.
Production in the British East Indies.
Production in Java.
Production in the Philippines.
Chemical distinction between cane and grape sugar.
Varieties of the sugar cane cultivated.
Possibility of raising the cane from seed.
Analysis of the cane, and of a sugar soil.
Chemical examination of cane juice.
Vacuum pans.
Boiling and tempering.
Composition of cane juice.
Ramos's prepared plantain juice.
Professor Fownes on the manufacture of sugar.
Expression of cane juice.
Construction of the sugar mill.
Quantity of juice obtained by each kind of mill.
Position of rollers.
Mode of culture and varieties in the East Indies.
Soils considered best adapted for its luxuriant growth.
Manures.
Sets and planting.
Aftergrowth.
Harvesting.
Injuries, from seasons, storms, insects, &c.
Mode of cultivation in the Brazils; in Natal; expenses.
Comparison between the cost of production in Mauritius
and Natal.
Comparative cost in free and slave countries.
Beet-root sugar: variety cultivated; mode of expression
and manufacture; yield of sugar; estimated profit;
extensive production in France; production in the
German States.
Statistics of the Prussian Provinces of Saxony; Russia,
Belgium and Austria.
A Visitor's account of the French manufactories.
Mr. Colman's opinion.
Proportion of sugar in the beet.
Maple Sugar: description of the tree; its production
limited to America; extent of the manufacture in Canada
and the United States; processes employed; statistics
of production.
Maize Sugar.
SECTION II.--THE GRAIN CROPS, EDIBLE ROOTS AND FARINACEOUS
PLANTS, FORMING THE BREADSTUFFS OF COMMERCE
Statistics of _Wheat Culture_.
Exports of flour from the United States.
Adaptation of the soil and climate of the United States
to the culture of the cereals.
Export of sophisticated (damaged) flour. Kiln drying of
bread stuffs and exclusion of air. Value of the "whole
meal" of wheat as compared with that of the fine flour.
Nutritious properties of various articles of food.
Composition of wheat and wheat-flour, and the modes of
determining their nutritive value.
Rotation of crops in connexion with wheat culture.
Production and consumption of the United Kingdom.
Statistics of other countries.
Barley, Oats, Rye, Buckwheat, Maize: Indian corn and
meal imported.
Crop and exports of United States.
System of culture.
Rice: Statistics of production and culture in Carolina.
The Bhull rice lands of Lower Scinde.
Rice in Kashmir; exports from Arracan.
Millet.
Broom Corn.
Chenopodium Quinoa.
Fundi or Fundungi.
Pulse.
The Sago Palms.
Manufacture and extent of the trade in Singapore.
The bread-fruit tree.
Kafir bread.
The PLANTAIN and BANANA; various products of these
palms.
STARCH-PRODUCING PLANTS investigated.
Characters of starch from different plants.
Tenacity and clearness of jellies; per centage of
starch yielded, and produce of plant per acre; their
meal as articles of export.
Indian Corn starch.
Rice starch.
ARROWROOT: East and West India, culture and statistics
of.
ROOT CROPS: Potatoes, Yams, Cocos, or Eddoes, Sweet
Potatoes, Cassava or Manioc.
NEW TUBEROUS PLANTS recommended as substitutes for the
potato.
MISCELLANEOUS FOOD PLANTS.
LICHENS and MOSSES.
FERNS.
SECTION III.--SPICES, AROMATIC CONDIMENTS, AND FRAGRANT WOODS.
CINNAMON.
Limited range of the culture in Ceylon.
Analysis of the soil most favorable to the tree.
Peeling.
Various kinds of bark; commercial classification,
distinguishing properties of good cinnamon; suitability
of the Straits Settlement for cinnamon plantations; oil
of cinnamon; statistics and exports from Ceylon, and
prices realised; reduction of the duty; extent of land
under cultivation with the tree; progress of the
culture in Java; exports thence to Holland.
CASSIA BARK: species from whence derived; imports,
consumption and prices.
Cassia Buds.
Cassia Oil.
CANELLA ALBA.
CASCARILLA BARK.
CLOVES: description and varieties of the tree.
Produce in Java.
Introduction into the West Indies.
Progress of the culture in Pinang and Singapore.
The Clove plantations of Zanzibar. Imports and
consumption of the United Kingdom.
The NUTMEG: Botanical description.
Dr. Oxley's account of the cultivation and management
of a plantation; enemies of the tree.
Produce and returns.
Preparation of the nuts for market.
Statistics of culture in the Straits Settlements.
Memorandum on the duties on nutmegs.
Exports of nutmegs from Singapore and Java.
Imports into the United Kingdom, and consumption of
wild and cultivated nutmegs and mace.
GINGER: description and consumption of.
Commercial distinction between black and white ginger.
East and West India ginger, directions for cultivation.
Shipments from Jamaica.
Comparison between the imports from the East and from
the West.
Total annual imports and consumption.
GALANGALE ROOT.
CARDAMOMS; plants from which derived.
Grains of Paradise.
Meleguetta, or Guinea pepper. PEPPER: description of
the vine; range of the plant.
Production of the World.
The culture declining in Java.
Extent of the production in Singapore.
Exports from Ceylon.
Its introduction into the Mauritius.
Shipments from Singapore.
Imports and consumption of the United Kingdom.
CHILLIES AND CAYENNE PEPPER: varieties of Capsicum.
PIMENTO: description of the tree; production of the
spice limited to Jamaica.
Imports and consumption.
VANILLA: description of the plant.
Its collection and preparation for the market.
Commercial varieties.
Tonquin beans.
TURMERIC: sources of supply.
Commercial uses.
Value of the Curry stuffs of the East.
Imports and consumption.
GINSENG: description of--demand for in China, exports
from America, and commercial value.
Canary, Coriander, mustard and anise seeds.
PUTCHUX, or COSTUS.
LIGNUM ALOES, and fragrant woods.
SECTION IV.--DYES AND COLORING STUFFS AND TANNING SUBSTANCES
Importance and value of these substances to our
manufacturing interests.
New specimens and materials recently produced.
Miscellaneous notices of useful plants.
Lana Dye.
Prices of Dyewoods.
Red SANDERS WOOD.
FUSTIC.
SAPPAN WOOD, Camwood and Barwood.
Imports of Dyewoods.
ARNATTO.
Commercial kinds.
Cultivation and manufacture.
Imports, consumption and prices.
CHAY-ROOT.
Wood Dyes.
Mangrove Bark.
SUMACH.
Statistics of imports and prices.
SAFFLOWER.
Gamboge.
Common native dyes.
INDIGO; plants which produce it.
Commercial sources of supply.
Cultivation in Central America, in Jamaica and the West
Indies; once an important crop in the United States.
The indigo plant a common weed in many parts of Africa.
Cultivation in India.
Classification of the dye-stuff.
Localities best suited to its production.
Process of Manufacture.
Annual production in the East Indies; adaptation of
Ceylon.
Extent of the culture in Java; annual exports
therefrom; imports and consumption.
MADDER: extent of the demand for. Enormous profit of
the cultivation; system of harvesting and manufacture.
Large supplies received from France.
MUNJEET, or Indian madder, deserving of more
consideration.
LOGWOOD, FUSTIC, Quercitron.
Brazil Wood.
LICHENS FOR DYEING.
Henna.
ORCHILLA WEED.
Chemical examination of the coloring principles of the
Lichens.
BARKS FOR TANNING: cursory notice of a variety of
suitable barks.
Proportions of tannin yielded by different barks.
CATECHU: definition of, and whence derived.
GAMBIER PLANT: cultivation in Singapore; returns from a
plantation.
Different qualities of extract and mode of obtaining
it.
Places of manufacture; average produce.
Terra Japonica, a misnomer. Cutch, another name for
Catechu.
Statistics of imports and consumption; the amount and
value of Gambier from Singapore.
DIVI-DIVI: description of.
CORK TREE BARK.
MIMOSA BARK.
Valuable native barks of New Zealand.
Mangrove bark.
MYROBALANS.
Kino: definition of; sources from whence obtained.
VALONIA: statistics of, consumption and prices.
SECTION V.--OLEAGINOUS PLANTS AND THOSE YIELDING FIXED OR
ESSENTIAL OILS
General Remarks.
Extensive demand for Oils.
Proportion of oil furnished by various seeds.
Richness of Indian seeds in oil.
RAPE OIL.
Domba Oil.
The EARTH or GROUND NUT, its extensive cultivation for
food and oil.
Tea oil.
Tobacco seed oil.
Poppy oil.
Tallicoonah oil.
Carap oil.
Macaw oil. _Madia sativa_.
Cocum oil.
Candle Tree.
Cinnamon Suet.
Croton oil.
Oil of Ben.
PALM OIL: progress of the African trade.
Imports into Liverpool.
Quantity retained for home consumption.
Statistics of; imports of the four principal vegetable
oils.
OLIVE OIL: description of the tree and its varieties;
its cultivation attempted in the United States.
Preservation of the fruit.
Expression of the oil.
Range of prices.
Frequently adulterated with cheaper oils.
Annual imports and consumption.
ALMOND OIL.
SESAME, or TEEL Oil.
Various species cultivated in the East.
Large exports of the seed from India; native oil mills;
processes of expression and manufacture.
Sunflower oil.
Margose, or Neem oil.
Illepe oil.
Vegetable butter. Candle nut tree.
Colza oil.
VEGETABLE WAX.
The Candleberry myrtle.
The CASTOR OIL PLANT: manufacture of the oil in the
East and West Indies.
Extent of the imports annually.
The oil-cake for manure.
Kanari oil.
The COCO-NUT PALM: description of the tree; its various
and important uses.
Varieties of this palm met with.
Wide range of the plant.
Directions for its culture; profits derived from
plantations; great attention paid to them in Ceylon.
Commercial value of its products.
Statistics of culture in Pinang.
Natural enemies of the tree.
Copperah and Poonac.
Statistical returns connected with its products in
Ceylon.
Imports and consumption of coco-nut oil.
Comparison of the consumption of the chief vegetable
oils of commerce.
The value and uses of oil-cake for cattle-feeding.
VOLATILE, OR ESSENTIAL OILS: description of the most
important.
Oil of peppermint.
Process of obtaining the perfumed oils.
Cultivation of Roses in the East and preparation of
Attar. Lemon-grass oil.
Citronella oil.
Patchouly.
SAPONACEOUS PLANTS.
SECTION VI.--DRUGS, INCLUDING NARCOTICS AND OTHER MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES
The COCA PLANT. _Cocculus Indicus_.
BETEL LEAF.
The ARECA PALM; extensive use of the nuts in the East
as a masticatory.
Narcotic properties.
Catechu, or Cutch; its astringent properties.
Davy's analysis.
Value of the Areca nuts exported from Ceylon.
The POPPY: increasing consumption of Opium in this
country.
Production of the Drug in India.
Large revenue derived therefrom.
Variety of the poppy grown; system of culture pursued.
Various modes of consuming opium.
Its preparation and manufacture described.
Commercial varieties met with.
Requisites for the successful culture of the poppy for
opium.
The TOBACCO PLANT; species cultivated.
London's classification.
Analyses of various samples of tobacco; Statistics of
the culture in Brazil; extent of the consumption;
considerations of revenue; memorial of Liverpool
Chamber of Commerce.
Comparative consumption of tea, coffee and tobacco, per
head.
Imports and duty received on tobacco in the last five
years.
Consumption checked in England and France by the high
duties.
Imports, sales, and stocks, in Bremen for 10 years.
Culture and statistics in the United States.
Quantity exported from 1821 to 1850.
Countries from whence we received our supplies in 1850.
Particulars of the tobacco trade in 1850 and 1853.
Mode of culture pursued in Virginia.
General instructions for the planter.
Information as to growing Cuba tobacco.
History of the trade and cultivation in Cuba.
Statistics of exports from the Havana.
Culture of tobacco in the East.
Analysis of tobacco soils.
Progress of cultivation and shipments in Ceylon.
Manila tobacco and cigars.
Production in the Islands of the Archipelago.
Suggestions and directions for tobacco culture in New
South Wales.
Its value and extensive use as a sheep wash.
Excellence of the product and manufacture in New South
Wales; culture of tobacco in South Australia.
MISCELLANEOUS DRUGS.
Poisons.
ALOES: varieties of the plant; culture and manufacture
in Socotra, Barbados, and the Cape Colony.
ASAFOETIDA.
CAMPHOR.
CINCHONA BARK: commercial varieties of CALUMBA ROOT.
COLOCYNTH.
CUBEBS.
GAMBOGE.
GENTIAN.
IPECACUAN.
INTRODUCTORY.
The want of a practical work treating of the cultivation and
manufacture of the chief Agricultural Productions of the Tropics and
Foreign Countries, has long been felt, for not even separate essays
are to be met with on very many of the important subjects treated of
in this volume.
The requirements of several friends proceeding to settle in the
Colonies, and wishing to devote themselves to Cotton culture, Coffee
planting, the raising of Tobacco, Indigo, and other agricultural
staples, first called my attention to the consideration of this
fertile and extensive field of investigation.
Professor Solly, in one of the series of Lectures on the results of
the Great Exhibition, delivered before the Society of Arts, early last
year, made some practical remarks bearing on the subject:--
"If (he said) you were to place before any manufacturer specimens of
all the substances which could be employed in his particular
manufacture, and if you could tell him from whence each could be
procured, its cost, the quantities in which he might obtain it, and
its physical and chemical properties, he would soon be able to
select for himself the one best suited for his purposes. This,
however, has never happened in relation to any one art; in every
case manufacturers have had to make the best of the materials which
chance or accident has brought before them. It is strange and
startling, but nevertheless perfectly true, that even at the present
time there are many excellent and abundant productions of nature
with which not only our manufacturers, but, in some instances, even
our men of science, are wholly unacquainted. _There is not a single
book published which gives even tolerably complete information on
any one of the different classes of vegetable raw produce at present
under our consideration_. The truth of these remarks will be felt
strongly by any one who takes the trouble to examine any of these
great divisions of raw materials. He will obtain tolerably complete
information respecting most of those substances which are known in
trade and commerce; but of the greater number of those not known to
the broker, he will learn little or nothing. Men of science, for the
most part, look down upon such knowledge. The practical uses of any
substances, the wants and difficulties of the manufacturer, are
regarded as mere trade questions, vulgar and low--simple questions
of money. On the other hand, mere men of business do not feel the
want of such knowledge, because, in the first place, they are
ignorant of its existence, and secondly, because they do not see how
it could aid them or their business; and if it should happen that an
enterprising manufacturer desires to learn something of the
cultivation and production of the raw material with which he works,
he generally finds it quite impossible to obtain any really sound
and useful information. In such cases, if he is a man of energy and
of capital, he often is at the cost of sending out a perfectly
qualified person to some distant part of the globe, to learn for him
those practical details which he desires to know. This is no
uncommon thing; and many cases might be stated, showing the great
advantages which have arisen to those who have thus gained a march
upon their neighbours."
The Society of Arts, appreciating the importance of from time to time
encouraging the introduction of new and improved products from our
Indian and Colonial Possessions, has offered many gold medals as
premiums for a great variety of staples from abroad.
The Great Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations brought together
an immense variety of productions from tropical regions, of which the
English public were comparatively ignorant. Attracting public
attention, as these necessarily did, information on the best modes of
cultivating and manufacturing them will be peculiarly valuable to the
colonists, and is as eagerly sought after by many brokers, merchants
and manufacturers at home.
In consequence of the recent liberal policy of Great Britain, the
competition of foreign countries, the want of cheap and abundant
labor, and other causes, those chief staples, Sugar and Coffee, which
for a series of years formed the principal and almost exclusive
articles of production in our colonies, and which had met with a ready
and remunerative sale in the British markets, have either fallen off
to an alarming extent, or become so reduced in price as scarcely to
repay the cost of cultivation. The partial abandonment of the
cultivation of these staples in our colonies has had the effect of
crippling the agricultural and commercial enterprise of several of our
most valuable foreign possessions, and throwing out of employment a
number of persons: it behoves us, therefore, to direct attention to
some of the many minor articles in demand;--to those indigenous or
exotic products of the soil in tropical regions, which, being
inexpensive in cultivation and manufacture, might be undertaken with a
moderate outlay of labor and capital, and the certainty of a ready and
remunerative sale in the European markets; and could moreover be
attended to without neglecting or at all interfering with the
cultivation of the leading staples.
It is evident that the export wealth of tropical regions must be
chiefly agricultural, the soil and climate being peculiarly fitted for
the culture of fruits, trees and plants yielding oils, gums, starch,
spices, and other valuable products, which no art can raise cheaply in
more temperate latitudes. The large and continued emigration of
farmers and other enterprising persons from Britain and the Continent
to Natal, the Cape Colony, Northern Australia, Ceylon, the East India
Company's Possessions and the Straits Settlements, Brazil, New
Granada, and the Central American Republics, Texas, the Southern
States of North America, and other tropical and sub-tropical
countries, renders information as to the agriculture and productions
of those regions highly desirable. Even to the settlers in our West
Indian possessions, most of whom have too long pursued the old beaten
track of culture and manufacture, comparatively regardless of modern
improvements and the results of chemical, scientific, and practical
investigation, recent information on all these subjects, and a
comparison of the practices of different countries, cannot fail to be
useful.
There is much valuable information to be met with in detached papers
and essays in the scientific periodicals of the day, and in colonial
and other publications; such as the Transactions and Journals of the
different agricultural and horticultural societies of the East and
West Indies, the United States, Australia, &c., but none readily
accessible for easy reference, and which the new settler, proceeding
out to try his fortune in those fair and productive regions of the
globe, can turn to as a hand book. I have had much experience in
Tropical Agriculture, and for many years my attention has been mainly
directed to this important subject, for which purpose I have kept up a
large and extended correspondence with numerous agricultural,
scientific and other societies abroad; with experienced practical men,
and have also received the leading journals of all the tropical
Colonies.
No one person could be expected to be thoroughly familiar with all the
different modes of culture and preparation of every one of the
numerous products to be described in this volume; but where my own
agricultural experience (of several years in the West Indies and South
America) was at fault, I have availed myself of the practical
knowledge of those of my colonial friends and correspondents best
informed on the subject, and am particularly fortunate in having many
valuable essays on Tropical Agriculture scattered through the
different volumes of my "Colonial Magazine."
The discussion of the best modes of culture, properties, manufacture,
consumption, uses, and value of the commercial products of the
vegetable kingdom cannot be without its value, and the attention of
merchants and planters may be usefully directed to various articles,
which will be profitable both in an agricultural and commercial point
of view; many of which are already sources of wealth to other
countries.
The introduction of new objects of industry into the colonial
dependencies of the British Empire, is no longer considered a mere
subject of speculation, but one well worthy the attention of the eye
of science; and the fostering hand of care is beginning to be held out
to productions of nature and art, which, if not all equally necessary
to the welfare of man, yet certainly merit the attention of the
cultivator and capitalist, and have great claims on the scientific
observer, and on those interested in raising the manufactures of our
country to a higher standard.
Few who have not investigated this subject are aware of the immense
number of countries lying in the equatorial and tropical ranges of the
torrid zone, many of which, from the value and importance of their
indigenous productions, have already attracted considerable notice,
and to which still more attention will be directed by European nations
as the value of their various products becomes more extensively known.
The homeward commerce which we carry on with our numerous Colonies,
with our Indian Possessions, and with foreign countries, is
principally in articles furnished by the vegetable kingdom, such as
the cereal grains, wheat, rice, maize, &c.; vegetables used in
preparing dietetic drinks and distilled liquors, as tea, coffee,
cacao, and the sugar cane, grapes, &c.; spices and condiments; drugs;
dyes and tanning substances, obtained from the bark, leaves, fruit,
and roots of various herbs and trees; the expressed or distilled oils
of different plants; fruits in the green, dried, or preserved state;
starches obtained from the roots or trunks of many farinaceous plants;
fibrous substances used for cordage, matting, and clothing, as cotton,
Indian hemp, flax, coco-nut coir, plantain and pine-apple fibre;
timber and fancy woods. These substances, in the aggregate, form at
least nine-tenths in value of the whole imports of this country. There
are also several products of the animal kingdom dependent on vegetable
culture, which might be brought into this category, such as silk and
cochineal. Very few of these products of the vegetable kingdom come to
us in any other than an unmanufactured state; they are shipped to this
country as the chief emporium and factory of the world, either for
re-export or to be prepared for consumption by the millions to whom
they furnish employment, sustenance, and articles of clothing.
It is a wise ordination of Providence, that the different nations of
the earth are as it were mutually dependent on each other for many of
the necessaries and luxuries of life, and the means of progress and
civilization. Commerce is thus extended, the various arts and
manufactures improved by comparison and competition; and the acres yet
untilled in distant lands hold out strong inducements for immigration,
their climate and products affording health, freedom, and independence
to the over-tasked and heavily taxed artisan and agriculturist of
Europe. Although the systems of tropical agriculture, generally
pursued, are peculiar and effective, yet there is no doubt that much
improvement remains to be carried out in the practices adopted, in the
implements employed, and the machinery used for preparing the crops
for shipment. In the British Isles our insulated position, limited
extent of country, unsettled climate, and numerous population,
aggregated in dense masses, have compelled us to investigate and avail
ourselves of every improvement in agriculture, arts and manufactures,
which experience, ingenuity, and a comparison with the customs of
other countries, have placed at our disposal.
If we except sandy deserts, and some of the interior portions of the
polar regions, it will be found that there is scarcely any country but
what is capable of improvement. Indeed, so extensive are the resources
of agriculture, that further improvements may be most easily effected.
Let us then examine and ascertain what new objects may be improved
upon, and if by our speculations only one single article, either for
food or use, is added to those already in use, or those that are
already cultivated be improved upon, it is equivalent to an increase
of our wealth.
An eminent writer has truly remarked that "Agriculture is the parent
of Manufactures, seeing that the productions of nature are the
materials of art."
In the economy of Providence every fragment of creation seems to
unfold, as man progresses in the arts of life, unbounded capabilities
of adaptation to his every want. We have, indeed, daily illustration
of the truth of that trite and homely adage, that "nothing is made in
vain."
That quaint old English poet, Herbert, who flourished in the fifteenth
century, in a short poem on "Providence," has graphically described,
in his unique vein, the sentiment which forces itself upon us in view
of the numerous discoveries of the age in which we live:--
"All countries have enough to serve their need.
* * * * *
----The Indian nut alone
Is clothing, meat and trencher, drink and can,
Boat, cable, sail, and needle, all in one."
"The addition (it has been well observed) of even a single flower, or
an ornamental shrub, to those which we already possess, is not to be
regarded as a matter below the care of industry and science. The more
we extend our researches into the productions of nature, the more are
our minds elevated by contemplating the variety as well as the
exceeding beauty and excellence of the works of the Creator."
The mode of arrangement of the various subjects treated of involved
some consideration; two or three plans were open for adoption. 1st. To
describe the several products in the order of their agricultural
importance or commercial value. 2nd. An alphabetical reference, in the
style of a Dictionary or Encyclopædia; and 3rd. Classifying them under
subdivisions, according to their particular or chief uses. The last
seemed to me the most desirable and efficient mode, although open to
some objections, from the variety of uses to which different parts of
many plants were applied. Some, as cotton, indigo, sugar, coffee, tea,
&c., would readily fall into their proper division, but others, as the
coco-nut, plantain, &c., from the variety of their products, would
come under several heads. I have, however, endeavoured to meet this
difficulty by placing each plant or tree under the section to which
its most valuable production seemed naturally to refer it.
There are very many plants and substances which have been passed over
altogether, it being impossible, within the limits of a moderate sized
volume, to bring under notice even a tithe of the valuable grasses,
timber trees, cabinet woods, fruits, &c.; and I have confined myself
in a great measure to those which either already are, or might easily
be rendered, articles of commerce, of some importance. I have shown
their present value by quoting the current prices, and brought down,
as far as possible, the statistics of each article to the close of
last year, thus rendering the work valuable by commercial references
which could not be found collectively elsewhere.
There are some articles of commerce which could not properly be
treated of in a work intended as a guide on agriculture and husbandry,
for the tropical planter and cultivator, who purposes devoting his
attention to the raising of useful crops and plants on his estate. The
forests and jungles of the tropics abound in products of an useful
character, the luxurious and spontaneous growth of nature, such as
ebony, sandal wood, &c.; but these must be sought for by a different
class of settlers; and the mahogany cutter of Honduras, the
teak-feller of India, the gatherer of elastic gums, can scarcely be
ranked with the cultivators of the soil.
I had originally intended to confine my remarks to staples of tropical
growth, but I have been induced to depart from my prescribed plan by
the importance of some of the commercial products of temperate
regions, such as maple and beet-root sugar, wheat, the grain crops,
and potatoes.
The system of agriculture, and modes of tillage, &c., of separate
countries in the Eastern and Western hemisphere, notwithstanding their
similarity of climate, are as opposite as if each country belonged to
a different zone; and yet much may be learned by one of the other.
The only essentially useful division of seasons in countries within
the tropics is into a wet and dry season, the former being the period
of germination, the latter that of fructification.
The implements of agriculture required are for the most part few and
simple, for no high tillage is necessary, the luxuriance of vegetation
being so great that most of the products of the soil will grow
indiscriminately throughout the year, and the only care of the
husbandman, after the first preparation of the soil, is to keep down
the vast growth of weeds, which might stifle the crops.
In tropical regions there is less demand for manures than in temperate
climates, but still there are many additions to the soil that may
profitably be made.
Firstly, that most important principle, which has only recently been
practically inculcated, is in too many quarters entirely neglected,
namely, returning to the soil the component parts taken off by various
crops, and which is so generally practised in all good agricultural
districts, by a careful rotation of crops. Liebig has well pointed out
this: "It must be admitted (he says), as a principle of agriculture,
that those substances which have been removed from a soil must be
completely restored to it; and whether this restoration be effected by
means of excrements, ashes, or bones, is in a great measure a matter
of indifference." Again he remarks, "We could keep our fields in a
constant state of fertility by replacing every year as much as we
remove from them in the form of produce; but an increase of fertility,
and consequent increase of crop, can only be obtained when we add more
to them than we take away." Of all natural manures, therefore, the
best for each description of plant is its own refuse, or ashes; enough
of these can seldom, however, be obtained. But, as far as they can be
restored, this principle is beginning to be acted upon by the sugar
planters of the West Indies, who employ the waste leaves and ashes of
the expressed stalk of the cane, after it has been used as fuel, to
manure their cane-fields. The vine growers of Germany and the Cape
also bury the cuttings of their vines around the roots of the plants.
The cinnamon grower of the East returns the waste bark and cuttings of
the shoots to the soil. And in the coco-nut groves of Ceylon, the
roots of the trees are best manured with the husks of the nuts and
decomposed poonac, or the refuse cake, after the oil has been
expressed from the pulp. Analysis of soils is, perhaps, not so
essential in countries where virgin land is usually in abundance, and
the luxuriance of vegetation furnishes itself, by decomposition,
abundant materials for replenishing the fertility of the soil. But
there are some substances, such as muriate of soda, gypsum, phosphate,
and other compounds of lime, which may be advantageously applied.
Guano and expensive artificial manures, are seldom required, and,
indeed, will not repay the planters for importing.
An experienced cultivator can generally judge by a superficial
examination, aided by the situation, locality, and appearance of the
soil, whether a certain portion of land is fitted for the profitable
growth of any particular plant. Depth of soil, and facilities for
deepening it, with the nature of the subsoil, so as to know whether it
retains or parts with water, are also important considerations,
because tap-rooted plants require free scope for penetrating deep into
the ground.
A due supply of water is of vital importance to most crops--and
therefore the extent and periods of the fall of rain are essential to
be known, as it is not always possible to resort to irrigation. The
quantity of labor required for previous tillage, cultivation, and
harvesting of different crops, and the available supply, are primary
essentials to be considered before entering upon the culture of any
staple product, however remunerative it may appear in prospective.
Facility and cost of transport to the nearest market or shipping port
are the next desiderata to be ascertained, as well as a careful
estimate of the cost of plant or machinery necessary.
It may be desirable at the outset to make a brief enumeration of the
countries lying within the different zones, and the agricultural
products of which come, therefore, more especially under the notice of
the tropical planter.
Meyen, in his division of the horizontal range of vegetation into
zones, extends--
1. The equatorial zone to fifteen degrees on both sides of the
equator. In this division we shall find the Cape Verd Islands, Sierra
Leone, Ascension, and St. Helena, the Republic of Liberia, the
European and native settlements in the Gulf of Guinea, and on the
western Coast of Africa, Abyssinnia, Zanzibar on the East Coast,
Mocha and Aden in the Red Sea, the northern portion of Madagascar, the
Seychelles, the Madras Presidency, Northern India, Ceylon and the
Nicobar Islands, Sumatra, Siam, Malacca, Singapore and the Straits
Settlements, Cochin China, the Phillippine Islands, Borneo, Celebes
and the Moluccas, Java and Madura, Banca, the Johore Archipelago,
Timor and the eastern group of Islands, with New Guinea, a large
portion of Northern Australia, the Marquesas, Society's and other
oceanic islands. In South America the Republics of Peru, Bolivia,
Ecuador, New Granada, and Venezuela, British, French and Dutch Guiana,
and a large portion of the empire of Brazil; Trinidad, Barbados, and
most of the islands in the Carribean Sea.
This zone has a mean temperature of 78½ to 82½ Fahrenheit.
2. The tropical zone reaches from the 15th deg. on each side of the
equator to the tropics in 23 lat. The mean temperature is 73½ to 78¾
deg. Summer temperature 80½ to 86 deg.; winter temperature in the
eastern coast districts, 59 deg.
In this region is comprised the following countries:--Sandwich Isles,
Canton, in province of China, Burmah, Calcutta, and a portion of the
Bengal Presidency, the Bombay Presidency, Madagascar, Mauritius and
Bourbon; the southern portion of Brazil, Cuba, St. Domingo, Mexico,
and Central America.
3. The sub-tropical zone extends from the tropics 23 to 34 deg. of
latitude. There are a number of tropical fruits in this region. The
winters are mild and vegetation is green throughout the year. In the
northern division of the zone palms and bananas grow on the plains. In
this region is comprised all the extreme northern portions of Africa,
coasting the Mediterranean, comprising Algiers and the Barbary States,
Egypt, part of Persia, Cabool and the Punjab; the greater portion of
China, Lower California, Texas, the South-Western States of America,
the Bermudas, the Cape Colony and Natal, New South Wales, Southern and
Western Australia--the Government settlements in the Northern Island
of New Zealand, the largest portion of Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and
the Argentine Republics, the Provinces of Brazil from St. Paul to Rio
Grande, Madeira and the Canary Isles.
To define accurately the conditions of temperature which a plant
requires to maintain it in a flourishing condition we must ascertain
within what limits its period of vegetation, may vary, and what
quantity of heat it requires. This most remarkable circumstance was
first observed by Boussingault, but unfortunately we do not as yet
possess sufficiently accurate accounts of the conditions of culture in
the various regions of the earth, to enable us to follow out this
ingenious view in all its details. His theory is, that the time
required by a plant to arrive at maturity is as the inverse ratio of
the temperature; therefore, knowing the mean temperature of any place,
and the number of days which a plant takes to ripen, the time required
at any other point more or less elevated, can easily be ascertained.
Peter Purry, a native of Switzerland, who settled in Charleston in
the eighteenth century, in a memorial to the Duke of Newcastle, then
Secretary of State, sets out with this postulate, that "there is a
certain latitude on our globe, so happily tempered between the
extremes of heat and cold, as to be more particularly adapted than any
other for certain rich productions of the earth; among which are silk,
cotton, indigo," &c.--and he fixes on the latitude of 33 deg., whether
north or south, as the one of that peculiar character.
The following Table, showing the climate, duration and production of
certain plants cultivated in tropical America, is from the proceedings
of the Agricultural Society of Grenada. The second, column gives the
altitude in English yards above the level of the sea. The third, the
mean temperature by Fahrenheit's thermometer. The fourth, the average
time required to commence bearing. The fifth, the number of plants in
a Spanish "fanegada" of 170 varras, about 153 square yards. The sixth,
the average duration of each plant. The seventh, the average produce
of each plant in the year:--
-----------------+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
|Level of |Mn. Temp.| Time |No. of| |Average
|the Sea, to|Deg. Min.|Required|plants|Years |produce
-----------------+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
Cacao | }|81.17 |6½ | 1,156| 40 |1¼ lb
(_Theobroma |587 yds. }|46.00 |yrs | | |per tree
Cacao_) | }| | | | |
+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
Plantain {|630 yds. to|81.17 | 9 mths.| 3,613| 30 |50
(_Musa {|1077 |46.00 |9½ " | | |plantains
Paradisiaca_) {| |40.61 |11 " | | |
+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+---------
Indian Corn {|1077 |81.17 | 90 days|28,900|Annual|238 for
(_Zea Mays_) {|1260 to |40.61 |110 " | | |every
{| 1890 |36to37.80|120 " | | |seed
{|2880 |25.20to27|180 " | | |
+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
Manioc or {|1077 |81.17 |10 mths |28,900|Bicen-|One
Cassava {|1195 |40.61 |12 " | |nial |cassava
{| |43.00 |120 days| | |weighing
{| | | | | |¾ lb.
{| | | | | |¼ oz.
{| | | | | |starch
+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
Coco nut | 630 |81.17 |5 yrs. | 452| 60 |4 bottles
(_Cocos | |46.00 |6 " | | |oil per
nucifera_) | | | | | |tree
+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
Tobacco {| 630 |81.17 |150 days|28,900|Annual|½ lb.
(_Nicotiana_ {|1077 |46.00 |170 " | | |_dried_
_tabacum_) {|1980 |40.61 |180 " | | |to each
{| |33.30 |225 " | | |5 plants
+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
Cotton {| 630 |81.17 |6½ mth |28,900|3½ |½ lb.
(_Gossypium_) {|1077 |46.00 |7 " | | |nett
{|1415 |40.61 |7½" | | |per
{| |34.61 |9 " | | |plant
+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
Coffee {| 230 |47 |24 mths | 5,300| 45 |1½
(_Coffea_ {| 630 |46 |25 " | | |lb.
_Arabica_) {|1077to 2250|37.80 to |28 " | | |per
{|2453 |39.60 |36 " | | |tree
{| |33.30 | | | |
+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
Sugar cane {| 630 |84.17 |11 mths.|28,900| 5 |10 percnt
(_Saccharum_ {|1080 |46.00 |12 " | | |sugar
_officinarum_) {| |41.40 |14 " | | |upon the
{| | | | | |weight
{| | | | | |of the
{| | | | | |raw cane
+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
Indigo {| 90 |48.60 |2½ " |57,800| 1½ |70 plants
(_Indigofera_ {| 630 |46.00 |3 " | | |produce
_tinctoria_) {|1077 |40.61 |3½ " | | |1 lb.
{| | | | | |coloring
{| | | | | |matter
+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
Potato {|1080 |38.70 |140 days|116,600 |4½
(_Solanum_ {|1980 |33.30 |165 " | |Annual|lb each
_tuberosum_) {|2700 |27.00 |210 " | | |plant
+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
Wheat {| 567 |42.30 | 80 " |57,800|Annual|37 for
(_Triticum_ {|1170 |38.70 |100 " | | |every
_æstivum_) {|2520 |32.99 |120 " | | |seed
{| | | | | |planted
-----------------+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
The plantain bears at 1,529 yards, in a temperature of 61 deg.
Fahrenheit, and requires fifteen months, but its cultivation is of
little benefit in so high a latitude. It is the same with the cassava
root. The cane at 1,160 altitude, in a temperature of 66 deg., gives
no sugar; and indigo at 1,620 affords no coloring matter.
SECTION I.
DRIED LEAVES, SEEDS, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES USED IN THE PREPARATION OF
POPULAR DIETETIC BEVERAGES.
No substances are so essentially necessary to mankind, or form such
important articles of commerce, as those which we come first to
consider, the dietetic products--cacao, coffee, tea, and sugar. The
consumption of these in all civilized countries is immense,
notwithstanding that in many they have been fettered with heavy fiscal
duties. The investigation of the culture of the plants from which they
are obtained, and the manufacture of the products, is a very curious
object of research.
CACAO OR COCOA.
The chocolate nuts or seeds, termed cacao, are the fruit of species of
_Theobroma_, an evergreen tree, native of the Western Continent. That
commonly grown is _T. cacao_; but Lindley enumerates two other
species, _T. bicolor_, a native of New Granada; and _T. Guianensis_,
with yellow flowers, a native of Guiana. The seeds being nourishing
and agreeable to most people, are kept in the majority of houses in
America, as a part of the provisions of the family. By pressure they
yield fatty oil, called butter of cacao. They also contain a
crystalline principle analogous to caffeine, called theobromine. The
common cacao of the shops consists generally of the roasted beans, and
sometimes of the roasted integuments of the beans, ground to powder.
The consumption of cacao in the United Kingdom is about three millions
of pounds annually, yielding a revenue of £15,500. Few tropical
products are more valuable or more useful as food to man than cacao.
It is without any exception the cheapest food that we can conceive,
and were it more generally employed, so that the berries should not be
more than two, three, or, at most, six months old, from the time of
gathering (for, if kept longer, they lose their nutritive properties),
even a smaller quantity than that usually taken in a cup would
suffice: in fact, cacao cannot be _too_ new. The cacao beans lie in a
fruit somewhat like a cucumber, about five inches long and
three-and-a-half inches thick, which contains from twenty to thirty
beans, arranged in five regular rows with partitions between, and
which are surrounded with a rose-colored spongy substance, like that
of water melons. There are fruits, however, so large as to contain
from forty to fifty beans. Those grown in the West India islands, as
well as Berbice and Demerara, are much smaller, and have only from six
to fifteen; their development being less perfect than other parts of
South America. After the maturation of the fruit, when their green
colour has changed to a dark yellow, they are plucked, opened, their
beans cleared of the marrowy substance, and spread out to dry in the
air. In the West Indies they are immediately packed up for the market
when they are dried; but in Caraccas they are subjected to a species
of slight fermentation, by putting them into tubs or chests, covering
them with boards or stones, and turning them over every morning to
equalize the operation. They emit a good deal of moisture, and lose
the natural bitterness and acrimony of their taste by this process, as
well as some of their weight. Instead of wooden tubs, pits or trenches
dug in the ground are sometimes had recourse to for curing the beans;
an operation called earthing. They are, lastly, exposed to the sun and
dried. According to Lampadius, the kernels of the West India cacao
beans contain in 100 parts, besides water, 53.1 of fat or oil, 16.7 of
an albuminous brown matter, which contains all the aroma of the bean;
10.91 of starch, 7¾ of gum or mucilage, 0.9 of lignine, and 2.01 of a
reddish dye-stuff, somewhat akin to the pigment of cochineal. The
husks form 12 per cent, of the weight of the beans. The fatty matter
is of the consistence of tallow, white, of a mild agreeable taste, and
not apt to turn rancid by keeping. It melts only at 112 degrees Fahr.,
and should, therefore, make tolerable candles. It is obtained by
exposing the beans to strong pressure in canvas bags, after they have
been steamed or soaked in boiling water for some time. From five to
six ounces of butter may be thus obtained from a pound of cacao. It
has a reddish tinge when first expressed, but it becomes white by
boiling with water.
The beans, being freed from all spoiled and mouldy portions, are to be
gently roasted over a fire in an iron cylinder, with holes in its ends
for allowing the vapors to escape, the apparatus being similar to a
coffee-roaster. When the aroma begins to be well developed, the
roasting is known to be finished, and the beans must be turned out,
cooled, and freed by fanning and sifting from their husks. The kernels
are then to be converted into a paste, either by trituration in a
mortar heated to 130 degrees Fahr., or by a powerful mill.[1] The
cacao tree resembles our dwarf apple tree both in body and branches,
but the leaf, which is of a dark green, is considerably broader and
larger. The nuts are of the color and about the size of an almond, and
hang eighteen to thirty together by a slender stringy film, enclosed
in a pod. A ripe pod is of a beautiful yellow, intermixed with crimson
streaks; when dried, it shrivels up and changes to a deep brown; the
juice squeezed from the mucilaginous pulp contained in the husks of
these nuts appears like cream, and has a very grateful taste of a
cordial quality. The nuts have a light pleasant smell, and an
unctuous, bitterish, roughish (not ungrateful) taste. Those of
Nicaragua and Caracas are the most agreeable and are the largest;
those of the French Antilles, and our own West India islands, are the
most unctuous.
The Mexicans, in preparing the chocolate paste, add some long pepper,
a little annatto, and lastly vanilla; some add cinnamon, cloves and
anise, and those who love perfumes, musk and ambergris.
The finest American cacao is said to be that of Soconusco, but the
principal imports are from Caracas and Guayaquil, which is of a very
good quality. The province of Barcelona, adjoining Caracas exports
annually from 200,000 to 300,000 cwt.
The very large shipments from Guayaquil are shown by the following
return. Of this quantity Spain takes the largest portion, Mexico the
next, and England receives but a very small quantity.
Cacao exported from Guayaquil:--
lbs.
1833 6,605,786
1834 10,999,853
1835 13,800,851
1836 10,918,565
1837 8,520,121
1838 7,199,057
1839 12,169,787
1840 14,266,942
The exports of cacao from the port of La Guayra, has been as follows
in the years ending December 31.
Fanegas.
1850 40,181
1851 47,951
1852 54,083
Five fanegas are equal to one English quarter. The price of cacao was,
at the close of 1852, sixteen dollars the fanega.
The province of Caracas, according to Humboldt, at the end of the last
century, produced annually 150,000 fanegas of cacao, of which
two-thirds were exported to Spain, and the remainder locally consumed.
The shipments from the port of La Guayra alone averaged 80,000 to
100,000, or nearly double the present shipments. In the early part of
the present century the captain-generalship of Caracas produced nearly
200,000 fanegas, of which about 145,000 were sent direct to Europe.
The province of Caracas then produced 150,000 fanegas; Maracaibo,
20,000; Cumana, 18,000, and New Barcelona, 5,000.
The vallies of Aragua, in the province of Caracas, those of Cariaco,
Campano, of Rio Caribe and the banks of the river Caroni, in Spanish
Guiana, produce excellent cacao in abundance.
The tree there bears fruit in four years after it has been planted,
the following year still more, and increases in fecundity until the
ninth or tenth year, when it is in full bearing.
The banks of the Magdalena, in the vicinity of Santa Martha and
Carthagena, are famed for the excellent cacao they produce. "This
tree," says Bonnycastle (Spanish America, vol. 1, p. 257), "is
indigenous, seldom exceeds the diameter of seven inches, and is
extremely beautiful when laden with its fruit, which are disposed on
short stalks over the stem and round the great branches, resembling
citrons, from their yellow color, and warty appearance. The leaves are
attenuate, stalked, drooping, about a foot long and three inches
broad, elliptic, oblong, pointed, slightly wavy, entire, and very
smooth on both sides; with one mid-rib and many transverse ones,
connected by innumerable veins. The petals of the flower are yellow,
the calyx of a light rose-color, and the flowers themselves are small
and placed on tufts on the sides of the branches, with single
foot-stalks, about an inch long. Its fruit is red, or a mixture of red
and yellow, and about three inches in diameter, with a fleshy rind
half-an-inch thick; the pulp is whitish and of the consistence of
butter, containing the seed; these seeds are generally twenty-five in
number in each fruit, and when first gathered are of a flesh color,
and form a nice preserve if taken just before they are ripe. Each tree
yields about two or three pounds of fruit annually, and comes to
maturity the third year after planting from the seed; it also bears
leaves, flowers, or fruit all the year round, the usual seasons for
gathering being June and December. The excellence of the Magdalena
chocolate may be attributed to the moist nature of the soil, as the
plant never thrives where the ground is hard and dry, or cannot be
irrigated."
_Mode of cultivation in the Colombian Republics_--Plantations of cacao
were speedily multiplied in Colombia, and the soil so admirably
seconded the labors of the planter, that in the produce abundance was
united to excellence. The cacao of this quarter ranks next to that of
Soconusco. It is well known that the best commercial recommendation of
cacao is that of coming from Caracas. But even in these provinces the
quality varies. The cacao of Orituco is superior to that of other
places, and a quantity of equal bulk weighs twenty per cent. more. The
cacao of the coast comes next, and obtains a preference over that of
the interior.
The plantations of cacao are all to the north of the chain of
mountains which coast the sea, and in the interior country. The former
extend from Cumana to the mouth of the Tocaygo; the latter are situate
in the vallies of Tuy, Orituco, Ocumare, Cura, Marrin, Tare, Santa
Theresa, Santa Lucia, Zuapira, Santa Philippo, Barquisimeto, Valencia,
Gruige and Cariaco.
All kinds of soil are not equally adapted to the culture of cacao,
still less are all exposures; but an analysis of the soil destined to
this culture never furnishes indications on which reliance can be
placed. No regard should be had to color or composition; it is only
requisite that it should be friable to a certain depth, which is
ascertained by the size of the trees with which it is covered; this
sign determines the land proper for cacao.
A suitable situation is not so easily found. It should be exposed as
little as possible to the north, and be on the borders of a river,
which may communicate moisture to the soil in dry seasons, and
receive its drainings in times of rain. A preference is particularly
to be given to land which can receive from the river the benefits of
irrigation without being exposed to injury from its overflow.
After having chosen the land, it should be cleared of all trees,
shrubs, and other plants. This operation is performed in various ways.
It is customary in Colombia to commence felling the trees immediately
after the rains, that is, about the month of November; the wood, after
being cut, is left to dry, then collected in heaps and burnt.
As soon as the new plantation is cleared, it is crossed with small
ditches, in directions according to the declivity of the soil. These
serve to drain the stagnant waters, to carry off the rains, and to
irrigate or water the soil whenever necessary. The _alignement_ is
then laid out, in which the cacao trees are to be arranged. They are
planted in triangles or squares. In either case, there is always in
the centre an alley, bordered by cacao trees, and running from east to
west. When they are planted in squares, this alley is crossed by
another running from north to south. The cacao plants should be placed
at fifteen or sixteen feet (French measure) from each other, in good
soil; and about thirteen or fourteen feet in soil of inferior quality.
This is almost the only tree in nature to which the enlivening beams
of the sun are obnoxious. It requires to be sheltered from their
ardour; and the mode of combining this protection with the principles
of fertility, forms a very essential part of the skill which its
cultivation demands. The cacao tree is mingled with other trees, which
guard it from the rays of the sun, without depriving it of the benefit
of their heat. The _Erythrina_ and the banana are employed for this
purpose. The latter, by the rapidity of its growth, and the magnitude
of its leaves, protect it for the first year. The erythrina endures at
least as long as the cacao; it is not every soil, however, that agrees
with it. It perishes after a while in sandy and clayey ground, but it
flourishes in such as combine those two ingredients.
In the Antilles this protection cannot be given to cacao, as it would
expose the plantation to destruction by every hurricane. Besides, the
cacao succeeds but indifferently there, and is much less oily than in
other parts.
The quality of the soil, and the species of the erythrina, should
determine the distance at which they ought to be placed. That kind
which the Spaniards call _bucare anaveo_, is planted in a fertile
soil, at the distance of two alleys, that is to say, at each second
range of cacao trees. That which they call _bucare peonio_, is placed
at three alleys in good soils (about forty-eight French feet).
The former species of erythrina is that which elevates itself the
highest. The second species has many thorns, the upper surface of the
leaf is darker and the lower whiter. Both kinds should be cut in the
wane of the moon, and remain in the shade until its increase, at
which time they should be planted. It is much preferable, however, to
take them from a nursery.
In one range of cacao trees a banana is placed between two cacaos, and
an erythrina between the two following. In the other range a banana is
placed between each cacao tree, and no erythrinas, so that the latter
are at the distance of two alleys. The banana and the erythrina are
first planted, and when a shelter from the sun is thus provided, the
hole for the cacao is made, around which are planted four stalks of
the yucca plant, at the distance of two feet from each other. At the
end of two months the cacao is planted. The smaller the plant is, the
better. There are, nevertheless, soils subject to worms where the
small plants do not thrive; but, excepting in this particular, the
small plants are preferable, because the large require more labor for
their transportation and planting; many of them die, and those which
survive bud and shoot forth, but are never of any value.
The cacao plant should not exceed thirty-six inches in size when
transplanted; if larger, it succeeds with difficulty, as will be
shown.
The nurseries of cacao demand an excellent soil, well prepared, where
the water does not remain. They should be well sheltered from the sun.
Small knolls of earth are formed, in each of which are put two seeds
of cacao, in such a manner that they are parallel with the level of
the ground. During the first twenty days the seeds are covered with
two layers of banana or other leaves. If necessary, the ground is
watered; but the water is not suffered to remain. The most suitable
time for sowing is in November.
Where there is not a facility for watering, the planting of the cacao
should take place in the rainy season; but when the former is
practicable, it is best to plant in dry weather and assist nature by
irrigation, since it is then in the power of the cultivator to give
the exact quantity of moisture necessary. But, in all cases, care
should be taken that the plants are not wet in the interval between
their being taken out of the ground and replanted.
When the bananas grow old, they should be carefully felled, lest the
cacaos should be injured by their accidental fall. They are totally
removed as soon as the erythrina yields sufficient shade; this
operation gives more air to the trees of the plantation, and
encourages their growth.
Until the cacao attains four feet in height, it is trimmed to the
stem. If it shoots forth several branches, they are reduced to three,
at equal distances; and, in proportion as the plant increases, the
leaves which appear on the three branches are stripped off. If they
bend much, and incline towards the earth, they are tied in bunches, so
that the tree may not remain crooked. The branches, which are trimmed,
are cut at the distance of two fingers from the tree. The suckers
which spring from the tree are also removed, as they only live at its
expense.
_Enemies of the tree_.--The cacao trees should, as already stated,
have sufficient shade to prevent their being burned by the sun. If
they are much exposed to its rays, their branches are scattered,
crack, and the tree dies. They are also infested with worms, which
gnaw the bark all around, then attack the interior and destroy them.
The only remedy which has hitherto been found, is to employ people to
kill these worms, which are deposited by a small, scaly winged insect,
which gnaws the tree; as soon as it hears the approach of its
destroyers, it lets itself fall, and trusts to its wings for safety.
The color of this insect is a mixture of ash color and white. If
pressed, it emits a sound something similar to the noise of water
thrown on a very hot substance. It has two small horns on its head,
the points of which are directed upwards. It is so lively that, even
when the head is separated from the body, it is a long time in dying.
To deposit its progeny it makes small holes in the tree.
At the commencement of the winter, or rainy season, another worm makes
its appearance, which devours the leaves of the young cacao plant.
This species of worm is called _goaseme_, and they are in some years
so abundant, that all the people of the plantation are solely employed
in destroying them. This worm is four inches in length, and of the
thickness of a finger. It is sometimes called _angaripola_, or Indian,
on account of the vivacity of its colors. It is believed that these
worms are mediately produced by other large worms in the earth, from
which are engendered butterflies, who lay their eggs on the leaves of
the cacao. These eggs are full of small worms, which feed on the
leaves of the cacao, and appear in clusters of the size of a shilling.
They are sought and destroyed with great attention, as they occasion
considerable damage. Those which escape lodge themselves in the earth,
and in the succeeding year are changed into butterflies. At the time
when the worm makes its appearance, it is necessary to make fires,
which should not be so large as to injure the cacao, yet sufficient to
attract and burn the butterfly.
The plantations of cacao in the valley of Tuy, the quarters of Marrin,
Cuba, Sabana, Ocumare, San Francis, &c., are subject to another
species of worm called _rasquilla_. It multiplies in the dry seasons.
There are small insects, called by the Spaniards _accerredores_, of
the same figure with those which eat the bark of the cacao, but larger
and of a blackish colour. They feed on the branches of the tree; are
always found upon those branches which they have cut; and the evil can
only be obviated by killing them.
The worms called _vachacos_ occasion also much damage. They eat the
leaf and the flower. To destroy them it is necessary to seek them in
their nests in the earth. Water is thrown on the spot, and stirred, as
in making mortar. By this means their young are crushed, and the evil
is diminished, if it be not entirely removed.
A parasitical plant often attaches itself to a branch of the cacao
tree which it covers over and causes to wither, by nourishing itself
with the substance of the plant. The only remedy is to remove it.
When the cacao trees are in a bearing state, they are subject to a
disease called _tache_. This is a black taint, or stain, which attacks
the trees, encircling them below, and kills them. The mode of
preservation is to make, in the beginning, a slight notch that shall
pierce the bark. But if the taint is extensive, it is necessary to cut
all the affected part. It then exudes a liquid and is healed. The bark
remains of a violet color in the part that has been tainted.
The other enemies of the cacao are the agouti, stag, squirrel, monkey,
&c. The agouti produces most havoc. It often destroys in one night all
the hopes of the proprietor.
Birds are not less injurious to the cacao. The whole class of parrots,
in particular the great Ara, which destroys for the pleasure of
destroying, and, the parroquets, which come in numerous flocks,
conspire also to ruin the plantations of cacao.
_Means of preserving a plantation_.--It is necessary that a cacao
plantation should have always shade and irrigation; the branches of
the plant should be cleared of the lichens that form on them; the
worms destroyed; and no large herbs or shrubs and mosses permitted to
grow near, since the least disadvantage resulting therefrom would be
the loss of all the fruit that should fall into these thickets. But it
is most essential to deepen the trenches which carry off the water, in
proportion as the plant increases in size, and as the roots of course
pierce deeper; for if the trenches are left at a depth of three feet,
while the roots are six feet in the earth, it follows that the lower
part of the cacao plant is in a situation of too great humidity, and
rots at the level of the water. This precaution contributes not only
to make the plantation more durable, but also to render the crop more
productive. It is necessary, also, to abstain from cutting any branch
from cacao plants that are already bearing. Such an operation might
occasion the subsequent crop to be stronger; but the plants become
enervated, and often perish, according to the quality of the soil and
the number of branches cut off.
If the earth of the plantations be pressed and trampled down by
animals, the duration of the plant is diminished. Irrigation, made
with judgment, maintains them long in a state of produce.
_Withering of the fruit._--The fruit of the cacao withers on the tree
from three causes:--
First.--When the plantation is, during a long time, inundated with
water. I have seen plantations of cacao, which had only been covered
with water thirty hours, and of which the fruit was totally withered.
Second.--From abundant rains, particularly in very damp valleys. This
is only to be remedied by keeping the plantation well drained, that
the water may not remain on it.
Third.--A want of necessary irrigation, and the watering of the
plantation under an ardent sun. The vapor from the earth kills the
fruit. If the rains are deficient for a time, and an excessive rain
succeeds, the fruit of the cacao also withers.
This dessication or withering takes place everywhere; but in some
places the surplus of fruit, which the tree is unable to nourish, is
alone subject to it. In others, as Araquita and Caucagua, it withers
in proportion to the northerly rains. An unsuitable soil occasions
another kind of decay. The pods become stinted, containing some good
and some bad seeds. The Spaniards call this _cocosearse_, which means
defective.
_Harvest of the cacao_.--The tree yields two principal crops in a
year, one about St. John's day, the other towards the end of December.
The cacao however ripens and is gathered during the whole year. But in
all seasons the planters of the Central American republics make it a
point, so far as possible, to collect their crops only at the decline
of the moon; because experience proves that this precaution renders
the cacao more solid, and less liable to spoil.
To collect the fruit, those negroes and Indians are employed who have
the sharpest sight, that only the ripe fruit may be gathered. The most
robust and active are chosen to carry it to the places where the beans
are to be shaken out. The aged and maimed are employed to do this. The
operation is performed on a floor well swept, and covered with green
leaves, on which they place the cacao. Some open the pod, and others
strike out the beans with a small piece of wood, which must not be
sharp, lest it should injure them.
The good and bad beans must not be mingled together. There are four
sorts of cacao in every crop; the ripe and in good condition, the
green but sound, the worm-eaten, and the rotten. The first quality is
best, the second is not bad; but the two others should be rejected.
As soon as that which is not fully ripe begins to show specks, it must
be separated. As to the pods which are not perfectly ripe, they should
remain in heaps during three days under green banana leaves, that they
may ripen before they are hulled. When the cacao is stored, great care
is necessary not to leave amongst it pieces of the pod or leaves, or
any other excrementitious particles. This care must be repeated every
time that it is removed from the store, or replaced in it.
The cacao must always be exposed to the sun on the fourth day after it
has been gathered, and this exposure should be daily repeated until it
is perfectly dry. When that is the case, the beans burst on being
squeezed, their shell resounds when struck, and they no longer become
heated when placed in heaps; the latter is the best proof that the
moisture injurious to their preservation is dissipated. If the cacao
is not sufficiently exposed to the sun, it becomes mouldy; if too
much, it withers, and easily pulverises--in either case it soon rots.
When the quantity of cacao gathered is considerable, it is placed in
the sunshine by a hundred quintals at a time, unless the cultivator
has a sufficient number of persons employed to expose a greater
quantity. This operation is indispensable, to prevent it from becoming
mouldy. If the rains prevent this exposure to the sun, it is
necessary, as soon as it is sufficiently cleaned or purified, to
spread it in apartments, galleries, or halls, with which the
plantation must be provided; this operation cannot be delayed without
danger of losing the crop.
It is to be wished that stoves were employed to dry the cacao when the
sun fails, but this expedient, so simple and important, is generally
unknown.
It is almost universally believed that the most essential precautions
for preserving the cacao consists in gathering it at the decline of
the moon. I believe that they may more seriously calculate on the care
of depositing it in apartments so hermetically closed that the air
cannot penetrate; it would be advisable to make these apartments of
wood, for the more perfect exclusion of moisture. The floor should be
elevated two feet; under the floor a pan of coals is placed, covered
with a funnel, the point of which enters into the heap of cacao and
then diffuses the vapor. In the apartment which contains the cacao,
some persons place bottles of vinegar, slightly stopped with paper, to
prevent the formation of worms.
The beans which begin to show specks, may be preserved from entire
corruption by a slight application of brine. This occasions a small
degree of fermentation, which is sufficient to destroy the worms, and
to preserve the cacao during a considerable time from new attacks. Why
is not this preservative also employed after the cacao is dried, and
when placed in the store, where it awaits the purchaser?
At St. Philip they make use of smoke to preserve the cacao; it is also
ascertained that fine salt, thrown in small quantities on the cacao,
protects it from worms.
Much has been done for the cacao when it has been cleared of all green
or dead beans, and extraneous substances; when it has received no
bruise or injury in the operation of drying, and when it has been
subsequently kept in a place that is dry and not exposed to the air;
yet, even with all these precautions, cacao of the best quality is
seldom found marketable at the end of a year.
These circumstances sufficiently prove that the culture of cacao
requires attention more than science, vigilance rather than genius,
and assiduity in preference to theory. Choice of ground, distribution
and draining of the waters, position of the trees destined to shade
the cacao, are almost the only points which require more than common
intelligence. Less expense is also required for an establishment of
this kind than for any other of equal revenue. One able hand, as I
have already said, is sufficient for the preservation and harvest of a
thousand plants, each of which should yield at least one pound of
cacao, in ground of moderate quality, and a pound and a half in the
best soil. By an averaged calculation of twenty ounces to each plant,
the thousand plants must produce twelve hundred and fifty pounds,
which, at the ordinary price of 31s. 6d. per cwt., would produce about
£17 10s. per annum for each laborer. The expenses of the plantation,
including those of utensils, machines, and buildings, are also less
considerable for cacao than for any other produce. The delay of the
first crop, and the accidents peculiar to cacao, can alone diminish
the number of planters attached to its culture, and induce a
preference to other commodities.
The cacao plant is not in a state of prolific produce till the eighth
year in the interior, and the ninth in plantations on the coast. Yet,
by a singularity which situation alone can explain, the crops of cacao
commence in the ninth year in the valley of Goapa, and at the east of
the mouth of the Tuy. In the vicinity of the line, and on the banks of
Rio-Negro, the plantations are in full produce on the fourth, or at
most the fifth year.
The cacao tree continues productive to the age of fifty years on the
coast, and thirty years in the interior of the country.
In general the culture and preparation of cacao receives more
attention in the eastern parts of Venezuela than in other places, and
even than in the French colonies. It is true that the suitability of
the soil contributes much to the quality of the article; but without
the assistance derived from art, it would be far from possessing that
superiority awarded to it by commerce over the cacao of every other
country.
Stevenson ("Travels in South America") speaks of another kind of cacao
tree, called moracumba, which is larger than the ordinary species, and
grows wild in the woods. The beans under the brown husk are composed
of a white, solid matter, almost like a lump of hard tallow. The
natives take a quantity of these, and pass a piece of slender cane
through them, and roast them, when they have the delicate flavour of
the cacao.
There are several cacao plantations in Surinam. The trees are left to
grow their natural height, which is about that of a cherry-tree; their
leaves resemble those of the broad-leaved laurel, and are of a dark
green colour. The fruit in shape resembles a lemon, but is rather more
oval; it is at first green, and, when ripe, yellow. It is said that
there are some trees which produce above two hundred, each containing
about twenty beans or nuts. The fruit not only proceeds from the
branches, but even from the stem; and though there is always ripe and
unripe fruit, it is only gathered twice a year. The chocolate is in
that colony in general of an inferior quality, known by its dark brown
color and rough taste, but the superiority of the cacao depends
principally on the soil where the trees are planted.--(Baron Von
Sack's "Surinam.")
My friend, Sir R. Schomburgk, in his "Description of British Guiana,"
says--"While we crossed from the river Berbice to the Essequibo, we
met a number of chocolate nut trees, near the abandoned Caribi
settlement of Primoss. It is not to be doubted that the trees were
originally planted by the Indians, but from their number and the
distance from the river, I judged they were propagated by nature.
Though they were overshadowed by larger trees, and had for many years
been neglected, they had reached nevertheless a height of from thirty
to forty feet, and the luxuriant growth and the abundance of fruit,
proved that the plant was satisfied with the soil. The forests at the
banks of the Rio Branco, in the vicinity of Santa Maria and Carno,
abound in wild cacao trees, the fruits of which are collected by the
scanty population of that district for their own use."
The cultivation of cacao will be most suitable to the less wealthy
individual, as it demands so little labor and outlay. Baron Humboldt
observes, in alluding to Spanish America, that cacao plantations are
occupied by persons of humble condition, who prepare for themselves
and their children a slow but certain fortune; a single laborer is
sufficient to aid them in their plantations, and 30,000 trees, once
established, assure competence for a generation and a half.
The following have been the total imports of Cacao into the United
Kingdom from Mexico and Central America, &c.:--
lbs.
1832 85,642
1834 16,171
1835 211
1836 861,531
1837 564,992
1838 1,681,965
1839 508,307
1840 1,058,015
1841 1,802,547
1842 441,084
1843 1,229,515
(Parl. Paper, No. 426, Sess. 1844.)
Only a few hundred pounds of this is entered annually for home
consumption, the great bulk being re-exported.
In 1850 we imported 1,204,572 lbs. from Mexico; 1,231,773 lbs. from
Chile; 4,438 lbs. from Venezuela, and 23,538 lbs. from Hayti.
BRAZIL.--A great deal of cacao is raised in different parts of this
empire. From the province of Para alone 35,000 bags, valued at
£35,000, were exported in the year 1845. Mr. Edwards, in his "Voyage
up the River Amazon," gives an interesting account:--
"We were now (he says) in the great cacao region, which, for an
extent of several hundred square miles, borders the river. The cacao
trees are low, not rising above fifteen or twenty feet, and are
distinguishable from a distance by the yellowish green of their
leaves, so different from aught else around them. They are planted
at intervals of about twelve feet, and, at first, are protected from
the sun's fierceness by banana trees, which, with their broad
leaves, form a complete shelter. Three years after planting the
trees yield, and therefore require little attention, or, rather,
receive not any. From an idea that the sun is injurious to the
berry, the tree-tops are suffered to mat together until the whole
becomes dense as thatch-work. The sun never penetrates this, and the
ground below is constantly wet. The trunk of the tree grows
irregularly, without beauty, although perhaps by careful training it
might be made as graceful as an apple tree. The leaf is thin, much
resembling our beech, excepting that it is smooth-edged. The flower
is very small, and the berry grows direct from the trunk or
branches. It is eight inches in length, five in diameter, and shaped
much like a rounded double cone. When ripe, it turns from light
green to a deep yellow, and at that time ornaments the tree finely.
Within the berry is a white acid pulp, and embedded in this are from
thirty to forty seeds, an inch in length, narrow and flat. These
seeds are the cacao of commerce. When the berries are ripe, they are
collected into great piles near the house, are cut open with a
tresado, and the seeds, squeezed carelessly from the pulp, are
spread upon mats to dry in the sun. Before being half dried they are
loaded into canoes in bulk, and transmitted to Para. Some of these
vessels will carry four thousand arrobas, of thirty-two pounds
weight each, and, as if such a bulk of damp produce would not
sufficiently spoil itself by its own steaming during a twenty days'
voyage, the captains are in the habit of throwing upon it great
quantities of water, to prevent its loss of weight. As might be
expected, when they arrive at Para it is little more than a heap of
mould, and it is then little wonder that Para cacao is considered
the most inferior in foreign markets. Cacao is very little drunk
throughout the province, and in the city we never saw it except at
the cafés. It is a delicious drink when properly prepared, and one
soon loses relish for that nasty compound known in the States as
chocolate, whose main ingredients are damaged rice and soap fat. The
cacao trees yield two crops annually, and, excepting in harvest
time, the proprietors have nothing to do but lounge in their
hammocks. Most of these people are in debt to traders in Santarem,
who trust them to an unlimited extent, taking a lien upon their
crops. Sometimes the plantations are of vast extent, and one can
walk for miles along the river, from one to another, as freely as
through an orchard. No doubt a scientific cultivator might make the
raising of cacao very profitable, and elevate its quality to that of
Guyaquil."
Cacao shipped from Brazil to the United Kingdom, for nine years,
ending 1835:--
lbs.
1827 3,992,449
1828 1,174,168
1829 2,442,456
1830 1,308,694
1831 1,716,614
1832 2,198,709
1833 2,402,803
1834 1,591,600
1835 1,678,769
_Cultivation in the West India Islands_.--The only English colonies
where this nutritious and wholesome substance is now cultivated to any
extent, are Trinidad, St. Lucia, Grenada, and St. Vincent.
In Jamaica and British Guiana it has given place to the production of
sugar, and though it forms such an important article in the imports
and consumption of the United Kingdom, the quantity introduced from
British plantations is barely equal to the demand. The imports from
Jamaica in 1831 were 6,684 lbs., and in 1838, 16,564 lbs.; while the
imports since have been merely nominal. Of 5,014,681 lbs. imported in
1841, 2,920,298 lbs. were furnished by the British West Indian
colonies, 1,802,547 lbs. came from the Colombian republics, and
269,794 lbs. were brought from Brazil. Trinidad furnishes by far the
largest proportion of the West Indian supplies, the imports from
thence in 1841 having been 2,500,000 lbs., while the imports from all
the other islands were but 427,000 lbs. In 1850, 4,750,000 lbs. were
shipped from Trinidad, whilst in 1851 the quantity was nearly as much.
Trinidad.--Although this tree is indigenous to many, if not most of
the tropical parts of America, it was first extensively cultivated in
Mexico; and it is remarkable that the words cacao and chocolate are
both of Mexican origin. From Mexico the variety called Creole cacao it
is supposed was transplanted to the West India colonies; that variety
called Forastero (stranger) came from the Brazils. The latter tree is
the most productive, but the former gives the best fruit, insomuch
that few persons now plant the Forastero cacao. There are two or
three indigenous species found growing wild in the forests of
Trinidad, viz., _T. Sylvestris cacao_, _T. Guianensis_, and another
sort.
There are few, perhaps no agricultural or horticultural pursuits, so
delightful (observes Mr. Joseph, in his "History of Trinidad,") as
that of the cultivation of the cacao. It is planted in rows,
intersecting each other at right angles, at the distance of from
twelve to fifteen feet, according to the nature of the soil. The tree
is not suffered to grow higher than about fifteen feet, and its broad
rich foliage, the hues of which vary from a light green to a dark red,
loaded with yellow and dark red pods, which contain the chocolate
bean, are beautiful objects; these alleys are shaded by rows of
magnificent trees, called _Bois Immortel_ by the French and English,
by the Spaniards the Madre de Cacao. It is the _Erythrina umbrosa_ or
_arborea_ of Linnæus. Like the Bignonia or Pouie, this tree, at
particular seasons, throws off its foliage and is covered with
blossoms; those of the Erythrina are of a brilliant red color,
justifying its Greek appellation. In this state they are literally
dazzling to behold--no object in the vegetable world looks more
striking than the alleys of a cacao walk shaded by a forest above them
of the Bois Immortel.
I have been obligingly furnished by Mr. W. Purdie, the able Government
botanist of Trinidad, with a short essay upon the cultivation of the
cacao tree, with which many of the valleys of that island are so
beautifully adorned, and which, at one time, poured into that now
unfortunate colony so large a stream of wealth. Fortunately the cacao
planter of the island has managed to survive the many years of
depression under which--like sugar now--the cacao cultivations
lingered and sunk, and which brought the once wealthy planter down to
poverty and misery. His prospects, however, are gradually improving.
The opinions put forth by Mr. Purdie, on the subject of which he
treats, will be found to run counter to the long-established practice
hitherto pursued in the treatment of cacao plantations; but it must
not be forgotten that these are the opinions of a person with whom the
study of trees, their physiology and functions, has been not merely an
amusing science, but an adopted employment, and whose acquirements in
this respect, previous to his arrival in the colony, recommended him
for selection as the agent to extend through South America (the great
cacao region) the investigations of one of the most noted botanical
gardens in Europe.
Mr. Purdie says:--
"In the present depressed times, it behoves us to look well into the
resources of our fertile island, particularly as far as any
improvement can be suggested capable of averting, at least, a part
of the misery and ruin that is hovering over us, and which is too
eagerly borne on the lips of all classes of the community, instead
of using our efforts to do what we can to meet the difficulty; but
few seem to inquire whether we make the most of our present means or
not, whilst every one rather joins in the cry that sugar fetches
little or nothing, and it is no uncommon thing to hear the complaint
transferred from sugar to cacao.
It is but too true that the markets are at present lamentably
against the most important branch of our industry, under the present
manner of sugar cultivation and manufacture in this island. But it
can hardly be admitted that the same is the case in that of
cacao--also a very important branch of our agriculture.
My attention has been lately directed to the average produce per
tree, which will, I hope, throw some light on its cultivation. From
fifteen cacao trees, which are all there are at St. Ann's, I have
this year gathered 115 lbs. of cacoa (dried), and at present there
is at least 50 lbs. more ripe on the same trees. This gives 165 lbs.
of cacao from fifteen trees, or 11 lbs. per tree. These cannot be
considered fine trees; on the contrary, they are what would be
considered ordinary ones; therefore the average in this case is
fair, and differs materially from selecting the produce of fifteen
trees from a large plantation, and giving the average return of what
might be obtained from cacao cultivation. Last year these trees did
not average more than 2 lbs. per tree, and I attribute the increase
of crop to the thinning out of both the cacao and shade trees.
In a former letter to the cacao-planters of Trinidad, I recommended
twenty-four to thirty feet from tree to tree as the proper distance;
but so as to meet the feelings of those who, unfortunately for
themselves, consider every cacao tree cut down a sacrifice, I
propose that the trees be thinned out to twenty-four feet, and that,
at intervals of twenty rows at most, avenues of fifty feet in both
directions should be left. After this, it will be better seen what
may be necessary to be done to each individual tree; neither should
the shade trees be forgotten; as a general rule, they are
prejudicially thick.
By attending to this, I am quite satisfied that a very material
increase in the produce will be seen; indeed, I may say that on this
depends the chief difference of 1¼ lb. and 11 lbs. per tree; for I
consider it a very fair inference, that the average obtained here
can be realised in any other place in this island, and to any
extent, under the same circumstances of light and air, unless on
very poor soil, of which we fortunately have but little.
At twenty-four feet apart there would be seventy-five trees per
acre, or 250 per quarrée. This, at 11 lbs. per tree, gives 2,750
lbs. of dried cacao per quarrée, at 5 dollars per 100 lbs., gives
137 dollars 50 cents gross; deducting 80 dollars per quarrée
expenses, leaves 57 dollars 60 cents net profit. Thus an estate of
120 acres, or 36 quarrées, would contain 9,000 trees, at 11 lbs. per
tree will give 33,000 lbs. of cacao, at 5 dollars gives 4,350
dollars gross per annum; deducting 80 dollars per quarrée (a much
more liberal sum than is at present laid out), leaves a net balance
of 1,950 dollars, or 16 dollars 25 cents per acre.
Now this, it must be remembered, would be the produce from 9,000
trees, and from an estate containing only 36 quarrées of land (which
cannot be considered a large one); what, then, might be expected
from estates containing 40,000 trees?
I have been recently favoured with the following average return of
cacao in this island, which I have no doubt will be considered a
fair one. I insert it in full, and, from the very low return, it
shows a lamentable deficiency in the cultivation of this most
grateful tree:--
'The average number of cacoa trees in a quarrée of land is 868.
'1st. The estates throughout the island are generally planted at a
distance of 12 feet by 12, and 13½ feet by 13½. Those planted at 12
by 12 contain 969 trees in the quarrée, and those at 13½ by 13½
contain 767 trees, the area of the quarrée being taken at 139,697
superficial feet. There may be in the island about 60 quarrées in
all, planted at 15 by 15 feet.
'2nd. The actual annual value of a quarrée of land planted in cacoa
is ten fanegas, or 1¼ lb. to a tree.
'It is to be observed that this is the general return from each tree
as estates are now cultivated, but if planters had the means of
keeping their estates in high cultivation, each cacoa tree would
produce 2 lbs. on an average.
'3rd. The annual average cost of cultivating a quarrée in cacao, and
manufacturing the produce therefrom, is 35 dollars, in the imperfect
manner it is carried on at present, thereby giving only 10 fanegas
per quarrée.'
I believe there are many estates in the island where the average
distance is less than 12 by 12; however, to give the present mode
the full benefit of the return, I will adopt, for comparison's sake,
the maximum number of trees; so that 960 trees per quarrée, at l¼
lb. per tree, gives 1,211 lbs. of cacao, at 5 dollars per 100 lbs.
is worth 60 dollars,[2] gross return per quarrée; deducting 36
dollars, not 80 dollars, for expenses, which leaves 24 dollars per
quarrée net, or about 7 dollars 75 cents per acre.
This is a startling account from lands among the most fertile in the
world, and from a plant, under fair treatment, next to the sugar
cane, perhaps the most grateful for the care bestowed, more
especially when we consider that more than ten times that quantity
might be obtained with a comparatively insignificant _outlay of
money_.
If such, then, be the case, as stated in the above report (and it is
to be regretted that it is too near the truth), apathy on the part
of those whose interests are so much concerned is unwarrantable. It
is not enough to say that our fathers must have known the proper way
to plant cacao; this is but a lame excuse, and not sufficient to
dispense with any exertions of the present generation, beyond merely
collecting whatever fruit may come, as it were, fortuitously.
Moreover, at the time the present cacao plantations were established
in this island, its cultivation was comparatively little known; it
is therefore likely that they might have erred, as they undoubtedly
did, in cramming them so close together; but notwithstanding this,
by a proper system of thinning, the evils might have been easily
obviated, and large crops ensured.
A few mornings ago, a cacao planter from Santa Cruz called on me,
and in conversation stated that the only place where he had anything
like a crop of cacao at present, was where the hurricane of the 11th
of October had devastated his estate most severely, and which he at
that time considered a ruinous visitation. I hope the lesson will
not be lost on him.
In Jamaica it is found necessary to prune the coffee trees yearly,
which is done with as much care as gooseberry or currant bushes in
England; but, notwithstanding this, I remember a friend of mine in
Jamaica telling me of the extraordinary difference on his coffee
plantation under the management of a person who understood and
attended more particularly to the pruning of his trees.
Lunan, in his 'Hortus Jamaicensis,' published in 1814, gives a very
elaborate article on the cacao, although its cultivation was almost
extinct in his day in that island. He, however, appears to have
derived his information chiefly from Blume, who wrote a short
account of Jamaica, in 1672, at which time cacao was the chief
export of the island. Lunan attributes its downfall to heavy
ministerial exaction, which was then, he says, upwards of 480 per
cent. on its marketable value. Speaking of the average weight of
cacao per tree, he has the following:--'The produce of one tree is
generally estimated at about 20 lbs. of nuts. The produce per acre
in Jamaica has been rated at 1,000 lbs. weight per annum, allowing
for bad years. In poor soils, and under bad management, the produce
of the tree rarely exceeds 8 lbs. weight.' He also says--'When the
cacao plants are six months old, the planter from this period must
not be too fond of cleaning the plantation from grass and herbage,
because they keep the ground cool; but all creeping, climbing
plants, and such weeds as grow high enough to overtop the cacao,
should be destroyed.' He gives the distance from tree to tree at 18
feet. I have long since been of opinion that it is of less
consequence to clean the ground beneath the trees than to attend to
the top-pruning of the shade trees, as well as to the cacao
(although the former is very desirable, it is nevertheless a
subordinate consideration). Under the present mode of cultivation
the ground-cleaning is the only one at all attended to, and that
badly.
A very important economy might also be made in the curing of the
cacao, by which much time would be saved, and consequently expense,
by adopting the same method as is used in Jamaica for drying coffee,
namely, floorings of cement, or, as they are called, barbecues. At
convenient distances in the centre of these floorings (which are
inclined planes) a slightly-raised circular ridge is formed with
cement, leaving an aperture at the lower side to allow the escape of
any water that may have lodged in them. The cacao is easily brought
together in these places in the event of rain, and at night covered
with portable wooden frames, which are readily removed by two men.
In this way the cacao would be dried in a fifth of the time much
more effectually, and of a brighter colour.
Any experiments tending to bring about a proper system of
cultivation and manufacture of cacao, must be beneficial to the
island, as well as to individuals; for it cannot be denied that the
cultivation of cacoa will still prove advantageous in proportion to
the care bestowed on it. Indeed its cultivation is at present
languishing, not so much from inadequate prices, as from a want of
proper attention to its cultivation."
In 1796, there were sixty plantations in Trinidad, which produced
96,000 lbs. In 1802 the plantations were reduced to fifty-seven, the
yield being about the same. In 1807, 355,000 lbs. of cacao were grown.
In 1831, there were 2,972 quarrees (each three acres and one-fifth
English) under cultivation in Trinidad with cacao, on which were
2,464,426 trees, which produced a crop of 1,479,568 lbs. In 1841 there
were 6,910 acres planted with cacao.
The following have been the exports from this island from 1821 to
1844:--
lbs.
1821 1,214,093
1822 1,780,379
1823 2,424,703
1824 2,661,628
1825 2,760,603
1826 2,951,171
1827 3,696,144
1828 2,582,323
1829 2,756,603
1830 1,646,531
1831 1,888,852
1832 1,530,990
1833 3,090,526
1834 3,363,630
1835 2,744,643
1836 3,188,870
1837 2,507,483
1838 2,571,915
1839 2,914,068
1840 2,007,494
1841 2,493,302
1842 2,163,798
1843 1,099,975
(Mill's Trinidad Almanac).
In a lecture delivered by Dr. Lindley before the Society of Arts,
alluding to the colonial products shown, at the Great Exhibition, he
said:--
"There was one sample which ought to be mentioned most especially;
namely, the cocoa of admirable quality which comes, or which may
come, from Trinidad. Cocoa--cacao, as we should call it--is an
article of very large consumption. Enormous quantities of it are now
used in the navy; and every one knows how much it is employed daily
in private life. It is, moreover, the basis of chocolate. But we
have the evidence of one of the most skilful brokers in London, who
has had forty years experience to enable him to speak to the
fact--that we never get good cocoa in this country. The consequence
is, that all the best chocolate is made in Spain, in France, and the
countries where the fine description of cocoa goes. We get here
cocoa which is unripe, flinty, and bitter, having undergone changes
that cause it to bear a very low price in the market. But it comes
from British possessions, and is, therefore, sold here subject to a
duty of only 18s. 8d. per cwt., whereas if it came from a foreign
country it would pay 56s.[3] The differential duty drives the best
cocoa out of the English market. Still it appears that we might
supply, from our own colonies, this very cocoa; because, as I have
said, there was exhibited, from Trinidad, a very beautiful sample,
quite equal to anything produced in the best markets of the
Magdalena, of Soconusco, or of other places on the Spanish main. It
had no bitterness, no flintiness, no damaged grain in it; but all
were plump and ripe, as if they had been picked. The cocoa from the
Spanish main goes into other countries, for the preparation of that
delicious chocolate which we buy of them. It is thrown out of our
market by the differential duty. But it is their own fault if our
own colonies do not produce fine cocoa, as Trinidad has conclusively
proved."
The exports of cacao from St. Lucia, where there are now 300 acres
under cultivation, have been as follows:[4]--I have also added the
produce of St. Vincent and Grenada imported here:--
Grenada. St. Lucia. St. Vincent.
lbs. lbs. lbs.
1828 75,275 17,384
1829 300,051 93,793 12,216
1830 337,901 153,340 9,989
1831 368,882 98,090 7,861
1832 196,195 51,925 538
1833 312,446 91,048 1,005
1834 349,367 60,620 2,197
1835 276,359 49,218 5,876
1836 307,236 47,950 7,721
1837 351,613 48,591 2,525
1838 426,626 38,590 6,588
1839 327,497 54,639 760
1840 269,680 82,293 3,956
1841 372,008 78,225 3,874
1842 280,679 55,175 7,268
1843 296,269 48,279 55,867
1844 544,253 65,667 8,304
1845 342,092 31,000 6,450
1850 609,911 1,372 8,642
1852 604,299 9,428 5,287
A little cacao is now grown in Antigua, about 19,000 lbs. having been
exported from that island in 1843, and 2,000 in 1846.
Dominica and British Guiana produce small quantities; our imports from
these quarters having been as follows:--
Dominica. Demerara.
lbs. lbs.
1833 8,808 2,051
1834 4,767 86
1835 685 126
1836 279 1,121
1837 1,896 522
1838 1,054
1839 1,127 58
1840 2,366 2,376
1841 4,014 129
1842 667 98
1843 4,614 4,178
1844 1,746 10,209
1845 5,444
The cultivation of cacao in Cuba is of comparatively recent
introduction, but it is expected to increase, and, in some degree, to
supply the place of coffee, which is evidently on the decline there.
In 1827, the gross produce of Cuba amounted to 23,806 arrobas, and the
exports to 19,053. In the same year, 15,301¾ arrobas were imported, so
that at that period the production was not adequate to the
consumption. The expectation of a great increase of production seems
not to have been realized, as the exports of cacao in 1837 were only
587¼ arrobas, while the imports amounted to 40,837½ arrobas.
There are now about sixty-nine cacao plantations in that island,
almost exclusively situate in the central and oriental departments,
which produced, in 1849, 3,836 arrobas, valued at 19,180 dollars.
Hayti exported, in 1801, 648,518 lbs. of cacao; in 1826, 457,592 lbs.,
and in 1836, 550,484 lbs.
The French island of Martinique produces a considerable quantity of
cacao. In 1763, there were stated to be 103,870 trees in bearing. The
produce exported in 1769 was 11,731 quintals. In 1770 there were
871,043 trees. In 1820 there were 412 square acres under cultivation
with cacao, producing 449,492 lbs.; and in 1835, 492 hectares, which
yielded 155,300 kilogrammes. I have no later returns at hand.
The beverage generally called _cocoa_ is merely the berries of
_Theobroma Cacao_, pounded and drank either with water or milk, or
with both. _Chocolate_ (of which I shall speak by and bye) is a
compound drink, and is manufactured chiefly from the kernels of this
plant, whose natural habitat would seem to be Guayaquil, in South
America, though it flourishes in great perfection in the West Indies.
It grows also spontaneously and luxuriantly on the banks of the
Magdalena, in South America; but the fruit of those trees that are
found in the district of Carthagena is preferred to all others,
probably from a superior mode of cultivation. Sir R. Schomburgk, in
his expedition into the interior of British Guiana, found the country
abounding in cacao, "which the Indians were most anxious to secure, as
the pulpy arillus surrounding the seed has an agreeable vinous taste."
Singular to say, however, they appeared perfectly ignorant of the
qualities of the seed, which possesses the most delightful aroma. Sir
Robert adds, they evinced the greatest astonishment when they beheld
him and Mr. Goodall collecting these seeds and using them as
chocolate, which was the most delicious they had ever tasted. These
indigenous cacao trees were met with in innumerable quantities on the
5th of June, 1843, and the following day; and thus inexhaustible
stores of a highly-prized luxury are here reaped solely by the wild
hog, the agouti, monkeys, and the rats of the interior.--(Simmonds's
Col. Mag. vol. i., p. 41.)
The height of the cacao shrub is generally from eighteen to twenty
feet; the leaf is between four and six inches long, and its breadth
three or four, very smooth, and terminating in a point like that of
the orange tree, but differing from it in color; of a dull green,
without gloss, and not so thickly set upon the branches. The blossom
is first white, then reddish, and contains the rudiments of the
kernels or berries. When fully developed, the pericarp or seed-vessel
is a pod, which grows not only from the branches, but the stem of the
tree, and is from six to seven inches in length, and shaped like a
cucumber. Its color is green when growing, like that of the leaf; but
when ripe, is yellow, smooth, clear, and thin. When arrived at its
full growth, and before it is ripe, it is gathered and eaten like any
other fruit, the taste being subacid. If allowed to ripen, the kernels
become hard; and, when taken out of the seed-vessel, are preserved in
skins, or, more frequently, laid on the vijahua leaves, and placed in
the air to dry. When fully dry, they are put in leathern bags, and
sent to market: this is the Spanish mode of taking in the crop. A
somewhat different method is followed in Trinidad and Jamaica (in the
latter island it can scarcely be said to be cultivated now); but it
differs in no essential degree from the principle of gradual
exsiccation, and protection from moisture.
_Chocolate_, properly so called, and so prized both in the Spanish
continent and in the West Indies, never reaches Great Britain except
as a contraband article, being, like nearly all colonial manufactured
articles, prohibited by the Custom-house laws. What is generally drank
under that name is simply the cacao boiled in milk, gruel, or even
water, and is as much like the Spanish or West India chocolate as
vinegar is to Burgundy. It is, without any exception, of all domestic
drinks the most alimentary; and the Spaniards esteem it so necessary
to the health and support of the body, that it is considered the
severest punishment to withhold it, even from criminals; nay, to be
unable to procure chocolate, is deemed the greatest misfortune in
life! Yet, notwithstanding this estimation in which it is held, the
quantity made in the neighbourhood of Carthagena is insufficient for
the demands of the population, and is so highly priced that none is
exported but as presents! The manner in which the Spaniards first
manufactured this veritable Theobroma--this food for gods (from
_Theos_, God, and _broma_, food)--was very simple. They employed the
cacao, maize, Indian corn (_Zea Mays_), and raw cane-juice, and
coloured it with arnatto, which they called _achiotti_ or _rocou_, but
which was known in Europe at that time by the name of _Terra
Orellana_. These four substances were levigated between two stones,
and afterwards, in certain proportions, mixed together in one mass,
which mass was subsequently divided into little cakes, and used as
required, both in the solid and fluid form.
The Indians used one pound of the wasted nuts, half a pound of sugar,
and half a pound of ground corn (maize) each, and then added
rose-water to make it palatable. This the Mexicans called chocolate,
from two words in their language, signifying the noise made by the
instruments used to mill and prepare it in the water. Many other
ingredients were subsequently added; but with the exception of
Vanilla, in the opinions of most persons, they spoil, rather than
improve it. Chocolate, as used in Mexico, is thus prepared: --The
kernels are roasted in an iron pot pierced with holes; they are then
pounded in a mortar, and afterwards ground between two stones,
generally of marble, till it is brought to a paste, to which sugar is
added, according to the taste of the manufacturer. From time to time,
as the paste assumes consistency, they add long pepper, arnatto, and
lastly, vanilla. Some manufacturers vary these ingredients, and
substitute cinnamon, cloves, or aniseed, and sometimes musk and
ambergris--the two latter on account of their aphrodisiac qualities.
The following is the formula given by a late writer:--To six pounds of
the nut add three-and-a-half pounds of sugar, seven pods of vanilla,
one-and-a-half pounds of corn meal (maize ground), half-a-pound of
cinnamon, six cloves, one drachm of capsicums (bird pepper), and as
much of the rocou or arnatto as is sufficient to color it, together
with ambergris or musk, to enforce (as he says) the flavor, but in
reality to stimulate the system. There is another chocolate made of
filberts and almonds, but this is not considered genuine. In old Spain
it is somewhat differently made; two or three kinds of flowers, also
the pods of Campeche, almonds, and hazel-nuts, being mixed up with it,
while the paste is worked with orange-water.
With regard to the manner in which chocolate is prepared in England
nothing need be said, as it is too well known to require description.
That which has appeared to me the best is "_Fry's Chocolate_," which
requires only to be rubbed up with a little boiling water, and scalded
milk added to it with sugar, according to the taste of the drinker;
there is a flavour, however, in this chocolate sometimes of _suet_,
which is probably added to give it a richness which the cacao employed
may not possess of itself. In the West Indies they rarely add anything
to cacoa but arnatto (sometimes a little fresh butter), though it is
often scented and sweetened, and sold in little rolls at five-pence
and ten-pence each, currency. It is always boiled with milk, which,
though very indigestible when boiled and taken alone, seems to lose
this quality when taken with chocolate. Chocolate thus made is much
drank, when cold, in the middle of the day, and is considered, both by
the negroes and the old settlers, as a most nutritive and salutary
beverage.
The signs by which _good chocolate_ or cacao is known are these:--It
should dissolve entirely in water, and be without sediment; it should
be oily, and yet melt in the mouth; and if genuine, and carefully
prepared, should deposit no grits or grounds. That made in the West
Indies, and in some parts of Cuba, is dark; but that manufactured in
Jamaica is of a bright brick colour, owing to the greater quantity of
arnatto which is used in the preparation, and which, I think, gives it
a richer and more agreeable flavor.
In an economical point of view, chocolate is a very important article
of diet, as it may be literally termed meat and drink; and were our
half-starved artisans, over-wrought factory children, and ricketty
millinery girls, induced to drink it instead of the innutritious
beverage called "tea," its nutritive qualities would soon develop
themselves in their improved looks and more robust constitution. The
price, too, is in its favour, cacao being eight-pence per pound; while
the cheapest black tea, such as even the Chinese beggar would despise,
drank by milliners, washerwomen, and the poorer class in the
metropolis, is three shillings a pound, or three hundred and fifty per
cent, dearer, while it is decidedly injurious to health.
The heads of the naval and military medical departments in England
have been so impressed with the wholesomeness and superior nutriment
of cocao, that they have judiciously directed that it shall be served
out twice or thrice a week to regiments of the line, and daily to the
seamen on board Her Majesty's ships, and this wise regulation has
evinced its salutary effects in the improved health and condition of
the men. Indeed, this has been most satisfactorily established in
Jamaica among the troops; and the same may be asserted of the seamen
in men of war on the coast.
But the excellent qualities of chocolate were known not only to the
Mexicans and Peruvians, from whom, as a matter of course, the
Spaniards acquired a knowledge of its properties; but European nations
also acknowledged its virtues. The Portuguese, French, Germans, and
Dutch, considered it an exceedingly valuable article of diet, and
Hoffman looked upon it both as a food and a medicine. In his
monograph, entitled _Potus Chocolati_, he recommends it in all
diseases of general weakness, macies, low spirits, and in
hypochondrial complaints, and what since his time have been termed
nervous diseases. As one example of the good effects of cacao, he
adduces the case of Cardinal Richelieu, who was cured of eramacausis,
or a general wasting away of the body, by drinking chocolate.[5] And
Edwards informs us that Colonel Montague James--the first white
person born in Jamaica after the occupation of the island by the
English--lived to the great age of 104; and for the last thirty years
of his life took scarcely any other food but chocolate. It is also
certain that those who indulge in excesses find their vigor more
speedily restored by the alternate use of chocolate and coffee than by
any other ingesta; and pigs, goats, and horses, which are fed even on
the spoiled berries, are observed to become very speedily fat, and in
good condition.
But cacao has not only the property of rapidly restoring the invalid
to health, strength, and condition, but a very inconsiderable quantity
of it will sustain life for a long period. The South American Indians
perform extraordinary journeys, subsisting, daring these prolonged
travels, on an incredibly small quantity of chocolate--so small,
indeed, as to render the accounts of travellers upon the subject
almost marvellous. In this respect it resembles coffee, which also
possesses the estimable property of sustaining the powers of life,
while it modifies and restrains the passion of hunger.
It is a curious fact, and how far this condition may be connected with
its powers of sustenance is worthy of inquiry, that chocolate recently
boiled, if the operation be performed in a tin pan, is highly
electrical; and this property may be frequently manifested by
repeating the process.
Cacao, according to Bridges, "was the favourite staple of the Spanish
commerce, trifling as that commerce was; and when the English took
possession of the island of Jamaica, it was that which first engaged
their attention. The extensive plantations left by their predecessors,
who had made it their principal food and only support, soon, however,
began to fail. They were renewed; but whether it might be from the
want of attention, or of information in the new colonists, the plants
never succeeded under their management; so that, disgusted with the
troublesome and unprofitable cultivation, they soon substituted
indigo." Yet forests of cacao trees grow wild in Guiana, the Isthmus
of Darien, Yucatan, Honduras, Guatemala, Chiapa, and Nicaragua; while
in Cuba, St. Domingo, and Jamaica, it was once an indigenous plant.
The following were the expenses of a cacao plantation in Jamaica
during the early period of British possession:--
£ stg
Letters patent of five hundred acres of land 10
Six negroes 120
Four white persons, their passage and maintenance 80
Maintenance of six slaves for six months 18
Working implements 5
----
£233
In four to five years the produce of one hundred acres would usually
sell for £4,240 sterling. This was a monstrous and most unlooked-for
return; but then, what was it to the profits of sugar, which, owing to
the prodigious increase of the slave trade, was fast coming into
active operation, and eating up and destroying all other sources and
springs of industry? How dearly have the West Indians paid for the
short-lived affluence which the sugar cane conferred!
Blome, in his brief account of Jamaica, published in 1672, speaks of
cacao as being one of the chief articles of export. He states that
there were sixty cacao-walks or plantations, and many more planting;
but, for many years, no cacao plantation has existed in Jamaica, all
the chocolate used being made from imported berries, or the chance
growth of a munificent climate and redundant soil! A few scattered
trees, Edwards says (and as I my self know), here and there, are all
that remain of those flourishing and beautiful groves, which were once
the pride and boast of the country. They have withered with the indigo
manufactory, under the heavy hand of ministerial exaction. _The excise
on cacao, when made into cakes, rose to no less than £12 12s. per
cwt., exclusive of 11s. 11½d. paid at the Custom-house, amounting
together to upwards of £840 per cent. on its marketable value!_
The mode of cultivating the cacao is given at some length by Edwards;
it is that of the Spaniards, a process strictly followed in Trinidad,
where, of all the West India islands, it constitutes a considerable
item of exports. It is thus described:--"A spot of level land being
chosen--preference is always given to a deep black mould, sheltered by
a hedge or thicket, so as to be screened by the wind, especially the
north, and cleared of all weeds and stumps of trees--a number of holes
are dug, at ten or twelve feet distance from each other, each hole
being about a foot in length, and six or eight inches deep. A very
important matter is the selection of the seeds for planting, and this
is done in the following manner: the finest and largest pods of the
cacao are selected when full ripe, and the grains taken out and placed
in a vessel of water. Those which swim are rejected; those chosen are
washed clean from the pulp, skinned, and then replaced in the water
till they begin to sprout; Banana (_Musa paradisiaca_), or some other
large leaves, those of the sea-side grape (_Coccoloba uvifera_), for
instance, are then taken, and each hole is lined with one of them,
leaving, however, the sides of the leaves some inches above ground;
after which the mould is rubbed in gently till the hole is filled;
three nuts are then selected for each hole, and they are set
triangularly in the earth, by making a small opening with the finger
about two inches deep, into which the nuts are put, with that end
downwards from which the sprout issues." They are then covered
lightly with mould, the leaf folded over, and a small stone placed on
the top, to prevent its opening; in eight or ten days the young shoots
appear above the ground; the leaves are then opened to give them light
and air, and a shelter from the sun, either in the shape of plantain
or banana leaves, is not forgotten; but the coco-nut and other species
of palm, on account of their fibrous structure and great durability,
are always preferred. This artificial shelter is continued for five or
six months. But, as a further security to the young plants, for they
are very delicate, other trees or shrubs are planted to the south-west
of the plants, that they may grow up with and shelter them, for young
cacao will grow and flourish only in the shade. For this purpose the
coral bean-tree (_Erythrina Corallodendrum_) is chosen. I should
presume there are other trees and plants equally eligible for this
purpose, and more useful; but my experience does not enable me to
speak positively upon the subject. Should the three seeds placed in
each hole spring up, it is thought necessary, when the plants are
fifteen or twenty inches high, to cut one of them down. The two
others, if they devaricate, are sometimes suffered to remain, but it
does not always happen that even _one_ of the three springs above the
earth; consequently this additional labor is not invariably requisite.
On the fourth or fifth year the tree begins to bear, and attains
perfection by the eighth, continuing to produce two crops of fruit per
annum, yielding at each crop from 10 lbs. to 20 lbs., according to the
nature of the soil. It will continue bearing for twenty years; but, as
it is a delicate plant, it suffers from drought, and is liable to
blight. In these respects, however, it does not differ from many other
plants, which are even more subject to disease, though not half so
valuable. Besides, a proper system of irrigation, such as could be had
recourse to in many parts of Jamaica, would obviate and prevent these
evils.
The whole quantity imported into the United Kingdom from the West
Indies and British Guiana during the last thirteen years, has been as
follows:--
lbs.
1831 1,491,947
1832 618,090
1833 2,125,641
1834 1,360,325
1835 439,440
1836 1,611,104
1837 1,847,125
1838 2,147,816
1839 969,428
1840 2,374,233
1841 2,919,105
1842 2,490,693
1843 1,496,554
1844 3,119,555
1845 3,351,602
1846 1,738,848
1847 3,026,381
1848 2,602,309
1849 3,159,086
1850 1,987,717
1851 4,347,195
1852 3,933,863
Cacao is cultivated in the highlands as well as on the coasts of the
north-eastern peninsula of the large and rich island of Celebes, which
has within the last year or two been thrown open to foreign trade. The
plantations of it are even now considerable, and this branch of
industry only requires not to be impeded by any obstacles in order to
be still further extended. It forms a large ingredient in the local
trade, and furnishes many petty traders with their daily bread, not to
speak of the landowners, for whom the cultivation of the cacao affords
the only subsistence. The preparation of the product differs from that
adopted in the West Indies, but we have not been able to ascertain the
practice. We may reckon that 1,200 to 2,000 piculs of 133 lbs. are
yearly produced; the prices vary much, being from 50 to 75 florins per
picul.--("Journal of the Indian Archipelago," vol. ii., p. 829.)
Bourbon now produces 15,000 to 20,000 kilogrammes of cacao annually.
Cacao is grown to a small extent in some of the settlements of Western
Africa, but as yet only a few puncheons have been exported, all the
produce being required for local consumption.
The following figures give the imports and consumption of cacao into
the United Kingdom in the last five years:--
Imports. Consumption.
lbs. lbs.
1848 6,442,986
1849 7,769,234 3,233,135
1850 4,478,252 3,103,926
1851 6,773,960 3,024,338
1852 6,268,525 3,382,944
The home consumption is very steady at about 3,000,000 lbs., yielding
to the revenue £15,000 to £16,000 for duty. The produce of British
colonies pays 1d. per lb. duty, that from foreign countries 2d; cocoa
husks and shells half these amounts; when manufactured into chocolate
or cocoa paste the duty is 2d. per lb. from British possessions, and
6d. from other parts. The quantity imported in this form is to the
extent of about 14,000 lbs. weight.
COFFEE.
The next staple I proceed to speak of is coffee--second only in
importance as a popular beverage to that universal commodity, tea. I
shall proceed, in the first instance, to take a retrospect of the
progress of the coffee trade, and glance at the present condition and
future prospects of produce and consumption. It will be seen, by
reference to the following figures, that the consumption of coffee in
the United Kingdom shows a successive decrease, from 1847 to 1850, of
6,414,533 lbs., and a loss to the revenue of £179,614.
HOME CONSUMPTION AND REVENUE OF COFFEE FOR THE
Years lbs. £
1824 8,262,943 420,988
1825 11,082,970 315,809
1828 17,127,633 440,245
1835 23,295,046 652,124
1839 26,789,945 779,115
1840 28,723,735 921,551
1844 31,394,225 681,610
1845 34,318,095 717,871
1846 36,793,061 756,838
1847 37,441,373 746,436
1848 37,106,292 710,270
1849 34,431,074 643,210
1850 31,226,840 566,822
1851 32,564,164 445,739
1852 35,044,376 438,084
I estimated, in a little treatise on coffee and its adulterations,
which I published in 1850, that not less than 18,000,000 lbs. of
vegetable matter of various kinds were sold annually under the
deceptive name of coffee. Three-fourths of these 18,000,000 lbs. of
pretended coffee were composed of chicory, and the remaining fourth of
other ingredients prejudicial to health, as well as a fraud upon the
revenue. The various substances used in adulterating both chicory and
coffee, when sold in the powdered state, have been specifically
pointed out and set forth from time to time in memorials from the
trade and the coffee-growers. Mr. M'Culloch and other competent judges
set down the actual consumption of chicory in the United Kingdom at
12,500 tons per annum. When we consider the vast difference of price
between chicory and coffee, as purchased by the wholesale dealer, the
temptation to its fraudulent use was obviously great, and there was no
penal restriction against it.
It will be interesting and useful to trace the history of the trade in
chicory from its first introduction.
The substitution of chicory for coffee occasioned a loss to the
revenue of three hundred thousand pounds sterling a-year, besides its
mischievous effect in adulterating and debasing a popular beverage
when used in such large and undue proportions for admixture, and sold
at the price of coffee.
Since the prohibition of the admixture of chicory with coffee, when
sold to the public, and the compulsory sale by Treasury minute of the
two articles in separate packages, a large and rapid increase in the
consumption of coffee has taken place, and the trade is now placed in
a healthy position. Whilst the increase in the consumption of coffee
from the 1st of January, to 5th September, 1852, was but 142,267 lbs.
as compared with the same period of 1851; the increase in the
remaining four months of the year was to the amazing extent of
2,350,368 lbs. This increased consumption is likely to continue, and
our colonial possessions are furnishing us with larger proportionate
supplies, as may be seen by the following figures:--
TOTAL IMPORTS OF COFFEE IN
1848 1849 1850 1851 1852
Produce of lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs.
British
Possessions
35,970,507 40,339,245 36,814,036 35,972,163 42,519,297
Ditto foreign
countries 21,082,943 22,976,542 13,989,116 17,138,497 11,857,957
---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Total 57,053,450 63,315,787 50,803,152 53,110,660 54,377,254
In the year 1832 chicory was first imported into England, subject to
a duty equivalent to that levied upon colonial coffee, and permitted
to be sold by grocers _separately_ as chicory; but notices were at the
same time issued, that the legal penalties would be rigidly enforced,
if discovered mixed with coffee.
In 1840, in consequence of memorials from the grocers and dealers in
chicory, and also from the circumstance of exceedingly high rates then
ruling for coffee, together with the disruption of our commercial
relations with China, simultaneously advancing the price of tea (thus
rendering both these popular beverages excessively dear to the
consumer), an order was issued from the Treasury to the Excise Board,
authorizing the admixture of chicory with coffee; a duty, however,
being still maintained on the former of £20 per ton on the kiln-dried,
and 6d. per lb. on the powdered root, when imported from abroad.
In the year 1845, the cultivation of chicory was introduced upon
British soil, and, being a home-grown commodity, was exempt from duty,
but nevertheless, by virtue of the said Treasury Order, was permitted
to enter into competition with a staple production of our own
colonies, contributing on its import a tax of 60 to 80 per cent. to
the revenue of the State.
The result, as might have been foreseen, necessarily created and
stimulated a demoralizing system of fraud, unjust and destructive to
the interests of the coffee planter, and prejudicial to the national
revenue.
The effects of so baneful a system being equally manifest upon both
consumption and revenue, they are here separately illustrated.
In 1824, according to the following high scale of duties, viz., 1s. on
West India, 1s. 6d. on East India, and 2s. 6d. on foreign, the Customs
derived from coffee was £420,988; in the following year the rates were
reduced one-half, and in the short space of three years the amount
yielded had advanced to £440,245, an increase which steadily
progressed (partly aided by the admission of the produce of British
India at the low duty) until it reached £921,551 in 1840. These
satisfactory results justified a further reduction of the duties in
1842 to 4d. on colonial and 8d. (and in the subsequent year to 6d.) on
foreign, under which the revenue declined in 1844 to £681,616. In 1846
it had again reached to £756,838, and was gradually recovering itself,
when this system of adulteration first began to extend itself
generally, and since that time the revenue has rapidly declined under
the _same scale of duties_ to £566,822 in 1850.
In 1824 the quantity retained for home consumption was 8,262,943 lbs.,
which was augmented to 11,082,970 lbs. in the first year of the
reduction of duty, and continued to exhibit an increase at a rate
rather exceeding two million pounds per annum until 1830, when coffee
would appear to have reached its limit of consumption without further
stimulus, and remained stationary until the modification of duties
allowing the admission of foreign coffee, _via_ the Cape, at the
colonial rate, when it advanced from 23,295,046 lbs. in 1835, to
28,723,735 lbs. in 1840; and consequent upon a further reduction of
duties in 1842, the elasticity of the trade experienced a still wider
development, and an increase of nine million pounds is exhibited in
the next five years. From that period, however, the general use of
chicory has not only checked the progressive increase of this healthy
demand, but an annual decline is observable to the extent of above six
million pounds in 1850, as compared with 1847.
On the 15th of April, 1851, with the view of partly remedying the
grievance of the colonists on this head, the duties were equalized and
reduced to 3d. The results are, however, far from satisfactory, either
in a fiscal or commercial point of view. It is true that an increase
in consumption, of one-and-a-quarter million pounds has taken place,
but at the sacrifice of £121,000 of revenue. But this increase, it
will be seen, has not exceeded 4¼ per cent., whilst there has been a
diminution of 21½ per cent. in the revenue receipts. Upon
investigation, moreover, it will be found that, notwithstanding the
_total_ increase exhibited, there has been an actual falling off of
894,778 lbs. of colonial coffee in 1851; the items for last year are,
however, much more favorable and encouraging for the planters.
No reasonable cause can be assigned for this rapid and serious
diminution in the consumption of coffee, except the notorious
substitution of chicory and other substances.
The arguments advanced to account for the falling off in the
consumption of coffee, by adducing the increase of tea and cacao for a
similar period are fallacious, and contrary to the commercial
experience of many years, which convincingly proves these kindred
articles to have always simultaneously increased, or diminished, in
ratio with the general prosperity of the kingdom, and the prevalence
of temperate habits among the community.
I shall now proceed to trace the fluctuations in the consumption of
coffee.
At the close of the last century the consumption of coffee was under
one million pounds yearly; the only descriptions then known in the
London market were Grenada, Jamaica, and Mocha--the two former
averaging about £5 per cwt., and the latter £20 per cwt. Grenada
coffee is now unknown, and Ceylon and Brazil are the largest
producers. In 1760, the total quantity of coffee consumed in the
United Kingdom was 262,000 lbs., or three quarters of an ounce to each
person in the population. In 1833 the quantity was 20,691,000 lbs., or
1½ lb. to each person. When first introduced into England, about the
middle of the 17th century, coffee was sold in a liquid state, and
paid a duty of 4d. per gallon; afterwards, until the year 1733, the
duty was 2s. per lb.; it was then reduced to 1s. 6d., since which it
has paid various rates of duty; in the year 1824 it was settled at 6d.
per lb. All descriptions of coffee now pay but 3d. per lb.
The consumption of coffee in the United Kingdom, for several years
previous to 1825, varied from seven millions and a half to eight
millions and a half pounds in round numbers, the duty being 1s. per
lb. on British plantation, 1s. 6d. per lb. on East India, and 2s. 6d.
per lb. on foreign. From the 5th of April of that year those rates
were each reduced to one half, and the immediate consequence was a
steady increase of the consumption until 1831, when it amounted to
23,000,000 lbs. The consumption continued, without any material
variation, at this rate, or to advance by very slow degrees, until
1836, when the duty on East India coffee was reduced to 6d. per lb.;
and this change had precisely the same effect as the previous one, for
the consumption again advanced to upwards of 26,000,000 lbs., which
was then considered, in a memorial of the London trade, to be as much
as our colonies were capable of producing! We now find, however, one
small island, Ceylon, producing a fourth more than this amount
annually.
The Belgians, a population of 4,500,000, consume more than 33,000,000
lbs. of coffee annually; quite as much as is used by the whole
35,000,000 French. The duty on 100 lbs. of coffee in France is more
than the common original cost--the Belgian duty not a tenth part; so
that the French do not use 1 lb. of coffee per head, while the
Belgians consume 7 lbs. each per annum. The proportion in England is
not more than 1½ lb. per head to the population. The United States are
the largest consumers of coffee, as it is admitted into their ports
free of duty, and can therefore be sold for nearly the price per pound
which the British Government levies on it for revenue. The entire
consumption of the United States and British North America, calling
their population 23,000,000 and ours 30,000,000, exceeds ours, on an
estimate of population, by sixfold. Thus the average consumption of
coffee by each American, annually, is about 8½ lbs., while the
quantity used by each person in the European States is less than 1½
lb.
The changes in the sources of supply, within the last fifteen or
sixteen years, have been very remarkable. The British possessions in
the East have taken the place which our islands of the West formerly
occupied. The British West Indies have fallen off in their produce of
coffee from 30,000,000 to 4,000,000 lbs. Ceylon which, fifteen years
ago, had scarcely turned attention to coffee, now exports nearly
35,000,000 lbs. San Domingo, Cuba, and the French West India colonies
are gradually giving up coffee-cultivation in favor of other staples;
and it is only Brazil, Java, and some of the Central American
Republics that are able to render coffee a profitable crop. The export
crop of Brazil (the greatest coffee-producing country), grown in 1850,
for the supply of the year ending July, 1851, amounted to no less than
302,000,000 lbs., of this a large quantity remained in the interior to
supply the deficiency of the current year.
It is scarcely thirty years ago that the coffee-plant was first
introduced into Bengal by two refugees from Manilla; and the British
possessions in the East Indies now yield 42,000,000 lbs. Sufficient
extent has not yet been given to enable it to be decided in what
district of _Continental_ India it may be most advantageously
cultivated. It is in the fine island of Ceylon, however, that
coffee-culture has made the most rapid progress.
It is an important fact that the supply of coffee from Ceylon, even at
the present moment, and irrespective of land already planted but not
yet come into full bearing, is in excess of the whole consumption of
Great Britain, and the planter is thus compelled to carry the surplus
to continental markets. The exports of coffee from Ceylon have been
rather stationary the past three years, averaging about 300,000 cwt.
In the sixteen years ending with 1851, Ceylon had exported 130,083
tons of coffee!
The present _produce_ of the various coffee-growing countries in the
world, may be set down at the following figures:
SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA.
Millions of lbs.
Costa Rica 9
La Guayra and Porto Cabello 35
Brazil 302
British West Indies 8
French and Dutch West Indies 7
Cuba and Porto Rico 30
St. Domingo 33½
ASIA AND THE EAST.
Java 140
The Philippine Isles 3
Celebes 1½
Sumatra 5
Ceylon 34
Malabar and Mysore 5
Arabia (Mocha) 3
---
616 = 275,000 tons.
This I have computed as accurately as possible from the most recent
returns, but it falls much below the actual capabilities of
production, even with the trees at bearing, and land already under
cultivation; and also, in a great measure, excludes the local
consumption in the producing countries. In many quarters there has
been a considerable falling off in the production. The British West
Indies, as we have seen, formerly exported 30,000,000 lbs., the French
and Dutch West Indies 17,000,000, Cuba and Porto Rico 56,000,000, and
St. Domingo, in the last century, 76,000,000. The growth of coffee has
been transferred from the West to the East Indies, and to the South
American Continent, where labor is more abundant, certain, and cheap.
In the East the increase in production has been enormous and
progressive, with, perhaps, the exception of Sumatra, which has fallen
off from 15,000,000 lbs. to somewhere about one-third of that
quantity.
The following statement may be taken as an approximate estimate of the
actual _consumption_ of coffee at the present time:--
Millions of lbs.
Great Britain 32
Holland and Belgium 125
France 33
German Customs Union 95
Other German Countries not included 46
in the Union, and Austria
Switzerland 13
Mediterranean Countries 20
Russia 12
Sweden and Denmark 20
Spain and Portugal 15
Cape of Good Hope and Australia 6
United States and British America 170
---
587
A calculation made in the _Economist_, a year or two ago, gave the
following as the probable consumption:--
Millions of lbs.
Holland and Netherlands 108
Germany and North Europe 175
France and South of Europe 105
Great Britain 37
United States and British America 175
---
Total 600
But this estimate is too high in some of the figures. Great Britain we
know, from the official tables only, consumes 34,000,000 lbs.
annually; the United States and British America not so much as set
down by several millions; for the official returns of the imports of
coffee into the United States show an average for the three years
ending June, 1850, of less than 154,000,000 lbs.; although a writer in
a recent number of "Hunt's Merchant's Magazine," New York, (usually a
well-informed periodical,) assumes a consumption of 200,000,000 lbs.,
for the North American States and Provinces.
The quantity of coffee produced being greater than the consumption
thereof, the growth of it becomes less remunerative, and consequently
we may look for a decrease in the supply. Ceylon, as well as the West
Indies generally, British and foreign, are likely to direct their
attention to some more profitable staple. A diminished production may
further be expected in Brazil, consequent on the extermination of the
slave-trade and the more sparing exertion of the labour of the slaves.
In Cuba the want of labour is so much felt that large engagements have
been entered into for the importation of Chinese; and there are many
reasons for expecting a diminished production in Java, the next
largest coffee-producing country. The necessary consequence of this
expected decrease in the quantity of coffee produced will be, to bring
the produce as much below the wants of the consumers as it is now
above, and this must again result in an enhancement of prices in
process of time.
If it were thought desirable to extend the production of coffee, there
are many new quarters, besides the existing countries in which it is
largely cultivated, where it could be extensively grown. We may
instance Liberia and the western coast of Africa generally, the
interior ranges of Natal, the mountain-ranges on the northern coast of
Australia, from Moreton Bay to Torres Straits, &c., &c. But the
present production is more than equal to the demand; and unless a very
largely increased consumption takes place in the European countries,
the present plantations (colonial and foreign) are amply sufficient to
supply, for many years to come, all the demands that can be made upon
their trees, a large proportion of which have yet to come into full
bearing.
The coffee tree would grow to the height of fifteen or twenty feet if
permitted, but it is bad policy to let it grow higher than four or
five feet. It comes to maturity in five years, but does not thrive
beyond the twenty-fifth, and is useless generally after thirty years.
Although the tree affords no profit to the planter for nearly five
years; yet after that time, with very little labor bestowed upon it,
it yields a large return.
Mr. Churchill, Jamaica, found that 1,000 grains of the wood, leaves,
and twigs of the coffee tree, yielded 33 grains of ashes, or 3.300 per
cent. The ashes consist of potass, lime, alumina, and iron in the
state of carbonates, sulphates, muriates, and phosphates, and a small
portion of silica. According to Liebig's classification of plants, the
coffee tree falls under the description of those noted for their
preponderance of lime. Thus the proportions in the coffee tree are--
Lime salts 77
Potass salts 20
Silica 3
---
100
I shall now proceed to describe the cultivation of the tree and
preparation of the berry, as carried on in different countries.
_Cultivation of Mocha_--In Arabia Felix, the culture is principally
carried on in the kingdom of Yemen, towards the cantons of Aden and
Mocha. Although these countries are very hot in the plains, they
possess mountains where the air is mild. The coffee is generally grown
half way up on their slopes. When cultivated on the lower grounds it
is always surrounded by large trees, which shelter it from the torrid
sun, and prevent its fruit from withering before their maturity. The
harvest is gathered at three periods; the most considerable occurs in
May, when the reapers begin by spreading cloths under the trees, then
shaking the branches strongly, so as to make the fruit drop, which
they collect and expose upon mats to dry. They then pass over the
dried berries a heavy roller, to break the envelopes, which are
afterwards winnowed away with a fan. The interior bean is again dried
before being laid up in store.
The principal coffee districts are Henjersia, Tarzia, Oudein, Aneizah,
Bazil, and Weesaf. The nearest coffee plantations are three-and-a-half
days journey (about 80 miles) from Aden.
The following information is derived from Capt. S.B. Haines of the
Indian Navy, and our political agent at Aden. A camel load is about
400 lbs = 25 frazlas or bales.
G.C. Commassees.
The price of ditto inland 31 41
At Mocha, duty to Dewla uncertain
Bake fee one butsha on each frazla 25
Weighing and clerk's fee 20
Packing 40
Camel hire to the coast 12 50
Cost from Sana to Mocha 44 15
Coffee is brought into the Sana market in December and January from
the surrounding districts.
The varieties are--
1. Sherzee, best--price 1 G.C. frazla 25 butsha.
2. Ouceaime.
3. Muttanee.
4. Sharrazee.
5. Hubbal from Aniss.
6. Sherissee from ditto--price per frazla 1 G.C. 15 B.
The nearest place to Sana where the coffee tree grows, is at Arfish,
half a day distant. Attempts have been made to introduce the shrub in
the garden of the Imaum at Sana, but without success, ascribed to
cold. Kesher is more prized at Sana; the best is Anissea, and is sold
at a higher price than other coffee, namely, g.c. 12 per 100 lbs.;
inferior, at from 4, 5, and 6.
Rain falls in Sana three times in the year. 1st. In January, in small
quantities. 2nd. Beginning of June, when it falls for eight or ten
days. By this time the seed is sown, and the cultivators look forward
to the season with anxiety. 3rd. In July, when it falls in abundance.
A few farmers defer sowing till this period, but it is unusual when
they expect rain in June.
The coffee plant is mostly found growing near the sides of mountains,
valleys, and other sheltered situations, the soil of which has been
gradually washed down from the surrounding heights, being that which
forms its source of support. This is afforded by the decomposition of
a species of claystone (slightly phosphoritic) which is found
irregularly disposed in company with a few pieces of trap-rocks,
amongst which, on approaching Sana from the southward, basalt is found
to preponderate. The clay stone is only found in the more elevated
districts, but the debris finds a ready way into the lower country by
the numerous and steep gorges which are conspicuous in every
direction. As it is thrown upon one side of the valley, it is
carefully protected by means of stone walls, so as to present to the
traveller the appearance of terraces. The plant requires a moist soil,
though much rain does not appear necessary. It is always found in
greater luxuriance at places where there is no spring. The tree at
times looks languid, and half withered; an abundant supply of water to
the root of the plant seems necessary for the full growth and
perfection of its bean.
_Progress of Cultivation in India_.--There are said to be ten
varieties of the coffee, but only one is found indigenous to India,
and it is questionable if this is not the Mocha species introduced
from Arabia. The cultivation of this important crop is spreading fast
throughout the east, and has been adopted in many parts of Hindostan.
In the Tenasserim provinces, on the table land of Mysore, in Penang,
and especially in the islands of Bourbon and Ceylon, it is becoming
more and more an object of attention. It is known to have given good
produce in Sangar and the Nerbudda; also in Mirzapore, as well as
Dacca, and other parts of Bengal; Chota Najpore, Malabar, and
Travancore. From three to four million pounds of coffee are now
exported from the Indian presidencies annually. The highest quantity
was four and a quarter million pounds in 1845, but the progress of
culture, judging from the export, has been small.
On the hilly districts on the east coast of the Gulf of Siam, the
cultivation is carried on on a limited scale. The annual produce is
not much more than about 400 cwt., although it is understood to be
increasing. The quality of the berry is reckoned to be nearly equal to
Mocha, and it commands a high price in the English market.
The soil recommended in India is a good rich garden land, the
situation high and not liable to inundation, and well sheltered to the
north-west, or in such other direction as the prevailing storms are
found to come from.
A plantation, or a hill affording the shrubs shade, has been found
beneficial in all tropical climates, because, if grown fully exposed
to the sun, the berries have been found to be ripened prematurely.
The spot should be well dug to a depth of two feet before the trees
are planted out, and the earth pulverised and cleared from the roots
of rank weeds, but particularly from the coarse woody grasses with
which all parts of India abound.
The best manure is found in the decayed leaves that fall from the
trees themselves, to which may be added the weeds produced in the
plantation, dried and burnt. These, then, dug in, are the only manure
that will be required. Cow-dung is the best manure for the seed-beds.
The seed reserved for sowing must be put into the ground quite fresh,
as it soon loses its power of germination. Clean, well-formed berries,
free from injury by insects, or the decay of the pulp, should be
selected.
These berries must be sown in a nursery, either in small, well-manured
beds, or in pots in a sheltered spot, not too close, as it is well to
leave them where sown until they acquire a good growth; indeed, it is
better if they are removed at once from the bed where they are sown,
to the plantation. Here they should be planted as soon as they have
attained two years of age, for, be it remembered, that if they are
left too long in the nursery, they become unproductive and never
recover. The distance at which they should be put out in the
plantation need not exceed eight feet apart in the rows, between
which, also, there should be eight feet distance. The seedlings appear
in about a month after the seed is sown.
The culture requisite is, in the first instance, to afford shade to
the young plants; many consider that this shelter should be continued
during the whole period of their culture; but this is somewhat
doubtful, as it has been found that plants so protected are not such
good bearers as those which are exposed. The best plants for this
purpose are tall, wide-branching trees or shrubs, without much
underwood. The other culture requisite is only to keep the ground
tolerably clean from weeds, for which one cooly on from five to ten
biggahs is sufficient. He should also prune off decayed or dead
branches. This treatment must be continued until the fourth year, when
the trees will first begin bearing, and, after the gathering of each
crop, the trees will require to be thinned out from the superabundant
branches, their extremities stopped, and the tops reduced to prevent
their growing above seven or eight feet in height; the stems, also,
should be kept free from shoots or suckers for the height of at least
one foot, as well as clear from weeds.
Irrigation must be frequent during the first year that the plants are
removed to the plantation, and may be afterwards advantageously
continued at intervals during the dry and hot weather, as a very hot
season is found unfavorable to the plant, drying up and destroying the
top branches and the extremities of the side shoots; whilst, on the
other hand, a very long rain destroys the fruit by swelling it out and
rotting it before it can be ripened: hence it is necessary to attend
to a good drainage of the plantation, that no water be anywhere
allowed to lodge, as certain loss will ensue, not only of the crop of
the current year, but most frequently of the trees also, as their
roots require to be rather dry than otherwise.
The crop will be ready to gather from October to January, when the
ripe berries should be carefully picked from the trees by hand every
morning, and dried in the shade, the sun being apt to make them too
brittle; they must be carefully turned to prevent fermentation, and
when sufficiently dry the husks must be removed, and the clean coffee
separated from the broken berries. After being picked out and put
aside, and then again dried, it is fit to pack. The first year's crop
will be less than the succeeding ones, in which the produce will range
from ½ a lb. to 1 lb. in each year.--(Simmonds's "Colonial Magazine,"
vol. xv.)
_Ceylon_.--Coffee is stated to have been introduced into this island
from Java, somewhere about the year 1730. It was extensively diffused
over the country by the agency of birds and jackalls. In 1821 its
cultivation may be said to have partially commenced, and in 1836, it
had become widely extended through the Kandyan provinces.
In 1839 not a tree had been felled on the wide range of the Himasgaria
mountains. In 1840 a small plantation was, for the first time, formed.
In 1846 there were fifty estates, then averaging, each, 200 acres of
planted land, and yielding an average crop of 80,000 cwt. of coffee.
Every acre is now purchased in that locality, and in large tracts, or
there would have been twice the number of estates in cultivation. In
1848, the Galgawatte estate, situate in this range, at an elevation of
4,000 feet, containing 246 acres, of which 72 were planted, was
purchased by Mr. R.D. Gerard, for £1,600.
The quantity of land which had been brought under cultivation with
coffee in this island in the ten years previous to the last reduction
of duty in 1844, was, in round numbers, 25,000 acres; but so rapid was
the subsequent increase, that in the succeeding three years, that
extent of land was doubled; so that, in 1847, there were upwards of
60,000 acres of land under cultivation with coffee, giving employment
to 40,000 immigrant coolies from the continent of India, and upwards
of two millions of capital were invested in the cultivation of this
staple.
The quantity of land under culture with coffee by Europeans, was about
55,000 acres in 1851. Allowing 20,000 acres to produce the quantity of
native coffee exported, and 5,000 for that consumed in the island, the
total extent of coffee cultivation in Ceylon, European and native,
will be 80,000 acres.
The produce exported in 1849 was 373,593 cwt., while in the year 1836,
when attention was first directed to this island as a coffee-producing
country, the crop was not more than 60,330 cwt. Large profits were
made by the first planters, more capital was introduced, until,
between the years 1840 and 1842, the influx of capitalists, to
undertake this species of cultivation, completely changed the face of
the colony, and enlarged its trade, and the produce of coffee in
sixteen years has increased sixfold.
The general culture resembles the practice in Java. Of the Ceylon
coffee, that grown about Ramboddi fetches the highest price, from the
superiority of the make, shape, and boldness of the berry. The weight
per bushel, clean, averages 56 lbs.; 57½ lbs. is about the greatest
weight of Ceylon coffee. The lowest in the scale of Ceylon plantation
coffee is the Doombera, which averages 54½ lbs., clear, per bushel.
The following have been the prices of good ordinary Ceylon coffee in
the port of London for the last eight years in the month of January,
1853, 46s. to 48s.; 1852, 40s. to 42s.; 1851, 38s. 6d. to 40s. 6d.;
1850, 56s. 6d. to 57s. 6d.; 1849, 31s. to 32s. 6d.; 1848, 31s. 6d. to
33s.; 1847, 39s. 6d. to 41s. 6d.; 1846, 49s. to 50s.
Forest lands are those usually planted in Ceylon, and the expense
attendant on clearing and reclaiming them from a state of nature, and
converting them into plantations, is estimated to average £8 per acre.
The lowest upset price of crown lands in the colony is £1 per acre.
Coffee planting has failed over a considerable portion of the southern
province of the island, where the experiment was tried. The
temperature was found to be too equable, not descending sufficiently
low at any time to invigorate the plant; which, though growing
luxuriantly at first, soon became weak and delicate. Nurseries are
established for young plants. The districts in which the coffee is
principally cultivated, extend over nearly the whole of the hilly
region, which is the medium and connecting link between the
mountainous zone and the level districts of the coast.
The mania for coffee planting has recently subsided, in consequence of
the barely remunerative returns at which that article has been sold,
ascribable partly to over-production, and in some measure, perhaps, to
the temporary glut of foreign coffee thrown on the British market by
the reduction of the duty. As regards the yield, some estates in
Ceylon have produced upwards of 15 cwt. per acre, but it is a good
estate that will average seven, and many do not give more than 4 cwt.
the acre.
The shipments from Colombo for five years, are stated below, with the
class of coffee:--
Plantation. Native. Total.
cwt. cwt. cwt.
1845 75,002 112,889 187,891
1846 91,240 70,991 162,231
1847 106,198 143,457 249,655
1848 191,464 88,422 279,886
1849 243,926 118,756 362,682
1850 198,997 56,692 255,689
1851 220,471 97,091 317,562
While, in 1839, the total value of the exports from Ceylon was only
£330,000, in 1850 the value of the single staple of coffee was no less
than £609,262, and in 1851 had still further increased.
I append a memorandum of the quantities of coffee exported from Ceylon
since 1836:--
Quantity. Value.
cwt. £
1836 60,329
1837 34,164
1838 49,541
1839 41,863
1840 68,206
1841 80,584 196,048
1842 119,805 269,763
1843 94,847 192,891
1844 133,957 267,663
1845 178,603 363,259
1846 173,892 328,781
1847 293,221 456,624
1848 280,010 387,150
1849 373,593 545,322
1850 278,473 609,262
1851 339,744
---------
Total in 16 years 2,600,832
---------
Average 162,552 (Ceylon Almanac for 1853.)
The local export duty of two-and-a-half per cent., was abolished from
1st September, 1848.
From these figures it appears that, in a period of sixteen years,
Ceylon exported two and a half millions of cwts. of coffee. The
consumption of coffee, although for a long time stationary in Britain,
now that adulteration is no longer legalised, is likely to increase as
rapidly as in other parts of the world; and it appears pretty evident
that, so long as anything like remunerative prices can be obtained,
Ceylon will do her part in supplying the world with an article which
occupies the position of a necessary to the poor as well as a luxury
to the rich. The exports of coffee from this colony have, within a few
thousands of hundredweights, been nearly quadrupled since 1843, when
only 94,000 cwts. were sent away.
Dr. Rudolph Gygax, in a paper submitted to the Ceylon Branch of the
Royal Asiatic Society, offered remarks on some analyses, of the coffee
of Ceylon, with suggestions for the applications of manures.
"Having had," he observes, "my attention drawn to an account of an
analysis of the Jamaica coffee berry, made by Mr. Herapath, the
Liverpool chemist, I have paid some little attention to the subject
of the coffee plant of this island, forming, as it does, so very
important a feature in the resources of this colony. The desire that
I thus felt for obtaining some information regarding the constituent
parts of the Ceylon tree and its fruit, was heightened by a
knowledge of the fact, that not a few of those coffee estates, which
once gave good promise of success, are now in a very precarious
state of production.
I much regret that the means at my disposal have not allowed me to
carry out any _quantative_ analysis, but the result of my labours
are sufficiently accurate for my present purpose. I have analysed
the wood and fruit of trees from two different localities, as well
as the ashes of some plants sent me from the Rajawella estate near
Kandy, and they all tend to bear out the result of Mr. Herapath's
inquiries. Placing the substances traced in the coffee plant in the
order in which they occur in the greatest quantity, they will stand
thus:--
Lime, potash, magnesia, phosphoric acid, other acids.
Of these lime is by far the most prominent, forming about 60 per
cent. of the whole.
I cannot help, therefore, arriving at the conclusion that, to
cultivate coffee with any degree of success, the first-named
substance must be present in the soil; or, if not present, must be
supplied to it by some process.
Now it is a singular fact that the rocks and soils of Ceylon are
greatly deficient in alkaline matter; and, taking this view of the
case, one no longer wonders that many estates cease to produce
coffee. That all, or nearly all the plantations did, in their first
year or two of bearing, produce liberally in fruit, may readily be
accounted for by the fact that the alkaline poverty of the soil was
enriched by the burning of the vast quantities of timber which lay
felled on all sides. Whilst this temporary supply lasted, all was
well with the planter. Heavy rains, and frequent scrapings of the
land with the mamotie, or hoe, soon dissipated this scanty supply,
and short crops are now the consequence.
But nature, ever bountiful, ever ready to compensate for all
deficiencies, has provided to our hands a ready means of remedying
this evil of the soil, by scattering throughout most parts of the
interior supplies of dolomitic limestone. The dolomite of Ceylon is
not pure, far from it, being mixed freely with apatite or phosphate
of lime. Even in this very accidental circumstance the coffee
planter is aided; for the phosphoric acid thus combined with the
limestone is the very substance required in addition. Some of the
finest properties in the island are situated on a limestone bottom,
and these no doubt will continue to yield abundant crops for a very
long period.
It has been urged against this opinion that in some districts where
coffee planting has proved a complete failure, dolomite is found
most abundantly; but I have very little doubt that the dolomite
here alluded to is only _magnesian_ limestone, and which is most
inimical to the coffee bush.
I am aware that already several manures have been tried on coffee
with varying degrees of success. Guano has, I believe, quite failed,
and is besides very costly. Cattle manure is said to be effective,
and no doubt it is, but it is a costly and troublesome affair.
Bones, ground fine, are now being tried, though they cannot but
prove most expensive, especially when imported.
A ton of bone dust contains of animal matter, 746 lbs,; phosphates
of lime, &c., 1,245 lbs.; carbonates of lime, &c., 249 lbs.
The virtue of bones lies in the phosphates far more than in the
animal matter, and thus their action on soils is felt for many years
after their application. The Singalese cultivators of paddy about
Colombo and Galle, appear to have been long aware of the fertilizing
effects of this kind of manure, and import the article in dhonies
from many parts of the coast: they bruise them coarsely before
applying them.
The partially decomposed husks of the coffee berry have been tried
for some years, and successfully, but they are difficult of
collection, and bulky to remove from one part of the estate to
another.
In Europe it would appear that little is yet known as to the causes
of the fertilising effects of oil cake: some suppose them to arise
mainly from the oil left by the crushing process, but this is not at
all clear. I do not, however, see that we must look for much
assistance from Poonac as a manure for coffee: for the cocoanut tree
it is doubtless most valuable, but we have yet to learn that, beyond
supplying so much more vegetable matter, it helps the action of the
soil on the roots of the coffee bush, which, after all, is what is
really required.
For the proper application of the dolomite to land as manure, it
should be freely burnt in a kiln, with a good quantity of wood, the
ashes of which should be afterwards mixed with the burnt lime, and
the whole exposed for several days to the action of the air,
sheltered of course from the weather. The mixture should be applied
just before the setting in of the monsoon rains: if the land be
tolerably level, the lime may be scattered broadcast on the surface,
though not quite near the plants. When the estate to be manured is
steep, then the substance to be applied should be placed in ridges
cut crossways to the descent of the slopes.
About one cwt. to the acre would be ample for most lands; some may,
however, require more. The contents of the husk pits might
advantageously be mixed up with the burnt lime, when a sufficiency
of it has been saved.
A planter in Ambagamoe states that he has tried the following remedy
for that destructive scourge, the coffee-bug, with great success.
He applies saltpetre in a finely-powdered state, dusted over the tree
when wet with rain or dew. The operation is inexpensive, as a very
small quantity suffices, one cwt. being sufficient for nine or ten
acres. It can be applied through a bamboo-joint covered with a
perforated top, or any equally simple contrivance.
Messrs. Worms' are reported to have found coco-nut oil an effectual
remedy.
To sum up the question of manures:--
Poonac, the marc or cake, after the coco-nut oil is expressed, is
represented to be a stimulating manure; but is not durable. Lime is an
useful application, especially to stiff soils, as the coffee tree
contains 60 parts of lime. Bone-dust is an excellent fertiliser, but
in Ceylon it is found that it cannot be applied at a less expense than
£5 per acre. Cattle manure is the cheapest and most available. Guano
does not seem suitable.
_Peeling, pulping, and winnowing._--The coffee-peeler, used for
separating the bean from the pellicle, was formerly a large wheel
revolving in a trough, the disadvantage of which was the flattening
more or less of the bean when not thoroughly dry. A new machine has
been recently introduced, the invention of Mr. Nelson, C.E., of the
Ceylon iron works, by which this evil is obviated; its principle being
not weight, but simple friction, of sufficient force to break the
parchment at first, and, when continued, to polish the bean free from
the husk. A very simple winnowing machine for cleaning the coffee as
it comes out of the peeler, is attached. From the winnowing machine it
runs into the separating machine, which sorts it into sizes, and
equalizes the samples, by which a vast amount of time and manual
labour are saved. The same principle is intended to be applied by Mr.
Nelson to pulping, which will obviate the injury now inflicted by the
grater upon the fresh berry. In spite of the greatest care numbers of
the beans in a sample, on close examination, will be found scratched
or pecked; and when the closest attention is not paid, or the person
superintending the process is devoid of mechanical skill, the injury
is proportionate.
The ordinary pulping-mill in use, consists of a cylinder of wood or
iron, covered with sheet brass or copper, and punctured similarly to a
nutmeg grater. This cylinder, technically called the barrel, runs upon
a spindle, which turns a brass pick on each side of a frame.
Immediately in a line with the centre upon which it turns, and placed
vertical to each other, are two pieces of wood, frequently shod with
iron of copper, called "the chops," placed about half an inch apart,
or sufficient to allow the passage of "parchment" coffee between them.
The lower chop is placed so close to the barrel, yet without contact,
that all coffee must be stopped by it and thrown outwards. The upper
chop is adjusted to that distance only which will permit the cherry
coffee to come into contact with the barrel; but will not allow the
berries to pass on till they have been denuded of their red epidermis
by a gentle squeeze against its rough surface. The far greater portion
of the pulps are separated by being carried past the lower chops upon
the sharp points of the copper, and thrown out behind, and a few are
left with the parchment coffee. As from the different sizes of the
berries, and their crowding for precedence as they descend from the
hopper above to the gentle embrace of the barrel and upper chop, some
pass unpulped, the coffee as it comes from the lower chop is made to
fall upon a riddle, which separates the unpulped cherries. These are
put back again, and passed through a pulper with the upper chop set
closer. The secret of working-appears to be the proper setting of the
chops, and many have been the schemes proposed for reducing this to a
certainty. Perhaps, after all, few plans are better than the old
wedges, by tightening or loosening of which the chop is kept in the
required position. Within the last few years, the machine has been
considerably improved by being formed entirely of iron, cog-wheels
being substituted in the place of straps and drums to move the riddle,
and the riddle itself is now formed of two sieves, by which the chance
of unpulped berries reaching the parchment is lessened. On some
estates, water-wheels have been put up to drive several pulpers at one
time, which otherwise would require from two to four men each to work
them, but from the costly buildings and appurtenances which such
machinery renders necessary, they are rare.
Although the operation of pulping is so simple, it is one which
requires the machine to be set in such a way that the greatest
quantity of work may be done, or, in other words, the smallest
quantity of unpulped berries be allowed to pass through. On the other
hand, the berries must not be subjected to injury from the barrel; for
if the parchment skin is pricked through, the berry will appear, when
cured, with an unsightly brown mark upon it. Several new coverings for
barrels, instead of punctured copper, have been tried; among others,
coir-cloth and wire net, but the old material is not as yet
superseded. After pulping, the coffee in parchment is received into
cisterns, in which it is, by washing, deprived of the mucilaginous
matter that still adheres to it. Without this most necessary
operation, the mucilage would ferment and expose the berry to injury,
from its highly corrosive qualities.
As some portion of pulp finds its way with the coffee to the cistern,
which, if suffered to remain would, by its long retention of moisture,
lengthen the subsequent drying process, various methods have been
adopted to remove it. One mode is to pass the coffee a second time
through a sieve worked by two men; another to pick it off the surfaces
of the cistern, to which it naturally rises.
In August, 1846, premiums were awarded by the Ceylon Agricultural
Society to Messrs. Clerihew and Josias Lambert for the improvements
they had introduced into coffee-pulpers, which, by their exertions,
had been brought to great perfection. The first improved complete
cast-iron pulper received in the island, was made for Mr. Jolly, from
drawings sent home by Mr. Lambert to Messrs. B. Hick and Son,
engineers. This pulper is one of the most perfect in every respect
that has yet been brought into use, the disadvantages belonging to the
old machine having been entirely remedied. The sieve crank has a
double eccentric action. The chops are regulated by set screws, and
the sieve suspended in a novel and secure manner, the whole combining
strength and efficacy, together with an elegance of form, which will
likewise be appreciated.
Mr. W. Clerihew, of Ceylon, submitted to the Great Exhibition a model
of his approved apparatus for drying coffee (which has been patented
in the name of Robert R. Banks, Great George Street, Westminster), and
received the Isis gold medal for the same. The intention is to dry the
vegetable and aqueous moisture of the berry. Before this is required,
the coffee has previously undergone the process of pulping, or
removal from the soft fleshy husk. Here let Mr. Clerihew describe the
advantages for himself--
"When the coffee berry is picked from the tree it bears a closer
resemblance to a ripe cherry, both in size and appearance; and
several processes have to be gone through before the article known
in commerce as coffee is produced. In the first place, the pulpy
exterior of the cherry has to be removed by the process of pulping,
which separates the seed and its thin covering called the parchment,
from the husk. When the pulping process is completed, we have the
parchment coffee by itself in a cistern, and the next process
consists in getting rid of the mucilage with which it is covered."
Having become assured, both by experiment and by Liebig's reasoning,
that the successive stages of decomposition were wholly ascribable to
the action of the stagnant air which occupies the interstices between
the beans, and taking into account that a mass of coffee presented a
medium pervious to air, it occurred to Mr. Clerihew that it was
possible, by means of fanners, working on the exhausting principle, so
to withdraw air from an enclosed space as to establish a current of
air through masses of coffee spread on perforated floors forming the
top and bottom of that space. The plan he carried into execution at
Rathgoongodde plantation in 1849. No sooner was the plan put in
operation than, instead of stagnant air occupying the interstices of
the beans and gradually acting on them, a stream of air was
established and flowing through the mass of coffee, each bean of it
became surrounded by a constantly renewed atmosphere of fresh air.
_Java_.--When Arabia enjoyed the exclusive monopoly of coffee, it
could not be foreseen that one day the island of Java would furnish
for the consumption of the world from 125 to 130 millions of pounds
per annum. The cultivation was introduced by M. Zwaendenkroom, the
Governor-General of Batavia, who obtained seeds from Mocha, in 1723.
According to official statements the following are the exports.
In 1839 there were exported 46,781,729 kilogrammes, valued at 48
million florins. Eight years labor, 1833 to 1841, brought its produce
of coffee from 12 million kilogrammes annually, up to 55 millions.
In 1846, the exports were 916,876 piculs, but, in 1850 they were only
14,801 piculs. The total coffee crop of Java was in 1850, 1,280,702
lbs.; in 1851, 1,436,171 lbs.; in 1852, 1,229,349 lbs.
1840 1841
Residences in which this produce has been
cultivated in 1840 and 1841 20 20
Number of families destined for the labor 470,673 453,289
Trees which have yielded a crop 916,193,894 216,085,600
Trees which have produced the average quantity
of a picul of 125 lbs. Dutch 280 248
Quantity of coffee furnished to the godowns
in piculs 706,258 877,444
Trees according to the reckoning made in the
month of March, 1841 and 1842 336,922,460 329,898,936
The comparative result of this table shows--1st. That, in the year
1841, coffee had been gathered from 20,000,000 more trees than the
number in 1840, and that the crop had increased by 171,000 piculs.
2nd. That, in the month of March, 1842, there were above 7 millions
less of coffee trees than in 1840. This diminution is merely nominal,
seeing that these trees have served to replace those which by their
small produce have to be suppressed in the lowlands of the residency
of Baylen. On the contrary, the increase of trees, planted from 1839
to 1840, amount to very nearly the same number, of 7 millions.
3rd. That, in the season of 1842, there was planted nearly 20 millions
of plants; of which 12 millions are to serve to replace the old trees,
and 8 millions are destined to extend this culture. It is calculated
that this island will very soon be in a condition to produce a million
of piculs or 125 millions more of Dutch pounds of coffee. Previous to
1830, Java scarcely exported as much as 40 millions of pounds.
_Cultivation and Preparation of Coffee in Java_.--For the following
valuable details I am indebted to M. de Munnick, the inspector of the
agricultural department, Batavia, as contributed to my "Colonial
Magazine" (vol. xi. p. 46).
_Soil and Situation_.--Elevated lands are found to be those best
suited for the growth of coffee in Java. Land situated between 1,000
and 4,000 feet above the level of the sea may be generally said to be
adapted to the cultivation of coffee. It must not be taken for granted
that all ground of less elevation is unsuited. Suitable ground is to
be found lower down, but the cultivation on it is more difficult; the
tree gives less fruit, and the plant is less durable. Valleys lying
between high mountains are more especially fit for coffee plantations,
because the soil which is washed down from the heights affords fresh
food continually to the lowlands; the valleys themselves are moist,
since the hills surrounding them attract the rain; and they are shut
out from severe winds by the same protecting enclosure. The soils best
suited to the successful growth of coffee may be classed as follows:--
_Firstly_. Cleared forest lands, especially those in which the black
leafy, or vegetable mould is found to considerable depth. These are
the richest grounds, and will support the coffee plant for many years,
and they are also cultivated with the least trouble.
_Secondly_. Dark brown soils, approaching to black, which, without
having much clay in them, appear to the eye to have a mixture of
coral. The greater the depth of this coral-like stratum, and of the
reddish or deep yellowish soil, the better is the ground for coffee.
This kind of land also has sufficient strength and substance to afford
nourishment for many years to the plant; but it entails more trouble
than the before mentioned soils, because the young plant does not so
speedily strike root into it, and sometimes dies, so that provision
has to be made against failures.
_Thirdly_. Reddish and loose ground, such as is generally found in
the neighbourhood of volcanic lands. This kind is frequently found
well adapted for coffee; it flourishes on such land luxuriantly, but
does not last long, as the ground possesses less strength and
nourishing substance.[6] By digging in different places we become
better acquainted with the nature of the ground, but we may take it as
a rule, that rich old forest land on which many larger trees are
found, and plains covered with heavy underwood, most frequently offer
eligible sites for coffee plantations.
Grounds in which loam is found, and stony soils, are unfit for coffee.
But I do not mean by "stony soils" land on which many stones are
lying, for on that very account it may be most suitable; but I mean
land which shows a pebbly stratum just below the surface, or such as
is of a porous, stony nature. In the choice of situation care must be
taken to select that which is as much as possible protected against
the south-east wind, because its dry influence is very injurious to
the coffee plant, and also prevents the growth of the _Erythrina_
(known here locally as the Dadap tree) which is so necessary for its
shade. Flat grounds, or gentle declivities, are better than steep
slopes; yet the latter can be well employed if proper care is taken.
_Cultivation_.--After the ground has been cleared in the dry
season--that is, after the bushes have been rooted out, the
undergrowth burnt off, and the thickets removed--ploughing is
commenced in September. When the ground has twice been deeply
ploughed, the weeds and roots must be brought together with the rake
and carefully burnt. The depth of the ploughing must be regulated by
the nature of the ground. In all kinds of cultivation, deep ploughing
is recommended, but in Java we ought not to plough deeper than the
stratum of fertile soil, as a kind of subsoil may be wrought uppermost
injurious to plants, and which, before it can become fertile, must for
a year at least have been exposed to the atmosphere.
The ground having been turned up, should be left exposed for some days
to throw off the vapor arising from it; and must then be again
ploughed and cleared with the rake. After waiting for some days, it
should be ploughed for the fourth and last time, and made as clean and
friable as possible. In small plantations this is to be done with the
spade, but on large estates the roller must be used. This roller
consists of a heavy piece of round wood, eight or ten feet long, to
which a pole is fastened in the middle to have oxen harnessed to it.
It is drawn slowly over the ploughed land, and presses the clods to
earth. To give it greater force, the driver sits or stands upon it.
Before the field has been properly ploughed and rolled in the above
way, the middle of October will have arrived, and we then begin to
open a path through the plantation from the highest to the lowest
point, about two roods broad, and the whole of the land is then
divided into separate parcels. Portioning off the estates into
divisions of equal size is a system to be much recommended. By this
means labor may be equally divided, superintended and inspected. Order
and regularity, which are necessary in all things, are most especially
required in cultivation on a large scale.
The size of these parcels is regulated by the nature of the estate. On
flat or gently declining land they may be greater than on steep
grounds, because, in order to prevent the washing away of the soil on
precipitous land, the water must be led off by trenches, which of
themselves make the divisions of land smaller. On flat ground the
divisions may be each 625 square roods, each of which may contain, if
planted--
Trees.
12 feet by 12 625
10 " 10 900
8 " 8 1406
6 " 6 2500
The distance between the coffee bushes cannot be definitely laid down,
as it depends on the nature of the soil. On the most fertile forest
lands twelve feet by twelve is a good distance. Only on low and meagre
grounds, where the tree grows less luxuriantly and strong, can six
feet by six be reckoned a proper distance.
Between the divisions a path should be left, one rood in breadth.
Along the middle paths and by the side of the divisions drains must be
cut, the former two feet in breath and depth, the latter one foot. The
drains along the divisions must be cut in such a way as to conduct the
rain-water to the larger drains which flank the middle paths. On
precipitous ground, when the coffee is planted, small ridges should be
raised between the rows, to prevent the rich earth from washing down
in the heavy rains. The steeper the land is, the closer these ridges
should be; and care should be taken to incline them, so as to break
the descent, the direction of which they should in some degree follow.
The first ridges may be made with the branches of the trees which have
been felled, or with the rubbish cleared from the ground on the first
raking of it.
_Placing the pickets._--When the ground has been worked and divided in
the above manner, the pickets are placed. These are slips of bamboo
one-and-a-half to two feet long. First--two long canes (which do not
stretch like string), each one hundred feet long, are marked off in
feet according to the distance at which the planting is to take place;
heavy stakes are made fast to each end of them, by which they can be
well secured on the ground. At the places where they are marked off in
feet, strings are fastened so tightly that they cannot be displaced;
and then the canes are laid down and well fixed in the ground, one in
the length and the other in the breadth.
Picketing does not give much trouble; it ensures regular planting, and
makes the daily inspection simple. The planting thus takes place in
straight lines, which give an ornamental appearance, and afterwards
renders the view over the whole plantation easy. At every place where
a string has been tied, a picket is stuck in the ground; then the cane
is removed to another place, and so on till all the estate is marked
out by pickets. After the picketing, a hole is made with the spade at
every mark; it should be a good foot broad and deep, and the earth
inside should be made very fine and clear. The earth is now ready to
receive the coffee plant, and the time has only to be waited for when
the first rains fully begin.
_Nurseries_.--In the month of October, or earlier, if coffee trees are
near at hand, nurseries must be prepared in the neighbourhood of the
land about to be planted. This can be done in the ravines, or, if they
are too far from the spot where the plants are wanted, pieces of
ground most convenient can be selected. If the ravines are preferred,
places must be chosen which are shaded by trees not prejudicial to the
coffee plants. On ground where there is no trees, the nurseries may be
covered, at the height of four feet, with leaves of jack (_Artocarpus
integrifolia_), areca, or other palm trees, in a manner to admit the
air.
The ground made loose and fine, coffee plants newly opening, or seeds
only, are planted or sown at a distance of four inches square; 500
square roods will in this way furnish 648,000 plants, which are
sufficient for an estate of 300,000 trees. Transplanting from
nurseries is absolutely necessary in coffee cultivation, and the
trouble it costs is always doubly repaid. Having a choice of plants, a
person can be convinced he has taken none but healthy trees, and he
proceeds therefore with a confidence of success. After the first year,
all failures having been nearly replaced, the estate is fully planted,
the trees are of regular growth, and no useless clearing is
required--a thing which is always necessary in irregular plantations.
It is easy also to pick the berries from the trees which are planted
with regularity; the work goes on smoothly; and, when the estate has
lived its time, it may be abandoned altogether, without leaving
patches of living trees here and there, which renders superintendence
so very difficult.
There should always be a plentiful supply of plants, to give an ample
choice and to make up for failures. When plants are placed in the
nurseries, they should not have more than two offshoots, or leaves,
above each other; and when the ball plants are transplanted, they
should not be higher than a foot, as large plants always give meagre
trees.
At the end of November or beginning of December, if the nurseries are
kept free from weeds, and, if necessary, occasionally watered, the
plants will be about a foot high, and will have put forth 4 or 5
leaves; they are then just fit to be transplanted. Then, the ground is
cloven with the spade, at a distance of an inch and a half round the
stem of the plant, to about three inches deep; the plant, with the
ball of earth adhering to it, is carefully lifted out of the ground,
and the ball is wrapped in a jack, plantain, or other leaf, and tied
to prevent the earth falling off; but, before the plants are thus
taken from the ground, it must be moistened to make the earth
adhesive.
_Planting the coffee trees_.--The plants, which, after the above
operation are called "ball plants," are then placed in a bamboo wicker
frame, and are carefully carried by two men to the place where they
are to be put into the ground. They are then taken out of the frame
and placed in the holes next to the pickets. The pickets are removed,
and the plant is fixed upright; the leaf surrounding the ball is made
loose, but not taken away; the planter presses the plant down with his
hand and fills up the hole with fine loose earth, and the business of
planting the coffee tree is finished.
_Planting the Dadap tree_.--This is a species of Erythrina, probably
_E. indica_, or _E. arborescens_; that used for the purpose in the
West Indies is _E. Corallodendrum_. In Java, as soon as the coffee is
planted, the operation of planting the dadap tree is commenced. The
best sort of dadap comes from Serp or Mienyak; it is smooth and
broad-leaved, and shoots up quickly. Thick young stems are chosen,
about three feet long, and the lower part is pointed off. If the dadap
is moist or juicy, it should be cut twenty-four hours before it is
planted. The dadap is planted uniformly by measuring the cane in the
same way as the coffee itself. Between every two rows of coffee one of
dadap is planted, not on a line with the coffee plants, but
alternately with them; thus, if the coffee is eight feet by eight, the
dadap is sixteen by sixteen. The dadap is planted to the depth of a
foot, with somewhat of a westerly inclination, in order that the
morning sun may fall on a larger surface of the stick. The ground must
be stiffly trodden round the bottom of the stem, and the upper part of
it should have some kind of leaf tightly bound around it to prevent
the sap from escaping. When the coffee and dadap plants have thus been
put out, every fifth day the young plantation should be carefully
inspected, and a picket placed wherever there is a failure, as a mark
to the planter that a new plant is there required. This operation of
replacing failures is carried on all through the wet season, and the
dadaps which have not succeeded are at the same time changed.
_Keeping up the estate_.--In the first six months after planting, the
estate should be cleaned each fortnight with the hoe; the ground being
well moved and the weeds taken out. Those weeds which are too close to
the plants to be removed in this manner, must be pulled out with the
hand. When the plantation is thus wholly or partially cleaned, the
earth must be taken off the weeds, and they must be collected and
thrown on the pathways.
The weeding in this manner gives at first a great deal of trouble, but
it is most advantageous in the long run, as the weeds are thus easily
kept down.
Great care must be taken to do away with an old custom of burying the
weeds in large holes on the estates. It conduces to bad and slovenly
habits, such as cutting off the tops of the weeds by wholesale, and
thus giving the plantation an appearance of cleanliness, whilst it, in
fact, is as dirty as ever. This is soon discovered by the weeds
showing themselves again above ground in a very few days, and even if
they rot under ground, they breed insects which are very hurtful to
the bushes, and the seeds vegetate.
After the first six months, this weeding will be sufficient if it
takes places once a month, but this must be persevered in till the
third year, when there may be a much greater interval between the
weeding. When the trees are coming to full growth, the hoe should be
less frequently used in cleaning; the hand must be used to the full
extent to which the branches reach, as the roots of the tree spread to
a like distance, and if they are injured the growth of the tree is
prejudiced.
The well-being of an estate chiefly depends on frequent cleaning of
the plantation in the beginning. The idea of some persons that
cleaning in the dry season is of little consequence, must be given up,
as it is principally at that very time that it is extremely profitable
to remove and clear the ground round the trees in their growth. In the
first place, this destroys the weeds which take the nourishment away
from the trees; secondly, the ground is rendered more open to receive
the slight showers and dews which moisten it, and to benefit by the
influence of the air; the roots are thus considerably refreshed. The
dew falling on ground which has been recently moved, penetrates at
once into it, and does good to the plant; but if it falls on the
weeds, the first rays of the sun absorb it, and deprive the tree of
this source of refreshment.
The dadap is to be taken care of whilst clearing goes on; it must be
cropped so as to cause it to grow upright, and to throw as much shade
as possible on the coffee without pressing upon it.
In warm fertile ground, where the coffee plant grows rapidly, the
trees should be topped in the third year; but this should be done
sparingly, and as a general measure it is not to be recommended; it
should be resorted to only as a means to prevent the too rapid growth
of the tree, or its running up to a point. Topping and taking off
suckers are both necessary on meagre soils, where the trees run much
to wood; and it prevents the trees being injured in the picking
season, which often occurs without this precaution. The top or middle
stem is broken off at a height of six or seven feet, but care must be
taken not to tear the tree; when the top shoots out again it must be
cropped a second time, and it is seldom necessary to do this more than
twice. The cropping causes the tree to shoot out in breadth, and to
push forth a greater number of sprigs, and good strong ones.
_Picking coffee_.--When the estate becomes productive, it must in the
picking season, just before the work begins, be kept exceedingly clear
of weeds, and be even swept clean with brooms, in order that the
berries which fall off may be gathered up.
The picking should take place under proper superintendence, the trees
be picked row by row, and care taken that each berry is plucked off
separately, and not a heap together, by which the trees are torn and
the first offshoots prevented. In picking high trees, light ladders
should be used, made out of two or three bamboos tied together.
_Customary preparation of the berry in the pulp_.--When the coffee is
picked and brought into the village, it is piled up in a heap in the
open air, and left in that manner for twenty-four hours. Thus heaped
up it gets warm, and this creates a certain fermentation of the juice
which is in the berry. That fermentation promotes the drying and
loosens the silvery pellicle which is attached to the bean inside the
parchment, and which cannot be entirely got rid of in any other way.
Coffee which still retains that pellicle is called in trade "grey
coffee," and is lower priced than good clean sorts. After the
fermentation, the coffee is spread out in rather thick layers, and
turned over twice a day. If it rains during this first spreading out,
the coffee does not require to be sheltered, as the washing causes the
juicy substance to evaporate, and this accelerates the drying
afterwards.
In proportion as the coffee becomes dryer, the thickness of the layer
must be reduced, and the turning over must be more frequent till the
coffee is quite dry outside and the pulp has become hard.
Then the coffee is laid out on drying floors, which can be easily and
speedily covered in rainy or damp weather, and is dried by the
powerful heat of the sun.
This system of drying in the pulp requires six weeks or two months, as
it is advisable not to be over hasty with drying.
When the coffee is entirely dry, it is either at once pounded or
placed in the stores to await that operation. In order to know if the
coffee be sufficiently dry, take a handful of it and shut your hand
close; shake it to your ear, and listen if the beans rattle freely in
the pulp. Or try them by biting the berry, and see if the bean and
pulp are both brittle and crisp, which shows that the fruit is dry
enough.
_Preparation of the coffee in the parchment, or the West India
system_.--Only sound and fully ripe beans can be prepared in the West
India manner. In picking, therefore, all unripe, green, or unsound
beans must be taken away to dry in the pulp. As soon as the coffee is
brought in, it must be pulped. This operation is performed by means of
small peeling mills. These mills consist of two horizontal wooden
cylinders rubbing on a plank; they are covered with hoop-iron, and set
in motion by a water-wheel. The coffee is driven under the cylinder,
and kept constantly moist; by being turned through the mill, the pulp
is so bruised that the bean in the parchment falls from it into the
bamboo open frame, which is placed in front of the mill. The coffee is
then pressed with the hand, and falls through the frame into a basket.
The pulp, and beans not rid of the pulp, remain on the frame; the
first is cleared away, the rest passes a second time into the mill,
and this operation is continued till all the coffee is stripped of
the pulp, and the parchment beans are in the basket. When the
parchment coffee is thus separated from the outer skin, it is thrown
into the washing troughs, and remains there for twenty-four hours;
this drains from it the slimy substance adhering to it. After being
thus steeped, it is washed with pure water two or three times in the
basket, so that it becomes quite free from slimy matter. The parchment
coffee is then spread out on drying frames, and exposed for six or
eight days to the heat of the sun, till the outside is perfectly dry.
To do this equally it must be stirred about every hour. These frames,
which serve also to dry the coffee in the pulp, are made as
follows:--A bamboo roof is set up, resting on four wooden pillars, and
sloping considerably; it is covered closely with reeds; its length is
ten feet, its breadth six feet; the pillars are from nine to ten feet
high; a wooden framework is attached to this, about thirty feet long,
or three times the length of the space covered by the roof. On this
frame are brought out three platforms, one above the other, which are
pushed out by means of little rollers under them; they are ten feet
long by six broad, and six inches deep. The borders are of wood, and
the bottom of platted bamboo. In rainy weather, or when the drying
cannot go on, the three platforms are pushed under the covered space.
These drying places are set up near the overseer's dwelling, where
they stand free, and are not shaded by trees or buildings. After this
first drying on platforms, the parchment coffee is again dried inside
the house, and bamboo huts are for this purpose erected on each side
of the outhouse of the planters. These huts have trays, divided into
two or three compartments, one above the other, to keep the coffee
separate, according to the time of its having been picked. The
parchment coffee is spread out as thin as possible, and turned over
with a small wooden rake every hour. In proportion to the dryness of
the weather, from one to two months are required to dry the coffee
fully. In drying inside the houses, the greatest care must be taken to
prevent heating the coffee; this is the great object of the West
Indian system, as such heating is very prejudicial. On this account
the huts in which the platforms are placed must be very airy, so that
the wind may have good play among the trays, on which the coffee must
be thinly spread and frequently turned.
_Pounding_.--Coffee in the pulp, as well as that in the parchment,
must, before being pounded, be exposed for some hours to the sun to
make it crisp and hard; but it must be allowed to cool again before
the pounding begins, or the beans will be liable to be broken.
The pounding is done in small baskets of a conical form, two feet
high, at the top eighteen inches in diameter, and at the bottom one
foot. These baskets are, up to one-third of their height, thickly
woven round with coir, and fastened on the ground between four thick
bamboo poles, and with the bottom half an inch in the ground itself.
The coffee is pounded by small quantities at a time with light, wooden
pestles; the baskets must not be more than half full. When the coffee
is sufficiently pounded, the basket is lifted from between the poles
and the beans are thrown into sieves, on which it is cleaned from
skin, and white, black, or broken beans. According to the West Indian
system, the coffee must now be instantly put in bags, to preserve its
greenish colour, which is very peculiar. If the green coffee is not
instantly sent to the packing stores to be bagged, it must be put up
in a very dry place, and be turned over once every day, to prevent
heating, which damps and discolors the berry.
Coffee is grown to some extent in Celebes--the average crop being from
10,000 to 12,000 piculs of 133 English pounds. The production has
rather fallen off than increased during the last few years. The whole
of the coffee grown must be delivered by the inhabitants to the
government exclusively, at twelve copper florins per picul. It is much
prized in the Netherlands, and maintains a higher price in the market
than the best Java coffee. As the treatment of the product in Java
differs wholly from that which is in vogue in Celebes, and this, in
our eyes, is much inferior, I know not whether the higher price is
ascribable to the name, or to an intrinsic superiority in quality. It
is certain that this cultivation is susceptible of much improvement,
and might be advanced to a much higher condition.
From tables given by M. Spreeuwenberg ("Journal of the Indian
Archipelago," vol. ii. p. 829) of the quantity of coffee delivered
from each district of this island, for the years 1838 to 1842, it
appears that the average annual delivery of coffee was 1,288,118 lbs.
Of the production of Sumatra I have no details, but a very fair
proportion is grown there--about five million pounds.
_Production of America and the West Indies_.--The cultivation of the
coffee plant is largely carried on in South and Central America and
the West India Islands.
Its culture has greatly increased within the last few years in
Venezuela, particularly in the valleys and on the sides of the hills.
The exports from La Guayra, in 1833, were about twelve millions of
pounds, being nearly double the quantity exported in 1830. The price
there is about ten dollars the 100 lbs., which is still too high to
enable it to enter into competition with the produce of Brazil or
Cuba.
The total produce of coffee in Venezuela in 1839 was 254,567 quintals.
The quintal is about 10 lbs. less than the English cwt.
_La Guayra_.--The exports of coffee from this port in 1796, were 283
quintals.
Quintals.
1843 164,066
1844 141,934
1845 134,585
1846 175,346
1847 130,671
1850 179,537
The exports of coffee from La Guayra have been declining within the
past few years; the shipments were but 153,901 quintals in 1851, and
only 124,623 in 1852.
Caracas coffee ranks in our market with good ordinary St. Domingo.
The decline in the produce of coffee in the British West India
possessions has been very great. In 1838, we imported from the West
India Islands and British Guiana 17½ million pounds of coffee, in 1850
we only received 4¼ million pounds from thence. The shipments from
Jamaica have decreased from about 15 million pounds in 1836, to 4
million pounds in 1850; Berbice and Demerara, from 5 million pounds in
1837, to about 8,000 pounds in 1850.
_Production of coffee in the Brazils_.--Forty-two years ago the annual
crop of coffee in Brazil did not exceed 30,000 bags, and even in 1820
it only reached 100,000 bags. About that time the high price of coffee
in England, superadded to the diminished production in Cuba,
stimulated the Brazilian planters to extend its cultivation, and in
1830 they sent to market 400,000 bags, or 64,090,000 lbs., and in
1847, the enormous quantity of 300,000,000 lbs.
It would seem from the annexed figures that the production of coffee
in Brazil doubled every five years, up to 1840, since when it has
increased eighty per cent. The increase since 1835 has been upwards of
two hundred millions of pounds, and of that increase the United States
have taken one half.
lbs.
1820 15,312,000
1825 29,201,600
1830 62,685,600
1835 100,346,400
1840 170,208,800
1850 303,556,960
The sources from whence the United States derives its supplies of
coffee are shown in the following table:--
Years. Brazil. Cuba. St. Domingo. Java. Total
1835 35,774,876 29,373,675 19,276,290 4,728,890 103,199,577
1840 47,412,756 25,331,888 9,153,524 4,343,254 94,996,095
1845 78,553,616 1,157,794 13,090,359 3,925,716 108,133,369
1850 90,319,511 3,740,803 19,440,985 5,146,961 144,986,895
1851 107,578,257 3,009,084 13,205,766 2,423,968 152,453,617
Coffee, up to 1830, paid a duty in the United States of five cents a
pound. Since 1832 it has been free.
The population of the United States in 1840 was, in round numbers,
seventeen millions; the average consumption of coffee for the three
years ending 1841, 98½ millions of pounds, which gave a consumption of
5¾ lbs. per head. The average for the three years ending 1850, was 143
millions of pounds, and the population was twenty-three millions,
which gave a consumption of 6¼ lbs. per head. In 1830 the consumption
was only 3 lbs. per head; but the price ruled nearly double what it
was in the three years preceding 1850.
In 1821 the consumption per head, to the inhabitants of the United
States, was 1 lb. 4 oz. In 1830, the proportion had increased to 3
lbs. per head, the foreign price having fallen fifty per cent. The
importation in the year 1831 doubled, in consequence of the reduced
duty; and the consumption per head for the four years ending with
1842, averaged 6 lb. per head, having quadrupled to each inhabitant
since 1821. From 1820 to 1840, the Brazilian product increased 1,100
per cent, or 155 million pounds. In the same time the consumption in
the United States increased 137 million pounds; leaving an increase of
eighteen million pounds of Rio coffee, besides the enhanced products
of all countries, to supply the increased consumption of England and
Europe.
The consequence of the duty in England is, that while the United
States, with a population of seventeen millions, consumed, in 1844,
149,711,820 lbs. of coffee, Great Britain, with a population of
twenty-seven millions, consumed 31,934,000 lbs. only, or less than
one-fourth the consumption of the United States. In 1851 the figures
remained nearly the same, viz., 148,920,000 lbs. in the United States,
and 32,564,000 lbs. for Great Britain.
The cultivation of coffee forms the present riches of Costa Rica, and
has raised it to a state of prosperity unknown in any other part of
Central America. It was begun about fifteen years ago; a few plants
having been brought from New Granada, and the first trial being
successful, it has rapidly extended. All the coffee is grown in the
plain of San Jose, where the three principal towns are situated--about
two-thirds being produced in the environs of the capital, a fourth in
those of Hindia, and the remainder at Alhajuela, and its vicinity. The
land which has been found by experience to be best suited to coffee is
a black loam, and the next best, a dark-red earth--soils of a brown
and dull yellow color being quite unsuitable. The plain of San Jose is
mostly of the first class, being, like all the soils of Central
America, formed with a large admixture of volcanic materials. Contrary
to the experience of Java and Arabia Felix, coffee is here found to
thrive much better, and produce a more healthy and equal berry on
plain land, than upon hills, or undulating slopes, which doubtless
arises from the former retaining its moisture better, and generally
containing a larger deposit of loam.
I am inclined, in a great measure, to attribute the practice of sowing
coffee in sloping land in Java to this fact, that the plains are
usually occupied by the more profitable cultivation of sugar-canes. In
Arabia, the plains are generally of a sandy nature (being lands which
have, apparently, at no very distant geological period, formed the bed
of the sea), which may account for the plantations existing only upon
the low hills and slopes.
A coffee plantation in Costa Rica produces a crop the third year after
it is planted, and is in perfection the fifth year. The coffee trees
are planted in rows, with a space of about three yards between each
and one between each plant, resembling in appearance hedges of the
laurel bay. The weeds are cut down, and the earth slightly turned with
a hoe, three or four times in the year; and the plant is not allowed
to increase above the height of six feet, for the facility of
gathering the fruit. The coffee tree here begins to flower in the
months of March and April, and the berry ripens in the plains of San
Jose in the months of November and December, strongly resembling a
wild cherry in form and appearance, being covered with a similar sweet
pulp.
As soon as the crimson color assumed by the ripe fruit indicates the
time for cropping, numbers of men, women, and children are sent to
gather the berry, which is piled in large heaps, to soften the pulp,
for forty-eight hours, and then placed in tanks, through which a
stream of water passes, when it is continually stirred, to free it
from the outer pulp; after which it is spread out on a platform, with
which every coffee estate is furnished, to dry in the sun; but there
still exists an inner husk, which, when perfectly dry, is, in the
smaller estates, removed by treading the berry under the feet of oxen;
and in the larger, by water-mills, which bruise the berry slightly to
break the husk, and afterwards separate it by fanners. The entire cost
of producing a quintal (101 1-5 lbs. British) of coffee, including the
keeping of the estate in order, cleaning and fanning the plants, and
gathering and preparing the berries, is, at the present rate of wages
(two rials, or about a shilling per day), calculated at two and a half
dollars (equal to ten shillings); but the laborers are now hardly
sufficient for working all the estates which are planted, so that the
price may probably rise a little, though the present rate of payment
enables the natives to live much better than has been their wont.
The coffee tree bears flowers only the second year, and its blossoms
last only 24 hours. The returns of the third year are very abundant;
at an average, each plant yielding a pound and a-half or two pounds of
coffee.
The price of coffee in San Jose during the months of February, March
and April, after which none can generally be met with, was, in 1846,
about 5 dollars cash per quintal, the duty (which is collected for the
repairs of the road) one rial more, so that the speculator makes at
least ten rials, or about 20 per cent., by purchasing and sending the
coffee to the port, on his outlay and charges; but it is often
bartered for manufactured goods, and is also purchased before-hand,
half being paid in imports and half in cash to the grower.
The largest coffee estates of Costa Rica are possessed by the family
of Montealegre and Don Juan Moira. The principal of these I have
examined. They appear to be very carefully and judiciously managed,
possessing good mills for cleaning and husking the coffee, worked by
water power; and annually producing 500 tons. The entire produce of
the year 1836, amounted to about 3,000 tons, and the crop of 1847
exceeded 4,000 tons, near which quantity it will probably continue,
till the population gradually increases, the laborers, as already
mentioned, being barely sufficient for the present cultivation. As the
value at the present average price in the English market of 50s. a
cwt., will give £200,000, the produce of the district will appear
pretty considerable for a petty American State, possessing only 80,000
inhabitants, and just emerging from a half-savage
condition.--(Dunlop's "Central America.")
The cultivation of coffee on the plains of San Jose, in Costa Rica,
according to Stephens, has increased rapidly within a few years. Seven
years before, the whole crop was not more than 500 quintals, and in
1844 it amounted to 90,000.
Don Mariano Montealegre is one of the largest proprietors there, and
had three plantations in that neighbourhood. One, which Mr. Stephens
visited, contained 27,000 trees, and he was preparing to make great
additions the next year. He had expended a large sum of money in
buildings and machinery; and though his countrymen said he would ruin
himself, every year he planted more trees. His wife, La Senora, was
busily engaged in husking and drying the berries. In San Jose, by the
way (he adds), all the ladies were what might be called good
business-men, kept stores, bought and sold goods, looked out for
bargains, and were particularly knowing in the article of coffee.
The coffee at Surinam is suffered to grow in three stems from the
root, and when one of them does not produce plenty of berries, it is
cast away, and the best shoot in appearance next the root is allowed
to grow in its room. The trees are not permitted to rise higher than
about five feet, so that the negroes can very easily pluck the
berries, for gathering which there are two seasons, the one in May, or
the beginning of June, and the other in October or the beginning of
November. The berries are often plucked of unequal ripeness, which
must greatly injure the quality of the coffee. It is true when the
coffee is washed, the berries which float on the water are separated
from the others; but they are only those of the worst quality, or
broken pieces, while the half-ripe beans remain at the bottom with the
rest. Now, in the description I have given of the method of gathering
coffee in Arabia, it is seen that the tree is suffered to grow to its
natural height, and the berries are gathered by shaking the tree, and
making them fall on mats placed for them. By this way the Arabians
harvest only the beans perfectly ripe at the time, and which must give
the coffee a more delicate flavor. A tree will yield each time on an
average from 1 lb. to 1½ lb. of coffee, when pulped and perfectly
dried. An acre of land planted with coffee, when favored by the
weather, becomes more profitable than when it is planted with sugar
canes; but its crops are always very precarious, as the blossoms, and
even the berries, are sometimes damaged by the heavy rains, which are
much less injurious to sugar canes; wherefore a planter feels himself
best secured in his revenue, as soon as he can cultivate them both.
Nothing can exceed the beauty of the walks planted with coffee trees,
from their pyramidical shape and from their glossy dark green leaves,
shining with great brightness, amongst which are hanging the
scarlet-coloured berries. Mr. Baird, in his "Impressions of the West
Indies," thus speaks of a coffee plantation:--
"Anything in the way of cultivation more beautiful, or more
fragrant, than a coffee plantation, I had not conceived; and oft did
I say to myself, that if ever I became, from health and otherwise, a
cultivator of the soil within the tropics, I would cultivate the
coffee plant, even though I did so irrespective altogether of the
profit that might be derived from so doing. Much has been written,
and not without justice, of the rich fragrance of an orange grove;
and at home we ofttimes hear of the sweet odors of a bean-field. I
have, too, often enjoyed in the Carse of Stirling, and elsewhere in
Scotland, the balmy breezes as they swept over the latter,
particularly when the sun had burst out, with unusual strength,
after a shower of rain. I have likewise, in Martinique, Santa Cruz,
Jamaica, and Cuba, inhaled the gales wafted from the orangeries; but
not for a moment would I compare either with the exquisite aromatic
odors from a coffee plantation in full blow, when the
hill-side--covered over with regular rows of the tree-like shrub,
with their millions of jessamine-like flowers--showers down upon
you, as you ride up between the plants, a perfume of the most
delicately delicious description. 'Tis worth going to the West
Indies to see the sight and inhale the perfume."
The decline in the quantities of coffee drawn from the "West Indies to
supply the great demand, is manifest in the following summary of
imports from those islands:--
lbs.
In 1828 they exported about 30,000,000
1831 the imports from British West Indies were 20,017,623
1841 Ditto Ditto 9,904,230
1850, the last year in which distinct accounts 4,262,225
were kept
-----------
Decrease from 1831 15,755,398
_Jamaica_.--The coffee plant was first introduced into Jamaica by Sir
Nicholas Lawes, in 1728, when it was cultivated on an estate called
Temple Hall, in Liguanea, not far from Kingston. In 1752 there were
exported 60,000 lbs.; and in 1775, 44,000 lbs. Until 1788 little
attention was paid to this product. In the four years ending 30th
September, 1794, the average exportation of coffee was 1,603,000 lbs.;
in 1804 it amounted to 22,000,000 lbs.; and during the three years
ending 30th September, 1807, the average annual exportation was more
than 28,500,000 lbs.; which, at £6 per cwt., its cost in Jamaica,
produced more than £1,700,000. It is calculated that £20,000,000 was
invested in coffee estates. The coffee plant thrives in almost every
soil about the mountains of Jamaica, and in the very driest spots has
frequently produced abundant crops. In 1844 there were 671 coffee
plantations in the island. Coffee is grown in the vicinity of the Blue
Mountain Peak at a height of 4,700 feet above the level of the sea,
and some of the finest and most productive plantations are in this
locality. The branches of a coffee tree, on Radnor estate, covered, in
1851, a space of thirteen feet in diameter, and the tree was about
thirteen years old.
In 1789 Hayti exported 77,000,000 lbs. of coffee, but in 1826 it had
declined to 32,000,000 lbs., in 1837 it was 31,000,000 lbs., and the
shipments of this staple are now very inconsiderable.
In the West Indies, I speak principally of Jamaica, where my
experience extended, the soil best adapted for the cultivation of
coffee is found to be loose gravelly or stony. A rich black mould will
produce a luxuriant bush, which will yield little fruit. Decomposing
sandstone, and slate, known in Jamaica as rotten rock, mixed with
vegetable mould, is one of the most favorable soils. The subsoil
should be also carefully examined by a boring augur, for a stiff moist
clay, or marly bottom retentive of moisture, is particularly injurious
to the plant. A dark, rusty-colored sand, or a ferruginous marl on a
substratum of limestone, kills the tree in a few years. In virgin
lands, after the wood has been felled and cleared, the land is lined
off into rows of from six to seven feet square, and at each square a
hole is made about eighteen inches deep, into which the young plant is
placed and the earth plied gently about it, leaving from six to eight
inches of the plant above ground.
Nurseries for raising plants from seeds were formerly made, but for
many years this has been neglected, and plantations are set out now
from suckers which are drawn and trimmed of their roots, and cut about
two feet long.
The young plants require to be kept well clear from weeds, and four
cleanings in the year may be deemed necessary, the plants which have
failed must be supplied in order to ensure uniformity of appearance.
All manure, whether fluid or solid, in warm climates should be applied
in wet seasons, where it is not practicable to dig or turn it in to
prevent the escape of its volatile and nutritive principles.
As respects situation, coffee thrives best on elevated situations,
where the morning sun has most influence; and on lower mountains,
where the temperature is higher, in situations facing the south-east,
or where the sun does not act with such intensity. Low mountains, in
which the thermometer ranges from 75 to 90 degrees Fahr., as well as
those exposed to sea breezes, are less suitable for the cultivation of
coffee than those districts where the temperature averages 65 to 80
degrees Fahr., and situated at higher elevations in the interior.
As a general rule, it may be asserted that the elevation best adapted
for coffee is at an altitude ranging from 2,000 to 4,000 feet, at a
temperature from 70 to 75 degrees Fahr. A west or south-west aspect is
the best, and the field should be well sheltered from the north
breezes. As a general rule in planting in light soils and high
temperatures, trees may be placed at the distance of four or five
feet, while in stronger soils and lower temperatures the average
distance would be from five to seven feet.
_Topping_.--The young tree shoots out its lateral branches at each
joint, which follow in regular succession, till the tree attains the
height of about four feet six inches, when it is usual to top it down
to four feet. But care should be taken that the wood has ripened,
which is known by its assuming a brown and hard appearance, This
strengthens the vegetation of the branches, which begin to throw out
buds, and these shortly form collateral branches; in the course of
eighteen months after the tree will have arrived at its bearing point.
Trees, after being topped, throw off suckers, which are called
gormandizers, from each joint, but more especially at the head. They
should be plucked off with care, but not cut, as the sap would flow
more readily if cut.
In pruning, one of the main objects is the admission of a free
circulation of air and light through the branches to the root of the
tree. No general rules can be laid down for pruning; much must depend
on judgment, experience, and a nice eye to appearance and preservation
of primary branches for bearing and ripening wood for the ensuing
year, as well as to regulate and proportion the size of the tree to
the functions of the roots in supplying sustenance, and the
convenience of picking the berries when ripe. Every old bough which
has seen its day, every wilful shoot growing in a wrong direction,
every fork, every cross branch or dead limb, must be cut away.
_The blossoming, and ripening_ of the fruit varies according to the
situation and temperature of the plantation. In low and hot
situations, where the thermometer ranges from 78 to 90 degrees, the
tree shows its first blossoms when about two-and-a-half years old. In
higher and colder situations the tree will not blossom in profusion
until the fourth or fifth year. If there be light showers, the
blossoms will continue on the tree for a week or more, and by the
setting of the blossoms the planter can determine what germs will
become fruit. The trees will blossom in low situations as early as
March, but the April bloom is considered the most abundant. In higher
elevations, the trees will bloom even so late as August or September.
In warm climates the fruit advances as rapidly, and in a month will
have attained the size of a pea; in more elevated and colder
localities, it will take two months to arrive at this stage. The fruit
will be ripe in from six to eight months after the blossom has set; it
ripens in warm districts about the month of August, while in others
the crop will not be mature till February. An acre will usually
contain 1,200 trees in Jamaica, and the produce would be about 400
lbs. of coffee an acre, or six ounces as the produce of each tree
annually. In some instances, but very seldom, one pound a tree may be
obtained. A bushel of cherry coffee will produce about ten or twelve
pounds of merchantable coffee.
The coffee berry, after being pulped and soaked for a day and night to
free it from the mucilage, is spread out on barbacues to dry; in ten
or twelve days, if the weather has been good, it will be sufficiently
cured for the peeling mill.
Mr. W.H. Marah, of Jamaica, in a Prize Essay on the Cultivation and
Manufacture of Coffee in that Island, published in my "Colonial
Magazine," makes some useful remarks:--
The manufacture of this staple commodity, with a view to its
improvement in quality, is a subject which demands our serious
attention; and when we observe the vast importance and pecuniary
advantage which accrue upon the slightest shade of improvement
either in colour or appearance, it becomes the more imperative on us
to use all those means which are available, in order to place
ourselves on a footing with the foreign grower. It is true that we
are unable to enter the contest with the East Indian or slave
cultivator, from the abundance and cheapness of labour which is
placed at their command; but by means of our skill and assiduity, we
can successfully compete with them by the manufacture of superior
produce.
To this portion of plantation management I have given an attentive
inquiry, and shall shortly proceed to state my views on the system
best adapted to the curing and preparing for market of good quality
produce.
The fruit should be gathered in when in a blood-ripe state, to all
appearance like cherries. The labourers are principally accustomed
to reap the crop in baskets, of which they carry two to the field;
and when the coffee is bearing heavily, and is at its full stage of
ripeness, the good pickers will gather in four bushels _per diem_,
and carry the same on their heads to the works.
The fruit is then measured and thrown into a loft above the pulper
in a heap. It should be submitted to the first process of machinery,
the pulper, within twenty-four hours after, if not immediately; but
it not unfrequently happens that the manager is unable to pulp his
coffee for two and sometimes three days, by which time fermentation
ensues, and it becomes impossible after pulping to wash off the
mucilage, which rather adheres to the outer envelope of the berry,
and gives the produce what is termed a "red" or "blanketty"
appearance when spread out on the barbacues. The produce is let down
by means of a small hole cut into the floor of the loft, or a
floating box, into the hopper of the pulper, and by means of a
grater forcing the fruit against the chops, the berries are
dislodged from the pulp and fall upon a sieve, which being shaken by
the machinery, lets the berries fall into the cistern, whilst the
grater catches the pulp and carries it backwards at each evolution
of the roller, around which it is encircled.
The fruit which might have passed through without being more than
half squeezed, and having only ejected one berry, is then returned
(after being shaken off by the sieve) into the hopper, to undergo
the process a second time. The pulped coffee is then permitted to
remain in the cistern for a day and a night, during which period it
undergoes a process of fermentation; it is then washed out in two or
three waters, and the whole of the mucilaginous stuff which had
risen from the berry by the fermentation is entirely washed off, and
the coffee presents a beautiful white appearance. From this the
produce is turned out to drain on a barbacue, sloped so as to throw
all the water to the centre, where a drain is placed to carry it all
off.
In an hour or so after, the coffee may be removed to the barbacues
for curing; it is there spread out thinly and exposed to the sun,
which, if shining strong, will in eight or nine hours absorb all the
water, and the coffee be fit for housing that day. I say fit for
housing, because I have repeatedly seen coffee washed out early in
the morning and put up the same evening. I cannot say I approve of
the system, though in fine weather it has been attended with
success. From the time the coffee is first exposed to the sun till
the silver skin starts, is the stage, in my opinion, during which
the produce suffers most injury. In the first instance, it should be
kept constantly turned, in order to get the water absorbed as early
as possible; and after it has been housed, the greatest precaution
should be taken to prevent its heating: and it is for this reason
that I disapprove of early housing, for if wet weather should
intervene, and the coffee cannot be turned out, it is sure to get
heated. From this neglect I have seen a perfect steam issuing from
the house in the morning when the doors have been opened; and I have
known, as a natural consequence, the adhesion of the silver skin to
the berry so firm, that it could not be removed by a sharp penknife
without slicing the berry.
In a succession of wet weather the produce has remained on the
barbacues for several weeks, without the slightest advance in
curing; and, unless it be frequently turned while in this wet
state, it is sure to germinate; the berries first swell, then a thin
white spire issues from the seam, and on opening the berry the young
leaves will be actually seen formed inside, so rapid is the course
of vegetation.
I am of opinion that coffee should not be housed till the silver
skin begins to start, when no danger can ensue; for if a few wet
days should intervene, by turning the coffee over in the house, and
allowing a current of air to pass through it, it will keep for
weeks. It is at this stage that the parchment skin begins to show
itself, for at first it adheres to the inner kernel, but the heat of
the sun starts it from its hold and it separates; thus, on shaking a
handful of the produce it will be heard to rattle, a sure indication
that the silver skin has risen from the bean, without even threshing
it to ascertain the fact. The bean is perfectly white till the
silver skin starts; it then begins gradually to assume the dark, or
what is called the half-cured appearance. A good day's strong sun
will then half cure it, and by subsequent exposure the produce takes
another stage, and gradually loses the half-cured, and assumes a
blue colour; and when the produce is properly cured and fit for the
mill, not the slightest dark spot will be perceptible in the bean,
but it will exhibit a horny blue colour.
It is within my observation that coffee has been gathered from the
field on the Monday, and prepared for market on the Saturday, in a
spell of dry weather; but I have known it also to lie on the
barbacues for as many weeks in contrary weather, before it had gone
through the same ordeal. With good weather and smooth terraces
whereon to cure, nothing but gross ignorance and unpardonable
carelessness can produce a bad quality of coffee. The difficulty
arises in wet weather, when one's skill and assiduity is called into
action to save the produce from being spoiled. After coffee has been
half-cured, the putting it up hot at an early period of the day has
the effect of curing it all night. I have noticed produce housed in
this manner, and requiring another day's exposure to fit it for the
mill, found perfectly cured next morning.
The barbacues should be kept in good order--all ruts and holes
neatly patched every crop, for to them and other roughnesses is to
be attributed the peeling of the berries, their being scratched, and
various injuries which the produce sustains. And while on the
subject of "Works," I cannot help noticing the extreme carelessness
and inattention which, on visiting properties, the works and
buildings present to our view. It is utterly impossible to
manufacture good produce unless the machinery and buildings are kept
in good order; and the parsimony which is thus displayed in this
necessary outlay is fallacious, when one thinks of the result of one
or two shillings per 100 lbs. lost on a crop through this neglect.
When the coffee is perfectly cured--which is generally ascertained
by threshing out a few berries in one's hands, and seeing if it has
attained its horny blue colour--it is then fit for milling, which is
the second process of machinery which it has to undergo. Here the
parchment and silver skins are dislodged from the berry, by means of
the friction of a large roller passing over the produce in a wooden
trough. It is then taken out of the trough, and submitted to the
fanner or winnowing machine, when the trash is all blown away, and
the coffee, passing through two or three sieves, comes away
perfectly clean and partially sized. From this it is again sieved in
order to size it properly, hand-picked, put into bags, and sent on
mules' backs to the wharf. It is then put into tierces and sold in
the Kingston market, or shipped to Britain.
A variety of circumstances tend to injure the quality of the coffee,
which it is beyond human agency to control. Dry weather intervening
at the particular period when the berry is getting full, subjects it
to be stinted and shrivelled; and strong dry breezes happening at
the same period, will cause an adhesion of the silver skin which the
ordinary process of curing and manufacture will not remove. Late
discoveries in the latter have, however, shown the possibility of
divesting the produce of that silvery appearance, when brought about
under the foregoing circumstances. It is almost, unnecessary to
state that this improvement in manufacture refers to the inventions
of Messrs. Myers and Meacock, whose respective merits have already
undergone public revision. In reference to Mr. Myers' plan of
immersing coffee in warm water, I may be allowed to state that it
has come under my own observation, that produce which had previously
been heated through some carelessness in the curing, subsequently
was exposed to a slight sprinkling of rain, and when ground out and
fanned, was found to have lost its silvery appearance.
To the invention of Mr. Meacock, a preference has, however, been
given, in consequence of the impression that the produce thus
immersed in water will absorb a portion of the liquid, which will
deteriorate its quality in its passage across the Atlantic. Several
gentlemen have shipped coffee submitted to this process to England,
but I have not learnt the result.
It appears very manifest that a great deal might be done in the way
of machinery, to relieve produce of that silvery or foxy appearance
which is so prejudicial to its value in the British market, and
which appearances might accrue from a variety of incidents to which
all plantations are more or less subject.
A manifest preference is given in the leading European markets to
coffee which has gone through the pulping and washing process; but,
strange to say, the consumers of this beverage are totally ignorant
of the fact, that the produce which is cured in the pulp furnishes a
stronger decoction than an equal quantity of the same which has
undergone the other process. Many persons are of opinion that the
mucilaginous substance which is washed off in pulping is absorbed by
the bean when cured in the pulp, and which gives strength to the
produce and enhances its aromatic flavour. On most properties it has
been customary to cure the remnants of the crop in this way, for the
use of the plantation; and it has been well noticed by great
epicures in the flavour of the decoction, that the coffee thus cured
produced the strongest and best beverage."
_Trinidad_.--The coffee plant does not succeed well in Trinidad, the
tree giving but little fruit, and perishing at the end of ten or
twelve years; though the article is always of a superior quality, and
has the advantage over that of Martinique and the other Antilles of
not requiring age to produce an agreeable beverage. It is from the
fault and obstinate attachment to old habits of the planters, that
this cultivation has not been more successful in Trinidad. Because
coffee trees thrive in St. Domingo, Guadalupe, Dominica, St. Lucia and
Martinique, on the hills, they had concluded that it would be the same
in Trinidad; without noticing that the hills of that island are
composed only of schistus covered with gravel, on which lies a light
layer of vegetative earth, that the rain washes away after some years
of cultivation; whilst the hills of the Antilles, much more high and
cool, are covered with a deep bed of earth, which is retained by
enormous blocks of stone, that at the same time maintain humidity and
freshness.
Messrs. Branbrun, of Tacarigua, and Don Juan de Arestimuno, of
Cariaco, worthy and intelligent planters, some years ago adopted the
plan of planting coffee trees on the plains, in the manner cacao trees
are planted, that is, in the shade of the _Erythrina_, and this mode
of cultivation has perfectly succeeded. It is to be hoped that their
success will encourage the cultivation of this valuable tree in the
united provinces of Venezuela, and in those parts of Trinidad which
were deemed unfavorable to it from the too great dryness of the
climate.
In 1796, the year preceding its capture, there were 130 coffee
plantations in Trinidad, which produced 330,000 lbs. of coffee. In
1802, the produce had slightly increased to 358,660 lbs., but there
were two plantations less.
In the island of Grenada, according to the returns made to the local
Treasury of the staple products raised, while there were 64,654 lbs.
made-in 1829, the quantity had decreased to 13,651 lbs. in 1837.
The colony of British Guiana was formerly noted for its produce of
coffee. The following figures mark the decline of the culture of this
staple, showing the exports in Dutch pounds:--
Demerara and Essequibo. Berbice.
1834 1,102,200 1,429,800
1835 1,299,080 1,979,850
1836 2,117,250 2,684,100
1837 1,849,650 2,217,300
1838 2,486,240 1,700,550
1839 747,450 1,255,800
1840 1,531,350 1,825,950
1841 568,920 519,750
1842 1,372,650 804,470
1843 428,800 999,300
1844 716,137 774,600
Thus the exports of the colony which in 1836 were 4,801,350 lbs. had
declined in 1844 to 1,490,737; whilst in 1831 we received from British
Guiana 3,576,754 lbs. of coffee, in 1850 we only received 8,472 lbs.
There are about 500 acres under cultivation with coffee in St. Lucia.
The exports, which in 1840 were 323,820 lbs., had declined, in 1844,
to 58,834 lbs.
The British West Indies exported to Great Britain, in 1829 and 1850,
the following quantities of coffee:--
1829. 1850.
lbs. lbs.
Jamaica 18,690,654 4,156,210
Demerara 4,680,118 17,774
Berbice 2,482,898 698
Trinidad 73,667 96,376
Dominica 942,114 792
St. Lucia 303,499 35
_Cuba_.--For the following valuable remarks and details of coffee
culture in Cuba, I am indebted to Dr. Turnbulls "Travels in the
West:"--
At the period of the breaking out of the French revolution, the
cultivation of coffee could scarcely be said to have reached the
South American continent; so that till that its cultivation was in a
great measure confined to Arabia and the Caribbean Archipelago. Its
extreme scarcity during the war enhanced its price so enormously,
that on the first announcement of peace in 1814, the plants were
multiplied to infinity, and coffee plantations were formed in every
possible situation--on the Coste Firme of South America, along the
Brazilian shores of that continent, and even at some points on the
coast of Southern Africa. To show the extreme rapidity with which
the cultivation has been extended, take the statistical returns of
La Guayra, the chief port of the State of Venezuela, from whence the
whole export of coffee in the year 1789 was not more than ten tons;
and of late years from that port alone, and in spite of the internal
disunions of the country, it has reached the enormous quantity of
2,500 tons. In the Isle of Bourbon (now Reunion), and the Mauritius
and Ceylon, the planters have also applied themselves to this branch
of industry; it has been prosecuted successfully in our Eastern
Possessions, and the French government, not content with the
natural influence of the universal demand for it, have been
endeavouring to stimulate the production by means of premiums and
other artificial advantages.
In forming a coffee plantation, the choice of situation and soil
becomes a consideration of the first importance. A very high
temperature is by no means a favourable condition. If a spot could
be found where the range of the Fahrenheit thermometer did not sink
below 75 degrees, nor rise above 80 degrees, and where the soil was
otherwise suitable, no planter could desire a more favourable
situation. In the mountainous islands of Jamaica and St. Domingo,
the nearest approach to this temperature is found where the
elevation is not less than 2,000, and not more than 3,000 feet above
the level of the sea; and it is most successfully cultivated in the
two islands I have named. The Island of Cuba being much less
mountainous, but at the same time being nearer the tropical limit,
the planter in seeking the degree of heat he requires is forced to
confine himself in a great measure to the northern side of the
island, where, accordingly, we find that the cultivation of coffee
is most successfully carried on.
The vicinity of the _cafetal_ to a convenient place of embarcation,
enters largely, of course, into the consideration of the planter
when choosing a suitable locality. A compact form is also thought
desirable, in order to save the time and labour of the negroes; and
the ordinary extent is about six caballerias, or something less than
200 English acres.
The locality being finally chosen, such open places are formed or
selected, from distance to distance, as may be found most suitable,
in respect to shade and moisture, for the establishment of
convenient nurseries. The fruit which has been gathered in the
beginning of the month of October, and which has been dried in the
shade, is preferred for seed. The seed is sown in drills half a yard
asunder, and introduced, two beans together, by means of a dibble,
into holes two inches deep and ten or twelve inches apart. The
extent of one of these nurseries is generally about 100 yards
square, which, with such intervals as I have mentioned, ought to
contain about 60,000 plants.
A quarter of a _caballeria_, or about eight English acres, is
visually set apart, in a central and convenient position, for the
site of the buildings, and for growing provisions for the use of the
labourers on the future plantation. In favourable seasons it is
found that heavier crops are obtained from coffee trees left wholly
unshaded; but, in the average of two years, it seems to be settled,
in the island of Cuba at least, that a moderate degree of protection
from the scorching rays of the sun produces a steadier, and, upon
the whole, a more advantageous return.
The distribution of the land into right-angled sections, and the
planting of the trees in straight lines, is so contrived as to
favour the future supervision of the labourers much more than from
any strict attention to mere symmetry. The distance of the trees
from each other ought to be regulated by the quality of the soil,
and the degrees of heat and shade they are to enjoy. The ranges from
north to south are usually four yards apart, and those from east to
west not more than three; but the lower the temperature the wider
should be the interval, because in that case the vegetation is more
active and more rapid, and the tree requires a wider space over
which to extend itself.
The best season for planting the trees is the middle of the month of
May, if there be then a sufficient degree of moisture; but the
operation is often performed successfully during the rainy month of
October; subject always to the risk, however, of serious injury to
the young plantation from the north winds which prevail at that
advanced season of the year. The holes prepared to receive the
plants are eighteen inches in diameter, and about two feet deep.
In the island of Cuba there are two rival modes of planting the
coffee tree. The one is called "la siembra à la mota;" the other "la
siembra à la estaca."
By the method "a la mota," a circle is formed around the plant in
the nursery, and care is taken to remove it without disturbing the
earth around the roots. The plants are then placed carefully in
willow baskets, prepared for the purpose, and carried to the holes
already opened for their reception; gathering up the earth around
the stem, and pressing it carefully down with the foot, in such a
manner as to form a basin or filter for the reception of the
rain-water, and for suffering it to percolate among the roots, and
also to provide a convenient place of deposit for the subsequent
application of manure.
The "siembra à la estaca" is differently executed. Such plants are
selected from the nursery as are of the thickness of the little
finger, or from that to an inch in diameter. In withdrawing them
from the ground, great care is taken not to injure or compress the
bulbs or buttons within, eight or ten inches of the level of the
soil, because these are to serve for the production of fresh roots
when the "estaca" is afterwards planted more deeply in its permanent
position. The greater part of the capillary roots are cut away with
a knife; but a few, together with the principal root, are suffered
to remain from four to six inches long. In planting them, from three
to four inches of the trunk are left above ground. The little basin
of earth for the reception and filtration of the rain-water, is not
so large in the stake system of planting as in that with the clod of
earth "à la mota;" but if the soil be poor, it must be
proportionably enlarged to admit the application of the necessary
quantity of manure.
The stake system, requiring much less labour than the other, is
generally preferred; but when there is abundance of shade to protect
the young plant from drought, and always, of course, in replacing
the decayed trees of an old plantation, it is considered more
desirable to remove the whole plant, its roots and branches entire,
with as much as possible of the adhering soil from the nursery,
according to the system "à la mota."
In the third or fourth year of the plantation, the trees, according
to the best system of husbandry, are pruned down to the height of
three feet from the ground on the richest soil, and still lower in
proportion to its sterility. All the branches which are not as
nearly as possible at right angles with the trunk, are likewise
removed by the pruning-knife, so that in the following spring the
whole stem is covered with fresh shoots. By this operation the power
of nature seems to be exhausted, as for that year the trees in
general bear no fruit; but in subsequent seasons the loss is amply
repaid by a crop often greater than the branches can support, or
than the flow of nourishment is always able to bring to full size
and maturity.
The machinery for removing the external pulp of the coffee-bean is
seldom of a very perfect description in this island, and the loss
sustained in consequence is often very considerable. It is almost
uniformly moved by the power of horses or oxen, working in a gin,
and the name it bears is that of the _Descerecador_. The Barbecues,
when the coffee is laid out to dry, are called indiscriminately
_Tendales_ or _Secadores_. They are more numerous and of smaller
dimensions than is customary in the British colonies, where a single
barbecue, laid down with tiles or plaster, is considered sufficient
for a whole estate.
The warehouse for receiving the crop and preserving the coffee after
it is put into bags and ready for the market, is generally of such
limited dimensions as to be barely sufficient for the purposes for
which it is designed; so that, when the harvest has been abundant,
or when anything has occurred to interfere with the despatch of what
is ready for removal, the constant accumulation is attended with
serious inconvenience. In fact, the occupation of the coffee planter
has been for some time on the decline in the island, owing to the
superior rate of profit derived from the making of sugar; and
everything reminds you of it, the _moleno de pilar_, the
_aventador_, and the _separador_, down to the humblest implement of
husbandry on the estate.
The gathering of the fruit commences in Cuba in August; but November
and December are the most active and important months of the
harvests. The labourers are sent out with two baskets each, one
large, the other small. Every labourer has a file of coffee trees
assigned to him; the large basket he leaves near the place where his
work is to begin; the other he carries with him to receive the
berries from the trees; and as often as it is full he empties it
into the large one. The baskets are made of rushes, willows, or
bamboo; and the large one is of such a size that three of them ought
to fill the barrel, without top or bottom, which serves the purposes
of a measure at the _Tendal_ or Secador.
Three baskets, or one barrel-measure, of the newly-gathered coffee
berry, ought to produce thirty pounds after the process of drying,
the removal of the pulp, and the final preparation for the market.
When there is a sufficient number, or a sufficient space of
Barbecues or Secadors, sixty or seventy barrels only are put
together; but from want of room it often happens that the quantity
amounts to a hundred barrels. In either case, the whole is gathered
into two great heaps, and in this state it is allowed to remain for
four-and-twenty hours, in order to subject it to a certain degree of
fermentation. After this, it is spread out to dry over the whole
surface of the Barbecue, and until it is sufficiently so, it remains
there uncovered day and night. When the dessication is found to be
far enough advanced, it is no longer exposed during the night; nor
even during the day, if the weather be damp or unfavorable. The
subsequent operations are certainly not better, probably not so
well, conducted as in our own West India possessions.
In the fourth year, it is presumed that the agricultural produce of
the land, and the first returns of coffee, should be sufficient to
meet all the current expenses. At the end of the fifth year there
ought to be forty thousand coffee trees four years old on the
estate, 60,000 of three years, and 100,000 of two and one year, the
produce of which ought to be at least 400 quintals, which, at a
moderate estimate, should be worth 2,400 dollars. Thus the
calculation goes on until we arrive at the end of the seventh year,
when the estate ought to be in full bearing. The returns are
estimated at 3,000 arrobas, or 750 quintals, which, at eight dollars
per quintal delivered free on board, make 6,000 dollars. The minor
products of the estate, such as Indian corn, pigs, and oil, are
given at 1,130 dollars, making the gross returns 7,130 dollars; and,
after deducting the annual expenses, leaving 5,300 dollars as the
regular return on the capital invested, which, having been about
40,000 dollars, gives about thirteen per cent.; not certainly to be
considered extravagant in a country where twelve per cent, is the
regular rate of interest. The produce of coffee from each section is
given at 400 arrobas, or 3,500 arrobas for the whole of the nine
sections. The average price of coffee, free of the expense of
carriage, is assumed to be two dollars the arroba, or eight dollars
per quintal, which would give a return of 7,200 dollars, besides the
repayment of the rent by the colonists.
The cultivation of coffee has been falling off in Cuba for several
years past, the crops it is asserted being too precarious there, and
the prices too low to encourage the continuance of planting. On the
northern side of the island is where this decrease is most
perceptible, several of the largest estates having been converted to
the growth of sugar and tobacco, others abandoned to serve as pasture
fields, and the very few remaining yielding less and less every year.
Henceforward the culture of this berry here is likely to be very
insignificant, and not many years will elapse before the amount
produced will merely suffice for the local consumption. About St. Jago
de Cuba the cultivation is more attended to, the article forming still
their principal export. Taking five quinquennial periods, the
following figures show the average annual exports of coffee:--
arrobas.
1826 to 1830 1,718,865
1830 " 1835 1,995,832
1835 " 1840 1,877,646
1841 " 1846 1,887,444
1846 " 1851 768,244
The better to exhibit the decrease of production throughout the
island, I may state that the export from 1839 to 1841 inclusive, was
in the aggregate 1,332,221 quintals; 1842 to 1844, inclusive, was in
the aggregate 1,217,666 quintals; 1845 to 1847, inclusive, was in the
aggregate but 583,208 quintals. The exports of coffee for the whole
island, were, in 1840, 2,197,771 arrobas; in 1841, 1,260,920½ arrobas.
In 1847 there were 2,064 plantations under cultivation with coffee in
Cuba, in 1846 there were only 1,670. The production of 1849 was
1,470,754 arrobas, valued at 2,206,131 dollars. From the year 1841 to
1846, the average yearly production was 45,236,100 lbs.; but from 1846
to 1851, it was only 19,206,100 lbs.; showing a falling off of 72 per
cent.; the production still further decreased in 1851, it being only
13,004,350 lbs., or 1.52 per cent. less than the preceding year. This
enormous decline in the production of coffee has been caused by the
low price of the article in the markets of Europe and the United
States, coupled with the more remunerative price of sugar, during the
same period; causing capitalists rather to invest money in the
formation of new sugar estates. As a consequence, many coffee
plantations have been turned into cane cultivation; or, being
abandoned, the slaves attached thereto were sold or leased to sugar
planters.
The following is private information from a correspondent:--
"We generally plant about 200,000 trees within a space of 500 feet,
choosing the strongest soil. I have adopted a different system from
the one generally in use here, for they usually plant the trees too
near each other. I find by giving them space and air, that the plant
develops itself and yields more beans. It is very important to
protect the trees from the rays of the sun, for which purpose I
plant bananas at intermediate rows; their broad leaves, like
parasols, shed a delightful shade round the coffee plant, and tend
to accumulate the moisture which strengthens the roots of the young
tree.
When the tree is about two years old the top branches are lopped off
for the purpose of throwing the sap into the bean. Some planters cut
the trees so short, that they do not allow them to stand more than
five or six feet above the ground; but I allow mine to attain
greater height prior to lopping them, whereby they produce larger
crops. Nor do I allow my negroes to beat the trees, or force them to
pluck a certain quantity a day, for I discovered that they picked
the ripe and unripe beans indiscriminately--frequently injuring the
trees. I only allow them to shake the tree, and pick up the beans
that have fallen during the night."
Coffee exports from the ports of Havana and Matanzas, in Cuba, for the
years ending December in
Quintals.
1839 344,725
1840 402,135
1841 212,767
1842 314,191
1843 223,265
1844 186,349
1845 42,409
1846 65,045
1847 106,904
1848 31,674
1849 92,974
1852 42,510
Porto Rico exported 85,384 cwt. of coffee in 1839.
_Africa_.--Coffee will require some four years to grow before it will
give to the cultivator any income, but it should be known that after
that time the tree, with little or no labor bestowed on it, will yield
two crops a year. The quality of coffee grown in the republic of
Liberia, on the western coast of Africa, is pronounced by competent
judges to be equal to any in the world. In numerous instances, trees
full of coffee, are seen at only three years old. 214 casks and bags
of coffee were imported from the western coast of Africa in 1846.
Coffee, it has been proved, can be cultivated with great ease to any
extent in the republic of Liberia, being indigenous to the soil, and
found in great abundance. It bears fruit from thirty to forty years,
and yields 10 lbs. to the shrub yearly! A single tree in the garden of
Colonel Hicks, a colonist at Monrovia, is said to have yielded the
enormous quantity of 16 lbs. at one gathering. Judge Benson, in 1850,
had brought 25 acres under cultivation, and many others had also
devoted themselves to raising coffee. It was estimated there were
about 30,000 coffee trees planted in one of the counties, that of
Grand Bassa, and the quality of the produce was stated to be equal to
the best Java.
About the villages and settlements of the Sherbro river, and Sierra
Leone, wild coffee-trees are very abundant. In several parts of the
interior, the natives make use of the shrub to fence their
plantations.
Coffee has been successfully grown at St. Helena, of an excellent
quality, and might be made an article of export.
Portugal sent to the Great Exhibition, in 1851, a very valuable series
of coffees from many of her colonies; of ordinary description from St.
Thomas; tolerably good from the Cape de Verd islands; bad from Timor;
worse (but curious from the very small size of the berry) from
Mozambique; good from Angola; and excellent from Madeira.
Aden, alias Mocha coffee, is, along with the other coffees of the Red
Sea, sent first to Bombay by Arab ships, where it is "garbelled," or
picked, previously to its being exported to England.
An excellent sample of coffee, apparently of the Barbera (Abyssinia)
variety, was contributed to the Great Exhibition from Norfolk Island.
It was of good color, well adapted for roasting, and a most desirable
novelty from that quarter.
Dr. Gardner, of Ceylon, has taken out a patent for preparing the
coffee leaf in a manner to afford a beverage like tea, that is by
infusion, "forming an agreeable refreshing and nutritive article of
diet." An infusion of the coffee-leaf has long been an article of
universal consumption amongst the natives of parts of Sumatra;
wherever the coffee is grown, the leaf has become one of the
necessaries of life, which the natives regard as indispensable.
The coffee-plant, in a congenial soil and climate, exhibits great
luxuriance in its foliage, throwing out abundance of suckers and
lateral stems, especially when from any cause the main stem is thrown
out of the perpendicular, to which it is very liable from its great
superincumbent weight compared with the hold of its root in the
ground. The native planters, availing themselves of this propensity,
often give this plant a considerable inclination, not only to increase
the foliage, but to obtain new fruit-bearing stems, when the old ones
become unproductive. It is also found desirable to limit the height of
the plant by lopping off the top to increase the produce, and
facilitate the collecting it, and fresh sprouts in abundance are the
certain consequence. These are so many causes of the development of a
vegetation, which becomes injurious to the quantity of the fruit or
berry unless removed; and when this superabundant foliage can be
converted into an article of consumption, as hitherto the case in
Sumatra, the culture must become the more profitable; and it is
clearly the interest of the planters of Ceylon to respond to the call
of Dr. Gardner, and by supplying the leaf on reasonable terms, to
assist in creating a demand for an article they have in abundance, and
which for the want of that demand is of no value to them. It ought to
be mentioned also, that the leaves which become ripe and yellow on the
tree and fall off in the course of nature, contain the largest portion
of extract, and make the richest infusion; and I have no doubt, should
the coffee leaf ever come into general use, the ripe leaf will be
collected with as much care as the ripe fruit.
The mode of the preparation by the natives is this. The ends of the
branches and suckers, with the leaves on; are taken from the tree and
broken into lengths of from twelve to eighteen inches. These are
arranged in the split of a stick or small bamboo, side by side,
forming a truss in such a manner, that the leaves all appear on one
side, and the stalk on the other, the object of which is to secure
equal roasting, the stalks being thus exposed to the fire together,
and the leaves together. The slit being tied up in two or three
places, and a part of the stick or bamboo left as a handle, the truss
is held over a fire without smoke, and kept moving about, so as to
roast the whole equally, without burning, on the success of which
operation the quality and flavor of the article must depend. When
successfully roasted, the raw vegetable taste is entirely dissipated,
which is not the ease if insufficiently done. When singed or overdone,
the extract is destroyed and the aroma lost. When the fire is smoky,
the flavor varies with the nature of the smoke. The stalks are roasted
equally with the leaves, and are said to add fully as much to the
strength of the infusion. By roasting the whole becomes brittle, and
is reduced to a coarse powder by rubbing between the hands. In this
state it is ready for use, and the general mode of preparing the
beverage is by infusion, as in the case of common tea.
That it would soon become a most valuable article of diet amongst the
laboring classes, and on ship board particularly, if, once brought
into use, there can be no doubt. The coffee-tree can be grown to
advantage for the leaf in the lowlands of every tropical country,
where the soil is sufficiently fertile, whilst it requires a different
soil and climate to produce the fruit[7]. Dr. Hooker, in the Jury
Reports, observes upon the prepared coffee leaves, submitted by Dr.
Gardner, of Ceylon, to be used as tea leaves, that they are worthy of
notice as affording a really palatable drink when infused as tea is;
more so, perhaps, than coffee is to the uninitiated. That this
preparation contains a considerable amount of the nutritious
principles of coffee, is evident from the analysis; but as the leaves
can only be collected in a good state at the expense of the coffee
bush, it is doubtful whether the coffee produced by the berries be
not, after all, the cheapest, as it certainly is the best.
TEA.
The immense traffic in the produce of this simple shrub, the growth of
a remarkable country, hitherto almost entirely isolated from the
western nations, is one of the most remarkable illustrations of the
enterprise and energy of modern commerce. The trade in tea now gives
employment to upwards of 60,000 tons of British shipping, and about
ten millions sterling of English capital, producing a revenue to this
country of nearly six millions sterling.
Every reflecting man will admit that articles of such vast consumption
as tea and coffee (amounting together to more than 343,500 tons
annually), forming the chief liquid food of whole nations, must
exercise a great influence upon the health of the people.
There is scarcely any country in the world in which a dietetic drink
or beverage resembling tea, is not prepared, and in general use, from
some exotic or indigenous shrub. The two chief plants laid under
contribution are, however, the Chinese tea-plant, and a species of
holly peculiar to South America, producing the Paraguay tea. _Astoria
theiformis_ is used at Santa Fe as tea. The leaves of _Canothus
Americanus_, an astringent herb, have been used as a substitute, under
the name of New Jersey tea.
It has been a matter of surprise why tea should be so much sought
after by the poorer classes, since by many it is looked on more as a
luxury than of use to the human system. The manner in which it acts,
and the cause why it is so much in demand by all classes, is
satisfactorily explained by Liebig; and the benefit, therefore, which
will be conferred by selling it at a low rate, and thus placing it
within the means of all, has at last come to be duly appreciated.
Liebig says, without entering minutely into the medical action of
caffeine, theine, &c., it will surely appear a most striking fact,
even if we were to deny its influence on the process of secretion,
that the substance, with the addition of oxygen and the elements of
water, can yield taurine, the nitrogenised compound peculiar to
bile:--
Carbon. Nitrogen. Hydrogen. Oxygen.
1 atom caffeine or theine = 8 2 5 2
9 atoms water = -- -- 9 9
9 atoms oxygen = -- -- -- 9
__ __ __ __
= 2 atoms taurine 8 2 14 20
= 2 4 9 10
To see how the action of caffeine, theobromine, theine, &c., may be
explained, we must call to mind that the chief constituent of the
bile contains only 3.8 per cent. of nitrogen, of which only the half,
or 1.9 per cent., belongs to the taurine; bile contains, in its
natural state, water and solid matter, in the proportion of ninety
parts by weight of the former, to ten of the latter. If we suppose
these ten parts, by weight of solid matter, to be chloric acid, with
3.87 per cent. of nitrogen, then 100 parts of theine would contain
0.171 of nitrogen in the shape of taurine. Now this quantity is
contained in 0.6 parts of theine, or 2 grains 8/10ths of theine can
give to an ounce of bile the nitrogen it contains in the form of
taurine.
Although an infusion of tea contains no more than the one-tenth of a
grain of theine, still, if it contribute in point of fact to the
formation of bile, the action even of such a quantity cannot be looked
upon as a nullity. Neither can it be denied, that in the case of an
excess of non-azotised food, and a deficiency of motion, which is
required to cause the change of matter of the tissues, and thus to
yield the nitrogenised product which enters into the composition of
the bile, that in such a condition the health may be benefited by the
use of compounds which are capable of supplying the place of the
nitrogenised substances produced in the healthy state of the body, and
essential to the production of an important element of inspiration. In
a chronical sense, and it is this alone which the preceding remarks
are intended to show, caffeine, or theine, &c., are, in virtue of
their composition, better adapted to this purpose than all
nitrogenised vegetable principles. The action of these substances in
ordinary circumstances is not obvious, but it unquestionably exists.
Tea and coffee were originally met with among nations whose diet was
chiefly vegetable.
Considerable discussion has taken place regarding the tea plants; some
say that there is only one species; others that there are two or
three. Mr. Fortune, who visited the tea districts of Canton, Fokien,
and Chekiang, asserts that the black and green teas of the northern
districts of China are obtained from the same species or variety,
known under the name of _Thea Bohea_. Some make the Assam tea a
different species, and thus recognise three: _T. Cantoniensis_ or
_Bohea_, _T. Viridis_, and _T. Assamica_. The quality of the tea
depends much on the season when the leaves are picked, the mode in
which it is prepared, as well as the district in which it grows. The
green teas include Twankay, Young Hyson, Hyson, Gunpowder, and
Imperial; while the black comprise Bohea, Congou, Souchong, Oolong,
and Pekoe. The teas of certain districts, such as Anhoi, have peculiar
characters.
The first tea imported into England was a package of two pounds, by
the East India Company, in 1664, as a present to the king; in 1667,
another small importation took place, from the company's factory at
Bantam. The directors ordered their servants to "send home by their
ships 100 pounds weight of the best _tey_ they could get." In 1678
were imported 4,713 lbs.; but in the six following years the entire
imports amounted to no more than 410 lbs. According to Milburn's
"Oriental Commerce," the consumption in 1711 was 141,995 lbs.; 120,595
lbs. in 1715, and 237,904 lbs. in 1720. In 1745 the amount was 730,729
lbs. For above a century and a half, the sole object of the East India
Company's trade with China was to provide tea for the consumption of
the United Kingdom. The company had the exclusive trade, and were
bound to send orders for tea, and to provide ships to import the same,
and always to have a year's consumption in their warehouses. The teas
were disposed of in London, where only they could be imported, at
quarterly sales. The act of 1834, however, threw open the trade to
China.
From a Parliamentary return, showing the quantity of tea retained for
home consumption in the United Kingdom, in each year, from 1740 to the
termination of the East India Company's sales, and thence to the
present time, it appears that in 1740, 1,493,695 lbs. of tea were
retained for home consumption. Two years afterwards, the quantity fell
to 473,868 lbs., and in 1767 only 215,019 lbs. were retained. Next
year the amount increased to 3,155,417 lbs.; in 1769 it was 9,114,854
lbs.; in 1795, 21,342,845 lbs.; in 1836, 49,842,236 lbs.
The return in question also specifies the quantity of the various
kinds of tea, with the average sale prices.
According to the annual tea reports of Messrs. W.J. Thompson and Son,
and Messrs. W.E. Franks and Son, the total imports of tea during the
last fifteen years were as follows, reckoned in millions of lbs.:--
Years. Black. Green. Total. Home Consumption.
1838 26,786 8,215 35,001 36,415
1839 30,644 7,680 38,324 36,351
1840 21,063 7,161 28,224 31,716
1841 24,915 6,303 31,218 36,811
1842 31,915 9,729 41,644 37,554
1843 39,513 7,340 46,853 39,902
1844 39,644 8,749 48,393 41,176
1845 39,518 11,790 51,338 44,127
1846 44,017 12,486 55,503 47,534
1847 46,887 8,368 55,255 46,247
1848 37,512 7,611 45,123 48,431
1849 43,234 9,156 52,400 50,100
1850 39,873 8,427 48,300 51,000
1851 62,369 9,131 71,500 54,000
1852 55,525 9,175 64,700 54,724
The duty on tea was gradually raised from 9d. per lb. in 1787 to 3s. a
lb. in 1806. It was 2s. 2d. per lb. until May, 1852, when 4d. per lb.
was taken off, and further annual reductions are to be made. Down to
the year 1834 the duty was an _ad valorem_ one of 96 per cent. on all
teas sold under 2s. a lb., and of 100 per cent. on all that were sold
at or above 2s., charged on the prices which they brought at the East
India Company's sales. The _ad valorem_ duties ceased on the 22nd of
April, 1834, and under the act 3 and 4 William IV. c. 100, all tea
imported into the United Kingdom for home consumption was charged
with a customs as follows:--
Bohea 1s. 6d. per lb.
Congou, twankay, hyson skin, orange
pekoe, and campoi 2 2 "
Souchong, flowery pekoe, hyson, young
hyson, gunpowder, imperial, and
other teas not enumerated 3 0 "
In 1836, the uniform duty of 2s. 1d. per lb. on all descriptions of
tea was imposed, which, with the additional 5 per cent, imposed in
1840, made the total duty levied per lb. 2s. 2d. and a fraction.
During the years from 1831 to 1841, in spite of an increase of nearly
three millions in the population of the country, and notwithstanding
the impetus given to the tea-trade by the abolition of the East India
Company's monopoly in 1833, the increased consumption was only
6,675,566 lbs. Great as the increase has been of late years, however,
it is very far short of what we might expect to see were the duty
reduced to a moderate per centage on the value of the article as it
comes from the Chinese merchant. In Jersey and Guernsey, where there
is no duty on tea, the average consumption is 4½ lbs. per head per
annum. The same rate for the United Kingdom would require an annual
importation of nearly 150 million lbs. I asserted, many months ago, if
the duty could be gradually reduced from its present exorbitant amount
to 1s. per lb., the revenue would not suffer much, whilst the comfort
of the people would be much increased, and our trade with China
greatly improved.
Years. Teas Imported, lbs. Entered for Home Consumption, lbs.
1843 42,779,265 35,685,262
1844 50,613,328 41,176,00
1845 53,570,267 44,127,000
1846 57,584,561 46,554,787
1847 55,255,000 50,921,486
1848 47,774,755 48,735,696
1849 53,460,751 50,024,688
1850 50,512,384 51,178,215
1851 71,466,421 53,965,112
1852 66,361,020 54,724,615
Amount of duty received on tea:--
£ Prices of Sound Common Congou per lb.
1841 3,973,668 1s. 7d. to 2s. 0d.
1842 4,088,957 1 7 1 10
1843 4,407,642 1 0 1 2
1844 4,524,093 0 10 1 0
1845 4,833,351 1 0 1 9½
1846 5,112,005 0 9 0 9½
1847 5,066,860 0 8½ 0 9½
1848 5,330,515 0 8 0 8½
1849 5,471,641 0 8½ 0 9½
1850 5,597,708 0 10½ 1 1
1851 5,902,433 0 8 0 8½
1852 5,986,482 0 7½ 2 2
Mr. Montgomery Martin, in his work on China, published in 1847, gave
the average annual consumption of tea, the produce of China, as
follows:--
lbs.
Great Britain and Ireland 45,000,000
British North America and West Indies 2,500,000
Australasia, Cape of Good Hope, &c. 2,500,000
British India and Eastern Islands 2,000,000
----------
Total used throughout the British Empire 52,000,000
----------
United States of North America * 7,000,000
Russia 10,000,000
France and Colonies 500,000
Hanse Towns, &c. 150,000
Holland and its Colonies 1,000,000
Belgium 200,000
Denmark, Sweden, and Norway 250,000
The German States 500,000
Spain and Portugal 100,000
Italian States 50,000
South American States 500,000
-------
Total consumption in foreign countries 20,250,000
[* This is only one-third the actual consumption.]
According to this statement, it would seem that the English consume
twice the quantity of tea that is used by all the other countries
excepting China and Japan.
The consumption of tea in Europe and America I estimated a year or two
ago as follows:--
lbs.
Russia 15,000,000
United States of America 18,000,000
France 2,000,000
Holland 2,800,000
Other countries 2,000,000
Great Britain 50,000,000
----------
Total 89,800,000
The estimated consumption, at the rate of consumption found where
taxation is favorable (as for instance 1½ pounds--the average of this
country) would give the following:--
cwts.
England 400,000
France 510,000
Germany 400,000
Austria 500,000
Prussia ...
Belgium 63,000
Russia 900,000
Rest of Europe 750,000
The total exportation of tea by sea from China, was estimated by Mr.
Martin in 1847 at 76 millions of pounds, viz.:--
England 50,000,000
United States 20,000,000
All other countries 5,000,000
----------
75,000,000
which, at 20 taels per picul (133 lbs.) amounts to 11,280,000 taels of
silver at 80d. per tael, £3,760,000. The present Chinese duty of two
taels five mace, does not include shipping and other charges; the old
duty was five taels, and included all charges paid the Hong merchants.
The export by sea is now about 97 millions of lbs.
The following was the returned value of the tea exported from the five
Chinese ports in 1844 and 1845:--
1844. 1845.
Canton £2,910,474 £3,429,790
Shanghae 67,115 462,746
Ningpo 2,000 2,000
Amoy 544
Foo-chow-foo 638
--------- ---------
£2,979,589 £3,895,718
The average cost of tea in China at the ship's side is 10d. per pound,
while it is confidently asserted that it could be produced in many
parts of America at 5d. the pound. The great cost in China is owing to
the expensive transportation, the cultivation of the fuel used, the
absence of all economy of machinery, &c. It is only by adulteration
that tea is sold in China as cheap as 10d. In America the beating and
rolling of the leaves (one half of the labor) could be done by the
simplest machinery, fuel could be economised by flues, &c.
The Russian teas, brought by caravans, are the most expensive and best
teas used in Europe. The Chinese themselves pay 7½ dollars per pound
for the "Yen Pouchong" teas.
Full chests were exhibited in 1851, by Mr. Ripley, of various Pekoe
teas, some of which fetch 50s. per lb. in the China market; whilst 7s.
is the very highest price any of the sort will fetch in England, and
this only as a fancy article. The plain and orange-scented Pekoes now
fetch little with us; but as caravan teas, are purchased by the
wealthier Russian families. The finest, however, never leave China,
being bought up by the Mandarins; for though the transit expenses add
3s. to 4s. per lb. to the value when sold in Russia, the highest
market price in St. Petersburg is always under 50s. Among these
scented teas are various caper teas, flavoured with chloranthus
flowers and the buds of some species of plants belonging to the orange
tribe, _magnolia fuscata_, olea flowers, &c. The Cong Souchong, or
Ning-young teas, are chiefly purchased for the American market. Oolong
tea is the favourite drink in Calcutta, though less prized in England,
its delicate flavor being injured by the length of the voyage. For
delicacy, no teas, approach those usually called "Mandarin teas,"
which being slightly fired and rather damp when in the fittest state
for use, will bear neither transport nor keeping. They are in great
demand among the wealthy Chinese, and average 20s. per lb in the
native market.--(Jury Reports.)
The consumption of tea in the United Kingdom may now be fairly taken
at fifty-four million pounds yearly, and sold at an average price to
the consumer of 4s. 6d., per pound. The money expended for tea is
upwards of twelve millions sterling.
The expenditure of this sum is distributed as follows, in round
numbers:--
Net cost of 54,000,000 pounds, average 1s. per pound £2,700,000
Export duty in China of 1½d. a lb. 337,500
Shipping charges, &c., in China 25,000
Freight, &c., China to England, about 2d. per lb. 450,000
Insurance, ½d. per lb. 112,500
Commission, about ¼d. per lb. 56,250
Tasting charges, &c., about 1/8 of a penny per lb. 28,125
Interest for 6 months on £3,709,375 at 5 per cent. 92,734
---------
Total outlay in China £3,802,109
Profit to exporters in China,(about 12 per cent.) 445,116
Landing charges, &c., in England 39,000
----------
Cost price in bond in England £4,286,225
Duty received by government at 2s. 2½. per lb., about 5,985,482
----------
£10,271,707
Profit divided among tea-brokers, wholesale and retail
dealers, &c 1,878,293
----------
Total outlay by British public for tea, at 4s. 6d. per lb. £12,150,000
The tea imported into England in 1667 was only 100 lbs., while for the
year ending June 30, 1851, the export from China to Great Britain was
64,020,000 lbs., employing 115 vessels in its transportation; and to
the United States, during the same time, 28,760,800 lbs., in
sixty-four vessels. Within the last five years, the export has
increased 10,000,000 lbs. to the United States, and 17,000,000 to
Great Britain. These statistics will show the immense importance of
this article to commerce, and the vast amount of shipping it supports.
But let us follow out the statistics a little more in detail.
The population of the Chinese provinces, as quoted by Dr. Morison,
from an official census taken in 1825, was 352,866,012, and we may
fairly conclude that during the last twenty-eight years this
population has extensively increased. If we assume the annual
consumption of tea at four lb. per head on the above population; and
this is no unreasonable assumption in a country, where, to quote from
Murray's valuable work on China, tea "is the national drink, which is
presented on every occasion, served up at every feast, and even sold
on the public roads;" we shall have a tolerably accurate result as to
the total consumption in the empire. Indeed this computation falls
short of the actual relative consumption in the island of Jersey,
where, as we have seen, nearly five lbs. is the annual allowance of
each individual.
If we multiply the population of China by four, we have--
lbs.
Total consumption of tea in China 1,411,464,048
Export of Great Britain and Ireland, for the year ending
June 30, 1851. 64,020,000
Export to the United States, same period 28,760,800
Export to Holland, returned at 2,000,000 in Davis's
"China" 3,000,000
Inland trade to Russia 15,000,000
Export to Hamburg, Bremen, Denmark, Sweden, &c.,
seven cargoes, about 3,000,000
Export to Sydney, and Australasian Colonies, at least 6,000,000
Export to Spain and France, four cargoes 2,000,000
---------
Total lbs. 1,533,244,848
The above is exclusive of the heavy exportation in Chinese vessels to
all parts of the east where Chinese emigrants are settled, such as
Tonquin, Cochin China, Cambodia, Siam, the Philippines, Borneo, and
the various settlements within the Straits of Malacca. In comparison
with such an enormous quantity, the 54 million lbs. consumed in the
United Kingdom sink into insignificance.
£
The cost of tea to America, at the ship's side in China,
say 29,000,000 lbs., at an average of 1s. per lb.,
would be 1,450,000
The cost to England, 64,000,000, at the same price 3,200,000
The cost to other places, say 25,000,000 1,250,000
Russia, 15,000,000 750,000
----------
Total £6,650,000
It is therefore clear, that were the demand to be doubled from Great
Britain, it would make very little difference in the Chinese market;
since it would be only a question of letting us have six per cent, of
their growth of the article, instead of three.
When we remember that the tea plant attains to maturity in three
years, and its leaves are then fit for picking; and that there is a
vast extent of country to which it is indigenous, growing in every
climate between the equator and the latitude of 45 degrees, it is
evident that, were there a necessity for it, the actual production of
tea in China could be increased to an almost unlimited extent in the
space of three or four years, an extent far more than compensating for
the extra three per cent., which might be, in the first instance,
required by the British.
The certainty of an increased consumption following upon a reduction
in the price of tea to the actual consumers of it, is so obvious as to
require demonstration to those only who have not considered the
subject. The population of Great Britain and Ireland is, say in round
numbers 30,000,000, the actual consumption of tea is only 54,000,000
lbs., or little more than one pound and three quarters for each
individual. In the neighbouring island of Jersey, there are nearly
five lbs. of tea consumed by every inhabitant yearly; and as we may
fairly infer from analogy that similar results would arise from a
similar cause, the consumption in the United Kingdom in the same ratio
would amount to no less than 150 millions of pounds annually.
Tea, observes a most competent authority (Mr. J. Ingram Travers), is
the favourite drink of the people: all desire to have it strong and
good, and none who can afford it are without it. But in the
agricultural districts the laborers use but little; numbers of them
"make tea with burnt crusts, because the China tea is too dear." In
Ireland the consumption is greatly below that of England; there are
comparatively few people who do not, on company occasions, make their
tea stronger than for ordinary use, and the general economy in the use
of tea forms an exception to almost every other article of
consumption. As to the working classes in the manufacturing districts,
Mr. Bayley, President of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, himself a
very extensive manufacturer, and therefore well qualified to speak to
the fact, says:--"The common calculation of two ounces per head per
week I should think is very much in excess of what the working classes
consume. Domestic servants, I believe, have that quantity allowed
them, but I should say that the working classes do not consume one
quarter of that." And yet it is these classes who are the great
consumers of everything cheap enough to be within their reach. It is
this consumption that, under better earnings, has sustained the steady
increase of nearly two million pounds of tea per annum for the last
eight years, and still there is such ample room for increase that
domestic servants are allowed at least four times as much per head as
those working people who value, more than any other class, the
cheerful refreshingness of tea, but who, stinted in its use by the
exorbitant duty, are tempted and almost driven to the use, instead, of
degrading drinks.
And if the general consumption of the population should rise to even
half servants' allowance, or one ounce per head per week, the
consumption of tea would reach 97,500,000 lbs. per annum. And as to
what might be used if the taste for it had free scope, some idea may
be formed from the fact that the consumption of such people as have
found their way from these countries, where the consumption is 1 lb. 9
ozs. per head, to Australia, has there risen to 7 lbs. per head, at
which rate the consumption of the United Kingdom would be about
210,000,000 lbs. per annum, and which, even at a 6d. duty, would
produce five millions and a half. There is nothing in the air of
Australia to give any especial impulse to tea drinking: on the
contrary; in this comparatively cold, damp climate, people would
naturally use a hot beverage more largely than in the dry warm climate
of Australia; and, after all, great as the Australian consumption
seems, it is scarcely more than a quarter of an ounce per head per
week above the allowance to English domestic servants.
The consumption of tea, notwithstanding the dicta of Mr. Montgomery
Martin, is destined to a prodigious increase. Nor is it solely to an
increase in the consumption of tea, that we must look to prevent any
deficiency in the revenue, as there is no doubt that a reduction in
the price of the article would lead to a prodigious increase in the
quantity of sugar consumed, especially by the lower classes, who
seldom take the one without the other.
It is not, however, merely that they would buy sugar in proportion to
the quantity of tea that they consume; the circumstance of a smaller
sum being requisite for their weekly stock of tea, would enable them
to spend a larger amount in other articles, among which sugar would,
undoubtedly, be one of the most important. The merchant, shipowner,
manufacturer, and all connected with the trade between Great Britain
and China, are in a position to see the prodigious advantages that
such a measure as an extensive reduction of the impost on tea would
occasion to the general trade of the country; and the public at large,
who are not practically familiar with the subject, only require it to
be brought before them in a distinct point of view, when the important
results of such a reduction cannot fail to be apparent to them.
Tea is not now within the reach of the poor man. A person taking tea
once a day, will consume about 7½ lbs. a year.
lbs.
Say 500,000 persons take tea twice a day, or 15 lbs. a year, is 7,500,000
Say 4,000,000 persons take tea once a day, or 7½ lbs. a year, is 30,000,000
Say 12,000,000 persons take tea once a week, or 1 lb. a year, is 12,000,000
----------
49,500,000
Which shows that, at present, only one person out of every sixty can
have tea twice a day; one of every seven only once a day; and that out
of the remaining 13,500,000 persons, only five millions and a half can
procure it once in the week. The exact state of the case shows that
only eight millions of the people of the United Kingdom enjoy the use
of tea, leaving the other twenty-two millions excluded. A Chinese will
consume thirty pounds of tea in the year.
But it is said we must not, if our accumulated stocks be drank off
this year, expect the Chinese to meet at once so huge an increase in
the demand as to supply us with as much next year.
Now on no point of the case is the evidence so clear as upon the
capacity of the Chinese to furnish, within any year, any quantity we
may require. The Committee of 1847, on Commercial Relations with
China, state--"That the demand for tea from China has been
progressively and rapidly rising for many years, with no other results
than that of diminished prices:"--a fact to be accounted for only upon
the supposition that our ordinary demand is exceedingly small in
proportion to the Chinese supply. Nor is it an unreasonable inference,
that if so much more than usual was to be had at a less price than
before, any rise of price, however trivial it might be, would bring
forward a much larger quantity:[8] a supposition which is completely
confirmed by a review of prices here, and exports from China within
the last four years; and in considering which it is important to bear
in mind--1st, that our tea trade year, on which our account of import,
export, home consumption, and stock on hand is taken, is from January
to January, and the Chinese tea year from July to July; 2nd, that a
rise at the close of the last months of the year in England,
influences the next year's exports from China; and 3rdly, that of late
years, since something of decrepitude has fallen upon the Chinese
Government, smuggling there, to escape the export duty, has been
carried on largely and at an increasing rate, so that the return is
considerably below the real export.
In the Chinese tea year, July to July, 1848-9, the price of good
ordinary congou, the tea of by far the largest consumption here, and
which, in fact, rules the market, was 8½d. to 9-1/3d., and the export
from China 47,251,000 lbs. The year closed with the higher price, and
the Chinese export from July 1849, to July 1850, was 54,000,000 lbs.,
showing an increase of export on the year of 6,750,000 lbs. Throughout
1850, here, prices fluctuated a good deal. They were low in the
earlier part of the year, but in January went up from 9½d. to 11½d.,
and from July 1850, to July 1851, the export from China rose to
64,000,000 lbs., being an increase of ten million pounds on a previous
increase of nearly seven million lbs. Prices here, during 1851, varied
very much: it was difficult to say whether any rise would be
established, but the export still went up and reached, from July 1851,
to July 1852, 67,000,000 lbs., giving a total increase in three years
of 19,750,000 lbs. Nor was it pretended that in any of those years the
Chinese market showed even the least symptoms of exhaustion. "We
know," say the Committee, "that the Chinese market has never been
drained of tea in any one year, but that there has been always a
surplus left to meet any extraordinary demand." But the effect of the
rise in price in 1850 is still more forcibly shown by a comparison of
our total imports in that and the following year. In 1850 we imported
48,300,000 lbs.; in 1851, 71,500,000 lbs., being an increase of
23,200,000 lbs. Doubtless the Chinese export, if made up totally with
our year, would not account for the whole quantity, part of which is
to be set down to Chinese export-smuggling, and part to arrivals from
America and the Continent. The probability is that the increase of
price referred to above never reached the Chinese tea farmers; the
supply came from the merchants' stock on hand. The rise was, besides,
uncertain, and from any established advance a much larger increase of
export might be looked for.
But the mistake made in England in estimating what tea we may look for
from China goes upon the supposition that they grow expressly for us:
the fact being, as stated by Mr. Robt. Fortune, in his recently
published "Tea Districts of China," "that the quantity exported bears
but a small proportion to that consumed by the Chinese themselves." On
this point the report of the Parliamentary Committee is
explicit:--"There is a population in China, commonly assumed at above
three hundred millions, at all hours in the day consuming tea, which
only requires some change of preparation to be fit for exportation;
thus implying an amount of supply on which any demand that may be made
for foreign export can be, after a very short time, but slightly
felt." Mr. Fortune, in his evidence, says "that the Chinese drink
about four times as much as we do: they are always drinking it." Four
times as much is probably very much an under-estimate. With rich and
poor of all that swarming population, tea, not such as our working
classes drink, but fresh and strong, and with no second watering,
accompanies every meal. But even taking their consumption at four
times as much per head as ours, and their population at the lowest
estimate, at three hundred millions, their consumption, setting ours
at 55,000,000 lbs., will be no less than two thousand two hundred
millions of pounds per annum, or forty times the quantity used in the
United Kingdom. As reasonably might the few foreigners who visit the
metropolis in the summer expect to cause a famine of fruit and
vegetables in London, as we that a doubling of our demand for tea
would be felt in China. The further fifty-five million pounds would be
but another fortieth of what they use themselves, and would have no
more effect upon their entire market than the arrival of some thousand
strangers within the year in London would have upon the supply of
bread or butchers' meat. There is no need, therefore, to wait for the
extension of tea plantations, and so far from taking for granted the
statement of the late Chancellor of the Exchequer, "that time must be
given to increase production, and that the point of its taking three
or four years to make a tea-tree is to be considered in dealing with
the duties," we have the fact unmistakeably before us, that the
production is already so vast, that any demand from us could have no
appreciable effect. And as to future supplies, if we should come to
drink as much as the Chinese themselves, a matter not at all needful
to be considered at present, the Committee report that "the
cultivation of the plant may be indefinitely extended;" whilst Mr.
Fortune, who has been upon the spot, states "that there is not the
slightest doubt that there is a great part of the land which is nearly
uncultivated now, which, were there a demand for tea, could be brought
into cultivation. The cost would be very little indeed; they would cut
down a quantity of brushwood, and probably dig over the ground and
plant the bushes. They could clear and plant it in the same year, and
in about two years they could get something from it." As, however,
without this extension they have hitherto found enough for the
increase of their own vast population, for every extension of demand
from us and every other foreign customer, whether by land or water,
without the least tendency to an advance in price, there is no need
to do more than thus touch upon the undeveloped resources of tea
production.--_Travers on the Tea Duties_.
The consumption of tea in Russia is very great, as the middling
classes make a more frequent use of that beverage than the rest. Every
year 60,000 chests of tea arrive at Maimiatchin and Kiakhta, of the
declared official value of £1,185,000 sterling; and to this may be
added £38,650 for inferior tea used by the people of the south, which
makes the total declared value of the tea introduced about one and a
quarter million sterling. The consumption of Russia may be assumed at
over fifteen millions of pounds, although we have no correct data, as
in the case of shipping returns, to calculate from. In 1848, however,
the Russians took 136,217½ boxes of fine tea of the Chinese, for which
they paid 5,349,918 silver roubles--one million sterling. The quantity
forwarded from Kiakhta into the interior consisted of--
Foods.
Flowery or Pekoe tea 69,677
Ordinary tea 183,752
Brick tea 116,249
Equal to about fifteen million lbs. English.
_Brick tea of Thibet._--A sample of this curious product was shown by
the East India Company in 1851. It is formed of the refuse tea-leaves
and sweepings of the granaries, damped and pressed into a mould,
generally with a little bullock's blood. The finer sorts are friable
masses, and are packed in papers; the coarser sewn up in sheep's skin.
In this form it is an article of commerce throughout Central and
Northern Asia and the Himalayan provinces; and is consumed by Mongols,
Tartars, and Tibetans, churned with milk, salt, butter, and boiling
water, more as a soup than as tea proper. Certain quantities are
forced upon the acceptance of the Western tributaries of the Chinese
Empire, in payment for the support of troops, &c.; and is hence, from
its convenient size and form, brought into circulation as a coin, over
an area greater than that of Europe.--_Dr. Hooker, in Jury Reports_.
The quantity and value of the tea imported into the United States,
from 1821, is thus stated:--
Years. Pounds. Value, dolls.
1821 4,975,646 1,322,636
1822 6,639,434 1,860,777
1823 8,210,010 2,361,245
1824 8,920,487 2,786,812
1825 10,209,548 3,728,935
1826 10,108,900 3,752,281
1827 5,875,638 1,714,882
1828 7,707,427 2,451,197
1829 6,636,790 2,060,457
1830 8,609,415 2,425,018
1831 5,182,867 1,418,037
1832 9,906,606 2,788,353
1833 14,639,822 5,484,603
1834 16,282,977 6,217,949
1835 14,415,572 4,522,806
1836 16,382,114 5,342,811
1837 16,982,384 5,903,054
1838 14,418,112 3,497,156
1839 9,439,817 2,428,419
1840 20,006,595 5,427,010
1841 10,772,087 3,075,332
1842 13,482,645 3,567,745
1843 12,785,748 3,405,627
1844 13,054,327 3,152,225
1845 17,162,550 4,802,621
1846 16,891,020 3,983,337
1847 14,221,410 3,200,056
1848 18,889,217
The annual reports of the Secretary to the Treasury, for the last
twenty years, show a considerable increase in the consumption of tea
in the United States, but not so great as in the article of coffee.
The establishment of tea shops, in all the large cities of America, is
a new feature in the retail trade, dating only some six years back.
The average rate of duty, which previously ranged between thirty and
thirty-four cents. per pound, was reduced in 1832 to fourteen cents
(7d.) a pound.
The proportion of green to black used is shown by the following return
of the imports:--
lbs.
1844 Green 10,131,837
Black 4,125,527
----------
Total 14,257,364
1845 Green 13,802,099
Black 6,950,459
----------
Total 20,752,558
The large import of 1840, of 250,000 chests, of which 200,000 were
green, was in anticipation of the disturbances arising from the war
with Great Britain, and the blockade of the ports.
In 1850, there were 173,317 chests of green tea, and 91,017 of black
tea exported from China to America; these quantities, with a further
portion purchased from England, made a total of about twenty-three
million lbs. of tea which crossed the Atlantic in 1850.
The imports and exports of tea into the United States, in the years
ending Dec. 31st, 1848 and 1849, were as follows:--
IMPORTS.
1849. 1848.
lbs. lbs.
Green 14,237,700 13,686,336
Black 5,999,315 3,815,652
---------- ----------
Total 20,236,916 17,503,988
EXPORTS.
Green 230,470 262,708
Black 186,650 194,212
---------- ----------
Total 417,120 456,920
The value of tea imported into the United States during the year
ending June 30th, 1851, amounted to 4,798,006 dollars (nearly
£1,000,000 sterling); of this was re-exported a little over 1,000,000
dollars worth, leaving for home consumption 3,668,141 dollars.
The quality of tea depends much upon the season when the leaves are
picked, the mode in which it is prepared, as well as the district in
which it grows.
The tea districts in China extend from the 27th degree to the 31st
degree of north latitude, and, according to missionaries, it thrives
in the more northern provinces. Koempfer says it is cultivated in
Japan, as far north as 45 degrees. It seems to succeed best on the
sides of mountains, among sandstone, schistus, and granite.
In 1834, the East India Company introduced the cultivation of tea in
Upper Assam, where it is said to be indigenous; and they now ship
large quantities of very excellent tea from thence.
Mr. Boyer, director of the museum at Port Louis, Mauritius, has
succeeded in rearing 40,000 tea-trees, and expresses an opinion, that
if the island of Bourbon would give itself up to the cultivation, it
might easily supply France with all the tea she requires.
The culture has also been commenced on a small scale, in St. Helena,
and the Cape Colony.
The cultivation of the tea-tree might be tried with probability of
success in Natal, and the Mauritius. The plant grows in every soil,
even the most ungrateful; resists the hurricanes, and requires little
care. The picking of the leaves, like the pods of cotton, is performed
by women, children, and the infirm, without much expense. The
preparation is known to the greater part of the Chinese, of whom there
are so many in Mauritius; besides, it is not difficult. A Mr. Duprat
has, I am informed, planted a certain extent of land in the
neighbourhood of Cernpipe, in that island, but I have not yet learnt
with what success.
The tea-plant has been successfully cultivated, on a large scale, in
the island of Madeira, at an elevation of 3,000 feet above the level
of the sea, by Mr. Hy. Veitch, British ex-Consul. The quality of the
leaf is excellent. The whole theory of preparing it is merely to
destroy the herbaceous taste, the leaves being perfect, when, like
hay, they emit an agreeable odor. But to roll up each leaf, as in
China, is found too expensive, although boys and girls are employed at
about two-pence or three-pence per day. Mr. Veitch has, therefore,
tried the plan of compressing the leaves into small cakes, which can
be done at a trifling expense. It is performed when the leaf is dry;
whereas, the rolling requires moisture, and subsequent roasting on
copper plates is necessary to prevent mustiness. In this process the
acid of the tea acts upon the copper, and causes that astringency
which we remark in all the China teas.
The tea of Cochin China is considered inferior to that of China, being
less strong and pleasant in flavour.
An inferior sort of tea, with a leaf twice or thrice as large as that
of Bohea, grows wild in the hilly parts of Quang-ai, and is sold at
from 12s. 6d. to 40s. the picul of 133lbs.
The Dutch have devoted much attention to tea cultivation in Java, and
the plantations are in fine order. Nearly a million lbs. of tea were
shipped thence in 1848; but the tea is said to be of inferior quality,
and grown and manufactured at considerable expense.
Japan produces both black and green tea. The Japanese prefer the
latter to the Chinese green tea. The black tea is very bad. The
Japanese tea-tree, is an evergreen, growing in the most sterile places
to the height of about six feet. It is described as above, by
Koempfer, as having leaves like the cherry, with a flower like the wild
rose; when fresh, the leaves have no smell, but a very astringent
taste. Tea grows in all the southern provinces of Japan, but the best
green is produced in the principality of Kioto, where it is cultivated
with great care.
A few years ago, Messrs. Worms attempted the cultivation of tea in
Ceylon. The island, however, lies too far within the tropics to offer
a climate like Assam, which is situate without them. The plants may
thrive to appearance, but that is not a demonstration of their
quality. The tea-plant has reached upwards of six feet in height at
Pinang, and in as healthy a state as could be desired, but the leaf
had no flavor, and although thousands of Chinese husbandmen cultivate
spices, and other tropical productions on that island, no one thinks
it worth while to extend the cultivation of the tea-plant in Pinang.
The Chinese there laugh at the idea of converting the leaf into a
beverage.
The cultivation of the tea-plant has been introduced into the United
States, and those planters who have tried the experiment have
succeeded beyond their highest expectations. Dr. Junius Smith had
successfully cultivated the plant on his property called Golden grove,
near Grenville, in South Carolina. His plants were in full blossom,
and as healthy and flourishing as those of China at the same stage of
growth. Everything connected with them looked favorable, and Dr. Smith
felt abundantly encouraged to extend the culture of the several
descriptions of tea upon his property. It is stated that his
expectations were so great, that he contemplated to place fresh tea on
the tea-tables of England and Paris in twenty days, from the
plantation. He had a large supply of plants, and tea seed enough for a
million more. The black descriptions blossomed earlier than the green
plant, but the latter also blossomed luxuriantly.
He introduced at first about 500 plants of from five to seven years'
growth, overland from the north-west provinces of India, and some from
China direct.
In the close of 1849, he writes me:--
"During the past year the tea-plant under my care has passed through
severe trials, from the injury received in transplanting, from the
heat generated in the packing-cases, from the want of shelter during
the severe frosts of February, from the excessive heat in June, and
from the drought of 58 days' continuance in July and August. The
plants were divested of their leaves and generally of their branches
and twigs in February, during my absence in New York. Knowing that
the plants were tender, and not fortified by age and mature growth
against severe weather, I had directed them to be covered in case a
material change of temperature should occur. But these orders were
neglected, and they consequently suffered from that cause.
The plant is sufficiently hardy to resist any weather occurring in
this part of the country, when seasoned for one year.
The plant has grown thrifty since April, and the quantity of
foliage, buds, and blossoms, show that the root has taken strong
hold, and is now fully equal to produce its fruit next autumn, which
always follows the year after the blossoms. I have a variety of both
black and green tea-plants. The buds and blossoms of the latter did
not appear until a fortnight after the black tea-plant. But the
blossoms were larger when they did appear in September, October,
November, and December. From present appearances, I think the
blossoms of some of the late plants will continue to unfold until
spring. It is not an unusual thing for the blossoms and the fruit to
appear at the same time upon the same plant. In this particular it
differs from any plant I have seen. As my chief object, at present,
is to cultivate and increase the tea-nut, it will be a year or two
perhaps before I attempt to convert the leaf into tea. The root
supports the leaf and fruit, and the leaf the root, so that neither
can be spared without detriment.
This climate appears congenial to the growth of the plant, and the
soil is so diversified in this mountainous district, that there is
no difficulty in selecting that best adapted to seed-growing plants,
or that designed for the leaf only. Upon the plantation purchased
this summer, I have light-yellow, dark-brown, and red clay subsoil,
of a friable character, with a surface soil sufficiently sandy to
answer the demands of the plant. I do not see any reason to doubt,
from a year's experience, that the tea-plant in its varieties will
flourish in what I heretofore denominated the tea-growing district
of the United States, as well as in any part of China.
The slowness of its growth requires patience. But when once
established, the tea-nuts will supply the means of extending
cultivation, and the duration of the plant for twenty years
diminishes the expense of labor. To illustrate the hardihood of the
plant, I may observe, that notwithstanding the zero severity of
February frost destroyed the leaves and branches of most of the
plants, and those now blooming in great beauty and strength are from
roots the growth of this summer, I have one green tea-plant the stem
and branches of which withstood the frost of February without the
slightest protection, and is now a splendid plant, covered with
branches and evergreen leaves, affording undeniable evidence not
only of its capability of resisting frost, but of its adaptation to
just such a degree of temperature.
I have often remarked that the tea-plant requires for its perfection
the influence of two separate and distinct climates, the heat of
summer and the cold of winter. The thermometer in this vicinity
during the heat of summer generally ranges from 74 at 6 o'clock a.m.
to 82 at 3 o'clock p.m., only one day during the summer so high as
86.
This is a most agreeable temperature, nights always cool, which the
tea-plant enjoys, and the days hot and fanned with the mountain
breeze.
The drought I found the most difficult point to contend with, owing
to the want of adequate means for irrigation. I lost 20 or 30 plants
through this, and learned that no tea plantation should he
established without irrigation. After two or three years there will
be little necessity for it, because the depth of the roots will
generally then protect the plant.
My plantation at Golden Grove is well supplied with water, or I
should not have purchased it at any price.
It is the first and most important point to secure a southern or
western aspect, a gentle declivity the second, salubrious air and
suitable soil the third.
Our country is filled with natural tea plantations, which are only
waiting the hand of the husbandman to be covered with this luxuriant
and productive plant.
I know the public is naturally impatient of delay. Like corn, it is
expected that the tea-nuts will be planted in the spring, and the
crop gathered in the autumn. But they forget that the tea-plant does
not interfere with any other crop, and when once planted it does not
soon require a renewal.
I have sometimes felt this impatience myself, and longed for a cup
of tea of my own growing, but I have never had one. As a husbandman,
I must wait some time longer, and let patience have her perfect
work."
Again, under date May 1, 1850, he states that he has succeeded
admirably in the culture. The plants bear the winter well, and their
physiology and general characteristics remain unchanged by the change
of climate and soil. The leaf puts out at the same period of the year
that it does in China.
On the 27th of May, 1850, Dr. Smith received a further batch of
trees, fresh, green and healthful, as if still growing in the
plantations of China; after a passage of little more than five months.
These plants, together with the seedlings and nuts, were of the green
tea species, and obtained from a quarter situated about 700 miles from
Canton.
In a letter, dated Grenville, S.C., June 17th, 1850, with which I have
been favored, he adds:--
"I never heard of the failure of the tea-crop. All vegetation may be
retarded, or lessened, or augmented, in its production, in a slight
degree, by excessive rains, or drought, or cold, or heat, or
atmospheric action; but the tea-plant is sure to produce its leaf.
From all I have observed, a decided drought is the most detrimental
to the health of the tea plant. The almost continued rains which
marked the advance of the past spring, seemed perfectly agreeable to
the tea-plant, and facilitated the germination of the tea-nuts.
Where any vitality remained in the nut, it was sure to germinate.
Curiosity, on this point should be restrained, and no picking and
pawing up of the nuts permitted. I have seedlings with tap roots
four inches in length, where no appearance of germination is visible
upon the surface of the ground. The chances are ten to one that the
seedling would be destroyed by the tamperings of idle curiosity. Let
nature have her own most perfect work, and see that the enemy, the
drought, is vanquished by an abundant supply of water.
From experience, I notice that nothing is more congenial to the
germination of the tea-nut than a good stiff blue, clayed soil. The
marly colour of the soil is undoubtedly the result of a rich loam,
combined with the clay of a lighter hue. The adhesive nature of the
clay retains moisture in an eminent degree, and the fertilising
qualities of the loam are well known to every bottom land farmer.
Plants put out three weeks ago, after a long voyage from China, are
now taking root, and look fresh and vigorous, notwithstanding the
recent heat and dryness of the atmosphere. But I have taken
unwearied pains in the cultivation. Every plant is sheltered from
the scorching influence of the sun, now from 70 deg. to 86 deg. of
temperature. Although the soil is naturally moist and clayey, and
half bottom land, from the work of gentle acclivities, rising on
either hand, yet I have given the plants a liberal watering in the
evening. By last summer's drought of fifty-seven days, I was taught
the absolute necessity of deep digging and deep planting. None of my
plants, of this season's planting, are more than two or three inches
above the surface of the ground.
If any of the plants have leaves, as most of them have, below that
height, they are planted with the leaves retained; none are removed.
Some of the older plants have no leaves remaining, and looked like
dry sticks. Many of these are now beginning to break, and put forth
fresh leaves."
In 1851, Mr. Frank Bonynge set on foot a subscription list of fifty
dollars each, to procure tea and various Indian plants for culture in
America. That tea can be grown successfully in Carolina, Georgia, and
Florida, is almost certain, because the experiment has been pretty
fairly tried, as above shown, by Dr. Smith. The thermometer at
Shanghai indicates the cold as more severe by thirteen degrees than at
Charleston, South Carolina. The cold winter of 1834-5, which destroyed
the oranges in Mr. Middleton's plantation, in Charleston, left his tea
plants uninjured.
The question of cultivating tea in California has been seriously
discussed, and will no doubt be gone into when the gold digging mania
has a little subsided. There is the necessary labor and experience on
the spot, in some 12,000 or 14,000 Chinese, most of whom doubtless
understand the culture and manufacture. The climate, soil and surface
of California exactly answer the requirements for the growth of this
plant. The time may yet come when the vast ranges of hills that
traverse this State shall present terraces of tea gardens, cultivated
by the laborious Chinese, and adding millions to the value of its
products.
A company for the cultivation of tea, under the title of the Assam
Company, was established in March, 1839; and which, with a called-up
capital of £193,337, has made up to the present time very profitable
progress; having now got its plantations into excellent cultivation,
and all its arrangements in admirable working order, it has sold teas
to the amount of £90,000, and has a steam-boat, a considerable plant
and machinery.
In the report of the Company, at their annual meeting, held at
Calcutta, in Jan., 1850, it was stated, as the result of their
operations, that during the year 1849, the manufacturing season was
unusually cold and ungenial, in consequence of which the development
of leaf for manufacture was much checked. Although some loss was
sustained, there was considerable increase in the crop
notwithstanding, attributable to the continued improvements in the
culture which had been obtained, and improvements over the previous
season in some departments of the manufacturing process. The gross
quantity of unsorted tea manufactured in the southern division was
207,982 lbs., being 2,673 lbs. less than that of the previous season,
but the actual net out-turn was expected to reach 200,000 lbs. As much
as 157,908 lbs. of the crop had been already received and shipped to
England. These teas consisted chiefly of the finer qualities. Whilst
the crops have been thus sensibly advancing in quantity and quality,
and the value of the company's plantations permanently raised by
extended and improved culture, and some increase to the sowings, the
total outlay had been somewhat less than the previous year, the
expenditure being limited to £500 for a crop of 12,000 acres of tea.
With more extended gardens, the produce will be raised at a yet lower
rateable cost than at present.
The number of acres in cultivation in 1849, was about 12,000; these
were not all in bearing, but would shortly be so, and the produce from
this extent might be estimated at 300,000 lbs., and the cost of
producing this would be about £11,000. 1,010 chests of the produce
were sold in London on the 13th of March, 1850, at a gross average of
1s. 11½d. per lb. The produce of 1847, sold in England, was 141,277
lbs., at a gross average of 1s. 8d. per lb.: that of 1848 was 176,149
lbs. which sold at the average of 1s. 8½d. per lb. The produce of 1849
was 216,000 lbs., and there was every expectation of the average
prices realised being higher than those of the previous years. The
season was cold and unfavorable, or the crop would have been 10,000
lbs. more.
The exact amounts obtained for the Company's teas in the five years,
ending with 1851, will be seen from the following figures:--
Net produce, lbs. Average price. £
1847 144,164 at per lb. ls. 7-1/16d. 11,513
1848 182,953 " ls. 8¼d. 15,436
1849 216,000 " ls. 9½d. 19,350
1850 253,427 " ls. 6-1/8d. 18,153
1851 271,427 " ls. 8½d. 22,152
1852 esmtd. 280,000
This exhibits a progressive increase in the aggregate value of the
Company's produce, and this has been effected, it is stated, without
any sensible increase of the current expenditure. It exhibits also a
rise in the value of the tea (157,942 lbs. having been sold at the
high average price of 1s. 11¼d.), a fact strongly indicative of its
increasing excellence. The details of the crop of the season of 1849
showed a net produce of 237,000 lbs. of tea; so that the Company are
increasing their cultivation to the extent of nearly ten per cent, per
annum, and the increase will doubtless proceed with greater rapidity,
whenever the increase of capital enables the directors to extend their
operations.
In a report submitted to the Directors, by Mr. Burkinyoung, the
managing director in Calcutta last year, he thus speaks of the
Company's field of operations and future prospects:--
"The box-making is especially worthy of notice for its effective
organisation and economical arrangement; the work is performed
chiefly by Assamese boys instructed at the factory: the number of
boxes required for the year's consumption will not be short of four
thousand, the whole of which will be made at the factory,--an
achievement that cannot be too highly estimated in a country so
destitute of mechanical labor.
Notwithstanding the high standard of quality and strength to which
our teas have already attained, I am of opinion that, as experience
advances, and our knowledge and system of plucking and manufacturing
the crops become improved, and better organised, a higher standard
of quality and value may yet be realised; in this opinion the
superintendent concurs with me, and the attainment of this object is
one to which his attention's prominently directed.
In the course of my enquiries and trials of different samples of tea
in Assam, my attention was directed to one description of black tea,
of rough strong flavor, made by a quicker process than that
ordinarily used in the manufacture of black tea: under this mode of
manipulation, a quality of tea is produced sufficiently distinctive
in its flavor and appearance to render it worthy of attention and
trial, and I think, when perfected in the process of manufacture,
calculated to come into popular estimation. Samples of this tea the
superintendent will forward to the board for trial.
In conducting the operations in Assam, the chief difficulty of
importance which has not yet been effectually met is the paucity of
labor; this does not, however, exist to the extent of materially
checking any of the important operations connected with the
production of the tea, but it is felt in the arrear of various
descriptions of work, in providing bricks for building, and in the
preparation of a stock of seasoned timber and boards for building
and box-making; while the out factories would be benefited by a
larger proportion of agricultural labor. Great advance, however, has
been made by the superintendent in the employment of Assamese labor
in contract work: under the arrangement he has established, these
contracts are now, for the most part, fulfilled with much
punctuality, and there is reason to expect that this system of labor
will be further extended. The Kachorie Coolies are a valuable class
of laborers, but they do not appear to be sufficiently numerous, or
to emigrate in sufficient numbers to afford with the native Assamese
a supply of labor altogether equal to our wants, so as to render the
concern independent of Bengal labor.
The tea lands are for the most part advantageously situated, within
convenient reach of water-carriage, either by the 'Dickhoo,'
'Dêsang,' and 'Dehing' rivers, or by means of small streams leading
to them. The Plantations of the Satsohea and Rookang forests, and on
the banks of the Tingri in the Northern Division, are all valuable
centres of extension in each district. The lands suitable for tea
cultivation are ample in extent, and of the highest fertility; while
the Hill Factories of the Southern and Eastern Divisions, although
secondary in importance, are, as regards extent and quality of soil,
equally eligible as bases of extension.
The prospects of the future, I entertain no doubt, will keep pace
with the satisfactory results that have hitherto been realised,
looking to the sound organisation that now exists in our
establishment at Assam, an organisation that has already taken
healthy root, and must in its growth gain strength and permanence. I
think we may safely calculate, after the current year, upon an
annual increase in our production of 40,000 lbs. of tea, until a
larger system of operations can be matured, of which the basis is
already laid down, in the new lands cleared and sown during the past
cold season, averaging 225 to 250 poorahs; and this extended basis
will be doubtless followed up by annual extensions of similar, if
not larger, area. The concern is now taking a position which will
place it on a scale of working commensurate with the objects
entertained upon the first incorporation of the company, the profits
now likely to be realised being adequate to all the outlay
necessary."
The prices in the last two years in London have been fully maintained
at 1s. 3d. to 4s. 4d., according to sorts. Of Assam tea, the sales in
the London market in 1851 amounted to 2,200 packages, against 1,900
packages in 1850, and all were freely taken (on account of their great
strength) at very full prices. Seventy-six packages of Kumaon tea,
both black and green, grown by the East India Company, in the
Himalayas, as an experiment, were also brought to sale. They were teas
of high quality; but being of the light flavored class, and not duly
esteemed in this market, they realised only about their relative value
as compared with China teas of similar grade. The Souchong and
Pouchong sold at 1s. 1¼d. to 1s. 3½d.; the Hyson, Imperial, and
Gunpowder realised 1s. 7¾d. to 2s. 6½d.
Mr. Robert Fortune, who, in the service of the Horticultural Society
of London, gave such satisfaction by his botanical researches in
China, was, on his return to England, in 1848, engaged by the
Directors of the East India Company to proceed again to the Celestial
Empire, and procure and transmit to India such a quantity and variety
of the tea plant, that its cultivation in the north-western provinces
would be a matter of mere manual labor. Having penetrated about 300
miles into the interior, he left Hong Kong in the middle of 1851 for
Calcutta, with a large quantity of choice plants, selected in the
green tea districts, and these have flourished as well as could
possibly be expected; so that, in the course of a few years, there is
every probability that tea will form a considerable article of export
from our Indian Presidencies. Mr. Fortune secured the services of, and
took with him, eight Chinese, from the district of Wei-chow, under an
agreement for three years, at the rate of fifteen dollars a month
each. Six of these are regular tea-manufacturers; the other two are
pewterers, whose sole business is that of preparing lead casings for
tea-chests.
In the British portion of the Punjaub, it has been resolved to expend
£10,000 a year on the cultivation of the tea plant on the banks of the
Beas, as well as at Anarkullee, and Kotghur in the Simla jurisdiction.
Beyond the Beas there is a series of valleys on to Noonpoor, viz., the
Palklun, Kangra, Rillo, &c., from 3,000 to 4,000 feet above the level
of the sea, separated from each other by small ranges of hills. The
valleys are from three to four miles in breadth, and from sixty to
seventy in length: they are sheltered on the north by high mountains.
They are described as admirably suited for the cultivation of the
plant, now about to be attempted under the able management of Dr.
Jamieson. Should it prove successful, the benefits it will confer on
the country will be enormous. Tea is a favorite beverage everywhere
with the natives: at present their supplies come in scanty measure and
bad condition, at extravagant charges, across the frontier.
The cultivation of the tea plant in the highlands of the Punjaub, is
likely to be successful, even beyond the hopes of its promoters.
Thousands of plants sown in 1849 have attained a height of four or
five feet, and there seems no reason why tea should not ultimately
become an important article of trade in the Punjaub, as well as in
Kumaon. The Indian teas are already becoming popular in the English
market, and the cultivators have the advantage of a demand which is
almost unlimited, and of prices which seldom fluctuate to any great
extent.
The experiment of growing tea in the Madras Presidency has been often
successfully tried, on a small scale. A number of plants supplied by
government, through Dr. Wallich, were planted in the Shevaroy hills,
about twelve or fourteen years since, and have thriven well; but
though no doubt is entertained of the ease with which they could be
propagated over a wide extent of country, no attempt has been made to
give the cultivation a practical turn, or to make a cup of tea from
the southern Indian tree. In Coorg, too, the experiment has been
tested with like results, so that sufficient warranty exists to
justify trials on the largest scale.
Tea plants grow in luxuriance in the open air, at the Botanical
Gardens, at Kew. Mr. Bonynge has seen this plant growing wild in N.
lat. 27 deg. 30 min. on hills from three to 500 feet in height, where
too, there was an abundance of frost, snow and hail.
Those persons in England who possess tea plants, and who cultivate
them for pleasure, should always bear in mind that, even in the tea
districts of China, this shrub will not succeed if it be planted in
low, wet land; and this is, doubtless, one of the reasons why so few
persons succeed in growing it in this country. It ought always to be
planted on a warm sloping bank, in order to give it a fair chance of
success. If some of the warm spots of this kind in the south of
England or Ireland were selected, who knows but that our cottagers
might be able to grow their own tea? at all events, they might have
the fragrant herb to look upon.
The Dutch made the first movement to break the charm of Chinese
monopoly, by introducing and cultivating the tea plant in their rich
and fruitful colony of Java. That island lies between the sixth and
eighth degrees of south latitude.
In 1828, the first experiment in the cultivation of tea was made in
the garden of the Chateau of Burtenzorg, at Java, where 800 plants of
an astonishing vigor, served as an encouragement to undertake this
culture, and considerable plantations were made in many parts of the
island. The first trials did not answer to the expectations, as far as
regards the quality of the article, the astringent taste and feeble
aroma of which caused the conjecture that the preparation of the leaf,
and its final manipulation, are not exactly according to the process
used in China. At present tea is cultivated in thirteen Residencies:
but the principal establishment, where the final manipulation is made,
is in the neighbourhood of Batavia. The tea which Java now furnishes
yearly to the markets of the mother country, may be stated at from
200,000 to 300,000 pounds. It is intimated that the government intends
to abandon this culture to the industry of private individuals, under
the guarantee of equitable contracts.
The mountain range, which runs through the centre of the island, is
the most productive, because the tea gardens, extending from near the
base, high up the mountains, reach an atmosphere tempered by
elevation. The plant escapes the scorching heats of the torrid zone,
and finds a climate, by height rather than by latitude, adapted to its
nature. But the plant is not confined to lofty ridges. In the plains,
the hedges and fences, if one may so call them, are all planted with
the tea shrub, which flourish in greater or less perfection throughout
the island. But, as has already been intimated, the equatorial
latitudes are not the most auspicious for the vigorous growth of a
plant that requires a temperature equally removed from the extremes of
heat and cold, and the quality of the tea is as much affected by the
climate as the growth of the plant. A considerable quantity of tea is
annually shipped from Java to Europe; but the extension of the
cultivation is no doubt checked by the exceeding fertility of the
soil, and its adaptation to the growth of the rich products of
tropical regions.
Mr. Jacobson, inspector of tea culture in Java, has published at
Batavia a work in three volumes, upon the mode of cultivating this
plant, upon the choice of grounds, and the best processes for the
preparation and manipulation of the leaves. This book, the fruit of
many years of experience and care given to the subject, has been well
received by the cultivators who devote themselves to this branch of
industry. If, by means of careful experiments and experience, the
government succeed in conferring on the island of Java this important
branch of commerce, she may hope to obtain brilliant results; at all
events, it will open to the country a new source of prosperity and
riches.
An interesting account of the tea plants, and the manufacture of tea,
will be found in Fortune's "Wanderings in China," in Ball's "Account
of the Cultivation and Manufacture of Tea," Boyle's "Illustrations of
Himalayan Botany," and his "Productive Resources of India."
From Fortune's "Travels" I take the following extract:--
"There are few subjects connected with the vegetable kingdom which
have attracted such a large share of public notice as the tea-plant
of China. Its cultivation on the Chinese hills, the particular
species of variety which produces the black and green teas of
commerce, and the method of preparing the leaves, have always been
objects of peculiar interest. The jealousy of the Chinese government
in former times, prevented foreigners from visiting any of the
districts where tea is cultivated; and the information derived from
the Chinese merchants, even scanty as it was, was not to be depended
upon. And hence we find our English authors contradicting each
other; some asserting that the black and green teas are produced by
the same variety, and that the difference in colour is the result of
a different mode of preparation; while others say that the black
teas are produced from the plant called by botanists _Thea Bohea_,
and the green from _Thea viridis_, both of which we have had for
many years in our gardens in England. During my travels in China
since the last war, I have had frequent opportunities of inspecting
some extensive tea districts in the black and green tea countries of
Canton, Fokien, and Chekiang: the result of these observations is
now laid before the reader. It will prove that even those who have
had the best means of judging have been deceived, and that the
greater part of the black and green teas which are brought yearly
from China to Europe and America are obtained from the same species
or variety, namely, from the _Thea viridis_. Dried specimens of this
plant were prepared in the districts I have named, by myself, and
are now in the herbarium of the Horticultural Society of London, so
that there can be no longer any doubt upon the subject. In various
parts of the Canton provinces where I have had an opportunity of
seeing tea cultivated, the species proved to be the _Thea Bohea_, or
what is commonly called the black tea plant. In the green tea
districts of the north--I allude more particularly to the province
of Chekiang--I never met with a single plant of this species, which
is so common in the fields and gardens near Canton. All the plants
in the green tea country near Ningpo, on the islands of the Chusan
Archipelago, and in every part of the province which I have had an
opportunity of visiting, proved, without an exception, to be _Thea
viridis_. Two hundred miles further to the north-west, in the
province of Kiangnan, and only a short distance from the tea hills
in that quarter, I also found in gardens the same species of tea.
Thus far my actual observations exactly verified the opinions I had
formed on the subject before I left England, viz: that the black
teas were prepared from the _Thea Bohea_, and the green from _Thea
viridis_. When I left the north, on my way to the city of
Foo-chow-foo, on the river Min, in the province Fokien, I had no
doubt that I should find the tea hills there covered with the other
species, _Thea Bohea_, from which we generally suppose the black
teas are made; and this was the more likely to be the case as this
species actually derives its specific name from the Bohea hills in
this province. Great was my surprise to find all the plants on the
tea hills near Foo-chow exactly the same as those in the green tea
districts of the north. Here were, then, green tea plantations on
the black tea hills, and not a single plant of the _Thea Bohea_ to
be seen. Moreover, at the time of my visit, the natives were busily
employed in the manufacture of black teas. Although the specific
differences of the tea plant were well known to me, I was so much
surprised, and I may add amused, at this discovery, that I procured
a set of specimens for the herbarium, and also dug up a living
plant, which I took northward to Chekiang. On comparing it with
those which grow on the green tea hills, no difference whatever was
observed. It appears, therefore, that the black and green teas of
the northern districts of China (those districts in which the
greater part of the teas for the foreign market are made) are both
produced from the same variety, and that that variety is the _Thea
viridis_, or what is commonly called green tea plant. On the other
hand those black and green teas which are manufactured in
considerable quantities in the vicinity of Canton, are obtained
from the _Thea Bohea_, or black tea.
In the green tea districts of Chekiang, near Ningpo, the first crop
of leaves is generally gathered about the middle of April. This
consists of the young leaf buds just as they begin to unfold, and
forms a fine and delicate kind of young hyson, which is held in high
estimation by the natives, and is generally sent about in small
quantities as presents to their friends. It is a scarce and
expensive article, and the picking off the leaves in such a young
state does considerable injury to the tea plantation. The summer
rains, however, which fall copiously about this season, moisten the
earth and air; and if the plants are young and vigorous, they soon
push out fresh leaves. In a fortnight or three weeks from the time
of the first picking, the shrubs are again covered with fresh
leaves, and are ready for the second gathering, which is the most
important of the season. The third and last gathering, which takes
place as soon as new leaves are formed, produces a very inferior
kind of tea, which is rarely sent out of the district. The mode of
gathering and preparing the leaves of the tea plant is very simple.
We have been so long accustomed to magnify and mystify everything
relating to the Chinese, that in all their arts and manufactures we
expect to find some peculiar practice, when the fact is, that many
operations in China are more simple in their character than in most
parts of the world. To rightly understand the process of rolling and
drying the leaves, which I am about to describe, it must be borne in
mind that the grand object is to expel the moisture, and at the same
time to retain as much as possible of the aromatic and other
desirable secretions of the species. The system adopted to attain
this end is as simple as it is efficacious. In the harvest seasons,
the natives are seen in little family groups on the side of every
hill, when the weather is dry, engaged in gathering tea leaves. They
do not seem so particular as I imagined they would have been in this
operation, but strip the leaves off rapidly and promiscuously, and
throw them all into round baskets, made for the purpose out of split
bamboo or ratan. In the beginning of May, when the principal
gathering takes place, the young seed-vessels are about as large as
peas. These are also stripped off and mixed with the leaves; it is
these seed-vessels which we often see in our tea, and which has some
slight resemblance to capers. When a sufficient quantity of leaves
are gathered, they are carried home to the cottage or barn, where
the operation of drying is performed."
This is minutely described, and the author continues:--
"I have stated that the plants grown in the districts of Chekiang
produce green teas, but it must not be supposed that they are the
green teas which are exported to England. The leaf has a much more
natural color, and has little or none of what we call the 'beautiful
bloom' upon it, which is so much admired in Europe and America.
There is now no doubt that all these 'blooming' green teas, which
are manufactured at Canton, are dyed with Prussian blue and gypsum,
to suit the taste of the foreign 'barbarians;' indeed the process
may be seen any day, during the season, by those who give themselves
the trouble to seek after it. It is very likely that the same
ingredients are also used in dyeing the northern green teas for the
foreign market; of this, however, I am not quite certain. There is a
vegetable dye obtained from _Isatis indigotica_ much used in the
northern districts, and called _Teinsing_; and it is not unlikely
that it may be the substance which is employed. The Chinese never
use these dyed teas themselves, and I certainly think their taste in
this respect is more correct than ours. It is not to be supposed
that the dye used can produce any very bad effects on the consumer,
for, had this been the case, it would have been discovered before
now; but if entirely harmless or inert, its being so must be
ascribed to the very small quantity which is employed in the
manufacture."
In short, the black and green teas which are generally exported to
England and the United States from the northern provinces of China,
are made from the same species; and the difference of color, flavor,
&c., is solely the result of the different modes of preparation.
I shall make an extract, also, from Williams's "Middle Kingdom:"--
"The native names given to the various sorts of tea are derived for
the most part from their appearance or place of growth; the names of
many of the best kinds are not commonly known abroad. _Bohea_ is the
name of the Wu-i hills, (or Bu-i, as the people on the spot call
them,) where the tea is grown, and not a term for a particular sort
among the Chinese, though it is applied to a very poor kind of black
tea at Canton. _Sunglo_ is likewise a general term for the green
teas produced on the hills in Kiangsu. The names of the principal
varieties of black tea are as follows: _Pecco_, 'white hairs,' so
called from the whitish down on the leaves, is one of the choicest
kinds, and has a peculiar taste; _Orange Pecco_, called _shang
hiang_, or 'most fragrant,' differs from it slightly; _Hungmuey_,
'red plum blossoms,' has a slightly reddish tinge; the terms
_prince's eyebrows_, _carnation hair_, _lotus kernel_, _sparrow's
tongue_, _fir-leaf pattern_, _dragon's pellet_, and _dragon's
whiskers_, are all translations of the native names of different
kinds of Souchong or Pecco. _Souchong_, or _siau chung_, means
_little plant_ or sort, as _Pouchong_, or _folded sort_, refers to
the mode of packing it; _Campoi_ is corrupted from _kan pei_ i.e.
carefully fired; _Chulan_ is the tea scented with the chulan flower,
and applied to some kinds of scented green tea. The names of green
teas are less numerous: _Gunpowder_, or _ma chu_, i.e. hemp pearl,
derives its name from the form into which the leaves are rolled; _ta
chu_ or 'great pearl,' and _chu lan_, or 'pearl flower,' denote two
kinds of _Imperial_; _Hyson_, or _yu tsien_, i.e. before the rains,
originally denoted the tenderest leaves of the plant, and is now
applied to _Young Hyson_; as is also another name, _mei pein_, or
'plum petals;' while _hi chun_, 'flourishing spring,' describes
_Hyson_; _Twankay_ is the name of a stream in Chehkiang, where this
sort is produced; and _Hyson skin_, or _pi cha_, i.e. skin tea, is
the poorest kind, the siftings of the other varieties; _Oolung_,
'black dragon,' is a kind of black tea with green flavor. Ankoi teas
are produced in the district of Ngankí, not far from Tsiuenchau fu,
possessing a peculiar taste, supposed to be owing to the ferruginous
nature of the soil. De Guignes speaks of the Pu-'rh tea, from the
place in Kiangsu where it grows, and says it is cured from wild
plants found there; the infusion is unpleasant, and is used for
medical purposes. The Mongols and others in the west of China
prepare tea by pressing it, when fresh, into cakes like bricks, and
thoroughly drying it in that shape to carry in their wanderings.
"Considering the enormous labor of preparing tea, it is surprising
that even the poorest kind can be afforded to the foreign purchaser
at Canton, more than a thousand miles from the place of its growth,
for 9d. and less a pound; and in their ability to furnish it at this
rate, the Chinese have a security of retaining the trade in their
hands, notwithstanding the efforts to grow the plant elsewhere.
Comparatively little adulteration is practised, if the amount used
at home and abroad be considered, though the temptation is great, as
the infusion of other plants is drunk instead of the true tea. The
poorer natives substitute the leaves of a species of Rhamnus or
Fallopia, which they dry; Camellia leaves are perhaps mixed up with
it, but probably to no great extent. The refuse of packing-houses is
sold to the poor at a low rate, under the name of tea endings and
tea bones; and if a few of the rarest sorts do not go abroad,
neither do the poorest. It is a necessary of life to all classes of
Chinese, and that its use is not injurious is abundantly evident
from its general acceptance and extending adoption; and the
prejudice against it among some out of China may be attributed
chiefly to the use of strong green tea, which is no doubt
prejudicial. If those who have given it up on this account will
adopt a weaker infusion of black tea, general experience is proof
that it will do them no great harm, and they may be sure that they
will not be deceived by a colored article; Neither the Chinese nor
Japanese use milk or sugar in their tea, and the peculiar taste and
aroma of the infusion is much better perceived without those
additions; nor can it be drunk so strong without tasting an
unpleasant bitterness, which the milk partly hides. The Japanese
sometimes reduce the leaves to a powder, and pour boiling water
through them in a cullender, in the same way that coffee is often
made."
The following valuable details as to the cultivation and manufacture
of tea in British India, are from interesting reports by Dr. Jameson,
Superintendent of the Company's Botanical Gardens in the North West
Provinces, published in 1847 in the Journal of the Agricultural and
Horticultural Society of Calcutta;--and from Mr. Robert Fortune's
report to the Hon. East India Company:--
_The quantity manufactured_.--The quantity of tea manufactured from
five plantations, of 89 acres in all, amounted in 1845 to 610 lb. 2
oz., and in 1846, on 115 acres, to l,023 lb. ll oz. The small
nursery of Lutchmisser, consisting of three acres of land, gave a
return in 1845 of 216 lb., or 2 maunds and 56 pounds; in 1846 the
return was 272 lbs., or 3 maunds and 32 pounds.
The small plantation of Kuppeena, established in 1841-2, and then
consisting of three acres (but increased in 1844 to four), yielded
in 1845, 1 maund and 56 pounds, and in 1846, 2 maunds and 56 pounds.
Thus we have received from a plantation of only five years'
formation, and of four acres (one of these recently added), upwards
of 2½ maunds of tea, and from another, Lutchmisser, of three acres,
which was established in 1835-6, 3 maunds and 30 pounds, equal to
272 pounds. I have, in a former report, asserted that the minimum
return of tea for an acre of land may be estimated at 1 pucka maund,
or 80 lb. The only plantations that I can as yet bring forward in
favour of my assertion, are the two above-mentioned: Kuppeena has
not yielded the proportion mentioned, but it was only established in
1841-42, and the tea-plants do not come into full bearing until the
eighth year; on the other hand, Lutchmisser has given more than the
average return. I think, therefore, that the returns already yielded
are highly favorable, and that though the data are small, they are
very satisfactory.
_Soil best adapted for the tea-plant_.--The soil in which the
tea-plant is now thriving in the Himalayas and in the valley of
Deyrah Dhoon, varies exceedingly. At Bhurtpoor and Russiah it is of
a light silico-aluminous nature, and abounding with small pieces of
clay slate, which is the subjacent rock, and trap (green-stone),
which occurs in large dykes, cutting through and altering the strata
of clay slate; mixed with the stony soil, there is a small quantity
of vegetable matter. The clay slate is metamorphic, being almost
entirely composed of mica. In some places it is mixed with quartz,
forming mica slate. From the decomposition of these rocks, mixed
with a small quantity of vegetable matter, the soil is formed. At
Kuppeena and Lutchmisser, the soil is also very stony, formed from
the decomposition of clay slate, which, in many places, as at
Russiah and Bhurtpoor, passes into mica slate, or alternates with
it, and a little vegetable matter. The same remark applies to the
plantations of Guddowli, Kouth, and Rumaserai. At Huwalbaugh part of
the soil consists of a stiff clay, of a reddish-yellow colour, owing
to peroxide of iron. Here, too, the tea-plants, provided that the
ground around them is occasionally opened up, thrive well. In Mr.
Lushington's garden at Lobha, in Kumaon, and in Assistant
Commissioner Captain H. Ramsay's garden at Pooree, in Gurwahl,
plants are thriving well in a rich, black, vegetable mould. The soil
in the Deyrah Dhoon varies exceedingly from clayey and stiff soil to
sand and gravelly soil, or light and free. The soil at Kaolagir is a
compound of the two, neither clayey, nor free, nor light soil, but
composed partly of clay and sand, mixed with vegetable mould, and in
some places mixed with much gravel, consisting of limestone, marl,
sandstone, clay slate, and quartz rock, or of such rocks as enter
into the composition of the surrounding ranges of mountains, viz.,
the Sewalick range to the south, and the Himalayas, properly so
called, to the north, From the above statement, we find that the
tea-plant thrives well both in stiff and free soils, and in many
modifications of these. But the soil which seems best adapted to its
growth may be styled free soil, as at Russiah, or a mixture of both,
as at Kaolagir, in the Deyrah Dhoon.
In limestone districts, where the tea has been tried, if the
super-imposed soil has been thin and untransported, and this proved
from the decomposition of the subjacent rock, the plant has
generally failed; and this has been particularly the case where the
limestone, by plutonic action, has become metamorphic. These
districts, therefore, in forming plantations, are to be avoided.
From the writings of various authors, it appears that the districts
where the tea-plant thrives best in China, have a geological
structure very similar to that met with in many parts of the
Himalayas, being composed of primitive and transition rocks.
_Altitude above the sea best suited to the tea plant_.--To state
what altitude is best adapted to the growth of the tea-plant, and
for the production of the best kinds of tea, will require much more
observation. At present the tea-plant thrives equally well at
Kaolagir, in the Deyrah Dhoon; at Russiah, in the Chikata district;
at Huwalbaugh; at Kuppeena and Lutchmisser; and at Rumaserai, or at
heights ranging from 2,200 feet above the level of the sea to 6,000
feet.
Moreover, the tea manufactured from leaves procured from Kaolagir,
has been considered by the London brokers equal to that made from
leaves procured from Lutchmisser and Kuppeena.
_On the method of preparing ground prior to forming a
plantation_.--In forming a plantation, the first object of
attention, both in the hills and in the Deyrah Dhoon, is a _fence_.
In the former, to prevent the depredations of wild animals, such as
wild hog, deer, &c., which abound in the hills, and though they do
not eat tea leaves, yet hogs, in search of tubers, in the space of a
single night will do much damage by uprooting young shrubs--in the
latter, to prevent the straying of cattle. The first thing to be
done, therefore, is to dig a trench three feet broad and two deep,
and to plant a hedge, if in the hills, of black thorn (_Cratoegus_);
if in the plains, the different species of aloe are best adapted for
the purpose. The fence being formed, all trees and shrubs are then
to be uprooted; this is very heavy work, both in the hills and
plains, from the vast number of shrubs, allowed by natives (from
indolence to remove them) to grow everywhere throughout their
fields. Roads are then to be marked off.
After this has been accomplished, the land is to be drained, if
necessary, by open drains--under drainage, for want of means and the
expense, being impracticable--and then ploughed three or four times
over. The beds for young tea-plants are then to be formed; these
ought to be three feet in breadth, alternating with a pathway of two
feet in breadth. By arranging beds in this manner much time and
labour is saved in transplanting; in irrigation the water is
economised, and in plucking tea leaves a road is given to the
gatherer. In transplanting, each plant is allowed 4½ feet; this is
at once gained, the beds and pathways being formed by placing in one
direction the plant in the centre of the bed.
_Trenching_.--On the tea beds being marked off, they are to be
trenched to a depth of from two to three feet, in order to destroy
all the roots of weeds, which are to be carefully removed. The
trenching is to be performed by the _fowrah_, or Indian spade.
In the hills, in many places the _fowrah_ cannot be used, owing to
the number of stones. The work is then to be done by the _koatlah_,
a flat-pointed piece of iron, of about eight inches in length, which
is inserted into a wooden handle. It is in form like the pick, and
is much used in hill cultivation for weeding and opening up the
ground. It is, however, not much to be commended for trenching
purposes, as natives, in using it, never penetrate the ground beyond
a few inches. For weeding, however, it is particularly useful, and
to such soil is much better adapted than most other implements.
_Formation of roads and paths_.--In addition to the pathways of two
feet in breadth, recommended to be formed between each bed, there
ought, for general use, to be a four feet road carried round the
plantation, and one of 10 feet through the centre. This applies to a
limited plantation, that is, of from 200 to 400 acres. If, on the
other hand, it was on a more extensive scale, several hackery roads
of 10 feet in breadth would be necessary, in order to cart away
weeds, &c., or carry manure to seedling beds.
_On seeds when ripe, and method to be adopted to ascertain it_.--In
all September and October the tea seeds ripen, but in the more
elevated plantations, as at Rumaserai, many do not ripen until
November. The seeds are contained in a capsule, and vary in number
from one to seven; to ascertain that they are ripe, open the
capsule, although green, and if their color is a nut-brown, they are
sure to be so. If they are not ripe, they are of a reddish-brown
above, mixed with white. If the seeds are allowed to remain a short
time on the bushes, after they are ripe, the capsules burst, and
they fall out; it is necessary, therefore, to remove them before
this takes place.
_On the method of sowing seeds, and season, and on the treatment of
the young tea plants after they have germinated_.--The ground having
been first well trenched and manured, that is, from sixty to seventy
maunds of manure given to the acre, the seeds are, when ripe, to be
removed from the capsules, and immediately sown to the depth of one
inch, and very close, in drills 8 to 10 inches apart from each
other. The sooner that they are sown after being removed from the
capsules the better, as their germinating properties are apt to be
destroyed if they are kept for any length of time. Some germinate in
the space of a few weeks, others lie dormant until February and
March, and others do not germinate until the rains.
The method of sowing seeds in China is thus described, being similar
to the native plan of sowing mangoes in India. "Several seeds are
dropped into holes four or five inches deep and three or four feet
apart, shortly after they ripen, or in November and December; the
plants rise up in a cluster when the rains come on. They are seldom
transplanted, but sometimes four to six are put quite close to form
a fine bush."[9] By this method nothing is gained, and the
expenditure of seeds great.
If the plants germinate in November, which, as already stated, many
do, they ought to be covered with a _chupper_ made of bamboo and
grass.
In the hills, everywhere at an elevation of 6,000 and 7,000 feet,
the ringal, a small kind of bamboo, of which there are several
species, is found in great abundance, and well adapted for the
purpose, and in the Deyrah Dhoon the bamboo occurs in vast quantity;
the market of the Upper Provinces being chiefly supplied from that
valley and other forests at the base of the Himalayas. Bamboos are
also met with to the height of six and seven thousand feet on the
Himalayas in the neighbourhood of Almorah. During the day, in the
cold weather, the _chuppers_ ought to be removed, and again replaced
at night; as the weather becomes hot, it is necessary to protect the
young plants from the heat of the sun, that is, in April and May,
and until the rains commence; the _chuppers_ at this time ought to
be put on about eight a.m., and removed again about four p.m.
_Method of rearing plantations by layers, and by cuttings_.--The
best season for laying down is when the sap is dormant, or in cold
weather; or when in full action, as in the rains. "Laying," as
expressed by Dr. Lindley, "is nothing but striking from cuttings,
which are still allowed to maintain their connection with the mother
plant by means of a portion of their stem." There are various
methods of making layers, but the most simple and efficient is to
bend down a branch, and sink it into the earth after having made a
slit or notch in the centre of the embedded portion. By so doing,
the descent of the sap is retarded, and thus the formation of
radicles or young roots is promoted; about five or six inches or
more, of the branch, is to be allowed to remain above ground, and in
a position as perpendicular to the point where the plant is notched
as possible. In three or four mouths these layers are ready to be
removed and transplanted; the removal of the layers is to be
gradual, that is, they ought first to be cut half through, then a
little more, and finally altogether separated.
The best season for propagating by cuttings is the cold weather,
that is, from November to February; they may also be propagated,
though not with the same success, during the rains; it is necessary
to protect them against frost in the cold weather, and from the rays
of the sun in the hot. Cuttings put in during the cold weather are
ready to transplant in the rains, and if put in during the rains,
they are generally fit for removal in February.
_On the method of transplanting and season_.--In transplanting young
tea-plants care should be taken to lift them with a good large ball
of earth attached to their roots, as they throw out a long central
or tap root, which, if cut through, invariably destroys the plant.
On being placed in the ground, the earth around them is to be well
pressed down and watered; the watering is to be continued every
third or fourth day, until the plants have taken hold of the ground.
During the rains, grass springs up with great rapidity, so as to
render it impossible for one man to keep three acres (the quantity
assigned by us) clean. This, however, is not necessary, if care be
taken to make a golah round each plant, and keep it clear of weeds;
these golahs ought always, in hill plantations where the ground is
irregular, to be connected by small _khauls_ or channels, in order
to make irrigation easy; by so doing too, water, if the supply be
scanty, which often happens in the hills in the hot weather, will be
economised.
+-----------------------------------------+
| b b |
| a a a | a Tea plant.
Thus-- | X----------X----------X | b Bed
| c c | c Watercourse
| b b |
+-----------------------------------------+
We have already stated that 4½ square feet ought to be assigned to
each plant. In China, according to Professor Royle, three to four
feet are given; this, however, is too small a space to allow the
plant to grow freely. After the tea plants are transplanted, it is
not necessary to protect them.
The best seasons for transplanting are towards the end of February,
or as soon as the frost has ceased, and throughout March, and during
the rains, and until the end or middle of November, depending on the
season.
In transplanting, four parties ought to be employed; viz., one
person to dig holes, a second to remove plants, a third to carry
them to the ground where they are required, and a fourth to plant.
By this means, not only time is saved, but the plants have a much
better chance, when thus treated, of doing well. When the seedling
beds are extensive, so many of the plants ought not to be removed,
that is, a plant left every 4½ feet, and these beds added to the
plantation.
_On pruning, best season and mode_.--The plants do not require to be
pruned until the fifth year, as the plucking of leaves generally
tends to make the plants assume the basket shape, the form most to
be desired to procure the greatest quantity of leaves; if, however,
the plants show a tendency to run into weed, from central branches
being thrown out, this ought to be checked by removing the central
stem. In the fourth year a quantity of the old and hard wood ought
to be removed, to induce the plants to throw out more branches. The
best season for pruning is from November to March.
_On irrigation_.--To keep the tea-plants healthy, irrigation for two
or three years is absolutely necessary, and no land ought to be
selected for a tea plantation which cannot be irrigated.
On the other hand, land liable to be flooded during the rains, and
upon which water lies for any length of time, is equally detrimental
to the growth of the plant. This applies to a small portion of the
Kooasur plantation, which receives the drainage of the adjoining
hills, and the soil being retentive, keeps the water. Deep trenches
have been dug in order to drain it off--these, however, owing to the
lowness of the surrounding country, act badly. Three successive
seasons plants have been put into the ground, and as often have been
destroyed on the setting in of the rains, showing the necessity of
avoiding such kind of land for tea plantation.
To facilitate irrigation, &c., as already stated, in the Deyrah
Dhoon, I have limited the tea beds to three feet in breadth. This is
particularly requisite in land so constituted as that of the Deyrah
Dhoon, it being so porous, as mentioned by Major Cautley in his
"Notes and Memoranda of Watercourses." This is caused by the
superincumbent soil not being more than from one to three feet
thick, in some places more, but varying exceedingly. Beneath this
there is a bed of shingle of vast thickness, through which the water
percolates; it is this that renders the sinking of wells so
difficult in the Deyrah Dhoon, and which has tended so much to
retard individuals from becoming permanent residents; at present
there are many tracts of several thousand acres in that valley
unoccupied from want of drinking water, as for instance, at
Innesphaeel.
Where the ground is very uneven, as is the case generally in the
hills, the _khaul_ system, already recommended, ought to be adopted.
_On the tea-plant; season of flowering, its characters and species,
and on the advantages to be derived from importing seeds from
China_.--From the importance of tea, as an article of commerce, the
plant has attracted much attention; and from few qualified Europeans
having travelled in the tea districts of China, there is much
difference of opinion as to the number of species belonging to the
genus Thea.
In the government plantations in Kumaon and Gurwahl, the plants
begin to flower about the end of August and beginning of September,
or, as the seeds of the former year begin to ripen. They do not all
come into flower at once, but some are in full blossom in September,
others in October, November, December and January. Some throw out a
second set of blossoms in March, April, and May, and during the
rains; so that from the same plant unripe or ripe seeds and flowers
may be collected at one and the same time.
To the genus Thea, which belongs to the order Ternstræmiaceæ, the
following characters have been ascribed: calyx persistent, without
bracts, five-leaved, leaflets imbricated and generally of the same
size. Petals of the corolla vary in number from five to nine,
imbricated, the inner ones much the largest. Stamens numerous, in
several rows adhering to the bottom of the petals. Filaments
filiform. Anthers incumbent, two-celled, oblong, with a thickish
connectivum. Cells opening longitudinally. Ovary free, three-celled;
ovules four in each cell, inserted internally into the central
angle, the upper ones ascending, the lower pendulous. Style trifid,
stigmas three, acute. Capsule spheroidal, 1-7-lobed with loculicidal
dehiscence, or with dessepiments formed from the turned-in edges of
the valves. Seeds solitary, or two in cells, shell-like testa,
marked with the ventral umbilicus. Cotyledons thick, fleshy, oily,
no albumen. Radicle very short, very near the umbilicus centripetal.
In the plantations there are two species, and two well marked
varieties.
The first is characterised by the leaves being of a pale-green
colour, thin, almost membraneous, broad lanceolate, sinatures or
edge irregular and reversed, length from three to six inches. The
color of the stem of newly-formed shoots is of a pale-reddish
colour, and green towards the end. This species is also marked by
its strong growth, its erect stem, and the shoots being generally
upright and stiff. The flowers are small, and its seeds but sparing.
In its characters this plant, received from Assam, agrees in part
with those assigned by Dr. Lettsom and Sir W. Hooker to the _Thea
viridis_, but differs in its branches being stiff and erect. The
flowers small, or rather much about the same size as the species
about to be described, and not confined to the upper axils of the
plant, and solitary, as stated by them.[10] By the Chinese
manufacturers it is considered an inferior plant for making tea, it
is not therefore grown to any extent.
The second species is characterised by its leaves being much
smaller, and not so broadly lanceolate; slightly waved, of a
dark-green color, thick and coriaceous, sinature or edge irregular,
length from one to three inches and a half. In its growth it is much
smaller than the former, and throws out numerous spreading branches,
and seldom presents its marked leading stem. This species,
therefore, in the above characters, agrees much with those that have
been assigned to _Thea Bohea_ by authors. The characters have been
mixed up in an extraordinary manner. Thus it has been stated, that
the _Thea viridis_ has large, strong growing, and spreading
branches, and that _Thea Bohea_ is a smaller plant, with branches
stiff and straight, and stem erect. No doubt the _Thea viridis_ is a
much larger and stronger growing plant than the _Thea Bohea_, or
rather the plant now existing in the different plantations is so;
but in the former the branches are stiff and erect, and in the
latter inclined and branches. The marked distinguishing characters
between the two species are the coriaceous dark-green leaves in the
_Thea Bohea_, and the large pale-green monhanæous leaves of the
_Thea viridis_. The manner, too, of growth is very striking, and on
entering the plantation the distinction is at once marked to the
most unobservant eye. This species of _Thea Bohea_ forms nearly the
whole of the plantations, and was brought from China by Dr. Gordon.
In the plantations there is a third plant, which, however, can only
be considered a marked variety of _Thea Bohea_. Its leaves are
thick, coriaceous, and of dark-green color, but invariably very
small, and not exceeding two inches in length, and thinly
lanceolate; the serratures, too, on the edge, which are straight,
are not so deep. In other characters it is identical. This marked
variety was received from Calcutta at the plantation in a separate
despatch from the others.
But in addition to these there are, no doubt, many more varieties,
and though it may be a fact that, in certain districts, green tea is
manufactured from a species differing from that from which black tea
is manufactured, yet, in other districts, green and black teas are
manufactured from one and the same plant. The Chinese manufacturers
now in Kumaon state that the plant is one and the same, and that it
can be proved by converting black tea into green. In manufacturing
teas now in the manufactory, if a large quantity of leaves are
brought in from the plantations, one half are converted into green,
and one half into black tea. This only shows that much of the green
and black teas of commerce are manufactured from one and the same
plant. The Assam plant is, from the characters given, quite a
distinct plant, and agrees, as already stated, most nearly with the
species described as _Thea viridis_. It would, therefore, be most
desirable to procure seeds of this so-called species, and also of
other varieties, of which, no doubt, there is a great variety. From
the northern districts of China in particular, seeds ought to be
imported, not, however, in large quantities, but in quantities of
two or three seers, so that they might, on arrival at Calcutta, be
sent up the country as quickly as possible, for, if the seeds are
kept long out of the ground, not one will germinate; such was the
fate of all the seeds contained in ten boxes imported by government
in 1845, not one having germinated, which was much to be regretted.
Had they been sent in small parcels, well packed in wax cloth, to
prevent them from being injured by moisture, and placed in an airy
part of the vessel in transmission from China to Calcutta, and, on
arrival there, sent by dâwk banghay direct to the plantation, they
would, I am confident, have reached in good condition. It is well
worthy of a trial and seeds ought, if possible, to be obtained from
every district celebrated for its teas. It is in this manner, by
obtaining seeds of the finest varieties of plants, that the finest
teas will be procured. I do not mean to infer that the tea plants
now under cultivation are not the produce of fine varieties, for
that has been proved by the undoubted testimony of the London
brokers, but only that there are, no doubt, many others well worthy
of introduction. In confirmation of what I have stated, I may quote
the words of my late friend Dr. Griffith, who, in his report on the
tea plant of Assam, says--"I now come to the consideration of the
steps which, in my opinion, must be followed if any degree of
success in the cultivation of tea is to be expected; of these the
most important is the importation of Chinese seeds of
unexceptionable quality, and of small numbers of their sorts."[11]
Dr. Royle, too, who was the first person to point out that the
Himalayas were well adapted to tea cultivation, and to whom the
credit of recommending to government the introduction of the plant
into Northern India is due, strongly urges the necessity of
importing seeds from different localities in China celebrated for
their teas.
_Method and season for plucking and gathering leaves_.--The season
for picking leaves commences in April and continues until October.
The number of gatherings varies, depending on the moisture[12] or
dryness of the season. If the season be good, as many as seven
gatherings may be obtained. If, however, the rains are partial, only
four or five. These, however, may be reduced to their general
periods for gathering--that is, from April to June, from July to
15th August, and from September to the end of October. But few
leaves are collected after the 15th of the latter month. As soon as
the new and young leaves have appeared in April, the plucking takes
place, this being done by the Chinese, assisted by the Mallees. The
following is the method adopted:--A certain division of the
plantation is marked off, and to each man a small basket is given,
with instructions to proceed to a certain point, so that no plant
may be passed over. On the small basket being filled, the leaves are
emptied into another large one, which is put in some shady place,
and in which, when filled, they are conveyed to the manufactory. The
leaves are generally plucked with the thumb and forefinger.
Sometimes the terminal part of a branch, having four or five young
leaves attached, is plucked off. All old leaves are rejected, as
they will not curl, and therefore are of no use.
As the season advances, and manufactory and plantation works become
necessary, the Mallees are assisted in gathering leaves by Coolies.
The process is simple, and thus every man, woman, and child of
villages could be profitably employed, on the plantations being
greatly extended. Certain kinds of leaves are not selected in the
plantation, in order to make certain kinds of tea, but all new and
fresh leaves are indiscriminately collected together, and the
different kinds separated on the leaves being fired.
_Method of manufacturing black tea_.--The young and fresh leaves on
being picked (they only being used, the old ones being too hard, and
therefore unfit to curl), are carried to the manufactory, and spread
out in a large airy room to cool, and are there kept during the
night, being occasionally turned with the hand if brought in in the
afternoon; or, if brought in during the morning, they are allowed to
lie until noon. Early in the morning the manufacturers visit the
airing room, and pack up the leaves in baskets and remove them to
the manufacturing room. Each manufacturer takes a basketful, and
commences to beat them between the palms of his hands with a lateral
motion, in order to soften and make them more pliable for working,
and thus prevent them, when rolled, from breaking. This beating
process continues for about an hour, and it may either consist of
one or two processes; the Chinese sometimes finish the beating
process at once; at others, they allow the leaves, after being beat
for half an hour, to remain a time and then resume it. They now go
to breakfast, and in one hour and a half the leaves are ready for
the pan. The pans being heated by wood placed in the oven, so as to
feel hot to the hands, are filled to about two-thirds, or about
three seers of leaves are thrown in at a time--the quantity which a
manufacturer is capable of lifting with both hands. With the hands
the leaves are kept moving with a rotatory motion in the pan, and
when they become very hot, the motion is kept up with a pair of
forked sticks. This process is continued for three or four minutes,
depending on the heat of the pan, or until the leaves feel hot and
soft. They are then, with one sweep of a bamboo brush, swept into a
basket, and thrown on to the rolling-table, which is covered with a
coarse mat made of bamboo. Each manufacturer then takes as much as
he can hold in both hands, and forms a ball and commences to roll it
with all his might with a semicircular motion, which causes a
greenish yellow juice to exude. This process is continued for three
or four minutes, the balls being occasionally undone and made up
again. The balls are then handed to another party at the extremity
of the table, to undo them and spread the leaves out thinly on flat
baskets and expose them to the sun, if there is any; if not they are
kept in the manufactory. After all the leaves have gone through this
process, the first baskets are brought back, and the leaves again
transferred to the pan, worked up in a similar manner for the same
length of time, re-transferred to the table, and again rolled. This
being done, the leaves are again spread out on large flat baskets to
cool. On being cooled the leaves are collected together and thinly
spread out on flat wicker-worked sieve-baskets, which are placed in
others of a deep and of a double-coned shape. The choolahs being
lighted for some time, and the charcoal burning clear, they are now
ready to receive the coned baskets. The basket is placed over the
choolah and kept there for about five minutes. The leaves are then
removed, re-transferred to the flat baskets, and re-rolled for a few
minutes. This being done, the leaves are again brought together,
placed in the conical basket and kept over the charcoal fire for
about two minutes. The contents of the conical baskets are then all
collected together in a heap, and as much is placed in a conical
basket as it will hold, and it is again placed over the charcoal
choolah until the tea is perfectly dry. During this time the baskets
are frequently removed and the tea turned, in order to allow the
leaves to be completely and uniformly dried, and the basket too is
generally struck, on removal, a violent side blow with the hand, to
remove from the sieve any small particles that might otherwise fall
into the fire. Before removing the basket from the choolah, a flat
basket is always placed on the floor to receive it, and all the
particles which pass through, on the coned basket being struck, are
again replaced. On the conical basket being filled, before placing
it over the choolah, a funnel is made in the centre of the tea with
the hand, to allow the heated air to pass through. Sometimes a
funnel made of bamboo is made for this purpose. After the tea feels
perfectly dry, it is packed in boxes, and sent to the godown.
Next day the different kinds of tea are picked, and on being
separated they are again placed in the conical baskets and heated.
During this process the baskets are frequently removed from the
choolah in order to turn the tea, so that the heating may be general
and uniform. In doing this a flat basket is always placed on the
floor, as on the former day (and a flat basket, too, is placed on
the top to confine the heat), to receive the conical one, which
receive one or two blows to open the pores of the sieve. What passes
through is replaced amongst the tea. When it is perfectly dry it is
ready for finally packing.
The kinds of black tea at present manufactured are--Souchong,
Pouchong, Flowery Pekoe, and Bohea. The Flowery Pekoe is
manufactured in September.
_Method of manufacturing Green Tea_.--On the young and fresh leaves
being plucked they are spread out on the ground of the airing room
and allowed to cool. After remaining for about two hours, or (if
brought in late in the afternoon) during the night, they are removed
to the green tea room. The pans being properly heated, the leaves,
as in the case with the black tea, are thrown into the pans and kept
either with the hand or two forked sticks in constant motion for
three or four minutes, and are then removed to the rolling table,
and then rolled in the same manner in balls as the black tea. They
are then scattered most sparingly on large flat baskets and exposed
to the heat of the sun. If there is no sun the baskets are arranged
in frames, which are placed over the choolah, heated with charcoal.
During the drying the leaves are frequently made into balls and
rolled in the flat baskets, in order to extract the juice. The
drying process continues for about two hours, and on the leaves
becoming dry, those contained in two baskets are thrown together,
and then four basketsful into one, and so on until they are all
collected together. In this state the leaves still feel soft, damp,
and pliant to the hand, and are now brought back to the tea
manufacturing-room. Opposite to each of the inclined pans, which
have been properly heated so as to feel warm to the hand by wood
supplied to the ovens underneath, one of the Chinese stations
himself, and puts as many leaves into it as it will hold. He then
moves them in a heap gently, from before backward, making these
perform a circle, and presses them strongly to the sides of the pan.
As the leaves become hot he uses a flat piece of wood, in order that
he may more effectually compress them. This process continues for
about two hours, the leaves being compressed into at least half of
their bulk, and become so dry that when pressed against the back
part of the pan in mass, they again fall back in pieces. The tea, as
by this time it has assumed this appearance, is now placed in a bag
made of American drill or jean (the size depending on the quantity
of tea), which is damped, and one end twisted with much force over a
stick, and thus it is much reduced in size. After being thus
powerfully compressed and beaten so as to reduce the mass as much as
possible, the bag is exposed to the sun until it feels perfectly
dry. If there is no sun it is placed in the heated pan, and there
retained until it is so. This finishes the first day's process.
On the second day it is placed in small quantities in the heated
inclined pans, and moved up and down against the sides and bottom
with the palm of the hand, which is made to perform a semi circle.
This is continued for about six hours, and by so doing the colour of
the tea is gradually brought out.
The third day it is passed through sieve baskets of different
dimensions, then exposed to the winnowing machine, which separates
the different kinds of green teas. The winnowing machine is divided
into a series of divisions, which receive the different kinds
according to their size and weight. 1st. Coarsest Souchoo. This tea,
owing to its coarseness, is not marketable. 2nd. Chounchoo. This is
a large, round-grained tea. 3rd. Machoo. This is also a
round-grained tea, but finer than the former. 4th. Hyson. 5th.
Gunpowder Hyson. 6th. Chumat. This kind of tea consists of broken
particles of other kinds of tea.
On being separated, the different kinds are placed in baskets and
picked by the hand, all the old or badly curled and also
light-coloured leaves being removed, and others of different
varieties, which by chance may have become mixed. To make the bad or
light-colored leaves marketable, they undergo an artificial process
of coloring, but this I have prohibited in compliance with the
orders of the Court of Directors, and therefore do not consider this
tea at present fit for the market[13]. On the different teas being
properly picked, they are again placed in the heated inclined pans,
and undergo separately the process of being moved violently up and
down and along the bottom of the pan for three hours in the manner
already described. The color is now fully developed. If the tea
feels damp, it is kept longer than three hours in the pan. The tea
is now ready to be packed.
_Packing_.--As soon as the tea is prepared, boxes lined with sheet
lead ought to be ready to receive it. On being packed it is to be
firmly pressed down, and the lead is then to be soldered. Before the
sheet lead box is placed in the wooden one it is covered with paper,
which is pasted on to prevent any air acting on the tea through any
holes which might exist in the lead. The box is then nailed, removed
to the godown, papered, stamped, and numbered. It is then ready for
sale.
From what I have just stated, it will be perceived that box makers
and sheet lead makers are essential to form a complete tea
establishment. With reference to the box making it is unnecessary
for me to make any remark, further than that care is to be taken in
selecting wood for making boxes, as it ought to be free of all
smell. All coniferous (pine) woods are therefore unfit for the
purpose. In the hills the best woods are toon and walnut, and at
Deyrah the saul (_Shorea Robusta_).
_Manufacture of sheet lead_.--Sheet lead making is a much more
complicated process, and therefore requires more consideration. To
make sheet lead, the manufacturer mixes 1½ to 3 seers of block tin
with a pucka maund of lead, and melts them together in a cast metal
pan. On being melted, the flat stone slabs, under which it is his
intention to run the lead, are first covered with ten or twelve
sheets of smooth paper (the hill paper being well adapted to the
purpose), which are pasted to the sides, and chalked over. He then
places the under stone in a skeleton frame of wood, to keep it firm,
and above it the other stone. On the upper stone the manufacturer
sits, and gently raises it with his left hand, assisted by throwing
the weight of his body backwards. With his right hand he fills an
iron ladle with the molten matter, throws it under the raised slab,
which he immediately compresses and brings forward (it having been
placed back, and thus overlapping the under slab by about half an
inch) with his own weight. On doing so, the superabundant lead
issues in front and at both sides; what remains attached to the
slabs is removed by the iron ladle. The upper slab is now lifted,
and the sheet of lead examined. If it is devoid of holes it is
retained; if, on the other hand, there are several, which is
generally the case with the first two or three sheets run, or until
the slabs get warm, it is again thrown back to the melting pan.
After having run off a series of sheets the slabs are to be
examined, and, if the paper is in the least burnt, the first sheet
is to be removed, and the one underneath taking its place, and thus
securing an uniform smooth surface, is then to be chalked. According
to the size of the stone slabs used, so is the size of the sheet
lead. Those now in use are 16 inches square by 2 inches in
thickness, and are a composition, being principally formed of lime.
To make sheet lead boxes, a model one of wood (a little smaller than
the box for which the lead is intended) is formed, which has a hole
in the bottom, and a transverse bar of wood to assist in lifting it
up, instead of a lid. The lead is then shaped on this model and
soldered. This being done, the model is removed by the transverse
bar, and by pressing, if necessary, through the hole. The lead box
is then papered over, in case there should be any small holes in it,
to prevent the action of air on the tea, and, when dry, transferred
to the wooden box for which it was intended.
_The manufactory_.--The rooms of the manufactory ought to be large
and airy, and to consist of--1st, a black tea manufactory; 2nd, a
green tea manufactory; 3rd, winnowing room; and 4th, airing room. At
Almorah the black tea manufacturing room is 53 feet long by 20
broad, and the other three, 20 by 24. The walls are 18 feet in
height.
_Implements required in manufacturing_.--In the body of this report
I have noticed all the different kinds of implements required, I may
however, again briefly notice them, and give a short account of
each. Cast-iron Pans--In the manufactory there are two kinds in use,
one received from China, the other from England. Both are considered
equally good by the tea manufacturers, though in firing green tea
they prefer the Chinese ones, as they are thinner, and are thus by
them better able to regulate the heat. The Chinese pans are two feet
two inches in diameter, and 10 inches in depth, by about one-eighth
of an inch in thickness.
The English pans are two feet two inches in diameter, and eight
inches in depth, and rather thicker than the Chinese.
The oven for making black tea is made of kucha brick. In height it
is two feet nine inches, in length, three feet, and in breadth three
feet one inch. Door one foot five inches in height, and 11 inches in
breadth. The base of the oven is 10 inches elevated above the floor
of the manufacturing room.
The oven with double pans for manufacturing green tea, is also built
of kucha bricks. It is three feet in height and three feet in
breadth; base of oven one foot in height. Door one foot six inches
in height, and 10 inches in breadth. The pans are placed
horizontally.
A brush made of split bamboo, used in sweeping the tea leaves out of
the pans.
A basket for receiving tea from the pan when ready to be rolled. It
is 2 feet long, and 1½ feet broad, and gradually increases in depth
from before backwards to 6 inches. It is made of bamboo.
The mat made of bamboo for placing on the table when the tea leaves
are about to be rolled. It is 8 feet long and 4 feet broad.
A flat basket made of bamboo for spreading out the tea leaves when
they have been rolled on the mat. These flat baskets are of various
sizes, varying from 3 to 5 feet in diameter.
A flat sieve basket of 2 feet in diameter, made of bamboo, upon
which the rolled tea leaves are placed, and which is deposited in
the centre of the double-coned basket.
Double-coned baskets. The height of these baskets varies from 2 feet
2 inches to 2 feet 6 inches, external diameter 2 feet 8 inches. In
the centre there are some pegs of bamboo to support the flat sieve
basket on which the tea rests.
Forked sticks for turning leaves.
Choolahs. These are formed of kucha bricks, and are 10 inches high,
10½ inches deep, and generally about 2 feet in diameter.
Funnel made of bamboo to allow the heated air from the choolahs to
pass through the tea; it is seldom used; the Chinese tea
manufacturers preferring one made in the tea basket by the hand.
Oven for firing green tea made of kucha bricks. The pans are
inclined at an angle of 50. In front the oven is 3 feet 2 inches in
height, behind 4 feet 8 inches, length 5½ feet, breadth 3 feet. Door
10 inches from the base, 1 foot 2 inches high, and 7 inches wide.
Frames for placing baskets. The first being inclined.
Baskets for collecting leaves.
Shovel, &c., used in regulating the fire.
Winnowing machine. This is a common winnowing machine, with a box 2
feet 10 inches in length, 1 foot 2 inches in breadth, and 1 foot 3
inches in depth, attached to the bottom of the hopper, and closely
fitted into the middle of the circular apartment which contains the
fanners. This box is entirely closed above (unless at the small
opening receiving the hopper) and at the sides. At the base there
are two inclined boards which project from the side of the machine 6
inches, and are partly separated from each other by angular pieces
of wood. The end towards the fanners is open, the other is partly
closed by a semicircular box which is moveable.
I shall now give the dimensions of the different parts of this
machine, which may be useful to parties wishing to make up similar
ones to those employed in the manufactories.
External frame 7 feet 2 inches in length, 18 inches in breadth, and
5 feet 8 inches in height. Hopper 2 feet 10 inches above, and 1 foot
8 inches in depth. Frame of box for fanners 3 feet 9 inches in
diameter. Hopper frame 2 feet 7 inches. Semicircular box, in length
2 feet 5 inches and 7 inches in depth. Inclined plane at base, first
15 inches, second 13 inches.
I may briefly state how this machine acts. With the right hand the
fanners are propelled by the crank, and with the left hand the
bottom of the hopper is opened by removing the wood. The flat piece
of wood (the regulator) is held in the hand to regulate the quantity
of tea that passes down. An assistant then throws a quantity of tea
into the hopper which escapes through the apartment, and there meets
the air. The first kind of tea falls down the inclined plane into
one box which has been placed to receive them, the second are
propelled further on, and fall into another box, and the lighter
particles are propelled on to the semicircular end, and fall into a
third box.
_Note on the culture of the tea plant at Darjeeling, in 1847, by Dr.
A. Campbell, Superintendant_.--About six years ago I received a few
tea seeds from Dr. Wallich; they were of China stock, grown in
Kumaon. I planted them in my garden in November, 1841, and had about
a dozen seedlings in the month of May following, which were allowed
to grow where they had come up, and rather close together. The
plants were healthy from the commencement, and up to May, 1844, had
grown very well; at this period the ground passed into other hands
(Mr. Samuel Smith's), and I lost sight of them until last August,
when Mr. Macfarlane, from Assam, who was acquainted with the tea
plant in that province, arrived here. Being desirous of ascertaining
how far the climate and soil of Darjeeling were suitable to the tea,
I took him to examine the plants, and begged of him to record his
opinion on their growth and qualities, with reference to their age,
and his experience of the plant in Assam. The result was quite
satisfactory. Encouraged by this result, I determined to give an
extended trial to the plant, and through the kindness of Major
Jenkins and Captain Brodie, of Assam, I procured a supply of fresh
seed in October and November last, which was planted in November and
the early part of December.
The seed was of excellent quality. It commenced germinating in
March, a few plants appeared above ground in the early part of May,
and now I have upwards of 7,000 fine healthy seedlings in the
plantation.
For the information of those who may desire to try the tea culture
in this soil and climate, I have to state the mode of planting
pursued by me, and other particulars. The ground is a gentle sloping
bank, facing the north and west; the soil is a reddish clay mixed
with vegetable mould. After taking up a crop of potatoes, and
carefully preparing the ground, I put in the seeds in rows six feet
apart and six feet distance in the rows. The seeds were placed about
three inches under the surface, five in number, at each place about
four inches apart--thus : . : On an average, two out of five have
come up. The seedlings commenced appearing above ground early in
May, and continued to show until the end of July. The earliest were,
therefore, six months in the ground; the latest about eight months.
The seed was of China stock, grown in Assam, and of the Assam plant
mixed. I am anxious to have the China stock only, and purpose
separating the plants of the Assam stock as soon as I can
distinguish them, which Captain Brodie informs me can be readily
done as they grow up; the China plants begin of a darker color, and
smaller than the Assam ones.
I hope to have a supply of the seed of China stock from Kumaon next
November, and with it to cause the extension of the experiment at
this place.
I think that it is reasonable to expect quite as good tea to be
produced here as in Kumaon.[14] I have not tasted the Kumaon tea,
but, from the opinion expressed on it in England, I am satisfied
that it is a very drinkable beverage, and that with similar success
here, the tea will be a valuable addition to our products. I have
recently tried two kinds of the Assam tea presented by Mr. Stokes to
a friend. They are excellent teas, and I shall be well content to
have an equally good article manufactured here.
Mr. A. Macfarlane's report on the tea plants in Mr. Smith's ground is
annexed:--
"According to your request I have the pleasure of transmitting you
my opinion of the tea plants in your garden in this place. The two
larger plants have made very good progress, considering their
closeness to each other, which prevents them from throwing their
branches freely in every direction, but as they have attained so
great a size I would not recommend their being transplanted, because
let it be done ever so carefully, the roots must receive more or
less injury, and should the injury be great the death of the tree is
certain.
The smaller ones on the contrary are much stunted; this is caused by
their confined situation, being completely choked up by the rose
trees, which prevents their receiving a proper supply of light and
air, so necessary to vegetation. They are also planted too closely,
and, as the plants are still small, by availing yourself of the most
favourable season, and using great care in the operation, they might
he transplanted with safety, and should then be placed at a distance
of not less than six feet apart. The difficulty of transplanting is
occasioned by the depth to which the root penetrates, as it
generally grows downwards, and in a large tree is principally in the
subsoil. The larger plants should be pruned of their lower branches
to allow a free current of air. This operation is generally
performed in November, but any time during the cold season or before
the rains, while the plant is at rest, would answer: as I have no
knowledge of this climate, I would leave it to more experienced
persons to judge of the proper season. To conclude, the plants are
in a very healthy condition, and had they been in the hands of a
cultivator, would now have been giving a very fair supply of
produce.
The small sample I tried was of a very good flavor, but on account
of the defective manner of manufacture, for want of proper
materials, no proper judgment can be formed." (Simmonds's Col. Mag.,
vol. xvi. p. 44.)
Report upon the Tea Plantations of Deyra, Kumaon and Gurhwal, by
Robert Fortune, Esq., addressed to John Thornton, Esq., Secretary to
the Government, North Western Provinces, dated Calcutta, September
6th, 1851:--
KAOLAGIR TEA PLANTATION.
1. _Situation and extent_.--The Deyra Doon, or Valley of Deyra, is
situated in latitude 3 deg. 18 min. north, and in longitude 78 deg.
east. It is about 60 miles in length from east to west, and 16 miles
broad at its widest part. It is bounded on the south by the Sewalick
range of hills, and on the north by the Himalayas proper, which are
here nearly 8,000 feet above the level of the sea. On the west it is
open to the river Jumna, and on the east to the Ganges, the distance
between these rivers being about 60 miles.
In the centre of this flat valley, the Kaolagir tea plantation has
been formed. Eight acres were under cultivation in 1847. There are
now 300 acres planted, and about 90 more taken in and ready for many
thousands of young plants raised lately from seeds in the
plantation.
2. _Soil and culture_.--The soil of this plantation is composed of
clay, sand, and vegetable matter, rather stiff, and apt to get
"baked" in dry weather, but free enough when it is moist or during
the rains. It rests upon a gravelly subsoil, consisting of
limestone, sandstone, clay-slate, and quartz rock, or of such rocks
as enter into the composition of the surrounding mountain ranges.
The surface is comparatively _flat_, although it falls in certain
directions towards the ravines and rivers.
The plants are arranged neatly in rows 6 feet apart, and each plant
is about 4½ feet from its neighbour in the row. A long, rank-growing
species of grass, indigenous to the Doon, is most difficult to keep
from over-topping the tea-plants, and is the cause of much extra
labor. Besides the labor common to all tea countries in China, such
as weeding, and occasionally loosening the soil, there is here an
extensive system of irrigation carried on. To facilitate this, the
plants are planted in trenches, from four to six inches below the
level of the ground, and the soil thus dug out is thrown between the
rows to form the paths. Hence the whole of the plantation consists
of numerous trenches of this depth, and five feet from centre to
centre. At right angles with these trenches a small stream is fed
from the canal, and, by opening or shutting their ends, irrigation
can be carried on at the pleasure of the overseer.
3. _Appearance and health of plants_.--The plants generally did not
appear to me to be in that fresh and vigorous condition which I had
been accustomed to see in good Chinese plantations. This, in my
opinion, is caused, 1st, by the plantation being formed on _flat
land_; 2nd, by the system of _irrigation_; 3rd, by too early
plucking; and 4th, by hot drying winds, which are not unfrequent in
this valley from April to the beginning of June.
GUDDOWLI PLANTATION (NEAR PAORIE).
1. _Situation and extent_.--This plantation is situated in the
Province of Eastern Gurhwal, in latitude 30 deg. 8 min. north, and
in longitude 78 deg. 45 min. east. It consists of a large tract of
terraced land, extending from the bottom of a valley or ravine to
more than 1,000 feet up the sides of the mountain. Its lowest
portion is about 4,300 feet, and its highest 5,300 feet above the
level of the sea; the surrounding mountains appear to be from 7,000
to 8,000. The plantation has not been measured, but there are,
apparently, fully one hundred acres under cultivation.
There are about 500,000 plants already planted, besides a large
number of seedlings in beds ready for transplanting. About 3,400 of
the former were planted in 1844, and are now in full bearing; the
greater portion of the others are much younger, having been planted
out only one, two, and three years.
2. _Soil and culture_.--The soil consists of a mixture of loam,
sand, and vegetable matter, is of a yellow colour, and is most
suitable for the cultivation of the tea-plant. It resembles greatly
the soil of the test tea districts in China. A considerable quantity
of stones are mixed with it, chiefly small pieces of clay-slate, of
which the mountains here are composed. Large tracts of equally good
land, at present covered with jungle, are available in this district
without interfering in any way with the rights of the settlers.
I have stated that this plantation is formed on the hill side. It
consists of a succession of terraces, from the bottom to the top, on
which the tea bushes are planted. In its general features it is very
like a Chinese tea plantation, although one rarely sees tea lands
terraced in China. This, however, may be necessary in the Himalayas,
where the rains fall so heavily. Here, too, the system of irrigation
is carried on, although to a small extent only, owing to the
scarcity of water during the dry season.
3. _Appearance and health of plants_.--This plantation is a most
promising one, and I have no doubt will be very valuable in a few
years. The plants are growing admirably, and evidently like their
situation. Some of them are suffering slightly from the effects of
hard-plucking, like those at Kaolagir; but this can easily be
avoided in their future management. Altogether, it is in a most
satisfactory condition, and shows how safe it is in matters of this
kind to follow the example of the Chinese cultivator, who never
makes his tea plantations on _low rice land, and never irrigates_.
HAWULBAUGH PLANTATION (NEAR ALMORAH).
_1st. Situation and extent_.--This tea farm is situated on the banks
of the river Kosilla, about six miles north-west from Almorah, the
capital of Kumaon. It is about 4,500 feet above the level of the
sea. The land is of an undulating character, consisting of gentle
slopes and terraces, and reminded me of some of the best tea
districts in China. Indeed, the hills themselves, in this part of
the Himalayas, are very much like those of China, being barren near
their summit and fertile on their lower sides.
Thirty-four acres of land are under tea cultivation here, including
the adjoining farm of Chullar. Some of the plants appear to have
been planted in 1844; but, as at Paorie, the greater number are only
from one to three years old.
2_nd. Soil and culture_.--The soil is what is usually called a sandy
loam; it is moderately rich, being well mixed with vegetable matter.
It is well suited for tea cultivation. The greater part of the farm
is terraced as at Guddowli, but some few patches are left in natural
slopes in accordance with the Chinese method. Irrigation is
practised to a limited extent.
3_rd. Appearance and health of the plants_.--All the young plants
here are in robust health and are growing well, particularly where
they are growing on land where water cannot flood or injure them. As
examples of this, I may point out a long belt between Dr. Jameson's
house and the flower garden, and also a piece of ground a little
below the house in which the Chinese manufacturers live. Some few of
the older bushes appear rather stunted; but this is evidently the
result of water remaining stagnant about the roots, and partly also
of over plucking; both defects, however, admit of being easily
cured.
LUTCHMISSER AND KUPPEENA PLANTATIONS.
1_st. Situation and extent_.--These plantations are on the hill side
near Almorah, and about 5,000 feet above the level of the sea. The
situation is somewhat steep, but well adapted to the growth of tea.
The former contains three acres, and the latter four acres under
cultivation.
2_nd. Soil and culture_.---The soil is light and sandy, and much
mixed with particles of clay-slate, which have crumbled down from
the adjoining rocks. I believe these plantations are rarely
irrigated, and the land is steep enough to prevent any stagnant
water from remaining about the roots of the plants.
3_rd. Appearance and health of plants_.--Most of the bushes here are
fully grown, and in full bearing, and generally in good health. On
the whole, I consider these plantations in excellent order.
BHEEMTAL PLANTATIONS.
The lake of Bheemtal is situate in latitude 29 deg. 20 min. north,
and in longitude 79 deg. 30 min. east. It is 4,000 feet above the
level of the sea, and some of the surrounding mountains are said to
be 8,000 feet. These form the southern chain of the Himalayas, and
bound the vast plain of India, of which a glimpse can be had through
the mountain passes. Amongst these hills there are several _tals_ or
lakes, some flat meadow-looking land, and gentle undulating slopes,
while higher up we have steep and rugged mountains. It is amongst
these hills, that the Bheemtal tea plantations have been formed.
They may be classed under three heads, viz.--
1_st. Anoo and Kooasur plantations_.--These adjoin each other, are
both formed _on low flat land_, and together cover about forty
acres. The plants do not seem healthy or vigorous; many of them have
died out, and few are in that state which tea plants ought to be in.
Such situations never ought to be chosen for tea cultivation. The
same objection applies to these as to those at Deyra, but in a
greater degree. No doubt, with sufficient drainage, and great care
in cultivation, and the tea plant might be made to exist in such a
situation; but I am convinced it would never grow with that
luxuriance which is necessary in order to render it a profitable
crop. _Besides, such lands are valuable for other purposes_. They
are excellent rice lands, and as such of considerable value to the
natives.
2_nd. Bhurtpoor plantation_.--This plantation covers about four and
a half acres of terraced land on the hill side, a little to the
eastward of those last noticed. The soil is composed of a light
loam, much mixed with small pieces of clay-slate and trap or
green-stone, of which the adjacent rocks are composed. It contains a
small portion of vegetable matter or _humus_. Both the situation and
soil of this plantation are well adapted to the requirements of the
tea shrub, and consequently we find it succeeding here as well as at
Guddowli, Hawulbaugh, Almorah, and other places where it is planted
on the slopes of the hills.
3_rd. Russia plantation_.--This plantation extends over seventy-five
acres, and is formed on sloping land. The elevation is somewhat less
than Bhurtpoor, and although terraced in the same way, the angle is
much lower. In some parts of the farm the plants are doing well, but
generally they seemed to be suffering from too much water and hard
plucking. I have no doubt, however, of the success of this farm,
when the system of cultivation is improved. I observed some most
vigorous and healthy bushes in the overseer's garden, a spot
adjoining the plantation, which could not be irrigated, and was
informed they "never received any water, except that which fell from
the skies."
In the Bheemtal district, there are large tracts of excellent tea
land. In crossing over the hills towards Nainee Tal, with J.H.
Batten, Esq., Commissioner of Kumaon, I pointed out many tracts
admirably adapted for tea cultivation, and of no great value to the
natives; generally, those lands on which the mundoca is cultivated
are the most suitable.
I have thus described all the Government plantations in Gurhwal and
Kumaon. Dr. Jameson, the superintendent, deserves the highest praise
for the energy and perseverance with which he has conducted his
operations. I shall now notice the plantations of the zemindars,
under the superintendence of the commissioner and
assistant-commissioner of Kumaon and Gurhwal.
ZEMINDAREE TEA PLANTATIONS.
1_st, at Lohba_.--This place is situated in eastern Gurhwal, about
50 miles to the westward of Almorah, and is at an elevation of 5,000
feet above the level of the sea. It is one of the most beautiful
spots in this part of the Himalayas. The surrounding mountains are
high, and in some parts precipitous, while in others they are found
consisting of gentle slopes and undulations. On these undulating
slopes, there is a great deal of excellent land suitable for tea
cultivation. A few tea bushes have been growing vigorously for some
years in the commissioner's garden, and they are now fully ten feet
in height. These plants having succeeded so well, naturally induced
the authorities of the province to try this cultivation upon a more
extensive scale. It appears that in 1844, about 4,000 young plants
were obtained from the Government plantations, and planted on a
tract of excellent land, which the natives wished to abandon.
Instead of allowing the people to throw up their land, they were
promised it rent-free upon the condition that they attended to the
cultivation of the tea, which had been planted on a small portion of
the ground attached to the village.
This arrangement seems to have failed either from want of knowledge,
or from design, or perhaps partly from both of these causes. More
lately, a larger number of plants have been planted, but I regret to
say with nearly the same results.
But results of this discouraging kind are what any one, acquainted
with the nature of the tea plant, could have easily foretold, had
the treatment, intended to be given it, been explained to him. Upon
enquiry, I found the villagers had been managing the tea lands just
as they had been doing their rice fields, that is, a regular system
of irrigation was practised. As water was plentiful, a great number,
indeed nearly all, the plants seem to have perished from this cause.
The last planting alluded to had been done late in the spring, and
just at the commencement of the dry weather, and to these plants
little or no water seems to have been given; so that, in fact, it
was going from one extreme to another equally bad, and the result
was of course nearly the same.
I have no hesitation in saying that the district in question is well
adapted for the cultivation of tea. With judicious management, a
most productive farm might be established here in four or five
years. Land is plentiful, and of little value either to the natives
or to the Government.
2_nd, at Kutoor_.--This is the name of a large district 30 or 40
miles northward from Almorah, in the centre of which the old town or
village of Byznath stands. It is a fine undulating country,
consisting of wide valleys, gentle slopes, and little hills, while
the whole is intersected by numerous streams, and surrounded by high
mountains. The soil of this extensive district is most fertile, and
is capable of producing large crops of rice, on the low irrigable
lands, and the dry grains and tea on the sides of the hills. From
some cause, however, either the thinness of population or _the want
of a remunerative crop_,[15] large tracts of this fertile district
have been allowed to go out of cultivation. Everywhere I observed
ruinous and jungle-covered terraces, which told of the more extended
cultivation of former years.
Amongst some hills near the upper portion of this district, two
small tea plantations have been formed under the patronage and
superintendence of Captain Ramsey, Senior Assistant Commissioner of
Kumaon. Each of them cover three or four acres of land, and had been
planted about a year before the time of my visit. In this short
space of time the plants had grown into nice strong bushes, and were
in the highest state of health. I never saw, even in the most
favoured districts in China, any plantations looking better than
these. This result, Captain Ramsay informed me, had been attained in
the following simple manner:--All the land attached to the two
villages with which the tea farms are connected, is exempted from
the revenue tax, a sum amounting only to 525 Rs. per annum. In lieu
of this, the assamees (cultivators) of both villages assist with
manure, and at the transplanting season, as well as ploughing and
preparing fresh land. In addition to this, one chowdree and four
prisoners are constantly employed upon the plantations. The chief
reason of the success of these plantations, next to that of the land
being well suited for tea cultivation, may, no doubt, be traced to a
good system of management; that is, the young plants have been
carefully transplanted at the proper season of the year, when the
air was charged with moisture, and they have not been destroyed by
excessive irrigation afterwards. The other zemindaree plantation at
Lohba might have been now in full bearing had the same system been
followed.
From the description thus given, it will be observed that I consider
the Kutoor plantations in a most flourishing condition. And I have
no doubt they will continue to flourish, and soon convince the
zemindars of the value of tea cultivation, providing three things,
intimately connected with the success of the crop are strongly
impressed upon their minds; viz., the unsuitableness of low wet
lands for tea cultivation; the folly of irrigating tea as they would
do rice, and the impropriety of commencing the plucking before the
plants are strong, and of considerable size. I am happy to add, that
amongst these hills there are no foolish prejudices in the minds of
the natives against the cultivation of tea. About the time of my
visit, a zemindar came and begged two thousand plants, to enable him
to commence tea growing on his own account.
It is of great importance, that the authorities of a district, and
persons of influence, should show an interest in a subject of this
kind. At present the natives do not know its value; but they are as
docile as children, and will enter willingly upon tea cultivation,
providing the "Sahib" shows that he is interested in it. In a few
years the profits received will be a sufficient inducement.
In concluding this part of my Report, I beg to suggest the propriety
of obtaining some of the _best varieties_ of the tea plant which
have been introduced lately into the government plantations from
China. Dr. Jameson could, no doubt, spare a few, but they ought to
be given to those zemindars only who have succeeded with the
original variety.
Having described in detail the various government plantations, and
also those of the zemindars which came under my notice in the
Himalayas, I shall now make some general remarks upon the
cultivation of tea in India, and offer some suggestions for its
improvement.
GENERAL REMARKS.
1. _On land and cultivation_.--From the observations already made
upon the various tea farms which I have visited in the Himalayas, it
will be seen that I do not approve of _low flat lands_ being
selected for the cultivation of the tea shrub. In China, which at
present must be regarded as the model tea country, the plantations
are never made in such situations, or they are so rare as not to
have come under my notice. In that country they are usually formed
on the lower slopes of the hills, that is, in such situations as
those at Guddowli, Hawulbaugh, Almorah, Kutoor, &c., in the
Himalayas. It is true that in the fine green tea country of
Hwuy-chow, in China, near the town of Tunche, many hundred acres of
flattish land are under tea cultivation. But this land is close to
the hills, which jut out into it in all directions, and it is
intersected by a river whose banks are usually from 15 to 20 feet
above the level of the stream itself, not unlike those of the Ganges
below Benares. In fact, it has all the advantages of hilly land such
as the tea plant delights in. In extending the Himalaya plantation
this important fact ought to be kept in view.
There is no scarcity of such land in these mountains, more
particularly in Eastern Gurhwal and Kumaon. It abounds in the
districts of Paorie, Kunour, Lohba, Almorah, Kutoor, and Bheemtal,
and I was informed by Mr. Batten, that there are large tracts about
Gungoli and various other places equally suitable. Much of this land
is out of cultivation, as I have already stated, while the
cultivated portions yield on an average only two or three annas per
acre of revenue.
Such lands are of less value to the zemindars than low rice land,
where they can command a good supply of water for irrigation. But I
must not be understood to recommend poor worn out hill lands for tea
cultivation,--land on which nothing else will grow. Nothing is
further from my meaning. Tea in order to be profitable requires a
good sound soil,--a light loam, well mixed with sand and vegetable
matter, moderately moist, and yet not stagnant or sour. Such a soil,
for example, as on these hill sides produces good crops of mundooa,
wheat or millet, is well adapted for tea. It is such lands which I
have alluded to as abounding in the Himalayas, and which are, at
present, of so little value either to the Government, or to the
natives themselves.
_The system of Irrigation_ applied to tea in India is never
practised in China. I did not observe it practised in any of the
great tea countries which I visited. On asking the Chinese
manufacturers whom I brought round, and who had been born and
brought up in these districts, whether they had seen such a
practice, they all replied, "_no, that is the way we grow rice: we
never irrigate tea_." Indeed, I have no hesitation in saying that,
in nine cases out of ten, the effects of irrigation are most
injurious. When tea will not grow without irrigation, it is a sure
sign that the land employed is not suitable for such a crop. It is
no doubt an excellent thing to have a command of water in case of a
long drought, when its agency might be useful in saving a crop which
would otherwise fail, but irrigation ought to be used only in such
emergent cases.
I have already observed that good tea land is naturally moist,
although not stagnant; and we must bear in mind that the tea shrub
is _not a water plant_, but is found in a wild state on the sides of
hills. In confirmation of these views, it is only necessary to
observe further, that all the _best Himalayan plantations are those
to which irrigation has been most sparingly applied_.
In cultivating the tea shrub, much injury is often done to a
plantation by _plucking leaves from very young plants_. In China
young plants are never touched until the third or fourth year after
they have been planted. If growing under favorable circumstances,
they will yield a good crop after that time. All that ought to be
done, in the way of plucking or pruning before that time, should be
done with a view to _form the plants_, and make them _bushy_ if they
do not grow so naturally. If plucking is commenced too early and
continued, the energies of the plants are weakened, and they are
long in attaining any size, and consequently there is a great loss
of produce in a given number of years. To make this more plain, I
will suppose a bush that has been properly treated to be eight years
of age. It may then be yielding from two to three pounds of tea per
annum, while another of the same age, but not a quarter of the size,
from over-plucking, is not giving more than as many ounces.
The same remarks apply also to plants which become unhealthy from
any cause; leaves ought never to be taken from such plants; the
gatherers should have strict orders to pass them over until they get
again into a _good state_ of health.
2_nd. On climate_.--I have already stated that eastern Gurhwal and
Kumaon appear to me to be the most suitable for the cultivation of
the tea plant in this part of the Himalayas. My remarks upon climate
will therefore refer to this part of the country.
From a table of temperature kept at Hawulbaugh from November 28th,
1850, to July 13th, 1851, obligingly furnished me by Dr. Jameson, I
observed that the climate here is extremely mild. During the winter
months, the thermometer [Fahr.] at sunrise was never lower than 44
deg., and only on two occasions so low, namely on the 15th and 16th
of February, 1851. Once it stood so high as 66 deg. on the morning
of February 4th, but this is full ten degrees higher than usual. The
minimum in February must, however, be several degrees lower than is
shown by this table, for ice and snow were not unfrequent; indeed,
opposite the 16th of February in the column of remarks, I find
written down _a very frosty morning_. This discrepancy no doubt
arises either from a bad thermometer being used, or from its being
placed in a sheltered verandah. We may, therefore, safely mark the
minimum as 32 deg. instead of 44 degrees.
The month of June appears to be the hottest in the year. I observe
the thermometer on the 5th, 6th and 7th of that month stood at 92
deg. at 3 P.M., and this was the highest degree marked during the
year. The lowest, at this hour, during the month was 76 deg., but
the general range in the 3 P.M. column of the table is from 80 deg.
to 90 degrees.
_The wet and dry seasons_ are not so decided in the hills as they
are in the plains. In January, 1861, it rained on five days and ten
nights, and the total quantity of rain which fell, as indicated by
the rain gauge, during this month, was 5.25 inches; in February,
3.84 fell; in March, 2.11; in April, 2.24; in May, none; and in June
6.13. In June there are generally some days of heavy rain, called by
the natives Chota Bursaut, or small rains, after this there is an
interval of some days of dry weather before the regular "rainy
season" commences. This season comes on in July and continues until
September. October and November are said to be beautiful months with
a clear atmosphere and cloudless sky. After this fogs are frequent
in all the valleys until spring.
In comparing the climate of these provinces with that of China,
although we find some important difference, yet upon the whole there
is a great similarity. My comparisons apply, of course, to the best
tea districts only, for although the tea shrub is found cultivated
from Canton in the south to Tan-chowpoo in Shan-tung, yet the
provinces of Fokein, Kainsee and the southern parts of Kiangnan,
yield nearly all the finest teas of commerce.
The town of Tsong-gan, one of the great black tea towns near the far
famed Woo-e-shan, is situated in latitude 27 deg. 47 min, north.
Here the thermometer in the hottest months, namely in July and
August, rarely rises above 100 deg. and ranges from 92 deg. to 100
deg., as maximum; while in the coldest months, December and January,
it sinks to the freezing point and sometimes a few degrees lower. We
have thus a close resemblance in temperature between Woo-e-shan and
Almorah, The great green tea district being situated two degrees
further north, the extremes of temperature are somewhat greater. It
will be observed, however, that while the hottest month in the
Himalayas is June, in China the highest temperature occurs in July
and August: this is owing to the rainy season taking place earlier
in China than it does in India.
In China rain falls in heavy and copious showers in the end of
April, and these rains continue at intervals in May and June. The
first gathering of tea-leaves, those from which the Pekoe is made,
is scarcely over before the air becomes charged with moisture, rain
falls, and the bushes being thus placed in such favourable
circumstances for vegetating are soon covered again with young
leaves, from which the main crop of the season is obtained.
No one, acquainted with vegetable physiology, can doubt the
advantages of such weather in the cultivation of tea for mercantile
purposes. And these advantages, to a certain extent at least, seem
to be extended to the Himalayas, although the regular rainy season
is later than in China. I have already shown, from Dr Jameson's
table, that spring showers are frequent in Kumaon, although rare in
the plains of India; still, however, I think it would be prudent to
adopt the gathering of leaves to the climate, that is to take a
moderate portion from the bushes before the rains, and the main crop
after they have commenced.
_3rd. On the vegetation of China and the Himalayas_. One of the
surest guides from which to draw conclusions, on a subject of this
nature, is found in the indigenous vegetable productions of the
countries. Dr. Royle, who was the first to recommend the cultivation
of tea in the Himalayas, drew his conclusions, in the absence of
that positive information from China which we possess now, not only
from the great similarity in temperature between China and these
hills, but also from the resemblance in vegetable productions. This
resemblance is certainly very striking. In both countries, except in
the low valleys of the Himalayas (and these we are not considering),
tropical forms are rarely met with. If we take trees and shrubs, for
example, we find such genera as pinus, cypress, berberis, quercus,
viburnam, indigofera, and romeda, lonicera, deutzia, rubus, myrica,
spiræ, ilex, and many others common to both countries.
Amongst herbaceous plants we have gentiana, aquilegia, anemone,
rumex, primula, lilium, loutodon, ranunculus, &c. equally
distributed in the Himalayas and in China, and even in aquatics the
same resemblance may be traced, as in nelumbium, caladium &c. And
further than this, we do not find plants belong to the same genera
only, but in many instances the identical species are found in both
countries. The indigofera, common in the Himalayas, abounds also on
the tea hills of China, and so does _Berberis nepaulencis_,
_Lonicera diversifolia_, _Myrica sapida_, and many others.
Were it necessary, I might now show that there is a most striking
resemblance between the geology of the two countries as well as in
their vegetable productions. In both the black and green tea
countries which I have alluded to, clay-slate is most abundant. But
enough has been advanced to prove how well many parts of the
Himalayas are adapted for the cultivation of tea; besides, the
flourishing condition of many of the plantations is, after all, the
best proof, and puts the matter beyond all doubt.
_4th. Concluding Suggestions_.--Having shown that tea can be grown
in the Himalayas, and that it would produce a valuable and
remunerative crop, the next great object appears to be the
production of superior tea, by means of fine varieties and improved
cultivation. It is well known that a variety of the tea plant
existed in the southern parts of China from which inferior teas only
were made. That, being more easily procured than the fine northern
varieties, from which the great mass of the best teas are made, was
the variety originally sent to India. From it all those in the
Government plantations have sprung.
It was to remedy this, and to obtain the best varieties from those
districts which furnish the trees of commerce, that induced the
Honourable Court of Directors to send me to China in 1848. Another
object was to obtain some good manufacturers and implements from the
same districts. As the result of this mission, nearly twenty
thousand plants from the best black and green tea countries of
Central China, have been introduced to the Himalayas. Six first-rate
manufacturers, two lead men, and a large supply of implements from
the celebrated Hwuy-chow districts were also brought round and
safely located on the Government plantations in the hills.
A great step has thus been gained towards the objects in view. Much,
however, remains still to be done. The new China plants ought to be
carefully propagated and distributed over all the plantations; some
of them ought also to be given to the zemindars, and more of these
fine varieties might be yearly imported from China.
The Chinese manufacturers, who were obtained some years since from
Calcutta or Assam, are, in my opinion, far from being first-rate
workmen; indeed, I doubt much if any of them learned their trade in
China. They ought to be gradually got rid of and their places
supplied by better men, for it is a great pity to teach the natives
an inferior method of manipulation. The men brought round by me are
first-rate green tea makers, they can also make black tea, but they
have not been in the habit of making so much black as green. They
have none of the Canton illiberality or prejudices about them, and
are most willing to teach their art to the natives. I have no doubt
some of the latter will soon be made excellent tea manufacturers.
And the instruction of the natives is, no doubt, one of the chief
objects which ought to be kept in view, for the importation of
Chinese manipulators at high wages can only he regarded as a
temporary measure; ultimately the Himalayan tea must be made by the
natives themselves; each native farmer must learn how to make tea
as well as how to grow it; he will then make it upon his own
premises, as the Chinese do, and the expenses of carriage will be
much less than if the green leaves had to be taken to the market.
But as the zemindars will be able to grow tea long before they are
able to make it, it would be prudent, in the first instance, to
offer them a certain sum for green leaves brought to the government
manufactory.
I have pointed out the land most suitable for the cultivation of
tea, and shown that such land exists in the Himalayas to an almost
unlimited extent. But if the object the government have in view be
the establishment of a company to develop the resources of these
hills, as in Assam, I would strongly urge the propriety of
concentrating, as much as possible, the various plantations. Sites
ought to be chosen which are not too far apart, easy of access, and,
if possible, near rivers; for, no doubt, a considerable portion of
the produce would have to be conveyed to the plains or to a
sea-port.
In my tour amongst the hills, I have seen no place so well adapted
for a central situation as Almorah, or Hawulbaugh. Here the
government has already a large establishment, and tea lands are
abundant in all directions. The climate is healthy, and better
suited to a European constitution than most other parts of India.
Here plants from nearly all the temperate parts of the world are
growing as if they were at home. As examples, I may mention myrtles,
pomegranates, and tuberoses from the south of Europe; dahlias,
potatoes, aloes, and yuccas from America; Melianthus major and bulbs
from the Cape; the cypress and deodar of the Himalayas, and the
lagerstroemias, loquats, roses and tea of China.
In these days, when tea has become almost a necessary of life to
England and her wide-spreading colonies, its production upon a large
and cheap scale is an object of no ordinary importance. But to the
natives of India themselves, the production of this article would be
of the greatest value. The poor _paharie_, or hill farmer, at
present has scarcely the common necessaries of life, and certainly
none of its luxuries. The common sorts of grain which his lands
produce will scarcely pay the carriage to the nearest market town,
far less yield a profit of such a kind as will enable him to
purchase some few of the necessary and simple luxuries of life. A
common blanket has to serve him for his covering by day and for his
bed at night, while his dwelling-house is a mere mud-hut, capable of
affording but little shelter from the inclemency of the weather.
Were part of these lands producing tea, he would then have a healthy
beverage to drink, besides a commodity which would be of great value
in the market. Being of small bulk compared with its value, the
expense of carriage would be trifling, and he would return home with
the means in his pocket of making himself and his family more
comfortable and more happy.
Were such results doubtful, we have only to look across the
frontiers of India into China. Here we find tea one of the
necessaries of life, in the strictest sense of the word. A Chinese
never drinks cold water, which he abhors, and considers unhealthy.
Tea is his favorite beverage from morning until night; not what we
call tea, mixed with milk and sugar, but the essence of the herb
itself, drawn out in pure water. One acquainted with the habits of
this people can scarcely conceive the idea of the Chinese empire
existing were it deprived of the tea plant; and I am sure that the
extensive use of this beverage adds much to the health and comfort
of the great body of the people.
The people of India are not unlike the Chinese in many of their
habits. The poor of both countries eat sparingly of animal food, and
rice, with other grains and vegetables, form the staple articles on
which they live; this being the case, it is not at all unlikely the
Indian will soon acquire a habit which is so universal in the sister
country. But in order to enable him to drink tea, it must be
produced at a cheap rate; he cannot afford to pay at the rate of
four or six shillings a pound. It must be furnished to him at four
_pence_ or six _pence_ instead; and this can be done easily, but
only on his own hills. If this is accomplished, and I see no reason
why it should not be, a boon will have been conferred upon the
people of India, of no common kind, and one which an enlightened and
liberal government may well be proud of conferring on its subjects."
I shall now add a description of the Chinese method of making black
tea in Upper Assam, by Mr. C.A. Bruce, superintendent of tea
culture:--
"In the first place, the youngest and most tender leaves are
gathered; but when there are many hands and a great quantity of
loaves to be collected, the people employed nip off with the
forefinger and thumb the fine end of the branch, with about four
leaves on, and sometimes even more if they look tender. These are
all brought to the place where they are to be converted into tea:
they are then put into a large, circular, open worked bamboo basket,
having a rim all round, two fingers broad. The leaves are thinly
scattered in these baskets, and then placed in a framework of
bamboo, in all appearance like the sides of an Indian hut, without
grass, resting on posts, 2 feet from the ground, with an angle of
about 25 deg. The baskets with leaves are put in this frame to dry
in the sun, and are pushed up and brought down by a long bamboo with
a circular piece of wood at the end. The leaves are permitted to dry
about two hours, being occasionally turned; but the time required
for this process depends on the heat of the sun. When they begin to
have a slightly withered appearance, they are taken down and brought
into the house, when they are placed on a frame to cool for half an
hour; they are then put into smaller baskets of the same kind as the
former, and placed on a stand. People are now employed to soften the
leaves still more, by gently clapping them between their hands, with
their fingers and thumbs extended, and tossing them up and letting
them fall, for about five or ten minutes. They are then again put on
the frame during half an hour, and brought down and clapped with the
hands as before. This is done three successive times, until the
leaves become to the touch like soft leather; the beating and
putting away being said to give the tea the black color and bitter
flavor. After this the tea is put into hot cast-iron pans, which are
fixed in a circular mud fireplace, so that the flame cannot ascend
round the pan to incommode the operator. This pan is well heated by
a straw or bamboo fire to a certain degree. About two pounds of the
leaves are then put into each hot pan, and spread in such a manner
that all the leaves may get the same degree of heat. They are every
now and then briskly turned with the naked hand, to prevent a leaf
from being burnt. When the leaves become inconveniently hot to the
hand, they are quickly taken out and delivered to another man with a
close-worked bamboo basket, ready to receive them. A few leaves that
may have been left behind are smartly brushed out with a bamboo
broom: all this time a brisk fire is kept up under the pan. After
the pan has been used in this manner three or four times, a bucket
of cold water is thrown in, and a soft brick-bat and bamboo broom
used, to give it a good scouring out; the water is thrown out of the
pan by the brush on one side, the pan itself being never taken off.
The leaves, all hot in the bamboo basket, are laid on a table that
has a narrow rim on its back, to prevent these baskets from slipping
off when pushed against it. The two pounds of hot leaves are now
divided into two or three parcels, and distributed to as many men,
who stand up to the table with the leaves right before them, and
each placing his legs close together, the leaves are next collected
into a ball, which he gently grasps in his left hand, with the thumb
extended, the fingers close together, and the hand resting on the
little finger. The right hand must be extended in the same manner as
the left, but with the palm turned downwards resting on the top of
the ball of tea leaves. Both hands are now employed to roll and
propel the ball along; the left hand pushing it on, and allowing it
to revolve as it moves; the right hand also pushes it forward,
resting on it with some force, and keeping it down to express the
juice which the leaves contain. The art lies here in giving the ball
a circular motion, and permitting it to turn under and in the hand
two or three whole revolutions, before the arms are extended to
their full length, and drawing the ball of leaves quickly back
without leaving a leaf behind, being rolled for about five minutes
in this way. The ball of tea leaves is from time to time delicately
and gently opened with the fingers lifted as high as the face, and
then allowed to fall again. This is done two or three times to
separate the leaves; and afterwards the basket with the leaves is
lifted up as often, and receives a circular shake to bring these
towards the centre. The leaves are now taken back to the hot pans
and spread out in them as before, being again turned with the naked
hand, and when hot taken out and rolled; after which, they are put
into a drying basket and spread on a sieve, which is in the centre
of the basket, and the whole placed over a charcoal fire. The fire
is very nicely regulated; there must not be the least smoke, and the
charcoal should be well picked.
When the fire is lighted it is fanned until it gets a fine red
glare, and the smoke is all gone off; being every now and then
stirred, and the coals brought into the centre, so as to leave the
outer edge low. When the leaves are put into the drying basket, they
are gently separated by lifting them up with the fingers of both
hands extended far apart, and allowing them to fall down again; they
are placed three or four inches deep on the sieve, leaving a passage
in the centre for the hot air to pass. Before it is put over the
fire, the drying basket receives a smart slap with both hands in the
act of lifting it up, which is done to shake down any leaves that
might otherwise drop through the sieve, or to prevent them from
falling into the fire and occasioning a smoke, which would affect
and spoil the tea. This slap on the basket is invariably applied
throughout the stages of tea manufacture. There is always a large
basket underneath to receive the small leaves that fall, which are
afterwards collected, dried, and added to the other tea; in no case
are the baskets or sieves allowed to touch or remain on the ground,
but always laid on a receiver, with three legs. After the leaves
have bean half-dried in the drying-basket, and while they are still
soft, they are taken off the fire and put into large open-worked
baskets, and then put on the shelf, in order that the tea may
improve in color.
Next day the leaves are all sorted into large, middling, and small;
sometimes there are four sorts. All these, the Chinese informed me,
become so many different kinds of teas; the smallest leaves they
call Pha-ho, the second Pow-chong, the third Souchong, and the
fourth, or the largest leaves, Zoy-chong. After this assortment they
are again put on the sieve in the drying-basket (taking care not to
mix the sorts), and on the fire, as on the preceding day; but now
very little more than will cover the bottom of the sieve is put in
at one time; the same care of the fire is taken as before, and the
same precaution of tapping the drying basket every now and then. The
tea is taken off the fire with the nicest care, for fear of any
particles of the tea falling into it. Whenever the drying-basket is
taken off, it is put on the receiver, the sieve in the drying-basket
taken out, the tea turned over, the sieve replaced, the tap given,
and the basket placed again over the fire. As the tea becomes crisp,
it is taken out and thrown into a large receiving-basket, until all
the quantity on hand has become alike dried and crisp, from which
basket it is again removed into the drying-basket, but now in much
larger quantities. It is then piled up eight and ten inches high on
the sieve in the drying-basket; in the centre a small passage is
left for the hot air to ascend; the fire that was before bright and
clear has now ashes thrown on it to deaden its effect, and the
shakings that have been collected are put on the top of all; the tap
is given, and the basket, with the greatest care, is put over the
fire. Another basket is placed over the whole, to throw back any
heat that may ascend. Now and then it is taken off, and put on the
receiver; the hands, with the fingers wide apart, are run down the
sides of the basket to the sieve, and the tea gently turned over,
the passage in the centre again made, &c., and the basket again
placed on the fire. It is from time to time examined, and when the
leaves have become so crisp that they break by the slightest
pressure of the fingers, it is taken off, when the tea is ready. All
the different kinds of leaves underwent the same operation. The tea
is now, little by little, put into boxes, and first pressed down
with the hands and then with the feet (clean stockings having been
previously put on).
There is a small room inside of the tea-house, seven cubits square,
and five high, having bamboos laid across on the top to support a
network of bamboo, and the sides of the room smeared with mud to
exclude the air. When there is wet weather, and the leaves cannot be
dried in the sun, they are laid out on the top of this room, on the
network, on an iron pan, the same as is used to heat the leaves;
some fire is put into it, either of grass or bamboo, so that the
flame may ascend high; the pan is put on a square wooden frame, that
has wooden rollers on its legs, and pushed round and round this
little room by one man, while another feeds the fire, the leaves on
the top being occasionally turned; when they are a little withered,
the fire is taken away, and the leaves brought down and manufactured
into tea, in the same manner as if it had been dried in the sun. But
this is not a good plan, and never had recourse to if it can
possibly be avoided."
In 1810, a number of tea plants were introduced into Brazil, with a
colony of Chinese to superintend their culture. The plantation was
formed near Rio Janeiro and occupied several acres. It did not,
however, answer the expectations formed of it, the shrubs became
stunted, cankered and moss grown, and the Chinese finally abandoned
them. The culture was again tried in 1817. The plantations lie between
the equator and 10 deg. south latitude, nearly parallel with Java, and
of course are exposed to the same intemperate climate, and suffer in a
similar manner. In addition to these physical disabilities, the
enterprise has had to contend with the natural indolence of the
natives, the universal repugnance to labor, the crushing effect of
committing so important a work to the superintendence of slaves and
overseers, the amazing fertility of the soil, the extent of
unappropriated land, the ease with which subsistence can be obtained
and the low degree of personal enterprise. These are frowning
features, and would rather seem to indicate a failure, before the
attempt at cultivation was made. But, nevertheless, the plant does
nourish to some extent, even in Brazil, under all the disparaging
circumstances which surround it. From the Brazilian Consul General, I
learn that although the plant for some years after its introduction
received but little attention and was almost abandoned, yet within the
last few years the cultivation has revived and is now prosecuted with
energy and with a corresponding success. Some of the large and wealthy
land proprietors of Brazil have directed their attention to tea
culture, and one gentleman has given up his coffee plantation and
directed his attention exclusively to the cultivation of the tea
plant. The market of Rio Janeiro is said to be largely and almost
entirely supplied with tea of domestic growth, and the public mind is
awakened to the prominent fact, that no plant cultivated in Brazil is
more profitable and none is deserving more decided attention.
_Experimental cultivation of the tea plant in Brazil_.--I now proceed
to notice the report of M. Guillemin, presented in 1839 to the French
Minister of agriculture and commerce, on the culture and preparation
of the tea plant in Brazil--in a climate of the southern hemisphere
just equivalent to that of Cuba in the northern. The report enters
very minutely into the incidents of temperature and cultivation, and
cannot fail to strike the attention when disclosing the important
fact, that the tea plant grows luxuriantly with the coffee and other
valuable plants of the equatorial regions, and even on low-lying
lands, on a level with the sea, and exposed to the full rays of a
burning sun.
"As the tea shrub," says M. Guillemin, "is grown in several
plantations about two days' journey distant from Rio, in different
directions, I hired a lodging at St. Theresa, sufficiently
contiguous to all the establishments I meant to visit, and further
recommended by having a small garden attached to the house, where I
could deposit the growing plants of tea, and sow seeds. During the
month of November, except when hindered by slight indispositions
incidental to the Brazilian climate, I pursued my researches, and
principally in the charming valleys of the Tijuka and Gavia
mountains. There, together with coffee, their principal product, the
most valuable plants of the equatorial region are cultivated.
In the middle of November I had an opportunity of observing the
method pursued when culling the tea, which is performed by black
slaves, chiefly women and children. They carefully selected the
tenderest and pale-green leaves, nipping off with their nails the
young leaf bud, just below where the first or second leaf was
unfolded. One whole field had already undergone this operation;
nothing but tea shrubs stripped of their foliage remained. The
inspector assured me that the plant received no injury from this
process, and that the harvest of leaves was to become permanent by
carefully regulating it, so that the foliage should have grown again
on the first stripped shrubs at the period when the leaves of the
last plant were pulled off. About 12,000 tea shrubs are grown in
this garden: they are regularly planted in quincunxes, and stand
about one metre distant from each other; the greater number are
stunted and shabby looking, probably owing to the aspect of the
ground, which _lies low, on the level of the sea, and exposed to the
full rays of a burning sun_; perhaps the quality of the soil may
have something to do with it, though this is apparently similar to
what prevails in the province of Rio Janeiro. This soil, which is
highly argillaceous, and strongly tinged with tritoxyde of iron, is
formed by the decomposition of gneiss or granite rocks. The flat
situation of this tea ground is unfavorable to the improvement of
the soil, for the heavy rains which wash away the superfluous sand
from slanting situations, of course only consolidate more strongly
the remaining component parts, where the land lies perfectly level,
and thus the tea plants suffer from this state of soil.
The kindness of M. de Brandao, director of the Botanic Garden,
induced him to invite me, shortly after I had seen the above
described tea ground, that I might inspect all the operations for
the preparation of tea. I found that the picking of the leaves had
been commenced very early in the morning, and two kilogrammes were
pulled that were still wet with dew. These were deposited in a
well-polished iron vase, the shape being that of a very broad flat
pan, and set on a brick furnace, where a brisk wooden fire kept the
temperature nearly up to that of boiling water. A negro, after
carefully washing his hands, kept continually stirring the leaves in
all directions, till their external dampness was quite evaporated,
and the leaves acquired the softness of linen rag, and a small pinch
of them, when rolled in the hollow of the hand, became a little ball
that would not unroll. In this state the mass of tea was divided
into two portions, and a negro took each and set them on a hurdle,
formed of strips of bamboo, laid at right angles, where they shook
and kneaded the leaves in all directions for a quarter of an hour,
an operation which requires habit to be properly performed, and on
which much of the beauty of the product depends. It is impossible to
describe this process; the motion of the hands is rapid and very
irregular, and the degree of pressure requisite varies according to
circumstances; generally speaking, the young negro women are
considered more clever at this part of the work than older persons.
As this process of rolling and twisting the leaves goes on, their
green juice is drained off through the hurdle, and it is essential
that the tea be perfectly divested of the moisture, which is acrid,
and even corrosive, the bruising and kneading being especially
designed to break the parenchyma of the leaf, and permit the escape
of the sap.
When the leaves have been thus twisted and rolled, they are replaced
in the great iron pan, and the temperature raised till the hand can
no longer bear the heat at the bottom. For upwards of an hour the
negroes are then constantly employed in separating, shaking, and
throwing the foliage up and down, in order to facilitate the
dessication, and much neatness and quickness of hand were requisite,
that the manipulators might neither burn themselves nor allow the
masses of leaves to adhere to the hot bottom of the pan. It is easy
to see that, if the pan was placed within another pan filled with
boiling water, and the leaves were stirred with an iron spatula,
much trouble might be obviated. Still, the rolling and drying of the
leaves were successfully performed; they became more and more crisp,
and preserved their twisted shape, except some few which seemed too
old and coriaceous to submit to be rolled up. The tea was then
placed on a sieve, with wide apertures of regular sizes, and formed
of flat strips of bamboo. The best rolled leaves, produced from the
tips of the buds and the tenderest leaves, passed through this
sieve, and were subsequently fanned, in order to separate any
unrolled fragments which might have passed through them; this
produce was called _Imperial_, or _Uchim Tea_. It was again laid in
the pan till it acquired the leaden grey tint, which proved its
perfect dryness, and any defective leaf which had escaped the
winnowing and sifting was picked out by hand. The residue, which was
left from the first fanning, was submitted to all the operations of
winnowing, sifting, and scorching, and it then afforded the _Fine
Hyson Tea_ of commerce; while the same operations performed on the
residuum of it yielded the _Common Hyson_; and the refuse of the
third quality again afforded the _Coarse Hyson_.--Finally, the
broken and unrolled foliage, which were rejected in the last
sittings, furnish what is called _Family Tea_, and the better kind
of which is called _Chato_, and the inferior _Chuto_. The latter
sort is never sold, but kept for consumption in the families of the
growers.
Such is the mode of preparation pursued at Rio Janeiro, though I
must add that the process employed at the Botanic Garden being most
carefully performed in order to serve as a model for private
cultivators of tea, the produce is superior to the generality, so
that we dare not judge of all Brazilian tea by what is raised at the
garden of Rio. I was also assured, that at Saint Paul each grower
had his own peculiar method, influencing materially the quality of
the tea, which decided me to visit that province, where I hoped to
gain valuable information respecting the culture and fabrication of
tea, especially considered as an article of commerce.
In the interim, the month of December proving excessively hot and
rainy, so as to forbid any distant excursions, I turned my attention
to the important object of procuring _tea plants_ in number and
state fit for exportation; and, observing that almost all the shrubs
I saw were too large for this purpose, I applied to M. de Brandao
for his help and advice. This gentleman, in the most courteous
manner, offered me either seeds or slips from his own tea shrubs.
The striking of the latter was, he owned, a hazardous and uncertain
affair, though it had the probable advantage of securing a finer
kind of plant than could with certainty be raised from seed. I,
however, began by asking him for newly gathered seeds, in order to
set them in my little nursery garden at Santa Theresa, and he
obligingly gave me a thousand of the seeds, perfectly ripe and
sound, which is easily known by the purplish-brown color of their
integument. M. Houlet immediately set about preparing the soil in
which to plant these seeds, and the earth being excessively
argillaceous and hard, much digging, manuring, and dressing were
needful; in a word, we neglected no precautions which could
contribute to the growth of our seeds. In the interim I allowed not
a single dry day to elapse without visiting the country house near
Rio, in all of which I saw something more or less interesting,
either in the culture of tea, or other vegetable productions of
commercial value.
* * * * *
I detected, growing not unfrequently in the environs of Rio, the
_Ilex Paraguayensis_ of M. Auguste de St. Hilaire, perfectly
identical with the tree which the Jesuits planted in the missions of
Paraguay, and whose foliage is an article of great importance
throughout Spanish America, and vended under the name of _Paraguay
Tea_. A living plant of this shrub was brought home by me, and
placed in the Royal Garden at Paris, as well as a species of
Vanilla, and many other rare and interesting plants. I also made a
valuable collection of woods employed for dyeing, building, and
cabinet work, with samples of their flowers, fruits, and leaves, to
facilitate botanical determination.
Early in January, 1839, M. Houlet began anew sowing tea, not only in
the open ground in our little garden, but also in pans, in order to
facilitate the lifting of the young plants, and putting them into
the cases that I had brought for the purpose. The heat being
excessive, we purchased mats, that we might shelter them from the
sun, and we gave them water far more frequently. Many of the seeds
that we had sown a month previously, were already appearing above
the ground, but the soil being of too compact a nature, some did not
come up, which warned us to make choice in future of a lighter kind
of soil.
The period now arrived when I was to visit the tea plantations in
the province of St. Paul; and hoping that the cultivators would give
me some of the young shrubs, I took M. Houlet with me, leaving the
charge of our collections and seedlings to M. Pissis, a French
geologist and engineer, with whom I had formed an intimate
acquaintance, and who most obligingly offered to attend to them
during my absence. Many were the influential persons at Rio Janeiro,
who gave me introductory letters to the proprietors and tea growers
of St. Paul.
We started on the 15th January, by steam-boat, and in two days
reached Santos, the principal port in the province of St. Paul;
thence crossing the great chain of mountains, named the Serra do
Mar, in caravans drawn by mules, we reached the city of St. Paul on
the 20th January, where I experienced the warmest reception from the
governor, two ex-governors, and some other gentlemen.
* * * * *
Accompanied by M.J. Gomez and a M. Barandier, an historical painter,
whom the desire to visit a new country, and to see its inhabitants,
had induced to become _my compagnon de voyage_, we visited almost
immediately a M. Feigo, ex-Regent of the Empire, and now President
of the Provincial Senate. We found this venerable ecclesiastic at
his country-house, two leagues distant from the city, and here we
saw all the process pursued on the tea leaf, commencing by the
bruising, drying, and scorching of a large quantity of foliage
picked the preceding evening. The chief difference that struck me in
the mode here adopted, was, that the tender, flexible, and not
brittle leaves, were gathered with the petiole and tip extremity of
every bud, and that some water was put with them into the iron pan,
in which the negresses twisted, squeezed, broke and shook the masses
of foliage. The operation was, on the whole, more neatly performed
than at Rio. When the tea was perfectly dry and removed from the
pan, it was placed aside in a box, shaded from the air and light,
and was considered ready for present use, on the spot; but M. Feigo
informed me, that when sent to a distance, the cases were
hermetically closed, and the tea underwent an extra dessication over
the fire.
The plantations belonging to M. Feigo, and surrounding his chagara,
are extensive, containing about 20,000 tea shrubs, of fine growth
and high vigor, most of them six or eight years old, set in regular
lines, a metre asunder from each other, and the lines with a metre
and a half between them. The soil is excellent,
argillaceo-ferruginous, as is generally the case near St. Paul.
In the Botanic Garden at St. Paul, some squares are devoted to the
growth of tea; but I am not aware that the leaves are ever subject
to preparation.
M. da Luz had invited us to inspect his tea-grounds near Nossa
Senhora da Penha, and I went thither, accompanied by Messrs.
Barandier and Houlet. The cultivation is admirable, the soil
excellent, and the tea-plants peculiarly vigorous. Each shrub was so
placed that a man can easily go all round it, and _young plants,
self-sown, were springing up below every old one_; of these offsets,
I was made welcome to as many as I could take away, and should have
had a great stock, but that the ground had been very recently
cleared. M. da Luz showed me his magazines of prepared tea, which
were extensive and well stocked.
Hence I went to the property of a lady, Donna Gertrude Gedioze
Larceda, situated at the foot of Jarigur, a mountain famed for its
gold mines, and passed two days in exploring this celebrated
locality, and then visited the Colonel Anastosio on my way back to
St. Paul. These plantations are in the most prosperous condition,
situated on a sloping and well-manured tract behind the habitations.
The shrubs are generally kept low, and frequently cut, so as to,
make them branching, by which the process of picking the leaves is
rendered easier. There may be 60,000 or 70,000 plants, but a third
of them were only set a year before. Every arrangement is
excellently conducted here; the pans kept very clean, though perhaps
rather thin from long use and the fierceness of the fires. But the
general good order that prevails, speaks much in favor of the tea
produced in this neighbourhood. The colonel showed me his warehouse,
where the tea is stored in iron jars, narrow-necked and closed by a
tight fitting stopper. I ventured to put some questions to Colonel
Anastosio respecting the sale of the produce. He gave me to
understand that he was by no means eager to sell; but, confident of
the good quality, he waited till application was made to him for it,
as the tea is thought to improve by time, and the price is kept up
by there being a small supply. With respect to the cost of its
production in Brazil, he said, this was so great that, to make it
answer to the grower, a price of not less than 2,000 reis, about six
francs (5s.), must be got for each pound. The whole labor in Brazil
is done by slaves, who certainly do not cost much to keep, but who,
on the other hand, work as little as they can help, having no
interest in the occupation. The slaves, too, bear a high price, and
the chances of mortality, with the exorbitant value of money in
Brazil, augment their selling value.
The Major da Luz kindly presented me with 300 young tea-plants,
which he had caused his negroes to pull up for me; and in an
adjoining farm, where an immense tract planted with tea is now
allowed to run to waste, being no object of value to the proprietor,
I was permitted to take all I could carry away; and in a single
day's time, M. Houlet and I, aided by some slaves, succeeded in
possessing ourselves of 3,000 young plants, which we carefully
arranged in bamboo baskets (here called cestos). To diminish the
weight, M. Houlet removed as little soil as possible; but carefully
wetted the roots before closing the baskets, and covered them with
banana leaves. In one garden, the largest I have seen devoted to the
growth of tea, but which is not particularly well kept, I saw that
the spaces between the shrubs were planted with _maize_, and the
bordering of the squares which intersect this vast plantation, and
the whole of which is inclosed with valleys of _Araucaria
Brasiliensis_, is formed of little dwarf tea-plants, which are kept
low by cutting their main shoots down to the level of the soil.
On the 8th of February I again embarked in the steam-boat to return
to Rio Janeiro, and when we came in sight of St. Sebastian, I left
M. Houlet to proceed to the city alone, charging him to take the
very greatest care of our package of tea-plants, as well as of the
nursery-ground at St. Theresa, while I should visit the flourishing
colony of Ubatuba, inhabited by French families, who cultivate most
successfully _coffee_, and other useful vegetables. After a
delightful sail through an archipelago of enchanting islands, I
landed at Pontagrossa, where I was most kindly received, and spent a
week, obtaining much and varied information, both respecting
cultivated plants and the kinds of trees which grow spontaneously in
the virgin forests of this lovely land, and afford valuable woods
for building, cabinet work, and dyeing. Finally, I visited the tea
plantations of M. Vigneron, which are remarkably fine, though their
owner finds a much more profitable employment in the growth of
_coffee_, which is very lucrative. He kindly gave me a quantity of
young tea-plants and chocolate trees. Reluctantly quitting these
worthy colonists, I re-embarked in a Brazilian galliot, which took
me back to Rio Janeiro in the close of February. There I found the
tea-plants from St. Paul, set by M. Houlet, in our garden at St.
Theresa, and I added to them the stock I had brought from Ubatuba.
All the very young ones had perished on the way, from the excessive
heat, and M. Houlet had much difficulty in saving the others.
* * * * *
M. Guillemin concludes his interesting narration with this partially
discouraging fact;--that though the culture of the tea-shrub
succeeds perfectly well in Brazil; though the gathering of the
foliage proceeds with hardly any interruption during the entire
year; though the quality (setting aside the aroma, which is believed
to be artificially added) is not inferior to that of the finest tea
from China--still the growers have not realised any large profits.
They have manufactured an immense quantity of tea, to judge by what
he saw in the warehouses at St. Paul, but they cannot afford to sell
it under six francs for the half kilogramme (a pound weight), which
is higher than Chinese tea of equally good quality. This is,
however, precisely one of those commodities in which free labour,
that is, the labor of a free peasant's family, the wife and
children, the young and the old, can successfully compete with slave
labor, and considerably undersell it. It is manifest, from the
remarks of M. Guillemin, that the cost for plantation slaves, under
a system apparently so profitable as labor without wages, is a dead
weight on the Brazilian planter."
_Paraguay Tea._--A species of holly (_Ilex Paraguensis_), which grows
spontaneously in the forest regions of Paraguay, and the interior of
South America, furnishes the celebrated beverage called _Yerba Mate_,
in South America. The evergreen leaf of this plant is from four to
five inches long; when prepared for use as tea it is reduced to
powder, and hence the decoction has to be quaffed by means of a tube
with a bulb perforated with small holes.
The leaves yield the same bitter principle called theine, which is
found in the leaf of the Chinese tea-plant, the coffee berry, &c.
Various other species of Ilex are sometimes employed in other parts of
South America for a similar purpose. Although the leaves may not
contain as much of the agreeable narcotic oil as those of the China
shrub, in consequence of the rude way in which it is collected and
prepared for use, yet it is much relished by European travellers in
South America, and would doubtless enter largely into consumption if
imported into this country at a moderate rate of duty.
The consumption in the various South American Republics is estimated
at thirty or forty millions of pounds annually. It is generally drank
without sugar or milk.
There are no correct data for calculating the exports, but some
authorities state the amount sent to Santa Fe and Buenos Ayres at
eight millions of pounds.
A great trade is carried on with it at Sta. Fe, where it is brought
from the Rio de la Plata. There are two sorts, one called "Yerba de
Palos," the other, which is finer, "Yerba de Carnini." Frezier tells
us that, in the earlier part of the 17th century, above 50,000
arrobas, or more than 12,000 cwt. of this herb were brought into Peru
from Paraguay, exclusive of about 25,000 arrobas taken to Chile; and
Father Charleroix, in his "History of Paraguay," states the quantity
shipped to Peru annually at 100,000 arrobas, or nearly 2,500,000 lbs.
My friend, Mr. W.P. Robertson, has favored me with some details as to
the production of Paraguay tea. His brother has graphically described
a visit he paid to the wastes or woods of the Yerba tree, with a
colony of manufacturers from Assumption. These woods were situated
chiefly in the country adjacent to a small miserable town called Villa
Real, about 150 miles higher up the river Paraguay than Assumption.
The master manufacturer, with about forty or fifty hired peons or
servants, mounted on mules, and a hundred bulls and sumpter mules, set
out on their expedition, and having discovered in the dense wood a
suitable locality, forthwith a settlement is established, and the
necessary wigwams for dwellings, &c., run up. The next step is the
construction of the "tatacua." This was a small space of ground,
about six feet square, of which the soil was beaten down with heavy
mallets, till it became a hard and consistent foundation. At the four
corners of this space, and at right angles, were driven in four very
strong stakes, while upon the surface of it were laid large logs of
wood. This was the place at which the leaves and small sprigs of the
yerba tree, when brought from the woods, were first scorched--fire
being set to the logs of wood within it. By the side of the tatacua
was spread an ample square net of hidework, of which, after the
scorched leaves were laid upon it, a peon gathered up the four corners
and proceeded with his burthen on his shoulders to the second place
constructed, the barbacue. This was an arch of considerable span, and
of which the support consisted of three strong trestles. The centre
trestle formed the highest part of the arch. Over this superstructure
were laid cross-bars strongly railed to stakes on either side of the
central supports, and so formed the roof of the arch. The leaves being
separated after the tatacua process, from the grosser boughs of the
yerba tree, were laid on this roof, under which a large fire was
kindled. Of this fire the flames ascended, and still further scorched
the leaves of the yerba. The two peons beneath the arch, with long
poles, took care, as far as they could, that no ignition should take
place; and in order to extinguish this, when it did occur, another
peon was stationed at the top of the arch. Along both sides of this
there were two deal planks, and, with a long stick in his hand, the
peon ran along these planks, and instantly extinguished any incipient
sparks of fire that appeared.
When the yerba was thoroughly scorched, the fire was swept from the
barbacue or arch; the ground was then swept, and pounded with heavy
mallets, into the hardest and smoothest substance. The scorched leaves
and very small twigs were then thrown down from the roof of the arch,
and, by means of a rude wooden mill, ground to powder.
The yerba or tea was now ready for use; and being conveyed to a larger
shed, previously erected for the purpose, was then received, weighed,
and stored by the overseer. The next and last process, and the most
laborious of all, was that of packing the tea. This was done by first
sewing together, in a square form, the half of a bull's hide, which
being still damp, was fastened by two of its corners to two strong
trestles, driven far into the ground. The packer then, with an
enormous stick, made of the heaviest wood, and having a huge block at
one end, and a pyramidal piece to give it a greater impulse at the
other, pressed, by repeated efforts, the yerba into the hide sack,
till he got it full to the brim. It then contained from 200 to 250
pounds, and being sewed up, and left to tighten over the contents as
the hide dried, it formed at the end of a couple of days, by exposure
to the sun, a substance as hard as stone, and almost as weighty and
impervious too.
Having described the process of making ready the yerba for use, we
will now accompany Mr. Robertson to the woods, to see how it is
collected.
"After all the preparations which I have detailed were completed
(and it required only three days to finish them), the peons sallied
forth from the yerba colony by couples. I accompanied two of the
stoutest and best of them. They had with them no other weapon than a
small axe; no other clothing than a girdle round their waist and a
red cap on their head; no other provision than a cigar, and a cow's
horn filled with water; and they were animated by no other hope or
desire, that I could perceive, than those of soon discovering a part
of the wood thickly studded with the yerba tree. They also desired
to find it as near as possible to the colonial encampment, in order
that the labor of carrying the rough branches to the scene of
operations might be as much as possible diminished.
We had scarcely skirted for a quarter of a mile the woods which shut
in the valley where we were bivouacked, when we came upon numerous
clumps of the yerba tree. It was of all sizes, from that of the
shrub to that of the full-grown orange tree; the leaves of it were
very like those of that beautiful production. The smaller the plant,
the better is the tea which is taken from it considered to be.
To work with their hatchets went the peons, and in less than a
couple of hours they had gathered a mountain of branches, and piled
them up in the form of a haystack. Both of them then filled their
large ponchos with the coveted article of commerce in its raw state,
and they marched off with their respective loads. Having deposited
this first load within the precincts of the colony, the peons
returned for a second, and so on till they had cleared away the
whole mass of branches and of leaves cut and collected during that
day. When I returned to the colony I found the peons coming by two
and two, from every part of the valley, all laden in the same way.
There were twenty tatacuas, twenty barbacues, and twenty pies of the
yerba cut and ready for manufacture. Two days after that the whole
colony was in a blaze, tatacuas and barbacues were enveloped in
smoke; on the third day all was stowed away in the shed; and on the
fourth the peons again went out to procure more of the boughs and
leaves."--(_Letters on Paraguay_, vol. ii. p. 142-147).
Each peon or laborer, going into the woods for six months, can procure
eight arrobas, or 200 lbs. of yerba a day. This, at the rate of two
rials, or 1s. for each arroba, would make his wages per day 8s.; and
this for six months' work, at six days in the week, would produce to
the laborer a sum of £57 12s.
Wilcockes, in his "History of Buenos Ayres," published in 1807,
states:--"Though the herb is principally bought by the merchants of
Buenos Ayres, it is not to that place that it is carried, no more
being sent thither than is wanted for the consumption of its
inhabitants and those of the vicinity; but the greatest part is
dispatched to Santa Fe and Cordova, thence to be forwarded to Potosi
and Mendoza. The quantity exported to Peru is estimated at 100,000
arrobas, and to Chile 40,000. The remainder is consumed in Paraguay,
Tucuman, and the other provinces. It is conveyed in parcels of six or
seven arrobas, by waggons, from Santa Fe to Jugui, and thence by mules
to Potosi, La Paz, and into Peru proper. About four piastres per
arroba is the price in Paraguay, and at Potosi it fetches from eight
to nine, and more in proportion as it is carried further."
SUGAR.
Sugar is obtained from many grasses; and, indeed, is common in a large
number of plants. It is procured in Italy from _Sorghum saccharatum_;
in China, from _Saccharum sinense_; in Brazil, from _Gynerium
saccharoides_; in the West Indies, from _saccharum violaceum_; and in
many other parts of the world from _S officinarrum_. The last two are
commonly known as sugar canes, and they are generally considered as
varieties of a single species, _S. officinarum_, which is now widely
spread over different parts of the world.
Some curious specimens of palm sugars were exhibited at the Great
Exhibition of 1851, among others,--gomuti palm sugar (_Arenga
saccharifera_) from Java; date palm sugar, from the Deccan; nipa
sugar, from the stems of _Nipa fruticans_, and sugar from the fleshy
flowers of _Bassia latifolia_,--an East Indian tree.
Among the other sugars shown were beet root sugar, maple sugar, date
sugar, from Dacca, sugar from the butter tree (_Bassia butyracea_),
produced in the division of Rohekkund, in India; and sugar candy,
crystallized by the natives of Calcutta and other parts of India.
Sugar and molasses from the grape, were also shown from Spain, Tunis
and the Zollverein.
Sugar, or sugar candy, has been made in China from very remote
antiquity, and large quantities have been exported from India, in all
ages, whence it is most probable that it found its way to Rome.
The principal impurities to be sought for in cane sugar are inorganic
matter, water, molasses, farina, and grape, or starch sugar. The
latter substance is occasionally, for adulterating purposes, added in
Europe to cane sugar; it may be detected by the action of concentrated
sulphuric acid and of a solution of caustic potassa; the former
blackens cane sugar, but does not affect the starch sugar, while
potassa darkens the color of starch sugar, but does not alter that of
cane sugar. But the copper test is far more delicate. Add to the
solution to be tested, a few drops of blue vitriol, and then a
quantity of potassa solution, and apply heat; if the cane sugar is
pure, the liquor will remain blue, while, if it be adulterated with
starch sugar, it will assume a reddish yellow color.
Inorganic matter is determined by incineration, farina by the iodine
test, water by drying at 210 deg., and molasses by getting rid of it
by re-crystalization from alcohol, as also by the color and moisture
of the article.
The natural impurities of sugar are gum and tannin; gum is detected by
giving a white precipitate with diacetate of lead, and tannin by
giving a black coloration or precipitate with persulphate of iron.
An experienced sugar dealer easily judges of the value of sugar by the
taste, smell, specific gravity, moisture and general appearance.
The value of molasses may be determined by drying at 220 degs., and by
the taste.
The commercial demand for sugar is mainly supplied from the juice of
the cane, which contains it in greater quantity and purity than any
other plant, and offers the greatest facilities for its extraction.
Although sugar, identical in its character, exists in the maple, the
coco-nut, maize, the beet root, and mango, and is economically
obtained from these to a considerable extent, yet it is not
sufficiently pure to admit of ready separation from the foreign matter
combined with it, at least by the simple mechanical means, the
ordinary producers usually have at command; unless carried onto a
large extent, and with suitable machinery and chemical knowledge and
appliances.
The different species of commercial sugar usually met with in this
country, are four, viz:--brown, or muscovado sugar (commonly called
moist sugar); clayed sugar, refined or loaf sugar, and sugar candy;
these varieties are altogether dependent on the difference in the
methods employed in their manufacture.
The cultivation of the sugar cane, and the manufacture of sugar, were
introduced into Europe from the East, by the Saracens, soon after
their conquests, in the ninth century. It is stated by the Venetian
historians, that their countrymen imported sugar from Sicily, in the
twelfth century, at a cheaper rate than they could obtain it from
Egypt, where it was then extensively made. The first plantations in
Spain were at Valencia; but they were extended to Granada, Mercia,
Portugal, Madeira, and the Canary Islands, as early as the beginning
of the fifteenth century. From Gomera, one of these islands, the sugar
cane was introduced into the West Indies, by Columbus, in his second
voyage to America in 1493. It was cultivated to some extent in St.
Domingo in 1506, where it succeeded better than in any of the other
islands. In 1518, there were twenty-eight plantations in that colony,
established by the Spaniards, where an abundance of sugar was made,
which, for a long period, formed the principal part of the European
supplies. Barbados, the oldest English settlement in the West Indies,
began to export sugar in 1646, and as far back as the year 1676 the
trade required four hundred vessels, averaging one hundred and fifty
tons burden.
The common sugar cane is a perennial plant, very sensitive to cold,
and is, therefore, restricted in its cultivation to regions bordering
on the tropics, where there is little or no frost. In the Eastern
hemisphere its production is principally confined to situations
favorable to its growth, lying between the fortieth parallel of north
latitude and a corresponding degree south. On the Atlantic side of
the Western continent, it will not thrive beyond the thirty-third
degree of north latitude and the thirty-fifth parallel south. On the
Pacific side it will perfect its growth some five degrees further
north or south. From the flexibility of this plant, it is highly
probable that it is gradually becoming more hardy, and will eventually
endure an exposure and yield a profitable return much further north,
along the borders of the Mississippi and some of its tributaries, than
it has hitherto been produced. In most parts of Louisiana the canes
yield three crops from one planting. The first season is denominated
"plant cane," and each of the subsequent growths, "ratoons." But,
sometimes, as on the prairies of Attakapas and Opelousas, and the
higher northern range of its cultivation, it requires to be replanted
every year. Within the tropics, as in the West Indies and elsewhere,
the ratoons frequently continue to yield abundantly for twelve or
fifteen years from the same roots.
The cultivation of this plant is principally confined to the West
Indies, Venezuela, Brazil, Mauritius, British India, China, Japan, the
Sunda, Phillippine, and Sandwich Islands, and to the southern
districts of the United States. The varieties most cultivated in the
latter are the striped blue and yellow ribbon, or Java, the red
ribbon, violet, from Java, the Creole, crystalline or Malabar, the
Otaheite, the purple, the yellow, the purple-banded, and the grey
canes. The quantity of sugar produced on an acre varies from five
hundred to three thousand pounds, averaging, perhaps, from eight
hundred to one thousand pounds.
Six to eight pounds of the saccharine juice of the plant, yield one
pound of raw sugar; from 16 to 20 cart-loads of canes, ought to make a
hogshead of sugar, if thoroughly ripe. The weight necessary to
manufacture 10,000 hhds of sugar, is usually estimated at 250,000
tons, or 25 tons per hhd. of 15 or 16 cwt.
The quantity of sugar now produced in our colonies is in excess of the
demands of the consumers, that is, of their demands cramped as they
are by the duties still levied on sugar consumed in Great Britain,
imposed for the purposes of revenue; the high duty on all other but
indigenous sugar, consumed all over the continent, imposed to promote
the manufacture of beet-root sugar, and the legal duty levied on all
other than indigenous sugar used in the United States, for the purpose
of protecting the sugar production of that country; and so long as
that excess exists---until a further reduction of duties shall
increase consumption and cause sugar to be used for many purposes
which the present high rates prohibit its being applied to--any
improvement which may be effected in the quality--any increase which
may take place in the quantity of colonial sugar--will only result
infinitely more to the benefits of the consumers than the producers.
In 1700 the quantity consumed in Great Britain and Ireland was only
about 200,000 cwt. In 1852, including molasses, &c., it was not less
than 8,000,000 cwt., a forty-fold increase in the century and a-half.
Taking the whole population last year, it was nearly 28 lbs. per
head. In 1832 the consumption in Great Britain alone was put down by
Mr. M'Culloch at 23 lbs.; and as my estimate includes Ireland, where
the consumption is notoriously small, we may infer that it has
increased in Great Britain since 1832 at least 5 lb. per head. As the
allowance to servants is from ¾ lb. to 1 lb. per week, it may be
assumed that 50 lb. a year, at least, is not too much for grown
persons. In sugar-producing countries the quantity consumed is
enormous; the labourers live on it in the manufacturing season; and a
Duke of Beaufort, who died about 1720, consumed one pound daily for
forty years, and enjoyed excellent health till he was seventy years of
age. The consumption of sugar has increased considerably since it has
become cheap; and we may expect, therefore, that the consumption will
extend more rapidly than ever. The whole quantity consumed in Europe
last year, including beet-root sugar, was not less than 16,000,000
cwt. If peace be preserved and prosperity continue, the market for
sugar will extend amazingly, and force the cultivation by free men in
all tropical countries.
British East India and Total of B.P.
Years. Plantation Mauritius E.I. and Consumption
tons. tons Mauritius tons.
1838-39 176,033 54,017 230,050 195,483
39-40 141,219 60,358 201,577 191,279
40-41 110,739 52,232 162,971 179,741
41-42 107,560 97,792 205,352 202,971
42-43 123,685 80,429 204,114 199,491
43-44 125,178 78,943 204,121 202,259
44-45 122,639 81,959 204,598 206,999
45-46 142,384 102,690 245,074 244,030
47-48 164,646 125,829 290,475 289,537
48-49 139,868 107,844 247,712 308,131
49-50 142,203 121,850 264,053 296,119
50-51 129,471 119,317 248,788 305,616
51-52 148,000 110,000 258,000 312,778
--The above figures refer to raw sugar only.
At these periods, calculating from 1838-39, the duty on British sugar
ranged from 24s. down to 10s. per cwt., and foreign slave-grown sugar
from 63s. down to 14s. The greatest impetus was given to foreign sugar
when the duties were reduced, in 1846.
The extension of sugar cultivation in various countries where the
climate is suitable, has recently attracted considerable attention
among planters and merchants. The Australian Society of Sydney offered
its Isis Gold Medal recently to the person who should have planted,
before May, 1851, the greatest number of sugar canes in the colony. I
have not heard whether any claim was put in for the premium, but I
fear that the gold fever has diverted attention from any new
agricultural pursuit, and that honorary gold medals are therefore
unappreciated. Moreton Bay and the northern parts of the colony of New
South Wales, are admirably suited to the growth of all descriptions of
tropical products.
The Natal Agricultural Society is also making great exertions to
promote sugar culture in that settlement. Mr. E. Morewood, one of the
oldest colonists, has about 100 acres under cultivation with the cane,
and I have seen some very excellent specimens of the produce,
notwithstanding the want of suitable machinery to grind the cane and
boil the juice. Many planters from the East Indies and Mauritius are
settling there. His Royal Highness Prince Albert awarded, through the
Society of Arts, a year or two ago, a gold medal, worth 100 guineas,
to Mr. J.A. Leon, for his beautiful work descriptive of new and
improved machinery and processes employed in the cultivation and
preparation of sugar in the British colonies, designed to economise
labor and increase production.
The centrifugal machines, recently brought into use, for separating
the molasses from the sugar, more quickly than the old-fashioned
method of coolers, have tended to cheapen the production and simplify
the processes of sugar making. The planters object, however, to the
high prices which they are charged for these machines, so simple in
their construction; and that they are not allowed, by the patent laws,
to obtain them in the cheaper markets of France and Belgium.
Great loss has hitherto taken place annually, in the sugar colonies,
through the drainage of the molasses, resulting from the imperfect
processes in use; but this can now be obviated, by the use of the
centrifugal machine. It is a modification of the "hydro-extractor,"
and is the invention of Mr. Finzel, of Bristol.
The machine being filled with sugar, appropriately placed, is rapidly
revolved, and a powerful ceutrifugal force generated; the moisture is
speedily removed to the circumference of the revolving vessel, and
passes off through apertures adapted for the purpose.
Various other improvements in the making of sugar have been carried
into effect within the last few years, by Dr. Scoffern, Messrs. Oxland
and M. Melsens, but the description of these would occupy too much of
my space, and those who are desirous of growing sugar on an extensive
scale, I must refer to Dr. Evans' "Sugar Planter's Manual," Mr. Wray's
"Practical Sugar Planter," Agricola's "Letters on Sugar Farming," and
other works which treat largely and exclusively of the subject.
An announcement has recently been made, that a Mr. Ramos, of Porto
Rico, has discovered some new dessicating agent, to be used in sugar
making, which is to cost next to nothing, but improves most materially
the quality of the sugar made, and also increases considerably the
quantity obtained by the ordinary process.
The average annual quantity of cane sugar produced and sent into the
markets of the civilised world, at the present time, may be taken at
1,500,000 tons, exclusive of the amount grown and manufactured for
local consumption in India, China, Cochin-China, and the Malay
Archipelago, of which no certain statistics exist, but which has been
estimated at about another million tons.
So far back as 1844, the Calcutta "Star," in an article on sugar,
estimated the domestic consumption in India, at 500,000 tons. This is
considerably below the mark, even if India is taken in its limited
signification, as including only British subjects. On this estimate
the 94,000,000 of British subjects, men, women and children, would not
individually consume more than one pound avoirdupois by the month. A
fat, hungry Brahmin, at any of the festivals given by the great, will
digest for his own share four pounds, without at all embarrassing his
stomach.
Assuming the million and a half of tons that find their way into
civilized markets, to represent an average value at the place of
production of £15 per ton, we have here the representation of
£22,500,000 sterling. But this value may fairly be increased by
one-fourth.
The whole exportable production of the sugar-growing countries was
found to be, in 1844, about 780,000 tons, of which Cuba furnished
200,000 tons. In 1845, notwithstanding Cuba only produced 80,000 tons,
the increase from other sources was so considerable (namely:--the
British Colonial supply 40,000, United States 40,000, Porto Rico
15,000, Brazil 10,000 tons) that the total produce fell very little
short of the previous year--having reached 764,000 tons.
The present SUPPLY of sugar to the markets of Europe, is nearly as
follows:--
Cwts.
England 8,000,000
France 2,550,000
German League 1,350,000
Prussia 220,000
Austria, (ten Provinces) 560,000
Belgium 294,000
Other States not defined.
The present DEMAND, according to the estimated consumption per head
(28 lbs.), found to exist in England, where taxation is favorable, and
the price moderate, would be about 3¼; million tons, viz.:--
Cwts.
England 8,000,000
France 8,875,000
Germany 5,750,000
Prussia 4,100,000
Austria 8,642,857
Belgium 1,250,000
Russia 15,250,000
Rest of Europe 12,500,000
The whole annual PRODUCTION of the world is estimated by another party
at 1,471,000,000 lbs., of which the United States produce 150,000,000
lbs., including 40,000,000 lbs. of maple sugar. Of the whole amount of
sugar produced, Europe consumes about 648,700 tons, divided nearly as
follows:--
lbs.
Great Britain 803,360,096
France 160,080,000
Belgium 19,840,000
Netherlands 42,000,000
Russia 70,000,000
Denmark and Sweden 22,000,000
German Zollverein 101,300,000
Other parts of Germany 160,000,000
Austria 50,000,000
-------------
1,428,580,096
The following figures show the quantities of raw sugar in general, in
tons, imported into the British markets for the last five years,
compared with consumption:--
Entire British
Years. Importations. Consumption. Surplus.
1847 415,289 290,281 125,008
1848 354,834 309,424 45,410
1849 362,087 299,041 63,046
1850 332,470 310,391 22,089
1851 419,083 329,561 89,472
1852 360,033 358,642 1,391
Deduced from Parliamentary Paper, No. 461, Session 1853.
The consumption of sugar then in the whole world may be roughly
estimated at two and a half million tons, of which the United Kingdom
may now be put down for 350,000; the rest of Europe 420,000, and the
United States 300,000.
The United States produce about 140,000 tons of cane and maple sugar,
which are exclusively used for home consumption, the remainder of
their requirements being made up by foreign importation. The American
consumption, which in 1851 amounted to 133,000 tons of sugar cane
reached last year a total of 321,000 tons, almost as much as England
consumed--358,000--and more than the consumption of 100,000,000 of
persons on the continent.
The whole production of tropical sugar, is about one million and
a-half tons, while the consumption is probably two million tons; but
the manufacture of sugar from beet root, maple and other sources,
supplies the deficiency.
The total quantities of sugar, and molasses as sugar, consumed in the
United Kingdom in the last six years, were, according to a
Parliamentary paper, No. 292, of the last session, as follows:--
Cwt. sugar. Cwt. molasses.
1847 4,723,232 1,256,421
1848 5,003,318 865,752
1849 5,283,729 1,021,065
1850 5,570,461 752,027
1851 5,043,872 1,522,405
1852 7,203,631 799,942
The returns further specify that the annual average consumption of
_British colonial sugar_, in the five years ending 1851, was 5,124,922
cwt.; and in the five years ending 1846, was 4,579,054 cwt.; the
average consumption of British colonial sugar, has, therefore,
exceeded in the five years since the duties were reduced, in 1846, the
average consumption for the five previous years by 545,868 cwt. per
annum; or in the aggregate in the five years, the excess has been
3,239,338 cwt. The quantity consumed in the year ending December,
1852, was 4,033,879 cwt.[16] There can be no doubt whatever, that the
consumption of sugar in Great Britain is capable of very large
increase; moderate cost, and the removal of restrictions to its
general use, being the main elements required to bring it about. The
question of revenue must of course be a material consideration with
Government; but recent experience certainly leads to the conclusion
that it would not suffer under a further reduction of duty.
The revenue derived from sugar before the reduction of the duty, was
five millions per annum; in the past two years it reached nearly four
millions.
The reduction in duties which took place in 1845, may be said to have
answered the expectations formed of it, as regards the increase of
consumption, which there is no doubt would have even gone beyond the
estimate, if the failure in the crop of sugar in Cuba--that most
important island, which usually yields one-fifth of the cane crop of
the whole world--had not driven up prices in the general market of the
continent, and, in consequence, diverted the supply of free labor
sugar from this country. As it was, however, the consumption of the
United Kingdom, which in 1844 was 206,472 tons, in 1845 was not less
than 243,000--Sir Robert Peel's estimate was 250,000 tons--the average
reduction in price to the consumer during the latter year having been
20 per cent. The large increase in subsequent years I have already
shown.
The consumption of sugar we find, then, has been steadily and rapidly
increasing in this country, and if we add together to the refined and
raw sugar and molasses used, it will be seen that the consumption of
1852 amounted to 400,178 tons; which is at the rate of 29 lbs. per
head of the population per annum. Whilst the quantity retained for
home consumption in the United Kingdom, in 1844; was but 4,130,000
cwt., the amount had risen in 1852 to upwards of 8,000,000 cwt.
Sugar unrefined, entered for home consumption.
Colonial Raw. Foreign Raw. Total.
Cwt. Cwt. Cwt.
1848 5,936,355 1,225,866 6,162,221
1849 5,424,248 498,038 5,922,386
1850 5,201,206 911,115 6,112,321
1851 5,872,288 1,383,286 6,255,574
1852 6,241,581 687,269 6,928,850
To the foregoing should be added the following quantities of refined
sugar and molasses, entered for home consumption.
Refined Sugar and Candy. Molasses. Total
Cwt. Cwt. Cwt.
1848 46,292 637,050 683,342
1849 75,392 812,330 887,722
1850 116,744 917,588 1,034,362
1851 338,734 773,035 1,111,769
1852 274,781 799,942 1,074,723
The quantity of sugar refined by our bonded refiners, and exported,
is shown by the following figures. The increase in 1851, was
one-fourth in excess of the previous year.
Cwt.
1848 248,702
1849 222,900
1850 209,148
1851 258,563
1852 214,299
The following were the imports of sugar into Great Britain, in 1848
and 1851, respectively--and the quarters from whence supplies were
derived:--
1848--Tons. 1851--Tons.
West Indies 121,600 153,300
Mauritius 43,600 50,000
East Indies 65,200 78,286
Java and Manila 11,000 20,850
Havana, Porto Rico, and Brazil 76,900 76,526
------- -------
318,300 378,962
The production of sugar in the last four years, may be stated
comparatively as follows:--
+----------------------+---------+---------+---------+-----------+
| CANE SUGAR. | 1849. | 1850. | 1851. | 1852. |
+----------------------+---------+---------+---------+-----------+
| | Tons. | Tons. | Tons. | Tons. |
| Cuba | 220,000 | 250,000 | 252,000 | 320,000 |
| Porto Rico | 43,600 | 48,200 | 49,500 | 50,000 |
| Brazil | 106,000 | 103,000 | 113,000 | 100,000 |
| United States | 98,200 | 120,400 | 103,200 | 110,000 |
| The West Indies | | | | |
| 1. French Colonies | 56,300 | 47,200 | 50,000 | 50,000 |
| 2. Danish Do. | 7,900 | 5,000 | 6,000 | 5,000 |
| 3. Dutch Do. | 13,800 | 14,200 | 15,000 | 20,000 |
| 4. British Do. | 142,200 | 129,200 | 148,000 | 140,000 |
| The East Indies | 70,403 | 67,300 | 66,000 | 60,000 |
| Mauritius | 50,782 | 57,800 | 55,500 | 65,000 |
| Java | 90,000 | 89,900 | 99,347 | 104,542 |
| Manila | 20,000 | 20,000 | 20,000 | 20,000 |
+----------------------+---------+---------+---------+-----------+
| | 919,182 | 952,200 | 977,547 | 1,044,542 |
+----------------------+---------+---------+---------+-----------+
+----------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+
|BEET ROOT SUGAR.| 1849. | 1850. | 1851. | 1852. |
+----------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+
| | Tons. | Tons. | Tons. |Estmd. Tons.|
| France | 38,000 | 61,000 | 75,000 | 60,000 |
| Belgium | 5,000 | 6,000 | 8,000 | 9,000 |
| Zollverein | 33,000 | 38,000 | 49,000 | 50,000 |
| Russia | 13,000 | 14,000 | 15,000 | 16,000 |
| Austria | 6,500 | 10,000 | 15,000 | 18,000 |
+----------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+
| | 95,500 | 129,000 | 162,000 | 153,000 |
| Cane Sugar | 919,182 | 952,200 | 977,547 | 1,044,542 |
+----------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+
| Total | 1,014,682 | 1,081,200 | 1,139,547 | 1,197,542 |
+----------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+
The price of sugar has, however, fallen considerably, and like many
other things--corn, and cotton, and tea--has been lower for a long
period than ever was known before.
Average price per London Gazette.
Year ending July 5, British West India. Mauritius.
1842 37s. 0d. -----
1843 34s. 7d. 33s. 10d.
1844 34s. 9d. 34s. 7d.
1845 31s. 3d. 30s. 3d.
1846 35s. 3d. 34s. 2d.
1847 32s. 11d. 32s. 1d.
1848 24s. 3d. 23s. 3d.
1849 24s. 4d. 24s. 0d.
1850 25s. 3d. 28s. 8d.
1851 27s. 3d. 26s. 9d.
Half-year ending Jan. 5,
1852 27s. 3d. 26s. 9d.
Thus, it is equally clear that the fall in the price has been very
considerable since 1845, and that in 1849 and 1850 the price of sugar
was about 10s. per cwt., or nearly one-third less than in 1838. The
planters complain of the fall of price; and the only question in
dispute is whether the fall has been occasioned by the reduction of
the duties. Now the reduction of duties subsequent to 1846 and to
1851, was, on brown Muscovado sugar, from 13s. to 10s., or 3s.; and on
foreign, from 21s. 7d. to 16s. 4d., or 5s. 3d. At the same time there
was a very large increase of consumption, and the price, as of almost
all articles, would not have been reduced to the full extent of the
reduction of the duties, and certainly not reduced in a much greater
degree, had there not been other causes at work to reduce the price.
Between 1846 and 1851 freight from the Mauritius fell from £4 1s. 8d.
to £2 13s. 9d., or 35 per cent.; and that reduction of price was not
made from the planter. In the interval, too, great improvements were
made in the manufacture of sugar; and in proportion as the article was
produced cheaper, it could be sold cheaper, without any loss to him.
I shall now take a separate review of the capabilities and progress of
the leading sugar producing countries.
_Production in the United States_.--Sugar cultivation, in the United
States, is a subject of increasing interest. The demand is rapidly
advancing. Its production in the State of Louisiana, to which it is
there principally confined, is a source of much wealth. In 1840, the
number of slaves employed in sugar culture was 148,890, and the
product, 119,947 hhds. of 1,000 lbs. each; besides 600,000 gallons of
molasses. Last year, the crop exceeded 240,000 hhds., worth 12,000,000
of dollars. The capital now employed, is 75,000,000 of dollars. The
protection afforded by the American tariff, has greatly increased the
production of sugar in the United States. From 1816 to 1850, this
increase was from 15,000 hhds. to 250,000 hhds.
In 1843, the State of Louisiana had 700 plantations, 525 in
operation, producing about 90,000 hhds. In 1844, the number of
hogsheads was 191,324, and of pounds, 204,913,000; but this was
exclusive of the molasses, rated at 9,000,000 gallons. In 1845 there
were in Louisiana 2,077 sugar plantations, in 25 parishes; 1,240 sugar
houses, 630 steam power, 610 working horse power; and the yield of
sugar was 186,650 hhds., or 207,337,000 lbs.
The introduction of the sugar cane into Florida, Texas, California,
and Louisiana, probably dates back to their earliest settlement by the
Spaniards or French. It was not cultivated in the latter, however, as
a staple product before the year 1751, when it was introduced, with
several negroes, by the Jesuits, from St. Domingo. They commenced a
small plantation on the banks of the Mississippi, just above the old
city of New Orleans. The year following, others, cultivated the plant
and made some rude attempts at the manufacture of sugar. In 1758, M.
Dubreuil established a sugar estate on a large scale, and erected the
first sugar mill in Louisiana, in what is now the lower part of New
Orleans. His success was followed by other plantations, and in the
year 1765 there was sugar enough manufactured for home consumption;
and in 1770, sugar had become one of the staple products of the
colony. Soon after the revolution a large number of enterprising
adventurers emigrated from the United States to Lower Louisiana,
where, among other objects of industry, they engaged in the
cultivation of cane, and by the year 1803 there were no less than
eighty-one sugar estates on the Delta alone. Since that period, while
the production of cane sugar has been annually increasing at the
south, the manufacture of maple sugar has been extending in the north
and west.
Hitherto, the amount of sugar and molasses consumed in the United
States has exceeded the quantities produced--consequently there has
been no direct occasion for their exportation. In the year 1815 it was
estimated that the sugar made on the banks of the Mississippi amounted
to 10,000,000 lbs.
According to the census of 1840, the amount of cane and maple sugar
produced in the United States was 155,100,089 lbs., of which
119,947,720 lbs. were raised in Louisiana. By the census of 1850, the
cane sugar made in the United States was 247,581,000 lbs., besides
12,700,606 gallons of molasses; maple sugar, 34,249,886 lbs., showing
an increase, in ten years, of 126,730,077 lbs.
The culture and manufacture of sugar from the cane, with the exception
of a small quantity produced in Texas, centres in the State of
Louisiana--where the cane is now cultivated and worked into sugar in
twenty-four parishes. The extent of sugar lands available in those
parishes is sufficient to supply the whole consumption of the United
States. Sugar cultivation was carried on in Louisiana to a small
extent before its cession to the United States. In 1818 the crop had
reached 25,000 hogsheads. In 1834-35 it was 110,000 hogsheads, and in
1844-45 204,913 hogsheads. Each hogshead averaging 1,000 lbs. net,
and yielding from 45 to 50 gallons of molasses.
The number of sugar estates in operation in 1830, was 600. The manual
power employed on these plantations, was 36,091 slaves, 282
steam-engines, and 406 horse power. The capital invested being
estimated at 50 million dollars. In 1844 the estates had increased to
762, employing 50,670 slaves, 468 steam-engines, 354 horse power.
The sugar-cane is now cultivated on both branches of the Mississippi
from 57 miles below New Orleans to nearly 190 miles above. The whole
number of sugar houses in the State is 1,536, of which 865 employ
steam, and the rest horse power.
The crop of 1849-50 was 247,923 hhds. of 1,000 lbs., which, at an
average of 3½ cents., amounted to nearly 9½ million dollars. The
quantity of molasses produced was more than 12 million gallons, worth,
at 20 cents the gallon, about 2,400,000 dollars, giving a total value
of close upon 12 million dollars, or an average to each of the 1,455
working sugar houses of 8,148 dollars.
The overflow of the Mississippi and Red Rivers in 1850, shortened the
crop near 20,000 hhds., and was felt in subsequent years. Since 1846,
not less than 355 sugar mills and engines have been erected in this
State. The sugar crop of 1851-52 was 236,547 hhds., produced by 1,474
sugar houses, 914 of which were worked by steam, and the rest by
horse-power. Texas raises about 8,000 to 10,000 hhds. of sugar, and
Florida and Georgia smaller quantities.
In the year ending December, 1851, there were taken for consumption in
the United States about 132,832 tons of cane sugar, of which 120,599
were foreign imported. The quantity consumed in 1850 was 104,071 tons,
of which 65,089 was foreign.
_Production in Cuba_.--The average yearly production of sugar in Cuba
has been, in the five years from 1846 to 1850, 18,690,560 arrobas,
equal to 467,261,500 lbs., or 292,031 hhds. of 1,600 lbs. weight. The
crop of 1851 was estimated at twenty-one and a-half million arrobas,
equal to about 335,937 West India hhds. Thus, the increase from 1836
to 1841, has been as 29 per cent.; from 1841 to 1846, as 25 per cent.;
and from 1846 to 1851, as 45 per cent. A portion of sugar is also
smuggled out, to evade the export duty, and by some this is set down
as high as a fourth of the foregoing amounts.
In the three years ending 1841, the exports of the whole island were
2,227,624 boxes; in the three years ending 1844, 2,716,319 boxes; in
the three years ending with 1847, 2,805,530 boxes.
Between 1839 and 1847, the exports had risen from 500,000 to 1,000,000
boxes. The following table exhibits the quantity shipped from the
leading port of Havana, to different countries:--
Countries. Sugar boxes of about 400 lbs. each.
1850. 1851.
Spain 81,267 101,762
United States 146,672 199,204
England 25,697 46,615
Cowes and a market 221,385 270,010
The Baltic 45,085 81,866
Hamburgh and Bremen 29,271 33,165
Holland 23,242 26,828
Belgium 62,849 29,814
France 44,947 46,517
Trieste and Venice 38,627 14,832
Italy 2,856 5,243
Other places 13,888 16,601
------- -------
Boxes 743,249 872,457
Our West India possessions have, owing to the want of a good supply of
labor and available capital to introduce various scientific
improvements, somewhat retrograded in the production of sugar; which,
from the low price ruling the past year or two, has not been found a
remunerative staple.
The two large islands of Jamaica and Cuba, may be fairly compared as
to their production of sugar. From 1804 to 1808, Jamaica exported, on
the average, annually 135,331 hhds., and from 1844 to 1848, it had
decreased to 41,872 hhds. The exports from the single port of Havana,
which in the first named period were 165,690 boxes, rose during the
latter period to 635,185 boxes; so that the shipments of sugar from
Jamaica, which were in 1804 to 1808 double those of Havana--in the
period from 1844 to 1848, were five times less!
Cuba will be able to withstand the crisis of the low price of sugars,
better than the emancipated British Colonies, for the following
reasons:--
1. It will find, in its present prosperity, a power of resistance that
no longer exists in the British sugar-growing colonies.
2. Because it enjoys in the Spanish markets a protection for at least
16,955 tons of its sugar, or about eight-tenths of its total
exportation.
3. Because it has secured a very strong position in the markets of the
United States; and both from its proximity to, and its commercial
relations with that country, as also from the better quality of its
sugar, will command the sale of at least 33,500 tons, or about 16 per
cent. of its total production.
4. Because in 1854, after the duties shall have been equalized, it
will be enabled to undersell the British article in its own market.
5. Because, not being an exclusively sugar-growing colony, as are
almost all British West India Islands, it may suffer from the present
depressed condition of the sugar market, but cannot be entirely
ruined, owing to its having commanding resources, and many other
valuable staples,--coffee, copper, cotton, &c.
6. Because, by improving its agriculture and introducing useful
machinery, railroads, &c., for which it has large available capital,
it can produce sugar at a diminished cost.
7. And lastly, because the proprietors have _continuous_ labour at
command, until slavery be abolished--of which there seems no present
prospect. The slave population numbers about 350,000, and the free
coloured population, about 90,000.
The consumption of sugar, during 1847, very singularly tallied with
the production of the British Colonies that year--being exactly
289,000 tons; but as 50,000 tons of foreign sugar were consumed, an
accumulation of British plantation sugar necessarily remained on hand.
The production of the French colonies was 100,000 tons, of which
France received nine-tenths.
In 1836, Jamaica made 1,136,554 cwt. of sugar. In 1840, its produce
had fallen off to 545,600 cwt.; but in the same years, Porto Rico had
increased its sugar crop, from 498,000 cwt., to 1,000,000 cwt. In
1837, Cuba made 9,060,058 arrobas of sugar, equal to 132,765 hhds.; in
1841, it had increased to 139,000 hhds. The largest crop grown in the
West Indies, since 1838, was that of 1847, which amounted to 159,600
tons.
The annexed returns of the sugar crops of Barbados and Jamaica, for a
series of years may, be interesting:--
SUGAR CROPS OF THE ISLAND OF BARBADOS, FROM 1827 TO 1846 AND 1851.
1827 18,109 hhds.
1828 28,533 "
1829 23,486 "
1830 26,360 "
1831 28,174 "
1832 19,761 "
1833 28,099 "
1834 28,710 "
1835 25,371 "
1836 26,358 "
1837 31,670 "
1838 33,058 "
1839 28,213 "
1840 13,589 "
1841 17,801 "
1842 21,607 "
1843 24,587 "
1844 23,147 "
1845 24,767 "
1846 21,936 "
1851 48,000 "
SUGAR CROPS OF THE ISLAND OF JAMAICA, FROM 1790 TO 1851.
1790 91,131 "
1791 91,020 "
1792 ... "
1793 82,136 "
1794 97,124 "
1795 95,372 "
1796 96,460 "
1797 85,109 "
1798 95,858 "
1799 110,646 "
1800 105,584 "
1801 139,036 "
1802 140,113 "
1803 115,496 "
1804 112,163 "
1805 150,352 "
1806 146,601 "
1807 135,203 "
1808 132,333 "
1809 114,630 "
1810 112,208 "
1811 138,292 "
1812 113,173 "
1813 109,158 "
1814 104,558 "
1815 127,209 "
1816 100,382 "
1817 123,766 "
1818 121,758 "
1819 116,382 "
1820 122,922 "
1821 119,560 "
1822 94,515 "
1823 101,271 "
1824 106,009 "
1825 72,090 "
1826 106,712 "
1827 87,399 "
1828 101,575 "
1829 97,893 "
1830 100,205 "
1831 94,381 "
1832 98,686 "
1833 85,161 "
1834 84,756 "
1835 77,970 "
1836 67,094 "
1837 61,505 "
1838 69,613 "
1839 49,243 "
1840 33,066 "
1841 34,491 "
1842 50,295 "
1843 44,169 "
1844 34,444 "
1845 47,926 "
1851 41,678 "
The average of the five years ending 1851, being the first five of
Free trade, shows an annual export from Jamaica of 41,678 hhds.
The quantity of unrefined sugar imported from the British West Indies
and Guiana in a series of years since the emancipation, is shown by
the following abstract:--
Cwts. Cwts.
Sugar. Molasses.
1831 4,103,800 323,306
1832 3,773,456 553,663
1833 3,646,205 686,794
1834 3,843,976 650,366
1835 3,524,209 507,495
1836 3,601,791 526,535
1837 3,306,775 575,657
1838 3,520,676 638,007
1839 2,824,372 474,307
1840 2,214,764 424,141
1841 2,148,218 430,221
1842 2,508,725 471,759
1843 2,509,701 605,632
1844 2,451,063 579,458
1845 2,853,995 491,083
1846 2,147,347 477,623
1847 3,199,814 531,171
1848 2,794,987 385,484
1849 2,839,888 605,487
1850 2,586,429 470,187
_Mauritius_.--In the year 1813 the exports of sugar from this island
were but 549,465 lbs., and increasing gradually to 128,476,547 lbs. in
1849, or two-hundred fold in thirty-six years.
The equalisation of the duties in 1825, and the admission of Mauritius
sugars into England on the same footing as those from the West Indies,
had the effect of stimulating the sugar trade of Mauritius, and
advancing it to its present remarkable success. Notwithstanding its
immense crops, scarcely more than three-fifths of the island is yet
under cultivation; but it has the advantage of a cheap and abundant
supply of labor, and much improved machinery has been introduced. The
planters first commenced introducing Coolies in 1835, and were for
some time restricted to the single port of Calcutta for their supply.
The recent advices from Mauritius furnish some interesting information
regarding the progress making in the sugar production of that colony.
In reference to the cultivation of the cane, it is stated that by the
introduction of guano upon several estates in the interior, the
production has been very largely increased; but as the value and
economy of manure has not been hitherto sufficiently estimated, its
introduction has not been so general as could be desired. The
importance of free labor to the cultivation of the estates, has now
become fully appreciated by the planters; it being found that an equal
amount of work can be obtained by this means from a less number of
hands, and that at lower rates of wages than were current in previous
years, the average of which is shown in the following table:--
+--------+-----------------+------------------+--------------+
| | Number of | Aggregate | Average |
| Years. | Coolies | amount of wages |wages per head|
| | employed. | paid per week. | per week. |
+--------+-----------------+------------------+--------------+
| | | £ | s. d. |
| 1846 | 47,733 | 33,484 | 14 0 |
| 1847 | 48,314 | 35,338 | 14 9 |
| 1848 | 41,777 | 26,627 | 12 9 |
| 1849 | 45,384 | 27,625 | 12 2 |
| 1850 | 47,912 | 31,664 | 12 3 |
| 1851 | 42,275 | 27,832 | 12 2 |
+--------+-----------------+------------------+--------------+
In 1826, to make from 25 to 30,000,000 lbs. of sugar, it required
30,000 laborers (slaves); at the present time, with less than 45,000
(from which number fully 5,000 must be deducted as absent from work
from various causes), 135,000,000 lbs. are produced, or about five
times the quantity under slavery. The coolies are found to be an
intelligent race, who have become inured to the work required, and by
whose labor this small island can produce the fifth part of the
consumption of the United Kingdom, and that with only about 70,000
acres under cane cultivation. About 10,000 male immigrants, introduced
since 1843, are not now working under engagement, but are following
other occupations, and thus become permanent consumers. Some cultivate
land on a small scale, on their own account, but very few plant canes,
as it requires from eighteen to twenty months before they obtain any
return for their labor; but the most important fact established by
this and other official statements is, that only a small number of
immigrants leave the colony at the expiration of their industrial
residence. In the manufacture of sugar from the cane, considerable
improvement has been effected by the introduction of new methods of
boiling and grinding. The vacuum pan and the system of Wetsell are all
tending to economise the cost of production, and to save that loss
which for years amounted, in grinding alone, to nearly one-third of
the juice of the cane. The planters begin to find that they can
increase the value of their sugar 30 to 40 per cent. by these
improvements, and that their future prosperity depends upon carrying
them out. Unfortunately, however, here, as in many other of our
colonies, a very large number of planters do not yet appreciate the
advantages to be obtained by the adoption of improved machinery and
manufacture, or by improved cultivation, and still struggle on under
the old system of waste and negligence, which can only result in the
ruin and destruction of their property.
In 1827, the number of sugar estates in operation in Mauritius, were
49 worked by water power, 50 by cattle or horses, and 22 by
steam--total 111; in 1836, this number had increased to 186, viz.--64
moved by water power, 10 by horse, and 112 by steam. In 1839, the
number was 211, of which 138 were worked by steam power--70,292 acres
were then under cultivation with sugar. There are now about 490 sugar
estates, whereof only 231 have mills--42 are worked by water power,
the rest by steam.
The annual Mauritius crops, as exported, for the last ten years, have
been as follows. The shipments frequently extend beyond a year, hence
a discrepancy sometimes between the year's crop and the year's
export:--
Tons,
1842-43 24,400
1843-44 28,600
1844-45 37,600
1845-46 49,100
1846-47 64,100
1847-48 59,021
1848-49 50,782
1849-50 51,811
1850-51 55,000
1851-52 65,080
Besides its exports to Great Britain, Mauritius ships large
quantities of sugar to the Cape of Good Hope and Australia.
Its local consumption is moreover set down at about 2,500 tons.
The progressive increase in its exports is marked by the following
return of imports into Great Britain from the island:--
Cwt.
1826 93,723
1827 186,782
1828 204,344
1829 361,325
1830 297,958
1831 485,710
1832 517,553
1833 521,904
1834 516,077
1835 553,891
1836 558,237
1837 497,302
1838 537,455
1839 604,671
1840 690,294
1841 545,356
1842 716,009
1843 696,652
1844 545,415
1845 716,173
1846 845,197
1847 1,193,571
1848 886,184
1849 893,524
1850 1,003,296
1851 999,337
_East Indies_.--Sugar is a very old and extensive cultivation in
India. It would probably be within the mark, to estimate the annual
produce of the country at a million of tons. An official return shows
that the quantity of sugar carried on one road of the interior, for
provincial consumption, is about equal to the whole quantity shipped
from Calcutta--some 50,000 or 60,000 tons.
India is fast becoming a great sugar producing country, although its
produce and processes of manufacture are rude and imperfect. The
Coolies who return from time to time to the Indian ports, bring with
them much acquired knowledge and experience from the Mauritius.
In 1825, the import of sugar from the East Indies was but 146,000
cwt., and it fluctuated greatly in succeeding years, being
occasionally as low as 76,600 cwt. In 1837 the quantity imported was
just double what it was in 1827. In 1841, it had reached as high as
1,239,738 cwt., and subsequently kept steady for a few years at
1,100,000 cwt.--and for the last four years has averaged 1,400,000
cwt.
_Java_.--Attention has been withdrawn, in a great measure, from sugar
cultivation in Java, owing to coffee being found a more remunerative
staple. The following figures serve to show the extent of its exports
of sugar:--
Cwt.
1826 23,565
1827 38,357
1828 31,301
1829 91,227
1830 129,300
1831 144,077
1832 292,705
1833 151,128
1834 443,911
1835 523,162
1836 607,336
1837 820,063
1838 873,056
1839 999,895
1840 1,231,135
1841 1,252,041
1842 1,105,856
1843 1,162,211
1844 1,260,790
1845 1,812,500
1848 1,798,612
1850 1,797,874
1851 1,987,957
1852 2,090,845
In 1840, we imported from Java 75,533 cwt.; in 1841, 87,342 cwt.; in
1842, 24,922 cwt.; in 1843, 35,161 cwt.; and in 1844, about 72,000
cwt.; but most of this was only sent to Cowes, for orders, to be
transhipped to the Continent.
_Philippines_.--The exports from Manila into this country in 1841,
were 133,482 cwt.; in 1842, 63,464 cwt.; and in 1843, 48,977 cwt. In
the fifteen years between 1835 and 1850, the export of sugar from the
Philippine Islands more than doubled:--
Tons.
1835 11,542
1836 14,875
1837 12,293
1838 12,375
1839 15,631
1840 16,563
1841 15,321
1842 18,540
1843 22,239
1844 21,528
1845 24,500
1850 28,745
About a third of this is raw sugar, the rest is clayed or refined. It
is singular, that though these islands belong to Spain, the export of
this staple product to that country should be limited to about 600
tons; America taking about one-sixth, and England and her colonies the
remainder. There is now an increased demand for the Australian
colonies, consequent upon the large influx of population to that
quarter.
Export of sugar from Manila in 1850.
Piculs.
To Great Britain 146,926
" Continent of Europe 50,830
" Australian Colonies 142,359
" Singapore, Batavia, and Bombay 12,749
" California and the Pacific 29,144
" The United States 77,919
-------
459,927
The sugar cane occurs in a wild state on many of the islands of the
Pacific, but in no part of the American continent, notwithstanding a
contrary opinion has been expressed.
The following are the chief varieties cultivated in the West Indies,
Louisiana, the East Indies, and Mauritius:--
1. Common or creole cane, so called from being introduced from the New
World.
2. Yellow Bourbon.
3. Yellow Otaheite.
4. Otaheite with purple bands.
5. Purple Otaheite.
6. Ribbon cane.
My friend, Mr. L. Wray, in his "Practical Sugar Planter," considers
the Bourbon, and yellow, or straw-coloured Otaheite cane, as
identical, but merely altered by change of soil and climate. The yield
from these cane-plants seems to be about the same in either Indies,
viz., in good land about two-and-a-half tons of dry sugar per
acre--sometimes three tons.
A very large species of red cane, grown at Gowhatty, in Assam, is
made favorable mention of for its strength of growth, early maturity,
and juiciness; and Mr. Wray strongly recommends the introduction into
the West Indies of another fine variety, generally grown in the
Straits' settlements, where it is known by the name of the Salangore
cane. He considers they would ratoon better than any other cane, and
the return from it is on the average 3,600 lbs. of dry sugar to the
acre.
"For my own part, I have always reckoned as an average, 3,600 lbs.
of dry sugar to the acre as the return this cane will give, on
anything like good land, in the Straits, according to the present
imperfect mode of expressing and manufacture; but, considering the
surpassing richness of land in the West India Islands, Demerara, and
Mauritius, I should not be in any way surprised to find that it
would there give even three tons an acre.
The Salangore cane grows firm and strong; stands upright much better
than the Otaheite; gives juice most abundantly, which is sweet and
easy of clarification, boils well, and produces a very fine, fair
sugar, of a bold and sparkling grain."
Much discussion has arisen on the subject of raising the sugar cane
from seed, and the possibility has been universally denied among the
planters and agricultural societies of the West India colonies. Mr.
Pritchard, a sugar planter of Louisiana, in the "United States Patent
Report for 1850," however, states:--
"It is an error to suppose that the cane cannot be propagated from
the seed. This may be the case when the seed is obtained from plants
that have been produced for a number of years from buds, or eyes.
All plants that have been produced in this way for a series of
years, lose the faculty of forming prolific seeds; and the sugar
cane is governed by the same laws which govern the whole vegetable
kingdom. It cannot, therefore, be expected to produce seeds after it
has been cultivated for a great length of time."
The sugar cane is composed of water, woody fibre, and soluble matter,
or sugar. In round numbers it may be stated that the proportions are
72 per cent. of water, 10 per cent. of woody fibre, and 18 per cent.
of sugar.
The fluid contents of a cane, according to Dr. Evans, contain 90 per
cent. of the entire structure of the stem.
1,000 grains of sugar cane, being burnt, gave 7½ grains of ash, which,
on analysis, furnished the following components:--
Silica 1.78
Phosphate of lime 3.41
Red oxide of iron and clay .17
Carbonate of potash 1.46
Sulphate of potash .15
Carbonate of magnesia .43
Sulphate of lime 6
----
7.46
The following is the quantative analysis of a portion of soil taken
from the surface of a cane field, on the Diamond estate, in St.
Vincent, West Indies: --
Alumina soluble in acids 12.87
Organic matter 11.26
Gypsum .23
Carbonate of lime 12.52
---- of magnesia .71
Oxide of iron 8.51
Oxide of manganese .33
Insoluble silicious and aluminous matter 53.57
------
100.00
The sugar of the cane and grape sugar are distinguished by the
following difference in their elements, as proved by analysis:--
Cane sugar. Grape sugar.
Carbon 12 12
Hydrogen 10 12
Oxygen 10 12
Water 1 2
There is a remarkable difference, however, between their fermentable
properties. When a solution is made of the same quantities of these
two sugars, in equal proportions of distilled water, it will be
necessary to add eight times as much of the same ferment to induce
alcoholic fermentation in the solution of cane sugar, as in that of
grape sugar. Under the action of a larger quantity of ferment, cane
sugar is transformed into grape sugar.
If you cut a sugar cane in two, and examine the interior part of it
with a magnifying glass, you perceive the crystals of sugar as
distinct and as white as those of double-refined sugar. The object of
the operator should be then either to extract those crystals without
altering their color, or, if that be found impracticable, to separate
them from the impurities mixed with them, while the juice is in its
natural state, and yet contains but little coloring matter. Instead of
this, the juice is limed while all the impurities are in it. In
separating the feculencies from the juice and uniting them in large
flakes, lime dissolves a portion of them and forms with them coloring
matter, which we all know at once discolors the juice, when lime is
used in excess. Afterwards heat is applied, either in clarifiers or in
the grand copper, but most of the impurities found in the juice will
decompose, and burn at a degree of heat far below the boiling point,
say at 120 deg. of Fahrenheit. This is shown by the thick scales
continually forming in the grande. From that degree of heat the
decomposition goes on in the clarifier till the juice is drawn, and
continues in the grande so long as there are feculencies left. This
decomposition greatly increases the quantity of coloring matter, so
that, as the juice is being clarified, it loses in color what it gains
in purity. And here let me show the relative value of the "grande" and
of clarifiers as agents of clarification. In the grande, if it is well
attended to, the scummings are taken up as soon as they rise. A
portion of them is removed before they begin to decompose, and the
process goes on, so that before the juice reaches the boiling point
nearly all the feculencies are removed, and the source of coloring
matter is removed with them. Clarifiers reach the boiling point much
quicker, and cannot easily be scummed. The general practice is to
bring them to that point without scumming, to let the feculencies
separate from the juice by cooling and by rest, and to wash out the
clarifiers every second or third time they are filled. Heat and
alkalies acting in them upon the accumulated feculencies of one, two,
or three charges, dissolve a much larger portion of those feculencies
than they can possibly do in the grande. The formation of coloring
matter continues during the time of rest, and accordingly planters,
after repeated trials, generally agree that juice well clarified in
the grande, has a lighter and brighter color, and makes better sugar
than that obtained from clarifiers.
The first object of research should be to find means of clarifying the
juice without creating coloring matter. It is said that presses
something like those used to press cotton, have lately been
successfully employed in the West Indies, instead of rollers; that the
juice obtained is much purer, and that a much larger quantity of it is
extracted from the cane. If so, this will be a great improvement, and
the first step of the process I should recommend. From juice thus
obtained, I have no doubt that all impurities less soluble than itself
may be separated by mechanical means before heat and alkalies are
applied, or at least with a very small quantity of alkalies. All other
liquids, all fatty substances and oils, except cotton seed oil, are
clarified by a very rapid process. Cane juice can no doubt be
clarified by similar means, and if this were accomplished the process
of sugar making would be very much simplified.
The clarified juice might then be placed in an evaporator, heated by
the waste steam of the engine; then be limed and scummed if necessary,
and concentrated to fifteen or sixteen of the prese sirop; then
purified by filtration through animal charcoal, if white sugar was
wanted, or by rest for other qualities; and finally concentrated in
vacuum pans of great power, such pans as Mr. Thomas A. Morgan, of
Louisiana, now uses, and which, I am informed, are only made in
America.
The superiority of the vacuum pan is not universally admitted, and we
are told that in France it is superseded by open pans, similar to
those called in America "Mape's Evaporators." However this may be, I
cannot help believing that the vacuum pan has many decided advantages
over all others. One is manifest; the sugar may be grained in the pan,
and the granulation is completely under the control of the operator.
He may accelerate or retard it at pleasure; he may carry it so far
that sugar will not run from the pan, and will have to be taken out of
it; he may so conduct the operation as to increase, almost at will,
the size and hardness of the crystals. This last is an indispensable
requisite if the practice of draining sugar in pneumatic pans should
be adopted.
The atmospheric pressure is made too powerful for sugars boiled in any
other manner; it breaks and destroys the crystals, and in a very few
days sets the sugar to fermenting.
The pneumatic draining of sugar has many things to recommend it--the
usual loss by drainage is avoided, sugar is got ready for market day
by day, as it is made, and it may be bleached by pouring white syrup
over it and forcing it through the mass. It is said that the process
is attended with considerable loss in weight, but as all that drains
from the pan may be boiled over once or twice, it is not easy to
conceive how the loss can occur.
Cane juice contains many ingredients besides sugar, the principal of
which are albumen, gluten, gum, starch, resin, wax, coloring matter,
and certain salts, all of which, either collectively or individually,
have the power of preventing granulation, as may be proved by their
addition to a syrup of pure sugar, which will then defy all attempts
to make it crystallise. If, therefore, we want to make good sugar, we
must endeavour to free our cane juice as much as possible from those
substances.
Now, cane juice is no more the sap of the cane, than apple juice is
that of the apple tree; it is the natural product of the cane, and, in
all probability, would contain but a small proportion of these foreign
matters if it could be expressed without being accompanied by the sap,
they being the natural constituents of the last-named fluid. A patent
has, I believe, been lately taken out for separating the cane juice
without the sap. However, in the absence of such an improvement, much
may be done by care and attention at the mill; the green bands and
trash which usually accompany the canes from the field, should,
therefore, be carefully removed before they are passed through, as
they contain no saccharine matter, abound in the deleterious
substances already mentioned, and communicate a bad color to the
juice; therefore, _the ripe cane only should pass through the mill_.
There are but few planters who have not had to contend with sour
juice, and they attribute the difficulty they experience in making
sugar therefrom, to the presence of acetic acid, or vinegar; but this
is quite an erroneous idea, as the acetic acid is very volatile, and
evaporates quickly on the application of heat, which may be proved by
throwing a gallon of strong vinegar into a pan of liquor; it will do
no harm, provided it be boiled before tempering; on the contrary, the
effect, if it be properly done, will be beneficial, as it will promote
the coagulation of the albumen; it is the gum which is always formed
during the acetous fermentation of sugar that prevents granulation;
hence, then, acidity is strictly to be guarded against, as
fermentation once commenced, it will be impossible to make good sugar,
it will continue throughout the process, and even in the hogshead; so
that canes should be ground as soon as possible after they are cut,
and all rat-eaten and broken ones carefully excluded. Canes may,
however, be kept some days without fermenting, provided they be not
broken or damaged, it being, as we said before, the mixture of the sap
and the cane juice that makes the liquid so prone to fermentation; and
the mill, gutters, and everything with which the juice is likely to
come in contact, should be kept carefully clean, and whitewashed
immediately after, and the whitewash removed before use, as acetate of
lime being an exceedingly soluble and deliquescent salt, will not
improve the quality of the sugar; whilst the gutter should be short,
and sheltered from the sun's rays, they having the effect of greatly
expediting chemical action.
I shall say no more on this subject, but will proceed to consider the
mode of tempering and clarifying cane juice, and the action of lime on
the various substances contained therein. The expression "tempering"
has, I presume, been, adopted in consequence of the use of tempered
lime for the purpose of precipitating the feculencies, held in
solution in the cane juice, into a state of suspension; and
clarification is the process by which we afterwards clear the liquor
of these and other foreign matter. Now, as I before observed,
"fermentation should be most strictly guarded against;" our first
efforts should be directed to free the cane juice from those
substances most conducive to that process; and on inquiry we find
these to be albumen and gluten; so far, however, from getting rid of
them in cold tempering, we adopt a course which retains them
permanently in solution, as lime has the power of rendering them
permanently soluble, and of forming soapy compounds with resin, wax,
and chlorophyle, or the green coloring matter of leaves, forming an
insoluble compound with and precipitating only the starch, and
converting at the same time the green color of the chlorophyle (which
is, in all probability, attached to the resin), into a dark brown, of
a greater or less intensity, according to the composition of the cane
juice, and, consequently, the quantity of lime required; it follows,
therefore, as a matter of course, that if juice be tempered before
these substances have been removed, they must be permanently retained,
and they have all the power of preventing granulation.
Albumen, and gluten are both coagulable by heat; if, therefore, we
raise the liquor to the boiling point prior to applying the lime,
taking care to remove the scum as soon as it shows signs of breaking,
and continuing the boiling until the scum thrown to the surface
becomes inconsiderable, we shall find that the albumen and gluten, in
coagulating and rising, have carried with them the small particles of
woody fibre, the wax, and a large proportion of the coloring matter,
and that the lime will now throw down the starch, and any other little
impurities remaining in suspension in the liquor, leaving it perfectly
clear and bright. Tempering is an exceedingly delicate chemical
operation, and I have no hesitation in saying, that on its proper
performance depends the quality of the produce. The following simple
experiments, which all have it in their power to try, will, if they
give themselves the trouble, fully satisfy them of two important
points--the superiority of the hot over the cold mode, and the
necessity for great attention to the operation of tempering. Let them
take a tumbler of cane-juice and a bottle containing lime water, add
the latter to the former by drops, pausing and stirring between each,
and they will find that, after the addition of a certain quantity, the
opaque gummy appearance of the liquor undergoes a change, and the
impurities contained in it separate into flakes, which increase in
size with each drop of lime added, until they become extinct, and the
supernatant liquor perfectly transparent; this is the precise point at
which the liquor is tempered, and each drop of lime added after this,
causes the flakes to diminish rapidly in size, at last entirely to
disappear (being re-dissolved), and the liquor to resume its former
gummy appearance; it is, therefore, evident that there should be no
such expressions as tempering high or low.
The reason why some liquor is so difficult to clean is, that it is
either tempered high or low; if it be exactly tempered, the impurities
contained in it being entirely separated and thrown out of solution,
rise to the surface immediately on the application of heat, and are
easily removed; but if there be too little lime, a great portion
remains in solution, and if too much, a proportional quantity is
re-dissolved; and in either case cannot be removed by any mechanical
means. It is, therefore, necessary to have some precise test for the
application of lime.
As regards the superiority of the hot over the cold tempering, let any
one take, in separate vessels, two gallons of cane-juice, and temper
one, adding the lime in small quantities--say, of three grains at a
time--and keeping an account of the quantity used; he will find that
the first portions produce no effect whatever, and that it is only
after the addition of a considerable quantity that the desired
precipitation of the impurities manifest itself. Why is this? Because
albumen, gluten, resin, and chlorophyle, being soluble in lime, lime
is equally so in them, and they must first be saturated before it will
produce any other effect. Let the liquor thus tempered, be then placed
on one side. Put the other gallon over a fire, and boil it, removing
the scum just before, and during, ebullition; let it then be taken off
the fire, and tempered in the same way as the other. The very first
quantity of lime added causes the appearance of the floccy
precipitate; and if the addition of the lime be continued until it be
precisely tempered, it will be found that the hot possesses the
following advantages over the cold-tempered liquor:--In a quarter of
an hour its impurities will have subsided to a sixteenth of its bulk,
leaving the supernatant liquor as bright and clear as pale brandy;
while those in the other have only sunk to one-quarter of its bulk.
The color of the former clear liquor will not be less than one-half
the intensity of that of the latter. The lime used in the hot has been
less by one-third than the quantity used in the cold tempering.
Of course, on level estates there is little difficulty in tempering
liquor, but on hilly properties scarcely two pans will require the
same quantity.
It is generally believed that the object of adding lime to cane-juice
is for the purpose of neutralising an acid, and it is to the reception
of this fallacious idea that it is indebted for its long and continued
use, and the present backward state of sugar manufacture is
attributable: I unhesitatingly assert that, if there be an acid
present in the cane-juice, the addition of lime to it will be
injurious instead of beneficial. There are only four acids that we
could expect to find in cane juice--mucous, saccholactic or saclactic,
oxalic, and acetic acids. The three first named of these, however,
have never been traced, even in the most minute quantities; and if the
latter be present, which, unfortunately, is but too often the case,
the addition of lime would only result in the formation of acetate of
lime, which is, as I have already observed, an exceedingly difficult
crystallisable, very soluble, and deliquescent salt. It has a bitter,
saline taste; 100 parts consist of 64.5 acid, 35.5 lime, and it is
easily recognisable by its taste in the molasses made from sour
cane-juice: so that, supposing the cane-juice sour, every pint of acid
present would require nearly half a pound of lime for its
neutralisation, independent of the quantity required for the tempering
or precipitation of the feculencies contained in it, and would result
in the formation of one-and-a-half pound of the above mentioned highly
deleterious salt.
Suppose we boil the cane-juice prior to tempering it, we then drive
off a great portion of acetic acid, much less lime will be required,
and if we could, by filtration or subsidence, get rid of the
precipitated feculencies, we should make a tolerably good sugar; but
as, under the present plan, we have no means of so doing, the acetic
acid, which is forming during the whole process of evaporation (as
fermentation still goes on), unites with the lime before it can be
dissipated by the heat, and thus not only forms acetate of lime, but
causes the re-solution of the precipitated feculencies, thus rendering
it necessary to add a fresh portion of lime in the tache, a proceeding
always to be avoided, if possible, but generally necessary in boiling
down sour liquor. Take a small portion of cane-juice (hot or cold) in
a tumbler, and temper it with lime until the feculencies are
precipitated and the flakes perfectly visible, then add vinegar by
drops, and it will be found that the flakes will speedily disappear
and be re-dissolved, showing that lime has a greater affinity for
acetic acid than starch, and that, although when added to sour
cane-juice, it neutralises the acidity, still that result is a
consequence, not the cause, of the application, and is highly
injurious. Lime is one of the greatest known solvents of vegetable
matter; it dissolves albumen, gluten, gum and lignin, or woody fibre,
forming soapy compounds with wax, resin, and, chlorophyle. Ordinary
cane-juice contains about three parts of resin to every 100 of sugar,
and the projection of a small piece of soap into a tache full of
granulating syrup will soon convince any one of the effect likely to
result from the presence of that material. Although, by tempering hot,
we get rid of a very great quantity of the substances on which lime
acts injuriously, a considerable portion of them remain in suspension,
the quantity of albumen contained in the cane-juice not being
sufficient to carry them all off by coagulation; on the addition of
the lime, however, they are entirely dissolved and as the impurities
left behind consist chiefly of gluten, the liability of the liquor to
ferment is greatly increased by its retention, that being the
fermenting principle contained in wheat and other vegetable
productions prone to that process.
One hundred parts of Albumen consist of Carbon, 52.88; Oxygen, 23.88;
Hydrogen, 7-54; Nitrogen, 15.70. Gluten, nearly same as Albumen.
-------------+-------+-------+-------+---------+-------++------+--------
100 parts | | | | | ||Excess! Excess
consist of |Carbon.|Oxygen.|Hydro- | Carbon. | Water.|| of | of
| | | gen. | | ||Oxygen|Hydrogen
-------------+-------+-------+-------+---------+-------++------+--------
Lignin, or | | | | | || |
Woody Fibre| 51.45 | 42.73 | 5.82 | or51.45 | 48.55 || |
Starch | 43.55 | 49.63 | 6.77 | 43.55 | 56.45 || |
Sugar | 42.47 | 50.63 | 6.90 | 42.47 | 57.53 || |
Gum | 42.23 | 50.84 | 6.93 | 42.23 | 57.77 || |
Alcohol | 51.98 | 34.32 | 13.70 | 51.98 | 38.99 || | 9.03
Acetic Acid | 50.22 | 44.15 | 5.63 | 50.22 | 46.91 || 2.87 |
Resin | 75.94 | 13.34 | 10.72 | 75.94 | 15.16 || | 8.90
Wax | 81.79 | 5.54 | 12.76 | 81.79 | 6.30 || | 11.01
-------------+-------+-------+-------+---------+-------++------+--------
By a reference to the foregoing table it will be easily understood how
slight a change in the proportion of the ingredients of any one of the
substances contained therein will convert it into an entirely
different one. In chemistry we are able, to a certain extent, to
imitate the operations of nature; but we must follow in the same
course laid down by her; thus, we can convert woody fibre, or sawdust
and starch, into sugar, gum, alcohol, and acetic acid; but we cannot
convert alcohol, acetic acid, or gum into sugar, starch or woody
fibre; and of such importance is a slight alteration of the
proportions of these elements--carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen--that the
abstraction of carbon from sugar, and the addition of a portion of the
prime support of life, vegetation and combustion, oxygen, changes the
harmless sugar into the most violent of poisons, oxalic acid, which
consists of 26.57 carbon, 70.69 oxygen, and 2.74 hydrogen.
Let us now examine the action of lime on sugar, and we shall find it
equally, if not more, injurious than on the other substances. Sugar is
capable of dissolving half its weight of lime, by which its sweet
taste is destroyed, and it becomes converted into gum; the lime
abstracting carbonic acid from it to form a carbonate of lime or
chalk. It will be seen by the above table that--
100 parts of sugar contain 42.47 carbon.
100 parts of gum contain 42.23 ditto.
-----
Difference 24
So that, if we extract 24-100ths of a grain of carbon from 100 grains
of sugar, we convert them into gum. Let us suppose that about two
ounces of lime, or say 1,000 grains, remain in solution in a pan, (say
200 gallons of liquor,) those 1,000 grains of lime will require 761 of
carbonic acid to convert them into carbonate of lime or chalk, 100
grains of which consist of 56.2 lime and 43.8 carbonic acid. So that
1,761 grains of chalk consist of 1,000 lime and 761 carbonic acid. Now
100 grains of carbonic add consist of 27.53 carbon and 72.47 oxygen;
therefore 761 grains will consist of 209.50 carbon and 551.53 oxygen.
Consequently, 1,000 grains of lime will require 209.50 grains of
carbon to convert them into carbonate of lime; and as we have seen
that the abstraction of 24 from 100 grains of sugar convert them into
gum, it follows, that the abstraction of 209.50 grains would have a
similar effect on 87,000 grains, or about 15 lbs. of sugar, which,
being converted into gum, would prevent the crystallisation of several
times its weight of sugar; and this is the cause of the formation of
molasses. The loss of sugar is not the only bad consequence of the use
of lime, as the greater the quantity of gum in the liquor, the more it
must be boiled--the more it is boiled the darker it gets--and the
higher the temperature at which the skip is struck, the smaller the
grain. The following is a good proof that lime dissolves albumen, and
becomes converted into chalk:--Take a spoonful of syrup out of the
tache of any estate on which the liquor is tempered cold; it will be
found filled with small flakes; these are albumen set free from its
solution in the lime by the conversion of the latter into carbonate of
lime, and coagulated by heat. It is perfectly possible to temper
liquor, so that scarcely any uncrystallisable sugar will remain; but
planters do not like this; they must have molasses for the
still-house; they could, however, boil low, by which the grain and
color would be improved, and plenty of uncrystallised, although not
uncrystallisable, syrup would be left to take the place of molasses.
I think I have now fully proved the following facts, viz.:--That the
use of lime in sugar-making is not to neutralise an acid; that if
acidity be present, the application of lime is injurious; that its
action on gluten, albumen, wax, resin, and chlorophyle is equally so;
that by decomposing the sugar and forming gum, the quantity of
molasses or uncrystallisable sugar is much increased, whereby high
boiling is rendered necessary, with its consequent heightening of
color and injury to the grain of the produce, and that therefore it is
perfectly unfit for the purpose of tempering cane-juice.
Messrs. Thomas Begg and Co., of London, have procured from E.F.
Telchemacher and J. Denham Smith, an analysis of one gallon of
ordinary plantain juice, and one gallon of Ramos' prepared plantain
juice "for the purpose of ascertaining whether any substance can be
used which, in conjunction with water, will answer as a substitute for
the plantain juice in the receipt which accompanied the samples." The
chemists say they find that one gallon of ordinary plantain juice
holds in solution;--
Extract similar to tannin 25.60 grains
Vegetable extract and fatty matter 57.70 "
Carbonate of potash 150.40 "
Muriate of potash 33.60 "
Muriate of soda 2.00 "
Silica 1.20 "
-------------
Contents of one imperial gallon 270.50 grains
--whilst one gallon of "Ramos' prepared plantain juice" contains,
besides vegetable extract, 226 grains of solid matter, consisting of
sulphuret and potash, in the following proportions:--
Sulphur 40 grains
Lime 156 "
Potash 30 "
----------
226 grains
They do not think it likely that the potash exists in fresh plantain
juice as carbonate, but rather that this salt is the product of
decomposition, arising from a compound of potash and a vegetable acid,
such as tartaric or oxalic acid present in the fresh juice; be this as
it may, any utility derivable from the plantain juice is evidently
owing to the potash it contains.
They then give as a substitute for Ramos' liquid, and to be used in a
similar way, the following--
Take of subcarbonate of potash 2 ounces, avoirdupois; sulphur, 2¼
ounces; best British lime slaked, 1½ lb.; mix them into a paste in an
earthen pan or wooden tub, with one quart of water (warm) and when
thoroughly mixed, pour in ten gallons of boiling water--rain water is
the best to use--and stir from time to time until it has cooled, when
it may be drawn off from the sediment and kept for use. If rain water
cannot be obtained, the purest water obtainable may be used.
One of the causes most fatal to West Indian prosperity, is that
exuberance of advantages which they enjoy from serenity of climate and
fertility of soil--causes which, in the absence of proper stimulus to
industry and improvement, have led to an improvident system of
cultivation, and to a blind and ignorant adherence to wasteful methods
of manufacture.
The cane is believed to contain from 90 to 95 per cent. of its own
weight of saccharine juice; and yet (as Mr. Fownes, a Professor of
Practical Chemistry in University College, London, informs us, in an
excellent paper "On the Manufacture of Sugar in Barbados,"[17] from
which much of what follows has been borrowed) owing to the defective
construction of the mills, hardly so much as 50 per cent. is obtained,
although he believes it practicable, by an improvement in the mills,
to obtain from 70 to 75 per cent.; and of the remaining 10 or 15 per
cent. which he regards it as impossible to extract, much, if not the
whole, might, I conceive, be obtained, by macerating the pressed canes
or megass, as it issues from the mill, and repassing it through the
rollers; and, be it remembered, that from 40 to 45 per cent. of
saccharine juice is nearly, if not altogether, equivalent to a similar
per centage of sugar; so that by these initiatory improvements alone,
and with little additional trouble, the produce of sugar might be
nearly doubled from any given quantity of canes.
From the action of lime-water when added in a slight excess to the
cane juice or raw liquor, as it is vernacularly termed, immediately on
issuing from the mill, as well as from the effect produced by ammonia
or potash, this liquid appears to contain a considerable quantity of
cane sugar, mixed with much glucose, or that saccharine matter which
is found in fruits; gum or dextrine, phosphates, and probably malates
of lime and magnesia, with sulphates and chlorides, potash and soda,
and a peculiar azotised matter, allied to albumen, which forms an
insoluble compound with lime, is not coagulable by heat or acids, and
runs readily into putrefactive fermentation.
To free it from these constituents, and enable it to yield pure and
crystallisable sugar, the liquor, on entering the boiling-house, is
received into the first of three clarifiers, of the capacity of from
three hundred to a thousand gallons each. Here it is subjected to the
action of lime-water, which checks the tendency to fermentation, and
neutralises any free acid which it may contain. "The common defection
process," says Mr. Fownes, "in careful hands, seems susceptible of
little improvement. Many other substances than lime have been proposed
and tried with more or less success, some of which, in particular
states of the cane juice, may prove very useful; but, for general
purposes, nothing seems to answer so well as neutralisation by lime,
either in the form of lime-water or milk of lime, added until the
slightest possible tendency to alkalinity, as ascertained by delicate
reddened litmus paper, is perceived. The juice should be somewhat
heated before the lime is added, and afterwards raised quite to the
boiling point. The fire is then to be withdrawn, and the whole allowed
to rest a short time." Such is Mr. Fownes' description of the process
of clarification; to which I will venture to add, upon the authority
of those who have experienced its good effects, the joint use of the
mucilage of the _Guazuma ulmifolia_, or gun-stock tree, as it is
popularly termed in Nevis from the use to which its timber has been
applied. This is the bastard cedar of Jamaica, or Orme d'Amerique, and
Bois d'Orme of the French, which may be found described by Lunan, in
the first volume of his "Hortus Jamaicensis," page 59, under the name
of _Bubroma Guazuma_.
This tree presents in the interval between its outer bark of sap-wood,
a mass of fibrous matter about half an inch in thickness, richly
impregnated with mucilage, which is obtained by macerating the fibrous
mass, conveniently divided into small shreds, for about twelve hours,
in warm water, in the proportion of about two handsful to eight
gallons of water. Of this solution, which is of a light, straw color,
and somewhat thickened, one gallon is to be added for every hundred
gallons of cane juice, after the clarifier has been charged with the
proper quantity of lime-water, and has become lukewarm. The mixture
should then be stirred, and afterwards allowed to settle till the scum
has risen to the surface. The fire must next be cautiously and
gradually raised to the point of boiling, when it must again be
slackened, and the whole left to stand for about forty minutes, by
which time the mass of feculencies will have risen to the surface,
when the clear liquor underneath may either be drawn off by a siphon
or cock; the whole may be filtered as Mr. Fownes recommends, by which
means the liquor would be more effectually clarified, and much, if not
all, the subsequent labour of skimming dispensed with. The matter
remaining on the filter may be employed, either as a ferment in the
still-house, or added to the manure heap. Much of the beneficial
effect of the mucilage of the _guazuma_ arises probably from an
admixture of tannin, or some other astringent; for I have often been
struck with the peculiar whiteness of the potted sugar in the
curing-house, in the immediate vicinity of the Banana stalks,
resulting, no doubt, from their powerful astringency; and tannin has
already been found useful in the manufacture of sugar from beet-root
in France, and is no doubt equally applicable to cane-sugar.
The liquor, when clarified in the manner described, must be
concentrated, by regulated evaporation, to the degree requisite for
crystallisation. This Mr. Fownes advises to be done by steam of a
moderate pressure circulating in a spiral of copper-pipe laid at the
bottom of the evaporating vessels, which should be large and shallow,
and wholly unlike those in present use. Here it may be rapidly boiled
down till the heat rises to about 225 deg., without risk of burning.
When cold, it should have a density of about 1.38, and mark the 38th
degree of Baume's hydrometer; beyond which point of inspissation it
would be dangerous to go. The remaining concentration will be most
safely conducted in the vacuum pan, where a scarcity of water does
not, as in Barbados, militate against its use.
Mr. Fownes exposes the absurdity of using shallow coolers, exposing a
large surface, and producing a rapid evaporation, for the process of
crystallisation. By the use of the shallow coolers formerly, and, I
believe, yet to be found on most estates, from the rapidity of the
evaporation, the sugar is obtained in a mass of confused and
imperfectly-formed crystals, entangling in their interstices a
considerable quantity of molasses, which impairs the color of the
product, and escaping slowly, and with difficulty, is, to a
considerable extent, lost on the homeward voyage by drainage into the
hold, occasioning much positive loss to the owner, and giving the
bilge-water a most offensive odor. He therefore recommends the use of
deep vessels, and avoidance of all agitation in this part of the
process, so as to enable the crystallisable portion of the syrup to
effect a more complete separation from the uncrystallisable portion or
the molasses. By this simple method, not only sugar of a finer and
whiter quality would be obtained, but a large per centage of loss both
of crystallisable and uncrystallisable sugar at present caused by the
leakage of the hogshead into the hold, would be prevented, not only to
the great advantage of the planter, but to the great comfort of the
captain, passengers, and crew of the vessel freighted with it.
It is not improbable that, by re-boiling the molasses in the
vacuum-pan, and employing tannin in the manner adopted in the process
for making sugar from beet-root, from one to five per cent. of
crystallisable sugar could be recovered from it, and this per centage
might possibly even be found to admit of increase by the further
treatment with lime-water and the gun-stock tree s already suggested,
for the first clarification of the liquor received from the mill. With
this view, Mr. Fownes recommends the substitution of puncheons, or
casks, for the molasses cisterns ordinarily employed in the
curing-house, to receive the molasses as it drains from the new sugar,
and thus retaining it until after the busy period of crop time has
closed.
Should sugar of a whiter quality than the ordinary muscovado of
commerce be desired, this advantage may be readily obtained, as Mr.
Fownes judiciously observes, by filtering the thin syrup, ready for
the vacuum-pan, through a bed of fine charcoal, as is done by the
sugar refiners, and afterwards washing the crystals of sugar with
white syrup, when the molasses has thoroughly drained from them. By
this process, which, however, is attended with some increase of
expense, and may not, in consequence, be always advisable, muscovado
sugar may be obtained, of a quality hardly inferior to that of refined
sugar. Mr. Fownes thus sums up the principal points to which he is
desirous of calling the attention of the intelligent and enterprising
planter.
1. "To obtain, by the use of a properly-constructed mill, the greatest
possible amount of juice from the cane."
By this, according to Mr. Fownes, a gain of from 20 to 30 per cent.,
equivalent to as much marketable sugar, may be obtained without any
additional expense; but as, from Mr. Fownes' own showing, there is a
residuum of 10 to 15 per cent of liquor obstinately retained by the
megass, or cane trash, after the most powerful pressure to which it
can be subjected; much, if not all, even of this loss might be
prevented by subjecting the megass, on issuing from between the
rollers, to the action of water for a brief time, passing it once more
through the mill, and adding the saccharine solution so obtained, or
that obtained directly from the cane on its first crushing. The water
thus employed would serve for many successive portions of megass,
until at length it became so richly loaded with saccharine matter as
to be worth attention in the boiling-house; or, at all events, it
would be serviceable for the cattle, who would fatten rapidly upon it.
By this additional process a further gain of at least five per cent.
might be expected, raising the total gain from improvements in this
_first_ stage of the process, to from 25 to 35 per cent.
2. "To clarify and filter this juice with expedition, and to evaporate
it rapidly, either over the open fire or by steam heat, as far as it
can be done with safety."
By the use of steam, not only is a vast economy of fuel effected, but
the temperature is maintained at a uniform and sufficient standard,
and the liquor effectually guarded against the risks of carelessness
or ignorance. Coal may be obtained on far cheaper terms, in exchange
for produce, from the United States or from Cape Breton, than from
England; and as colliers from those quarters would find it their
interest to bring cargoes at their own risk, and take return cargoes
of sugar, rum, or molasses, at the market price, the planter will be
doubly a gainer by the system, obtaining his fuel at a reduced rate,
and having his trash and megass left free as manure for the use of his
cane fields.
3. "To complete the concentration in a vacuum pan, or by other means,
at a moderate temperature, not hurtful to the sugar, and facilitate
the natural process of crystallisation, so as to obtain sugar of a
large and distinct grain."
4. "To drain and dry the sugar perfectly, and to save all the
molasses."
The advantages to be anticipated from these improvements, superadded
to an improvement in cultivation, cannot be estimated at less, upon a
moderate calculation, than from 150 to 200 per cent. of increase in
the production of sugar, with hardly an appreciable increase of labor
or expense; for we have, in the first place, a gain by improved
culture of, at least, two hogsheads an acre in sugar, equivalent to
100 per cent.; in the next, by employing improved mills and extracting
the residuum, 30 per cent.; by conducting the process of manufacture
more judiciously, 10 per cent.; and by the prevention of waste during
the transit to market, 10 per cent., making a total of at least 150
per cent.
The common sugar-mill consists of three cylinders, tightened either by
wedges, if in a wooden frame, or by screws in a cast-iron frame. If in
an iron frame, the above-mentioned noise is obviated, but the friction
and loss of power is the same, which is ascertainable by subsequent
investigation. The cylinders or rollers, which are moving either
horizontally or vertically, are from eighteen to twenty-four inches in
diameter, with bearings or shafts of one fourth of their diameter. If
the bearings or shafts of the cylinders were of less substance, they
could not resist the great strain to which they are subjected when in
operation. The whole of the prime mover (steam-engine, water-wheel, or
animals), minus the friction of intermediate machinery, is transmitted
to the plains of these rollers and resisted by their bearings; hence
the action is equal to a weight moving on low wheels of eighteen or
twenty-four inches in diameter, on axles of from four to six inches
thickness, which weight is equal to the force applied; consequently,
if the strain is greater than the resistance of the rollers or the
bearings, they must be wrenched off, or if greater than the force
applied, the mill will be stopped. The power necessary to move weights
upon wheels, on a smooth and level surface, is in proportion to the
respective diameters of wheels and axles. The same pull which moves
one ton at a given velocity upon a wheel of two feet, with an axle of
six inches, will move four tons, if on a wheel of four feet diameter,
with an axle of six inches. Consequently, cylinders of small diameter,
with strong and substantial bearings, are only admissible as working
machines, if no other mechanical means are applicable, as, for
instance, in rolling out metals, compressing the surface of various
bodies for a glossy appearance, or, generally speaking, to produce a
certain and equal form of the substance which is pressed and passed
between them. They compress the atoms of bodies, and for this reason
alone are ill suited to separate the fibres of the sugar canes, and to
express effectively the saccharine matter between them. A practical
proof of this demonstration is furnished by every sugar cane which has
gone through the mill. Fresh megass is at present better suited for
fattening animals than for fuel under the sugar pans.
The loss of material thus sustained, which is, on an average, equal in
every mill, whether driven by steam, water, or animal power, is
entirely chargeable to the construction of the mill, and amounts to
about ten per cent. of the saccharine matter contained in the sugar
canes.
M. Duprez, an agent of the French Government, having experimented on
the canes in Guadaloupe, found the quantity of juice in every 100 lbs.
crushed--
lbs.
1 By mills having horizontal rollers; the
motive power not stated 61.2
2 By mills, motive power, steam 60.9
3 By mills, motive power, wind and steam 59.3
4 By mills, having vertical rollers 59.2
5 By mills, motive power, cattle 58.5
6 By mills, motive power, wind * 56.4
[* Dr. Evans' "Treatise on Sugar," p. 75.]
The average of all these experiments being 56 per cent. only. The
result of M. Avequin, on Louisiana cane, was 50 per cent. Mr.
Thompson, of Jamaica, states 50 per cent. as the average throughout
the island of Martinique. Dr. Evans ventures 47 per cent. as the
lowest, and 61 per cent. as the highest in the West Indies. A mill in
Madeira gave 47.5 and 70.2 of juice--the larger yield being obtained
by bracing the horizontal rollers more than usually tight, and
introducing only a few canes at a time, the motive power being cattle.
The three roller mill has the disadvantage of re-absorbing a part of
the cane juice in the spongy megass, (or trash as it is termed in the
West Indies), and a loss of power.
Those with five rollers have been used in Cuba, Bourbon and the
Mauritius, which gave 70 per cent., but a great increase of motive
power is necessary. Four roller mills, two below and two above,
requiring little more motive power than three rollers, have given 70
to 75 per cent of juice.
Some years since, the East India Company instituted inquiries relative
to the cultivation of the sugar cane in Hindostan, and the information
obtained was published in a large folio volume. The Reports furnished
by their officers, from almost every district, concur in stating that
there were three kinds cultivated:--1. The purple. 2. The white. 3. A
variety of the white, requiring a large supply of water. The epitome
of the Reports affords this information:--
1. The purple colored cane yields a sweeter, richer juice, than the
yellow or light colored, but in less quantity, and is harder to press.
Grows on dry lands. Scarce any other sort in Beerbhoom, much in
Radnagore, some about Santipore, mixed with light colored cane. Grows
also near Calcutta; in some fields separate, in others mixed with
pooree or light colored cane. When eaten raw, is more dry and pithy in
the mouth, but esteemed better sugar than the pooree, and appears to
be the superior sort of cane. Persons who have been West Indian
planters do not know it as a West Indian cane.
2. The light colored cane, yellow, inclining to white; deeper yellow
when ripe, and on rich ground, it is the same sort as that which grows
in the West India Islands; softer, more juicy than the Cadjoolee, but
juice less rich, and produces sugar less strong; requires seven maunds
of pooree juice to make as much goor or inspissated juice as is
produced from six of the Cadjoolee. Much of this kind is brought to
the Calcutta markets, and eaten raw.
3. The white variety, which grows in swampy, lands, is light colored,
and grows to a great height. Its juice is more watery, and yields a
weaker sugar than the Cadjoolee. However, as much of Bengal consists
of low grounds, and as the upland canes are liable to suffer from
drought, it may be advisable to encourage the cultivation of it,
should the sugar it produces be approved, though in a less degree than
other sugars, in order to guard against the effects of dry seasons.
Experience alone can determine how far the idea of encouraging this
sort may answer.
Besides the foregoing, several kinds are now known to the Indian
planter. One of them, the China sugar cane, was considered by Dr.
Roxburgh to be a distinct species, and distinguished by him as
_Saccharum sinensis_. It was introduced into India in 1796, by Earl
Cornwallis, as being superior to the native kinds. It is characterised
by a hardness which effectually resists most of the country rude
mills; but this hardness is importantly beneficial, inasmuch as that
it withstands the attack of the white ants, hogs, and jackals, which
destroy annually a large portion of the common cane.[18] Dr. Buchanan
found that four kinds are known in Mysore. Two of these are evidently
the purple and white generally known; but as this is not distinctly
stated, I have retained the form in which he notices them. _Restali_,
the native sugar of the Mysore, can only be planted in the last two
weeks of March and two first of April. It completes its growth in
twelve months, and does not survive for a second crop. Its cultivation
has been superseded by the other.
_Putta-putti_.--This was introduced from Arcot, during the reign of
Hyder Ali. It is the only one from which the natives can extract
sugar; it also produces the best _Bella_ or _Jaggery_. It can be
planted at the same season as the other, as well as at the end of July
and beginning of August. It is fourteen months in completing its
growth; but the stools produce a second crop, like the ratoons of the
West Indies, which ripen in twelve months.
_Maracabo_, _Cuttaycabo_.--These two are very small, seldom exceeding
half an inch in diameter; yet in some districts of Mysore, as about
Colar, the last-named is the variety usually cultivated; but this
arises from its requiring less water than the larger varieties.
The best varieties are those introduced from the Islands of Otaheite
and Bourbon. Hindostan is indebted for their introduction to Captain
Sleeman, who brought them hither from the Mauritius in 1827. He
committed them to Dr. Wallich, under whose care, at the Botanic
Garden, they have flourished, and been the source from whence the
benefit has been generally diffused. Their superiority over those
which have been usually cultivated by the natives has been completely
established. The largest of the Hindostan canes, ripe and trimmed
ready for the mill, has never been found to exceed five pounds; but it
is not uncommon for an Otaheite cane,[19] under similar circumstances,
to weigh seven pounds. The extra weight arises proportionately from an
increased secretion of superior sap. The sugar is more abundant,
granulates more readily, and has less scum. Other superior qualities
are, that the canes ripen earlier, and are less injured by the
occurrence of protracted dry weather.
Of the history of the sugar cane a popular tradition obtains amongst
the natives, that, in very ancient times, a vessel belonging to their
country chanced by accident to leave one of her crew, under a
desperate fit of sickness, at a desert island, at a considerable
distance in the Eastern Seas, and that, returning by the same route,
curiosity prompted them to inquire after the fate of their companion,
when, to their utter astonishment, the man presented himself to their
view, completely recovered from his sickness, and even in a state of
more than common health. With anxiety they inquired for the physic he
had so successfully applied, and were conducted by him to the sugar
cane, on which he acquainted them he had solely subsisted from the
time of their departure. Attracted by such powerful recommendation,
every care and attention was bestowed, we may suppose, to convey such
an invaluable acquisition to their own lands, where the soil and
climate have mutually since contributed to its present prosperity.
_Soil_.--The soil best suiting the sugar cane is aluminous rather than
the contrary, tenacious without being heavy, readily allowing
excessive moisture to drain away, yet not light. One gentleman, Mr.
Ballard, has endeavoured to make this point clear by describing the
most favorable soils about Gazepore as "_light clays_," called there
_Mootearee_, or _doansa_, according as there is more or less sand in
their composition.--_Trans. Agri-Hort. Soc._ i. 121.
Mr. Peddington seems to think that calcareous matter, and iron in the
state of _peroxide_, are essential to be present in a soil for the
production of the superior sugar cane. There can be no doubt that the
calcareous matter is necessary, but experience is opposed to his
opinion relative to the peroxide.
The soil preferred at Radnagore is there distinguished as the soil of
"two qualities," being a mixture of rich clay and sand, and which Mr.
Touchet believed to be known in England as a light brick mould.
About Rungpore, Dinajpoor, and other places where the ground is low,
they raise the beds where the cane is to be planted four or five feet
above the level of the land adjacent.
The experience of Dr. Roxburgh agrees with the preceding statements.
He says, "The soil that suits the cane best in this climate is, a rich
vegetable earth, which on exposure to the air readily crumbles down
into very fine mould. It is also necessary for it to be of such a
level as allows of its being watered from the river by simply damming
it up (which almost the whole of the land adjoining to this river, the
Godavery, admits of), and yet so high as to be easily drained during
heavy rains. Such a soil, and in such a situation, having been well
meliorated by various crops of leguminous plants, or fallowing, for
two or three years, is slightly manured, or has had for some time
cattle pent upon it. A favourite manure for the cane with the Hindoo
farmer is the rotten straw of green and black pessaloo (_Phaseolus
Mungo max_)."[20] Many accordant opinions might be added to the
preceding, but it seems only necessary to observe further, that "the
sugar cane requires a soil sufficiently elevated to be entirely free
from inundation, but not so high as to be deprived of moisture, or as
to encourage the production of white ants (_termes_)."
The sugar cane is an exhausting crop, and it is seldom cultivated by
the ryot more frequently than once in three or four years on the same
land. During the intermediate period, such plants are grown as are
found to improve the soil, of which, says Dr. Tennant, the Indian
farmer is a perfect judge. They find the leguminous tribe the best for
the purpose. Such long intervals of repose from the cane would not be
requisite if a better system of manuring were adopted.
Mr. J. Prinsep has recorded the following analysis of three soils
distinguished for producing sugar. They were all a soft, fine-grained
alluvium, without pebbles. No. 1 was from a village called Mothe, on
the Sarjee, about ten miles north of the Ganges, at Buxar, and the
others from the south bank of the Ganges, near the same place. There
is a substratum of _kunkar_ throughout the whole of that part of the
country, and to some mixture of this earth with the surface soil the
fertility of the latter is ascribed:--
1 2 3
Hygrometric moisture, on drying at 212 deg. 2.5 2.1 3.6
Carbonaceous and vegetable matter, on calcination 1.8 2.1 4.0
Carbonate of lime (No. 3 effervesced) 1.6 0.6 3.9
Alkaline salt, soluble 1.0 1.1 0.3
Silex and alumina 94.1 94.1 88.2
----- ----- -----
100.0 100.0 100.0
The earths unfortunately were not separated. Mr. Prinsep says the two
first were chiefly of sand, and the third somewhat argillaceous. The
former required irrigation, but the other was sufficiently retentive
of moisture to render it unnecessary.--(Journ. Asiatic Soc., ii. 435.)
_Manures_.--The sugar cane being one of the most valued crops of the
ryot, he always devotes to it a portion of the fertilising matters he
has at command, though in every instance this is too small.
In the Rajahmundry district, previously to planting, the soil is
slightly manured, either by having cattle folded upon it, or by a
light covering of the rotten straw of the green and black pessalloo,
which is here a favourite fertiliser. In some parts of Mysore the mud
from the bottom of tanks is employed, and this practice is more
generally adopted in other places. Thus the fields being divided by
deep ditches in Dinajpoor, the mud from which is enriched by the
remains of decayed aquatic plants and animals, forms an excellent
manure for the sugar cane, and of this the ryots make use, spreading
it over the surface before the ploughing is commenced; and when that
operation is completed, the soil is further fertilised by a dressing
of oil-cake and ashes.
Crushed bones would unquestionably be of the greatest benefit if
applied to the sugar cane crop. Not only would their animal matter
serve as food for the plants, but the phosphate of lime of the bones
is one of the chief saline constituents of the sugar cane.
Salt is another valuable manure for this crop. Dr. Nugent, in a Report
made to the Agricultural Society of Antigua, observes that salt has
been found a valuable auxiliary in cultivating the sugar cane. Many
trials of it, he says, have been made during successive seasons,
applied generally to the extent of about nine or ten bushels per acre.
It destroys grubs and other insects, and gives the canes an increased
vigor and ability to resist drought. It is a singular remark of the
intelligent traveller, M. de Humboldt, while speaking of the practice
adopted in the Missions of the Orinoco, when a coco-nut plantation is
made, of throwing a certain quantity of salt into the hole which
receives the nut; that of all the plants cultivated by man there are
only the sugar cane, the plantain, the mammee, and the Avocado pear,
which endure equally irrigation with fresh and salt water.
In the West Indies, when the cane is affected by what is called there
the _blast_, which is a withering or drying up of the plants, an
unfailing remedy is found to be watering them with an infusion of dung
in salt water.[21] _Preparation of soil_.--In the Rajahmundry
district, during the months of April and May, the ground is frequently
ploughed, until brought into a very fine tilth. About the end of May,
or beginning of June, the rains usually commence, and the canes are
then to be planted. If the rains do not set in so early, the land is
flooded artificially, and when converted into a soft mud, whether by
the rain or by flooding, the canes are planted.
In Mysore the ground is watered for three days, and then, after drying
for the same period, ploughing commences, this operation being
repeated five times during the following eight days. The clods during
this time are broken small by an instrument called _colkudali_. The
field is then manured and ploughed a sixth time. After fifteen days it
is ploughed again, twice in the course of one or two days. After a
lapse of eight days it is ploughed a ninth time. Altogether these
operations occupy about forty-four days.
For planting, which is done six days, an implement called _yella
kudali_ is employed.
In Dinajpoor, "the field, from about the middle of October until about
the 10th of January, receives ten or twelve double ploughings, and
after each is smoothed with the _moyi_. During the last three months
of this time it is manured with cow-dung and mud from ponds and
ditches. On this account, the land fit for sugar cane is generally
divided into fields by wide ditches, into which much mud is washed by
the rain, and is again thrown on the fields when the country dries,
and leaves it enriched by innumerable aquatic vegetables and animals
that have died as the water left them. When the ploughing has been
completed, the field is manured with ashes and oil-cake."
About Malda, "the land is first ploughed in the month of Cartick,
length and breadth ways, and harrowed in like manner; four or five
days after it is again ploughed and harrowed, as before, twice. In the
month of Aghun, the whole land is covered with fresh earth, again
twice ploughed, and harrowed in different directions, and then manured
with dung. Fifteen or twenty days afterwards it is to be twice
ploughed, as before; eight or ten days after which, it is to be
slightly manured with dung, and the refuse of oil, mixed together;
then twice ploughed and harrowed in different directions, so that the
clods of earth brought be well mixed together with the land. This
preparation continues until the 20th or 25th of the month Pows."
In the vicinity of Dacca, during "Cautic or Augun (October, November)
the Ryots begin to prepare their ground. They first dig a trench round
their fields, and raise a mound of about three feet in height. If the
ground to be cultivated is waste, about nine inches of the surface
are taken off, and thrown without the enclosure. The ground is
ploughed to the depth of nine inches more. The clods are broken, and
the earth made fine. In Maug or Faugun (January, February) the sugar
cane is planted; a month afterwards earth is raised about the plants;
after another month this is repeated. The crop is cut in Poous and
Maug (December, January). If the ground be not waste, but cultivated,
the surface is not taken off. After cutting the crop, it is not usual
again to grow sugar cane on the same ground for eighteen months, on
account of the indifferent produce afforded by a more early planting.
In the Zillah, North Mooradabad, the land is broken up at the end of
June. After the rains have ceased it is manured, and has eight or ten
ploughings. This clears it of weeds. In February it is again manured
and ploughed four or five times, and just before the sets are planted,
some dung, four cart-loads to each cutcha beegah of low land, and five
cart-loads to high land, are added. The land is well rolled after the
four last ploughings, and again after the cuttings are set.
About Benares and the neighbouring districts, Mr. Haines says, that
owing to the hot winds which prevail "from March until the setting in
of the annual rains in June or July, the lands remain fallow till that
period. In the mean time, those fields that are selected for sugar
cane are partially manured by throwing upon them all manner of rubbish
they can collect, and by herding their buffaloes and cattle upon them
at night, though most of the manure from the latter source is again
collected and dried for fuel.
When the annual rains have fairly set in, and the Assarree crops sown
(in some instances I have seen an Assarree crop taken from the lands
intended for sugar cane), they commence ploughing the cane lands, and
continue to do so four or five times monthly (as they consider the
greater number of times the fields are turned up at this period of the
season, the better the crop of cane will be), till the end of October,
continuing to throw on the little manure they can collect.
Towards the end of October, and in November, their ploughs are much
engaged in sowing their winter (or rubbee) crops of wheat, barley,
grain, &c.; and at this period they make arrangements with the
shepherds who have large flocks of sheep, to fold them upon the fields
at night, for which they pay so much per beegah in grain.
During the latter part of November, and early in December, the fields
are again ploughed well, and all grass, weeds, &c., removed with the
hoe; then the surface of the field is made as smooth as possible by
putting the hengah (a piece of wood eight to ten feet in length, and
five to six inches in breadth, and three or four inches in thickness,
drawn by two pairs of bullocks, and the man standing upon the wood to
give it weight), over several times for three or four days in
succession. This makes the surface of the field very even and somewhat
hard, which prevents the sun and dry west wind from abstracting the
moisture, which is of great importance at this period of the season,
for, should there be no rain, there would not be sufficient moisture
at the time of planting the cane to cause vegetation.
In this state the land remains till the time of planting the cane
cuttings, which is generally the 1st to the 15th of February; but
should there have been a fall of rain in the mean time, or excess of
moisture appear, the field is again ploughed, and the hengah put over
as before.
A day or two previous to planting the cane, the field is ploughed and
the hengah lightly put over."--(Trans. Agri-Hort. Soc. vi. 4, 5.)
_Sets_.--When the canes are cut at harvest time, twelve or eighteen
inches of their tops are usually taken off, and stored, to be employed
for sets. Each top has several joints, from each of which a shoot
rises, but seldom more than one or two arrive at a proper growth.
When first cut from the stem, the tops intended for plants are tied in
bundles of forty or fifty each, and are carefully kept moist. In a few
days they put forth new leaves: they are then cleared of the old
leaves, and separately dipped into a mixture of cow-dung, pressed
mustard seed, and water. A dry spot is prepared, and rich loose mould
and a small quantity of pressed mustard-seed; the plants are
separately placed therein, a small quantity of earth strewed amongst
them, and then covered with leaves and grass to preserve them from
heat. Ten or twelve days afterwards they are planted in the fields.
In Burdwan, the tops, before they are planted, are cut into pieces
from four to six inches long, so that there are not more than four
knots in each. Two or three of these plant tops are put together in
the ground, and a beegah requires from 7,500 to 10,240 plants.
In Rungpore and Dinajpoor, about 9,000 plants are required for a
beegah, each being about a foot in length.
In Beerbhoom, 3,000 plants are said to be requisite for a beegah, each
cane top being about fifteen inches long.
Near Calcutta, from 3,000 to 8,000 plants are required for a beegah,
according to the goodness of the soil, the worst soil needing most
plants. In Mysore an acre contains 2,420 stools, and yields about
11,000 ripe canes.
Near Rajahmundry, about 400 cuttings are planted on a cutcha beegah
(one-eighth of an acre). In Zilla, North Mooradabad, 4,200 sets, each
eight inches long, are inserted upon each cutcha beegah of low land,
and 5,250 upon high land.
In the district of Gollagore the Ryots cut a ripe cane into several
pieces, preserving two or three joints to each, and put them into a
small bed of rich mould, dung, and mustard-seed from which the oil has
been expressed. At Radnagore, when the time of cutting the canes
arrives, their tops are taken off, and these are placed upright in a
bed of mud for thirty or forty days, and covered with leaves or straw.
The leaves are then stripped from them, and they are cut into pieces,
not having less than two nor more than four joints each. These sets
are kept for ten or fifteen days in a bed prepared for them, from
whence they are taken and planted in rows two or three together,
eighteen inches or two feet intervening between each stool.
_Planting_.--The time and mode of planting vary. In the Rajahmundry
Circar, Dr. Roxburgh says, that "during the months of April and May
the land is repeatedly ploughed with the common Hindoo plough, which
soon brings the loose rich soil (speaking of the Delta of the
Godavery) into very excellent order. About the end of May and
beginning of June, the rains generally set in, in frequent heavy
showers. Now is the time to plant the cane; but should the rains hold
back, the prepared field is watered or flooded from the river, and,
while perfectly wet, like soft mud, the cane is planted.
"The method is most simple. Laborers with baskets of the cuttings, of
one or two joints each, arrange themselves along one side of the
field. They walk side by side, in as straight a line as their eye and
judgment enable them, dropping the sets at the distance of about
eighteen inches asunder in rows, and about four feet from row to row.
Other laborers follow, and with the foot press the set about two
inches into the soft, mud-like soil, which, with a sweep or two with
the sole of the foot, they most easily and readily cover."--(Roxburgh
on the Culture of Sugar.)
About Malda, in the month of Maug (January, February), the land is to
be twice ploughed, and harrowed repeatedly, length and breadth ways;
after which it is furrowed, the furrows half a cubit apart, in which
the plants are to be set at about four fingers' distance from each
other, when the furrows are filled up with the land that lay upon its
ridges. The plants being thus set, the land is harrowed twice in
different directions; fifteen or twenty days afterwards the cane
begins to grow, when the weeds which appear with it must be taken up;
ten or twelve days after this the weeds will again appear. They must
again be taken up, and the earth at the roots of the canes be removed,
when all the plants which have grown will appear.
At Ghazepore the rains set in at the beginning of March, and planting
then commences. Near Calcutta the planting takes place in May and
June. In Dinajpoor and Rungpore the planting time is February.
About Commercolly it is performed in January. The field is divided
into beds six cubits broad, separated from each other by small
trenches fourteen inches wide and eight inches deep. In every second
trench are small wells, about two feet deep. The irrigating water
flowing along the trenches fills the wells, and is taken thence and
applied to the canes by hand.
Each bed has five rows of canes. The sets are planted in holes about
six inches in diameter, and three deep; two sets, each having three
joints, are laid horizontally in every hole, covered slightly with
earth, and over this is a little dung.
When, the canes are planted in the spring, the trenches must be
filled with water, and some poured into every hole. At the other
season of planting the trenches are full, it being rainy weather; but
even then the sets must be watered for the first month.
Mr. Haines says that in Mirzapore and the neighbouring districts, "in
planting the cane they commence a furrow round the field, in which
they drop the cuttings. The second furrow is left empty; cuttings
again in the third; so they continue dropping cuttings in every second
furrow till the whole field is completed, finishing in the centre of
the field. The field remains in this state till the second or third
day, when for two or three days in succession it is made even and hard
upon the surface with the hengah, as before stated."--(Trans.
Agri-Hort. Soc. vi. 5.)
Mr. Vaupell, in describing the most successful mode of cultivating the
Mauritius sugar cane in Bombay, says, that "after the ground is
levelled with the small plough, called 'paur,' in the manner of the
cultivators, pits of two feet in diameter, and two feet in depth,
should be dug throughout the field at the distance of five feet apart,
and filled with manure and soil to about three inches of the surface.
Set in these pits your canes, cut in pieces about a foot and a half
long, laying them down in a triangular from, thus /\. Keep as much of
the eyes or shoots of the cane uppermost as you can; then cover them
with manure and soil; beds should next be formed to retain water,
having four pits in each bed, leaving passages for watering them. The
cutting should be watered every third day during hot weather, and the
field should always be kept in a moist state."--(Ibid. iii. 43.)
About Benares, the sets require, after planting, from four to six
waterings, until the rains commence, and as many hoeings to loosen the
surface, which becomes caked after every watering. The moister nature
of the soil renders these operations generally unnecessary in Bengal.
_After-culture._--In Mysore, the surface of the earth in the hollows
in which the sets are planted is stirred with a stick as soon as the
shoots appear, and a little dung is added. Next month the daily
watering is continued, and then the whole field dug over with the hoe,
a cavity being made round each stool, and a little dung added. In the
third month water is given every second day: at its close, if the
canes are luxuriant, the ground is again dug; but if weakly, the
watering is continued during the fourth month, before the digging is
given. At this time the earth is drawn up about the canes, so as to
leave the hollows between the rows at right angles with the trenches.
No more water is given to the plants, but the trenches between the
beds are kept full for three days. It is then left off for a week, and
if rain occurs, no further water is requisite; but if the weather is
dry, water is admitted once a week during the next month. The digging
is then repeated, and the earth levelled with the hand about the
stools.
The stems of each stool are ten or twelve in number, which are
reduced to five or six by the most weakly of them being now removed.
The healthy canes are to be tied with one of their own leaves, two or
three together, to check their spreading; and this binding is repeated
as required by their increased growth.
In the absence of rain, the trenches are filled with water once a
fortnight.
When the _Putta-putti_ is to be kept for a second crop, the dry leaves
cut off in the crop season are burnt upon the field, and this is dug
over, and trenches filled with water, and during six weeks the plants
watered once in every six or eight days (unless rain falls), and the
digging repeated three times, dung being added at each digging. The
after-culture is the same as for the first crop.
In the Upper Provinces, Dr. Tennant says, if moderate showers occur
after planting, nothing more is done until the shoots from the sets
have attained a height of two or three inches. The soil immediately
around them is then loosened with a small weeding iron, something like
a chisel; but if the season should prove dry, the field is
occasionally watered; the weeding is also continued, and the soil
occasionally loosened about the plants.
In August, small trenches are cut through the field, with small
intervals between them, for the purpose of draining off the water, if
the season is too wet. This is very requisite, for if the canes are
now supplied with too much moisture, the juice is rendered watery and
unprofitable. If the season happens to be dry, the same dikes serve to
conduct the irrigating water through the field, and to carry off what
does not soak into the earth in a few hours. Stagnant water they
consider very injurious to the cane, and on the drains being well
contrived depends in a great measure the future hope of profit.
Immediately after the field is trenched, the canes are propped. They
are now about three feet high, and each set has produced from three to
six canes. The lower leaves of each are first carefully wrapt up
around it, so as to cover it completely in every part; a small strong
bamboo, eight or ten feet long, is then inserted firmly in the middle
of each stool, and the canes tied to it. This secures them in an erect
position, and facilitates the circulation of the air.
Hoeing cannot be repeated too frequently. This is demonstrated by the
practice of the most successful cultivators. In Zilla, N. Mooradabad,
in April, about six weeks after planting, the earth on each side of
the cane-rows is loosened by a sharp-pointed hoe, shaped somewhat like
a bricklayer's trowel. This is repeated six times before the field is
laid out in beds and channels for irrigation. There, likewise, if the
season is unusually dry, the fields in the low ground are watered in
May and June. This supposes there are either nullahs, or ancient pucka
wells, otherwise the canes are allowed to take their chance, for the
cost of making a well on the uplands is from ten to twenty rupees--an
expense too heavy for an individual cultivator, and not many would dig
in partnership, for they would fight for the water.
In the vicinity of Benares, as the canes advance in growth, they
continue to wrap the leaves as they begin to wither up round the
advancing stem, and to tie this to the bamboo higher up. If the
weather continue wet, the trenches are carefully kept open; and, on
the other hand, if dry weather occurs, water is occasionally supplied.
Hoeing is also performed every five or six weeks. Wrapping the leaves
around the cane is found to prevent them cracking by the heat of the
sun, and hinders their throwing out lateral branches.
In January and February the canes are ready for cutting. The average
height of the cane is about nine feet, foliage included, and the naked
cane from one inch to one inch and a quarter in diameter.
Near Maduna, the hand-watering is facilitated by cutting a small
trench down the centre of each bed. The beds are there a cubit wide,
but only four rows of canes are planted in each.
It is deserving of notice, that the eastern and north-eastern parts of
Bengal are more subject to rain at every season of the year, but
especially in the hot months, than the western; which accounts for the
land being prepared and the plants set so much earlier in Rungpore
than in Beerbhoom. This latter country has also a dryer soil
generally; for this reason, so much is said in the report from thence
of the necessity of watering.
The Benares country is also dryer than Bengal, therefore more
waterings are requisite.
At Malda, ten or fifteen days after the earth has been removed from
the roots of the canes and the plants have appeared, the land is to be
slightly manured, well cleared of weeds, and the earth that was
removed again laid about the canes; after which, ten or fifteen days,
it must be well weeded, and again twenty or twenty-five days
afterwards. This mode of cultivation it is necessary to follow until
the month of Joystee. The land must be ploughed and manured between
the rows of canes in the month of Assaar; after which, fifteen or
twenty days, the canes are to be tied two or three together with the
leaves, the earth about them well cleaned, and the earth that was
ploughed up laid about the roots of the canes something raised. In the
month of Saubun, twenty or twenty-five days from the preceding
operation, the canes are tied as before, and again ten or fifteen days
afterwards; which done, nine or ten clumps are then to be tied
together.
In the Rojahmundry Circar, on the Delta of the Godavery, Dr. Roxburgh
states, "that nothing more is done after the cane is planted, if the
weather be moderately showery, till the young shoots are some two or
three inches high; the earth is then loosened for a few inches round
them with the weeding iron. Should the season prove dry, the field is
occasionally watered from the river, continuing to weed and to keep
the ground loose round the stools. In August, two or three months from
the time of planting, small trenches are cut through the field at
short distances, and so contrived as to serve to drain off the water,
should the season prove too wet for the canes, which is often the
case, and would render their juices weak and unprofitable. The farmer,
therefore, never fails to have his field plentifully and judiciously
intersected with drains while the cane is small, and before the usual
time for the violent rains. Immediately after the field is trenched,
the canes are all propped; this is an operation which seems peculiar
to these parts.
In Dinajpoor, in about a month after planting, "the young plants are
two or three inches high; the earth is then raised from the cuttings
by means of a spade, and the dry leaves by which they are surrounded
are removed. For a day or two they remain exposed to the air, and are
then manured with ashes and oil-cake, and covered with earth. Weeds
must be removed as they spring; and when the plants are about a cubit
high, the field must be ploughed. When they have grown a cubit higher,
which is between the 13th of June and 14th of July, they are tied
together in bundles of three or four, by wrapping them round with
their own leaves. This is done partly to prevent them from being laid
down by the wind, and partly to prevent them from being eaten by
jackals. During the next month three or four of these bunches are tied
together; and about the end of September, when the canes grow rank,
they are supported by bamboo stakes driven in the ground. They are cut
between the middle of December and the end of March."
If the canes grow too vigorously, developing a superabundance of
leaves, it is a good practice to remove those leaves which are
decayed, that the stems may be exposed fully to the sun. In the West
Indies, this is called _trashing_ the canes. It requires discretion;
for in dry soils or seasons, or if the leaves are removed before
sufficiently dead, more injury than benefit will be occasioned.
_Harvesting_.--The season in which the canes become ripe in various
districts has already been noticed when considering their cultivation.
In addition I may state, that in the Rajahmundry Circar, about the
mouth of the Godavery, Dr. Roxburgh adds, "that in January and
February the canes begin to be ready to cut, which is about nine
months from the time of planting. This operation is the same as in
other sugar countries--of course I need not describe it. Their height,
when standing on the field, will be from eight to ten feet (foliage
included), and the naked cane from an inch to an inch and a quarter in
diameter."
In Malda, the canes are cut in January and February. In N. Mooradabad,
upon the low land, the canes are ripe in October, and upon the high
lands a month later. The fitness of the cane for cutting may be
ascertained by making an incision across the cane, and observing the
internal grain. If it is soft and moist, like a turnip, it is not yet
ripe; but if the face of the cut is dry, and white particles appear,
it is fit for harvesting.--(_Fitzmaurice on the Culture of the Sugar
Cane_.)
_Injuries_.--1. _A wet season_, either during the very early or in the
concluding period of the cane's vegetation, is one of the worst causes
of injury. In such a season, the absence of the usual intensity of
light and heat causes the sap to be very materially deficient in
saccharine matter. But, on the other hand,
2. _A very dry season_, immediately after the sets are planted, though
the want of rain may in some degree be supplied by artificial means,
causes the produce to be but indifferent. These inconveniences are of
a general nature, and irremediable.
3. _Animals_.--In India not only the incursions of domesticated
animals, but in some districts of the wild elephant, buffalo, and hog,
are frequent sources of injury. Almost every plantation is liable,
also, to the attack of the jackal, and rats are destructive enemies.
4. _White Ants_.--The sets of the sugar cane have to be carefully
watched, to preserve them from the white ant (_Termes fatalis_), to
attacks from which they are liable until they have begun to shoot. To
prevent this injury, the following mixture has been recommended:--
Asafoetida (hing), 8 chittacks.
Mustard-seed cake (sarsum ki khalli), 8 seers.
Putrid fish, 4 seers.
Bruised butch root, 2 seers;
or muddur, 2 seers.
Mix the above together in a large vessel, with water sufficient to
make them into the thickness of curds; then steep each slip of cane in
it for half an hour after planting; and, lastly, water the lines three
times previous to setting the cane, by irrigating the water-course
with water mixed up with bruised butch root, or muddur if the former
be not procurable.[22] A very effectual mode of destroying the white
ant, is by mixing a small quantity of arsenic with a few ounces of
burned bread, pulverised flour, or oatmeal, moistened with molasses,
and placing pieces of the dough thus made, each about the size of a
turkey's egg, on a flat board, and covered over with a wooden bowl, in
several parts of the plantation. The ants soon take possession of
these, and the poison has a continuous effect, for the ants which die
are eaten by those which succeed them.[23] They are said to be driven
from a soil by frequently hoeing it. They are found to prevail most
upon newly broken-up lands.
In Central India, the penetration of the white ants into the interior
of the sets, and the consequent destruction of the latter, is
prevented by dipping each end into buttermilk, asafoetida, and
powdered mustard-seed, mixed into a thick compound.
5. _Storms_.--Unless they are very violent, Dr. Roxburgh observes,
"they do no great harm, because the canes are propped. However, if
they are once laid down, which sometimes happens, they become branchy
and thin, yielding a poor, watery juice."
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, although 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 labor likewise 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 destroyed 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 plant-canes, or those
of the first year's growth, are taken from the lands, the field-trash,
that is the dried leaves and stems of the canes which remain upon the
ground, are set fire to, with the idea that the ratoons,--that is, the
sprouts from the old roots of the canes,--spring forth with more
luxuriance, and attain a greater size by means of this practice. The
ratoons of the first year are called in Brazil, _socas_; those of the
second year, _resocas_; those of the third year, _terceiras socas_,
and so forth. After the roots are left unencumbered by burning the
field-trash, the mould is raised round about them; indeed, if this was
neglected, many of those roots would remain too much exposed to the
heat of the sun, and would not continue to vegetate.
Some lands will continue to give ratoons for five, or even seven
years; but an average may be made at one crop of good ratoons fit for
grinding, another of inferior ratoons fit for planting, or for making
molasses to be used in the still-house, and a third which affords but
a trifling profit, in return for the trouble which the cleanings give.
I have above spoken more particularly of high lands. The low and
marshy grounds, called in Brazil, _varzeas_, are, however, those which
are the best adapted to the cane; and, indeed, upon the plantations
that do not possess some portions of this description of soil the
crops are very unequal, and sometimes almost entirely fail, according
to the greater or less quantity of rain, which may chance to fall in
the course of the year. The _varzeas_ are usually covered with short
and close brushwood, and as these admit, from their rank nature, of
frequent cultivation, they soon become easy to work. The soil of
these, when it is new, receives the name of _paul_; it trembles under
the pressure of the feet, and easily admits of a pointed stick being
thrust into it; and though dry to appearance requires draining. The
_macape_ marl is often to be met with in all situations; it is of a
greenish white color, and if at all wet, it sticks very much to the
hoe; it becomes soon dry at the surface, but the canes which have been
planted upon it seldom fail to revive after rain, even though a want
of it should have been much felt. The white marl, _barro branco_, is
less frequently found; it is accounted extremely productive. This clay
is used in making bricks and coarse earthenware, and also for claying
the sugar. Red earth is occasionally met with upon sides of hills near
to the coast; but this description of soil belongs properly to the
cotton districts. Black mould is common, and likewise a loose brownish
soil, in which a less or greater proportion of sand is intermixed. It
is, I believe, generally acknowledged that no land can be too rich for
the growth of the sugar cane. One disadvantage, however, attends soil
that is low and quite new, which is, that the canes run up to a great
height without sufficient thickness, and are thus often lodged (or
blown down) before the season for cutting them arrives. I have seen
rice planted upon lands of this kind on the first year to decrease
their rankness, and render them better adapted to the cane on the
succeeding season. Some attempts have been made to plant cane upon the
lands which reach down to the edge of the mangroves, and in a few
instances pieces of land heretofore covered by the salt water at the
flow of the tide, have been laid dry by means of draining for the same
purpose; but the desired success has not attended the plan, for the
canes have been found to be unfit for making sugar; the syrup does not
coagulate, or at least does not attain that consistence which is
requisite, and therefore it can only be used for the distilleries.
The general mode of preparing the land for the cane is by holing it
with hoes. The negroes stand in a row, and each man strikes his hoe
into the ground immediately before him, and forms a trench of five or
six inches in depth; he then falls back, the whole row doing the same,
and they continue this operation from one side of the cleared land to
the other, or from the top of a hill to the bottom. The earth which is
thrown out of the trench remains on the lower side of it. In the
British West India colonies this work is done in a manner nearly
similar, but more systematically. The lands in Brazil are not
measured, and everything is done by the eye. The quantity of cane
which a piece will require for planting is estimated by so many
cart-loads; and nothing can be more vague than this mode of
computation, for the load which a cart can carry depends upon the
condition of the oxen, upon the nature of the road, and upon the
length of the cane. Such is the awkward make of these vehicles, that
much nicety is necessary in packing them, and if two canes will about
fit into a cart lengthways, much more will be conveyed than if the
canes are longer and they double over each other.
The plough is sometimes used in low lands, upon which draining has not
been found necessary; but such is the clumsy construction of the
machine of which they make use, that six oxen are yoked to it. A
plough drawn by two oxen, constructed after a model which was brought
from Cayenne, has been introduced in one or two instances. Upon high
lands the stumps of the trees almost preclude the possibility of thus
relieving the laborers. The trenches being prepared, the cuttings are
laid longitudinally in the bottom of them, and are covered with the
greatest part of the mould which had been taken out of the trench. The
shoots begin to rise above the surface of the ground in the course of
twelve or fourteen days. The canes undergo three cleanings from the
weeds and the sprouts proceeding from the stumps of the trees; and
when the land is poor, and produces a greater quantity of the former,
and contains fewer of the latter, the canes require to be cleaned a
fourth time. The cuttings are usually 12 to 18 inches in length, but
it is judged that the shorter they are the better. If they are short,
and one piece of cane rots, the space which remains vacant is not so
large as when the cuttings are long, and they by any accident fail.
The canes which are used for planting are generally ratoons, if any
exist upon the plantation; but if there are none of these, the
inferior plant canes supply their places. It is accounted more
economical to make use of the ratoons for this purpose; and many
persons say that they are less liable to rot than the plant canes. In
the British sugar islands the cuttings for planting are commonly the
tops of the canes which have been ground for sugar. But in Brazil the
tops of the canes are all thrown to the cattle, for there is usually a
want of grass during the season that the mills are at work. In the
British colonies, the canes are at first covered with only a small
portion of mould, and yet they are as long in forcing their way to the
surface as in Brazil, though in the latter a more considerable
quantity of earth is laid upon them. I suppose that the superior
richness of the Brazilian soil accounts for this. Upon rich soils the
cuttings are laid at a greater distance, and the trenches are dug
farther from each other, than upon those which have undergone more
frequent cultivation, or which are known to possess less power from
their natural composition. The canes which are planted upon the former
throw out great numbers of sprouts, which spread each way; and,
although when they are young, the land may appear to promise but a
scanty crop, they soon close, and no opening is to be seen. It is
often judged proper to thin the canes, by removing some of the suckers
at the time that the last cleaning is given; and some persons
recommend that a portion of the dry leaves should also be stripped off
at the same period, but on other plantations this is not practised.
The proper season for planting is from the middle of July to the
middle of September, upon high lands, and from September to the middle
of November in low lands. Occasionally, the great moisture of the soil
induces the planter to continue his work until the beginning of
December, if his people are sufficiently numerous to answer all the
necessary purposes. The first of the canes are ready to be cut for the
mill in September of the following year, and the crop is finished
usually in January or February. In the British sugar islands the canes
are planted from August to November, and are ripe for the mill in the
beginning of the second year. Thus this plant in Brazil requires from
thirteen to fifteen months to attain its proper state for the mill;
and in the West India islands it remains standing sixteen or seventeen
months.
The Otaheitan, or the Bourbon cane, has been brought from Cayenne to
Pernambuco since the Portuguese obtained possession of that
settlement. I believe the two species of cane are much alike, and I
have not been able to discover which of them it is. Its advantages are
so apparent, that after one trial on each estate, it has superseded
the small cane which was in general use. The Cayenne cane, as it is
called in Pernambuco, is of a much larger size than the common cane;
it branches so very greatly, that the labor in planting a piece of
cane is much decreased, and the returns from it are at the same time
much more considerable. It is not planted in trenches, but holes are
dug at equal distances from each other, in which these cuttings are
laid. This cane bears the dry weather better than the small cane; and
when the leaves of the latter begin to turn brown, those of the former
still preserve their natural color. A planter in the _Varzea_ told me
that he had obtained four crops from one piece of land in three years,
and that the soil in question had been considered by him as nearly
worn out, before he planted the Cayenne cane upon it.--("Koster's
Travels in Brazil," vol. 2.)
Mr. E. Morewood, of Compensation, Natal, who has paid much attention
to sugar culture in that colony, has favored me with the following
details, which will be useful for the guidance of others, as being the
results of his own experience:--
lbs.
Produce of one acre of sugar cane 72,240
Juice expressed, (or 64 per cent.) 46,308
Dry sugar 7,356
Green syrup or molasses 2,829
This syrup carrying with it a good deal of sugar out of the
coolers, contains fully 75 per cent. of crystalizable sugar, or 2,121
Thus the total amount of sugar per acre is 9,477
The average density of the cane juice was 12 degrees Beaume, or 21
per cent. All the improved cane mills are now constructed to give at
least 75 per cent. of juice. With such a mill, an acre would yield
11,075 lbs. of sugar. With proper cultivation I have no doubt the
produce could be largely increased; for, as the numerous visitors
who have seen this place can testify, my cane fields were not
attended to.
To enable me to show the cost of producing a crop of canes, you must
allow me to go into the expense of cultivating the land first.
To keep one ploughman going, a person requires--
20 Oxen at £3 £60 0 0
1 Plough 7 10 0
1 set Harrows 7 10 0
Yokes, Trektows, Reins, &c. 5 0 0
----------
£80 0 0
Then the expenses per month will be:--
Ploughman's wages £2 10 0
Board 1 10 0
1 Driver, 10s., Leaders, 5s. 0 15 0
Food for two natives 0 10 0
Wear and tear of oxen and gear,
at 25 per cent. per annum 1 10 4
---------
£6 18 4
These two spans of oxen will comfortably plough and harrow twenty
acres per month, and the cost will thus be about 7s. per acre.
Now, let us suppose that a person wishes to put in twenty acres of
canes, the expense would be about as follows:--
4 Ploughings and harrowings, 80 acres at 7s. £28 0 0
Drawing canefurrows, 4 acres per day, 5 days at 6s. 1 10 0
2,000 Cane tops per acre, at 50s. 100 0 0
4 Horsehoeings, at 2s. 6d. 10 0 0
4 Handweedings in the rows, at 2s. 6d. 10 0 0
Cutting and carrying out canes, at 30s. 30 0 0
Carriage to Mill, thirty tons per acre, at 2s. 60 0 0
----------
£239 10 0
or £12 per acre. To this must be added the rent of land, say 10s.
per acre, with right of grazing cattle, for two years, when the
first crop will come in, would bring the expense to £13 per acre.
The cane yielding say only three tons of sugar per acre, of which
the planter would, most likely, have to give the manufacturer
one-third, he will receive forty tons of sugar, costing him £6 10s.
per ton, and worth on the spot, according to advices received from
England and the Cape, £15 per ton, at the lowest estimate, or £600.
The greatest expense, you will perceive, is the article of tops for
planting; but this ought not to discourage persons. The plants which
I imported from the Mauritius some years ago, cost me, on account of
many of them not vegetating, at the rate of £30 per acre. Parties
who begin planting now have the great advantage that they can get
plants, every one of which, if properly treated, will grow, at
one-sixth of that price.
How many crops cane will give on good soil in Natal, I am of course
unable to state, as the oldest cane I have got has been cut only
three times--the last yield (second ratoons) was much finer than the
preceding ones, and by adopting the improved manner of cane
cultivation, viz., returning all but the cane juice to the soil, I
am confident that replanting will be found quite unnecessary; the
expenses for the second and following years will therefore be very
trifling.
Comparative Statement of the ruling Prices at Natal and the Mauritius
of Land, Live Stock, Implements, Labor, and other requirements
connected with the cultivation of the Sugar Cane.
MAURITIUS NATAL
£ s. d. | £ s. d.
|
LAND, per acre, £3 10s. to 20 0 0 | LAND, per acre, 10s.
| to 1 0 0
RENT OF LAND. It is not | RENT OF LAND, 6d. to 0 5 0
customary to let land at |
the Mauritius, except on |
the system of an equal |
division of the produce. |
MANURE. Guano, commonly | CATTLE MANURE in
used in its dry state, | abundance, according to
also other manures or | distance, per load,
composts, per ton, £6 to 7 0 0 | 1s. to 0 2 6
| (None required on
| virgin soil for the
| first three years of
| cultivation.)
|
LIVE STOCK. Mules, 5 of | Oxen, of which 12 are
which are required to each | required to each load,
load of 3,000 to 4,000 | £3 each 36 0 0
lbs., £30 each 150 0 0 | Keep of oxen, on
Keep of Mules each, per | pasturage free.
annum 7 0 0 |
|
LABOR. Drivers, each, per | Colored driver,
month 1 0 0 | each, per month 0 15 0
Coolies, including keep, | Kafir leader, ditto 0 10 0
each 1 0 0 | Kafirs, including
White labor, each 4 0 0 | keep, ditto 0 10 0
| White labor, each
| per month, £3 10s. to 4 0 0
|
FUEL. Cane trash or wood | Cane trash or wood
MILL POWER. Steam or water | The same
|
IMPLEMENTS. All agricultural | All agricultural labor
labor is performed by the | is performed with the
hand-hoe, very expensive | plough, harrows, and
in its nature. | scarifier, with oxen
| so much less expensive
| than the hand labor at
| the Mauritius.
|
PRODUCE of the Cane. Average | From 2 to 3 tons
from 1 to 4 tons. |
CANE. Periodical renewal of | Not yet ascertained,
the cane, according to the | and depending on the soil
quality of the soil, every |
3 to 10 years |
|
£. s. d. | £. s. d.
PROVISIONS, &c. Beef, | PROVISIONS, &c. Beef,
per lb. 6d. to 0 0 8 | per lb., 1½d. to 0 0 2½
Bread, per loaf 0 0 6 | Bread, per loaf 0 0 6
Butter, per lb., 1s. 3d. | Butter, per lb., 6d. to 0 0 9
to 0 1 6 |
Rice, the food of the | Indian corn, (maize per
Coolies, per bag of | 180 lbs. 5s.) per 150
150 lbs., 12s. 6d. to 0 15 0 | lbs. 0 4 2
Oats, per bag, of 100 | Oats, per 104 lbs., 10s.
lbs. 12s. 6d. to 0 15 0 | to 1 0 0
Bran, ditto, 100 lbs. | Bran, not used.
12s. to 0 13 9 |
Beans, ditto, 100 lbs. | Beans, per 180 lbs., 13s.
22s. 6d. to 1 5 0 | to 20s., or per 100 lbs.
| 7s. 2d. to 0 11 0
Coal, per ton, 40s. to 2 10 0 | The same
|
CHARGE OF MANUFACTURE. | The Mauritius principle
The manufacturer reaps | may be adopted in this
and carries to the mill | colony, with such
the canes of the grower, | modifications as may be
but the latter provides | called for by local
his own bagging, and | exigencies.
carts away his half of |
the sugar, the other |
half being the |
remuneration of the |
manufacturer |
Analysis of the foregoing Statement, showing the total comparative
outlay for sundries connected with the cultivation of Sugar at Natal
and Mauritius, computed at the lowest ruling prices.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| MAURITIUS | NATAL | Difference
| | | in
| | |favor of Natal
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| | |
Land, 100 acres |70s. 350 0 0 |10s. 50 0 0 | 300 0 0
Manure, Guano 10 loads |£6 60 0 0 | |
Cattle Manure, 10 loads| | 1s. 0 10 0 |
Live Stock, 10 mules. |£30 300 0 0 |£15. 150 0 0 | 150 0 0
---- 10 oxen |£12 120 0 0 | £3. 30 0 0 | 90 0 0
Two drivers per mouth | £1 2 0 0 | 1 5 0 | 0 15 0
Coolies, 10 with keep | 10 0 0 | } | 2 10 0
Kafirs, 10 ditto | |15s. 7 10 0} |
White men, 10 | £4 40 0 0 |£4. 40 0 0 |
Beef, 100 lbs. |at 6d. 2 10 0 |1½d. 0 12 6 | 1 17 6
Bread, 100 loaves | 6d. 2 10 0 |6d. 2 10 0 |
Butter,100 lbs. |1s.3d. 6 5 0 |6d. 2 10 0 | 3 15 0
Rice, 100 lbs., food | 0 8 4 | } |
for Coolies, Indian | | } | 0 5 7
Corn, 100 lbs., food | | 0 2 9} |
for Kafirs | | } |
Oats | 0 12 6 | 0 10 0 | 0 2 6
Beans, 100 lbs. | 1 2 6 | 0 10 0 | 0 12 6
Coals | 2 0 0 | 2 0 0 |
| | |
---------------------------------------------------------------------
| £897 8 4 | £288 0 3 | £554 18 1
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The immense saving obtained by ploughing, &c., over the Mauritius hand
labor with the hoe, is not shown in the above figures.
Table showing the cost of producing Muscovado sugar, and the quantity
produced or available in the several countries mentioned, as made up
from the evidence given before the Committee on Sugar and Coffee
Plantations; by T. Wilson.
-----------------+-------+---------+---------+-------+-------+-------+------
| | | | | |Excess |
| | | | | |of cost|
| | | | |Excess |of free|
| | | | |of cost| over |
| | | | Cost |of free| SLAVE |
| | Average | Average |of pro-|labour | TRADE |
| |available|available|ducing | over | labor,|
| | produce | produce | one | slave |taking |In-
|Average| under | during |cwt. of|or com-| the |crease
|cost of| slavery |the last | sugar |pulsory|cost in|of cost
|produc-| or com- | three | at | labor,|Brazil |in the
| tion | pulsory |years of |present| per | at |British
COUNTRY. | under | labor, | freedom,| date, | cwt., |7s. 6d.|planta-
|slavery| for the | for the |exclu- |taking | per |tions
|or com-|supply of|supply of|sive of| the | cwt. | since
|pulsory| Europe | Europe |inter- |average|making |emanci-
| labor.| and the | and the |est on |cost of| the |pation.
| | United | United | capi- | the |average|
| | States,| States.| tal, |latter | of |
| | | | etc. |at 11s.| slave |
| | | | | per | trade |
| | | | | cwt. | labor |
| | | | | |8s. per|
| | | | | | cwt. |
-----------------+-------+---------+---------+-------+-------+-------+------
_British | s. d.| Tons. | Tons. | s d. | s. d. | s. d.| s. d.
Plantations_. | | | | | | |
Antigua | 7 6 | 7,767 | 8,963 | 16 6 | 5 6 | 8 6 | 9 0
Barbados | 6 0 | 17,174 | 16,378 | 15 6 | 4 6 | 7 6 | 9 6
Grenada | 11 0 | 9,634 | 3,779 | 17 6 | 6 6 | 9 6 | 6 6
St. Kitts | 5 0 | 4,382 | 5,558 | 19 0 | 8 0 | 11 0 | 14 0
St. Vincent | 5 6 | 10,056 | 6,636 | 19 6 | 8 6 | 11 6 | 14 0
Tobago | 5 6 | 5,321 | 2,514 | 19 6 | 8 6 | 11 6 | 14 0
St. Lucia, etc. | 5 6 | 9,600 | 8,650 | 19 6 | 8 6 | 11 6 | 14 0
Jamaica | 10 0 | 68,626 | 30,807 | 22 6 | 11 6 | 14 6 | 12 6
Guiana | 6 8 | 44,178 | 24,817 | 25 10 | 14 10 | 17 10 | 19 2
Trinidad A* | 3 0 | 15,428 | 16,539 | 20 10 | 9 10 | 12 10 | 17 10
Mauritius | | 35,000 | 50,000 | 20 0 | 9 0 | 12 0 |
Bengal | | | 62,000 | 23 0 | 12 0 | 15 0 |
Madras | | | 7,000 | 20 0 | 9 0 | 12 0 |
_Foreign | | | | | | |
Free Labor | | | | | | |
Country_. | | | | | | |
Europe | | | | | | |
(Beet-root) B* | | | 100,000 | 24 4 | 13 4 | 16 4 |
_Foreign Slave, | | | | | | |
or Compulsory | | | | | | |
Labor | | | | | | |
Countries_. | | | | | | |
Java C* | 15 0 | 88,000 | | 15 0 | | |
French Colonies | 15 0 | 90,000 | | 15 0 | Slave | |
Cuba (Muscovado)| 8 0 | 220,000 | | 8 0 |or com-| |
Porto Rico | 8 6 | 40,000 | | 8 6 |pulsory| |
Louisiana | 12 6 | 100,000 | | 12 6 | labor | |
Brazils D* | 11 11 | 90,000 | | 11 11 | | |
-----------------+-------+---------+---------+-------+-------+-------+------
[A* This cost, as taken from the averages given in Lord Harris's
despatches, is lower than the averages given by the witnesses before
the Committee.]
[B* This beet-root sugar sells, in the continental markets, on account
of its inferior quality, at about 4s. to 6s. per cwt. below Colonial
Muscovado, so that Colonial Muscovado must be about 33s. per cwt. to
enable beet sugar to sell in this market for cost and charges, and
allowing no profit to the beet sugar maker.]
[C* The cost of producing sugar in Java is taken at the average
between the Government contract sugar, and the free sugar, as given by
Mr. San Martin.]
[D* The cost of producing sugar in Brazil is taken from the Consular
return: this return has given no credit for rum or molasses, and has
charged 6s. 5d. for manufacturing, fully 3s. 5d. more than the cost in
Cuba,--allowance for these two items would give 7s. 6d. as the nett
cost per cwt.]
BEET ROOT SUGAR.
The rapid progress of the production of beet root sugar on the
continent, especially in France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, and
Russia, and its recent introduction and cultivation as an article of
commerce in Ireland, renders the detail of its culture and manufacture
on the continent interesting. I have, therefore, been induced to
bestow some pains on an investigation of the rise and progress of its
production and consumption in those countries.
During the past three years, the smallest estimate which can be formed
of the quantity of cane sugar that has been replaced by beet root
sugar in the chief European countries, is about 80,000 tons annually,
with the certainty that, year after year, the consumption will become
exclusively confined to the former, to the greater exclusion of the
latter; unless some great change shall take place in the relative
perfection and manufacture of the two different descriptions of
produce.
Although, observes the _Economist_, the beet root sugar produced in
France, Belgium, Germany, and other parts of the continent is not
brought into competition in our own markets with the produce of the
British colonies, yet it must be plain that the exclusion of so much
foreign cane sugar from the continent, which was formerly consumed
there, must throw a much larger quantity of Cuba and Brazilian sugar
upon this market; and by this means the increased production of beet
root sugar, even in those countries where it is highly protected, does
indirectly increase the competition among the producers of cane sugar
in our market.
So early as 1747, a chemist of Berlin, named Margraf, discovered that
beet root contained a certain quantity of sugar, but it was not until
1796 that the discovery was properly brought under the attention of
the scientific in Europe by Achard, who was also a chemist and
resident of Berlin, and who published a circumstantial account of the
progress by which he extracted from 3 to 4 per cent. of sugar from
beet root.
Several attempts have been made, from time to time, to manufacture
beet root sugar in England, but never, hitherto, on a large and
systematic scale. Some years ago a company was established for the
purpose, but they did not proceed in their operations.
A refinery of sugar from the beet root was erected at Thames Bank,
Chelsea, in the early part of 1837. During the summer of 1839 a great
many acres of land were put into cultivation with the root, at
Wandsworth and other places in the vicinity of the metropolis. The
machinery used in the manufacture was principally on the plan of the
vacuum pans, and a fine refined sugar was produced from the juice by
the first process of evaporation, after it had undergone
discolorization. Another part of the premises was appropriated to the
manufacture of coarse brown paper from the refuse, for which it is
extensively used in France.
A refinery was also established about this period at Belfast, in the
vicinity of which town upwards of 200 acres of land were put into
cultivation with beet root for the manufacture of sugar.
The experience of France ought to be a sufficient guarantee that the
manufacture of beet root sugar is not a speculative but a great staple
trade, in which the supply can be regulated by the demand, with a
precision scarcely attainable in any other ease, and when, in
addition, this demand tends rather to increase than to diminish. That
the trade is profitable there can also be no doubt from the large
capital embarked in it on the Continent--a capital which is steadily
increasing even in France, where protection has been gradually
withdrawn, and where, since 1848, it has competed upon equal terms
with colonial sugars.
The produce of France in 1851 was nearly 60,000 tons. The beet root
sugar made in the Zollverein in 1851 was about 45,000 tons. Probably
half as much more as is made in France and the Zollverein, is made in
all the other parts of the Continent. In Belgium, the quantity made is
said to be 7,000 tons; in Russia, 35,000; making a total of beet root
sugar now manufactured in Europe of at least 150,000 and probably
more, or nearly one-sixth part of the present consumption of Europe,
America, and our various colonies. In 1847 this was estimated at
upwards of 1,000,000 tons; and, as the production has increased
considerably since that period, it is now not less than 1,100,000
tons. The soil of the Continent, it is said, will give 16 tons to the
acre, and that of Ireland, 26 tons to the acre. The former yields from
6 to 7 per cent.--the latter from 7 to 8 per cent. as the extreme
maximum strength of saccharine matter. The cost of the root in
Ireland--for it is with that, and not with the cost of the Continental
root, with which the West Indies will have to contend--is said to be
at the rate of 16s. per ton this; but will probably be 13s. next
season. The cost of manufacture is set down at £7 5s. per ton.
Calculating the yield of the root to be 7½ lbs. to every 100 lbs., for
26 tons the yield would be nearly 2 tons of sugar, which would give
about £9 10s. per ton, putting down the raw material to cost 14s, 6d.
per ton, the medium between 16s. and 13s. Thus a ton of Irish-grown
and manufactured beet root sugar, would cost £16 15s. per ton. Mr.
Sullivan, the scientific guide to those who are undertaking to make
beet root sugar at Mountmellick, Queen's County, Ireland, estimates
the cost of obtaining pure sugar at from £16 17s. to £19 18s. per ton,
according to the quantity of sugar in the root.
Beet root is a vegetable of large circumference, at the upper end nine
to eleven inches in diameter. There are several kinds. That which is
considered to yield the most sugar is the white or Silesian beet
(_Beta alba_). It is smaller than the mangel wurzel, and more compact,
and appears in its texture to be more like the Swedish turnip. For the
manufacture of sugar, the smaller beets, of which the roots weigh only
one or two pounds, were preferred by Chaptal, who, besides being a
celebrated chemist, was also a practical agriculturist and a
manufacturer of sugar from beet root. After the white beet follows the
yellow (_beta major_), then the red (_beta romana_), and lastly the
common or field beet root (_Beta sylvestris_). Margraf, as we have
seen, was the first chemist who discovered the saccharine principle in
beet root; and Achard, the first manufacturer who fitted up an
establishment (in Silesia) for the extraction of sugar from the root.
It was not before 1809 that this manufacture was introduced into
France.
The manufacture sprung up there in consequence of Bonaparte's scheme
for destroying the colonial prosperity of Great Britain by excluding
British colonial produce. It having been found that from the juice of
the beet root a crystallizable sugar could be obtained, he encouraged
the establishment of the manufacture by every advantage which monopoly
and premiums could give it. Colonial sugar was at the enormous price
of four and five francs a pound, and the use of it was become so
habitual, that no Frenchman could do without it. Several large
manufactories of beet root were established, some of which only served
as pretexts for selling smuggled colonial sugar as the produce of
their own works. Count Chaptal, however, established one on his own
farm, raising the beet root, as well as extracting the sugar. The
roots are first cleaned by washing or scraping, and then placed in a
machine to be rasped and reduced to a pulp. This pulp is put into a
strong canvas bag and placed under a powerful press to squeeze out the
juice. It is then put into coppers and boiled, undergoing certain
other processes. Most of the operations are nearly the same as those
by which the juice of the sugar cane is prepared for use; but much
greater skill and nicety are required in rendering the juice of the
beet root crystallizable, on account of its greater rawness and the
smaller quantity of sugar it contains. But when this sugar is refined,
it is impossible for the most experienced judge to distinguish it from
the other, either by the taste or appearance; and from this arose the
facility with which smuggled colonial sugar was sold in France, under
the name of sugar from beet root. Five tons of clean roots produce
about 4½ cwt. of coarse sugar, which give about 160 lbs. of double
refined sugar, and 60 lbs. of inferior lump sugar. The rest is
molasses, from which a good spirit is distilled. The dry residue of
the roots, after expressing the juice, consists chiefly of fibre and
mucilage, and amounts to about one-fourth of the weight of the clean
roots used. It contains all the nutritive part of the root, with the
exception of 4½ per cent. of sugar, which has been extracted from the
juice, the rest being water.
As the expense of this manufacture greatly exceeded the value of the
sugar produced, according to the price of colonial sugar, it was only
by the artificial encouragement of a monopoly and premiums that it
could be carried on to advantage. The process is one of mere curiosity
as long as sugar from the sugar cane can be obtained cheaper, and the
import duties laid upon it are not so excessive as to amount to a
prohibition; and in this case it is almost impossible to prevent its
clandestine introduction.
Another mode of making sugar from beet root, practised in some parts
of Germany, is as follows, and is said to make better sugar than the
other process:--The roots having been washed, are sliced lengthways,
strung on packthread, and hung up to dry. The object of this is to let
the watery juice evaporate, and the sweet juice, being concentrated,
is taken up by macerating the dry slices in water. It is managed so
that all the juice shall be extracted by a very small quantity of
water, which saves much of the trouble of evaporation. Professor
Lampadius obtained from 110 lbs. of roots 4 lbs. of well-grained white
powder-sugar, and the residuum afforded 7 pints of spirit. Achard says
that about a ton of roots produced 100 lbs. of raw sugar, which gave
55 lbs. of refined sugar, and 15 lbs. of treacle. This result is not
very different from that of Chaptal. 6,000 tons of beet root it is
said will produce 400 tons of sugar and 100 tons of molasses.
Beet root sugar in the raw state contains an essential oil, the taste
and smell of which are disagreeable. Thus the treacle of beet root
cannot be used in a direct way, whereas the treacle of cane sugar is
of an agreeable flavor, for the essential oil which it contains is
aromatic, and has some resemblance in taste to vanilla. But beet root
sugar, when it is completely refined, differs in no sensible degree
from refined cane sugar. In appearance it is quite equal to cane
sugar, and the process of refining it is more easy than for the
latter. Samples made in Belgium were exhibited at a late meeting of
the Dublin Society. It was of the finest appearance, of strong
sweetening quality, and in color resembling the species of sugar known
as crushed lump. The most singular part of the matter is, that it was
manufactured in the space of forty-five minutes--the entire time
occupied from the taking of the root out of the ground and putting it
into the machine, to the production of the perfect article. It was
said that it could be produced for 3d. per lb. An acre of ground is
calculated to yield 50 tons of Silesian beet, which, in France and
Belgium, give three tons of sugar, worth about £50; the refuse being
applied in those countries to feeding cattle. But from the superior
fitness of the Irish soil, as shown by experience to be the case, it
is confidently affirmed by persons competent to form an opinion, that
8 per cent. of sugar could be obtained there on the raw bulk.
The following figures are given as illustrative of the expense of the
cultivation of one acre of beet-root in Ireland:--
Two ploughings and harrowing £1 1 0
Expense of manure and carting 5 0 0
Hoeing and seed 0 6 0
Drilling and sowing 0 5 0
Rent 2 0 0
-------
£8 12 0
An average produce of 20 tons, at £15 per ton, would leave a profit of
£6 8s. per acre, leaving the land in a state fit for the reception, at
little expense, of a crop of wheat, barley, or oats for the next year,
and of hay for the year ensuing; a consideration of no small
importance to the farmer. The following estimates, recently given, are
not by any means exaggerated:--
61,607 tons of beet, at 10s. £30,803 10 0
Cost of manufacture, at 11s. per ton. 33,883 17 0
-------------
64,687 7 0
Produce 7 per cent of sugar, at 28s. per cwt. 136,767 10 0
-------------
Estimated profit £72,080 3 0
The quantity of sugar made from beet-root in France in 1828, was about
2,650 tons; in 1830, its weight was estimated at 6 million
kilogrammes[24] (5,820 tons); in 1834, at 26 million kilogrammes
(24,000 tons); in 1835, 36,000 tons; in 1836, 49,000 tons. At the
commencement of the year 1837, the number of refineries at work or
being built was 543; on an average 20 kilogrammes of beet-root are
required for the production of one kilogramme of sugar. The sugar
manufactured from the beet-root in France a few years ago was stated
to amount to 55,000 tons, or one half of the entire consumption of the
kingdom. The _Courrier Francais_ calculated that the beet-root sugar
made in France in 1838 amounted to 110 million lbs., and the journal
added, there is no doubt that, in a few years, the produce will be
equal to the entire demand. The cultivation then extended over 150,000
acres, and in the environs of Lille and Valenciennes it has sometimes
been as high as 28,000 lbs. per acre.
From returns of the produce and consumption of beet-root sugar
published in the _Moniteur_, it appears that on the 1st Dec. 1851,
there were 335 manufactories in operation, or 81 more than in the
corresponding period of 1850. The quantity of sugar made, including
the portion lying over from the previous year, amounted to 19,625,386
kilogrammes, and that stored in the public bonding warehouse to
10,556,847. At the end of June, 1852, 329 manufactories were at work,
or two more than at the same period in 1851. The quantity sold was
62,211,663 kilogrammes, or 9,167,018 less, as compared with the
corresponding period of the previous year. There remained in stock in
the manufactories 91,434,070 kilogrammes, and in the entrepot
4,597,829 kilogrammes, being an increase of 2,568,662 kilogrammes in
the manufactories, and a decrease of 1,292,962 in the entrepots. The
manufacture of beet-root sugar is every year assuming in France
increased importance, and attracts more and more the attention of
political economists as a source of national wealth, and of
government, as affording matter of taxation. Thirty new factories, got
up upon a very extensive scale, are enumerated as going into operation
this year. They are located, with but two exceptions, in the north of
France; fifteen of them are in the single department of Nord. Indeed,
the manufacture of beet-root sugar is confined, almost exclusively, to
the five northern adjacent departments of Nord, Pas de Calais, Somme,
Aisne, and Oise. The best quality retails at 16 cents the pound.
I take from a table in the _Moniteur_ the following statement of the
number of factories and their location, with the amount of production
up to the 31st May, 1851. At that date the season is supposed to end.
A separate column gives the total production in the season of 1842,
showing an increase in ten years of more than double, viz., of
41,582,113 kilogrammes, or, in our weight, of 93,559,754 pounds.
Number of Kilogrammes Kilogrammes
Departments. Factories. Prod. 1850-1. Prod. 1843.
Aisne 30 5,307,754 3,103,178
Nord 155 44,142,224 15,334,063
Oise 8 1,589,939 751,746
Pas-de-Calais 70 16,665,084 5,856,944
Somme 23 3,404,776 2,683,421
Scattered about 18 2,707,190 3,505,602
------ ------------ ------------
304 73,817,607 30,234,954
This information was given by M. Fould, Minister of Finance, upon the
introduction of a bill making an appropriation for the purchase of 455
_saccharometers_, which had become necessary by reason of the late law
ordering that from and after the 1st of January, 1852, the beet sugars
were to be taxed according to their saccharine richness. The Minister
declared that at that date there would be in active operation in
France 334 sugar factories and 84 refining establishments.
The _Moniteur Parisien_ has the following:--
"Notwithstanding the advantages accorded to colonial sugar, and the
duties which weigh on beet-root sugar, the latter article has
acquired such a regular extension that it has reached the quantity
of 60,000 tons--that is to say, the half of our consumption. France
(deducting the refined sugar exported under favour of the drawback)
consumes 120,000 tons, of which 60,000 are home made, 50,000
colonial, and 10,000 foreign. The two sugars have been placed on the
same conditions as to duties, but it is only from the 1st inst.
(Jan. 1852), that the beet-root sugar will pay a heavier duty than
our colonial sugar. In spite of this difference we are convinced
that the manufacture of beet-root sugar, which is every day,
improved by new processes, will be always very advantageous, and
will attain in some years the total quantity of the consumption. In
Belgium the produce of the beet-root follows the same progress. The
consumption of sugar there was, in 1850, 14,000 tons, of which 7,000
was beet-root, made in 22 manufactories. This year there are 18 new
ones, and although their organisation does not allow of their
manufacturing in the same proportion as the 22 old ones, they will
furnish at least 3,000 tons. The quantity of foreign sugar in that
market does not reckon more than 4,000 tons. This conclusion is the
more certain, as in 1848-1849, the beet-root only stood at 4,500
tons in the general account. It may therefore be seen from these
figures what progress has been made. The same progressive movement
is going on in Germany. In 1848 it produced 26,000 tons, and in
1861, 43,000. The following table shows the importance of this
improvement. It comprises the Zollverein, Hanover, and the Hanse Towns:--
Cane Sugar. Beet-root. Totals.
Tons. Tons. Tons.
1848 60,500 26,000 86,500
1849 54,000 34,000 88,000
1851 45,000 43,000 88,000
Thus we find that in the period of four years cane sugar has lost
15,000 tons and it will lose still more when new manufactories shall
have been established. The consumption of Russia is estimated at
85,000 tons, of which 35,000 is beet-root, and what proves that the
latter every day gains ground is, that the orders to the Havana are
constantly decreasing, and prices are getting lower. In 1848 Austria
consumed 40,000 tons, of which 8,000 were beet-root. Last year
(1851,) she produced 15,000 tons. The production of the continent
rising to 200,000 tons, and the consumption remaining nearly
stationary, it is evident that Brazilian and Cuban sugars will
encumber the English market, independently of the refined sugar of
Java, which Holland sends to Great Britain. When the continental
system was established by the decrees of Milan and Berlin, the
Emperor Napoleon asked the savans to point out the means of
replacing the productions which he proscribed: it is to the active
and useful impulse which his genius impressed on all minds, that
France and Europe owe this fresh manufacture--a creation the more
valuable as its fortunate development required the co-operation of
chemical science and agricultural improvement."
The quantity of sugar extracted from beet-root in the commencement of
the process, amounted to only 2 per cent.; but it was afterwards made
to yield 5 per cent., and it was then supposed possible to extract 6
per cent. On this calculation the fiscal regulations for the
protection of colonial sugars in France were founded; but recent
experiments have been made, by means of which as much as ten and a
half per cent. of sugar has been obtained. The following notice of the
improved process is given in a number of the _Constitutionnel_:--
"It appears that a great improvement is likely to be made in the
manufacture of beet-root sugar. Those who are acquainted with the
process of this manufacture, are aware that M. de Dombasle has the
last six years exclusively devoted himself to bring to perfection
the process of maceration, of which he is the inventor. Adopting
recent improvements, this process is materially altered, and has now
arrived at such a point of perfection that it could scarcely be
exceeded. The Society for the Encouragement of National Industry
recently appointed committees to examine the effect produced in the
manufactory of Roville. They witnessed the entire progress of the
work, every part of which was subjected to minute investigation.
Similar experiments have been made in the presence of many
distinguished manufacturers. We have not the least intention to
prejudge the decision which may be made on this subject by the
society we have alluded to; but we believe we are able to mention
the principal results that have regularly attended the works of the
manufactory this year. The produce in coarse sugar has been more
than eight per cent. of the first quality, and more than two per
cent. of the second quality, in all nearly ten and a half per cent.
of the weight of beet-root used; and the quality of these sugars has
been considered by all the manufacturers superior to anything of the
kind that has hitherto been made, and admits of its being converted
into loaf-sugar of the first quality. The progress of these
operations is as simple as possible, and the expenses attending the
manufacture are considerably less than that of the process hitherto
adopted."
The cultivation of the beet in France appears likely to prove still
more advantageous, in consequence of the discovery that the molasses
drawn from the root may be, after serving for the manufacture of
sugar, turned to farther advantage. It appears that potash may be made
from it, of a quality equal to foreign potash. A Monsieur Dubranfaut
has discovered a method of extracting this substance from the residue
of the molasses after distillation, and which residue, having served
for the production of alcohol, was formerly thrown away. To give some
idea of the importance of the creation of this new source of national
wealth (remarks the _Journal des Debats_), it will be sufficient to
say that the quantity of potash furnished by M. Dubranfaut's process
is equal to l/6th of the quantity of sugar extracted from the beet.
Thus, taking the amount of indigenous sugar manufactured each year at
seventy million kilogrammes (each kil. equal to 2 lbs. 2 oz. avoird.),
there may besides be extracted from this root, which has served for
that production, twelve million kilogrammes of saline matter,
comparable to the best potash of commerce; and this, too, without, the
loss of the alcohol and the other produce, the fabrication of which
may be continued simultaneously. According to the present prices, the
twelve millions of kilogrammes represent a value of from fourteen to
fifteen million francs.
The States composing the German Union possessed towards the close of
1838, 87 manufactories of beet-root sugar in full operation, viz.,
Prussia, 63; Bavaria, 5; Wurtemburg, 3; Darmstadt, 1; other states,
15; besides 66 which were then constructing.
The only returns given for Prussia and Central Germany are 1836 to
1838, and the annual production of sugar was then estimated at eleven
million pounds. The quantity now made is, of course, much greater.
At the close of 1888, Austria produced nine million pounds; she now
makes fifteen thousand tons.
The growth of beet-root in Hungary, during the years 1837 and 1838,
was extremely favorable, and the manufacture of sugar from it has
become very extensive. It has been greatly encouraged by the Austrian
government. It was estimated that fifty millions of pounds were
manufactured in Prussia and Germany in 1839. In Bohemia there were, in
1840, fifty-two factories of beet-root sugar, and nine for the making
of syrup out of potato meal. In 1838, the number was as high as
eighty-seven.
The Dutch papers state that in a single establishment in Voster Vick,
in Guilderland, about five million pounds' weight of the beet-root are
consumed in the manufacture of sugar.
The following is a Comparative Statement of the number of Sugar
Manufactories, and the Quantity of Beet-root upon which duty was paid
for the Manufacture of Sugar in the Zollverein during the years ending
the 31st of August, 1846 and 1847:--
-------------------+-------------+-------------------------------------
| |Quantity of Beet-root upon which duty
| |was paid for the Manufacture of Sugar.
| +---------+---------+-----------------
| Number of | | | Comparison in
Name of the State |Manufactories| | | 1846-7 with the
of the Zollverein | | 1845-6 | 1846-7 | preceding year.
+------+------+ | +---------+-------
| | | | | More in |Less in
|1845-6|1846-7| | | 1846-7 |1846-7
-------------------+------+------+---------+---------+---------+-------
Prussia | | |Cwts. ** | Cwts. | Cwts. | Cwts.
Eastern Prussia | 2 | 2 | 12,393| 29,941| 17,548| --
Western Prussia | -- | -- | -- | -- | --- | --
Posen | 7 | 8 | 101,422| 121,914| 20,492| --
Pomerania | 5 | 4 | 89,865| 121,061| 31,196| --
Silesia | 16 | 22 | 590,545| 711,632| 121,087| --
Brandenburg | 3 | 3 | 140,421| 148,066| 7,645| --
Prussian Saxony | 38 | 42 |2,676,084|3,547,891| 871,817| --
Duchies of Anhalt | 4 | 5 | 266,345| 288,082| 21,737| --
Westphalia | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | --
Rhenish Provinces | 2 | -- | 2,479| -- | -- | 2,479
-------------------+------+------+---------+---------+---------+-------
Total in Prussia | 77 | 86 |3,879,554|4,968,587|1,079,043|
-------------------+------+------+---------+---------+---------+-------
Luxemburg | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | --
Bavaria, Kingdom of| 8 | 7 | 50,952| 46,142| -- | 4,810
Saxony, " | 1 | 2 | 20,887| 34,230| 13,343| --
Wurtemburg, " | 2 | 2 | 59,521| 141,366| 81,845| --
Baden, Grand Duchy | 2 | 2 | 316,968| 328,608| 11,640| --
Hesse, Electorate | 2 | 3 | 25,376| 23,529| -- | 1,847
Hesse, Grand Duchy | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | --
Thuringia | 2 | 3 | 36,127| 38,218| 2,091| --
Brunswick, Dukedom | 2 | 2 | 65,707| 52,796| -- | 12,911
Nassau, Dukedom | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | --
Frankfort, FreeCity| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | --
+------+------+---------+---------+---------+-------
Total, exclusively } | | | | |
of Prussia } 19 | 21 | 575,538| 664,889| 89,351|
+------+------+---------+---------+---------+-------
Total in the | | | | | |
Zollverein | 96 | 107 |4,455,092|5,633,476|1,168,394|
-------------------+------+------+---------+---------+---------+-------
[** Prussian cwts. are equal to 80 English cwts.]
This statement proves that the cultivation of the beet-root, and the
subsequent manufacture into sugar, has greatly increased in the
Zollverein. Eleven manufactories had been added to the number in the
previous year, and an increase of 26 per cent. took place in the
quantity of beet-root which was manufactured into sugar. Each
manufactory used, upon an average, the following quantity during the
undermentioned years:--
1841-2 1844-5 1846-7
Cwts. Cwts. Cwts.
In Prussia generally 38,161 50,384 57,774
In the province of Saxony 55,412 70,423 84,473
In the province of Silesia 33,595 36,909 32,347
In the Zollverein, on an average
in each manufactory 27,237 46,407 52,634
The increase is chiefly evident in the province of Saxony, where, in
1846-7, an augmentation of 1,087,851 cwt. of beet-root; in comparison
to the preceding year, took place. If we compare the quantity of
beet-root employed in Saxony with that of the whole Zollverein, we
find that the former province requires 63 per cent, of the whole
quantity used for the manufacture of sugar. The great activity in that
province (chiefly in the district of Magdeburg) is rendered more
apparent by the following table:--
Comparative Statement of the Number of Manufactories, and their
Machinery and Utensils, employed for the Manufacture of Beet-root
Sugar in the Prussian Province of Saxony during the years 1841-2 and
1846-7 respectively.
------------------------------+-------------------+--------------------
| |In the neighbourhood
|Province of Saxony | of Magdeburg
+---------+---------+---------+----------
| 1841-2 | 1846-7 | 1841-2 | 1846-7
+---------+---------+---------+----------
| No. | No. | No. | No.
Manufactories | 40 | 39 | 15 | 15
Apparatus for grating | 58 | 65 | 27 | 32
Hydraulic presses | 136 | 209 | 72 | 93
Clarifying pans, with open | | | |
firing | 81 | 68 | 24 | 24
Ditto, by steam | 50 | 76 | 33 | 42
Evaporating pans, with open | | | |
firing | 130 | 123 | 55 | 54
Ditto, by steam | 46 | 71 | 28 | 32
Clarifiers, with open firing | 23 | 21 | 14 | 10
Ditto, by steam | 23 | 28 | 19 | 21
Boiling pans, with open firing| 76 | 61 | 33 | 24
Ditto, by steam | 20 | 35 | 12 | 17
Of which there are vacuum pans| 8 | 21 | 3 | 9
Steam-engines | 19 | 40 | 12 | 20
Horse-power | 210 | 457 | 153 | 267
Cattle mills | 19 | 9 | 4 | 2
Cattle employed | 79 | 38 | 19 | 12
| | | |
| Cwt. | Cwt. | Cwt. | Cwt.
Quantity of beet-root used} | | | |
for manufacture } |2,349,774|3,387,280|1,433,293|1,889,463
Or on an average in each} | | | |
manufactory } | 58,744| 86,853| 95,553| 125,964
------------------------------+---------+---------+---------+----------
The increase of power by machinery is surprising, chiefly by steam and
hydraulic presses, which has not only effected a greater produce, but
likewise a much larger increase of the quantity of beet-root required
for manufacture. The works where draught cattle are employed have
decreased, and are only in use where the manufacture of beet root
sugar is combined with a farm.
In Russia, in 1832, there existed only 20 manufacturers of beet root
sugar, but this number subsequently increased to 100, and they
annually produced the twelfth of the total quantity of sugar which
Russia receives from foreign parts. The number of those manufactories
in 1840, was 140, and the importation of sugar, which reached to
1,555,357 lbs. in 1837, amounted to only 1,269,209 lbs. in 1839. The
production of indigenous sugar is now set down at 35,000 tons.
In France, for many years past, the production of beet-root sugar has
been rapidly increasing, in spite of a gradual reduction of the
protection which it enjoyed against colonial and foreign sugar, until
it has reached a quantity of 60,000 tons, or fully one half of the
entire consumption. Independent of the refined sugar exported under
drawback, the consumption of France may be now estimated at 120,000
tons, of which 60,000 tons are of beet-root, 60,000 tons of French
colonial, and 10,000 tons at the outside of foreign sugar. The
beet-root and the French colonial sugars are now placed on the same
footing as regards duty, and a law was recently passed, subjecting
beet-root sugar, from the 1st of January, 1852, to even a higher duty
than French colonial sugar. Nevertheless, it is admitted that the
manufacture of beet-root sugar is highly profitable and rapidly
increasing, so that it is likely in a very short time to exclude
foreign sugar from French consumption altogether.
In Belgium, the production of beet-root sugar is also rapidly
increasing; in 1851 the entire consumption of sugar was estimated at
14,000 tons, of which 7,000 tons were of beet-root, and 7,000 tons of
foreign cane sugar. The number of beet-root factories to supply that
quantity was _twenty-two_, but this number has, already increased in
the present year to _forty_. Many of these will be but imperfectly at
work during this season, but it is estimated that of the entire
consumption of 14,000 tons, at least 10,000 tons will consist of
beet-root, and only 4,000 tons of foreign cane sugar. And from present
appearances the manufacture of beet-root is likely to increase so much
as to constitute nearly the entire consumption. So lately as 1848 and
1849 the production of beet-root sugar was only 4,500 tons.
In Austria, the consumption of sugar in 1841 was 40,000 tons, of which
8,000 tons were of beet-root, and 32,000 tons of foreign cane sugar.
But the production of beet-root has increased so fast that it is
estimated to produce in the present year 15,000 tons; and as no
increase has taken place in the entire consumption, the portion of
foreign cane sugar required in the present year will be reduced from
32,000 tons to 25,000 tons.
The following information, with regard to the state of the manufacture
of beet-root sugar on the Continent last year, has been furnished by
Mr. C.J. Ramsay, of Trinidad.
"My first start was for Paris, where I remained a week, procuring
the necessary letters of introduction, to enable me to see some of
the sugar works in the provinces. Whilst there I called upon Messrs.
Cail and Co., the principal machine makers in France, mentioned the
subject of my visit, and requested their assistance. Nothing could
have been more liberal than the way in which they treated me. I was
at once asked to look over their establishment and requested to call
the next day, when letters of introduction to their branch
establishments at Valenciennes and Brussels would be ready for me.
This I of course did, and received not only these letters but some
others, to sugar manufacturers in the neighbourhood of Valenciennes.
Thus provided, and with letters from Mr. D'Eickthal, a banker in
Paris, to Mr. Dubranfaut, the chemist, to Mr. Grar, a refiner of
Valenciennes, to Mr. Melsens of Brussels, and to another sugar maker
near Valenciennes, whose name I forget, and who was the only man
from whom I did not receive the greatest politeness, I started for
Valenciennes. My first essay was upon the latter personage, who
evidently with a considerable grudge showed me a simple room in his
works where four centrifugal machines were at work--raised the cry
of ruin, if the French improvements were introduced in the West
Indies, and informed me he had nothing else worth seeing. I returned
to Valenciennes, thinking if this is the way I was to be treated, I
might as well have stayed at home. That this was a solitary instance
of illiberality, you will presently see. I next called upon Mr.
Grar, by whom I was received in a very different manner; he at once
offered to show me over his works, and especially that part of them
where a new process, discovered by Mr. Dubranfaut, was carried on,
every part of which was fully explained, Mr. Dubranfaut's laboratory
is connected with these works, and having inspected the working part
of the establishment Mr. G. then took me there, and introduced me to
that gentleman, with whom I passed the remainder of the afternoon,
receiving a full explanation of his new process, which is this:--a
solution of hydrate of barytes is made in boiling water--the
saccharine solution to be treated is heated to the same degree, and
the two mixed together in the proportions of 46 parts of hydrate of
barytes to every 100 parts of sugar contained in the solution, which
has previously been ascertained by polariscopic examination. A
saccharate of barytes is immediately formed in the shape of a
copious precipitate; this, after being thoroughly washed and thus
freed from all soluble impurities, is transferred into large, deep
vats, and a stream of carbonic acid gas forced into it, which
decomposes the saccharate of barytes, forming carbonate of barytes,
and liberating the sugar in the shape of a perfectly pure solution
of sugar in water, of the density of 20 to 23 degrees Baumé; the
carbonate of barytes being thoroughly washed is again converted into
caustic barytes by burning, so that there is little loss in the
operation. The whole process is certainly very beautiful, and its
economic working has been tried for a year, on a sufficiently large
scale to leave no doubt as to the economy of the process in refining
molasses, which is the only purpose it has yet been applied to.
The Messrs. Grar were so thoroughly satisfied with it, that when I
was there they had taken down their original apparatus, and were
re-erecting it on such a scale as to work up all the molasses by it,
equal to almost five tons of sugar daily. Owing to this
circumstance, I had not an opportunity of seeing the process on a
working scale, but was shown the whole proceedings in the
laboratory.
The only difficulties I see in applying this process at once to the
cane juice, are the large quantity of barytes required, the expense
of re-burning it and the entire change in works that would be
necessary before it could be introduced. The advantage would be, the
obtaining the whole sugar contained in the juice, free from all
impurities, consequently white, and in the shape of a syrup marking
20 to 23 degrees instead of 8 or 10 degrees, thus saving fully half
the evaporation now required. The sugar made in this way, I was
told, contains no trace of barytes.
To show you the degree of economy practised in such establishments
in France, I may mention that the washings of the saccharate of
barytes are sold to the makers of potash and soda, who make a profit
by boiling them down to obtain what salts they contain.
The carbonic acid is obtained by the combustion of charcoal in a
closed iron furnace into which air is forced by an air pump,
requiring, I believe, about one horse power. From the top of the
furnace a pipe leads into a washing vessel, from which the gas is
led into the bottom of the vats by pipes.
At Valenciennes I met with Mr. Cail, who, beside being an engineer
and machine-maker, is interested in sugar-making, both in France and
in the West Indies, and most thoroughly understands the subject. He
invited me to accompany him to Douai, to see a new set of works
which had been set agoing this month. I was of course too glad to
accept his invitation, and started with him at six next morning,
reached Douai at eight, and then proceeded to the works, which are a
few miles out of town. In this work a new process is also employed;
it is that of Mr. Rouseau, and is said to answer well. The beet root
juice, as soon as possible after expression, is thrown up by a
montjus into copper clarifiers with double bottoms, heated by steam
at a pressure of five atmospheres. To every hundred litres of juice
(=22 gals.) two kilogrammes of lime are added (about four and a half
pounds English weight). The lime is most carefully prepared and
mixed with large quantities of hot water till it forms a milk
perfectly free from lumps. The steam is turned off, and the juice
heated to 90 deg. A complete defecation has taken place, the steam
is shut off, and the juice left a short time, to allow the heavier
impurities to subside. It is then run off in the usual manner,
undergoes a slight filtration through a cotton cloth placed over a
layer of about four inches thick of animal charcoal, and runs into a
second set of copper vessels placed on a lower level than the
clarifiers; these vessels are heated by means of a coil of steam
piping sufficient to make them boil. A second pipe passes into them,
making a single turn at the bottom of the vessel; this is pierced on
the lower side with small holes, through which a stream of carbonic
acid gas is forced.
This decomposes the saccharate of lime, which has been formed in
consequence of the large excess of lime added to the clarifiers.
The lime is precipitated as carbonate. When precipitation has
ceased, steam is turned on, and the whole made to boil; this expels
any excess of carbonic acid; the liquor is then run off, undergoes a
similar partial filtration to that mentioned above, and is then
passed through the charcoal filters to be decomposed. The sugar made
by this process, directly from the beet-root juice, is nearly white.
The molasses is re-boiled as often as six times; each time
undergoing a clarification and filtration through animal charcoal.
And the proceeds of the last re-boiling is certainly in appearance
not worse than a great deal of muscovado I have seen shipped from
Trinidad.
In this work there are about 150 people employed. The work goes on
night and day, one gang replacing the other. The whole evaporation
is done by two vacuum pans, each 6½ feet in diameter, 80,000
kilogrammes of beet-root are used daily, from which about 6,000
kilogrammes of sugar are obtained, equal to about 6 tons English
weight.
In these and every other works I visited--eight in all--the
centrifugal machines were in use, and had in most cases been so for
two years; those lately made have been much simplified in
construction, and work admirably. Cail & Co., of Paris, are the
makers; their charge is 3,000 francs for each machine (£120 stg.).
They require about one and a half horse power each. As they are
wrought in France, one machine is about equal to work off a ton and
a half of sugar daily, working all the 24 hours. Mr. Cail recommends
a separate engine for those machines; so that they can be used at
any time, independent of the other machinery. The charge put into a
machine is about 80 kilogrammes, from which about 30 to 35
kilogrammes of dry sugar is obtained; the calculation is, I believe,
40 per cent. I weighed some of the baskets of sugar taken out after
drying, and found them 35 kilogrammes. Sugar intended for the
machine is never concentrated beyond 41 degrees Baumè; that made
from the juice direct is allowed 18 to 34 hours to crystallize, and
is put into the machine in a semi-liquid state; the motion at first
is comparatively slow; in about three minutes the sugar appears
nearly dry; about three-fourths of a gallon of brown syrup is then
poured into the machine whilst in motion, and the speed brought up
to its highest, about 1200 revolutions a minute; in 3 or 4 minutes
more the machine is stopped, the sugar scooped out and thrown into
baskets, the inside of the revolving part, and especially the wire
cloth, carefully washed with a brush and water, and a fresh charge
put in. The whole time betwixt each charge is about 15 minutes. From
the large proportion of molasses you will see very plainly that
those who do not intend to re-boil, need not think of centrifugal
machines. The sugar dried in this way is not altogether white, but
has a slight greyish yellow tinge.
Of the other sugar works which I visited, the only one of peculiar
interest was that of Mr. Dequesne, near Valenciennes. Here the roots
are first cut into small pieces by an instrument similar to a turnip
slicer, then dried in a species of kiln, and stored up till
required. In this way I was told beet-root could be preserved with
very little deterioration for a full year, and this enables Mr.
Dequesne to go on making sugar all the year round. When the sugar is
to be extracted, the dried cuttings are put into a series of closed
vessels connected by pipes, and by a system of continuous filtration
of warm water through these vessels the solution of sugar is
obtained, of a density equal, I believe, to 25 degrees Baumè; it is
a good deal colored, and requires filtration through animal
charcoal. Mr. Dequesne informed me that for five years he had been
unable to make this mode of sugar-making cover its expenses, owing
to the loss occasioned by fermentation taking place in the
beet-root; but that he has now entirely overcome that difficulty; by
what means I was not told.
The number of macerating vessels is fourteen, ten of which are
working at a time, the other four filling and emptying.
A greater number of vessels, Mr. Dequesne thinks, would be
advantageous, as cold instead of hot water could then be employed.
He thinks a similar plan might be introduced in the West Indies with
great advantage, and that by employing the proper means to prevent
fermentation the sun's heat would be quite sufficient to dry the
cane slices.
Mr. Dubranfaut and Mr. Rouseau's processes are patented in England.
The terms for the use of the former would, I was told, be made so
moderate, as to offer no obstruction to its being used in the
colonies. What Mr. Rouseau's terms are I could not learn.
There are now 288 works making beet root sugar in France, and over
30 in Belgium. The same manufacture is rapidly spreading in Germany
and Russia, and is now being introduced in Italy. Whilst at
Valenciennes, I learned that two English gentlemen had just preceded
me in visiting the works in that neighbourhood, mentioning that they
had in view introducing the beet root sugar manufacture in Ireland.
The sugar crop of France was last year over 60,000,000 of
kilogrammes (60,000 tons). For two years _Belgium has been
exporting_ to the Mediterranean. One maker told me that he had last
year exported a considerable part of his crop. It would therefore
appear, that even beet root sugar can compete in _other than the
producing country_ with the sugar of the tropics--a most significant
hint that, unless the cane can be made to yield more and better
sugar than is now generally got from it, there is some risk of its
being ultimately beaten by the beet root, the cultivation of which
is now carried on with so much profit that new works are springing
up every year, in almost every country of the continent.
In going through the French works, I made inquiries as to how far
the procedé Melsens had been adopted, and was everywhere told it was
a total failure. I, however, determined to see Mr. Melsens and judge
for myself how far it might be applicable to the cane, even if a
failure with regard to the beet root. I, therefore, went on to
Brussels, enclosed my letters of introduction and card, and received
in return a note, appointing to meet me next morning. I found him
one of the best and most obliging of men. He immediately offered to
go over some experiments on beet root juice with me at his
laboratory, where I accordingly spent the greater part of two days
with him, and went over a variety of experiments; and from what I
saw and assisted in doing, I feel strongly inclined to think that,
notwithstanding the French commission at Martinique report
otherwise, some modification of Mr. Melsens' process may be most
advantageously employed in making cane sugar if not as a defecator,
at least to prevent fermentation, and, probably, also as a
decolorising agent.
Mr. Melsens showed me letters he had received from Java from a
person with whom he had no acquaintance, stating that he had used
the bisulphate of lime with complete success; and whilst I was with
him he again received letters from the same person, stating that by
its use he had not only improved the quality of sugar, but had
raised the return to 9 per cent. of the weight of cane. From the
letters which I saw, the process appears to have been tried on a
very large scale, with the advantage of filters and a vacuum pan.
Where the old mode of leaving half the dirt with the sugar, and
boiling up to a temperature of 340 degrees or thereby, is continued,
I fear there is not much chance of either bisulphate or anything
else making any very great improvement.
The use of bisulphate of lime is patented in England and the
colonies, but I believe I may state the charge for the right of
using it will be made extremely moderate.
The points which appeared to me worthy of remark in visiting the
beet-root sugar works are, the extreme care that nothing shall be
lost--the great attention paid to cleanliness in every part of the
process, besides the particular care given to defecation. No vessel
is ever used twice without being thoroughly washed. Such a thing as
the employment of an open fire in any part of the manufacture is
quite unknown. Everything is done by steam, of a pressure of from 4
to 5 atmospheres. In the more recently started works, the
evaporation is entirely carried on in vacuum. In some of the older
works copper evaporators, heated by coils of steam piping, and
having covers, with chimneys to carry off the vapor, are still used;
but of the eight works I visited I only saw them in use in one of
them, and they are nowhere used excepting to evaporate to the point
when the second filtration takes place.
The coolers I saw were invariably made of iron, and varied in depth
from 2 to over 6 feet. These very deep vessels are used for the
crystallization of sugar, made of the fourth, fifth and sixth
re-boilings of molasses, which requires from three to six months.
One thing struck me forcibly in going over the French and Belgian
works; it was the extreme liberality with which I was allowed to go
over every part of them; to remain in them as long as I pleased; had
all my inquiries answered, and every explanation given; in most
striking contrast to the grudging manner in which I have been
trotted over some of the refineries in England, as if those who
showed them were afraid I should gain any information on the subject
of their trade.
Mr. H. Colman, speaking of the agriculture of the Continent, gives
some information he obtained on the comparative cost of producing beet
and cane sugar. A hectare (two and a half acres) produces, in the Isle
of Bourbon, about 76,000 kilogrammes (a kilogramme is nearly two and
one-fifth pounds) of cane, which will give 2,200 kilogrammes of sugar,
and the cost for labor is 2,500 francs. A hectare of beet root
produces 40,000 kilogrammes of roots, which yield 2,400 kilogrammes of
sugar, and the expense of the culture is 354 francs. The cost of the
cane sugar in this case is 27 centimes, and of the beet sugar 14
centimes only, per kilogramme.
These are extraordinary statements, and will be looked at by the
political economist and the philanthropist with great interest. There
are few of the northern states of Europe, or of the United States,
which might not produce their own sugar; and when we take into account
the value of this product, even in its remains after the sugar is
extracted, for the fattening of cattle and sheep, and of course for
the enrichment of the land for the succeeding crops, its important
bearing upon agricultural improvement cannot be exaggerated.
According to M. Peligot, the average amount of sugar in beets is 12
per cent.; but, by extraction, they obtain only 6 per cent. The cane
contains about 18 per cent. of saccharine matter, but they get only
about 7½. The expense of cultivating a hectare of beets, according to
Dombasle, is 354 francs. An hectare of cane, which produces 2,200
kilogrammes of sugar, in the Island of Bourbon, and only 2,000 in
French Guiana, demands the labor of twelve negroes, the annual expense
of each of whom is 250 francs, according to M. Labran.--(Commission of
Inquiry in 1840.)
Sugar has become not only an article of luxury, but of utility, to
such a degree, that a supply of it constitutes an important article
of importation, and is of national consequence. For sugar the world
has hitherto relied on the cane, with the exception of some parts of
India, where the sugar palm yields it much more cheaply. The sugar
cane is, however, a tropical plant, and, of course, its cultivation
must of necessity be limited to such hot countries. France, during the
wars of Napoleon, shut out from her Indian possessions or deprived of
them, commenced making sugar from beets, and it proving unexpectedly
successful and profitable, it has as we have just seen, extended not
only over that empire, but nearly the whole of continental Europe,
where it forms an important item in their system of cultivation and
profit. The manufacture has been attempted in the United States; but
though the facts of the ease and certainty with which the beets may be
grown and their great value for stock has been fully ascertained,
still little progress in the production of sugar from them has been
made there.
MAPLE SUGAR.
There are few trees in the American forest of more value than the
maple (_Acer saccharinum_). As an ornamental tree, it is exceeded by
few; its ashes abound in alkali, and from it a large proportion of the
potash of commerce is produced; and its sap furnishes a sugar of the
best quality, and in abundance. It likewise affords molasses and an
excellent vinegar. In the maple the sugar amounts to five per cent. of
the whole sap. There is no tree whose shape and whose foliage is more
beautiful, and whose presence indicates a more generous, fertile, and
permanent soil than the rock maple: in various cabinet-work its timber
vies with black walnut and mahogany for durability and beauty; and as
an article of fuel its wood equals the solid hickory. Its height is
sometimes 100 feet, but it usually grows to a height varying from
forty to eighty feet. It is bushy, therefore an elegant shade tree.
The maple is indigenous to the forests of America, and wherever there
has been opportunity for a second growth, this tree attains to a
considerable size much sooner than might be imagined. In the course of
ten or fifteen years the maple becomes of a size to produce sugar. The
trees which have come up since the first clearing, produce sap that
yields much more saccharine than the original forest maples.
The whole interior of the northern part of the United States have
relied, and still rely, more on their maple woodlands for sugar than
on any other source; and as a branch of domestic manufacture and home
production, the business is of no little consequence. The time
occupied too in the manufacture is very limited, and occurs at a
season when very little other labor can be performed.
Hitherto but comparatively little attention has been bestowed upon
this important branch of industry in Canada. The inhabitants of that
province might doubtless manufacture a sufficient quantity of maple
sugar to supply the demand or consumption in this article for the
whole population of the country. This variety of sugar may be refined,
and made as valuable for table use as the finest qualities of West
India sugar. On the south shore of Lake Huron, and the islands of
that inland sea, there are forests of sugar
maple unsurveyed capable of producing a supply for the whole
population. The Indians upon those islands have lately turned their
attention pretty largely to the manufacture of sugar from the maple;
and many tons have been exported from this source. If the Indians
could obtain a fair value for their sugar, say seven or eight dollars
per 100 lbs., they would extend their operations upon a large scale.
Upon these islands alone, there are upwards of a million of full-grown
maple trees, capable of yielding each from two and a half to three
pounds of excellent sugar per annum; and if proper attention were
given to this branch of production in that quarter, I see no reason
why a most profitable business could not be carried on. Every farmer
who has a grove of sugar maple, should endeavour to manufacture at
least sufficient for the consumption of his own family. In most cases
150 trees of medium growth would yield an amount of sap that would
make 300 lbs. of sugar, twenty-five gallons of molasses, and a barrel
of vinegar. The labor required to manufacture this amount of sugar,
molasses, and vinegar, would scarcely be felt by the well-organised
cultivator, as the season for the business is at the close of the
winter, and opening spring, when no labor can be done upon the land.
In proportion to the amount of labor and money expended in the
production of maple sugar, it is as capable of yielding as large a
return of profits as any other branch of farm business. It is
certainly an object of great national interest to the inhabitants of
our North American Colonies, that they should supply their own market
with such products as their highly-favored country is capable of
producing. Sugar is an article which will ever find a ready sale at
highly-remunerating prices, provided that it be properly manufactured
and brought into market in good condition. It requires a little outlay
at first to purchase buckets, cisterns, and boilers, to stock a sugar
bush; but by carefully using the above necessary apparatus, they will
last for a very long period. A farmer can supply himself with the
suitable materials for performing the sugar business without any cost
further than his own labor. The spring is the season of the year that
everything should be put in readiness,--even the wood should be
chopped and drawn to the spot, so that when the sap commences to run,
there may be no impediments in the way to hinder the complete success
of the business.
Large tracts of land in the Ottawa district are covered with the true
sugar maple. It is found in great numbers in the eastern townships of
Lower Canada, where considerable forests of miles in extent contain
nothing else, and in other places it is mixed with various trees.
There is scarcely a spot in Lower Canada where it is not to be met
with. Capt. Marryatt has stated that there were trees enough on the
shores of Lakes Huron and Superior, to supply the whole world with
sugar. In the United States, the manufacture of the sugar was first
attempted about the year 1752, by some farmers of New England, as a
branch of rural economy. This gradually spread wherever the tree was
known. Now it forms an article of food throughout a large portion of
the country. Almost every farmer prepares sugar enough from the trees
in his neighbourhood for the consumption of his family during the
year, and has often a surplus for sale. It is much cheaper than
muscovado, being sold at from 2d. to 3½d. per pound, whilst common
muscovado cannot be bought for less than 4½d. to 5d. per pound.
The province of Canada produced nearly ten million pounds in 1852,
6,190,694 being made in Lower Canada, and 3,581,505 in Upper Canada.
The quantity made in Lower Canada in 1849 was only about 1,537,093
lbs. The maple sugar product of the Canadas in 1848 was officially
stated as follows:--
lbs.
Upper Canada 4,160,667
Lower Canada 2,303,158
---------
6,463,835
This product is therefore of immense importance to the British North
American provinces, all of which, under a judicious system, might be
made to produce vastly increased quantities of this wholesome and
valuable commodity.
The importation of sugar in Canada may very safely be computed at
£40,000 per annum, and the whole of this amount of money could be
retained in the country if the people would only look well to the
matter.
In tapping the tree, the gouge is the best implement that can be used,
provided it is an object to save the timber. It is usual, when using
the gouge, to take out a chip about an inch and a half in diameter;
but this system is objectionable where the maple is not abundant, as
it subjects the timber to decay; it is a better course to make an
incision by holding the gouge obliquely upwards an inch or more in the
wood. A spout, or spile, as it is termed, about a foot long, to
conduct off the sap, is inserted about two inches below this incision
with the same gouge. By this mode of tapping, the wound in the tree is
so small that it will be perfectly healed or grown over in two years.
A boiler, of thick sheet-iron, made to rest on the top of an arch, by
which the sides would be free from heat, and only the bottom is
exposed, is doubtless a secure and rapid process of evaporation. The
sides and ends of the boiler may be made of well-seasoned boards,
which will answer the same purpose as if made solely of sheet-iron.
When the sap is boiled down into syrup or thin molasses, it must be
taken out of the boiler and strained through a flannel cloth into a
tub, where it should settle about twenty-four hours. The clear syrup
should be separated from the sediment, which will be found in the
bottom of the tub. The pure syrup must be boiled down into sugar over
a slow fire. A short time, however, before the syrup is brought to a
boiling heat, to complete the clarifying process, the whites of five
eggs well beaten, about one quart of new milk, and a spoonful of
saleratus, should be all well mixed with a sufficient amount of syrup,
to make 100 lbs. of sugar. The scum which would rise on the top must
be skimmed off. Caution is to be observed in not allowing the syrup to
boil until the skimming process is completed. To secure a good
article, the greatest attention must be bestowed in granulating the
syrup. The boxes or tubs for draining should be large at the top and
small at the bottom. The bottom of the tubs should be bored full of
small holes, to let the molasses drain through. After it has nearly
done draining, the sugar may be dissolved, and the process of
clarifying, granulating, and draining repeated, which will give as
pure a quality of sugar as the best refined West India article.
The greatest objections that are advanced against maple sugar are,
that the processes made use of in preparing the sugar for market are
so rude and imperfect that it is too generally acid, and besides
charged with salts of the oxide of iron, insomuch that it ordinarily
strikes a black color with tea. These objections may be removed
without any comparative difficulty, as it has been proved to
demonstration, by the application of one ounce of clear lime-water to
a gallon of maple sap, that the acidity will be completely
neutralised, and the danger of the syrup adhering to the sides of the
boiler totally removed. The acid so peculiar to the maple sugar, when
combined with lime in the above proportion, is found to be excessively
soluble in alcohol; so much so, that yellow sugar can be rendered
white in a few minutes by placing it in an inverted cone, open at the
top, with small holes at the bottom, and by pouring on the base of the
cone a quantity of alcohol. This should filtrate through until the
sugar is white; it should then be dried and re-dissolved in boiling
water, and again evaporated until it becomes dense enough to
crystallise. Then pour it into the cones again, and let it harden. By
this process a very white sample of sugar may be made, and both the
alcohol and acids will be thoroughly dispelled with the vapor.
The process of making maple sugar it will be seen is very simple and
easily performed. The trees must be of suitable size, and within a
convenient distance of the place where the operations of boiling, &c.,
are to be performed. When gathered, the sap should be boiled as early
as possible, as the quality of the sugar is in a great degree
dependent on the newness or freshness of the sap. There is a tendency
to acidity in this fluid which produces a quick effect in preventing
the making of sugar; and which, when the sap is obliged to be kept for
many hours in the reservoirs, must be counteracted by throwing into
them a few quarts of slaked lime. During the time of sugar making,
warm weather, in which the trees will not discharge their sap,
sometimes occurs, and the buckets become white and slimy, from the
souring of the little sap they contain. In this case they should be
brought to the boiler and washed out carefully with hot water, and a
handful of lime to each.
In reducing the sap, the great danger to be apprehended is from
burning the liquid after it is made to the consistence of molasses,
since, when this is done, it is impossible to convert it into sugar; a
tough, black, sticky mass, of little value, being the result. Indeed,
constant care and attention is required to produce a first-rate
article: for though sugar may be made in almost any way where the sap
can be procured, yet unless the strictest care is observed in the
processes, in gathering and boiling the sap, clarifying the syrup, and
in converting the syrup to sugar, a dirty inferior article will be
made, instead of the beautiful and delicious sweet which the maple,
properly treated, is sure to yield.
The quantity of sugar produced in a year varies considerably from the
same trees. The cause of this difference is to be found in the depth
of snow, continued cold, or a sudden transition from cold to warm,
thus abridging the period of sugar-making. A sharp frost at night,
with clear warm days, is the most favorable to the sugar-maker.
Perhaps four pounds of sugar from a tree may be a pretty fair average
of seasons generally, although we have known the growth to exceed six
pounds, and sink as low as three. A man will take care of one hundred
trees easily, during the season of sugar, which usually lasts from
about the middle of March into April, perhaps employing him twenty
days in the whole. Dr. Jackson, in his Report of the Maine Geological
Survey, gives the following instances of the production of sugar in
that State:--
Lbs. of Sugar.
At the Forks of the Kennebec, twelve persons made 3,605
On No. 1, 2d range, one man and a boy made 1,000
In Farmington, Mr. Titcomb made 1,500
In Moscow, thirty families made 10,500
In Bingham, twenty-five families made 9,000
In Concord, thirty families made 11,000
A cold and dry winter is followed with a greater yield of sugar from
the maple than a season very moist and variable. Trees growing in wet
places will yield more sap, but much less sugar from the same
quantity, than trees on more elevated and drier ground. The red and
white maple will yield sap, but it has much less of the saccharine
quality than the rock or sugar maple.
The work begins usually about the first of March. The tree will yield
its sap long before vegetation appears from the bud: frequently the
most copious flow is before the snow disappears from the ground.
Some persons have a camp in their maple orchards, where large
cauldrons are set in which to boil down the sap to the consistency of
a thick syrup: others take the liquid to their houses, and there boil
down and make the sugar.
The process begins by the preparation of spouts and troughs or tubs
for the trees: the spouts or tubes are made of elder, sumach, or pine,
sharpened to fit an auger hole of about three-fourths of an inch in
diameter. The hole is bored a little upward, at the distance
horizontally of five or six inches apart, and about twenty inches from
the ground on the south or sunny side of the tree. The trough, cut
from white maple, pine, ash, or bass wood, is set directly under the
spouts, the points of which are so constructed as completely to fill
the hole in the tree, and prevent the loss of the sap at the edges,
having a small gimlet or pitch hole in the centre, through which the
entire juice discharged from the tree runs, and is all saved in the
vessels below. The distance bored into the tree is only about one-half
an inch to give the best run of sap. The method of boring is far
better for the preservation of the tree than boxing, or cutting a hole
with an axe, from the lower edge of which the juice is directed by a
spout to the trough or tub prepared to receive it. The tub should be
of ash or other wood that will communicate no vicious taste to the
liquid or sugar.
The sap is gathered daily from the trees and put in larger tubs for
the purpose of boiling down. This is done by the process of a steady
hot fire. The surface of the boiling kettle is from time to time
cleansed by a skimmer. The liquid is prevented from boiling over by
the suspension of a small piece of fat pork at the proper point. Fresh
additions of sap are made as the volume boils away. When boiled down
to a syrup, the liquor is set away in some earthen or metal vessel
till it becomes cool and settled. Again the purest part is drawn off
or poured into a kettle until the vessel is two-thirds full. By a
brisk and continual fire, the syrup is further reduced in volume to a
degree of consistence best taught by a little experience, when it is
either put into moulds to become hard as it is cooled, or stirred
until it shall be grained into sugar. The right point of time to take
it away from the fire may be ascertained by cooling and graining a
small quantity. The sediment is strained off and boiled down to make
molasses.
The following is from a Massachusetts paper:--
The maple produces the best sugar that we have from any plant.
Almost every one admires its taste. It usually sells in this market
(Boston) nearly twice as high as other brown sugar. Had care been
taken from the first settlement of the country to preserve the sugar
maple, and proper attention been given to the cultivation of this
tree, so valuable for fuel, timber, and ornament, besides the
abundant yield of saccharine juice, we could now produce in New
England sugar enough for our own consumption, and not be dependent
on the labour of those who toil and suffer in a tropical sun for
this luxury or necessary of life. But, for want of this friendly
admonition,
"Axeman, spare that tree,"
the sturdy blows were dealt around without mercy or discretion; and
the very generation that committed devastation in the first
settlements in different sections of our country, generally lived to
witness a scarcity of fuel; and means were resorted to for the
purchase of sugar, that were far more expensive than would have been
its manufacture, under a proper mode of economy in the preservation
of the maple, and the production of sugar from its sap.
Those who have trees of the sugar maple, should prepare in season
for making sugar. In many localities, wood is no object, and a rude
method of boiling is followed; but where fuel is very scarce, a
cheap apparatus should be prepared that will require but little
fuel. In some sections, broad pans or kettles have been made of
sheet-iron bottoms, and sides of plank or boards, care being taken
(continued) to allow the fire to come into contact with the iron
only. These pans cost but a trifle, and, owing to their large
surface, the evaporation is rapid.
Another cheap construction for boiling with economy is, to make a
tight box of plank, some four or five feet square--the width of a
wide plank will answer, and then put into it, almost at the bottom,
a piece of large copper funnel, say ten or twelve inches at the
outer part, and then smaller. This funnel, beginning near one end,
should run back nearly to the opposite side, then turn and come put
at the opposite end, or at the side near the end, as most
convenient, being in only two straight parts, that the soot may be
cleared out. Each end should be made tight, with a flange nailed to
the box. At the mouth of the large part there should be a door, to
reduce the draught; here make the fire, and at the other end have a
funnel to carry off the smoke. In this case, there is only sheet
copper between the fire and the sap which surrounds the funnel, so
that the heat is readily taken up by the liquid, and very little
escapes. This is an economical plan for cooking food for stock,
steaming timber, &c.
For catching the sap, various kinds of vessels are used. The
cheapest are made of white birch, which last one season, or less.
Troughs of pine, or linden or bass wood, may be made for a few cents
each, and they will last for a number of years, if inverted in the
shade of trees. But these are inconvenient; and, after the first
year, they become dirty, and clog the sap. Pails with iron hoops are
the best, and, eventually, the cheapest. By painting and carefully
preserving them, they will cost, for a course of years, about one
cent each for a year.
Mr. Alfred Fitch, in the "Genesee Farmer," says:--
In clarifying, I use for 50 lbs. of sugar one pint of skimmed milk,
put into the syrup when cold, and place it over a moderate fire
until it rises, which should occupy thirty or forty minutes; then
skim and boil until it will grain; after which I put it into a tub,
and turn on a little cold water, and in a few days the molasses will
drain out, and leave the sugar dry, light, and white.
Mr. E.W. Clark, of Oswego, furnishes the following:--
_On Fining Maple Sugar_.--The sweet obtained from the maple tree is
undoubtedly the purest known; but from mismanagement in the
manufacture it frequently becomes very impure. Its value is
lessened, while the expense of making it increases. I am sensible
that the method which I shall recommend is not altogether a new one,
and that it is more by attending to some apparently minute and
trivial circumstances, than to any new plan, that my sugar is so
good. Much has been written upon, and many useful improvements been
made in, that part of the process which relates to tapping the
trees, and gathering and evaporating the sap, &c.; but still, if the
final operation is not understood, there will be a deficiency in the
quality of the sugar. I shall confine myself to that part of the
operation which relates to reducing the syrup to sugar, as it is of
the first importance. My process is this:--When the syrup is reduced
to the consistence of West India molasses, I set it away till it is
perfectly cold, and then mix with it the clarifying matter, which is
milk or eggs. I prefer eggs to milk, because when heated the whole
of it curdles; whereas milk produces only a small portion of curd.
The eggs should be thoroughly beaten and effectually mixed with the
syrup while cold. The syrup should then be heated till just before
it would boil, when the curd rises, bringing with it every impurity,
even the coloring matter, or a great portion of that which it had
received from the smoke, kettles, buckets, or reservoirs. The
boiling should be checked, and the scum carefully removed, when the
syrup should be slowly turned into a thick woollen strainer, and
left to run through at leisure. I would remark, that a great
proportion of the sugar that is made in our country is not strained
after cleansing. This is an error. If examined in a wine-glass,
innumerable minute and almost imperceptible particles of curd will
be seen floating in it, which, if not removed, render it liable to
burn, and otherwise injure the taste and color of it.
A flannel strainer does this much better than a linen one. It is,
indeed, _indispensable_. As to the quantity of eggs necessary, one
pint to a pailful of syrup is amply sufficient, and half as much
will do very well. I now put my syrup into another kettle, which has
been made perfectly clean and _bright_, when it is placed over a
quick but solid fire, and soon rises, but is kept from overflowing
by being ladled with a long dipper. When it is sufficiently reduced,
(I ascertain this by dropping it from the point of a knife, while
hot, into one inch of cold water--if done, it will not immediately
mix with the water, but lies at the bottom in a round flat drop,) it
is taken from the fire, and the foaming allowed to subside. A thick
white scum, which is useable, is removed, and the sugar turned into
a cask, placed on an inclined platform, and left undisturbed for six
weeks or longer, when it should be tapped in the bottom and the
molasses drawn off. It will drain perfectly dry in a few days.
The sugar made in this manner is very nearly as white as lump sugar,
and beautifully grained. We have always sold ours at the highest
price of Muscovadoes; and even when these sugars have sold at
eighteen cents, ours found a ready market at twenty. Two hands will
sugar off 250 lbs. in a day. From the scum taken off in cleansing, I
usually make, by diluting and recleansing, one-sixth as much as I
had at first, and of an equal quality.
It is not of much consequence as regards the quality of the sugar,
whether care be taken to keep the sap clean or not. The points in
which the greatest error is committed, are, neglecting to use a
flannel strainer, or to strain after cleansing--to have the sugar
kettle properly cleaned--and to remove the white scum from the
sugar.
An important process of manufacturing maple sugar, which produces a
most beautiful article, is also thus described in a communication by
the gentleman who gained the first premium at the State Fair at
Rochester in 1843, to the Committee on Maple Sugar of the New York
State Agricultural Society.
In the first place, I make my buckets, tubs, and kettles all
perfectly clean. I boil the sap in a potash kettle, set in an arch
in such a manner that the edge of the kettle is defended all around
from the fire. I boil through the day, taking care not to have
anything in the kettle that will give color to the sap, and to keep
it well skimmed. At night I leave fire enough under the kettle to
boil the sap nearly or quite to syrup by the next morning. I then
take it out of the kettle, and strain it through a flannel cloth
into a tub, if it is sweet enough; if not, I put it in a cauldron
kettle, which I have hung on a pole in such a manner that I can
swing it on or off the fire at pleasure, and boil it till it is
sweet enough, and then strain it into the tub, and let it stand till
the next morning. I then take it and the syrup in the kettle, and
put it altogether into the cauldron, and sugar it off. I use, to
clarify say 100 lbs. of sugar, the whites of five or six eggs well
beaten, about one quart of new milk, and a spoonful of saleratus,
all we'll mixed with the syrup before it is scalding hot. I then
make a moderate fire directly under the cauldron, until the scum is
all raised; then skim it off clean, taking care not to let it boil
so as to rise in the kettle before I have done skimming it. I then
sugar it off, leaving it so damp that it will drain a little. I let
it remain in the kettle until it is well granulated. I then put it
into boxes made smallest at the bottom, that will hold from fifty to
seventy lbs., having a thin piece of board fitted in, two or three
inches above the bottom, which is bored full of small holes, to let
the molasses drain through, which I keep drawn off by a tap through
the bottom. I put on the top of the sugar, in the box, a clean damp
cloth; and over that, a board, well fitted in, so as to exclude the
air from the sugar. After it has done draining, or nearly so, I
dissolve it, and sugar it off again; going through with the same
process in clarifying and draining as before.
The following remarks from Dr. Jackson, of Boston, may be of interest
to the sections of the country where maple sugar is made:--
The northern parts of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York,
have dense forests of the sugar maple, and at present only very rude
processes are made use of in preparing the sugar for market, so that
it is too generally acid and deliquescent, besides being charged
with salts of the oxide of iron, insomuch that it ordinarily strikes
a black color with tea. To remedy these difficulties was the object
of my researches; while, at the same time, I was engaged in
ascertaining the true composition of the sap, with a view to the
theory of vegetable nutrition.
I received several gallons of freshly-drawn maple sap from
Northampton, Warner, and Canterbury, and made analyses of each lot,
separating the acids, salts, and the sugar. I also analysed the sap
of the yellow and white birch, which do not give any crystallisable
sugar, but an astringent molasses.
I shall now communicate to you the process by which I manufactured
sugar maple sap, received from the Shakers of Canterbury, who
collected it with care in a clear glass demijohn, and sent it
forthwith, so that it came to me without any change of composition,
the weather being cold at the time. The evaporation was carried on
in glass vessels until the sap was reduced to about one-eighth its
original bulk, and then it was treated with a sufficient quantity of
clear lime-water to render it neutral, and the evaporation was
completed in a shallow porcelain basin. The result was, that a
beautiful yellow granular sugar was obtained, from which not a
single drop of molasses drained, and it did not deliquesce by
exposure to the air. Another lot of the sap, reduced to sugar
without lime-water, granulated, but not so well, was sour to the
taste, deliquesced by exposure, and gave a considerable quantity of
molasses.
Having studied the nature of the peculiar acid of the maple, I found
that its combinations with lime were excessively soluble in alcohol,
so that the yellow sugar first described could be rendered white in
a few minutes, by placing it in an inverted cone open at the bottom,
and pouring a fresh quantity of alcohol upon it, and allowing it to
filtrate through the sugar. The whitened sugar was then taken and
re-dissolved in boiling water and crystallised, by which all the
alcoholic flavour was entirely removed, and a perfectly fine
crystallised and pure sugar resulted. Now, in the large way, I
advise the following method of manufacturing maple sugar. Obtain
several large copper or brass kettles, and set them up in a row,
either by tripods with iron rings, or by hanging them on a
cross-bar; clean them well, then collect the sap in buckets, if
possible, so that but little rain-water will be mixed with the sap,
and take care not to have any dead leaves in it. For every gallon of
the maple sap _add one measured ounce_ of clear lime-water, pass the
sap into the first kettle and evaporate; then, when it is reduced to
about one-half, dip it out into the second kettle, and skim it each
time; then into the next, and so on, until it has reached the last,
where it is reduced to syrup, and then may be thrown into a trough,
and granulated by beating it up with an oar.
As soon as the first kettle is nearly empty, pour in a new lot of
the sap, and so continue working it forward exactly after the manner
of the West India sugar-boilers. The crude sugar may be refined
subsequently, or at the time of casting it into the cones made of
sheet iron, well painted with white lead and boiled linseed oil, and
thoroughly dried, so that no paint can come off. These cones are to
be stopped at first, until the sugar is cold; then remove the
stopper and pour on the base of the cone a quantity of strong
whiskey, or fourth proof rum. Allow this to nitrate through, until
the sugar is white; dry the loaf, and redissolve it in boiling hot
water, and evaporate it until it becomes dense enough to
crystallise. Now pour it into the cones again, and let it harden. If
any color remains, pour a saturated solution of refined white sugar
on the base of the cone, and this syrup will remove all traces of
color from the loaf.
One gallon of pasture maple sap yielded 3,451 grains of pure sugar.
One gallon of the juice of the sugar cane yields, on an average, in
Jamaica, 7,000 grains of sugar. Hence, it will appear that maple sap
is very nearly half as sweet as cane juice; and since the maple
requires no outlay for its cultivation, and the process may be
carried on when there is little else to be done, the manufacture of
maple sugar is destined to become an important department of rural
economy. It is well known, by the Report of the Statistics of the
United States, that Vermont ranks next to Louisiana as a sugar
state, producing (if I recollect correctly) 6,000,000 of pounds in
some seasons, though the business is now carried on in a very rude
way, without any apparatus, and with no great chemical skill; so
that only a very impure kind of sugar is made, which, on account of
its peculiar flavor, has not found its way into common use, for
sweetening tea and coffee. It would appear worth while, then, to
improve this manufacture, and to make the maple sugar equal to any
now in use. This can be readily accomplished, if the farmers in the
back country will study the process of sugar-making, for cane and
maple sugar are, when pure, absolutely identical. It should be
remarked, that forest maples do not produce so much sugar as those
grown in open fields or in groves, where they have more light, the
under-brush being cleared away.
In Farmington, on the Sandy River, in Maine, I have seen a very fine
grove of maples, but thirty years old, which produced a large yield
of very good sugar. A man and two boys made 1,500 lbs. of sugar from
the sap of these trees in a single season. The sap was boiled down
in potash kettles, which were scoured bright with vinegar and sand.
The sugar was of a fine yellow color, and well crystallised. It was
drained of its molasses in casks, with a false bottom perforated
with small holes--the cask having a hole bored at the bottom, with a
tow plug placed loosely in it, to conduct off the molasses. This
method is a good one, but the sap ought to be limed in boiling, as I
have described; then it will not attach to the iron or copper
boilers. The latter metal must not be used with acid syrup, for
copper salts are poisonous.
There are several towns in the northern sections of Maine, New
Hampshire, and Vermont, that produce more than sufficient sugar for
the consumption of their inhabitants. A lot of good sugar trees will
average four pounds to the tree, in a favorable season. Many farmers
have orchards that will yield five hundred to a thousand pounds of
sugar in a year. As this is made at a season interfering very little
with the general business of the farm, the sugar that the farmer makes
is so much clear gain.
There is, on almost every hill-farm, some place favorable for the
growth of a maple orchard--some rocky spots yielding little grass, and
impervious for the plough. Such spots may be favorably chosen for the
growth of a maple orchard; and whether the increase be used for
manufacturing sugar or molasses, or for timber or fuel, the proprietor
of the land will find a profit better than money at interest in the
growth of this beautiful tree, which will spontaneously propagate
itself in many positions.
Its great excellence consists in yielding sap for the manufacture of
vast quantities of maple sugar in the country during the months of
spring. An open winter, constantly freezing and thawing, is a
forerunner of a bountiful crop of sugar. The orchard of maple trees is
almost equal to a field of sugar cane of the same area, in the
production of sugar. This tree reaches an age of 200 years.
Vermont is the second sugar-producing State in the Union. The amount
of maple sugar produced there in 1840 was over 2,550 tons, being more
than 17¾ pounds to each inhabitant, allowing a population of 291,948.
At five cents a pound, this is worth. 255,963 dols. 20 cents.
The Statistics of the United States census for 1850, show that about
thirty-five millions of pounds (15,250 tons) of maple sugar were
manufactured in that year:--
Maine 97,541
New Hampshire 1,392,489
Massachusetts 768,596
Vermont 5,159,641
Connecticut 37,781
New York 10,310,764
New Jersey 5,886
Pennsylvania 2,218,641
Maryland 47,740
Virginia 1,223,908
North Carolina 27,448
South Carolina 200
Georgia 50
Alabama 473
Mississippi 110
Louisiana 260
Arkansas 8,825
Tennessee 159,647
Kentucky 388,525
Ohio 4,528,548
Michigan 2,423,897
Indiana 2,921,638
Illinois 246,078
Missouri 171,942
Iowa 70,684
Missouri 661,969
Minnesota 2,950
-----------
Total 32,776,671
There is a balance of about two million pounds produced by Rhode
Island, Texas, Oregon, California, Utah, New Mexico, Delaware, and
Florida. The above statement does not include the sugar made by the
Indians, east of the Mississippi river, which may be set down at
10,000,000 lbs., and west of that river 2,000,000 lbs.
Besides the above sugar crop, there was a yield by the sugar maple in
the United States in 1850, of 40,000,000 gallons of maple molasses.
_Maize Sugar_.--The stem and branches of Indian corn, during the time
that its grain is filling, abounds with sugar, even when grown in this
country; so much so, that it might be turned to account by those of
the peasantry who have small plots of ground attached to their
cottages; and I applied a simple method by which a rich syrup may be
obtained from it, equal in sweetness to treacle, and superior to it in
flavor. The proper time for cutting down the plant (which should be
done within an inch of the ground), is when the corn in the ear is
small and full of a milky juice. All the large and old leaves should
be stripped off, leaving only the young and tender ones; they should
then be cut into short lengths, thoroughly bruised, and the juice
entirely pressed out from them. Where the means cannot be obtained for
expressing the juice by this method, the following may be
employed:--After the plants have been cut into small pieces, put them
into a large pot or copper, with only just sufficient water to extract
the juice; boil for one hour, and then strain off the liquor; to each
gallon of this liquor add a wine-glass full of lime-water whilst warm;
but if it be the expressed juice, obtained as above mentioned, add
double the quantity of lime-water. When the liquor is cold, for every
three gallons beat up an egg with some of the liquor; put altogether
into a boiler, and boil gently till the syrup acquires the consistence
of treacle. Whilst this is going on, the liquor should every now and
then be well stirred, and the scum which rises to the surface taken
off. This syrup, which will be found a better substitute for sugar
than treacle, and more wholesome, should be kept in lightly-covered
vessels, in a dry place.
My own observations, twelve years ago, acquainted me with the fact,
that when the grain in the ear has acquired one half of the full size,
the quantity of sugar in the sap has passed its maximum, or begun to
decrease, and continues to do so until it disappears entirely. Lopping
off the young ears makes shorter work of it. It is like taking the
young from an animal giving suck, in which case the milk soon ceases
to flow into the breast, and that which produced it is elaborated into
other fluids necessary to the nourishment of the different parts of
the body of the parent. In the corn-stalk, when deprived of its ears,
the elements of sugar are dissipated by increasing the size of the
plant.
Sugar may also be obtained from the carrot and the parsnip, as well as
from all sweet fruits. It is abundant throughout the vegetable
kingdom; it forms the first food of plants when they germinate in the
seed; when the first little sprout is projected from a grain of corn,
a portion of the farina, or starch, is changed into sugar, which may
be called the blood of the plant, and from it is drawn the nourishment
necessary to its expansion and appearance above the surface of the
earth. In the latter growth of many plants an inverse process is
carried on, as in the Indian corn, which I have just spoken of. In
this instance, as also numberless others, sugar is formed in large
quantities in the body of the plant, and elaborated into farina, or
starch, in the ear. The elements of which sugar and starch are
composed are the same; the only difference is in their proportions.
Chemists, being aware of this, have converted starch into sugar; and
could do it with certainty to any extent, were any advantage to be
gained by it; but hitherto starch has been higher in price than sugar.
SECTION II.
THE GRAIN CROPS, EDIBLE ROOTS, AND FARINACEOUS PLANTS FORMING THE
BREAD STUFFS OF COMMERCE.
The vegetable substances, from which man derives his principal
sustenance, such as the nutritious cereal grains, the tuberous rooted
plants and the trees yielding farina, are very widely diffused, and
necessarily occupy the main attention of the cultivator; their
products forming the most important staples of domestic and foreign
commerce. The cereal grasses and roots, cultivated in temperate
regions, such as wheat, barley, oats, rye, and the potato, are so well
known, and have been so fully described by agricultural writers that I
shall not go much into details as to their varieties, culture, &c.,
but confine myself chiefly to their distribution, produce, statistics,
and commercial importance. The food plants may be most conveniently
arranged under three heads. Firstly--the Grain crops and legumes,
which comprises the European cultivated grasses, wheat, barley, oats,
&c.; and the tropical ones of rice, maize, millet, Guinea corn, &c.
Secondly--Palms and other trees yielding farina, including the sago
palms, plantain and banana, and the bread fruit tree. And Thirdly--the
edible Root crops and Starch producing plants, which are a somewhat
extensive class, the chief of which, however, are the common potato,
yams, cocos or eddoes, sweet potatoes, the bitter and sweet cassava or
manioc, the arrowroot and other plants yielding starch in more or less
purity.
There is a great diversity of food, from the humble oak bark bread of
the Norwegian peasant, or the Brahmin, whose appetite is satisfied
with vegetables, to the luxurious diet of a Hungarian Magnate at
Vienna.
The bread stuffs, as they are popularly termed, particularly wheat and
wheat flour, maize, and rice, form very important articles of
commerce, and enter largely into cultivation in various countries for
home consumption and export. Russia, India, and the United States,
carry on a very considerable trade in grain with other countries. Our
local production being insufficient for food and manufactures, we
import yearly immense quantities of grain and flour. In the four years
ending 1852, the annual quantity of corn, of various, kinds, imported
into the United Kingdom, exclusive of flour and meal, rice, sago, &c.,
averaged 8,085,903 quarters.
The flour and meal imported, omitting sago, arrowroot and other
starches, averaged in the same period 4,143,603 cwts. annually.
The annual imports of breadstuffs for food, taking the average of the
four years ending with 1852, may be thus summed up--
Tons.
Corn and grain, 8,085,903 quarters, at 60 lb. the bushel 173,270
Flour and meal 207,180
Rice 40,817
Potatoes 42,440
Sago, arrowroot, &c. 5,000
-------
Total 468,707
Some portion of this quantity is doubtless consumed in the arts--as
starch for stiffening linens, &c., and for other purposes not coming
under the term of food, but I have purposely left out in the
calculation about 30,000 to 40,000 quarters of rice in the husk
annually imported.
Ireland took, in 1849, of foreign grain 2,115,129 quarters; 1,683,687
quarters in 1850; and 2,504,229 in 1851; as well as 256,837 cwts. of
various kinds of meal and flour in 1849; 220,107 cwts. in 1850; and
341,680 cwts. in 1851. England also supplied her with about 500,000
quarters of grain and 350,000 cwts. of meal in each of those years.
The comparative returns of the importations of grain into the United
Kingdom for the last four years, are as follows, in quarters:--
1852. 1851. 1850. 1849.
Wheat 3,068,892 3,812,009 3,738,995 3,845,378
Barley 656,737 829,564 1,035,903 1,381,008
Oats 995,480 1,198,529 1,154,473 1,267,106
Rye 10,023 24,609 98,836 240,566
Beans 371,250 318,502 443,306 457,933
Peas 107,017 99,399 181,419 234,366
Maize 1,479,891 1,807,636 1,277,071 2,224,459
Other sorts 8,085 3,432 868 1,150
--------- --------- --------- ---------
Quarters 6,667,375 8,124,280 7,930,871 9,651,966
The meal and flour imported in the same years, in cwts., were as
follows:--
1852. 1851. 1850. 1849.
Wheat 3,889,583 5,314,414 3,819,440 3,349,839
Barley 212 34 108 224
Oats 521 2,525 5,999 40,230
Rye 92 6,493 964 18,468
Indian corn 742 9,561 11,334 101,683
Other sorts 54 343 163 1,396
--------- --------- --------- ---------
Cwts. 3,891,195 5,323,370 3,838,008 3,511,840
Before the famine in Ireland the imports seldom reached 20 millions of
bushels of grain and meal of all kinds. In 1848 our imports were
about 60 millions; in 1849, 85 millions; in 1850, 68 millions; in
1851, 75½ millions; in 1852, 69 millions, with good wheat harvests;
showing the great shock received and the slowness of recovery.
With a rapidly increasing population in all parts of the civilized
world, the production of bread is obviously the first object to be
sought after, alike by the statesman and the peasant. I scarcely dare
give the calculation of the immense amount which would be realised in
any great country, by the single saving of a bushel to an acre, in the
quantity of seed ordinarily sown. The same result would follow if an
additional bushel could be produced in the annual average yield of the
wheat crop.
According to Mr. H. Colman, the annual amount of seed for wheat sown
in France is estimated at 32,491,978 bushels. If we could suppose a
third of this saved, the saving would amount to 10,863,959 bushels per
year. Suppose an annual increase of the crops of five bushels per
acre, this would give an increase of production of 54,319,795 bushels.
Add this, under improved cultivation, to the amount of seed saved, and
the result would be 65,183,754 bushels--I believe under an improved
agriculture this is quite practicable.
An eminent agricultural writer placed the average yield in England at
eighteen bushels per acre; some years since a man of sanguine
temperament rated it at over thirty bushels. In France it is stated,
in the best districts, to average twenty-two bushels. These evidently
are wholly conjectural estimates. In England Mr. Colman states that
fifty bushels per acre were reported to him on the best authority, as
the yield upon a large farm in a very favorable season. More than
eighty bushels have been returned, upon what is deemed ample
testimony, to the Royal Agricultural Society of England, as the
product of a single acre. In France Mr. Colman had, upon credible
authority, reports of forty, forty-four and seventy-two bushels. It
would be of immense importance to any government to know the exact
produce grown in any county, or district, or in the whole country; and
this might be obtained by compelling, on the part of the owner or
cultivator, an actual return of his crop; but it is of little use to
found such returns on estimates purely conjectural.
From the best statistical accounts that can be obtained, the wheat
annually produced in the United Kingdom.
England, Scotland, Ireland is 111,681,320 bushels.
In France it is 198,660,000 "
United States 100,503,899 "
The amount of seed ordinarily sown to the acre in France is from two
to three bushels. The return of crop for the seed sown is represented
as in the best districts averaging 6.25 for one; in the least
productive 5.40 for one. My readers may be curious to know the
calculations which have been made in some other countries in regard to
this matter.
CENTRAL EUROPE
Increase
Countries. Year. for seed sown.
Spain 1828 6 for one
Portugal 1786 10 "
Tuscany 10 "
Plains of Lucca 15 "
Piedmont--Plains of Marengo 4 to five
Bologna 15 "
Roman States--Pontine marshes 20 "
Ordinary lands 8 "
Kingdom of Naples--best districts 20 "
Ordinary lands 8 "
Malta--the best lands 38 to 64 "
Ordinary lands 22, 25, 30 "
NORTHERN EUROPE.
Sweden and Norway 1838 4.50 for one
Denmark 1827 6 "
Russia, a good harvest 1819 5 "
---- province of Tambof 1821 4.50 "
---- provinces north of 50 deg. latitude 1821 3 "
Poland 1826 8 "
England 1830 9 "
Scotland 1830 8 "
Ireland 1825 10 "
Holland 1828 7.50 "
Belgium 1828 11 "
Bavaria 1827 7 to 8 "
Prussia 1817 6 "
Austria 1812 7.05 "
Hungary 1812 4 "
Switzerland, lands of an inferior quality 1825 3 "
Of a good quality, 8; of the best quality 12 "
France, inferior lands, 3; best lands 6 "
(Statistique des Cereales de la France par Moreau de Jonnes.)
STATISTICS OF WHEAT CULTURE.
As wheat forms the principal nutritious food of the world, claiming
the industrious application of labor over the greater part of Europe,
throughout the temperate regions of Asia, along the northern kingdoms
of Africa, and extending far into the northern and southern regions of
the American continents; as it has been cultivated from time
immemorial, and has produced in various climates and soils many
varieties; it is surprising that so little is generally known of the
distinct varieties best adapted to particular climates--and that in
Great Britain and the United States we have yet to learn the variety
which will yield the largest and best amount of human food!
At the Industrial Exhibition in 1851, twenty-six premiums only were
distributed for specimens of wheat; of these, five were awarded to
British farmers, three to France, three to Russia, three to Australia,
three to the United States, and one each or severally to other
nations. Some beautiful specimens of wheat were exhibited from South
Australia, weighing seventy pounds a bushel; which were eagerly sought
after for seed wheat by our farmers and the colonists of Canada and
the United States. But as is well observed by Professor Lindley, it
has no peculiar constitutional characteristics by which it may be
distinguished from other wheats. Its superior quality is entirely
owing to local conditions; to the peculiar temperature, the brilliant
light, the soil, and those other circumstances which characterise the
climate of South Australia.
All kinds of wheat contain water in greater or lesser quantities. Its
amount is greater in cold countries than in warm. In Alsace from 16 to
20 per cent.; England from 14 to 17 per cent.; United States from 12
to 14 per cent.; Africa and Sicily from 9 to 11 per cent. This
accounts for the fact, that the same weight of southern flour yields
more bread than northern, English wheat yields 13 lbs. more to the
quarter than Scotch. Alabama flour, it is said, yields 20 per cent.
more than that of Cincinnati. And in general American flour, according
to one of the most extensive London bakers, absorbs 8 or 10 per cent.
more of its own weight of water in being made into bread than the
English. The English grain is fuller and rounder than the American,
being puffed up with moisture.
Every year the total loss in the United States from moisture in wheat
and flour is estimated at four to five million dollars. To remedy this
great evil, the grain should be well ripened before harvesting, and
well dried before being stored in a good dry granary. Afterwards, in
grinding and in transporting, it should be carefully protected from
wet, and the flour be kept from exposure to the atmosphere. The best
precaution is kiln-drying. By this process the wheat and flour are
passed over iron plates heated by steam to the boiling point. From
each barrel of flour 16 or 17 pounds of water are thus expelled,
leaving still four or five per cent. in the flour, an amount too small
to do injury. If all the water be expelled, the quality of the flour
is deteriorated.
The mode of ascertaining the amount of water in flour is this; take a
small sample, say five ounces, and weigh it carefully; put it into a
dry vessel, which should be heated by boiling water; after six or
seven hours, weigh it; its loss of weight shows the original amount of
water.
The next object is to ascertain the amount of gluten. Gluten is an
adhesive, pasty mass, and consists of several different principles,
though its constitution has not yet been satisfactorily determined. It
is chiefly the nutritious portion of the flour. The remaining
principles are mostly starch, sugar and gum. On an average their
relative amount in 100 parts are about as follows:--
Average. Kobanga wheat, the best.
Water 13 12
Gluten 12 16
Starch 67 60
Sugar and Gum 8 8
--- ---
100 97
Professor Beck examined thirty-three different samples from various
parts of the United States and Europe, and he gives the preference to
the Kobanga variety from the south of Russia. There would probably be
a prejudice against it in this country, from the natural yellowish hue
of its flour and bread.
The value of the vegetable food, grain, potatoes, rice and apples
exported from the United States within the past few years is thus set
down:--
Dollars.
1847 57,970,356
1848 25,185,647
1849 25,642,362
1850 15,822,273
To this has to be added nine or ten million dollars more for tobacco,
72 million dollars for cotton, and 180,000 dollars for hops and other
minor agricultural staples--making the value of the raw vegetable
exports about 98 million dollars. There is further the value of the
products of the forest, timber, ashes and bark, tar, &c., which are
equal to nearly seven millions more, as shown by the following
figures:--
Dollars.
1847 5,248,928
1848 6,415,297
1849 5,261,766
1850 6,590,037
It appears from an official document of the American Treasury
Department, that the average value of the breadstuffs and provisions
annually exported from the United States from 1821 to 1836 inclusive,
was 12,792,000 dolls.; in 1837 and 1838, about 9,600,000 dolls.; from
1839 to 1846, 16,176,000 dolls.; and for the last seven years as
follows:--
Dollars.
1846 27,701,121
1847 68,701,921
1848 37,472,751
1849 38,155,507
1850 26,051,373
1851 21,948,651
1852 25,857,027
Out of the wheat crop in the United States in 1846 of 110 million
bushels raised, 10 millions were used for seed, starch, &c.; 72
consumed for food, and 28 million exported. The 460 million bushels of
Indian corn raised, were thus disposed of; exported to foreign
countries 22 million bushels; sold to and consumed by non-producers,
100 million; consumed on the farms and plantations of the producers
for human and animal food, seed, &c., 338 million bushels.
The United States now produce about 120 million bushels of wheat, and
nearly 600 million bushels of corn. Their surplus of wheat, for
export, may be taken at 20 million bushels, and of Indian corn an
almost unlimited quantity. They export about one and a quarter million
barrels of flour, and about one million of bushels of wheat to other
markets besides those of Great Britain or her North American colonies,
viz., to Europe, Asia, Africa, the West Indies and South America,
California and Australia, manufactured flour being the article
required for these latter markets. Nearly four million bushels of
Indian corn, and 300,000 barrels of corn meal, are exported from the
United States to the West Indies and other foreign markets.
From the abstracts of statistical returns prepared at the American
Census office, it appears that Pennsylvania, in 1850, was the largest
wheat producing State of the Union. I have had the curiosity to
compare the most prominent States in respect to this crop, and give
them below, with the crop of each, as shown by the returns:--
Bushels.
Pennsylvania 15,482,191
Ohio 14,967,056
Virginia 14,516,900
New York 13,073,000
Michigan 4,918,000
Maryland 4,494,680
That the United States could export 6,000,000 bushels of wheat, and
its equivalent in flour in 1845; 13,000,000 in 1846, 26,000,000 in
1847, and then fell back to 13,000,000 in 1848, and 6,000,000 in 1849,
with their production of wheat constantly increasing throughout this
period, shows a wonderful elasticity, and extensive home market. If
the price of wheat is higher in proportion than for corn, the
Americans export the former and consume the latter; if the demand for
corn be also great, they kill their hogs and export corn, for the pork
will keep. If there be no great demand for either, they eat their
surplus wheat, feed their hogs with the corn, and export pork as
having the greatest value in the least bulk.
DESTINATION OF FLOUR SHIPPED FROM THE UNITED STATES.
-------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------
WHERE TO. | 1847 | 1849 | 1850 | 1851
-------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------
Swedish West Indies | 7,366| 7,573| 8,757| 5,315
Danish ditto | 52,150| 49,568| 44,802| 60,102
Dutch East Indies | 1,150| 4,625| 1,600| 1,873
Dutch West Indies | 11,387| 17,221| 18,354| 19,217
Holland and Belgium | 73,871| 727| 1,177| 594
England |2,475,076| 953,815| 369,777|1,004,783
Gibraltar | 23,974| 6,265| 2,543| 195
British East Indies | 3,034| 791| 1,646| 1,600
British West Indies | 320,363| 303,551| 250,776| 294,731
British American Colonies| 272,299| 294,891| 244,072| 252,380
France | 612,641| -- | -- | --
French West Indies | 28,966| 5,554| 5,480| 7,902
Hayti | 40,257| 10,903| 31,504| 43,867
Cuba | 50,046| 7,154| 5,584| 5,611
Spanish West Indies | 17,780| 6,429| 7,074| 2,285
Madeira | 4,856| 4,358| 6,321| 7,006
Cape de Verds | 1,634| 501| 455| 838
Mexico | 5,928| 11,633| 9,736| 14,964
Honduras | 10,686| 4,125| 4,725| 5,912
Central America | 550| 4,180| 746| 2,573
Columbia | 39,403| 32,251| 41,072| 47,477
Brazil | 270,473| 328,129| 295,415| 374,711
Argentine Republic | 10,684| 6,599| 4,901| 22,612
Chili | 5,977| 5,129| 2,848| 4,327
South America | 2,128| -- | 40| 200
West Indies | 4,902| 3,984| 1,702| 4,079
Africa | 25,728| 4,617| 5,524| 5,430
North-west Coast | 764| 1,180| 858| 2,593
Other ports | 29,866| 35,017| 18,949| 19,158
|---------|---------|---------|---------
Total--Barrels |4,382,496|2,108,013|1,385,448|2,202,335
|---------|---------|---------|---------
Average price | 5.95| 5.35| 5.00| 4.77
-------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------
Wheat, where the soil and the climate are adapted to its growth, and
the requisite progress has been made in its culture, is decidedly
preferred to all other grains, and, next to maize, is the most
important crop in the United States, not only on account of its
general use for bread, but for its safety and convenience for
exportation. It is not known to what country it is indigenous, any
more than any other cultivated cereals, all of which, no doubt, have
been essentially improved by man. By some, wheat is considered to have
been coeval with the creation, as it is known that upwards of a
thousand years before our era it was cultivated, and a superior
variety had been attained. It has steadily followed the progress of
civilisation from the earliest times, in all countries where it would
grow. In 1776 there was entailed upon America an enduring calamity, in
consequence of the introduction of the Hessian or wheat fly, which was
supposed to have been brought from Germany in some straw, employed in
the debarkation of Howe's troops on the west end of Long Island. From
that point the insect gradually spread in various directions, at the
rate of twenty or thirty miles a year, and the wheat of the entire
regions east of the Alleghanies is now more or less infested with the
larva, as well as in large portions of the States bordering on the
Ohio and Mississippi, and on the great Lakes; and so great have been
the ravages of these insects that the cultivation of this grain has in
many places been abandoned.
The geographical range of the wheat region in the Eastern Continent
and Australia, lies principally between the 30th and 60th parallels of
north latitude, and the 30th and 40th degrees south, being chiefly
confined to France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Sicily, Greece, Turkey,
Russia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Prussia, Netherlands,
Belgium, Great Britain, Ireland, Northern and Southern Africa,
Tartary, India, China, Australia, Van Diemen's Land, and Japan. Along
the Atlantic portions of the Western Continent, it embraces the tract
lying between the 30th and 50th parallels, and in the country
westward of the Rocky Mountains, one or two more degrees further
north. Along the west coast of South America, as well as in situations
within the torrid zone, sufficiently elevated above the level of the
sea, and properly irrigated by natural or artificial means, abundant
crops are often produced.
The principal districts of the United States in which this important
grain is produced in the greatest abundance, and where it forms a
leading article of commerce, embrace the States of New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky,
Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Iowa. The chief
varieties cultivated in the Northern and Eastern States are the white
flint, tea, Siberian, bald, Black Sea, and the Italian spring wheat.
In the middle and Western States, the Mediterranean, the Virginia
white May, the blue stem, the Indiana, the Kentucky white bearded, the
old red chafet, and the Talavera. The yield varies from ten to forty
bushels and upwards per acre, weighing, per bushel, from fifty-eight
to sixty-seven pounds.
It appears that on the whole crop of the United States there was a
gain during the ten years ending 1850, of 15,645,373 bushels. The crop
of New England decreased from 2,014,000 to 1,078,000 bushels,
exhibiting a decline of 936,000 bushels, and indicating the attention
of farmers has been much withdrawn from the culture of wheat. Grouping
the States from the Hudson to the Potomac, including the district of
Columbia, it appears that they produced, in 1849, 35,085,000 bushels,
against 29,936,000 in 1839. In Virginia there was an increase of
1,123,000 bushels. These States embrace the oldest wheat-growing
region of the country, and that in which the soil and climate seem to
be adapted to promote the permanent culture of the grain. The increase
of production in the ten years has been 6,272,000 bushels, equal to
15.6 per cent. The area tilled in these States is 36,000,000 acres,
only thirty per cent. of the whole amount returned, while the
proportion of wheat produced is forty-six per cent. In North Carolina
there has been an increase of 170,000 bushels, but in the Southern
States generally there was a considerable decrease. Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan, and Wisconsin contributed to the general aggregate under the
sixth census only 9,800,000 bushels; under the last they are shown to
have produced upwards of 25,000,000 bushels, an amount equal to the
whole increase in the United States for the period.
When we see the growth of wheat keeping pace with the progress of
population in the oldest States of the Union, we need have no
apprehension of a decline in the cultivation of this important crop.
The amount of flour exported from New Jersey in 1751, was 6,424
barrels. From Philadelphia in 1752,125,960 barrels, besides 85,500
bushels of wheat; in 1767, 198,816 barrels, besides 367,500 bushels of
wheat; in 1771, 252,744 barrels. From Savannah, in 1771, 7,200 lbs.
From Virginia, for some years annually preceding the revolution,
800,000 bushels of wheat. The total exports of flour from the United
States:
in 1791 were 619,681 barrels, besides 1,018,339 bushels of wheat;
in 1800, 653,052 barrels, besides 26,853 bushels of wheat;
in 1810, 798,431 barrels, besides 325,924 bushels of wheat;
in 1820-21, 1,056,119 barrels, besides 25,821 bushels of wheat;
in 1830-31, 1,806,529 barrels, besides 408,910 bushels of wheat;
in 1840-41, 1,515,817 barrels, besides 868,585 bushels of wheat;
in 1845-46, 2,289,476 barrels, besides 1,613,795 bushels of wheat;
in 1846-47, 4,382,496 barrels, besides 4,399,951 bushels of wheat;
in 1850-51, 2,202,335 barrels, besides 1,026,725 bushels of wheat.
In the London Exhibition very little wheat was exhibited equal to that
from the United States, especially that from Genessee county, in the
State of New York--a soft white variety, to the exhibitor of which a
prize medal was awarded by the Royal Commissioners. The red
Mediterranean wheat exhibited from the United States attracted much
attention. The wheat from South Australia was probably superior to any
exhibited, while much from the United States fell but little behind,
and was unquestionably next in quality.
From the Second Report on the Breadstuffs of the United States, made
to the Commissioner of Patents, by Lewis C. Beck, M.D., I am induced
to make some extracts. He states:--
The analyses of several samples, the growth of various foreign
countries, have afforded me an opportunity of comparing the American
and foreign wheats and flours. With a few exceptions of peculiar
varieties, it will be seen from the results that with ordinary care
the wheat of this country will compare advantageously with that of
any other. Indeed, on reviewing my analyses, I question whether
there is any part of the world where this grain is generally of a
finer quality than it is in the United States. But all the
advantages which we possess in this respect will be of little avail
so long as inferior and damaged breadstuffs are shipped from our
ports.
In addition to the analyses which I have executed of the various
samples of wheat and wheat flour according to the mode heretofore
pursued, I have performed a series of experiments for the purpose of
settling the important question in regard to the relative value of
the fine flour of wheat, and the "whole meal." I have also consulted
every work within my reach which could throw any light upon the
different points that have presented themselves during the progress
of the investigation.
The large number of samples of wheat and wheat flour which have been
placed in my hands for examination, have left me no time for the
analysis of our other breadstuffs.
It cannot be denied that the amount shipped to foreign ports during
1849 is considerably less than for the two preceding years. In the
meantime, however, a new and important market has been opened in our
territories on the Pacific. It may also be safely affirmed that the
causes for foreign demand, and which must hereafter operate, still
remain. These are the cheapness of land in this country, and the
peculiar adaptation of our soil and climate to the growth of the two
important cereals, wheat and maize.
Another fact, it seems to me, is of sufficient interest in
connection with this subject, to be here noticed. The failure of the
potato crop in various parts of the world for several years past has
engaged the attention of scientific and practical men.
Unfortunately, the nature of the blight which has seized upon this
tuber has eluded the most careful inquiries; but it has been shown
by well-conducted analyses that potatoes at their late prices are
the most expensive kind of farinaceous food. This will be evident
from the following statement:--
"Potatoes contain from about seventy to seventy-nine per cent. of
water, while the proportion in wheat flour is from twelve to
fourteen per cent; and while the gluten and albumen in potatoes
scarcely rise to one per cent., in wheat flour the range may be set
down at from nine to thirteen per cent. Again, the non-nitrogenous
principles are as about seventy-five per cent. in wheat flour
against fifteen or sixteen in potatoes. In short, whilst potatoes
supply only twenty per cent. of heat-forming and nutritious
principles, taken together, wheat supplies more than seventy per
cent. of the former, and more than tea of the latter. The value of
wheat to potatoes, therefore, is at least four to one; or, if wheat
sells at fifteen shillings sterling per cwt., potatoes to be equally
cheap, ought to sell at between three and four shillings."
The preceding results, for which I am principally indebted to Dr.
Daubeny, Professor of Chemistry at Oxford,[25] show that unless a
great change occurs in the culture of the potato, there must be an
increased demand for other kinds of farinaceous food. And it is
worthy of notice that while this blight is one of the causes which
bring to our shores the starving population of Europe, the raising
of the cereals not only furnishes profitable employment to the
emigrant, but enables him to make the best return to those who are
still obliged to remain.
_Adaptation of the soil and climate of the United States to the
culture of the cereals_.--That the soil and climate of many portions
of the United States are well adapted to the cultivation of the more
important cereals, is fully shown by the results of all the
researches which have thus far been prosecuted. I have indeed seen
it asserted that the climate of England is the best for the
cultivation of wheat, and preferable to any in our country; its
humidity being the peculiarity to which this superiority is
ascribed.[26] But this is undoubtedly the testimony of a too partial
witness. A recent statement by an English author is the result of a
more correct knowledge of the facts. He acknowledges that there is
no ground for the expectation which has been entertained concerning
the advantageous growth of maize in England. "Nor is ours," says he,
"the most favorable country for wheat, but skill in husbandry has
overcome great difficulties."[27] The mistake on this subject may
have originated from the occurrence of a larger and plumper grain in
the more humid climate; but analysis shows that the small grain
raised in the hotter and drier air oftentimes greatly surpasses the
former in its nutritious value.
Russia is said to be the great rival of this country in the growth
of wheat, but I think it doubtful whether she possesses superior
natural advantages; and I am sure she will find it difficult to
compete with the industry and skill which here characterize the
operations of husbandry, and the manufacture and shipment of
breadstuffs.
_Export of sophisticated and damaged flour_.--It is a matter of deep
regret that circumstances have occurred which must have a most
injurious influence upon the trade in breadstuffs between this
country and Great Britain. I refer to the mixtures of damaged,
inferior, and good kinds of flour, which it appears on authentic
testimony have been largely exported during the past year. Whether
this fraudulent operation, which is said to have been principally
confined to New York, is the result of the change in the inspection
laws, as some assert, I am unable to say. But it requires no great
foresight to predict that, if continued, it will create a distrust
of our breadstuffs in foreign ports which it will be very difficult
to remove. It cannot but excite the indignation of the many
honorable dealers, that the unworthy cupidity of a few individuals
should lead to such disastrous consequences.
I have as yet been unable to obtain samples of these sophisticated
flours, and the only information which I have in regard to them is
the general fact above stated, and concerning the truth of which
there can be little doubt. No means should be left untried to
devise some mode by which these frauds can be easily and certainly
detected.
_Injury sustained by breadstuffs during their transport and
shipment._--During the past year, I have had abundant means of
determining the nature of the injuries which are often sustained by
our breadstuffs in their transport from the particular districts in
which they are grown and manufactured to our commercial depots, and
in their shipment to foreign ports. As this is one of the most
important points connected with these researches, I have devoted
much time to its investigation. From the results of numerous
analyses, I think it may be safely asserted, that of the wheat flour
which arrives in England from various ports of the United States, a
large proportion is more or less injured during the voyage. The same
remark may be made in regard to many of the samples sent from the
Western States to the city of New York. Their nutritive value is
considerably impaired, and without more care than is usually
exercised, they are entirely unfit for export.
In my former report, I adverted to one of the great causes of the
deterioration which our breadstuffs often suffer during their
transport and shipment. This was the undue proportion of the great
disorganizing substance, water, under the influence of what usually
occurs, viz., an elevation of temperature above the ordinary
standard. My recent investigations have served only to strengthen
these views. There is no doubt that these are the conditions which
cause the change of the non-nitrogenous principles into acids (the
lactic or acetic), while a portion of the gluten is thus also
consumed.
I have tried a series of experiments in reference to the action of
moisture upon various samples of wheat and wheat flour. The samples
were placed for twelve hours in the oven of a bath with a double
casing, containing a boiling saturated solution of common salt, the
temperature of which was about 220 deg. Fahr. Subjected to this
test,
100 grains of Milwaukie wheat lost 12.10 grains.
" " Guilderland (Holland) wheat lost 9.35 "
" " Polish Odessa red wheat " 10.55 "
" " Soft Russian wheat " 8.55 "
" " Kobanga wheat " 8.15 "
After an exposure of the dried samples to the air for two or three
days, they increased in weight from one to three grains in the
hundred originally employed.
Nineteen different samples of wheat flour, which lost by exposure to
the above heat from ten to fourteen grains in the one hundred, when
similarly exposed to the air for eighteen hours, again increased in
weight from 8.40 to 11.60 in the hundred grains originally employed.
These experiments show, what might indeed have been predicted as to
the general result, that wheat in grain, if not less liable to
injury than flour, yet if once properly dried, suffers much less
from a subsequent exposure to air and moisture.
It is now ascertained that in presence of a considerable proportion
of water, wheat flour under the influence of heat undergoes a low
degree at least of lactic fermentation, which will account for the
_souring_ of the ordinary samples when exposed to warm or humid
climates. The same result will inevitably follow from their careless
exposure in the holds of vessels. That this is particularly the case
with many of the cargoes of wheat flour shipped to Great Britain,
there is little reason to doubt. This may be partly owing to the
great humidity of the English climate, as the deterioration is
observed as well in the flour which is the produce of that country
as in that which is received from abroad.
It is stated by Mr. Edlin, quoted in an article on Baking, in the
_Encyclopædia Britannica_, that, "as a general rule, the London
flour" is decidedly bad. The gluten generally wants the adhesiveness
which characterizes the gluten of good wheat."
I have observed that, in the analyses of some of the samples of
damaged flour, the proportions of what is set down under the head of
glucose and dextrine are unusually large. This is perhaps due to the
change produced in the starch by the action of diastase, and which
may under certain circumstances be formed in wheat flour. It would
seem, according to M. Guérin, that starch may thus be acted on even
at slightly elevated temperatures. In one of his experiments, at a
temperature no higher than 68 deg. Fahr., a quantity of starch, at
the end of twenty-four hours, was converted into syrup, which
yielded seventy-seven per cent. of saccharine matter.[28] It may be
thought that I have overrated the importance of this subject, but it
is believed that a careful examination of the facts will relieve me
from this charge. I am now satisfied that, if the proportion of
water in our exported breadstuffs could be reduced to about five or
six per cent., one of the great causes of complaint in regard to
them would be completely removed.
_Kiln-drying of breadstuffs, and exclusion of air_.--The injury
which our breadstuffs sustain by the large proportion of water can
of course be prevented only by careful drying before shipment, and
by the employment of barrels rendered as impervious as possible to
the influence of atmospheric moisture.
In my first report, I have spoken favorably of the process of drying
by steam, according to the plan patented by Mr. J.R. Stafford. I
still think this mode possesses great advantages over those
previously followed, and which almost always injured the quality of
the grain or flour: but from some trials which I have made during
the past year, it is inferred that the exposure to the heat is
perhaps usually not sufficiently prolonged to answer the purpose
intended by the operation. I have often observed that samples of
wheat flour, after being exposed to the heat of the salt water-bath
oven (220 deg. Fahr.) for two or three hours, lost weight by a
further continuance of the heat. An apparatus has been patented by
Mr. J.H. Tower, of Clinton, N.Y., consisting of a cylinder of square
apartments or tubes, into which the grain or flour is introduced,
and subjected to heat while in rapid revolution. I examined samples
which had been subjected to this operation, and ascertained that
wheat flour, originally containing 14.80 per cent. of water, had the
proportion reduced to 10.25 per cent., while in wheat the proportion
of water was reduced from 14.75 to 8.55 per cent.
Now it is probable that by either of the above modes, and perhaps by
many others, the various kinds of breadstuffs may be brought to that
degree of dryness which, with ordinary care, shall protect them from
subsequent injury; but in order to secure this advantage, the
operation must be carefully performed, and experiments must be made
to ascertain how long an exposure to heat is necessary to bring the
sample to the proper degree of dryness, and to determine whether in
any respect its quality is impaired. It has already been stated that
absolute desiccation is not necessary, even were it attainable; but
any process in order to be effective should reduce the proportion of
water to about six, or at most seven per cent.
I have heretofore adverted to the great care employed in the drying
of grain in various foreign countries, and to which the preservation
of it for a great number of years is to be ascribed.
The operation is not conducted in the hurried manner which is here
thought to be so essential, but is continued long enough to effect
the intended object. Thorough ventilation, as well as the proper
degree of drying, and which is equally important, is thus secured.
It is said that in Russia the sheaves of wheat, carried into the
huts, are suspended upon poles and dried by the heat of the oven.
The grain shrinks very much during this process, but it is supposed
to be less liable to the attacks of insects, and preserves its
nutritive qualities for many years. During the winter, it is sent to
market.--("The Czar, his Court and People." By John S. Maxwell, p.
272.)
With all the necessary attention which may be paid to the proper
drying of our breadstuffs intended for export, another point is of
equal importance, viz., the shipment in vessels rendered as
impervious as possible to the influence of atmospheric moisture. For
however carefully and thoroughly the drying, especially of wheat
flour or maize meal, may have been performed, it will be nearly
useless if the shipment is afterwards made in the barrels commonly
employed.[29] And it is very certain that the transport and shipment
of grain in bulk, as usually conducted, are attended with great
loss. This difficulty might be removed at a trifling expense by
adopting the plan suggested in the preceding report, and to which I
would again respectfully call the attention of those who are engaged
in this branch of trade.
I might here adduce a mass of testimony showing the importance of
the matters just referred to, but will only advert to the following
statements, which although made in allusion principally to maize,
are equally applicable to our other breadstuffs. Maize meal, if kept
too long, "is liable to become rancid, and it is then more or less
unfit for use. In the shipments made to the West Indies, the meal is
commonly kiln-dried, to obviate as much as possible this tendency to
rancidity." "When ground very fine, maize meal suffers a change by
exposure to the air. It is oxygenated. It is upon the same principle
that the juice of an apple, after a little exposure to the air, is
oxygenated, and changes its character and taste. If the flour could
be bolted _in vacuo_, it would not be changed." "Intelligent writers
speak of the necessity of preparing corn for exportation by
kiln-drying as indispensable. Without that process, corn is very
liable to become heated and musty, so as to be unfit for food for
either man or beast. The kiln-dried maize meal from the Brandywine
Mills, &c., made from the yellow corn, has almost monopolized the
West India trade. This process is indispensable, if we export maize
to Europe. James Candy says that from fifty years experience he has
learned the necessity of this process with corn intended for
exportation." "I have often found the corn from our country when it
reached its destination, ruined by heating on the voyage. It had
become musty and of little or no value. Kiln-drying is absolutely
necessary to preserve it for exportation. We must learn and practice
the best mode of kiln-drying it.[30]"
_The nutritious value of the "whole meal" of Wheat, as compared
with that of the fine flour_.--The question whether what is
called the whole meal of wheat, or that which is obtained by the
mixture of the bran, contains more nutritious matter than the
fine flour, is one of great importance. In my former report, I
adverted to the statement made in regard to it by Professor
J.F.W. Johnston, and which seemed to be almost conclusive in
favor of the value of the whole meal. During the past year,
however (1849), M. Eug. Peligot, an eminent French chemist, in an
elaborate article "On the Composition of Wheat," to which more
particular reference will be made hereafter, combats the opinion
that the bran is an alimentary substance. He observes that "the
difficulty of keeping the bran in flour intended for the
manufacture of bread of good quality appears to result much less
from the presence of the cellulose (one of the constituents of
woody matter) contained in wheat than that of the fatty matter.
This is found in the bran in a quantity at least triple of that
which remains in the flour, and the bolting separates it from the
ground wheat not less usefully than the cellulose itself."[31] M.
Millon objects entirely to the views of M. Peligot on this point,
and states some facts which are especially worthy of
consideration. He asserts that, according to the views of the
last named chemist, the separation at most of one part of fatty
matter sacrifices fifteen, twenty, and even twenty-five per cent.
of substances which are of the highest nutritive value. This
abstracts from wheat, for the whole amount raised in France, the
enormous sum of about two hundred millions of pounds annually.
It seems that in France the question whether the bolting of flour is
advantageous has always been decided in the most arbitrary manner.
An ordinance of Louis XIV., issued in 1658, prohibited, under a very
heavy penalty, the regrinding of the bran and its mixture with the
flour; this, with the mode of grinding then in use, caused a loss of
more than forty per cent.--(Comptes Rendus, February 19th, 1849.)
In large cities and elsewhere, there seems for some time to have
been a growing prejudice against the use of brown bread; and it is
said that now nearly all the peasantry of France bolt their flour.
The increase of this practice, according to M. Millon, threatens
the nation with an annual loss of from two to three hundred millions
of francs. If the bran was entirely valueless, there would be a loss
of more than one million a day.
It is quite difficult to determine the precise amount of bran which
may have been removed from wheat, for various samples contain such a
different proportion of bran that in the one case a removal of ten
per cent, leaves more bran in the flour than a bolting of five per
cent. in another.
The following is an analysis of bran by M. Millon; the sample being
a soft French wheat grown in 1848:--
Starch, dextrine and sugar 53.00
Sugar of liquorice 1.00
Gluten 14.90
Fatty matter 3.60
Woody matter 9.70
Salts .50
Water 13.90
Incrusting matter and aromatic principles (by difference) 3.40
------
100.
The conclusion to be drawn from this analysis is, that bran is an
alimentary substance. If it contains six per cent. more of woody
matter than the rough, flour, it has also more gluten, double that
of fatty matter, besides two aromatic principles which have the
perfume of honey, and both of which are wanting in the fine flour.
Thus by bolting, wheat is impoverished in its most valuable
principles, merely to remove a few hundredths of woody matter.
The economical suggestion which springs from these views is, that
the bran and coarse flour should be reground and then mixed with the
fine flour. Millon states that he has ascertained, by repeated
experiments, that bread thus made is of superior quality, easily
worked, and not subject to the inconvenience of bread manufactured
from the rough flour, such as is made in some places, and especially
in Belgium.
Opinions similar to those above noticed are entertained by Professor
Daubeny. "The great importance attached to having bread perfectly
white is a prejudice," he says, "which leads to the rejection of a
very wholesome part of the food, and one which, although not
digestible alone, is sufficiently so in that state of admixture with
the flour in which nature has prepared it for our use." After
quoting the remarks of Professor Johnston on the same side of the
question, he adds, "that according to the experiments of Magendie,
animals fed upon fine flour died in a few weeks, whilst they thrived
upon the whole meal bread." Brown bread, therefore, should be
adopted, not merely on a principle of economy, but also as providing
more of those ingredients which are perhaps deficient in the finer
parts of the flour.--("Gardeners' Chronicle," January 27th, 1849, p.
53.)
The remarks of Dr. Robertson may also be here introduced. "The
advantage," he observes, "of using more or less of the coverings of
the grain in the preparation of bread has often been urged on
economical principles. There can be no doubt that a very large
proportion of nutritive matter is contained in the bran and the
pollard; and these are estimated to contain about one-fifth part of
the entire weight of the wheat grain. It is, unquestionably, so far
wasteful to remove these altogether from the flour; and in the case
of the majority of people, this waste may be unnecessary, even on
the score of digestibility."[32] This subject can also be rendered
apparent to the eye. If we make a cross section of a grain of wheat,
or rye, and place it under the microscope, we perceive very distinct
layers in it as we examine from without inwards. The outer of them
belong to the husk of the fruit and seed, and are separated as bran,
in grinding. But the millstone does not separate so exactly as the
eye may by means of the microscope, not even as accurately as the
knife of the vegetable anatomist, and thus with the bran is removed
also the whole outer layer of the cells of the nucleus, and even
some of the subjacent layers. Thus the anatomical investigations of
one of these corn grains at once explains why bread is so much the
less nutritious the more carefully the bran has been separated from
the meal.[33] There can therefore be little doubt that the removal
of the bran is a serious injury to the flour; and I have presented
the above array of evidence on this point in the hope of directing
public attention to it here, as has been done in various foreign
countries.
After this, it will easily be inferred that I am not disposed to
look with much favor upon the plan proposed by Mr. Bentz for taking
the outer coating or bran from wheat and other grains previously to
grinding.[34] Independently of the considerations which have already
been presented, it is far from being proved, as this gentlemen
asserts, that the mixture of the bran with the meal which results
from the common mode of grinding is the chief cause of the _souring_
of the flour in hot climates. On the contrary, the bran is perhaps
as little liable to undergo change as the fine flour, and then the
moistening to which, as I am informed, the grain is subjected
previously to the removal of the husk, is still further
objectionable, and must be followed by a most carefully-conducted
process of kiln-drying.
_Nutritious properties of various articles of food_.--There seems to
be some difference of opinion in regard to the nutritious properties
of various kinds of food. It is generally, however, agreed that
those which contain the largest proportion of nitrogenous matters
are the most nutritious. It is on this account that haricots, peas,
and beans, form, in some sort, substitutes for animal food. Tubers,
roots, and even the seeds of the cereal grasses, are but moderately
nutritious. If we see herbivorous animals fattening upon such
articles, it is because, from their peculiar organisation, they can
consume them in large quantities. It is quite doubtful whether a man
doing hard work could exist on bread exclusively. The instances
which are given of countries where rice and potatoes form the sole
articles of food of the inhabitants, are believed to be incomplete.
Boussingault states that in Alsace, for example, the peasantry
always associate their potato dish with a large quantity of sour or
curdled milk; in Ireland with buttermilk. "The Indians of the Upper
Andes do not by any means live on potatoes alone, as some travellers
have said they do: at Quito, the daily food of the inhabitants is
_lorco_, a compound of potatoes and a large quantity of cheese. Rice
is often cited as one of the most nourishing articles of diet. I am
satisfied, however, after having lived in countries where rice is
largely consumed, that it is anything but a substantial, or, for its
bulk, nutritious article of sustenance."--("Rural Economy," Amer.
edition, p. 409.) These statements are further confirmed by the
observations of M. Lequerri, who, during a long residence in India,
paid particular attention to the manners and customs of the
inhabitants of Pondicherry. "Their food," he states, "is almost
entirely vegetable, and rice is the staple; the inferior castes only
ever eat meat. But all eat _kari_ (curry), an article prepared with
meat, fish, or vegetable, which is mixed with the rice, boiled in
very little water. It is requisite to have seen the Indians at their
meals to have any idea of the enormous quantity of rice which they
will put into their stomachs. No European could cram so much at a
time; and they very commonly allow that rice alone will not nourish
them. They very generally still eat a quantity of bread."[35] In
regard to the proportion of nutritious matter contained in grains of
various kinds, it may be remarked that the tables which have been
constructed as the results of various experiments are liable to an
objection, which will be more particularly adverted to under another
head. For example, two substances, by the process of ultimate
analysis, may exhibit the same proportion of nitrogenous matter, and
still differ very materially in their value as articles of food.
Much depends on the digestibility of the form in which this matter
is presented to the digestive organs. A strong illustration is
afforded in the case of hay, the proportion of nutritive matter of
which, about 9.71, would certainly not represent its power of
affording nourishment to the human system. It is in truth quite
impossible to arrive at any other than approximate results from the
operations of chemistry, as to the amount of nutriment contained in
a given quantity or weight of any article of food.[36] It is perhaps
not irrelevant to notice in this place some of the researches which
have recently been made upon fermentation, and particularly its
effects in the manufacture of bread. It appears that when this
process is brought about by the addition of yeast or leaven to the
paste or dough, the character of the mass is materially altered. A
larger or smaller proportion of the flour is virtually lost.
According to Dr. William Gregory the loss amounts to the very large
proportion of one-sixteenth part of the whole of the flour. He says,
"To avoid this loss, bread is now raised by means of carbonate of
soda, or ammonia and a diluted acid, which are added to the dough,
and the effect is perfectly satisfactory. Equally good or better
bread is obtained, and the quantity of flour which will yield
fifteen hundred loaves by fermentation, furnishes sixteen hundred by
the new method, the sugar and fibrin (gluten) being
saved."--("Outlines of Chemistry," p. 352.)
Another author, Dr. R.D. Thomson, states, as the results of his
experiments upon bread produced by the action of hydrochloric acid
upon carbonate of soda, "that in a sack of flour there was a
difference in favor of the unfermented bread to the amount of thirty
pounds thirteen ounces, or in round numbers, a sack of flour would
produce one hundred and seven loaves of unfermented bread, and only
one hundred loaves of fermented bread of the game weight. Hence it
appears that in the sack of flour by the common process of baking,
seven loaves, or six-and-a-half per cent, of the flour are driven
into the air and lost."--("Experimental Researches on the Food of
Animals," &c., p. 183.)
The only objection to the general introduction of this process seems
to be the degree of care and accuracy required in properly adjusting
the respective qualities and quantities of acid and alkali, and
which could seldom be attained even by those who are largely engaged
in the manufacture of bread.
I cannot leave this subject without adverting to a practice which
has prevailed in England and France, and perhaps also in this
country, of steeping wheat before sowing it in solutions of arsenic,
sulphate of copper, and other poisonous preparations.
The result has been that injurious effects have often followed, both
to those who are employed in sowing such grain, and to those who
have used the bread manufactured from it. The great importance of
the subject led to the appointment of a commission at Rouen, in
France, in December, 1842, having for its object to determine the
best process of preventing the smut in wheat, and to ascertain
whether other means less dangerous than those above noticed were
productive of equally good results. The labors of this commission
extended over the years 1843-'44-'45, and the experiments were
repeated two years following on the farm of Mr. Fauchet, one of the
commission, at Boisquilaume, in the department of the Seine
Inferieure.
The results arrived at by this commission are--1st. That it is not
best to sow seed without steeping. 2nd. That it is best to make use
of the sulphate of soda and lime process, inasmuch as it is more
simple and economical, in no way injurious to the health, and yields
the soundest and most productive wheat. 3rd. That the use of
arsenic, sulphate of copper, verdigris, and other poisonous
preparations, should be interdicted by the government.--("Gardeners'
Chronicle," January 6th, 1849, pp. 10 and 11.)
_Composition of wheat and wheat flour, and the various modes of
determining their nutritive value_.--In my former report it was
stated that the analyses of the various samples of wheat, the
results of which were there given, had been chiefly directed to the
determining the amount of rough _gluten_ which they contained. My
reasons for adopting this plan, and the arguments in favor of its
general accuracy, as compared with other modes of analysis, and
especially that by which the ultimate composition is ascertained,
were also detailed. A more full examination of this subject has
served only to strengthen the opinion already expressed, that for
the great purpose to be answered by these researches, the process
which I have adopted is, to say the least, as free from objection
as any other, and if carefully and uniformly carried out, will truly
represent the relative values of the several samples of wheat flour.
As this is a matter of much consequence in a practical point of
view, I trust I shall be excused for introducing some additional
facts in regard to it.
The term _gluten_ was originally applied to the gray, viscid,
tenacious, and elastic matter, which is obtained by subjecting wheat
flour to the continuous action of a current of water. But it appears
that this is a mixture of fibrine and caseine, with what is now
called _glutine_, and a peculiar oily or fatty matter. Now these
substances may be separated from each other, but the processes
employed for this purpose are tedious, and to insure accuracy the
various solvents must be entirely pure--a point which, especially in
the case of alcohol and ether, is not ordinarily easy to be
attained. This will be rendered still more evident by a reference to
a French process, which will hereafter be noticed.
But were it much less difficult in every case accurately to separate
the constituents of gluten, it would not, in my opinion, be of the
least practical utility. It is to the peculiar mechanical property
of this gluten that wheat flour owes its superior power of detaining
the carbonic acid engendered by fermentation, and thus communicating
to it the vesicular spongy structure so characteristic of good
bread.[37] It may also be added, that the results of more than one
hundred trials have satisfied me that a diminution or loss of
elasticity in the gluten is the surest index of the amount of injury
which the sample of flour has sustained. Whether, therefore, the
sample contains a certain proportion of nitrogen, or whether it
contains albumen, fibrine, and caseine in sufficient quantity, it
may still want the very condition which is essential to the
manufacture of good bread. My objection, therefore, to the mere
determination, however accurate, of the proportion of nitrogen
contained in wheat flour, or of the various principles which form
the gluten, is, that it does not represent the value of the various
samples for the only use to which they are applied, viz., the making
of bread. The remarks of Mulder, the celebrated Dutch chemist, upon
the subject of manures, are so applicable to this point that I
cannot refrain from quoting them. "It has," he says, "become almost
a regular custom to determine the value of manures by the quantity
of nitrogen they yield by ultimate analysis. This method is entirely
erroneous; for it is based upon the false principle, that by
putrefaction all nitrogeneous substances are immediately converted
into ammonia, carbonic acid, and water! But these changes sometimes
require a number of years. Morphine, for example, is prepared by
allowing opium to putrefy; and the process for preparing leucin, a
substance which contains 10.72 of nitrogen, is to bring cheese into
putrefaction. Cheese, therefore, does not perhaps in a number of
years resolve itself into carbonic acid, ammonia, and water, but
produces a crystalline substance, which contains no ammonia. Hence
the proportion of nitrogen yielded by manures is not a proper
measure of their value, and therefore this mode of estimating that
value ought to be discontinued."[38] We infer, therefore, that the
proportion of nitrogen furnished by food of various kinds is not the
true measure of their nutritious value, and cannot for practical
purposes take the place of that process by which the amount of rough
gluten is determined.
No better illustration can be given of the uncertainty which attends
the inferences drawn from the ultimate composition, than the fact
heretofore stated in regard to hay, the nutritive value of which is
placed in the tables containing the results of these analyses, at a
figure nearly the same as that of ordinary wheat flour.[39] In the
paper on the "Composition of Wheat," by M. Peligot--(" Comptes
Rendus," February 5th, 1849)--to which I have already referred, the
author gives the results of the various analyses which he has made,
and details the process he adopted.
Aware of the complex and difficult nature of the examination as
conducted by him, he seems to doubt in regard to some of the results
given in his tables In the fourteen samples which he analysed, the
proportion of water ranges from 13.2 to 15.2, which is a rather
higher average than is yielded by our American samples, especially
those which have not been shipped across the Atlantic. Of the
nitrogenous matter, soluble and insoluble, the proportions range
from 9.90 per cent, to 21.50 per cent.; the former being from a
sample of very soft and white French wheat; the latter from a very
hard wheat with long grains, from Northern Africa, cultivated at
Verriéres. Another sample from Egypt yielded 20.60 per cent, of
these nitrogenous matters, both of which are very remarkable
proportions.
In describing the process for ascertaining the amount of insoluble
nitrogenous matters, this author adverts to their estimation either
by the quantity of nitrogen gas furnished, or of ammonia formed, the
last being preferred for substances, which, like wheat, contain only
a few hundredths of nitrogen. The results which he obtained by this
method were compared with those yielded by the direct extraction of
the gluten by softening the farina under a small stream of water.
"These results," says he, "differ but little from each other when we
operate upon wheat in good condition, although the gluten which we
thus obtain holds some starch and fatty matter, while the starch
which is carried away by the water contains also some gluten." The
loss and gain, as I have already explained, and as has been proved
by these and other comparisons, are nearly balanced, and the amount
of rough gluten will therefore afford a fair exhibit of that of the
insoluble nitrogenous matters in this grain.
The salts in the samples of wheat analysed by M. Peligot, were
either wanting or were in small proportion; while the amount of
fatty matter ranged from 1.00 to 1.80 and 1.90 per cent.
These results agree very well with those which I have obtained. But
it is probable that the proportion is liable to great variation,
inasmuch as it is inferred that the fatty matter originates from
starch through its exposure to the general deoxidising influence
which prevails in plants.[40] There are also many difficulties
attending the accurate determination of this matter, and which are
probably the cause of the higher proportion often given. It is
properly remarked by M. Peligot that the ether employed in this
process should be free from water, and that the flour ought also to
be very dry. By neglecting these precautions, we separate not only
the fatty matter, but also a certain amount of matters soluble in
the water, which is furnished as well by the wheat as by the ether.
It would not, I think, be difficult to point out some incorrect
views entertained by this chemist, and more especially those which
relate to the fatty matter. Some of his processes for the separation
of various substances, if not faulty, require so many conditions for
success as to render the results, at least in other hands,
exceedingly uncertain.
But the capital error which he has committed is that concerning the
bran, already adverted to, which he considers injurious to the
flour, chiefly in consequence of the large proportion of fatty
matter which it contains.
In regard to the soluble nitrogenous matter usually called albumen,
from its resemblance to the animal substance of the same name, I
have to remark that in my trials the proportion has been found to be
considerably less than that often given in tables of the composition
of wheat. In one sample it was found to be as low as 0.15 per cant.,
in another it did not rise above 0.20 per cent. The amount was
usually so inconsiderable, that I did not think it worth while to
retard the progress of the work by following out processes which
could add little to the utility of these investigations.
Although much time and labor have been expended upon the analyses of
the ash of plants, I have but slight confidence in the results
heretofore given. The difficulties which attend the obtaining the
ash in a proper condition, and the fact that the products of all the
organs and parts of the plants have been analysed together, must
necessarily impair the accuracy of the experiments, and render the
inferences drawn from them of uncertain value. Much, indeed I may
say almost everything, still remains to be done in this department
of agricultural chemistry.
_Weight of wheat as an index to its value_.--Much has been said in
regard to the relative weights of the bushel of wheat of different
varieties or under different modes of culture.
As ordinarily determined, this weight ranges from fifty-six to
sixty-five or sixty-six pounds, being in a few cases set down
somewhat higher. It is said also that the bushel of wheat weighs
less in some years than it does in others, and that the difference
often amounts to two, or three, or even four pounds. Though this may
seem of comparatively little consequence for a few bushels, yet, for
the aggegate of the wheat crop of the United States, or for a State,
or even a county, it makes a great difference. Thus, were we to
estimate the product of one year in the United States at one hundred
and ten million bushels, weighing fifty-six pounds to the bushel,
and another year at one hundred and eight million bushels, weighing
sixty-two pounds, the difference in favor of the latter, though the
least in quantity, would amount to five hundred and thirty-six
million pounds in weight, or more than one million and a quarter of
barrels of flour.--(Report of the American Commissioner of Patents
for 1847, p. 117.)
It may be remarked, however, that it is not after all so easy to
determine with accuracy the weight of a bushel of wheat, nor to
decide upon the circumstances which have an influence in increasing
the density of a grain of wheat. If the microscopical
representations of wheat are to be relied on, it is probable that
the increase in the density of wheat depends upon the increase in
the proportion of gluten. I have found in several cases that, the
proportion of water being the same, those samples of wheat which
contain the largest proportion of gluten exhibit the highest
specific gravity, or, in other words, will yield the greatest number
of pounds to the bushel. But the weight of wheat will be influenced
by the proportion of water which it contains; the drier the grain,
the greater is its density; a fact which may account for the
difference which has been observed in the weight of wheat in
different seasons. If this is the cause, the calculation above given
in reference to the United States is fallacious--but if the amount
of gluten is _actually_, instead of _relatively_, increased by
peculiarities in seasons, it is no doubt correct.
I have devised a series of experiments to test the accuracy of the
statements made upon this point, but have not yet had leisure to
complete them.
_General conditions from the analyses of wheat flour_.--The large
number of analyses which I have made, and the uniformity of the
processes pursued, enable me to draw some general conclusions which
it may be useful to present in a connected form.
1. In the samples from the more northern wheat-growing States, there
seems to be little difference in the proportion of nutritive matter
that can be set down to the influence of climate. Thus, the yield of
the wheat from Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, is scarcely inferior to
that from New York, Indiana, and Illinois, although the two latter
are somewhat farther south. Local causes, and more especially the
peculiarities of culture and manufacture, have more influence,
within these parallels of latitude, than the difference of mean
temperature.
2. The samples from New Jersey, Lower Pennsylvania, the southern
part of Ohio, Maryland (probably Delaware), Virginia, the Carolinas,
and Georgia,[41] contain less water and more nutritive matter than
those from the States previously enumerated. That the samples from
Missouri, which is included within nearly the same parallels of
latitude as Virginia, do not exhibit so high an average of nutritive
matter as those from the latter State, must be ascribed principally
to a want of care in the management of the crop, and perhaps also in
the manufacture of the flour. Virginia flour, for obvious reasons,
maintains a high reputation for shipment.
3. The difference in the nutritive value of the various samples of
wheat depends greatly upon the variety, and mode of culture,
independently of climate. The correctness of the former statement is
shown by the much larger proportions of gluten yielded by many of
the samples of _hard_ wheat from abroad, the Oregon wheat in
Virginia, and a variety of Illinois wheat, &c. And in regard to the
effect of particular modes of culture, the various analyses of
Boussingault may be referred to, and that in my table of a sample
from Ulster county, New York.
4. The deterioration of many of the samples of wheat and wheat flour
arises in most cases from the presence of a too large per centage of
water. This is often the result of a want of proper care in the
transport, and is the principal cause of the losses which are
sustained by those who are engaged in this branch of business.
5. There seems to be little doubt that a considerable portion of the
wheat and wheat flour, as well as of other breadstuffs, shipped from
this country to England, is more or less injured before it reaches
that market. It is also shown that this is mostly to be ascribed to
the want of care above noticed, and to the fraudulent mixture of
good and bad kinds. The remedy in the former case is the drying of
the grain or flour before shipment, by some of the modes proposed,
and the protection of it afterwards as completely as possible from
the effect of moisture. The frauds which are occasionally practised
should be promptly exposed, and those who are engaged in them held
up to merited reproach.
6. It has been fully shown, by the results of many trials, that the
flour obtained by the second grinding of wheat, or the whole meal,
contains more gluten than the fine flour. Hence the general use of
the latter, and the entire rejection of the bran, is wasteful, and
ought in every way to be discouraged.
7. It cannot but be gratifying to us that the average nutritive
value of the wheat and wheat flour of the United States is shown by
these analyses to be fully equal to, if not greater than, that
afforded by the samples produced in any other part of the world. And
it will, in my opinion, be chiefly owing to a want of proper care
and of commercial honesty, if the great advantages which should
accrue to this country from the export of these articles are either
endangered or entirely lost.
TABLE EXHIBITING THE PER CENTAGE COMPOSITION OF VARIOUS SAMPLES OF
AMERICAN AND FOREIGN WHEAT FLOUR, BY LEWIS C. BECK, M.D. (1849).
----------------------------------+-----+-------+------+--------------
| |Gluten | | Glucos |
Kind of Wheat Flour, and from | | and | |dextrine,|
whence obtained |Water|albumen|Starch| &c. |Bran
----------------------------------+-----+-------+------+---------+----
Country Mills, New Jersey |12.75| 11.55 | 65.95| 8.10 | .65
West Jersey Wheat |12.80| 12.32 | 69.48| 5.90 | .50
White Wheat, New Jersey |11.55| 12.60 | 66.85| 8.50 | .50
Pennsylvania Wheat |11.90| 13.16 | 66.20| 7.25 | .75
ditto ditto |13.35| 12.73 | 66.90| 6.50 | .52
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |13.35| 14.72 | 71.28 | .65
Pelham Wheat, Ulster Co., N.Y. |10.79| 13.17 | 67.74| 7.60 | .70
"Pure Genesee" Wheat |13.20| 11.05 | 75.20 | .55
Ohio Wheat, "fine" |12.85| 12.25 | 73.90 |1.00
Ohio Wheat, "superfine" |13.00| 9.10 | 77.80 | .10
Winter Wheat, Ohio |13.10| 11.56 | 66.84| 7.90 | .60
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |13.05| 12.69 | 73.61 | .65
Michigan Wheat, "superfine" |13.25| 11.10 | 74.80 | .85
Michigan Wheat |12.25| 10.00 | 67.70| 8.75 | .75
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |12.75| 11.20 | 66.00| 8.50 |1.05
Illinois Wheat |12.73| 14.61 | 65.20| 6.45 | .80
Magnolia Mill, St. Louis, Mo. |13.13| 10.27 | 69.75| 6.15 | .35
Mound Mill, St. Louis |13.48| 10.53 | 67.35| 8.15 | .20
Walsh's Mill, St. Louis |12.70| 10.63 | 69.40| 6.65 | .40
Washington Mill, St. Louis |12.88| 11.00 | 68.65| 7.27 | .20
Missouri Mill, St. Louis |13.00| 10.46 | 67.79| 8.35 | .40
O'Fallan's Mill, St. Louis |12.85| 11.25 | 68.24| 7.00 | .66
Phoenix Mill, St. Louis |13.22| 10.10 | 68.70| 7.30 | .15
Nonantum Mill, St. Louis |12.10| 11.02 | 68.60| 7.93 | .35
Franklin Mill, St. Louis |12.25| 10.29 | 69.85| 7.26 | .35
Eagle Mill, St. Louis |11.00| 10.15 | 69.50| 8.65 | .20
Winter Wheat, Missouri |14.00| 9.30 | 70.05| 6.30 | .35
Wisconsin Wheat |12.80| 13.20 | 68.90| 6.50 | .70
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |12.80| 13.46 | 72.54 |1.20
Maryland Wheat |13.00| 12.30 | 66.65| 7.10 | .65
Richmond City Mill |11.70| 13.00 | 67.50| 6.90 | .50
Haxall and Co., Richmond, Va. |11.40| 12.80 | 68.50| 6.60 | .35
Virginia Wheat, "superfine" |12.05| 12.95 | 74.50 | .50
Haxall and Co., "best brand, '49" |11.40| 13.25 | 68.20| 6.25 | .60
Haxall and Co., "2nd brand, '49" |11.00| 13.20 | 75.60 | .20
Richmond City Mill, '49 |11.90| 10.50 | 70.00| 7.10 | .50
Oregon White Wheat, Va. |12.80| 14.80 | 71.30 |1.10
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |13.85| 14.50 | 65.15| 5.90 | .60
Gallego Mill, Richmond, Va. |11.50| 13.50 | 68.35| 6.00 | .65
Ship Brandywine, Liverpool |13.38| 10.62 | 67.60| 7.75 | .65
Ship Fanchon, Liverpool |13.83| 11.38 | 67.45| 6.34 |1.00
Ship New World, Liverpool |13.65| 11.60 | 65.80| 7.70 | .65
Ship Juniata, Liverpool |12.50| 14.14 | 64.20| 8.36 | .80
Ship Stephen Lurman, Liverpool |11.65| 13.18 | 64.50| 9.55 | .68
Ship Leila, Liverpool |13.22| 13.18 | 64.65| 8.00 | .95
Ship Oxenbridge, Liverpool |13.90| 10.13 | 68.42| 7.30 | .25
| |& bran | | |
Ship Italy, Liverpool |12.94| 10.60 | 68.56| 7.90 |
Ship West Point, Liverpool |14.30| 12.30 | 63.00| 9.45 | .95
Ship W.H. Harbeck, Liverpool |13.53| 10.18 | 66.95| 8.80 | .30
Ship Princeton, Liverpool |13.40| 11.52 | 65.60| 7.90 | .85
Ship Columbus, Liverpool |13.50| 10.45 | 66.45| 8.50 |1.03
Ship Russell Glover, Liverpool |13.45| 10.47 | 66.20| 8.83 |1.05
Ship South Carolina, Liverpool |13.80| 9.00 | 70.80| 5.95 | .38
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |13.30| 9.45 | 76.90 | .35
Ship Cambridge, Liverpool |14.50| 8.52 | 70.60| 5.40 | .40
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |14.10| 9.10 | 70.55| 5.45 | .20
Ship Columbus, Liverpool |14.85| 8.47 | 76.48 | .20
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |14.15| 9.00 | 76.60 | .25
Ship Ashburton, Liverpool |13.55| 11.68 | 69.22| 5.30 | .25
Wheat grown in Canada West |12.80| 7.23 | 74.12| 5.10 | .75
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |12.60| 8.45 | 78.55 | .40
Chilian Wheat |12.44| 9.45 | 67.80| 8.37 |1.30
Chilian Wheat |12.85| 8.65 | 71.60| 6.10 | .60
| |& bran | | |
Valparaiso Wheat |12.50| 14.55 | | |
French Wheat |13.20| 9.85 | 69.00| 7.65 | .30
Spanish Wheat |13.50| 10.30 | 68.90| 7.00 | .30
Canivano Wheat |11.33| 16.35 | 63.10| 6.50 |2.30
Canivano Wheat |11.15| 15.40 | 67.25| 5.70 | .60
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |12.60| 18.70 | 67.00 |1.70
Hard wheat, grown near Malaga |10.87| 12.15 | 64.38| 12.60 |
| | | |& lactic acid
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |10.00| 14.50 | 60.20| 15.30 |
----------------------------------+-----+-------+------+---------+----
There is no crop, the skilful and successful cultivation of which on
the same soil, from generation to generation, requires more art than
is demanded to produce good wheat. To grow this grain on fresh land,
adapted to the peculiar habits and wants of the plant is an easy
task. But such fields, except in rare instances, fail sooner or
later to produce sound and healthy plants, which are little liable
to attacks from the malady called "rust," or which give lengthened
ears or "heads," well filled with plump seeds.
Having long resided in the best wheat-growing district in the Union,
the writer has devoted years of study and observation to all the
influences of soil, climate, and constitutional peculiarities, which
affect this bread-bearing plant. It is far more liable to smut,
rust, and shrink in some soils than in others. This is true in
western New York, and every other section where wheat has long been
cultivated. As the alkalies and other fertilizing elements become
exhausted in the virgin soils of America, its crops of wheat not
only become smaller on an average, but the plants fail in
constitutional vigor, and are more liable to diseases and attacks
from parasites and destructive insects. Defects in soil and improper
nutrition lead to these disastrous results. Soils are defective in
the following particulars:
1. They lack soluble silica, or flint in an available form, with
which to produce a hard glassy stem that will be little subject to
"rust." Soluble flint is never very abundant in cultivated soils;
and after they have been tilled some years, the supply is deficient
in quantity. It is not very difficult to learn with considerable
accuracy the amount of silica which rain-water as it falls on the
earth will dissolve out of 1,000 grains of soil in the course of
eight or ten days. Hot water will dissolve more than cold; and water
charged with carbonic acid more than pure water which has been
boiled. The experiments of Prof. Rogers of the University of
Virginia, as published in Silliman's Journal, have a direct bearing
on this subject. The researches of Prof. Emmons of Albany, in his
elaborate and valuable work on "Agriculture," as a part of the
Natural History of New York, show that 10,000 parts of soil yield
only from one to three parts of soluble silica. The analyses of Dr
Jackson, as published in his Geological Survey of New Hampshire,
give similar results. Earth taken from an old and badly exhausted
field in Georgia, gave the writer only one part of soluble flint in
100,000.
What elements of crops rain water, at summer heat, will dissolve out
of ten or twenty pounds of soil, in the course of three months, is a
point in agricultural science which should be made the subject of
numerous and rigid experiments. In this way, the capabilities of
different soils and their adaptation to different crops may be
tested, in connection with practical experiments in field culture,
on the same kind of earth.
Few wheat-growers are aware how much dissolved flint an acre of good
wheat demands to prevent its having coarse, soft, and spongy stems,
which are anything but a healthy organization of the plant. In the
Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, vol. 7, there
is an extended "Report on the Analysis of the Ashes of Plants, by
Thomas Way, Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Agricultural
College, Cirencester," which gives the result of sixty-two analyses
of the ash of wheat, from as many samples of that grain, mostly
grown on different soils and under different circumstances.
In this report are given the quantity of wheat per acre, the weight
of straw cut close to the ground to the acre, and also that of the
chaff. These researches show, that from ninety-three to one hundred
and fifty pounds of soluble flint are required to form an acre of
wheat; and I will add from my own investigations, that three-fourths
of this silica is demanded by nature during the last sixty days
preceding the maturing of the crop. This is the period in which the
stem acquires its solidity and strength, and most of its
incombustible earthy matter. The quantity of this varies from three
to fifteen per cent. of the weight of the straw. Prof. Johnston and
Sir Humphry Davy give instances in which more than fifteen per cent.
of ash was found; and Prof. Way gives cases where less than three
per cent. were obtained. The mean of forty samples was four and a
half per cent. Dr. Sprengel gives three and a half as the mean of
his analyses. M. Boussingault found an average of seven per cent. As
flint is truly the _bone_ of all the grass family, imparting to them
strength, as in cane, timothy, corn, oats, rye, rice, millet, and
the proportion of this mineral varies as much in wheat-straw, as
bone does in very lean and very fat hogs or cattle.
A young growing animal, whether a child or a colt, that is kept on
food which lacks _bone-earth_, (phosphate of lime,) will have soft
cartilaginous bones. Nature cannot substitute _iron_ or any other
mineral in the animal system, out of which to form hard strong
bones; nor can any other mineral in the soil perform the peculiar
function assigned to silica in the vital economy of cereal plants.
To protect the living germs in the seeds of wheat, corn, oats, rye,
barley, &c, the cuticle or bran of these seeds contains considerable
flint. The same is true of chaff.
The question naturally arises,--How is the farmer to increase the
quantity of soluble silica or flint in his soil? This is a question
of the highest practical importance. There are three principal ways
in which the object named may be attained. First, by keeping fewer
acres under the plough. Land in pasture, if well managed, will gain
its fertility, and in the process accumulate soluble silica in the
surface soil. In this way more wheat and surer crops may be made by
cultivating a field in wheat two years than four or six. If the
field in the mean time be devoted to wool-growing, butter or
cheese-making, or to stock-raising, particular care must be taken to
make great crops of grass or clover to grow on the land, and have
all the manure, both solid and liquid, applied to its surface.
There are many counties in England that yield an average of
thirty-two bushels of wheat per acre for ten crops in succession.
There are but few of the old counties in the United States which
average the half of that quantity: and yet America has greater
agricultural capabilities than that of Great Britain.
Another way to increase soluble silica in the soil, is to grow such
crops, in rotation with wheat culture, as will best prevent the loss
of dissolved flint, at any time by leaching and washing, through the
agency of rain water. This remark is intended to apply more
particularly to those large districts devoted to cotton and tobacco
culture, plants that take up no considerable amount of silica, and
which by the constant stirring of the earth, and the clean tillage
which they demand, favor the leaching of the soil. To keep too much
of a plantation of these crops, is to lessen its capabilities for
producing good crops of corn, wheat, and barley, at a small expense.
Corn plants, well managed, will extract more pounds of silica in
three or six months from the soil, than any other. As not an ounce
of this mineral is needed in the animal economy of man or beast, it
can all be composted in cornstalks, blades, and cobs, or in the dung
and urine derived from corn, and be finally reorganized in the stems
of wheat plants. Corn culture and wheat culture, if skilfully and
scientifically conducted, go admirably together. Of the two, more
bread, more meat, and more _money_ can be made from the corn than
from the wheat plant in this country. But so soon as what is called
"high farming" in England, shall be popular in the United States,
the crops both of wheat and corn grown here will demonstrate how
little we appreciate the vast superiority of our climate for the
economical feeding and clothing of the human family, over that of
our "mother country." In several counties in England, it takes from
twelve to fourteen months to make a crop of wheat, after the seed is
put into the ground. At or near the first of December, 1847, Mr.
M.B. Moore, of Augusta, Ga., sowed a bushel of seed wheat on an acre
and a half of ground, which gave him over thirty bushels by the
middle of May following. This ground was then ploughed, and a fine
crop of hay made and cut in July. After this, a good crop of peas
was raised, and harvested in October, before it was time to seed
with wheat again, as was done. While the mean temperature of England
is so low, that corn plants will not ripen, in Georgia one can grow
a crop of wheat in the winter, and nearly two crops of corn in
succession in the summer and autumn, before it is time to sow wheat
again. No writer, to my knowledge, has done full justice to the vast
agricultural resources of the southern portion of the American
confederacy. But there is much of its soil which is not rich in the
elements of bread. Nothing but the careful study of these elements,
and of the natural laws by which they are governed, can remedy
defects in wheat culture anywhere, but especially on very poor land.
All alkaline minerals, such as potash, soda, lime, ammonia, and
magnesia, hasten the solution of the several insoluble compounds of
silica in the soil. This fact should be remembered by every farmer.
To undertake an explanation of the various ways in which alkalies,
oxides, and acids act and re-act upon each other in the surface of
the earth, when subject to tillage, would be out of place in this
outline view of wheat-growing in the United States. I may state the
fact, however, as ascertained by many analyses, that a cubic foot of
good wheat soil in the valley of the Genesee, contains twenty times
more lime than do the poorest soils in South Carolina and Georgia.
The quantity of gypsum, bone-earth, and magnesia, available as food
for plants, varies in an equal degree. Not only lime, but phosphoric
acid, potash, and magnesia are lacking in most soils, if one desires
to raise a large crop of wheat, and have the seeds of the grain
weigh as much as the straw. In a number of the specimens of wheat
analyzed by Prof. Way, when cut close to the roots, the dry wheat
outweighed the dry straw.
Having secured the growth of a bright, hard, glassy stem, the next
thing is to develop a long, well-filled ear. To this end, available
ammonia or nitrogen, phosphorus, potash, and magnesia are
indispensable. Ammonia (spirits of hartshorn) is necessary to aid in
forming the combustible part of the seed. The other ingredients
named are required to assist in making the incombustible part of the
grain. In 100 parts of the ash of wheat, there are the following
substances, viz.:--
Silica 2.28
Phosphoric acid 45.73
Sulphuric acid 0.32
Lime 2.06
Magnesia 10.94
Peroxide of iron 2.04
Potash 32.24
Soda 4.06
Chloride of sodium 0.27
-----
Total 99.94
The quantity of ash in wheat varies from 1¼ to 2½ per cent.; the
average is about 1.69. The amount of phosphoric acid in any given
quantity of the ash of wheat varies from forty to fifty per cent. of
the same.
Seeds that have a thick cuticle or bran, and little gluten, contain
a smaller per centage of phosphoric acid, and more silica. About
one-third of the ash is potash; in nearly all cases magnesia varies
from nine to fourteen per cent.; lime from one and a half to six per
cent. Peroxide of iron is seldom as abundant as in the ash above
given, and the same is true of soda. Chloride of sodium is common
salt, and exists in a small quantity. Salt is beginning to be much
used as a fertilizer on wheat lands in western New York. It operates
indirectly to increase the crop.
The following may be taken as about the average composition of the
ash of wheat-straw. It is "Specimen No. 40," in the tables of Prof.
Way, and I copy verbatim all that is said upon the subject: [Soil,
sandy; subsoil, stone and clay; geological formation, silurian;
drained; eight years in tillage; crop, after carrots, twenty tons
per acre; tilled December, 1845; heavy crop; mown, August 12th;
carried, August 20th; estimated yield, forty-two bushels per acre;
straw long, grain good, weight sixty-two pounds to the bushel.]
Length of straw, forty-two inches.
_Relation of Grain, Straw and Chaff_.
Actual quantities. Per centage.
Grain 1633 lbs. 45.15
Straw 1732 47.89
Chaff 250 6.96
----
Total 3615 lbs.
Specific gravity of grain 1.396
Weight of grain per acre 2604 lbs.
" " straw " " 2,775 3/10ths.
" " chaff " " 401 1/6th.
_Mineral Matter in an Acre._
Wheat 44 ½ lbs.
Straw 113
Chaff 47 1/6th.
-----------
Total 204 7/10ths.
_Analysis of the Ash of the Grain_.
Per centage. Removed from an acre.
lbs. ozs.
Silica 5.63 2 8
Phosphoric acid 43.98 19 8
Sulphuric acid .21 0 1 1/6th.
Lime 1.80 0 12 8/10ths.
Magnesia 11.69 5 3 2/10ths.
Peroxide of iron .29 0 2
Potash 34.51 15 5 6/10ths.
Soda 1.87 0 13 3/10ths.
----- --- ----------
Total 99.98 44 6 l/10ths.
_Analysis of Straw with its proportion of Chaff._
Per centage. Removed per acre.
lbs. ozs.
Silica 69.36 111 1 7/10ths.
Phosphoric acid 5.24 8 6 7/10ths.
Sulphuric acid 4.45 7 2 2/10ths.
Lime 6.96 11 2 2/20ths.
Magnesia 1.45 2 5
Peroxide of iron .29 1 2
Potash 11.79 18 14
Soda none none.
Chloride of sodium " "
----- --- -----------
Total 99.54 160 1 l/10ths.
If we subtract the 111 pounds of silica from 160 pounds of minerals
in the straw and chaff, the difference between what are left and
those in wheat, is not great. As the stems and leaves of wheat
plants grow before their seeds, if all the phosphoric acid, potash,
and lime available in the soil is consumed before the organization
of the seeds begin, from what source is nature to draw her supply of
these ingredients to form a good crop of wheat? If the farmer could
reverse the order of nature, and grow a good supply of seeds first,
and make straw afterwards, then many a one would harvest more wheat
and less straw. But the cultivator must grow the stems, roots, and
leaves of wheat, corn, and cotton, before nature will begin to form
the seeds of these several plants: and every one should know that
the atoms in the soil, which are consumed in organizing the bodies
of cultivated plants, are, in the main, identical in kind with those
required to make their seeds. The proportions, however, differ very
considerably. Thus, while 100 parts of the ash of wheat contain an
average of 45 parts of phosphoric acid, 100 of the ash of the wheat
straw contain an average of only 5 parts. The difference is as 9 to
1. In magnesia the disparity is only a little less striking.
In what are called the organic elements of wheat (the combustible
part) there are seven times more nitrogen in 100 pounds than in a
like weight of straw. Hence, if the farmer converts straw into
manure or compost, with the view ultimately of transforming it into
wheat, it will take 7 pounds of straw to yield nitrogen enough to
form one pound of wheat. Few are aware how much labor and money is
annually lost by the feeding of plants on food not strictly adapted
to the peculiar wants of nature in organizing the same. It is true,
that most farmers depend on the natural fertility of the soil to
nourish their crops, with perhaps the aid of a little stable and
barn-yard manure, given to a part of them. As the natural resources
of the land begin to fail, the supply must be drawn from other
quarters than an exhausted field, or its cultivator will receive a
poor return for the labor bestowed.
In Great Britain, where the necessity for liberal harvests and
artificial fertilizing is far greater than in this country, the
yield of wheat is said to be governed in a good degree by the amount
of ammonia available as food for growing plants. This opinion is
founded not at all on theory, but altogether on the teachings of
experience. But in England, limeing and manuring are so much matters
of constant practice, that few soils are so improverished as many
are in the United States, With land as naked and sterile as is much
that can be found in the whole thirteen colonies between Maine and
Alabama, English farmers could hardly pay their tithes and poor
rates, to say nothing of other taxes, rent, and the coat of
producing their annual crops.
The first step towards making farming permanently profitable in all
the older States, is to accumulate in a cheap and skilful manner the
raw material for good harvests in the soil.
Over a territory so extensive as the United States, it is extremely
difficult to lay down any rule that will be applicable even to a
moiety of the republic. There are, however, many beds of marl,
greensand, gypsum, limestone, saline and vegetable deposits
available for the improvement of farming lands, in the Union. In
addition to these, there are extraneous resources, the ocean with
its fish, its shells, its sea-weeds, and its fertilizing salts,
which will yield an incalculable amount of bread and meat. In the
subsoil and the atmosphere, every agriculturist has resources which
are not duly appreciated by one in a thousand.
As a general rule, the soil must be _deepened_ before it can be
permanently improved. One acre of soil 12 inches deep is worth more
to make money from, by cultivating it, than four acres 6 inches in
depth. Thus, admit that a soil 6 inches deep will produce 14 bushels
of wheat, and that 12 bushels will pay all expenses and give 2 for
profit. Four acres of this land will yield a net income of only 8
bushels. Now double the depth of the soil and the crop: making the
latter 28 bushels, instead of 14 per acre, and the former 12 inches
deep, in the place of 6. Fifteen bushels instead of twelve, will now
pay all annual expenses, and leave a net profit not of _two_ but of
_thirteen_ bushels per acre. If small crops will pay expenses, large
ones will make a fortune; provided the farmer knows how to enrich
his land in the most economical way. It is quite as easy to pay too
dear for improving lands, as to lose money at any other business
whatever.
The first thing for the operator to do is to acquire all the
knowledge within his reach, from the experience of others who have
done for their soils what he proposes to accomplish for his. Twenty
or fifty dollars, invested in the best agricultural works in the
English language, may save him thousands in the end, and double his
profits in two years. The Agricultural Journals of the United States
abound in information most useful to the practical farmer: and the
back volumes, if collected and bound, will form a library of great
value.
_Rotation of Crops in connexion with Wheat Culture_.--A system of
tillage and rotation which will pay best in one locality, or on one
quality of soil, and in a particular climate, will be found not at
all adapted to other localities, different soils and latitudes.
Hence, no rule can be laid down that will meet the peculiar
exigencies of a farming country so extensive as the thirty States
east of the Rocky Mountains. There are soils in Western New York,
known to the writer, which have borne good crops of wheat every
other year for more than twenty years, and produce better now than
at the beginning of their cultivation. The resources of the earth in
supplying the elements of wheat and corn are extremely variable.
There are friable shaley rocks in Livingstone county, N.Y., which
crumble and slake when exposed to the air, that abound in all the
earthy minerals necessary to form good wheat. These rocks are
hundreds of feet in thickness, and have furnished much of the soil
in the valley of the Genesee. The Onondaga Salt Group, and other
contiguous strata, which extend into Canada West, form soils of
extraordinary capacity for growing wheat. Indeed, the rocks and
"drift" of a district give character to its arable surface.
Nothing is more needed at this time than a good geological map of
the United States, accompanied by an accurate and popularly arranged
work on agricultural geology. The writer had hoped to give such a
map in this report; but it is thought best to devote another year to
the collection of geological surveys and facts, and to the making of
more critical and extended researches before publishing.
In the matter of rotation of crops in connection with wheat culture,
clover and corn are generally preferred in all the Northern, and
most of the Middle States. In New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
Michigan, Wisconsin, Northern Indiana, and Illinois, so far as the
writer is acquainted, a crop of wheat is made in rotation, either
every third, fourth, or fifth year. Wherever wool growing is united
with wheat culture, clover and wheat are the staple crops of the
farm. Wool and superfine flour are exported; farmers taking nearly
all the bran and shorts of the millers who purchase their wheat.
The offal of wheat makes not a little feed with chaff and cut straw.
Many agriculturists grow peas, beans, turnips, beets, and carrots in
large quantities, as well as clover, corn, oats, and barley. Peas
and beans, both stems and pulse, when well cured, are excellent feed
for sheep; and on good land they are easily grown. They prepare the
soil well for wheat.
All the manure derived from sheep is husbanded with extreme care by
the farmers who are gradually enriching their lands. On a deep,
rich, arable soil, quite a number of sheep may be kept per acre, if
highly cultivated; and their manure prepares the land for producing
generous crops of wheat at a small expense. Of all business men,
farmers should be the closest calculators of _profit_ and _loss_.
Great care should be taken to sow good and clean seed on clean land.
Previous to putting the seed in the ground (drilling is preferable
to sowing broadcast), wheat should be soaked five or six hours--not
longer--in strong brine. After this, add a peck or more of recently
slaked lime to each bushel, and shovel it over well, that the lime
may cover each seed. It is now ready to commit to the earth. Most
good farmers roll the earth after seeding: some before.
In the Southern States, planters are in the habit of permitting
their wheat to remain too long in the field after it is cradled, and
in small shocks. Good barns are too scarce in all the planting
States, and in some others.
_Summer fallowing_ is generally abandoned, except in cases where old
pastures and meadows, new prairie, or bushy bad fields are to be
subdued. As a general rule, friable soils need not be ploughed long
before the intended crop is expected to begin to grow. Among
fertilizers, wood ashes, salt, bones, lime, guano, and poudrette
have been used in wheat culture with decided advantage. In Great
Britain, manure derived from the consumption of turnips and other
root crops by sheep and neat cattle, is much used in preparing land
for wheat. Sheep, clover and peas, corn and hogs, rotate well to
insure the economical production of this staple. Manure is usually
applied to the crop preceding wheat.
It may be interesting to some readers to see in this place the mean
result of several organic analyses of wheat made by M. Boussingault.
Wheat, dried at 230 deg. _in vacuo_, was found to contain:
Carbon 46.1
Oxygen 43.4
Hydrogen 5.8
Nitrogen 2.3
Ash 2.4
-----
Total 100.0
Charcoal may be regarded as a fair representative of carbon, and
water as the representative of both oxygen and hydrogen. It will be
seen by the above figures, that over 95 per cent. of wheat is made
up of elements which greatly abound in nature in an available
condition; and the same is true of all other plants. It is doubtless
owing to this circumstance, that a comparatively small quantity of
guano and other highly concentrated fertilizers are able to produce
crops five, ten, and fifty times greater than their own weight.
Azote, or nitrogen, in the form of ammonia, or nitric acid, (aqua
fortis), and the incombustible part of plants are the elements which
least abound in soils, and should be husbanded with the greatest
care.
The Hon. C.P. Holcomb, of Delaware, furnishes some interesting remarks
on the wheat crop of the United States:--
A short wheat crop in England, Mr. Webster says, affects the
exchanges of the civilized world. In the vast increase of population
in the absence of long wars and famines, the importance of this
staple is constantly increasing. Its cultivation is the most
attractive and pleasant of all descriptions of husbandry; and its
rewards are generally remunerating, when the soil and climate are
favorable, and the markets are not too distant.
It is important to know what our relation is to this staple of the
world, and what is, and what is likely to be, our contribution to
the great aggregate of production. Beyond feeding our own great and
rapidly increasing population, it probably will not soon, if ever,
be very great. It is a mistake, I apprehend, to suppose our country
is naturally a great wheat-producing country. The wheat district at
present, in comparison to the whole extent of our territory, is
limited. It is confined, so far as any appreciable amount is grown,
to about ten degrees of latitude and twenty degrees of longitude,
and embracing about one half the number of the States. The crop of
1848 is estimated by the Commissioner of Patents at one hundred and
twenty-six millions, and our population at twenty-two millions. This
gives a less number of bushels, per head, to our population than the
consumption of Great Britain, which is generally set down at one
hundred and sixty millions, or six bushels to each inhabitant. But
with us Indian corn is a great substitute; so are potatoes and oats
in Ireland and Scotland. Still our consumption of wheat, including
the black population, is undoubtedly less, per head, than theirs.
But in the absence of any certain data, to ascertain either the
actual production, or our consumption, our only safe course is to
take the actual excess, or the amount exported, after supplying our
own wants. This, for the fiscal year 1848, being the crop of 1847,
amounted, in flour and wheat, to twelve millions two hundred and
ninety-four thousand one hundred and seventy-five bushels, although
Mr. Burke's figures would show a surplus of some forty millions!
That there was not, and never has been any such surplus in the
country is very evident, for the foreign demand was all the time
good, and drew away all we had to part with.
The crop of 1848 was, undoubtedly, one of the best and largest we
have ever grown; yet I have ascertained, by application at the
registrar's office, that the exports for the fiscal year 1842,
amounted in wheat to but 1,527,534 bushels, and in flour to
2,108,013 barrels, or less by 226,676 bushels than the exports of
1848. Twelve millions is comparatively a small surplus in a
favorable season, for a country with a population of twenty-two
millions of inhabitants. The loss of a small per cent. in an
unfavorable season would at once sink this excess.
Let us now notice more in detail the different sections of our
country as adapted to the growth of wheat.
The New England States, some of them aided in their recent
enterprises by bounties offered by the state governments, have
failed to insure such success as is likely to encourage them to
continue the culture of wheat; or, at all events, to induce them to
aim at increasing their product to any considerable extent, since,
as one of their own farmers candidly states, "the attempt to grow a
crop of wheat is an experiment."
The States south of North Carolina, and inclusive of a part of
Delaware, have never heretofore succeeded in growing wheat to any
considerable extent, though there were periods in their
history--before the general introduction of the culture of
cotton--when, if it had been practicable to make the cereal one of
their staples, they would certainly have done so. Besides the common
dangers from rust and blight, the fly, and sometimes the frost--as
the past season--they have a most formidable enemy in the weevil. In
Upper Georgia, in the Cherokee country in particular, wheat will
probably be cultivated to some extent, and a limited cultivation of
it by the planters for their own use will probably continue in
several of the southern states. But the cotton, rice, and sugar
states, like the manufacturing states of New England, will not soon,
if ever, add much to the supply of wheat; the rich staples of the
former, and the varied husbandry and grazing of the latter, suited
to supply the immediate wants of a manufacturing population, will be
likely to receive their attention in preference.
Kentucky and Tennessee, though their agricultural history dates back
beyond the settlement of the north-western states, have already been
out-stripped by at least two of them. In neither of these states has
the culture of wheat ever been put forward, and regarded as one of
their best staples, or as very favorably adapted to their soil and
climate. Still, notwithstanding the formidable danger from rust, the
production of Tennessee is estimated to be equal to nine bushels to
each person, and Kentucky about seven and a half bushels. Missouri
may be classed with Kentucky and Tennessee, which she much resembles
in soil, climate, and productions, except that she raises much less
wheat than either, her crop being placed by the Commissioner of
Patents at only two millions, or less than four bushels to each
resident of the state. But, besides that the experience of the past
discourages the idea that these fine states are likely to become
great wheat-producing states, the fact that the staple of cotton may
be cultivated over a considerable portion of one of them, and that
hemp and tobacco are among the valuable products of the other two;
that Tennessee is the very largest corn-producing state in the
Union, showing her soil and climate are particularly adapted to this
description of grain, and that Kentucky and Missouri are unsurpassed
as grazing countries, and there is little ground to suppose that any
change in their husbandry will very greatly or suddenly augment the
production of wheat. Let us come now to the States of Indiana,
Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa, and that _fabulous_ wheat district or
territory to the west of these again, from which, according to the
vaticinations of some, may be drawn supplies of wheat to feed the
population of both Europe and America, or fill warehouses that would
sustain our people through a longer famine than that which afflicted
the people of Egypt! I cannot help thinking that, to some extent,
this generally fertile district of country has, so far as the
production of wheat is concerned, been "shouted forth in
acclamations hyperbolical." My own impression in regard to it is,
including the states last named, derived in part from observation,
from intercourse and correspondence with intelligent agriculturists
of these states, and from a careful examination of a geological
survey of two of them, that the soil and climate of this whole
district of country are _not_ particularly favorable to the
production of wheat. The popular idea I know to be otherwise. I am
not going to dwell upon it, or to examine the subject at any length.
There is a single remark that may help to explain the reputation
that has gone abroad in reference to the wheat-producing qualities
of these lands. The prairie sod, when first broken up, generally
produces wheat well, often most abundantly, provided it escapes the
rust, insect, &c. But, when this ground has been much furrowed,
becomes completely pulverized by exposure to the atmosphere, the
light and friable mould, of which most of it is composed, drenched,
as a good deal of it is, at times, with surface water, fails to hold
or sustain the roots of the plant, it is thrown out, or
winter-killed; and "winter-killed," "winter-killed,"
"winter-killed," we all know, is among the catalogue of disasters
that almost annually reach us. Sometimes, when escaping the winter,
the high winds of spring blow this light soil from the roots,
exposing them to such an extent, that, in a dry time in particular,
the wheat often perishes. When breaking up fresh prairies, there was
much encouragement and promise of hope, but which, I believe, has
not been, nor is likely to be, realized by their husbandmen, in the
degree that early experiments induced them to look for.
As appears by the last report of the Commissioner of Patents, the
crop of Illinois, in reference to population and production, is
below that of Kentucky, and both Indiana and Illinois are below that
of Tennessee. The crop of Indiana is set down at 8,300,000, her
population at 1,000,000, or equal to 8½ bushels a-head. The
production of Illinois is stated at 5,400,000, her population at
800,000, or less than seven bushels to each inhabitant--and both
these "fair and fertile plains" are still farther behind the old
"battered moors" of Maryland and Virginia.
Much of their wheat, too, is spring wheat, sown often on land where
the fall crop had winter-killed, increasing the number of bushels
much more than the value of the crop. I have heard it estimated
that full one-third of all the wheat shipped from Chicago was of
this description. Chicago is their great wheat depot. Several
millions of bushels are shipped from this point, _the contributions
from parts of three States_, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois; and
which concentration of their joint product at this new western city,
or something else, seems to have imparted to each and all these
states the reputation of great wheat-growing states, though they
are, in fact, with the advantage of a virgin soil, behind several of
the western states, and two at least of the eastern or Atlantic
States. The geological explorations of the Hon. Robert Dale Owen,
undertaken under the authority of Congress, throws much light on the
character of the soil of Wisconsin and Iowa, and the description
given undoubtedly characterizes much of that region of country. The
specific gravity of the soil, Mr. Owen states to be remarkably
_light_; but what he represents to be a "striking feature in the
character of the Iowa and Wisconsin soils, is the _entire absence,
in the most of the specimens of clay, and in a large proportion of
silex_." Again, he speaks of their being particularly adapted to the
growth of the sugar-beet, which he truly says, "flourishes best in a
_loose fertile mould_." Again, he detected no phosphates; but they
might be there, as the _virgin_ soil produced good wheat. So does
the virgin soil of most of the prairie land.--"The soil was rich in
geine," &c. But I submit that this does not describe a wheat soil,
hardly in any one particular. Liebig tells us, that "however great
the proportion of _humus_ in a soil, it does not necessarily follow
it will produce wheat"--and cites the country of Brazil.
Again, he adds, "how does it happen that wheat does not flourish on
a sandy soil (which much of the soil of these states is described to
be), and that a calcareous soil is also unsuitable to its growth,
unless it be mixed with a considerable quantity of clay?"
The late Mr. Colman, in his _European Agriculture_, states, that
"the soil preferred for wheat (in England) is a strong soil with a
large proportion of clay. But the question after all is, not whether
these States cannot grow wheat, and in comparatively large
quantities, for we know that while their lands are fresh, they can
and do--but whether, considering the hazard of the crop from
winter-killing, the rust, the fly--the risk from the two former
being equal to a large per cent. premium of insurance, they are not
likely to find their interest in grazing, in raising and feeding
stock, instead of attempting to extend their wheat husbandry. Lord
Brougham has said, that grazing countries are always the most
prosperous, and their population the most contented and happy. The
meat markets of Great Britain are likely to prove better and more
stable for us, than their grain markets.
The Hon. Henry L. Ellsworth, a distinguished citizen, and large
farmer of Indiana--distinguished throughout the Union for his zeal
in the cause of agriculture--thus expresses himself on this subject:
"After a full consideration of the subject, I am satisfied that
stock-raising at the West is much more profitable than raising
grain. Indeed, an examination of the north-western States shows a
vast difference in the wealth of the grazier over those who crop
with grain. The profits of wheat appear well in expectation on
paper, but the prospect is blasted by a severe winter, appearance of
insects, bad weather in harvesting, in threshing, for there are but
few barns at the West, or transporting to market, or last, a
fluctuation in the market itself."
Such is the opinion of Mr. Ellsworth, the result of observation and
experience, himself largely interested in ascertaining the safest
and surest course to be pursued. The destiny he has indicated for
this beautiful fertile region of country, will undoubtedly be
fulfilled; it will become a great pastoral, stock-raising, and
stock-feeding country.
Ohio stands now, as she did at the census of 1840, at the head of
all the wheat States, in the aggregate of production; her crop of
1848 being estimated at 20,000,000, which is about equal to 10½
bushels per head of her population. The geological survey of this
State, and the character of the soil, as described in the Reports of
the Board of Agriculture, in a large range of her counties, as a
"clayey soil," "clayey loam," "clay subsoil," &c., shows Ohio to
possess a fine natural wheat soil, if indeed, alter thirty years of
a generally successful wheat husbandry, such additional testimony or
confirmation was necessary.
Michigan has also been successful in the cultivation of wheat. Her
burr-oak openings are unsurpassed in producing wheat. They are
intervening ridges between low grounds, or marshes and bodies of
water, and their location not generally considered very healthy. A
doubt has also been suggested as to whether this soil, being a
clayey loam, resting on a sandy and gravelly subsoil, is likely to
wear as well as some other portions of the fertile soil of the
State. The Commissioner of Patents puts her crop for 1848 at
10,000,000 of bushels, which is equal to 23½ bushels to each
inhabitant! By the census of 1840, the population of Michigan was
212,267; number of bushels of wheat, 2,157,108. Her population in
1848 is estimated at 412,000. While she has barely doubled her
population, she has, according to the above estimate, more than
_quadrupled_ her production of wheat--increased it at the rate of
about one million bushels a year for eight consecutive years, making
the quantity she grows to each head of her population _more than
double_ that of any State in the Union.
We can at least say, and appeal to the past history of the country
to show it, that for a period of more than one hundred years, the
supply of the Atlantic wheat States has generally been constant, and
for the most part abundant. They have furnished the "staff of life"
to several generations of men, and cotemporary with it, an annual
amount for export, that materially assisted in regulating the
exchanges of the country.
England requires for her own consumption, upon the average of years,
somewhere about 32,000,000 bushels of wheat more than she produces.
The average annual entries of foreign wheat for consumption in the
United Kingdom, for the sixteen years ending with 1845, were about
nine and a half million bushels. Inasmuch as the average number of
acres in wheat crop were in 1846 about 4,600,000, the average produce
142,200,000 bushels, or over 30 bushels to the acre--an improvement in
the harvest to the extent of two bushels per acre, will destroy the
demand, and a deficiency to that extent will double it. Now as there
is an available surplus at the neighbouring ports in Europe, in the
Baltic and the Black Sea, of about 18,000,000 of bushels only,
whenever there is a demand for home consumption, for, say 20,000,000
bushels, as was the case in each of the five years from 1838 to 1843,
larger shipments from America will take place; but whenever there are
good harvests, as in the six years from 1831 to 1837, in which the
deficiency only ranged from 230,000 to 1,000,000 bushels, the trade is
not worth notice. It must be remarked, however, that in a country like
Britain, where capital is abundant, consumption great, speculation
rife, the harvest so uncertain, and the stake so great that a cloudy
day transfers thousands from one broker to another, the importation
cannot be closely assimilated to the actual wants of the country. The
ordinary yield of grain in the United Kingdom after deductions for
seed, is about 400,000,000 bushels, and as nearly 100,000,000 bushels
of grain and meal were imported in 1847, there must have been a
general deficiency of nearly twenty-five per cent.
In the "Statistics of the British Empire," the average extent of land
under grain culture, &c., in 1840, was estimated as follows:--
ENGLAND AND WALES.
Produce per Acre. Total Produce.
Wheat 3,800,000 3¼ quarters. 12,350,000
Barley and rye. 900,000 4 " 3,600,000
Oats and beans. 3,000,000 4½ " 13,500,000
SCOTLAND.
Wheat 220,000 3 660,000
Barley 280,000 3½ 980,000
Oats 1,275,000 4½ 5,737,500
In Scotland, ten years ago, 150,000 acres were reckoned to be under
cultivation with wheat, 300,000 with barley, and 1,300,000 with oats,
which is the great crop and chief food of the people.
Mr. Braithwaite Poole, in his "Statistics of British Commerce," 1852,
states--"The annual average production of all sorts of corn in the
United Kingdom has been estimated by competent parties at rather more
than 60,000,000 quarters, and £80,000,000 in value; but in the absence
of general official returns, we cannot vouch for its accuracy,
although, from various comparisons, there are reasonable grounds for
assuming this calculation to be as nearly correct as possible. Some
persons in the corn trade imagine the aggregate production to approach
almost 80,000,000 quarters; but I cannot find any data extant to
warrant such an extended assumption."
The estimated produce of wheat, in quarters, and acreage, he states as
follows:--
Quarters. Acreage.
England 15,200,000 3,800,000
Ireland 1,800,000 600,000
Scotland 1,225,000 350,000
---------- ---------
Total 15,225,000 4,750,000
The average price of wheat per quarter in the last thirteen years, in
England and Wales, has been as follows:--
s. d.
1840 66 4
1841 64 4
1842 57 3
1843 50 1
1844 51 3
1845 50 10
1846 54 8
1847 69 9
1848 50 6
1849 44 3
1850 40 4
1851 38 7
1852 41 0
The best wheat, as well as the greatest quantity, is raised in the
midland counties. From two and a half to three Winchester bushels per
acre are required for seed, and the average produce varies from
twenty-two to thirty-two bushels per acre.
THE CONTINENT.
The quantity of wheat raised in France in 1835 was 71,697,484
hectolitres, of which eleven millions was required for seed. The
average produce per hectare was stated at thirteen and a half
hectolitres.
The total grain and pulse raised in that year was set down at
204,165,194 hectolitres.
Hectolitres.
Maslin 12,281,020
Barley 18,184,316
Rye 32,999,950
Buckwheat 5,175,933
Maize and Millet 6,951,179
Oats 49,460,057
Peas and Beans 3,318,691
Oats, next to wheat is the largest crop grown in France, for the
support of two million horses and three and a half million mules and
asses.
According to the "Annuaire de l'Economie Politique de la Statistique,"
there were 13,900,000 hectares (each about 2½ acres) under cultivation
with the cereals in France.
The primary article of consumption is wheat. At the rate of three
hectolitres (1 qr. ¼ bush.) to each individual, every family would
require thirteen to fourteen hectolitres, costing 210 to 280 francs
(£8 15s. to £11 10s.) according as the price varies, between its
present value fifteen francs, and its occasional cost twenty francs.
In the reign of Louis XVI, Arthur Young referred with horror to the
black bread eaten by the French. Since that time half a century has
passed, and whilst the agricultural produce in France has tripled in
value, the labourers who produce it continue, from custom and
necessity, to eat a detestable bread made from rye, barley, or peas
and potatoes; and, to make the matter still worse, it is badly baked,
without yeast, and being sometimes kept for weeks, it becomes covered
with mould, and altogether presents an appearance enough to turn the
stomach of a savage.
According to Mr. McGregor's estimate some ten or twelve years ago, the
land under wheat culture was 13,808,171 acres, producing 191,000,000
bushels; and 11,715 acres with spelt, or red wheat, the yield of which
was 374,000 bushels.
The other crops were--
Acres Crops, bushels
Maslin 2,251,438 32,000,000
Rye 6,369,879 76,000,000
Barley 2,936,453 45,000,000
Oats 7,416,297 134,000,000
Maize 1,561,372 20,000,000
Wheat and oats are grown all over Russia, which is the greatest corn
land in the world.
In Austrian Italy the yield of grain has been reckoned at three
million quarters, but this seems rather low. About one-half of this is
maize and rye, and a quarter wheat.
It is reckoned that eight million quarters of grain are raised yearly
in Denmark, but this seems doubtful. In 1839, a million quarters of
grain, however, were shipped from that kingdom.
BRITISH AMERICAN PROVINCES.
According to the census return of 1852, the number of acres under
grain crops, and the produce in Canada, were as follows:--
Lower Canada--Produce. Upper Canada--Produce.
Acres. Bushels. Acres. Bushels.
Lower Canada--Produce Upper Canada--Produce
Acres Bushels Acres Bushels
Wheat 427,111 3,075,868 782,115 12,692,852
Barley 42,927 668,626 29,916 625,875
Rye 46,007 341,443 38,968 479,651
Oats 540,422 8,967,594 421,684 11,193,844
Buckwheat 51,781 530,417 44,265 639,381
Maize 22,669 400,287 70,571 1,666,513
Flour may be valued at 21s. the barrel.
The grain crops in Lower Canada are taken in the minot, and not in the
bushel, except in the townships. In like manner, the acres are taken
in arpents. An arpent is about one-seventh less than an acre; and a
minot about one-eighth (some say one-twelfth) more than a bushel.
During the years 1850-1, Western Canada exported upwards of two
million barrels of flour, and three million bushels of wheat, being
equivalent to 13,600,000 bushels of wheat. The value of the wheat and
flour exported in 1851 was £404,033. Canadian flour, like that of
Genessee, is of very superior quality.
WHEAT.--UPPER CANADA.
Bushels. To each inhabitant.
Wheat crop of 1841 was 3,221,991 or 6.60
Do. 1847 7,558,773 " 10.45
Do. 1849 9,706,082 " 12.08
Do. 1851 12,692,852 " 13.33
The quantity of land under wheat in "Upper Canada was 782,115 acres,
showing a yield of about sixteen and three quarter bushels to the
acre. The wheat produced in 1852 was valued at nearly two million
pounds sterling.
LOWER CANADA.
Minots.
Wheat crop in 1843 was 942,835 or 1.36
Do. 1851 3,075,868 " 3.46
UNITED STATES.
Bushels.
Wheat crop in 1839 was 84,832,272 or 4.96
Estimated by patent office 1847 114,245,500 " 5.50
Crop of wheat 1849 100,684,627 " 4.33
In order, however, to institute a fairer comparison, I will divide the
States into three classes, viz.:--1st. States growing over six million
bushels.
Bushels. Population. Bush, per head.
Pennsylvania 15,367,691 2,311,736 6.65
Ohio 14,487,351 1,980,408 7.32
New York 13,131,498 4,148,182 3.16
Virginia 11,232,616 1,421,661 7.90
Illinois 9,414,575 851,471 11.06
Indiana 6,214,458 988,416 6.28
---------- ---------- -----
Total 69,847,189 11,701,924 5.97
2nd. States growing over one million and less than six million
bushels.
Bushels. Population. Bush, per head.
Michigan 4,925,889 397,654 12.39
Wisconsin 4,286,131 305,191 14.04
Maryland 4,494,681 583,031 7.71
Missouri 2,981,652 682,043 4.38
Kentucky 2,140,822 982,405 2.15
North Carolina 2,130,102 868,903 2.45
Tennessee 1,619,381 1,002,525 1.61
New Jersey 1,601,190 481,555 3.27
Iowa 1,530,581 192,214 7.96
Georgia 1,088,534 905,999 1.21
South Carolina 1,066,277 668,507 1.60
---------- --------- ----
Total 27,865,240 7,078,131 3.93
3rd. The remaining States and territories.
2,791,470 4,466,246 0.63
Total wheat crop in the United States, 100,503,899 bushels.
Population, 23,246,301. Bushels per head, 4.33.
Increase:--U. States, 1839 84,823,272 bushels
" 1849 100,503,896 "
-----------
15,680,627
Or 18.49 per cent. in ten years.
Upper Canada, 1841 3,221,991 "
" 1851 12,692,825 "
----------
9,470,861
Or nearly quadrupling itself in ten years.
Bushels. Population. Bush. per head.
Pr. Ed. Island 1847 219,787 62,678 3.50
Newfoundland 1850 297,157 276,117 1.08
New Brunswick 1850 206,635 193,800 1.06
The Eastern States in 1849 raised 1,090,896 bushels. Population
2,668,106, or 0.41 each.
The population of Upper Canada is 952,904, and allowing five bushels
for each, 4,760,020 bushels; and for seed at one and a half bushels
per acre 1,173,173 bushels = 5,933,193; leaves for export 6,761,668
bushels. More than sufficient to supply the consumption of the whole
of the Eastern States.
"Were the population of Lower Canada to consume flour at the given
rate, it would require--
Bushels.
890,261 at five bushels each 4,451,305
Seed 640,000
---------
5,091,305
Grown 3,075,868
---------
2,015,437
Leaving a surplus of wheat in Canada 4,746,231 bushels, or at four and
a half bushels for each, equal to 1,054,718 barrels of flour.
Professor Johnston in his report on New Brunswick, furnishes some
valuable information as to the produce there.
The following table of average weights indicates a capacity in the
soil and climate to produce grain of a very superior quality:--
----------------+-------+--------+------+-----+-------+-------
| | | | | Buck- |
COUNTIES | Wheat | Barley | Oats | Rye | Wheat | Maize
----------------+-------+--------+------+-----+-------+-------
Saint John |61 | -- |41 | -- | 50 | --
Westmoreland |60 | 48 |35½ | -- | 48 | 59
Albert |58 | 50 |34¾ | 50 | 45 | --
Charlotte |59 | 45 |39 | -- | 57 | 59
King's |59½ | 48 |37 | -- | 48 | 60
Queen's |58½ | 50 |36½ | 53 | 43 | 61
Sunbury |57 | 55 |38 | 53 | 47 | 57
York |63 | 50 |38 | -- | 51 | 60
Carleton |64 | -- |38 | -- | 52 | 65
Kent |63 | -- |37 | -- | 50 | --
Northumberland |62 | 53 |37 | -- | 45 | 57
Gloucester |63 | 51 |39 | -- | -- | --
Restigouche |63 | 48 |42 | -- | -- | --
----------------+-------+--------+------+-----+-------+------
The general average weights for the whole Province are, for
Wheat 60 11-13 lbs.
Barley 50 "
Oats 38 "
Rye 52½ "
Buckwheat 48 8-11 "
Indian Corn 59½ "
Potatoes 63 "
Turnips 66 "
Carrots 63 "
The annexed statement shows not only the average yield per acre of
each description of crop, but affords an opportunity of contrasting it
with the like products in the State of New York:--
AVERAGE PRODUCE PER IMPERIAL ACRE.
New Brunswick State of New York
Bushels Bushels
Wheat 20 14
Barley 29 16
Oats 34 26
Rye 20½ 9½
Buckwheat 33¾ 14
Indian Corn 41¾ 25
Potatoes 226 90
Turnips 460 88
Hay 1¾ --
A possibility of error in striking the averages is suggested in the
report; and to guard against it the following statement of the
averages derived from the minimum returns is given, viz.:--Wheat 17¾
bushels; Barley, 27; Oats, 33; Buckwheat, 28; Rye, 18; Indian Corn,
36½; Potatoes, 204; Turnips, 389. The diminished averages scarcely
affect the question of productiveness, as in every particular they
exceed the averages for the favored Genesee Valley and the southern
shores of Lake Ontario.
While the productiveness of the soil is thus proven by the statements
of most experienced farmers, the average prices appear to be equally
favorable to the Provincial growers. The following tables of averages
set this in a clear point of view:--
AVERAGE PRICES OF GRAIN PER BUSHEL AND PER QUARTER.
Per Bushel Per Quarter
Wheat 7s. 6d. 60s. 0d.
Barley 4 2½ 33 8
Oats 2 0 16 0
Rye 4 10 38 8
Buckwheat 3 9 30 0
Indian Corn 4 8 37 4
ROOT CROPS AND HAY.
Potatoes 1s. 11d. per bushel.
Turnips 1 2 "
Eng. Hay 49 0 per ton.
Carrots 2 5 per bushel.
Man. Wurtzel 2 1 "
Marsh Hay 20 0 per ton.
AVERAGE MONEY VALUE OF AN ACRE OF EACH CROP.
New Brunswick Canada West State of Ohio
Wheat £ 6 13 0 £2 4 7 £2 19 0
Barley 5 13 7½ 1 19 4½ 2 4 0
Oats 6 3 6 1 11 0 1 13 9
Rye 4 7 0 1 5 10½ 1 12 4
Buckwheat 5 5 0 3 5 0 1 16 3
Indian Corn 8 10 4 2 14 4½ 2 15 0
Potatoes 19 11 0 6 6 0 6 9 4½
On a review of the foregoing and other tables, Professor Johnston has
drawn the following conclusions:--
"That grain and roots generally can be raised more cheaply in the
Province of New Brunswick than in New York, Ohio, or Upper Canada;
and that the Province ought to be able to compete with those
countries and drive them from its home markets."
Such are the deductions of a skilful and scientific, practical and
theoretical agriculturist, from the statements furnished by the most
enterprising and successful of our colonists. Nevertheless, I cannot
conceal a doubt whether all the elements of comparison have been duly
weighed. The result, especially as regards wheat, is so contrary to
pre-conceived opinions, that further investigations should be made. Is
it not possible that, while an equality of expense in preparing the
land for a wheat crop appears to have been assumed, the great care and
expense necessary in New Brunswick to prepare the land, and an
occasional succession of minimum returns would, to a very considerable
extent, account for the supposed discrepancy?
Wheat has, from time immemorial, been a staple crop in the plains of
Northern India, and especially in the Punjaub. The climate and soil
are well fitted for this cereal, but owing to defects and carelessness
in the agriculture and harvesting, the crops, though excellent, fall
short of what most corn-growing countries produce. Further--owing to
foul boats and granaries, and to the moist heat of the months
immediately succeeding harvest, the wheat reaches England in a state
too dirty and weevelled for market. The hard wheat is preferred by the
natives in India to the soft, probably for no better cause than that
the hardness of the grain more closely resembles their favorite food,
rice.
BARLEY.
Oats, rye and barley, are the staple crops of northern and mountainous
Europe and Asia. In England barley is grown principally in the eastern
and some of the midland counties, and chiefly for malting. It is most
extensively cultivated in the Himalaya and Thibet, replacing in many
districts the wheat, and producing an admirable flour.
Since the establishment of the studs at Buxar, Ghazepore, &c., oats
have been extensively cultivated. It is a winter crop.
Although believed to have been indigenous to the countries bordering
on the torrid zone, this grain possesses the remarkable flexibility of
maturing in favorable seasons and situations on the eastern continent
as far north as 70 deg., and flourishes well in lat. 42 deg. south.
Along the Atlantic side of the continent of America, its growth is
restricted to the tract lying between the 30th and 50th parallels of
north latitude, and between 30 and 40 deg. south. Near the westerly
coast, its range lies principally between latitude 20 and 62 deg.
north. The barley chiefly cultivated in the United States is the
two-rowed variety which is generally preferred from the fulness of its
grain and its freedom from smut. Barley has never been much imported
from that country, as the Americans have been rather consumers than
producers. The consumption of barley there in 1850 in the manufacture
of malt and spirituous liquors amounted to 3,780,000 bushels, and
according to the census returns, the quantity of barley raised was
4,161,504 bushels in 1840, and 5,167,213 bushels in 1850. In this
country barley is extensively used for malting, distilling, and making
beer; large quantities are consumed in Scotland, or carried into
England.
In Prussia, about ten and a half million hectolitres of barley are
annually raised. In the Canary Isles, about 354,000 bushels are
annually exported. In Van Diemen's Land in 1844, 174,405 bushels of
barley were grown on 12,466 acres.
The quantity of barley made into malt in the United Kingdom in the
year ending 10th October, 1850, was 5,183,617 quarters, of which about
four million quarters were used by 8,500 maltsters. The quantity of
malt charged with duty in the year ending 5th January, 1851, was
636,641 tons; the average price per quarter, 26s. 2d.
Barley is at present extensively cultivated in the temperate districts
and islands of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. In Spain, Sicily,
the Canaries, Azores and Madeira, two crops are produced in a year.
In North America its growth is principally confined to Mexico, the
middle, western, and northern States of the Union, and to the British
North American provinces. The introduction of barley into the American
colonies may be traced back to the period of their settlement. By the
year 1648 it was raised in abundance in Virginia, but soon after its
culture was suffered to decline, in consequence of the more profitable
and increased production of tobacco. It has also been sparingly
cultivated in the regions of the middle and northern States for
malting and distillation, and has been employed, after being malted,
as a substitute for rice.
Barley, like wheat, has been cultivated in Syria and Egypt for more
than 3,000 years, and it was not until after the Romans adopted the
use of wheaten bread, that they fed their stock with this grain. It is
evidently a native of a warm climate, as it is known to be the most
productive in a mild season, and will grow within the tropics at an
elevation of 3,000 to 4,000 feet above the level of the sea. It is one
of the staple crops of northern and mountainous Europe and Asia. It is
the corn that, next to rice, gives the greatest weight of flour per
acre, and it may be eaten with no other preparation than that of
boiling. It requires little or no dressing when it is sent to the
mill, having no husk, and consequently produces no bran. In this
country barley is chiefly used for malting and distilling purposes. In
the year 1850, 40,745,050 bushels of malt paid duty, the number of
maltsters in the United Kingdom being from 8,000 to 9,000. About one
and a half million quarters of barley were imported in 1849, and a
little over a million quarters in 1850, principally from Denmark and
Prussia. The counties in England where this grain is chiefly
cultivated are Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, Bedford, Herts, Leicester,
and Nottingham. The produce of barley on land well prepared, is from
thirty to fifty bushels or more per statute acre, weighing from 45 to
55 lbs. per bushel, according to quality. It is said to contain 65 per
cent. of nutritive matter, while wheat contains 78 per cent.
The estimated average produce of barley in this country may be stated
as follows:--
Acres. Crop.
England 1,500,000 6,375,000
Ireland 320,000 1,120,000
Scotland 450,000 1,800,000
-------- -----------
2,270,000 9,295,000
The average produce per acre, in the United Kingdom, is 4¼ quarters in
England, 3½ in Ireland, and 4 in Scotland. The prices of barley per
quarter have ranged, in England, from 36s. 5d. in 1840, to 27s. 6d. in
1842. In 1847 barley reached 44s. 2d., and gradually declined to 23s.
5d, in 1850.
OATS.
Oats are principally in demand for horses, and the extraordinary
increase of the latter has occasioned a proportional increase in the
culture of oats. They are grown more especially in the north and
north-eastern counties; in the midland counties their culture is less
extensive, but it is prevalent throughout most parts of Wales.
Nearly twice as much oats as wheat is raised in the United Kingdom,
but the proportion grown in Scotland is not so large as is supposed.
The following is a fair estimate of the comparative production:--
Acres. Produce.
England 2,500,000 12,500,000
Ireland 2,300,000 11,600,000
Scotland 1,300,000 6,500,000
--------- ---------
Total 6,100,000 30,500,000
We import annually about l¼ million quarters from foreign countries
and nearly three-fourths of a million quarters from Ireland. The
average produce per acre throughout the kingdom is five quarters. The
price within the last 10 years has ranged from 28s. 7d. per quarter
(the famine year) to 17s. 6d.
The oat, when considered in connection with the artificial grasses,
and the nourishment and improvement it affords to live stock, may be
regarded as one of the most important crops produced. Its history is
highly interesting, from the circumstance that in many portions of
Europe it is formed into meal, and forms an important aliment for man;
one sort, at least, has been cultivated from the days of Pliny, on
account of its fitness as an article of diet for the sick. The country
of its origin is somewhat uncertain, though the most common variety is
said to be indigenous to the Island of Juan Fernandez. Another oat,
resembling the cultivated variety, is also found growing wild in
California.
This plant was introduced into the North American Colonies soon after
their settlement by the English. It was sown by Gosnold on the
Elizabeth Islands in 1602; cultivated in Newfoundland in 1622, and in
Virginia, by Berkley, prior to 1648.
The oat is a hardy grain, and is suited to climates too hot and too
cold either for wheat or rye. Indeed, its flexibility is so great,
that it is cultivated with success in Bengal as low as latitude
twenty-five degrees North, but refuses to yield profitable crops as we
approach the equator. It flourishes remarkably well, when due regard
is paid to the selection of varieties, throughout the inhabited parts
of Europe, the northern and central portions of Asia, Australia,
Southern and Northern Africa, the cultivated regions of nearly all
North America, and a large portion of South America.
In the United States the growth of the oat is confined principally to
the Middle, Western and Northern States. The varieties cultivated are
the common white, the black, the grey, the imperial, the Hopetown, the
Polish, the Egyptian, and the potato oat. The yield of the common
varieties varies from forty to ninety bushels and upwards per acre,
and weighing from twenty-five to fifty pounds to the bushel. The
Egyptian oat is cultivated south of Tennessee, which after being sown
in autumn, and fed off by stock in winter and spring, yields from ten
to twenty bushels per acre. In the manufacture of malt and spirituous
liquors oats enter but lightly, and their consumption for this purpose
does not exceed 60,000 bushels annually in the United States.
In 1840, Ireland exported 2,037,835 quarters of oats and oatmeal, but
in 1846, on account of the dearth, the grain exports fell off
completely. Most of the grain grown in Ireland requires to be
kiln-dried, and is, therefore, of lower value.
The oat, like rye, never has entered much into our foreign commerce,
as the domestic consumption has always been nearly equal to the
quantity produced. The annual average exports from the United States
for several years preceding 1817, were 70,000 bushels.
By the census returns of 1840, the total produce of the United States
was 123,071,341 bushels; of 1850, 146,678,879 bushels.
In Prussia 43 million hectolitres of oats are annually raised.
The quantity of oats imported into the United Kingdom, has been
declining within the last few years. In 1849, we imported 1,267,106
quarters; in 1850, 1,154,473; in 1851, 1,209,844; in 1852, 995,479. In
1844, 221,105 bushels of oats were raised in Van Diemen's Land on
13,864 acres.
RYE.
Rye (_Secale cereale_) is scarcely at all raised in this country for
bread, except in Durham and Northumberland, where, however, it is
usually mixed with wheat, and forms what is called "maslin,"--a bread
corn in considerable use in the north of Europe.
Geographically rye and barley associate with one another, and grow
upon soils the most analogous, and in situations alike exposed. It is
cultivated for bread in Northern Asia, and all over the Continent of
Europe, particularly in Russia, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany and
Holland; in the latter of which it is much employed in the manufacture
of gin. It is also grown to some extent in England, Scotland and
Wales. With us it is little used as an article of food compared with
wheat and oats, though in the north of Europe and in Flanders it forms
the principal article of human subsistence, but generally mixed with
wheat, and sometimes, also with barley; 100 parts of the grain consist
of 65.6 of meal, 24.2 of husk, and 10.2 of water. The quantity of rye
we import seldom reaches 100,000 quarters per annum.
The straw is solid, and the internal part, being, filled with pith,
is highly esteemed for Dunstable work, for thatching and litter, and
it is also used to stuff horse collars.
In Ireland there are 21,000 acres under culture with rye, producing
105,000 quarters.
In North America rye is principally restricted to the Middle and
Eastern States, but its culture is giving place to more profitable
crops.
In Bohemia, as in most parts of Germany, rye forms the principal crop,
the product being about 3,250,000 quarters annually.
The three leading varieties cultivated in the United States are the
spring, winter, and southern; the latter differing from the others
only from dissimilarity of climate. The yield varies from 10 to 30 or
more bushels per acre, weighing from 48 to 56 pounds to the bushel.
The production of rye has decreased 4,457,000 bushels in the
aggregate, but in New York it is greater by the last decennial census
than in 1840, by about 40 per cent. Pennsylvania, which is the largest
producer, has fallen off from 6,613,373 to 4,805,160 bushels. Perhaps
the general diminution in the quantity of this grain now produced may
be accounted for, by supposing a corresponding decline in the demand
for distilling purposes, to which a larger part of the crop is applied
in New York. This grain has never entered largely into its foreign
commerce, as the home consumption for a long period nearly kept pace
with the supply. The amount exported from the United States in 1801,
was 392,276 bushels; in 1812, 82,705 bushels; in 1813, 140,136
bushels. In 1820-1 there were exported 23,523 barrels of rye flour; in
1830-1, 19,100 barrels; in 1840-1 44,031; in 1845-6, 38,530 barrels;
in 1846-7, 48,892 barrels; in 1850-1, 44,152 barrels. During the year
ending June 1, 1850, there were consumed of rye about 2,144,000
bushels in the manufacture of malt and spirituous liquors.
According to the American census returns of 1840, the product of the
country was 18,645,567 bushels; in 1850, 14,188,637 bushels. We
imported 246,843 quarters of rye and rye meal, in 1849, equivalent to
49,368 tons; but in 1850 the imports were only 94,078 quarters and in
1851 they were but 26,323 quarters. About 20,000 acres are under
cultivation with rye in Ireland, the produce of which is 100,000
quarters.
BUCKWHEAT.
Buckwheat belongs to the temperate and arctic climates, and is
cultivated in Northern Europe, Asia, and America for the farinaceous
albumen of its seeds, which, when properly cooked, affords a delicious
article of food to a large portion of the human race. It also serves
as excellent fodder to milch cows, and the straw, when cut green and
converted into hay, and the ripened seeds, are food for cattle,
poultry, and swine.
It is raised most abundantly in Central Asia and the Himalaya. In the
latter country the different varieties are grown at various
elevations, between 4,000 and 12,000 feet. The finest samples
exhibited in 1851 were from Canada, but some of excellent quality was
also shown by the United States, Russia, and Belgium. The common
variety grown in Europe is the _Polygonum fagopyrum_, and _P.
emarginatum_ is grown in China and the East. In this country the
produce varies from 2 to 4 quarters per acre. The quantity of seed
sown is 5 to 8 pecks the acre. Vauquelin found 100 parts of its straw
to contain 29.5 of carbonate of potash, 3.8 of sulphate of potash,
17.5 of carbonate of lime, 13.5 of carbonate of magnesia, 16.2 of
silica, 10.5 of alum, and 9 of water.
It is believed to be a native of Central Asia, as it is supposed to
have been first brought to Europe in the early part of the twelfth
century, at the time of the crusades for the recovery of Syria from
the dominion of the Saracens; while others contend that it was
introduced into Spain by the Moors, four hundred years before.
The cultivation of buckwheat, in one or other of its species, is
principally confined to Great Britain, France, Switzerland, Italy,
Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Russia, China, Tartary, Japan, Algeria,
Canada, and the middle and northern portions of the United States.
In America from 30 to 45 bushels per acre may be considered as an
average yield in favorable seasons and situations, but 60 or more
bushels are not unfrequently produced.
According to the census returns of 1840, the annual quantity raised in
the United States was 7,291,743 bushels; of 1850, 8,950,916 bushels.
The average annual imports of buckwheat into this country have not
exceeded 1,000 quarters, until last year (1852), when they reached
8,085 quarters. A small quantity of the meal is also annually
imported.
MAIZE.
Maize (_Zea Mays_), is the common well-known Indian corn forming one
of the most important of the grain crops, and has a greater range of
temperature than the other cereal grasses. It was found cultivated for
food by the Indians of both North and South America, on the first
discovery of that continent, and thence derived its popular name.
Maize succeeds best in the hottest and dampest parts of tropical
climates. It may be reared as far as 40 degrees north and south
latitude on the American continent; while in Europe it can grow even
to 50 degrees or 52 degrees of latitude, some of the numerous
varieties being hardy enough to ripen in the open air, in England and
Ireland. It is now cultivated in all regions in the tropical and
temperate zones, which are colonized by Europeans. It is most largely
grown, however, about the Republics bordering on the northern shores
of South America, California, the United States and Canada, the West
India islands and Guiana, on the coasts of the Mediterranean, and
partially in India, Africa, and Australia. We see the singular fact in
Mexico of land which, after perhaps thousands of years' culture, is so
little exhausted, that with a very little labor bestowed on it, a bad
maize harvest will yield two hundredfold profit, while a good crop
returns 600 fold.
This grain adopts itself to almost every variety of climate, and is
found growing luxuriantly in the low countries of tropical Mexico, and
nearly equally well on the most elevated and coldest regions of the
table-land; in the rich valleys of the Cordilleras or the Andes, and
on the sandy heights of those mountains wherever a rill of water can
be brought to nourish its roots. In short, it ripens under the sun of
America, in every part of both continents.
Though wheat is characterised as the most nutritious food for man in
all quarters of the world, yet the Indian corn crop of the United
States is not second in value to any product of the earth; cultivated
in the middle and Eastern States, nay, even in the rich cotton-growing
districts, Indian corn is fast rising in importance, and will soon
equal in value that important commercial staple. This indigenous grain
yields to the nation an annual average of five hundred millions of
bushels, and has, within the last five years, attracted much attention
as a life-sustaining food, more particularly at the period of
Ireland's severe suffering, in 1847, and the following years. Nations,
as well as statesmen and farmers, have found it an object worthy of
their consideration and esteem.
When due regard is paid to the selection of varieties, and cultivated
in a proper soil, maize may be accounted a sure crop in almost every
portion of the habitable globe, between the 44th degree of north
latitude and a corresponding parallel south. Among the objects of
culture in the United States, it takes precedence in the scale of
cereal crops, as it is best adapted to the soil and climate, and
furnishes the largest amount of nutritive food. Besides its production
in the North American Republic, its extensive culture is limited to
Mexico, the West Indies, most of the States of South America, France,
Spain, Portugal, Lombardy, and Southern and Central Europe generally.
It is, however, also cultivated with success in Northern, Southern,
and Western Africa, India, China, Japan, Australia, and the Sandwich
Islands, the groups of the Azores, Madeira, the Canaries, and numerous
other oceanic isles.
Maize is not a favorite grain as bread-corn with the European nations,
for although it abounds in mucilage, it is asserted to contain less
gluten, and is not likely to be much used by those who can procure
wheaten flour, or even rye bread.
The large importations which were made by our Government during the
prevalence of the potato disease, brought it into more general use
among some classes, and the imports for home consumption are still
extensive, having been as follows in the last few years:--
1848. 1849.
Indian corn, quarters 1,582,755 2,249,571
" meal, cwts. 233,880 102,181
1850. 1851.
Indian corn, quarters 1,286,264 1,810,425
" meal, cwts. 11,401
The trade in maize, or Indian corn, is totally new since 1846. The
famine in Ireland in that year, and the potato rot in almost every
successive year since, have now fully established it. Like the gold
discoveries, the potato rot may be regarded as a providential means of
effecting a great change in the condition of society. Those
discoveries are not without their influence in the East, and, combined
with the potato rot, they have rapidly increased the commerce between
the East and West of Europe, while they are spreading broad paths
between all Europe and the lands in the Southern Ocean. The imports of
maize from all parts, in 1852, amounted to 1,550,000 quarters, of
which about 1,100,000 quarters arrived in vessels from the
Mediterranean, &c., calling at Queenstown or Falmouth for orders. The
balance consisted of imports from America, France, Portugal, &c., and
also of cargoes addressed direct to a port of discharge, without first
calling off the coast for orders. The quantities received in 1851 and
1852 from the Mediterranean were as follows:--
1852. 1851.
Received from qrs. qrs.
Galatz 223,000 286,067
Ibraila 362,600 211,779
Salonica 35,640 95,377
Odessa 219,170 74,065
Egypt 50,960 86,260
Italy 8,250 162,544
Constantinople, Malta,
Trieste, and other
ports in the Mediterranean 190,720 286,358
--------- ---------
1,090,340 1,202,450
The various quarters from whence we derive supplies of this grain, are
shown in the following table of the imports for the last three years,
which I have compiled from the most recent Parliamentary returns.
INDIAN CORN AND MEAL IMPORTED INTO THE UNITED KINGDOM.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 1849. | 1850. | 1851.
|-----------------|----------------|---------------
PLACES. | Corn. | Meal. | Corn. | Meal.| Corn. |Meal.
| qrs. | cwts. | qrs. | cwts.| qrs. |cwts.
----------------------|---------|-------|---------|------|---------|-----
Russian Ports in | | | | | |
Black Sea | 25,519| | 19,721| | 98,176|
Denmark | 1,300| | 250| | 5|
Hanover | 1,344| | | | |
Belgium | 67| | | | |
France | 135,115| 510| 102,978| 26| 164,128| 29
Portugal Proper | 61,446| | 67,518| 53| 21,922|
Azores and Madeira | 17,214| 7| 7,794| 6| 4,356| 1
Spain and Bahama | | | | | |
Islands | 26,856| 48| 19,982| 48| 34,771|
Sardinian Territories | 13,357| | 25| 2| 1,302| 1
Tuscany | 11,481| 95| 15,612| 94| 34,760|
Papal Territories | 8,927| | 1,876| | 75,588|
Naples and Sicily | 18| | 10,066| | 101,489|
Austrian Territories | 90,540| | 45,748| | 73,966|
Malta and Gozo | 18,198| | 4,969| | 11,002|
Ionian Islands | 5,390| | 7,324| | 5,967|
Greece | 57,520| | 8,712| | 3,252|
Egypt | 12,767| | 71,808| | 127,692|
Turkish dominions, | | | | | |
including Wallachia,| | | | | |
Moldavia and Syria | 563,799| | 348,456| | 748,180|
Morocco | 760| | | | |
West Coast of Africa | 889| | 2,322| | |
B.N.A. Colonies | 1,645| 164| 1,530| | 4,377| 7
U.S. of America |1,170,154|100,859| 538,155|11,253| 295,978|9,522
Brazil | 1,253| | 468| | 725|
Other places | | | 1,756| | |
| | | | | | 1
----------------------|---------|-------|---------|------|---------|-----
|2,225,459|101,683|1,277,070|11,482|1,807,636|9,561
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Parliamentary Paper, No. 14, Sess. 1852.)
The many excellent properties of Indian corn, as a wholesome
nutritious food, and the rich fodder obtained from the stalk and leaf
for the nourishment of cattle, invite more earnest attention from the
farmer and planter in the Colonies to its better and extended
cultivation.
Though the average quantity of grain from each acre in the United
States is not more than thirty or forty bushels, yet it is known that
with due care and labor 100 to 130 bushels may be obtained.
In feeding cattle little difference is discoverable between the
effects of Indian corn meal and oil-cake meal; the preference rather
preponderates in favor of the latter.
Corn cobs, ground with the grain, have advocates, but this food is not
relished, and swine decline it.
Indian corn contains about the same proportion of starch as oats
(sixty per cent.), but is more fattening, as it contains about nine or
ten per cent. of oily or fatty ingredients.
The following analysis of maize is given by Dr. Samuel David, of
Massachusetts:--
FLESH FORMING PRINCIPLES.
Gluten, albumen, and casein 12.60
FAT FORMING PRINCIPLES.
Gum, sugar, starch, woody fibre, oil, &c. 77.09
Water 9.00
Salts 1.31
-----
100.
Prof. Gorham, in "Thomson's Organic Chem.," published in London in
1838, gives another analysis:--
Fresh grain. Dried grain.
Water 9.00
Starch 77.00 84.60
Gluten 3.00 3.30
Albumen 2.50 2.74
Gum 1.75 1.92
Sugar 1.45 1.60
Loss 5.30 5.84
------ ------
100. 100.
Professor Johnston supplies a table, which, he says, exhibits the best
approximate view we are yet able to give of the average proportion of
starch and gluten contained in 100 lbs. of our common grain crops as
they are met with in the market.
From this table I extract the following:--
Starch, gum, &c. Gluten, albumen, &c.
Wheat flour. 55 lbs. 10 to 15 lbs.
Oats 65 " 18 lbs.
Indian corn 70 " 12 "
Beans 40 " 28 "
Peas 50 " 24 "
Potatoes 12 " 2-1/3 "
The Professor remarks that the proportion of oil is, in 100 lbs. of
Wheat flour 2 to 4
Oats 5 " 8
Indian corn 5 " 9
Beans and peas 2½ " 3
Potatoes 0¼ "
Maize is one of those plants in which potash preponderates, for
analysis of its ashes gives the following proportions:--
Salts of potash and soda 71.00
---- lime and magnesia 6.50
Silica 18.00
Loss 4.50
------
100.
Dr. Salisbury has also furnished the proximate analysis of five
varieties of ripe maize or Indian corn:--
Proportions.
One hundred grains of each. Water. Dry.
Golden Sioux corn, a bright, yellow, twelve-rowed}
variety, frequently having fourteen rows } 15.02 84.98
Large eight-rowed yellow corn 14.00 86.00
Small eight-rowed ditto 14.03 85.97
White flint corn 14.00 86.00
Ohio Dent corn, one of the largest varieties of }
maize } 14.50 85.50
COMPARATIVE ORGANIC ANALYSIS.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Golden | Ohio | Small | Large | White
| Sioux. | Dent | 8-rowed | 8-rowed | Flint
| | Corn. | Corn. | Corn. | Corn.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Starch | 36.06 | 41.85 | 30.29 | 49.22 | 40.34
Gluten | 5.00 | 4.62 | 5.60 | 5.40 | 7.69
Oil | 3.44 | 3.88 | 3.90 | 3.71 | 4.68
Albumen | 4.42 | 2.64 | 6.00 | 3.32 | 3.40
Casein | 1.92 | 1.32 | 2.20 | 0.75 | 0.50
Dextrine | 1.30 | 5.40 | 4.61 | 1.90 | 3.00
Fibre | 18.50 | 21.36 | 26.80 | 11.96 | 18.01
Sugar and extract | 7.25 | 10.00 | 5.20 | 9.55 | 8.30
Water | 15.02 | 10.00 | 13.40 | 14.00 | 14.00
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Large quantities of starch are now made from this grain in Ohio; an
establishment near Columbus consume 20,000 bushels of corn annually
for this purpose. The offal of the grain is given to hogs, 500 to 600
head being annually fattened therewith. The quality of the starch is
said to be superior to that of wheat, and commands a higher price in
New York.
A corn plant, fifteen days after the seed was planted, cut on the 3rd
June close to the ground, gave of--
Water 86.626
Dry matter 10.374
Ash 1.354
Ash calculated dry 13.053
By the above figures it will be seen that nearly 90 per cent, of the
young plant is water; and that in proportion to the dry matter, the
amount of earthy minerals which remain, as ash, when the plant is
burnt, is large. This excess of water continues for many weeks. Thus,
on the 5th July, thirty-three days from planting, the relations stood
thus:--
Water 90.518
Dry matter 9.482
Ash 1.333
Ash calculated dry 14.101
(Ash very saline.)
Before green succulent food of this character is fit to give to cows,
oxen, mules, or horses, it should be partly dried. Plants that contain
from 70 to 75 per cent. of water need no curing before eaten. The
young stalk cut July 12, gave over 94 per cent. of water. Such food
used for soiling without drying would be likely to scour an animal,
and give it the cholic.
The root at this time (July 12) gave of--
Water 81.026
Dry matter 18.974
Ash 2.222
Ash calculated dry 11.711
(Ash tastes of caustic potash.)
Ash of the whole plant above ground, 6.77 grains. Amount of ash in all
below ground, 3.93 grains.
So late as July 26, the proportion of water in the stalk was 94 per
cent.; and the ash calculated dry 17.66 per cent. The plant gained
21.36.98 grains in weight in a week preceding the 6th September. This
was equal to a gain of 12.72 grains per hour.
The rapid growth of corn plants, when the heat, light, and moisture,
as well as the soil are favorable, is truly wonderful. A deep, rich,
mellow soil, in which the roots can freely extend to a great distance
in depth and laterally, is what the corn-grower should provide for his
crop. The perviousness of river bottoms contributes largely to their
productiveness of this cereal. A compact clay, which excludes alike
air, water, and roots, forbidding all chemical changes, is not the
soil for Indian corn.
When farmers sell corn soon after it is ripe, there is considerable
gain in not keeping it long to dry and shrink in weight. Corn grown by
Mr. Salisbury, which was ripe by the 18th October, then contained 37
per cent. of water, which is 25 per cent. more than old corn from the
crib will yield. The mean of man experiments tried by the writer has
been a loss of 20 per cent. in moisture between new and old corn. The
butts of cornstalks contain the most water, and husks or shucks the
least, when fully matured and not dried. The latter have about 30 per
cent, of dry matter when chemically desiccated.
COMPOSITION OF THE ASH OF THE LEAVES AT DIFFERENT STAGES.
July 19. Aug. 2. Aug. 23. Aug. 30. Oct. 18.
Carbonic acid 5.40 2.850 0.65 3.50 4.050
Silicia 13.50 19.850 34.90 36.27 58.650
Sulphuric acid 2.16 1.995 4.92 5.84 4.881
Phosphates 21.60 16.250 17.00 13.50 5.850
Lime .69 4.035 2.00 3.88 4.510
Magnesia .37 2.980 1.59 2.30 0.865
Potash 9.98 11.675 10.85 9.15 7.333
Soda 34.39 29.580 21.23 22.13 8.520
Chlorine 4.55 6.020 3.06 1.63 2.664
Organic acids 5.50 2.400 3.38 2.05 2.200
----- ------ ------ ----- ------
98.14 97.750 98.187 99.83 99.334
The above figures disclose several interesting facts. It will be seen
that the increase of silica or flint in the leaf is steadily
progressive from 13½ per cent. at July 19, to 58.65 at October 18.
Flint is substantially the _bone earth_ of all grasses. If one were
to analyse the bones of a calf when a day old, again when thirty days
of age, and when a year old, the increase of phosphate of lime in its
skeleton would be similar to that witnessed in the leaves and stems of
maize. In the early stages of the growth of corn, its leaves abound in
phosphates; but after the seeds begin to form, the phosphates leave
the tissues of the plant in other parts, and concentrate in and around
the germs in the seeds. On the 23rd of August, the ash of the whole
stalk contained 19½ per cent. of phosphates; and on the 18th of
October, only 15.15 per cent. In forming the cobs of this plant,
considerable potash is drawn from the stalk, as it decreases from
35.54 per cent. August 16, to 24.69 October 18. When the plant is
growing fastest, its roots yield an ash which contains less than one
per cent. of lime; but after this development is nearly completed, the
roots retain, or perhaps regain from the plant above, over 4½ per
cent. of this mineral. Soda figures as high as from 20 to 31 per cent.
in the ash obtained from corn roots. Ripe seeds gave the following
results on the analysis of their ash:--
Silica 0.850
Phosphoric acid 49.210
Lime 0.075
Magnesia 17.600
Potash 23.175
Soda 3.605
Sodium 0.160
Chlorine 0.295
Sulphuric acid 0.515
Organic acids 5.700
------
99.175
The above table shows a smaller quantity of lime than is usually found
in the ash of this grain. It is, however, never so abundant as
magnesia; and Professor Emmons has shown that the best corn lands in
the State of New York contain a considerable quantity of magnesia. All
experience, as well as all chemical researches, go to prove that
_potash_ and phosphoric acid are important elements in the
organisation of maize. Corn yields more pounds of straw and grain on
poor land than either wheat, rye, barley, or oats; and it does
infinitely better on rich than on sterile soils. To make the earth
fertile, it is better economy to plant thick than to have the rows
five feet apart each way, as is customary in some of the Southern
States, and only one stalk in a hill. This gives but one plant to
twenty-five square feet of ground. Instead of this, three square feet
are sufficient for a single plant; and from that up to six, for the
largest varieties of this crop.
Mr. Humboldt states the production of maize in the Antilles as 300 for
one; and Mr. H. Colman has seen in several cases in the New England
States of America, a return of 400 for one; that is to say, the hills
being three feet apart each way, a peck of Indian corn would be
sufficient seed for an acre. If 100 bushels of grain is in such case
produced by an acre--and this sometimes happens--this is clearly a
return of 400 for one.
Of the whole family of cereals, _Zea Mays_ is unquestionably the most
valuable for cultivation in the United States. When the time shall
come that population presses closely on the highest capabilities of
American soil, this plant, which is a native of the New World, will be
found greatly to excel all others in the quantity of bread, meat,
milk, and butter which it will yield from an acre of land. With proper
culture, it has no equal for the production of hay, in all cases where
it is desirable to grow a large crop on a small surface.
Although there has been much written on the Eastern origin of this
grain, it did not grow in that part of Asia watered by the Indus, at
the time of Alexander the Great's expedition, as it is not among the
productions of the country mentioned by Nearchus, the commander of the
fleet; neither is it noticed by Arian, Diodorus, Columella, nor any
other ancient author; and even as late as 1491, the year before
Columbus discovered America, Joan di Cuba, in his "Ortus Sanitatis,"
makes no mention of it. It has never been found in any ancient
tumulus, sarcophagus, or pyramid; nor has it ever been represented in
any ancient painting, sculpture, or work of art, except in America.
But in that country, according to Garcilaso de la Vega, one of the
ancient Peruvian historians, the palace gardens of the Incas, in Peru,
were ornamented with maize, in gold and silver, with all the grains,
spikes, stalks, and leaves; and in one instance, in the "garden of
gold and silver," there was an entire cornfield, of considerable size,
representing the maize in its exact and natural shape; a proof no less
of the wealth of the Incas, than their veneration for this important
grain.
In further proof of the American origin, it may be stated that this
plant is still found growing, in a wild state, from the Rocky
mountains in North America, to the humid forests of Paraguay, where,
instead of having each grain naked, as is always the case after long
cultivation, it is completely covered with glumes or husks. It is,
furthermore, a well authenticated fact, that maize was found in a
state of cultivation by the aborigines, in the island of Cuba, on its
discovery by Columbus, as well as in most other places in America,
first explored by Americans.
The first successful attempt to cultivate this grain in North America,
by the English, occurred on James' river, in Virginia, in 1608. It was
undertaken by the colonists sent over by the Indian company, who
adopted the mode then practised by the natives, which, with some
modifications, has been pursued throughout this country ever since.
The yield, at this time, is represented to have been from two hundred
to more than one thousand fold. The same increase was noted by the
early settlers in Illinois. The present yield, east of the Rocky
Mountains, when judiciously cultivated, varies from 20 to 135 bushels
to an acre.
The varieties of Indian corn are very numerous, exhibiting every
grade of size, color, and conformation, between the "chubby reed"
that grows on the shores of Lake superior--the gigantic stalks of the
Ohio valley--the tiny ears, with flat, close, clinging grains, of
Canada--the brilliant, rounded little pearl--the bright red grains and
white cob of the eight-rowed hæmatite--the swelling ears of the big
white and the yellow gourd seed of the South. From the flexibility of
this plant, it may be acclimatised, by gradual cultivation, from Texas
to Maine, or from Canada to Brazil; but its character, in either case,
is somewhat changed, and often new varieties are the result. The
blades of the plant are of great value as food for stock, and is an
article but rarely estimated sufficiently, when considering of the
agricultural products of the Southern and Southwestern States
especially.
To supply slaves on plantations with bread, including old and young,
requires from twelve to thirteen bushels of corn each a year. Taking
thirteen bushels as the average consumption of breadstuffs by the
22,000,000 of people in the United States, the aggregate is
286,000,000 bushels per annum.
The increase of production, from 1840 to 1850, was 214,000,000
bushels, equal to 56 per cent.
The production of New England advanced from 6,993,000 to 10,377,000
bushels, showing an increase of 3,384,000 bushels, nearly fifty per
cent. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland,
increased 20,812,000 bushels, more than fifty per cent. In the
production of this crop no State has retrograded. Ohio, which in 1840
occupied the fourth place as a corn-producing State, now ranks as the
first. Kentucky is second, Illinois third, Tennessee fourth. The crop
of Illinois has increased from 2,000,000 to 5,500,000 bushels, or at
the rate of 160 per cent. in ten years.
Of the numerous varieties some are best adapted to the Southern
States, while others are better suited for the Northern and Eastern.
Those generally cultivated in the former are the Southern big and
small yellow, the Southern big and small white flint, the yellow
Peruvian, and the Virginian white gourd seed. In the more Northerly
and Easterly States they cultivate the golden sioux, or Northern
yellow flint, the King Philip, or eight-rowed yellow, the Canadian
early white, the Tuscarora, the white flour, and the Rhode Island
white flint.
The extended cultivation of this grain is chiefly confined to the
Eastern, Middle, and Western States, though much more successfully
grown in the latter. The amount exported from South Carolina, in 1748,
was 39,308 bushels; from North Carolina, in 1753, 61,580 bushels; from
Georgia, in 1755, 600 bushels; from Virginia, for several years
preceding the revolution, annually 600,000 bushels; from Philadelphia,
in 1765-66, 54,205 bushels; in 1771, 259,441 bushels.
The total amount exported from America in 1770, was 573,349 bushels;
in 1791, 2,064,936 bushels, 351,695 of which were Indian meal; in
1800, 2,032,435 bushels, 338,108 of which were in meal; in 1810,
1,140,960 bushels, 86,744 of which were meal. In 1820-21, there were
exported 607,277 bushels of corn, and 131,669 barrels of Indian meal;
in 1830-31, 571,312 bushels of corn, and 207,604 barrels of meal; in
1840-41,535,727 bushels of corn, and 232,284 barrels of meal; in
1845-46, 1,286,068 bushels of corn, and 298,790 barrels of meal; in
1846-47 16,326,050 bushels of corn, and 948,060 barrels of meal; in
1850-51, 3,426,811 bushels of corn, and 203,622 barrels of meal. More
than eleven millions of bushels of Indian corn were consumed in 1850,
in the manufacture of spirituous liquors.
According to the census of 1840, the corn crop of the United States
was 377,531,875 bushels; in 1850, 592,326,612 bushels.
The increase in the production of corn in Ohio has been (in ten years)
66 per cent. I have also before me the auditor's returns for the crop
of 1850, as taken by assessors, and the number of acres planted. The
auditor's returns are:--
Seventy-three counties 55,079,374
Darke county 524,484
Twelve counties, average 8,400,000
----------
Total 64,003,858
This is an advance of 15 per cent. on the crop of 1840, and it is
known that the crop of 1850 was better than that of 1849. The number
of acres planted, and the average production was:--
Acres planted 1,810,947
Bushels produced 64,003,858
Average per acre 35-3/8 bush.
Considering how large a portion of hill land is planted, and how many
fields are ill cultivated, the average is high. Many persons have
believed that taking all years and all lands into view, the average of
corn lands was not more than thirty bushels. But the immense fertility
of _bottom_ lands on the rivers and creeks of Ohio make up for bad
cultivation and inferior soil. We may see something of the differences
in the production of corn, by taking the averages of different
counties, thus:--
Acres. Crop. Average.
Butler 62,031 2,646,353 42½
Warren 42,322 1,757,409 42
Pickaway 65,860 2,627,727 40
Ross 69,520 2,918,958 42
Compare the average of these counties, which embrace some of the best
lands in the State, with the following:--
Acres. Crop. Average.
Carroll 10,107 316,999 32
Jackson 15,680 439,850 30
Monroe 23,375 728,242 31
Portage 10,426 329,529 32
Vinton 11,413 345,470 30
The last counties contain but little bottom land, and hence the
average of corn is reduced one-fourth in amount. Of these counties,
two are full of coal and iron. The resources of the last are more slow
to develop, but in the end will be equally valuable.
But a small quantity of the corn of Ohio is exported _as grain_. It is
first manufactured into other articles, and then exported in another
form. The principal part of these are hogs, cattle, and whiskey. It is
difficult to say exactly how much corn is _in this way exported_, but
the following is an approximation--
Bushels.
In Fat Cattle 4,000,000
In Fat Hogs 10,000,000
In Whiskey 2,500,000
----------
Total 16,500,000
Taking into view the export of corn meal--about twenty millions of
bushels--the residue goes to the support of the stock animals on hand,
of which there are near three millions, exclusive of those fatted for
market.
The exported corn in the shape of cattle, hogs, and whiskey, is worth
about thirty cents cash, while on the farm it is not worth
twenty--thus proving that it is more profitable to consume corn on the
farm, than to export it in bulk. This fact is well known to good
farmers, who seldom attempt to sell corn as a merchantable article.
No mining in the world has ever been equal to mining in a fertile
soil, and no treasury is so reliable as a granary of surplus products.
Indian corn and meal generally find a market in the West Indies,
Newfoundland, Spain, and Portugal. It commands a good price, and finds
a ready sale in the ports which are open to its reception.
Deducting one-sixteenth for the amount exported, and one-tenth for
seed, the quantity of maize annually consumed for food in the United
States by a family of five persons is 85 bushels.
Maize may be considered as the great staple of the agricultural
products of the States. It is exported in large quantities, in a raw
state, or when manufactured into meal. Before it is manufactured into
meal it is dried by a fire, in a kiln prepared for that purpose. By
this process the meal is much less liable to become sour on the
voyage, and can be preserved much longer in a warm climate. No
inconsiderable quantities have likewise been consumed in distillation;
and the article of kiln-dried meal for exportation is destined to be
of no small account to the corn-growing sections of that country.
The improvement continually making in the quality of the seed augurs
well for the productiveness of this indigenous crop, as it has been
found that new varieties are susceptible of being used to great
advantage.
The following was the produce of the different States in the years
named, as given in the Official Census Returns:--
-----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
| 1840 | 1841 | 1843 | 1850
| Bushels. | Bushels. | Bushels. | Bushels.
-----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
Maine | 950,528 | 988,549 | 1,390,799 |
New Hampshire | 1,162,572 | 191,275 | 330,925 |
Massachusetts | 1,809,192 | 1,905,273 | 2,347,451 |
Rhode Island | 450,498 | 471,022 | 578,720 |
Connecticut | 1,500,441 | 1,521,191 | 1,926,458 |
Vermont | 1,119,678 | 1,167,219 | 1,252,853 |
New York | 10,972,286 | 11,441,256 | 15,574,590 |
New Jersey | 4,361,975 | 5,134,366 | 5,805,121 |
Pennsylvania | 14,240,022 | 14,969,472 | 15,857,431 |
Delaware | 2,099,359 | 2,164,507 | 2,739,982 |
Maryland | 8,233,086 | 6,998,124 | 6,205,282 |
Virginia | 34,577,591 | 33,987,255 | 45,836,788 |
N. Carolina | 23,893,763 | 24,116,253 | 27,916,077 |
S. Carolina | 14,722,805 | 14,987,474 | 18,190,913 |
Georgia | 20,905,122 | 21,749,227 | 26,960,687 |
Alabama | 20,947,004 | 21,594,354 | 24,817,089 |
Mississippi | 13,161,237 | 5,985,724 | 9,386,399 |
Louisiana | 5,952,912 | 6,224,147 | 8,957,392 |
Tennessee | 44,986,188 | 46,285,359 | 67,838,477 | 52,000,000
Kentucky | 39,847,120 | 40,787,120 | 59,355,156 | 58,000,000
Ohio | 33,668,144 | 35,552,161 | 38,651,128 | 59,788,750
Indiana | 28,155,887 | 33,195,108 | 36,677,171 | 53,000,004
Illinois | 22,634,211 | 23,424,474 | 32,760,434 | 57,000,000
Missouri | 17,332,524 | 19,725,146 | 27,148,608 |
Arkansas | 4,846,632 | 6,039,450 | 8,754,204 |
Michigan | 2,277,039 | 3,058,090 | 3,592,482 |
Florida Territory| 898,074 | 694,205 | 838,667 |
Wisconsin | 379,359 | 521,244 | 750,775 |
Iowa T. | 1,406,241 | 1,547,215 | 2,128,416 |
D. of Columbia | 39,485 | 43,725 | 47,837 |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
Total | 377,531,875 | 387,380,185 | 494,618,306 | 500,000,000
-----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
The Indian corn crop of 1850, for the whole of the United States, is
returned as over 500 million bushels, a gain of about 40 millions on
that of 1840.
I give below the quantities of Indian corn and meal which were
exported from the United States in the following years:--
Corn, Bushels. Meal, Bushels. Value. Dolls.
1790 1,713,241
1794 1,505,977 241,570
1798 1,218,231 211,694
1802 1,633,283 566,816
1806 1,064,263 108,342 1,286,000
1810 1,054,252 86,744 1,138,000
1814 61,284 26,438 170,000
1818 1,075,190 120,029 2,335,405
1822 509,098 148,288 900,656
1826 505,381 158,652 1,007,321
1829 897,656 173,775 974,535
1833 437,174 146,678 871,814
--(_Pitkin's Statistics of the United Stales, and Seybert's
Statistical Annals_.)
_System of culture pursued in the United States_.--Maize, the _corn,
par excellence_, of America, is grown in every State in the Union.
Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, and Indiana, are in their order
the greatest producers of this grain. In Illinois, North Carolina,
Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, New York,
Maryland, Arkansas, and the New England States, it appears to be a
very favorite crop. In Massachusetts, the most Northern and least
favorable State on that account, being cold, a fair proportion is
grown, the aggregate produce being greater there than in any of the
grains, except oats; more, indeed, than might be expected, were not
labor somewhat cheaper than in more Southern States, where the climate
is more congenial. The ordinary produce is twenty-five bushels per
acre; forty bushels is often raised, and in prize crops the weight has
come up to 100 bushels per acre. In Ohio the average is fifty-five
bushels to the acre. The eight and twelve-rowed varieties of Indian
corn are those most usually grown in New York, and the average produce
of a good field in that State is from forty to sixty bushels; on
ordinary ground twenty-five to thirty is a fair crop. The same returns
appeared to be derived from ground in New Jersey. Mr. Doubleday, of
Binghampton, New York, estimates the produce of that neighbourhood at
forty bushels, and the expense of raising the crop as follows,
estimating the worth of the land at twenty-five dollars (say £5) per
acre:--
Dollars. Cents.
The interest of which is 1 16
One ploughing with double team, and harrowing 3 50
Seed and planting 1 00
Plaster or gypsum, and putting on the hill 0 37
Ploughing and hoeing twice, cutting
or stalking the corn 2 75
Husking or thrashing 2 50
-----------------
11 62
Average yield, forty bushels; cost of produce, twenty-nine cents. (1s.
4½d.) per bushel.
Nothing is here put down for manure or cartage, because the fodder,
cut up and saved, as usually adopted, is equal to the manure required.
It is looked upon that the preparation of ground for corn costs less
than wheat; the approved plan is to plant on sward ground, ploughing
at once, and turning the ground completely over, then harrowing
longitudinally until, a good tilth is obtained. Should the soil not be
rich enough, stable manure is first spread on the land.
Now suppose the corn to sell at seventy-five cents the bushel, the
account would stand thus:--
Dollars. Cents.
Forty bushels, at seventy-five cents. 30 00
Cost 11 62
---------------
Gain per acre 18 38
or £3 13s. 6d. British money profit per acre.
In Lichfield, Connecticut, the cost of produce has been, for the
items as stated above, eighteen dollars twenty-five cents, or the cost
of each bushel thirty-six and one-half cents. The acre produce was
fifty bushels, so that it stood thus:--
Dollars. Cents.
Fifty bushels, at seventy-five cents 37 50
Cost 18 25
-----------------
Gain 19 5
or £3 12s. per acre.
The cost of producing maize varies somewhat in the other States,
thus:--
Per bushel.
Cents.
New Hampshire (Unity) the cost was 50
Fayette county, Pennsylvania 16 ¼
Donesville, Michigan, only 17 ½
Plymouth, Massachusetts 17 7/10
The cost on producing this crop was small, but it appears to have been
a small crop, and did not bring more than thirty cents per bushel.
In Monroe county, the richest land in the State of New York,
estimating the land at fifteen dollars per acre, the producing cost
stood at:--
Dollars. Cents.
Interest at six per cent. 0 45
One ploughing sward, cover or stubble 1 00
Harrowing, furrowing, seed, and planting 0 87½
Cultivating three times and hoeing 1 00
Husking the hill 1 00
Shelling and cleaning 1 00
---------------
5 82½
This yielded fifty bushels, the cost of producing the bushel was
eleven and three-fifths cents. This low cost was owing to the fact of
no manure being used; and while it speaks volumes as to the natural
fertility of American soils, yet it reflects very disgracefully upon
the careless system adopted there, as under such treatment no land
could continue, after some years, to produce a crop which could come
into competition with those from newer and less exhausted lands; but
if under a good system of tillage the ground was yearly renewed with
manure, and those amendments which every soil requires, after a crop
has been raised from it, added to the soil in top-dressing and in
ploughing-in, we should never hear of the exhausted state of New
England land, or see the sons of the soil moving west and cultivating
newer soils, thus removing much of the capital and intelligence of a
country away from it.
Supposing the corn of Monroe county sold at seventy cents per bushel,
the balance would appear thus:--
Dollars. Cents.
Fifty bushels, at seventy cents 35 00
Cost of production 5 82½
--------------
Gain 29 18½
£6 1s. per acre profit.
In Northern Ohio and in Illinois the cost of production averages
twenty cents per bushel.
The mode of cultivation in Connecticut and the New England States has
been thus described to me by Mr. L. Durand, an experienced
agriculturist:--If the soil selected is light and mellow, it should be
ploughed and subsoiled in the spring, first spreading on the coarse
unfermented manure which is to be ploughed in. For marking the rows
for planting, a "corn marker" may be used to advantage. It is made by
taking a piece of scantling, three inches square and ten to twelve
feet long, with teeth of hickory or white oak inserted at distances of
two to four feet, according to the width designed for the rows. Then
an old pair of waggon-thills and a pair of old plough-handles are put
to it, and your marker is done. With a good horse to draw this
implement, the ground may be made ready for planting very rapidly. It
is better to leave the ground flat than to ridge it, for the latter
mode has no advantage, except when the ground is wet. The difference
in the two modes is chiefly this:--When the ground is ridged, the corn
being planted between the edges of the furrows, it comes immediately
in contact with the manure, springs up and grows rapidly the fore part
of the season. When the ground is left flat, and the manure turned
under the furrows, the corn will often look feeble at first, and in
growth will frequently be much behind that on the ridges; and the
inference early in the season is, that the ridged ground will give the
best crop, but as soon as the roots of the corn on the flat ground get
hold of the manure (say about the 20th of July), the corn will shoot
rapidly ahead, and the full force of the manure will be given to the
stalk just at the time of forming the grain. Corn cultivated in this
way, if the soil is deeply tilled, will often keep green, while that
on ridges is dried up.
Many farmers, at planting, shell the corn off the cob, and plant it
dry. Others soak it a few days in warm water. But when the seed is
only treated in this way, it is very likely to be pulled up by birds
and injured by worms. The best way to prevent this is to first soak
the corn in a strong solution of saltpetre; then take a quantity of
tar, and having warmed it over a fire, pour it on the corn, and stir
with a stick or paddle till the grain is all smeared with the tar;
then add gypsum or plaster till the corn will separate freely, and no
birds will touch the grain.
The time of planting, in the United States, varies with the season and
the section of the country. In New England it may generally be planted
from the 15th to the 25th May. Where the ground is flat, a light
harrow or a cultivator is much better to go between the rows than the
plough. Formerly a great deal of useless labor was spent in hilling up
corn; in dry seasons this was worse than useless. The earth hauled
round the stalk does not assist its growth, nor aid in holding it up;
the brace roots, which come out as the stalk increases in height,
support it; and it has been observed, that in a heavy storm and
thunder gust, corn that is hilled will be broken down more than that
which is not hilled. The ground which is kept level has also the
advantage of more readily absorbing rain, rendering the crop less
liable to suffer from drought. The field should have two or three
regular hoeings, and the weeds be carefully kept under.
In harvesting the following will be found a good plan:--Let two hands
take five rows, cutting the corn close to the ground. A hill should be
left standing to form the centre of the shock, placing the stalks
round it, so that they may not lie on the ground. After the shock is
made of sufficient size, take a band of straw, and having turned down
the tops of the stalks, bind them firmly, and the work is done.
Maize may be cut as soon as the centre of the grain is glazed, even if
the stalks are green. There will be sufficient nutriment in the stalk
to perfect the ear, and the fodder is much better than when it gets
dry before it is cut. If the shocks are well put up, they may stand
four or five weeks. The corn may then be knocked out, and the fodder
secured for winter use.
The report of the Ohio Board of Agriculture for 1849, contains many
interesting statements in reference to maize culture, made by the
officers of numerous county agricultural societies. In Miami county,
2,030,670 bushels were grown, at an average yield of fifty-five
bushels per acre. Three varieties are cultivated: the common gourd
seed, for cattle; the yellow Kentucky, for hogs and distilling; and
the white, for grinding and exportation. According to the returns from
Green county, which produced 1,250,000 bushels of corn in 1849, "a
regular rotation of clover, corn, wheat, and clover again, is best for
corn; and no crop pays better for extra culture." The Harrison county
Agricultural Society reports the pork crop at 4,800,000 pounds; and it
gave its first premium for corn to Mr. S.B. Lukens, whose statement is
as follows:--
"The ground had been in meadow ten years, was ploughed six inches
deep about the middle of April, was harrowed twice over on the 9th
May, and planted on the 11th four feet by two feet. It came up well,
was cultivated and thinned when ten inches high; three stalks were
left in a hill. About two weeks afterward it was again cultivated,
and the suckers pulled off. About the last of June it was again
cultivated, making three times the same way, as it was laid off but
one way.
d. c.
Expense of culture, gathering, and cribbing, was 17 10
Produce of 374-3/8 bushels, at 31¼ cents 117 10
----------
Profit on three acres 100 00
The evidence on which a premium was awarded was such as should satisfy
any one that 374 bushels were grown on three acres of land, and at a
cost not exceeding 17 dollars 10 cents, delivered in the crib. This is
producing corn at less than 5 cents a bushel.
Whether the statement be true to the letter or not, it shows
conclusively the great value of a _rich soil_ for making cheap corn.
The Board of Agriculture estimates the crop of Ohio last year at
70,000,000 of bushels. Taking the United States as a whole, probably
the crop of corn was never better than in the year 1849. One that has
rich land needs only to plough it deep and well, plant in season, and
cultivate the earth properly with a plough or cultivator, to secure
the growth of a generous crop. On poor soils the case is very
different.
To raise a good crop of corn on poor land, and at the least possible
expense, requires some science and much skill in the art of tillage.
Take the same field to operate in, and one farmer will grow 100
bushels of corn at half the cost per bushel that another will expend
in labor, which is money. It unfortunately happens that very skilful
farmers are few in number, in comparison with those who have failed to
study and practice all attainable improvements. To produce cheap corn
on poor land, one needs a clear understanding of what elements of the
crop air and water will furnish, and what they cannot supply. It
should be remembered that the atmosphere is precisely the same over
ground which yields 100 bushels of corn per acre, that it is over that
which produces only five bushels per acre. Now, the whole matter which
forms the stems, leaves, roots, cobs, and seeds of corn, where the
crop is 100 bushels per acre, is not part and parcel of the soil. A
harvest equal to fifty bushels per acre can be obtained without
consuming over ten per cent, of earth, as compared with the weight of
the crop. No plant can imbibe more of the substance of the soil in
which it grows, than is dissolved in water, or rendered gaseous by the
decomposition of mould.
The quantity of matter dissolved, whether organic or inorganic, during
the few weeks in which corn plants organise the bulk of their solids,
is small. From 93 to 97 parts in 100 of the dry matter, in a mature,
perfect plant, including its seeds, cob, stems, leaves, and roots, are
carbon (charcoal) and the elements of water. It is not only an
important, but an exceedingly instructive fact, that the most
effective fertilisers known in agriculture are those that least abound
in the elements of water and carbon. The unleached dry excrements of
dunghill fowls and pigeons, have five times the fertilising power on
all cereal plants that the dry dung of a grass-fed cow has, although
the latter has five times more carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, per 100
pounds, than the former. Although it is desirable to apply to the soil
in which corn is to grow as much of organised carbon and water as one
conveniently can, yet, where fertilisers have to be transported many
miles; it is important to know that such of the measure as would form
_coal_, if carefully burnt, can best be spared. The same is true of
those elements in manure which form vapor or water, when the
fertiliser decomposes in the ground.
Carbonic acid and nascent hydrogen evolved in rotting stable manure
are truly valuable food for plants, and perform important chemical
offices in the soil; but they are, nevertheless, not so indispensable
to the economical production of crops, as available nitrogen, potash,
silica, magnesia, sulphur, and phosphorus. These elements of plants
being less abundant in nature, and quite indispensable in forming
corn, cotton, and every other product of the soil, their artificial
supply in guano, night soil, and other highly concentrated
fertilisers, adds immensely to the harvest, through the aid of a small
weight of matter. In all sections where corn is worth 30 cents and
over a bushel, great benefits may be realised by the skilful
manufacture and use of poudrette. This article is an inodorous
compound of the most valuable constituents of human food and clothing.
It is the raw material of crops.
It is not necessary to restore to a cornfield all the matter removed
in the crop to maintain its fertility. A part of each seed, however,
ought to be carried back and replaced in the soil, to make good its
loss by the harvest.
In every barrel of meal or flour sent to market (196 pounds), there
are not far from 186 pounds of carbon (coal), and the elements of
water. When a bird eats wheat or corn, I have reason to believe, from
several experiments, that over 80 per cent, of the food escapes into
the air through its capacious lungs in the process of respiration; and
yet the 20 per cent, of guano left will re-produce as much wheat or
corn as was consumed. Imported guano, which has been exposed to the
weather for ages, often gives an increase in the crop of wheat equal
to three pounds of seed to one of fertiliser; while it has given a
gain of seven to one of corn, and fifty to one of green turnips.
Like other grains that have been long cultivated, Indian corn abounds
in varieties. In Spain they count no less than 130, and in the United
States the number is upwards of forty. The difference consists in
size, color, period of maturation, and hardness and weight of grain.
Of size there exists a considerable variety, from Zea Curagua of
Chili, and the Egyptian or chicken corn, both extremely diminutive, to
the large white flint, and ground seed corn of the United States. The
differences in color are the red, yellow, and white. The period of
maturation varies, apparently, very considerably; but it is
questionable whether this variation is real, and independent of
climate. In the Northern States of America, Indian corn ripens in a
shorter period of time than it does in the South, owing, possibly, to
the greater length of the summer day in those latitudes.
In selecting varieties, some experienced and judicious farmers prefer
that which yields the greater number of ears, without regard to their
size, or number of rows. Others prefer that which furnishes one or two
larger ears, having from twelve to twenty-four rows. In the Northern
States of America the yellow corn bears the highest price in the
market, and is considered the most prolific and best suited to feed
cattle and hogs. For bread, the white Button is preferred at the
North, and the white ground seed is used for that purpose in other
quarters. Preference, however, is most frequently given to white flint
corn, which is unquestionably the heaviest, and contains the greatest
proportion of farina.
In Mississippi many varieties are grown, principally those known as
flint and bastard flint. The gourd-seed varieties are very
objectionable in that climate, principally on account of their
softness rendering them unfit for bread, and open to the attacks of
insects in the field and the crib. They require a grain, _white_,
_hard_, and rather flinty--_white_ because of its great consumption in
bread and hommony, in the preparation of both of which their cooks
greatly excel. When meal is ground for bread, the mill is set rather
wide, that the flinty part of the grain may not be cut up too fine,
this being sifted out for "small hommony;" the farinaceous part of the
grain is left for bread. This hommony is a beautiful and delicious
dish. On most plantations the negroes have it for supper, with
molasses or buttermilk. A _hard flinty_ grain is necessary to head the
weevil, with which not only the cribs but the heads of corn in the
field are infested. These are the _Calandra oryzæ_, the true rice
weevil, distinguished from his European cousin by the two reddish
spots on each _elytra_ or wing-cover, and known in America as the
"black weevil;" also a little brown insect, not a true weevil, but a
_Sylvanus_. This sylvanus, and another of the same genus, most
probably the _S. surinamensis_, attack the corn in the field before it
becomes hard, causing serious damage--but nothing to equal that
occasioned by the black weevil.
I know of no generally successful method of staying or even checking
the injury caused by the insects, though much might be written in the
way of suggestion.
In Michigan, the _dent_ variety in dry seasons produces the best crops
on sandy loam, as its roots run deeper than the common _eight-rowed_
yellow or white. In moist seasons the latter varieties usually do
well. They are grown most generally in the Northern part of the State,
while in the Southern section the Ohio dent is principally raised. The
shuck and blade are much used as fodder for cattle, in the early part
of winter.
Indian corn is very liable to change of character from soil and
climate, growing smaller the farther North it is raised. The mixing of
the eight-rowed yellow with the Ohio dent has, so far as my experience
goes, been beneficial in increasing the yield. Sandy loam, or clay, is
considered the soil best adapted to corn. It is usually planted in
May, and harvested in September. The blade is not taken off there as
at the South; some farmers cut up their corn when ripe, put it into
shocks, and husk it late in the fall; others cut the stalks, bind them
in sheaves, and stack them for winter in the fields, or put them away
in barns or sheds; while others husk the corn on the hill without
cutting the stalks, and late in the fall turn their cattle into the
field to eat the fodder. Of these different modes the preference is
usually given to cutting the stalks and putting them under cover
after being well cured, and busting the corn on the hill. The corn is
thought to ripen better in this way, and to keep better in the cribs.
The Ohio dent, having a smaller ear containing less moisture than
other varieties, ripens quicker and keeps better. This crop ranges
from 25 to 65 bushels per acre, and the difference in the yield is to
be attributed to the manner of cultivation. My experience shows that a
crop of 45 bushels per acre costs 13 cents a bushel, including
interest on land. Corn is principally raised in Michigan for home
consumption, and the stalks and shucks, if well cured, are worths
dollars per acre, compared with hay at 5 dollars per ton.
As much as 134 bushels per acre have been obtained, in some instances,
in Massachusetts; till the last 20 years 35 bushels was considered an
average crop, but by a due rotation of crops, and ploughing in long
manure, at least 75 bushels to the acre are now raised. The kinds
preferred there, are an eight-rowed variety, procured originally from
Canada; the Cass corn, another eight-rowed variety, and the Dutton
corn, each of which averages about 60 lbs. to the bushel.
Maize is a principal crop in the Connecticut River Valley, Western
Vermont, and along the Lake shore; but in the high dividing ridge, and
in the Northern counties bordering on Canada, the climate is too
severe for its profitable cultivation.
"The kind mostly grown (observes Mr. Colburn, of Vermont) is the
yellow eight-rowed, though some prefer the twelve and sixteen-rowed,
known here by the name of the Button corn; but my experience in
cultivating the different kinds for the last twenty-four years, has
forced me to the conclusion that the common eight-rowed, mixed with
a kind called the Brown corn, does the best; the kernel of
the-latter bearing upon a chocolate hue, and the mixture of these
two kinds of seed imparting a deep rich color to the whole, when
they become blended, and enhancing the yield whenever the soil is in
high tilth. Of this kind, the writer has raised, the past season,
upon eleven acres on the Connecticut River alluvium, over eight
hundred bushels shelled corn, four acres of which, with extra
preparation, produced four hundred and sixteen bushels.
It will never do to carry seed corn from South to North, as it will
not mature in a higher or colder climate than that from which it has
been taken. Even half a degree of latitude sensibly affects the
maturing of the blade, and renders it an uncertain crop in our high
northern latitudes. To insure an extra yield of this valuable grain,
the soil must be highly manured, deeply ploughed, thorough
cultivated and hoed, and top-dressed with lime, house ashes, and
plaster. This done, it is the most remunerative and profitable of
all grain crops."
In Delaware there are many varieties, and everybody esteems his own
kind the best. The grain varies from pure "flint" to pure "gourd
seed"--of course the mixtures which are between these two varieties
are most common--it inclines more to gourd seed than to flint. Mint
weighs full standard fifty-six, the gourd seed from forty-nine to
fifty-two pounds, and the mixtures range between. Flint ripens from
ten days to two weeks earlier. It will not produce as many pounds per
acre as the lighter gourd seed. Soil exerts its influence over the
character of corn, a heavy soil tending to produce flint--light soil,
gourd seed.
The corn is "cut up" in the fall, and after curing in the shuck, is
husked; the shuck remaining on the stalk with the blades.
The average yield, on improved land, is fifty bushels; though crops
of one hundred and twelve, and one hundred and sixty bushels per acre
are reported to have been raised in the county, in 1849. The yield
increases from year to year. A general and rapid improvement of the
State is in progress, and in nothing is this seen more clearly than in
the corn crop. Mossy "old sedge" fields, which have been laid out for
years, are broken up, and will yield, if it be a good season, from
five to ten bushels per acre; fence them, lime them with twenty to
thirty bushels, and seed the oat crop with clover, and in two years
the clover sod will return eighteen to twenty bushels of corn. Another
dressing of lime, or its equivalent in marl, of which there is an
abundance in the lower half of Newcastle County, will show thirty
bushels of corn; and of wheat, if the farm manure be used on it, nine
to twelve bushels will not be too much to expect.
In Arkansas, Indian corn is regarded as the "king of grains." It
constitutes the chief food of every animal, from man down to the
marauding rat, while its dried blade furnishes seven-tenths of the
long food for working animals. The _large white_ is the variety most
esteemed, and most generally cultivated, for the reasons that it
yields more grain and fodder, makes, when ground into meal, whiter and
sweeter bread, and is less liable to injury from the weevils. The
blade is usually esteemed the best long food for horses, exceeding in
price the best Northern hay; the average price may be stated at about
seventy cents per cwt. The shuck is fed to cows and young mules, they
eat it, but with less relish than they do the blades, which are
sweeter and more nutritious. The former are much used for mattresses,
being preferred to moss, as they are cleaner, and easier manufactured.
When mixed with coarse cotton, and properly prepared, they will make a
mattress but little inferior to curled hair: price about fifty cents
per cwt. The average price of this grain may be set down at forty
cents per bushel; and the yield on upland in some parts of the State
may be stated at thirty bushels per acre.
Five varieties of maize are grown in Peru. One is known by the name of
_chancayano_, which has a large semi-transparent yellow grain; another
is called _morocho_, and has small yellow grain of a horny appearance;
_amarello_, or the yellow, has a large yellow opaque grain, and is
more farinaceous than the two former varieties; _blanco_, white--this
variety is large, and contains more farina than the former; and
_cancha_, or sweet maize. The last is only cultivated in the colder
climates of the mountains; it grows about two feet high, the cob is
short, and the grains large and white; when green, it is very bitter,
but when ripe and roasted, it is particularly sweet, and so tender
that it may be reduced to flour between the fingers. In this roasted
state it constitutes the principal food of the mountaineers of several
provinces.
The natives remove the husk from the maize by putting it into water
with a quantity of wood ashes, exposing it to a boiling heat, and
washing the grain in running water, when the husk immediately
separates from the grain.
In Jamaica I found maize to produce two crops in the year, and often
three. It is usually grown there on the banks or ridges of the cane
fields. It may be planted at any time when there is rain, and it
yields from fifteen to forty bushels per acre, according to the
richness of the soil, and the more or less close manner in which it is
planted.
In the colony of New South Wales, including the district of Port
Phillip, there were 20,798 acres under cultivation with maize in 1844,
the produce from which was returned at 575,857 bushels; 27,058 bushels
of maize were exported from Sydney in 1848.
_Culture in the East Indies_.--The growers on the hills of Nepaul
reckon three kinds of maize: a white grained species, which is
generally grown on the hill sides; a yellow grained one, grown in the
low and hot valleys; and a smaller one, called "Bhoteah," or "Murilli
Makii," which is considered the sweetest of the three, but from being
less productive is not generally grown on good lands. Maize thrives
best on a siliceous, well-drained, rich soil. A correspondent in my
"Colonial Magazine," vol. ii. p. 309, says the finest Indian corn he
ever saw was in the Himalayas of the Sikim-range, where the soil
consists of a substratum of decomposed _mica_ from the under or rocky
stratum, with a superstratum of from three to six inches of decayed
vegetable matter, from leaves, &c., of the ancient forests.
Throughout Hindostan, June is the usual time for sowing. In Behar,
about two seers are usually sown upon a beggah; in Nepaul, twenty-four
seers upon an English acre; in the vicinity of Poonah, one and a-half
seer per beggah. Before the seed is sown the land is usually ploughed
two or three times, and no further attention given to the crop than
two hoeings. In Nepaul, where it is the principal crop cultivated, the
seed is sown, after one delving and pulverisation of the soil, in the
latter end of May and early part of June, in drills, the seeds being
laid at intervals of seven or eight inches in the drills, and the
drills an equal space apart. The drills are not raised as for turnip
sowing, but consist merely of rows of the plant on a level surface.
The seed is distributed in this manner with the view of facilitating
the weeding of the crop, not for the purpose of earthing up the roots,
which seems unnecessary. The Indian corn sowing resembles that of the
_gohya_ (or upland) rice, in the careful manner in which it is
performed; the sower depositing each grain in its place, having first
dibbled a hole for it five or six inches deep, with a small hand hoe,
with which he also covers up the grain.
The after-culture of this crop is performed with great care in the
valleys, but much neglected in the hills, especially on new and strong
lands. In the former it undergoes repeated weeding during the first
month of its growth, the earth being loosened round the roots, at each
weeding, with the hand hoe. After the first loosening of the soil,
which is performed as soon as the plants are fairly above ground, a
top dressing of ashes or other manure is given. By this mode the crop
gets the immediate benefit of the manure, which otherwise, from the
extraordinary rapidity of its growth, could not be obtained by it. In
three months from the time of sowing, the seed is ripe. The crop is
harvested by cutting off the heads. In Nepaul these are either heaped
on a rude scaffolding, near the cultivator's house, or, more commonly,
they are suspended from the branches of the trees close by, where,
exposed to wind and weather, the hard and tough sheath of the seed
cones preserves the grain for many months uninjured.
Cattle are voraciously fond of the leaves and stems, which are very
sweet, and even the dry straw, which Dr. Buchanan surmises may be the
reason why it is not more generally cultivated by the natives, as the
difficulty would be great to preserve the crop. So slow is the
progress of changes in the regions of India, that near Kaliyachak,
though the people give all other straw to their cattle, yet they burn
that of maize as unfit for fodder. In Nepaul the stalks, with the
leaves attached, often twelve feet long, cut by the sickle, are used
as fodder for elephants, bedding for cattle, and as fuel. The maize
crop within the hills of Nepaul suffers much from the inroads of
bears, which are very numerous in these regions, and extremely partial
to this grain. The average return from this crop is seldom below fifty
seers, ranging frequently far above it.[42] Maize is increasing in
cultivation in Java, and some of the Eastern islands. It is found to
have the advantage there over mountain rice, of being more fruitful
and hardy, and does not suffer from cold until the mean temperature
falls to 45 deg. of Fahrenheit, and no heat is injurious to it.
Several varieties of it are known, but for all practical purposes
these resolve themselves into two kinds: one, a small grain, requiring
five months to ripen, and a larger one, which takes seven to mature.
In some provinces of Java it yields a return of 400 or 500 fold. Mr.
Crawfurd found, from repeated trials, that in the soil of Mataram, in
Java, an acre of land, which afforded a double crop, produced of the
smaller grain 848½ lbs. annually.
RICE.
This is one of the most extensively diffused and useful of grain
crops, and supports the greatest number of the human race. The
cultivation prevails in Eastern and Southern Asia, and it is also a
common article of subsistence in various countries bordering on the
Mediterranean. It is grown in the Japan Islands, on all the sea coasts
of China, the Philippine and other large Islands of the Indian
Archipelago, partially in Ceylon, Siam, India, both shores of the Red
Sea, Egypt, the shores of the Mozambique Channel, Madagascar, some
parts of Western Africa, South Carolina, and Central America. Three
species only are enumerated by Lindley:--_Oryza sativa_, the common
rice, a native of the East; _O. latifolia_, a species having its
habitat in South America; and _O. Nepalensis_, common in Nepaul. But
there are a host of varieties known in the East; these, however, may
for all practical purposes, be resolved into two kinds--the upland or
mountain rice (_O. Nepalensis_, the _O. mutica_, of Roxburgh), and the
lowland or aquatic species (_O. sativa_).
_Zizania aquatica_ is exceedingly prolific of bland, farinaceous
seeds, which afford a kind of rice in Canada and North-West America,
where it abounds wild in all the shallow streams. The seeds contribute
essentially to the support of the wandering tribes of Indians, and
feed immense flocks of wild swans, geese, and other water fowl.
Pinkerton says, this plant seems intended to become the bread-corn of
the North. Two other species of Zizania are common in the United
States of America.
Rice, the chief food, perhaps, of one-third of the human race,
possesses the advantage attending wheat, maize, and other grains, of
preserving plenty during the fluctuations of trade, and is also
susceptible of cultivation on land too low and moist for the
production of most other useful plants. Although cultivated
principally within the tropics, it flourishes well beyond, producing
even heavier and better filled grain. Like many other plants in common
use, it is now found wild [it is to be understood that the wild rice,
or water oat (_Zizania aquatica_), already referred to, which grows
along the muddy shores of tide waters, is a distinct plant from the
common rice, and should not be confounded with it], nor is its native
country known. Linnæus considers it a native of Ethiopia, while others
regard it of Asiatic origin.
The chief variety of this cereal is cultivated throughout the torrid
zone, wherever there is a plentiful supply of water, and it will
mature, under favorable circumstances, in the Eastern continent, as
high as the 45th parallel of north latitude, and as far south as the
38th. On the Atlantic side of the Western continent, it will flourish
as far north as latitude 38 degrees, and to a corresponding parallel
south. On the Western coast of America, it will grow so far north as
40 or more degrees. Its general culture is principally confined to
India, China, Japan, Ceylon, Madagascar, Eastern Africa, the South of
Europe, the Southern portions of the United States, the Spanish Main,
Brazil, and the Valley of Parana and Uruguay.
In 1834, 29,583 bags of rice were shipped from Maranham, but I am not
aware what have been the exports since.
At the Industrial Exhibition in London, in 1851, there were displayed
many curious specimens and varieties of rice, grown without
irrigation, at elevations of three thousand to six thousand feet on
the Himalaya, where the dampness of the summer months compensates for
the want of artificial moisture. Among these American rice received
not only honorable mention for its very superior quality, but the
Carolina rice, exhibited by E.I. Heriot, was pronounced by the jury
"magnificent in size, color, and clearness," and it was awarded a
prize medal. The jury also admitted that the American rice, though
originally imported from the Old World, is now much the finest in
quality.
This grain was first introduced into Virginia by Sir William Berkeley,
in 1647, who received half a bushel of seed, from which he raised
sixteen bushels of excellent rice, most or all of which was sown the
following year. It is also stated that a Dutch brig, from Madagascar,
came to Charleston in 1694, and left about a peck of paddy (rice in
the husk), with Governor Thomas Smith, who distributed it among his
friends for cultivation. Another account of its introduction into
Carolina is, that Ashley was encouraged to send a bag of seed rice to
that province, from the crops of which sixty tons were shipped to
England in 1698. It soon after became the chief staple of the colony.
Its culture was introduced into Louisiana in 1718, by the "Company of
the West."
The present culture of rice in the United States is chiefly confined
to South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas.
The yield per acre varies from twenty to sixty bushels, weighing from
forty-five to forty-eight pounds when cleaned. Under favorable
circumstances as many as ninety bushels to an acre have been raised.
Judge Dougherty, who resides near the borders of Henderson county,
Texas, has raised a crop of several hundred bushels of upland rice.
The crop averages thirty bushels to the acre. He thinks rice can be
raised there as easily as Indian corn, and will be far more
profitable.
Another variety is cultivated in America to a limited extent, called
Cochin-China, dry, or mountain rice, from its adaptation to a dry
soil, without irrigation. It will grow several degrees further north
or south than the Carolina rice, and has been cultivated with success
in the Northern provinces of Hungary, China, Westphalia, Virginia and
Maryland; but the yield is much less than that already stated, being
only fifteen to twenty bushels to an acre. It was first introduced
into Charleston, from Canton, by John Brodly Blake, in 1772.
The American crop of rice in 1848, reached 162,058 tierces in market,
and of these 160,330 tierces were exported from South Carolina. The
largest rice crop grown in South Carolina for the past thirty years,
was in 1847, when 192,462 tierces were raised; 140,000 to 150,000 is
about the average, and it has only exceeded 170,000 on four occasions.
The amount of rice exported from South Carolina in 1724, was 18,000
barrels; in 1731, 41,957 barrels; in 1740, 90,110 barrels; in 1747-48,
55,000 barrels; in 1754, 104,682 barrels; in 1760-61, 100,000 barrels;
from Savannah, in 1755, 2,299 barrels, besides 237 bushels of paddy or
rough rice; in 1760, 3,283 barrels, besides 208 bushels of paddy; in
1770, 22,120 barrels, besides 7,064 bushels of paddy; from
Philadelphia, in 1771, 258,375 pounds. The amount exported from the
United States, in 1770, was 150,529 barrels; in 1791, 96,980 tierces;
in 1800, 112,056 tierces; in 1810, 131,341 tierces; in 1820-21, 88,221
tierces; in 1830-31, 116,517 tierces; in 1840-41, 101,617 tierces; in
1845-46, 124,007 tierces; in 1846-47, 144,427 tierces; in 1850-51,
105,590 tierces.
According to the census of 1840, the rice crop of the United States
amounted to 80,841,422 lbs.; in 1850, 215,312,710 lbs.
Rice being an aquatic plant, is best grown in low moist lands, that
are easily inundated.
The ground is ploughed superficially, and divided into squares of from
twenty to thirty yards in the sides, separated from each other by
dykes of earth about two feet in height, and sufficiently broad for a
man to walk upon. These dykes are for retaining the water when it is
required, and to permit of its being drawn off when the inundation is
no longer necessary. The ground prepared, the water is let on, and
kept at a certain height in the several compartments of the rice
field, and the seedsman goes to work. The rice that is to be used as
seed must have been kept in the husk; it is put into a sack, which is
immersed in the water until the grain swells and shows signs of
germination; the seedsman, walking through the inundated field,
scatters the seed with his hand, as usual; the rice immediately sinks
to the bottom, and many even penetrate to a certain depth in the mud.
In Piedmont, where the sowing takes place at the beginning of April,
they generally use about fifty-five pounds of seed per acre. The rice
begins to show itself above the surface of the water at the end of a
fortnight; as the plant grows, the depth of the water is increased, so
that the stalks may not bend with their own weight. About the middle
of June this disposition is no longer to be apprehended; the rice is
not so flexible as it was, so that the water can be drawn off for a
few days to permit hoeing; after which the water is again let on, and
maintained to the height of the plant. In July it is usual to top the
stalks, an operation which renders the flowering almost simultaneous.
Rice generally flowers in the beginning of the month of August, and a
fortnight later the grain begins to form. It is at this period
especially that the stalks require to be supported, and this is
effectually done by keeping the water at about half their height. The
rice field is emptied when the straw turns yellow. The harvest
generally takes place at the end of September. In the Isle of France
rice is cultivated in very damp soils, upon which a great deal of rain
falls, but which are not flooded, as in other tropical countries: but
the process is not so certain nor the crop so great, as when
inundation is employed. In Piedmont the usual return of a rice field
is reckoned at about fifty for one. At Munzo, in New Granada, the
paddy fields which are not inundated, under the influence of a mean
temperature of 26 deg. centrigrade (79.0 deg. Fahrenheit), yield 100
for 1.--(Simmonds's "Colonial Magazine," vol. xi., p. 92.)
The rice now grown about New Orleans is as sweet, if not sweeter,
than that imported from South Carolina, but it is deficient in
hardness and brightness when ready for market, a defect owing entirely
to two causes, neither of which is beyond the control of the planter.
The one cause is the mode of culture, it being generally grown without
due attention to the seed--seeded at too late a period of the season,
and allowed to become _rare-ripe_ upon the stalk. The other cause is
the very imperfect mode of its preparation for market; this being
invariably accomplished by the primitive pestle and mortar, or the
old-fashioned "pecker mill." The same seed is planted in the same soil
from year to year, a system which, it is generally conceded, will
deteriorate the quality and production of any grain crop. A very large
proportion of the rice grown in Carolina is prepared for market at the
steam toll-mills, in the vicinity of Charleston; and a mill of this
description near New Orleans, would remedy the greatest defect in the
rice of the country, greatly increase the demand for the article, and
undoubtedly yield a large return for the investment. The toll mills at
and around Charleston are, and always have been, prosperous. The mills
of Mr. Lucas, in England, erected to clean "paddy," _i.e._ "rough
rice," sent there in bulk from Carolina, have succeeded also, and have
increased the consumption of the article in that country. The "rough
rice," "paddy," or grain, as it comes from the ear, is composed,
first, of a rough, silicious outer covering, impervious to water,
which is very useful in the neighbourhood of cities, for filling up
low lots or pools, for horse beds, and for packing crockery and _ice_,
being far better for the latter purpose than the sawdust used; second,
a brown flour or bran, lying directly under the outer covering; and
third, of the clean or white rice. There is no question that, as a
common diet, it is better adapted to the climate of Louisiana than
Indian corn; and it can be grown on the hitherto _waste lands of the
sugar plantations_; it is always substituted by the physician, when
practicable, as the food best adapted to the laborer, in seasons of
diarrhoea and other similar diseases, is _preferred_ before any other
grain by the negro; and if the clean rice be ground and bolted, a meal
is produced which can be made up into various forms of cake and other
bread, of unrivalled sweetness and delicacy. The outer flour, or brown
bran, which is separated from the chaff at the toll mill, is known as
"rice flour," and corresponds to the "bran" of wheat, it is a most
excellent food for horses, poultry, pigs and _milch cows_, and would
always command a ready sale in New Orleans. It is used extensively for
these purposes at and around Charleston, and is shipped thence, by the
cargo, to Boston and other Northern ports.
No portion of the globe is better adapted to the growth of this grain
than the delta of the Mississippi. The river is _always_ "up and
ready" to do the all-important duty of irrigation in March, April,
May, and June, in which period of the year the crop ought to be made;
and I am informed, and doubt not, that _two_ cuttings can be obtained
from the same plants, between March and the killing frosts of the
succeeding November.
An interesting report by Dr. E. Elliot, on the Cultivation of Rice,
was read before the Pendleton Farmer's Society, South Carolina, at a
recent annual meeting, from which I shall make an extract.
In "Ramsay's History of South Carolina" it is stated:--"Landgrave
Thomas Smith, who was Governor of the Province in 1693, had been at
Madagascar before he settled in Carolina. There he observed that
rice was planted and grew in low moist ground. Having such ground in
his garden, attached to his dwelling in East Bay, Charleston, he was
persuaded that rice would grow therein, if seed could be procured.
About this time a vessel from Madagascar, being in distress, came to
anchor near Sullivan's Island. The master inquired for Mr. Smith, as
an old acquaintance. An interview took place. In the course of
conversation Mr. Smith expressed a wish to obtain some seed rice to
plant in his garden. The cook being called, said that he had a small
bag of rice suitable for the purpose. This was presented to Mr.
Smith, who sowed it in a low spot in Longitude Lane. From this small
beginning did one of the great staple commodities of South Carolina
takes its rise, which soon became the chief support of the colony,
and its great source of opulence."
"Such is the historical account of the introduction of rice into
South Carolina; and from that day to this, it has constituted one of
her staple articles of production. Although the climate and soil
were found admirably suited to the plant, the planters encountered
incredible difficulty in preparing or dressing the rice for market.
From the day of its introduction, to the close of the Revolution,
the grain was milled, or dressed, partly by hand and partly by
animal power. But the processes were imperfect, very tedious, very
destructive to the laborer, and very exhausting to the animal power.
The planter regarded a good crop as an equivocal blessing, for as
the product was great so in proportion was the labor of preparing it
for market. While matters stood thus, the planters were released
from their painful condition by a circumstance so curious that it
deserves a place in the history of human inventions. A planter from
the Santee, whilst walking in King-street, Charleston, noticed a
small windmill perched on the gable end of a wooden store. His
attention was arrested by the beauty of its performance. He entered
the store and asked who the maker was. He was told that he was a
Northumbrian, then resident in the house--a man in necessitous
circumstances, and wanting employment. A conference was held; the
planter carried the machine to the Santee, pointed out the
difficulties under which the planters labored, and the result was
the rice pounding-mill. This man was the first Mr. Lucas, and to his
genius South Carolina owes a large debt of gratitude. For what the
cotton planter owes to Eli Whitney, the rice planter owes to Mr.
Lucas. His mills were first impelled by water, but more recently by
steam, and though much mechanical ingenuity and much capital have
been expended in improving them, the rice pounding-mill of this day,
in all essential particulars, does not differ materially from the
mill as it came from the hands of Mr. Lucas.
This great impediment being removed, one formidable difficulty still
remained in the way of the rice planters, and that was the threshing
of the crop by flail. The labor requisite to accomplish this was so
great, that we once heard a distinguished planter say, while having
one large crop threshed out by flail, that he would regard another
large crop as a calamity. Previous to 1830 threshing mills had been
tried by various individuals, but with no apparent success. In that
year the attempt was renewed, and we were present and witnessed the
first trial of a thresher, constructed in New York, and which was
tested on Savannah river, under the auspices of General Hamilton.
The machinery was driven by apparatus similar to that employed for
driving the cotton gin. The result was not very satisfactory, but
there was ground for hope, and after an outlay of very large sums,
and after many disappointments, the happy expedient was thought of,
of testing the mill with steam instead of animal power. The
experiment was completely successful, and it was manifest at once
that the difficulties had not been in the imperfect construction, of
the thresher, but in the insufficiency of the moving power.
It is now twenty years since we witnessed the working of the small
mill alluded to, and the rice threshing-mill, with steam-engine
attached, is now a splendid piece of operative machinery. The rice
in sheaf is taken up to the thresher by a conveyor, it is threshed,
the straw taken off, then thrice winnowed and twice screened, and
the result in some cases exceeds a thousand bushels of clean rough
rice, the work of a short winter day.
Humanity rejoices at these inventions--at this transfer to water and
steam, of processes so slow and so exhausting to the human as well
as to the animal frame--and in this feeling we are confident every
planter deeply sympathises. Moreover, the relief they have afforded
in other respects has been perfectly indescribable. Previous to
these improvements all the finer portions of the winter were
appropriated exclusively to the milling and the threshing of the
crop with the flail, yet it is manifest they added not one particle
to the value of the property; indeed, while going on, all other
work, and all preparation for another crop had to be suspended, so
that the condition of the plantation was not progressive, but
retrograde.
A short recapitulation will show what has been accomplished by the
enterprise of our planters in the last seventy years. At the close
of the Revolution it is believed the rice fields were poorly
drained, and when broken up were chiefly turned with the hoe, then
trenched with the hoe; then came three or four hoeings and as many
pickings. The rice was then cut with the sickle and carried in on
the head, then threshed with the flail, then milled and dressed, in
some cases wholly by human labor, and in others by a rude machine,
called a pecker mill. Now, in 1852, the hoeing, the pickings, and
the cutting with the sickle remain unchanged; but the lands are
better drained, and in the turning the plough has superseded the
hoe; the trenching, when, necessary, is done by animal power; the
rice, when cut, is carried in on a flat and wagon, then threshed and
milled by machinery, so perfect that it is difficult to imagine how
it can be surpassed.
It is one hundred and fifty-nine years since the introduction of
rice into Carolina, and there are grounds for supposing that our
people have accomplished more during that period, in the cultivation
and preparation of this grain, than has been done by any of the
Asiatic nations who have been conversant with its growth for many
centuries. We had the rare opportunity, a few years since, of seeing
a Chinese book on rice planting, which contained many engravings.
The language we could not read, but we comprehended a sufficient
number of the engravings to institute a comparison between their
system and our own, and the result was, in our method of irrigation
we were their equals, while in economy of cultivation, and in the
preparation of the grain for market and for use, we are greatly
their superiors. Again, some six or seven years since the East India
Company, of London, sent an agent to this country to procure
American cotton seed, gins, and overseers, for the purpose of
testing the practicability of raising cotton by our method in India.
This agent, Captain Bayles, when in Savannah, was heard to say that
he had especial directions from the Company to inform himself
minutely of our system of rice culture. Here, then, was an embassage
from the banks of the Ganges, a spot where rice has been cultivated
probably for twenty centuries, to inquire into the method of
cultivation and preparation, of a people amongst whom the grain had
no existence one hundred and sixty years ago."
The following is the mode of culture for rice in Carolina:--It is
sowed as soon as it conveniently can be after the vernal equinox, from
which period until the middle, and even the last of May, is the usual
time of putting it in the ground. It grows best in low marshy land,
and should be sowed in furrows twelve inches asunder; it requires to
be flooded, and thrives best if six inches under water; the water is
occasionally drained off, and turned on again to overflow it, for
three or four times.
When ripe the straw becomes yellow, and it is either reaped with a
sickle, or cut down with a scythe and cradle, some time in the month
of September; after which it is raked and bound, or got up loose, and
threshed or trodden out, and winnowed in the same manner as wheat or
barley.
Husking it requires a different and particular operation, in a mill
made for that purpose. This mill is constructed of two large flat
wooden cylinders, formed like mill-stones, with channels or furrows
cut therein, diverging in an oblique direction from the centre to the
circumference, made of a heavy and exceedingly hard timber, called
lightwood, which is the knots of the pitch pine. This is turned with
the hand, like the common hand-mills. After the rice is thus cleared
of the husks, it is again winnowed, when it is fit for exportation.
A bushel of rice will weigh about sixty or sixty-six pounds, and an
acre of middling land will produce twenty-five bushels.
Various machines have been contrived for cleaning rice, of which one
secured by patent to Mr. M. Wilson, in 1826, and thus described by Dr.
Ure, may be regarded as a fair specimen:--It consists of an oblong
hollow cylinder, laid in an inclined position, having a great many
teeth stuck in its internal surface, and a central shaft, also
furnished with teeth. By the rapid revolution of the shaft, its teeth
are carried across the intervals of those of the cylinder, with the
effect of parting the grains of rice, and detaching whatever husks or
impurities may adhere to them. A hopper is set above to receive the
rice, and conduct it down into the clean cylinder. About eighty teeth
are supposed to be set in the cylinder, projecting so as to reach very
nearly the central shaft, in which there is a corresponding number of
teeth, that pass freely between the former.
The cylinder may also be placed upright, or horizontal if preferred,
and mounted in any convenient framework. The central shaft should be
put in rapid rotation, while the cylinder receives a slow motion in
the opposite direction. The rice, as cleaned by that action, is
discharged at the lower end of the cylinder, where it falls into a
shute, and is conducted to the ground. The machine may be driven by
hand, or by any other convenient motive power.[43] The growth of rice
in North America is almost wholly confined to two States; nine-tenths
of the whole product, indeed, being raised in the States of South
Carolina and Georgia. A little is grown in North Carolina, Louisiana,
and Mississippi.
The aggregate crop, for 1843, amounted to 89,879,185 lbs., while in
1847 it had risen to 103,000,000 lbs.
Besides the rice which is raised in the water, there is also the dry,
or mountain rice, which is raised in some parts of Europe on the sides
of the hills. It is said to thrive well in Cochin China, in dry light
soils, not requiring more moisture than the usual rains or dews
supply. By long culture the German rice, raised by the aid of water,
is stated to have acquired a remarkable degree of hardness and
adaptation to the climate. The upland rice of the United States is
thought by some to be only a modified description of the swamp rice.
It will grow on high and poor land, and produce more than Indian corn
on the same land would do, even fifteen bushels, when the corn is but
seven bushels. The swamp rice was originally cultivated on high land,
and is not so now, because it is more productive in the swamp, in the
proportion, as is said, of twenty to sixty bushels per acre; and the
use of water likewise, it is stated, makes it easier of cultivation,
by enabling the planter to kill the grasses. It is thought that on
rich high land, rice may be made to produce twenty-five or thirty
bushels to an acre in a good season. A letter from a gentleman in
North Carolina gives the following account of some rice raised there.
He says:--
"I have planted it the two past years with a view to private
consumption only; not, however, with the success of my neighbours,
who are famous, and have the things under their own management. They
make from forty to fifty, and some, sixty bushels to the acre, on
fine land that produces ordinarily from ten to fifteen bushels of
Indian corn or maize. It is a larger grain than the gold or swamp
rice, and very white; hence it is commonly called here the 'white
rice.' It is planted generally about the middle of March, or 1st of
April, in small ridges two-and-a-half feet apart, in chops at
intervals of about eighteen inches, on the top of the ridge, ten or
twelve seeds in each chop. A season that will make Indian corn,
will, if long enough, make this rice; but it requires about four or
five weeks more than the corn to mature. It ought to be cut before
quite ripe, as it threshes off very easily, and is liable to great
waste. Instead of the flail, we take the sheaf in the hand, and whip
it across a bench in a close room until the rice leaves the straw.
It does not stand the pestle as well as the swamp rice, but breaks a
good deal in the beating; this, however, I have heard attributed to
the dry culture."
A new variety of rice is mentioned as having been discovered in South
Carolina, in 1838, called the big-grained rice. It has been proved to
be unusually productive. One gentleman, in 1840, planted not quite
half an acre with this seed, which yielded forty-nine and a half
bushels of clean winnowed rice. In 1842, he planted 400 acres, and in
1843, he sowed his whole crop with this seed. His first parcel when
milled, was eighty barrels, and netted half a dollar per cwt. over the
primest rice sold on the same day. Another gentleman also planted two
fields in 1839, which yielded seventy-three bushels per acre. The
average crop before from the same fields of fifteen and ten acres, had
only been thirty-three bushels per acre.
The following were the returns of produce on some of the leading
estates of South Carolina, in 1848:--
-----------------+----------+-----------+---------+------------+----------
| Barrels | | | |
| Shipped | Barrels | |Average Net |Net Income
Plantation |__________| of | | Produce | Amount
|Whole|Half|600 lbs.net| Weight |per barrel. | Dollars
-----------------+-----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------
1. Prospect Hill |1,387| 10 | 1,495½ | 897,166|16 08-100ths| 24,001
2. Springfield | 737| 5 | 801½ | 480,937|16 60-100ths| 13,264
3. Brook Green |1,571| 15 | 1,716 |1,026,405|16 53-100ths| 28,261
4. Longwood |1,113| 4 | 1,227½ | 736,413|15 53-100ths| 19,021
5. Alderly | 484| 6 | 533 | 319,912|16 68-100ths| 8,851
-----------------+-----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------
Total |5,292| 40 | 5,773½ |3,460,833| | 93,398
-----------------+-----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------
Nos. 2 and 3 were sown with long grain rice, the others with small
grain. These plantations were all on the river Waccamaw. The expenses
of a well supplied rice plantation may be stated at 33-1/3 per cent. on
the net income.
A gentleman from the United States, named Colvin, proposes to
establish the cultivation of rice in the colony of Demerara. This is
no new experiment, rice having been already grown with success in
several parts of the colony--for instance, in Leguan, up the Canje
Creek, and elsewhere; and some of it is of superior quality,
preferable, indeed, to that imported. If Mr. Colvin's object be not
merely to demonstrate the practicability of rice being grown in
British Guiana, but to promote its cultivation on such a scale as may
tend to render it in time one of the staples of the colony, he is
deserving of support, and I hope that his efforts will be crowned with
complete success.
The editor of the _Gazeta_, a local paper, has been shown some sprigs
of rice raised near Matanzas, in Cuba, the smallest of which contains
at least three hundred grains, perfectly opened, and of a larger size
than is usually produced on the island. He observes that this
phenomenon is not limited to a certain number of sprigs, but that the
whole crop is similar--that this excess of production is to be
attributed to the extraordinary abundance of rain this year. "Here we
have a specimen," says the editor, "of the enormous production that
could be raised in our fields of this excellent and nutritious grain,
if it were cultivated in places contiguous to the rivers, where it
could be flowed during drought."
The experiment of cultivating rice in France appears to have succeeded
perfectly. A piece of ground of 100 hectares in extent (250 acres) was
sown with rice last year in the lands of Arcachon, near Bordeaux, and
the crop proved a highly satisfactory one. The seed is sown about the
middle of April, and almost immediately appears above ground.
Rice may be kept a very long period in the rough--I believe a
lifetime. After being cleaned, if it be prime rice, and well milled,
it will keep a long time in this climate; only when about to be used
(if old) it requires more careful washing to get rid of the must,
which accumulates upon it. Some planters--the writer among the
number--prefer for table use rice a year old to the new. The grain is
superior to any other provisions in this respect. If a laborer in the
gold diggings, or elsewhere, takes with him two days' or a week's
provisions, in rice, and his wallet happens to get wet, he has only to
open it to the sun and air, and he will find it soon dries, and is not
at all injured for his purpose. Rough rice may remain under water
twenty-four hours without injury, if dried soon after.
Passing eastward, rice begins to be found cultivated in Egypt, becomes
more general in Northern India, and holds undisputed rule in the
peninsulas of India, in China, Japan, and the East India
islands--shares it in the west coast of Africa with maize, which, on
the other hand, is the exclusively cultivated corn plant of the
greatest part of tropical America, with only some unimportant
exceptions. On the coast of Africa rice ripens in three months; they
put it under water when cut, where it keeps sound and good for some
time.
Rice is now the staple commodity of Bourbon, and it produces about
26,000 quintals annually. It forms, together with maize and mandioc,
the principal article of food amongst the negroes and colored people.
_The Bhull rice lands of Lower Sind_.--Like all large rivers which
flow through an alluvial soil, for a very lengthened course, the Indus
has a tendency to throw up patches of alluvial deposit at its mouth;
and these are in Sind called _bhulls_, and are in general very
valuable for the cultivation of the red rice of the country. These
_bhulls_ are large tracts of very muddy swampy land, almost on a level
with the sea, and exposed equally to be flooded both by it and the
fresh water; indeed on this depends much of the value of the soil, as
a _bhull_ which is not at certain times well covered with salt water,
is unfit for cultivation. They exist on both sides of the principal
mouths of the Indus, in the Gorabaree and Shahbunder pergunnas, which
part of the province is called by the natives "Kukralla," and was in
olden days, before the era of Goolam Shah Kalora, a small state almost
independent of the Ameers of Sind. On the left bank of the mouths of
the river these _bhulls_ are very numerous and form by far the most
fertile portion of the surrounding district. They bear a most dreary,
desolate, and swampy appearance--are intersected in all directions by
streams of salt and brackish water, and are generally surrounded by
low dykes or embankments, in order to regulate the influx and reflux
of the river and sea. Yet from these dreary swamps a very considerable
portion of the rice consumed in Sind is produced; and the Zemindars,
who hold them, are esteemed amongst the most respectable and wealthy
in Lower Sind.
To visit a _bhull_ is no easy matter. Route by land there is none, and
the only way is to go by boat, in which it is advisable to take at
least one day's provisions and water, as the time occupied in the
inspection will be regulated entirely by the state of the tide and
weather. Very difficult is it too, to land on any of these places, the
mud being generally two or three feet deep, and it is only here and
there that a footing can be secured, in the embankment surrounding the
field.
Let me now describe the mode of cultivating these anomalous islands,
floating as it were in the ocean, and deriving benefit both from it
and the mighty river itself, whose offspring they are. Should the
river during the high season have thrown up a _bhull_, the Zemindar
selecting it for cultivation, first surrounds it with a low bund of
mud, which is generally about three feet in height. When the river has
receded to its cold weather level, and the _bhull_ is free of fresh
water (for be it remembered, that these _bhulls_ being formed during
the inundation, are often considerably removed from the river branches
during the low season), he takes advantage of the first high spring
tide, opens the bund and allows the whole to be covered with the salt
water. This is generally done in December. The sea water remains on
the land for about nine weeks, or till the middle of February, which
is the proper time for sowing the seed. The salt water is now let out,
and as the ground cannot, on account of the mud, be ploughed,
buffaloes are driven over every part of the field, and a few seeds of
the rice thrown into every footmark; the men employed in sowing being
obliged to crawl along the surface on their bellies, with the basket
of seed on their backs; for were they to assume an upright position,
they would inevitably be bogged in the deep swamp. The holes
containing the seed are not covered up, but people are placed on the
bunds to drive away birds, until the young grain has well sprung up.
The land is not manured, the stagnant salt water remaining on it being
sufficient to renovate the soil. The rice seed is steeped in water,
and then in dung and earth for three or four days, and is not sown
until it begins to sprout. The farmer has now safely got over his
sowing, and as this rice is not as in other cases transplanted, his
next anxiety is to get a supply of fresh water; and for this he
watches for the freshes which usually come down the river about the
middle and end of February, and if the river then reaches his _bhull_,
he opens his bund, and fills the enclosure with the fresh water. The
sooner he gets this supply the better, for the young rice will not
grow in salt water, and soon withers if left entirely dry.
The welfare of the crop now depends entirely on the supply of fresh
water. A very high inundation does not injure the _bhull_ cultivation,
as here the water has free space to spread about. In fact the more
fresh water the better. If, however, the river remains low in June,
July, and August, and the south-west monsoon sets in heavily on the
coast, the sea is frequently driven over the _bhulls_ and destroys the
crops. It is in fact a continual struggle between the salt water and
the fresh. When the river runs out strong and full, the _bhulls_
prosper, and the sea is kept at a distance. On the other hand, the
salt water obtains the supremacy when the river is low, and then the
farmer suffers. In this manner much _bhull_ crop was destroyed in the
monsoons of 1851 and 1852, during the heavy gales which prevailed in
those seasons. The rice is subject to attacks also of a small black
sea crab, called by the natives _Kookaee_, and which, without any
apparent cause, cuts down the growing grain in large quantities, and
often occasions much loss.
The crop when ripe, which, if all goes well will be about the third
week in September, is reaped in the water by men, either in boats, or
on large masses of straw rudely shaped like a boat, and which being
made very tight and close, will float for a considerable time. The
rice is carried ashore to the high land, where it is dried, and put
through the usual harvest process of division, &c.: and the _bhull_ is
then on the fall of the river again ready for its annual pickling.
The process of preparing the field for rice culture, in the Kandian
country, Ceylon, is very simple.
When the paddy is to be cultivated in mud, a piece of ground is
enclosed in a series of squares or terraces, by ridges raised with mud
and turf; a quantity of water is directed into the field from an
adjacent stream or tank, and is allowed to remain on it for fifteen
days; at the expiration of this time the field is ploughed with a yoke
of buffaloes, which operation is repeated at the end of fifteen days
more, when, by the rotting of the weeds and other matter, the field
has become manured. After another interval of fifteen days the field
is again ploughed and the broken ridges are repaired. Eight days after
the field is harrowed, and subsequently rolled or levelled; and when
the water has been let out the seed is sown, having in most instances
been previously made to germinate, by being spread on platforms and
kept wet.
The water is turned in during night, to prevent crabs and insects from
destroying the seedlings, and let out during the day; and this they
continue to do till the plants attain the height of one foot. Water is
only retained in the field until the ears are half ripe, otherwise
they would ripen indifferently and be destroyed by vermin. A variety
of coast paddy, called "moottoo samboo," was introduced into the
Kandian province in 1832, which was found to produce a more abundant
crop, by one third, than the native. It is of six months growth.
In Kashmir rice is the staple of cultivation, and the practice adopted
there is thus described by a writer in my "Colonial Magazine," vol. x.
p. 130. It is sown in the beginning of May, and is fit to cut about
the end of August. The grain is either sown broadcast in the place
where it is intended to stand till it is ripe, or thickly in beds,
from which it is transplanted when the blade is about a foot high. As
soon as the season will admit after the 21st of March, the land is
opened by one or more ploughings, according to its strength, and the
clods are broken down by blows with wooden mattocks, managed in
general by women, with great regularity and address; after which water
is let in upon the soil, which for the most part of a reddish clay, or
foxy earth, is converted into a smooth soft mud. The seed grain, put
into a sack of woven grass, is submerged in a running stream until it
begins to sprout, which happens sooner or later, according to the
temperature of the water and of the atmosphere, but ordinarily takes
place in three or four days. This precaution is adopted for the
purpose of getting the young shoots as quickly as possible out of the
way of a small snail, which abounds in some of the watered lands of
Kashmir, but sometimes proves insufficient to defend it against the
activity of this destructive enemy. When the farmer suspects, by the
scanty appearance of the plants above the water in which the grain has
been sown, and by the presence of the snail drawn up in the mud, that
his hopes of a crop are likely to be disappointed, he repeats the
sowing, throwing into the water some fresh leaves of the Prangos
plant, which either poison the snails or cause them to descend out of
the reach of its influence. The seed is for the most part thrown
broadcast into about four or five inches of water, which depth is
endeavoured to be maintained. Difference of practice exists as to
watering, but it seems generally agreed that rice can scarcely have
too much water, provided it be not submerged, except for a few days
before it ripens, when a dried state is supposed to hasten and to
perfect the maturity, whilst it improves the quality of the grain. In
general the culture of rice is attended with little expense, although
dearer in Kashmir than Hindostan, from its being customary in the
former country to manure the rice-lands, which is never done in the
latter. This manure, for the most part, consists of rice straw
rejected by the cattle, and mixed with cow-dung. It is conveyed from
the homestead to the fields by women, in small wicker baskets, and is
set on the land with more liberality than might have been expected
from the distance it is carried. Many of the ripe lands are situated
much higher than might be thought convenient in Hindostan, and are
rather pressed into this species of culture than naturally inviting,
but still yield good crops, through the facility with which water is
brought upon them from the streams which fall down the face of the
neighbouring hills. In common seasons the return of grain is from
thirty to forty for one, on an average, besides the straw.
The rice of Bengal, by the exercise of some care and skill, has
recently been so far improved as nearly to equal that of the
Carolinas. Dr. Falconer has introduced into India the numerous and
fine varieties of rice cultivated in the Himalayas; of these some of
the best sorts were at his suggestion distributed to cultivators along
the Doab canal.
A species of hill rice grows on the edge of the Himalaya mountains.
The mountain rices of India are grown without irrigation, at
elevations of 3,000 to 6,000 feet on the Himalaya, where the dampness
of the summer months compensates for the want of artificial moisture.
The small reddish Assamese rices, which become gelatinous in boiling,
and the large, flat-grained, soft, purple-black Ketana rice, of Java
and Malacca, shown at the Great Exhibition, were curious.
The fertility of the province of Arracan is very great, its soil being
fit for the culture of nearly all tropical productions; rice, however,
is alone cultivated to any great extent; the low alluvial soil which
extends over the whole country, from the foot of the mountains to the
sea, being admirably suited for its growth. About 115 square miles are
under culture with rice. The export trade in rice of the district, is
seen by the following statistical return; and it gives employment to
from 400 to 700 vessels, aggregating 60,000 to 80,000 tons.
QUANTITY OF PADDY AND RICE EXPORTED FROM AKYAB, THE PORT OF ARRACAN.
-------+---------+-------+---------+----------------------------------
| | | |Average price per 100 baskets
| | | Total | of 12 seers, in Rupees
|Maunds of|Maunds | value +------------------+---------------
| Paddy |of rice| Rupees | Rice | Paddy
-------+---------+-------+---------+------------------+---------------
1831-32| 380,600| 28,970| 130,591| 15.4 to 16.6 | 8 to 9
1832-33| 502,740|175,560| 232,915| 16 17 | 7.5 8
1833-34| 555,540|418,950| 430,830| 19 20 | 9 10
1834-35| 127,050|260,650| 176,717| 18 19 | 8 9
1835-36| 783,870|548,460| 354,791| 10 11 | 5 5.8
1836-37|1,737,841|641,010| 666,732| 10.8 12 | 5 6
1837-38|1,621,566|248,783| 650,385| 21 23 | 9 10.8
1838-39|1,364,100|332,380| 821,168| 24 25.1 | 8.8 11.12
1839-40|2,033,698|529,961|1,121,311| 21.8 23 | 9.8 10
1840-41|2,212,068|446,941|1,131,087| 20 21.8 |10 11
1841-42|1,265,388|270,000| 553,014| 19 20 | 8 9
1842-43|1,310,900|393,900| 472,889| 14 15 | 7.8 8
1843-44| 848,922|707,780| 633,710| 17 18 | 7 8
-------+---------+-------+---------+------------------+----------------
(" Colonial Magazine," vol. vi., p. 348.)
EXPORT OF RICE FROM MOULMEIN
Baskets Value
1840 67,318 38,708
1841 11,175 6,900
1842 64,055 40,034
1843 35,635 35,289
1844 71,822 44,529
1845 149,815 73,034
1846 193,267 101,465
--(Simmonds's "Colonial Magazine," vol. xii., p. 462.)
From Tavoy and Mergui rice was also exported, equal in value to 41,000
rupees, in 1846; 100 baskets of 12 seers each, are equal to 30 Bengal
maunds. The basket of rice named above, is equal to 55½ lbs. English.
Paddy means rice in the husk--rice, the grain when unhusked--a
distinction to be kept in mind.
The daily average consumption of rice in a family of five, is rated in
the Straits' settlements at three and a quarter chupahs.
The Burmese and Siamese are the grossest consumers of rice. A common
laboring Malay requires monthly 30 chupahs, or 56 pounds of rice,
value 3s. 9d. or 4s. The Burmese and Siamese about 34 chupahs, or 64
pounds. Rice land in Penang yields a return which cannot be averaged
higher than seventy-five fold--or nearly thirty guntangs of paddy for
each orlong (1-1/3 acres); but it has been considered advisable to rate
it here at sixty fold only.
The rice land of Province Wellesley gives an average return of 117½
fold; the maximum degree of productiveness being 600 guntangs of paddy
to an orlong of well flooded, alluvial land, or 150 fold, equal to 300
guntangs of clean rice, weighing nearly 4,520 English pounds. The
present average produce has been very moderately estimated at 470
guntangs the orlong of paddy. The quantity of seed invariably allotted
for an orlong of land is four guntangs. In Siam forty fold is
estimated a good average produce. At Tavoy, on the Tenasserim coast,
the maximum rate of productiveness of the rice land was, in 1825, and
is still believed to be, nearly the same as the average of Siam; while
their _average_ was only twenty-fold.--(Low, on "Straits
Settlements.")
Rice in Cochin-China is the "staff of life," and forms the main
article of culture. There are six different sorts grown; two on the
uplands, used for confectionery, and yielding only one crop annually;
the other sorts affording from two to five crops a year; but generally
two, one in April and another in October; or three when the
inundations have been profuse.
The late Dr. Gutzlaff stated, at a meeting of the Statistical Society
of London, that the population of China was about 367,000,000, and the
returns of the land subject to tax as used in rice cultivation there,
gave nearly half an acre to each living person; and he further stated
that in the southern and well watered provinces, it is anything but
uncommon to take two crops of rice, one of wheat, and one of pulse,
from the same land in a single season. Rice is the only article the
Chinese ever offer a bounty for; the price fluctuates according to the
seasons, from one and three-quarter dollars to eight dollars per
picul. Siam and the Indian Islands, particularly Bali and Lombok,
supply the empire occasionally with large quantities.
The price of rice in China varies according to the state of the canals
leading to the interior; if they are full of water the prices rise; if
on the contrary they are low, prices fall in proportion at the
producing districts. The amount of consumption is controlled, in a
considerable degree, by the cost of transit; when this is cheap prices
rise from the general demand; but when land-carriage to any extent has
to be resorted to, they fall; it raises prices so much at any great
distance, that rice must be used very sparingly, from its enhanced
price. It is obvious that if the waters are sufficiently high to allow
a boat to pass fully loaded, she does so at an expense of nearly 50
per cent, less than she would do, if, from want of water, she could
only take half the quantity; when transport is cheap every one obtains
a full supply; when it is dear the rice districts have more than they
can consume.
At home we are so much accustomed to the facilities of transit offered
by railroads, canal boats, &c., that we do not readily take into
consideration, that in China, except by water, all articles are
conveyed from one place to another on men's shoulders. Taking the
population of Canton at the usual estimate of a million, and allowing
to each a catty a day, the quantity of rice required for one day's
consumption alone in that city would be 10,000 piculs, of 133 lbs.
each = 1,340,000 lbs.
Java is the granary of plenty for all the Eastern Archipelago; and the
Dutch East India Company occupies itself in this culture with
solicitude, well persuaded that a scarcity of rice might be fatal to
its power. Ordinances to encourage and increase this branch of
agriculture, have been promulgated at different times by an authority
called to watch over the physical well-being of many millions of
inhabitants.
As an evident proof that the culture of rice, of which it would be
difficult to fix the quantity produced annually, increases
considerably, I may mention that the exportation from Java, in 1840,
was 1,488,350 piculs of 125 Dutch lbs.
Rice is cultivated in Java in three systems. The name of _sawah_ is
given to the rice fields, which can be irrigated artificially;
_tepar_, or _tagal_, are elevated but level grounds; and _gagah_, or
_ladang_, are cleared forest grounds. The two last only give one crop;
a second crop may be obtained from the _sawah_, which then most
commonly consists of _katjang_, from which oil is extracted, in
_kapus_ or fine cotton, and in _ubie_, a kind of potato.
There are, says Mr. Crawfurd, two distinct descriptions of rice
cultivated throughout the Indian islands, one which grows without the
help of immersion in water, and another for which that immersion is
indispensably requisite. In external character there is very little
difference between them, and in intrinsic value not much. The marsh
rice generally brings a somewhat higher price in the market. The great
advantage of this latter consists in its superior fecundity. Two very
important varieties of each are well known to the Javanese husbandman,
one being a large productive, but delicate grain, which requires about
seven months to ripen, and the other a small, hardy, and less fruitful
one, which takes little more than five months. The first we constantly
find cultivated in rich lands, where one annual crop only is taken;
and the last in well watered lands, but of inferior fertility, where
two crops may be raised.
Both of these, but particularly the marsh rice, is divided into a
great number of sub-varieties, characterised by being awned or
otherwise, having a long or round grain, or being in color black, red,
or white. The most singular variety is the _O. glutinosa_, of
Rumphius. This is never used as bread, but commonly preserved as a
sweetmeat. The rudest, and probably the earliest practised mode of
cultivating rice, consists in taking from forest lands a fugitive
crop, after burning the trees, grass, and underwood. The ground is
turned up with the mattock, and the seed planted by dibbling between
the stumps of trees. The period of sowing is the commencement of the
rains, and of reaping that of the dry season. The rice is of course of
that description which does not require immersion.
The second description of tillage consists also in growing mountain or
dry land rice. This mode is usually adopted on the common upland
arable lands, which cannot conveniently be irrigated. The grain is
sown in the middle of the dry season, either broadcast or by dibbling,
and reaped in seven or five months, as the grain happens to be the
larger or the smaller variety.
The culture of rice by the aid of the periodical rains forms the
third mode. The grain being that kind which requires submersion, the
process of sowing and reaping is determined with precision by the
seasons. With the first fall of the rains the lands are ploughed and
harrowed. The seed is sown in beds, usually by strewing very thickly
the corn in the ear. From these beds the plants, when 12 or 14 days
old, are removed into the fields and thinly set by the hand. They are
then kept constantly immersed in water until within a fortnight of the
harvest, when it is drawn off to facilitate the ripening of the grain.
The fourth mode of cultivating rice is by forcing a crop by artificial
irrigation, at any time of the year; thus, in one field, in various
plots, the operations of sowing, ploughing, transplanting, and reaping
may be seen at the same period.
The fertile, populous, and industrious countries of the Eastern
Archipelago export rice to their neighbours. The most remarkable of
these are Java, Bali, some parts of Celebes, with the most fertile
spots of Sumatra, and of the Malay Peninsula. Rice is generally
imported to these western countries from those farther east, such as
the Spice Islands. Java is the principal place of production for the
consumption of the other islands, and the only island of the
Archipelago that sends rice _abroad_. The rice of the eastern
districts is generally superior to that of the western. The worst rice
is that of Indramayu, which is usually discolored. The subdivision of
the province of Cheribon, called Gabang, yields rice of fine white
grain, equal to that of Carolina. The rice of Gressie preserves best.
All Indian rice is classed, in commercial language, into the three
descriptions of table rice, white rice, and cargo rice. From the
limited demand for the first, it is only to be had in Java, in small
quantity. For the same reason the second is not procurable in large
quantity, unless bespoken some time before-hand; but the third may be
had at the shortest notice in any quantity required. Java rice is
inferior in estimation to that of Bengal or Carolina in the markets of
Europe.
The following statistics show the extent and progress of the culture
in Java:--
In 1840. In 1841.
--------- ----------
No. of Residencies in which rice is cultivated 18 18
" Regencies 69 68
" Districts 414 414
" Desas or villages 39,931 36,296
Amount of the population who take a part in it,
without distinction of caste 6,704,797 6,857,372
Number of families, &c. 1,466,845 1,475,675
" " families who devote themselves to the
cultivation 1,150,406 1,146,083
Number of men bound to obligatory service 1,321,767 1,325,746
Cleared grounds in _bahus_, of 71 decametres 1,470,047 1,540,054
Upon this extent the population had cultivated for
the government, in _bahus_ of 71 decametres 78,182 74,277
Extent of fields which the population had cultivated 1,286,139 1,381,216
on their own account, in _bahus_, &c.
Extent of land in fallow in _bahus_, &c. 105,726 84,561
Produce in piculs of fields cultivated by the
population on its own account 21,273,278 23,810,573
Average produce of a _bahu_ 16½ 17
Gross amount of the land tax of 1840 8,502,402 fl 9,030,761 fl.
Extent of rice fields newly cultivated in
_bahus_ 10,328 13,561
This comparative summary shows that the culture of rice increases
yearly, and that the average produce of the fields is also continually
increasing. These results have been obtained by the attention paid to
the proper irrigation of the soil fit for this culture; and to the
hydraulic works which the Government executes on its own account in
the parts of the island where rice fields can be established, and
where they are required to feed a population whose number is still
increasing yearly.
I have seen, continues Mr. Crawfurd, lands which have produced, from
time beyond the memory of any living person, two yearly crops of rice.
When this practice is pursued, it is always the five-months grain
which is grown. The rapid growth of this variety, has, indeed, enabled
the Javanese husbandman, in a few happy situations, to urge the
culture to the amount of six crops in two years and a half. Rice
cultivated in a virgin soil, where the wood has been burnt off, will,
under favorable circumstances, give a return of twenty-five and thirty
fold. Of mountain rice, cultivated in ordinary upland arable lands,
fifteen fold may be looked upon as a good return. In fertile soils,
when one crop only is taken in the year, marsh rice will yield a
return of twenty-five seeds. When a double crop is taken, not more
than fifteen or sixteen can be expected. In the fine province of Kadu,
an English acre of good land, yielding annually one green crop and a
crop of rice, was found to produce of the latter 641 lbs. of clean
grain. In the light sandy, but well watered lands of the province of
Mataram, where it is the common practice to exact two crops of rice
yearly without any fallow, an acre was found to yield no more than 285
lbs. of clean rice, or an annual produce of 570 lbs. --("History of
the Indian Archipelago.")
The low estimation of Java rice is not attributable to any real
inferiority in the grain, but to the mode of preparing it for the
market. In husking it, it is, for the want of proper machinery, much
broken, and, from carelessness in drying, subject to decay from the
attack of insects and worms. When in the progress of improvement more
intelligent methods are pursued in preparing the grain for the market,
it will equal the grain of any other country. Machinery must be
employed for husking the grain, and some degree of kiln drying will be
necessary to ensure its preservation in a long voyage.
I know nowhere that rice is so cheap as in Java, except in Siam,
whence it is exported at one-third less cost. A great deal of rice is
exported from Siam to China by the junks, and also occasionally a
little from Java.
The quantity exported from Java in 1830 was 13,521 coyans.
" " 1835 " 25,577 "
" " 1839 " 1,103,378 piculs
" " 1841 " 676,213 "
" " 1843 " 1,108,774 "
Rice is grown to some extent in the Dutch portion of Celebes; it
yields at a minimum one hundred and fifty fold. The average annual
delivery of rice to the Government, from 1838 to 1842, was 3,390,119
lbs. At present the Government pays sixty cents for a measure of forty
pounds. That which is sold for the consumption of the inhabitants may
be procured at the public warehouse for a guilder the 35½ lbs.; and
that which is sold for export may be had at public auction for 125
florins the coyan of 3,000 lbs.
The following description of some varieties of rice cultivated in the
Philippine islands, is given by Mr. Rich, botanist to the United
States Exploring Expedition. The varieties are very numerous; the
natives distinguish them by the size and shape of their grain:--
_Binambang_.--Leaves slightly hairy; glumes whitish; grows to the
height of about five feet; flowers in December: aquatic.
_Lamuyo_ greatly resembles the above; is more extensively
cultivated, particularly in Batangas, where it forms the principal
article of food of the inhabitants of the coast: aquatic.
_Malagcquit_.--This variety derives its name from its being very
glutinous after bailing; it is much used by the natives in making
sweet or fancy dishes; and also used in making a whitewash, mixed
with lime, which is remarkable for its brilliancy, and for
withstanding rain, &c.: aquatic.
_Bontot Cabayo_.--Common in Ilocos, where it is cultivated both
upland and lowland; it produces a large grain, and is therefore much
esteemed, but has rather a rough taste.
_Dumali, or early rice_.--This rice is raised in the uplands
exclusively, and derives its name from ripening its grain three
months from planting; the seed is rather broader and shorter than
the other varieties; it is not extensively cultivated, as birds and
insects are very destructive to it.
_Quinanda_, with smooth leaves.--This variety is held in great
estimation by the people of Batangas, as they say it swells more in
boiling than any other variety; it is sown in May, and gathered in
October: upland.
_Bolohan_.--This variety has very hairy glumes; it is not held in
much esteem by the natives, but it is cultivated on account of its
not being so liable to the attacks of insects and diseases as most
of the other upland varieties.
_Malagcquit_.--With smooth leaves, and red glumes (all the preceding
are whitish); possesses all the qualities of the aquatic variety of
the same name--that of being very glutinous after boiling. This rice
is said to be a remedy for worms in horses, soaked in water, with
the hulls on; it is given with honey and water.
_Tangi_.--Leaves slightly hairy, glumes light violet color. This
upland variety is held in much esteem for its fine flavor.
435,067 arrobas of rice were exported from Manilla in 1847.
A simple but rude mill is in use in Siam, and many parts of India, for
hulling paddy, which is similar to those used 4,000 years ago. It
consists of two circular stones, two feet in diameter, resting one on
the other; a bamboo basket is wrought around the upper one, so as to
form the hopper. A peg is firmly set into the face of the upper stone,
half way between its periphery and centre, having tied to it by one
end a stick three feet long, extended horizontally, and attached by
the other to another stick pending from the roof of the shed under
which the mill is placed. This forms a crank, by which the upper stone
is made to revolve on the other set firmly on the ground. The motion
throws the rice through the centre of the stone, and causes it to
escape between the edges of the two.
More starch is contained in this grain than in wheat. Braconnet
obtained from Carolina rice 85.07, and from Piedmont rice 83.8 per
cent. of starch. Vogel procured from a dried rice no less than 98 per
cent. of starch. There are several patent processes in existence for
the manufacture of rice-starch, which are accomplished chiefly by
digesting rice in solutions, more or less strong, of caustic alkali
(soda), by which the gluten is dissolved and removed, leaving an
insoluble matter composed of starch, and a white substance technically
called fibre. Under Jones's patent, the alkaline solution employed
contains 200 grains of real soda in every gallon of liquor, and 150
gallons of this liquor are requisite to convert 100 lbs. of rice into
starch. In manufacturing rice-starch on a large scale, Patna rice
yields 80 per cent, of marketable starch, and 8.2 per cent. of fibre,
the remaining 11.8 per cent. being made up of gluten, gruff, or bran,
and a small quantity of light starch carried off in suspension by the
solution.
Jones's process may be thus described:--100 lbs. of rice are macerated
for 24 hours in 50 gallons of the alkaline solution, and afterwards
washed with cold water, drained, and ground. To 100 gallons of the
alkaline solution are then to be added 100 lbs. of ground rice, and
the mixture stirred repeatedly during 24 hours, and then allowed to
stand for about 70 hours to settle or deposit. The alkaline solution
is to be drawn off, and to the deposit cold water is to be added, for
the double purpose of washing out the alkali and for drawing off the
starch from the other matters. The mixture is to be well stirred up
and then allowed to rest about an hour for the fibre to fall down. The
liquor holding the starch in suspension is to be drawn off and allowed
to stand for about 70 hours for the starch to deposit. The waste
liquor is now to be removed, and the starch stirred up, blued (if
thought necessary), drained, dried, and finished in the usual way.[44]
Rice is imported into this country in bags of 1½ cwt., and tierces of
6 cwt., not only for edible purposes, but, when ground into flour, for
cotton manufactures, in aiding to form the weaver's dressings for
warps. Rice-meal is commonly used for feeding pigs.
Imported.
British Retained for home
Plantation. Foreign. consumption of all kinds.
Bags. Bags. Bags.
1843 136,319 35,125 60,965
1844 127,876 69,112 126,733
1845 173,794 5,713 114,933
Tons. Tons. Tons.
1847 38,736 3,033 28,375
1848 21,226 4,631 15,468
1849 19,397 1,410 14,961
Total imported. Re-exported.
1849 976,196 cwts. 290,732 cwts.
" in the husk 31,828 qrs.
1850 785,451 cwts. 248,136 "
" in the husk 37,150 qrs.
1851 714,847 cwts. 345,677 "
" in the husk 31,481 qrs.
1852 989,316 cwts. 414,507 "
" in the husk 23,946 qrs.
The quantity of rice retained for home consumption, by the corrected
returns, in 1850, was 401,018 cwts. and 35,119 quarters; in 1851,
399,170 cwts. and 31,481 quarters; in 1852, 574,809 cwts. and 23,946
quarters. The aggregate imports range from 40,000 to 80,000 tons
annually, of which about 500 to 800 tons are in the husk.
Among culmiferous plants and legumes used in the East, are the
_Panicum italicum_, _P. miliaceum_, _Eleusine coracana_ (the meal of
which is baked and eaten in Ceylon under the name of Corakan flour),
and _Paspalum_ of several varieties. The pigeon pea (_Cytisus Cajan_),
and a very valuable and prolific species of bean, called the Mauritius
black bean (_Mucuna utilis_), growing even in the poorest soil, is
cultivated in India and Ceylon. _Sorghum vulgare_ is the principal
grain of Southern Arabia, and the stems are also used extensively for
feeding cattle. The plant bears its Indian name of joar, or juri, and
is cultivated throughout Western Hindostan. Job's tears (_Croix
lachryma_) is another cereal grass, native of the East Indies.
MILLET.
Millet of different kinds is met with in the hottest parts of Africa,
in the South of Europe, in Asia Minor, and in the East Indies. It is a
small yellowish seed, growing in dense panicles or clusters, the
produce of a grassy plant with large and compact seeds, growing to the
height, in India, of seven or eight feet.
The millets, known to Europeans as _petit mais_, are tropical or
sub-tropical crops. In India they hold a second rank to rice alone;
and in Egypt, perhaps, surpass all other crops in importance. In
Western Africa they are the staff of life. The red and white millets
shown by Austria, Russia, and the United States, at the Great
Exhibition, were beautiful, and Ceylon exhibited fair samples. Turkey
abounds in small grains.
_Panicum miliaceum_ and _P. frumentaceum_ are the species grown in the
East Indies. Loudon says there are three distinct species of millet;
the Polish, the common or German, and the Indian. _Setaria Germanica_
yields German millet. The plants are readily increased by division of
the roots or by seed, and will grow in any common soil. The native
West Indian species are _P. fascisculatwm_ and _oryzoides_. Millet
receives some attention in New South Wales. In 1844 there were 100
acres of land under cultivation with it, and the amount grown in some
years in this colony has been about 3,500 bushels.
In the United States millet is chiefly grown for making hay, being
found a good substitute for clover and the ordinary grasses. It is a
plant which will flourish well on rather thin soils, and it grows so
fast that when it is up and well set it is seldom much affected by
drought. It is commonly sown there in June, but the time of sowing
will vary with the latitude. Half a bushel of seed to the acre is the
usual quantity, sown broadcast and harrowed in. For the finest
quantity of hay, it is thought advisable to sow an additional quantity
of three or four quarts of seed. The ordinary yield of crops may be
put at from a ton to a ton and a half of hay to the acre. It should be
cut as soon as it is out of blossom; if it stands later, the stems are
liable to become too hard to make good hay. The variety known as
German millet is that most common in North America. It grows
ordinarily to the height of about three feet, with compact heads from
six to nine inches in length, bearing yellow seed. There are some
sub-varieties of this, as the white and purple-seeded.
The Italian millet, _Setaria italica_, is larger than the preceding,
reaching the height of four feet in tolerable soil, and its leaves are
correspondingly larger and thicker. The heads are sometimes a foot or
more in length, and are less compact than the German, being composed
of several spikes slightly branching from the main stem. It is said to
derive its specific name from being cultivated in Italy, though its
native habitat is India. It is claimed by some that this variety will
yield more seed than any other, and the seed is rather larger, but the
stalk is coarser, and would probably be less relished by stock.
If the greatest amount of seed is desired from the crop, it is best to
sow it in drills, two to two-and-a-half feet apart, using a seed drill
for the purpose. This admits of the use of a small harrow or
cultivator between the rows, while the plants are small, which keeps
out the weeds. The crop will ripen more uniformly in this way than
broadcast, and enables the cultivator to cut it when there will be the
least waste. The seed shatters out very easily when it is ripe, and
when the crop ripens unequally it cannot be cut without loss, because
either a portion of it will be immature, or, if left till it is all
ripe, the seed of the earliest falls out. It should be closely
watched, and cut in just about the same stage that it is proper to cut
wheat, while the grain may be crushed between the fingers. It may be
cut with a grain cradle, and, when dry, bound and shocked like grain;
but it should be threshed out as soon as practicable, on account of
its being usually much attacked by birds, many kinds of which are very
fond of the seed. In particular localities they assail the crop in
such numbers, from the time it is out of the "milk," till it is
harvested and carried off the field, that it is no object to attempt
to ripen it. This crop is sometimes sown in drills, when it is only
intended for fodder, being cut and cured in bundles, as the stalks of
Indian corn are. It is best to pass it through a cutting machine
before feeding it to stock; indeed, all millet hay will be fed with
less loss in this way, than if fed to animals without cutting.
The seed is used in various European countries as a substitute for
sago, for which it is considered excellent. It is likewise a valuable
food for poultry, particularly for young chickens, which from the
smallness of the grain can eat it readily, and it appears to be
wholesome for them.
In some countries millet seed is ground into flour and converted into
bread; but this is brown and heavy. It is, however, useful in other
respects, as a substitute for rice. A good vinegar has been made from
it by fermentation, and, on distillation, it yields a strong spirit.
Millet seed--the produce of _H. saccharatum_--is imported into this
country from the East Indies for the purpose chiefly of puddings; by
many persons it is preferred to rice. It is cultivated largely in
China and Cochin-China. The stalks, if subjected to the same process
that is adopted with the sugar-cane, yield a sweet juice, from which
an excellent kind of sugar may be made.
Millet will grow best on light, dry soils. The ground being first well
prepared, half a bushel of seed to the acre is ploughed in at the
commencement of the rains, in India. The crop ripens within three
months from the time of sowing. The usual produce is about 16 bushels
to the acre. The Canary Islands export annually about 212,400 bushels
of millet.
_Great Indian Millet, or Guinea Corn_.--This is a native of India (the
_Sorghum vulgare_, the _Andropogon Sorghum_ of Roxburgh), which
produces a grain a little larger than mustard or millet seed. It is
grown in most tropical countries, and has peculiar local names. In the
West Indies, where it is chiefly raised for feeding poultry, it is
called Guinea corn. In Egypt it is known as Dhurra, in Hindostan and
Bengal as Joar, and in some districts as Cush.
In Lower Scinde joar is very extensively cultivated, as well as bajree
(_H. spicatus_). It is harvested in December and January; requires a
light soil, and is usually grown in the east, after _Cynosurus
corocanus_.
Guinea corn is extensively cultivated in some parts of Jamaica. I did
not, however, find it thrive on the north side of the island. It is
best planted in the West Indies between September and November, and
ripens in January. It ratoons or yields a second crop, when cut. The
returns are from 30 to 60 bushels an acre, but the crops are
uncertain.
Mr. C. Bravo tried Guinea corn at St. Ann's, Jamaica, as a green crop,
sown broadcast, for fodder, and it answered admirably, the produce
being very considerable. It was weighed, and yielded 14 tons of fodder
per acre, and was found very palatable and nutritious for cattle. It
was grown on a very poor soil, which had, previously to ploughing,
given nothing but marigolds and weeds. The luxuriant growth of the
corn completely kept under the weeds. A great number of the stalks
were measured, and they averaged 10 feet from the root to the top of
the upper leaf. It had been planted 10 weeks, and had, therefore,
grown a foot a month. Mr. Bravo is of opinion, that sown broadcast it
would answer either as a grain crop, as fodder, or ploughed in to
increase the fertility of the soil.
Dr. Phillips, of Barbados, being of opinion that it might be
advantageously employed as human food, requested Dr. Shier, the
analytical chemist, of Demerara, to determine in his laboratory its
richness in protein compounds (the muscle-forming part of vegetable
food) in comparison with Indian corn. He, therefore, caused a sample
of each to be burned for nitrogen, when the following results were
obtained:--
Indian corn. Guinea corn.
Water, per cent. 12.81 13.76
In ordinary state--
Nitrogen, per cent. 1.83 1.18
Protein compounds 11.51 7.42
In dry state--
Nitrogen, per cent. 2.10 1.36
Protein compounds 13.20 8.60
According to these results, the Guinea corn is less rich in nitrogen
or protein compounds than Indian corn, though not much less so than
some varieties of English wheat.
Indian corn meal, analysed by Mr. Hereford, from two localities, gave
in the ordinary state of dryness 11.53 and 12.48 per cent. of protein
compounds--results which come very near to that obtained by Dr. Shier.
_Sorghum avenaceum_, or _Holcus avenaceus_, is a native of the Cape.
Several species and varieties of sorghum have been introduced, and
more or less cultivated in the United States. It is often popularly
termed Egyptian corn. It is closely allied to broom corn (_S.
saccharatum_), the head being similar in structure, and the seed
similar, except that in most varieties of sorghum, the outer covering
does not adhere as in broom corn. The plant bears a strong
resemblance, while growing, to maize or Indian corn. There is also
some similarity in the grain, and it is extensively used as food by
many oriental nations.
A variety, under the name of African purple millet, was some years
since introduced into North America, and recommended for cultivation
as a soiling crop; but this, as well as other varieties, do not
possess any advantages over Indian corn.
The natives of Mysore reckon three kinds, known as white, green, and
red. The red ripens a month earlier than the rest, or about four
months from the time of sowing. Near Bengal, Bombay, and elsewhere, in
Eastern India, sowing is performed at the close of May or early in
June. A gallon and a third of seed is sown per acre, and the produce
averages 16 bushels. This grain, though small, and the size of its
head diminutive, compensates for this deficiency by the great hulk
and goodness of its straw, which grows usually to the height of 8 or
10 feet. It is sometimes sown for fodder in the beginning of April,
and is ready to cut in July. It is said to be injurious to cattle, if
eaten as green provender, the straw is therefore first dried, and is
then preferable to that of rice.
This grain is frequently fermented to form the basis, in combination
with goor or half made sugar, of the common arrack of the natives, and
in the hills is fermented into a kind of beer or sweet wort, drank
warm.
_Holcus spicatus_, the _Panicum spicatum_ of Roxburgh, is cultivated
in Mysore, Behar, and the provinces more to the north. From one to
four seers are sown on a biggah of land, and the yield is about four
maunds per acre. It is sown after the heavy rains commence, and the
plough serves to cover the seed. The crop is ripe in three months, and
the ears only are taken off at first. Afterwards the straw is cut down
close to the surface of the soil, to be used for thatching, for it is
not much in request as fodder. Being a grain of small price, it is a
common food of the poorer class of natives, and really yields a sweet
palatable flour. It is also excellent as a fattening grain for
poultry.
The _Poa Abyssinica_is one of the bread-corns of Abyssinia. The bread
made from it is called _teff_, and is the ordinary food of the
country, that made from wheat being only used by the higher classes.
The way of manufacturing it is by allowing the dough to become sour,
when, generating carbonic acid gas, it serves instead of yeast. It is
then baked in circular cakes, which are white, spongy, and of a hot
acid taste, but easy of digestion. This bread, carefully toasted, and
left in water for three or four days, furnishes the _bousa_, or common
beer of the country, similar to the _quas_ of Russia.
BROOM CORN.
The production of broom corn is rapidly extending, and corn brooms are
driving broom sedge, as an article for sweeping floors, out of every
humble dwelling in the United States. There are about 1,000 acres of
it under culture in one county (Montgomery) alone, and it brings 30
dollars per acre in the field.
Messrs. Van Eppes, of Schenectady, have been engaged in the broom
manufactory business about eleven years. They have a farm of about 300
acres, 200 of which are Mohawk flats. A large portion of the flats was
formerly of little value, in consequence of being kept wet by a
shallow stream which ran through, it, and which, together with several
springs that issue from the sandy bluff on the south side of the
flats, kept the ground marshy, and unfit for cultivation. By deepening
the channel of the stream, and conducting most of the springs into it,
many acres, which were formerly almost worthless, have been made
worth 125 dollars per acre. They have also, by deepening the channel,
saving the water of the springs, and securing all the fall, made a
water privilege, on which they have erected an excellent mill, with
several run of stones, leaving besides sufficient power to carry saws
for cutting out the handles of brooms, &c.
They have about 200 acres of the flats in broom-corn. The cultivation
of this article has within a few years been simplified to almost as
great a degree as its manufacture. The seed is sown with a seed-barrow
or drill, as early in the spring as the state of the ground will
admit, in rows 3½ feet apart. As soon as the corn is above ground, it
is hoed, and soon after thinned, so as to leave the stalks two or
three inches apart. It is only hoed in the row, in order to get out
the weeds that are close to the plants, the remaining space being left
for the harrow and cultivator, which are run so frequently as to keep
down the weeds. The cultivation is finished by running a small, double
mould-board plough, rather shallow, between the rows.
The broom corn is not left to ripen, as formerly, but is cut when it
is quite green, and the seed not much past the milk. It was formerly
the practice to lop down the tops of the corn, and let it hang some
time, that the brush might become straightened in one direction. Now,
the tops are not lopped till the brush is ready to cut, which, as
before stated, is while the corn is green. A set of hands goes
forward, and lops or bends the tops to one side, and another set
follows immediately and cuts off the tops at the place at which they
are bent, and a third set gathers the cut tops into carts or waggons,
which take them to the factory. Here they are first sorted over, and
parcelled out into small bunches, each bunch being made up into brush
of equal length. The seed is then taken off by an apparatus with
teeth, like a hatchet. The machine is worked by six horses, and cleans
the brush very rapidly. It is then spread thin to dry, on racks put up
in buildings designed for the purpose. In about a week, with ordinary
weather, it becomes so dry that it will bear to be packed closely.
The stalks of the corn, after the tops have been cut off, are five or
six feet high, and they are left on the ground, and ploughed in the
next spring. It is found that this keeps up the fertility of the soil,
so that the crop is continued for several years without apparent
diminution. It should be observed, however, that the ground is
overflowed every winter or spring, and a considerable deposit left on
the surface, which is undoubtedly equivalent to a dressing of manure.
This may be inferred from the fact that some of the flats have been in
Indian corn every year for forty or fifty years, without manure, and
with good cultivation have seldom produced less than sixty bushels per
acre, and with extra cultivation from eighty to ninety bushels have
been obtained.
In case of need, the stalks would furnish a large amount of good food
for cattle. They are full of leaves which are nutritive, and whether
cut and dried for winter, or eaten green by stock turned on the ground
where they grow, would be very valuable in case of deficiency of
grass.
Messrs. Van Eppes employ twenty hands during the summer; and in
autumn, when the brush is being gathered and prepared, they have
nearly a hundred, male and female. They are mostly Germans, who come
to Schenectady with their families during the broom corn harvest, and
leave when it is over.
The manufacture of brooms is carried on mostly in the winter season.
The quantity usually turned out by Messrs. Van Eppes is 150,000 dozen
per annum.--("Albany Cultivator.")
CHENOPODIUM QUINOA.
About twenty-eight years ago this plant was introduced into Britain
from Peru, where the seeds are used as food, under the name of petty
rice. Attention was drawn to it by Loudon, in his "Gardener's
Magazine," in 1834, and in 1836 it was cultivated on a large scale by
Sir Charles Lemon. This plant and the lentil are two of the most
promising exotics that have been recommended for field culture. There
are two varieties of quinoa, the white and the red seeded; the red has
bitter properties, and is only used for medicine. In North America the
seeds of the former are used as a substitute for maize and the potato.
A white meal is obtained from it, having a tinge of yellow. It
contains scarcely any gluten, but, like oatmeal, makes very good
porridge and cakes. Its nutritive qualities are proved by the analysis
of Dr. Voelcker ("Journal of Agriculture of Scotland," October, 1850),
which states it to yield 3.66 per cent. of nitrogen, equal to 2.87 per
cent. of protein compounds. In this respect the meal appears to be
superior to rye, barley, rice, maize, the plantain, and potato. It has
long furnished the food of millions in South America; and in Scotland
and Ireland the plant would find a congenial climate and rich soil.
FUNDI OR FUNDUNGI.
This is an hitherto undescribed species of African grain (probably the
_Paspalum exile_), much cultivated and esteemed in Sierra Leone, and
other places on the African coast, where it is known by the Foulahs,
Joloffs, and other native tribes, under the local name of Hungry rice.
It is a slender grass with digitate spikes, which have much of the
habit of _Digitaria_, but which, on account of the absence of the
small outer glume existing in that genus, Mr. Keppist, Librarian of
the Linnean Society, of London, refers to _Paspalum_. It produces a
semi-transparent cordiform grain, about the size of a mignionette
seed; the ear consists of two conjugate spikes, the grain being
arranged on the outer edge of either spike, and alternated; they are
attached by a peduncle to the husk. The èpicarp, or outer membrane, is
slightly rugous.
The ground is cleared for its reception by burning down the copse wood
and hoeing between the roots and stumps. It is sown in the months of
May and June, the ground being slightly opened, and again lightly
drawn together over the seeds with a hoe. In August, when it shoots
up, it is carefully weeded. It ripens in September, growing to the
height of about 18 inches, and its stems, which are very slender, are
bent to the earth by the mere weight of the grain. The patch of land
is then either suffered to lie fallow, or is planted with yams or
cassava in rotation. Experienced cultivators of this Lilliputian grain
assert that manure is unnecessary, as it delights in light soils, and
it is even raised on rocky situations, which are most frequent about
Kissy. When cut down, it is tied up in small sheafs and placed in a
dry situation within the hut; for if allowed to remain on the ground
and to become wet, the grains are agglutinated to their coverings. The
grain is trodden out with the feet, and is then parched or dried in
the sun, to allow the more easy removal of the chaff in the process of
pounding, which is performed in wooden mortars. It is afterwards
winnowed with a kind of cane fanner or mats.
This grain could be raised in sufficient quantities to become an
article of commerce, and I have no doubt would prove a valuable
addition to the list of light farinaceous articles of food in use
among the delicate or convalescent. In preparing this delicious grain
for food, it is first put into boiling water, in which it is
assiduously stirred for a few minutes; the water is then poured off,
and the Foulahs, Joloffs, &c., add to it palm oil, butter, or milk;
but Europeans and negroes connected with Sierra Leone prepare it as
follows:--To the grain cooked as above mentioned, fowl, fish, or
mutton, with a piece of salt pork for the sake of flavor is added, the
whole being then stewed in a close saucepan. This makes a very good
dish, and thus prepared resembles "_Kous-kous_." The grain is
sometimes made into puddings, with the usual condiments, and eaten
either hot or cold, with milk. By the few natives of Scotland in the
colony, it is occasionally dressed as milk porridge.
The negroes also eat it in the same way as they do rice, with palaver
sauce. Fundi ought to be well washed in cold water, and afterwards
rewashed in boiling water. If properly prepared it will be white, and
perfectly free from gritty matter.
Canary-seed, obtained from _Phalaris canariensis_, is grown rather
largely in Kent, the Isle of Thanet, and other parts of the south of
England, as much as 500 tons being annually consumed here for feeding
singing birds. The produce is three to five quarters the acre, and it
is sold at about £25 the ton. We receive foreign supplies of the seed
from Germany and the Mediterranean, and the duty on imports is 2s. 6d.
per bushel.
PULSE.
There are a variety of pulses and leguminous seeds extensively
cultivated as food for both man and cattle, and which form an
important article in the husbandry of tropical countries. The
importance of peas and beans is well appreciated, both by the
horticulturists and agriculturists in Europe and our temperate
colonies, where, however, they are comparatively of less importance
than the smaller pulses and grains are in various tropical countries,
such as haricots in the Brazils and West Indies; ground or earth nuts
in South America, and especially in Western Africa; beans of different
kinds amongst the miners of Peru; gram (_Ervum lens_), and dholl
(_Cajanus_), with innumerable varieties of beans and small lentils
among the natives of India and Egypt; and the Carob bean, or St.
John's bread (_Ceratonia siliqua_), in the Mediterranean
countries.--("Jury Reports.")
Of leguminous grains there are various species cultivated and used by
the Asiatics, as the _Phaseolus Mungo_, _P. Max_ and _P. radiatus_,
which contain much alimentary matter; the earth-nut (_Arachis
hypogæa_), which buries its pods under ground after flowering.
The gram (_Cicer arictinum_) which is mentioned by Dr. Christie
("Madras Journal of Science," No. 13) as exuding oxalic acid from all
parts of the plant. It is used by the ryots in their curries instead
of vinegar. It is the chick pea of England, and _chenna_ of Hindostan.
Among the most commonly cultivated leguminous plants are the lentil
(_Ervum lens_), horse gram (_Dolichos biflorus_, Linn), various
species of _Cytisus_ and _Cajanus_, &c. Many of these are grown in
India as fodder plants; others for their seeds, known as gram, dholl,
&c. The _Cajanus flavus_, of Decandolle (_Cytisus Cajan_), is very
generally cultivated along the Western coast of Africa, and continues
to bear for three years. Several species of dolichos are used as food
in various countries, as _D. ensiformus_ in Jamaica, _D. tuberosus_ in
Martinique, _D. bulbosus_ and _D. lignosus_ in the East Indies.
The vessels of the North bring to Shanghae a great quantity of a dry
paste, known under the name of tanping, the residuum or husk of a
leguminous plant called Teuss, from which the Chinese extract oil, and
which is used, after being pressed, as manure for the ground. Captain
H. Biggs, in a communication to the Agri.-Hort. Soc. of India, in
1845, states that of the esculents a large white pea forms the staple
of the trade of Shanghae, or nearly so, to the astonishing amount of
two and a-half millions sterling. This he gives on the authority of
the Rev. Mr. Medhurst, of Shanghae, and Mr. Thorns, British Consul at
Ningpo. These peas are ground in a mill and then pressed, in a
somewhat complicated, though, as usual in China, a most efficient
press, by means of wedges driven under the outer parts of the
framework with mallets. The oil is used both for eating and burning,
more for the latter purpose, however, and the cake, like large
Gloucester cheese, or small grindstones in circular shape, is
distributed about China in every direction, both as food for pigs and
buffaloes, as also for manure.
We import on the average about 20,000 quarters of beans, peas, &c.,
from Ireland, 450,000 quarters of beans and 200,000 quarters of peas
from foreign countries.
The land under cultivation with pulse, and the crops raised, have been
estimated as follows:--
Acres. Quarters.
England 500,000 1,875,000
Ireland 130,000 540,000
Scotland 50,000 150,000
------- ---------
680,000 2,565,000
This is of course exclusive of garden cultivation. The average produce
of beans per acre in England is 3¾ quarters, 3½ in Ireland, and three
in Scotland.
The price of beans per quarter in the last ten years has ranged from
39s. to 27s. the quarter; peas from 40s. 6d. to 27s. 6d.
_Algaroba beans_.--The seed pods or bean of the carob-tree (_Ceratonia
siliqua_, or _Prosopis pallida_?) a tree common in the Levant and
South of Europe, are used as food. The pods contain a large proportion
of sweet fecula, and are frequently used by singers, being considered
to improve the voice. The name of St. John's Head has been applied to
them, from the supposition that they were the wild honey spoken of in
Scripture as the food of John the Baptist. About 40,000 quintals of
these carobs are annually exported from Crete. During the Peninsular
war, the horses of our cavalry were principally fed upon these
algaroba seeds. The pods of the West India locust tree, _Hymenæa
courbaril_, also supply a nutritious matter.
That well known sauce, Soy, is made in some parts of the East, from a
species of the Dolichos bean (_Soja hispida_), which grows in China
and Japan. In Java it is procured from the _Phaseolus radiatus_. The
beans are boiled soft, with wheat or barley of equal quantities, and
left for three months to ferment; salt and water are then added, when
the liquor is pressed and strained. Good soy is agreeable when a few
years old; the Japan soy is superior to the Chinese. Large quantities
are shipped for England and America. The Dolichos bean is much
cultivated in Japan, where various culinary articles are prepared from
it; but the principal are a sort of butter, termed _mico_, and a
pickle called _sooja_.
1,108 piculs of soy were shipped from Canton in 1844, for London,
British India, and Singapore. 100 jars, or about 50 gallons of soy,
were received at Liverpool in 1850. The price is about 6s. per gallon
in the London market.
THE SAGO PALMS, BREAD-FRUIT, &c.
Sago, and starchy matter allied to it, is obtained from many palms. It
is contained in the cellular tissue of the stem, and is separated by
bruising and elutriation. From the soft stem of _Cycas circinalis_, a
kind of sago is produced in the East and West Indies. The finest is,
however, procured from the stems of _Sagus lævis_ (_S. inermis_, of
Roxburgh), a native of Borneo and Sumatra; and _Arenga saccharifera_,
or _Gomutus saccharifus_, of Rumphius. The _Saguerus Rumphii_, or
_Metroxylon Sagus_, which is found in the Eastern Islands of the
Indian Ocean, yields a feculent matter. After the starchy substance is
washed out of the stems of these palms, it is then granulated so as to
form sago. The last-mentioned palm also furnishes a large supply of
sugar. Sago as well as sugar, and a kind of palm wine, are procured
from _Caryota urens_.
In China sago is obtained from _Rhapis flabelliformis_, a dwarfish
palm; and some sago is made from it for native use in Travancore,
Mysore, and Wynaad, and the jungles in the East Indies.
The trunk of the sago palm is five or six feet round, and it grows to
the height of about 20 feet. It can only be propagated by seed. It
flourishes best in bogs and swampy marshes; a good plantation being
often a bog, knee deep. The pith producing the sago is seldom of use
till the tree is fourteen or fifteen years old; and the tree does not
live longer than thirty years. Mr. Crawfurd says there are four
varieties of this palm; the cultivated, the wild, one distinguished by
long spines on the branches, and a fourth destitute of these spines,
and called by the natives female sago. This and the cultivated species
afford the best farina; the spiny variety, which has a slender trunk,
and the wild tree, yield but an inferior quality of sago. The
farinaceous matter afforded by each plant is very considerable, 500
lbs. being a frequent quantity, while 300 lbs. may be taken as the
common average produce of each tree.
Supposing the plants set at a distance of ten feet apart, an acre
would contain 435 trees, which, on coming to maturity in fifteen
years, would yield at the before-mentioned rate 120,500 lbs. annually
of farinaceous matter. The sago meal, in its raw state, will keep good
about a month. The Malays and natives of the Eastern Islands, with
whom it forms the chief article of sustenance, partially bake it in
earthenware moulds into small hard cakes, which will keep for a
considerable time. In Java the word "saga" signifies bread. The sago
palm (_Metroxylon Sagus_) is one of the smallest of its tribe, seldom
reaching to more than 30 feet in height, and grows only in a region
extending west to Celebes and Borneo, north to Mindanao, south to
Timor, and east to Papua. Ceram is its chief seat, and there large
forests of it are found. The edible farina is the central pith, which
varies considerably in different trees, and as to the time required
for its attaining proper maturity. It is eaten by the natives in the
form of pottage. A farina of an inferior kind is supplied by the
Gomuti palm (_Borassus gomutus_), another tree peculiar to the Eastern
Archipelago growing in the valleys of hilly tracts.
At so great a distance it is difficult to decide as to which of these
trees really produce the ordinary sagos of commerce, for there are
several kinds. Planche, in an excellent memoir on the sagos, has
described six species, which he distinguishes by the names of the
places from which they come. Preferring to classify them according to
their characters, M. Mayet distinguishes only three species.
The first he denominates Ancient sago, which comes from different
parts, and varies much in color. It comprehends--1st, Maldivian sago
of Planche, in spherical globules, of two or three millimetres in
diameter, translucid, of an unequal pinkish white color, very hard and
insipid. 2nd, New Guinea sago, of Planche, in rather smaller globules,
of a bright red color on one side, and white on the other. 3rd. Grey
sago of the Moluccas or brown sago of the English; of unequal
globules, from one to three millimetres in diameter, opaque, of a dull
grey color on one side, and whitish on the other. This grey color
probably arises from long keeping and humidity. 4th. Large grey sago
of the Moluccas, exactly resembling No. 3, only that the globules are
from four to eight millimetres in diameter. 5th. Fine white sago of
the Moluccas; entirely resembling No. 3, only that it is purely white,
owing to the complete edulcoration of the fecula of which it is made.
Whatever may be the places of origin of these sagos, they all possess
the following characters--
Rounded globules, generally spherical, all isolated, very hard,
elastic, and difficult to break or powder. The globules put into
water, generally swell to twice their original size, but do not adhere
together.
_Second sage_.--This species corresponds with the pinkish sago of the
Moluccas of Planche. It is in very small globules, less regular than
those of the "first sago," and sometimes stuck together to the number
of two or three. Soaked in water, it swells to double its volume.
Third Species.--_Tapioca sago_.---This name has been applied to a
species of sago now abundant in commerce, because it bears the same
relation to the ancient or first sago, and even to the preceding sago,
that tapioca bears to "Moussache," which is the fecula of the manioc,
_Janipha manihot (Manihot utilissima_).
Whilst the two preceding species of sago, whatever may have been
stated to the contrary, have been neither baked nor submitted to any
heating process, as is proved by the perfect state of nearly all their
grains of fecula, this species has been subjected to the action of
heat while in a state of a moist paste. This sago is not in spherical
globules, like the two preceding species, or at least there are but
few of the globules of that form; it is rather in the form of very
small irregular tubercular masses, formed by the adherence of
different numbers of the primary globules. The facility with which
this sago swells and is divided by water, has occasioned it to be
preferred as an article of food to the ancient sago. It has been
described by Planche under the name of the white sago of the Moluccas,
and by Dr. Pereira under the name of pearl sago.
Bennet, in his work on "Ceylon and its Capabilities," (1843), states
that sago is procured from the granulated pith of the talipot palm,
_Corypha umbraculifera_.
The _Sagus Rumphii_, Willdenow, and _S. farinifera_, Gaertner.--Before
maturity, and previous to the formation of the fruit, the stem
consists of a thin hard wall, about two inches thick, and of an
enormous volume of tissue (commonly termed the _medulla_ or _pith_),
from which the farina or sago is obtained. As the fruit forms, the
farinaceous medulla disappears, and when the tree, attains full
maturity, the stem is no more than a hollow shell. Sago occurs in
commerce in two states, pulverulent and granulated. 1. The meal or
flour as imported in the form of a fine amylaceous powder. It is
whitish, with a buffy or reddish tint. Its odor is faint, but somewhat
unpleasant and musty. 2. Granulated sago is of two kinds, pearl and
common brown. The former occurs in small hard grains, not exceeding in
size that of a pin's head, inodorous, and having little taste. They
have a brownish or pinkish yellow tint, and are somewhat translucent.
By the aid of a solution of chloride of lime they can be bleached, and
rendered perfectly white. The dealers, it is said, pay £7 per ton for
bleaching it. Common sago occurs in larger grains, about the size of
pearl barley, which are brownish white.
Sago is an article of exportation to Europe, and is also shipped to
India, principally Bengal, and to China. It is in its granulated form
that it is usually sent abroad. The best sago is the produce of Siak,
on the north coast of Sumatra. This is of a light brown color, the
grains large, and not easily broken. The sago of Borneo is the next in
value; it is whiter, but more friable. The produce of the Moluccas,
though greatest in quantity, is of the smallest estimation. The cost
of granulated sago, from the hands of the grower or producer, was,
according to Mr. Crawfurd, only a dollar a picul. It fetches in the
London market--common pearl, 20s. to 26s. the cwt., sago flour, 20s.
the cwt. The Chinese of Malacca and Singapore have invented a process
by which they refine sago, so as to give it a fine pearly lustre, and
it is from thence we now principally derive our supplies of this
article. The exports from Singapore in 1847 exceeded 6½ million
pounds, but are now much larger.
The following is a description of the manufacture of this important
article of commerce:--The tree being cut down, the exterior bark is
removed, and the heart, or pith of the palm, a soft, white, spongy and
mealy substance is gathered; and for the purpose of distant
transportation, it is put into conical bags, made of plantain leaves,
and neatly tied up. In that state it is called by the Malays _Sangoo
tampin_, or bundles of sago; each bundle weighs about 30 lbs.
On its arrival at Singapore it is purchased by the Chinese
manufacturers of sago, and is thus treated:--Upon being carried to the
manufactory, the plantain-leaf covering is removed, and the raw sago,
imparting a strong acid odor, is bruised, and is put into large tubs
of cold spring water, where it undergoes a process of purification by
being stirred, suffered to repose, and again re-stirred in
newly-introduced water. When well purified thus, it is taken out of
the tubs by means of small vessels; and being mixed with a great deal
of water, the liquid is gently poured upon a large and slightly
inclined trough, about ten inches in height and width; and in the
descent towards the depressed end, the sago is deposited in the bottom
of the trough, whilst the water flows into another large tub, where
what may remain of sago is finally deposited. As the strata of
deposited sago increases in the trough, small pieces of slates are
adjusted to its lower end to prevent the escape of the substance. When
by this pouring process the trough becomes quite full of sago, it is
then removed to make room for a fresh one, whilst the former one is
put out into the air, under cover, for a short time; and on its being
well dried, the sago within is cut into square pieces and taken out to
be thoroughly dried, under cover, to protect it from the sun. It has
then lost the acid smell already noticed, and has become quite white.
After one day's drying thus, it is taken into what may be called the
manufactory, a long shed, open in front and on one side, and closed at
the other and in the rear. Here the lumps of sago are broken up, and
are reduced into an impalpable flour, which is passed through a sieve.
The lumps, which are retained by the sieve are put back to be
re-bruised, whilst that portion which has passed is collected, and is
placed in a long cloth bag, the gathered ends of which, like those of
a hammock, are attached to a pole, which pole being suspended to a
beam of the building by a rope, one end of it is sharply thrown
forward with a particular jerk, by means of which the sago within is
shortly granulated very fine, and becomes what is technically termed
"pearled." It is then taken out and put into iron vessels, called
_quallies_, for the purpose of being dried. These quallies are small
elliptical pans, and resemble in form the sugar coppers of the West
Indies, and would each hold about five gallons of fluid. They are set
a little inclining, and in a range, over a line of furnaces, each one
having its own fire. Before putting in the sago to be dried, a cloth,
which contains a small quantity of hog's-lard, or some oily substance,
is hastily passed into the qually, and the sago is equally quickly put
into it, and a Chinese laborer who attends it, commences stirring it
with a _pallit_, and thus continues his labor during the few minutes
necessary to expel the moisture contained in the substance. Thus each
qually, containing about ten pounds of sago, requires the attendance
of a man. The sago, on being taken off the fire, is spread out to cool
on large tables, after which it is fit to be packed in boxes, or put
into bags for shipment; and is known in commerce under the name of
"pearl sago." Thus the labor of fifteen or twenty men is required to
do that which, with the aid of simple machinery, might be done much
better by three or four laborers. A water-wheel would both work a
stirring machine and cause an inclined cylinder to revolve over a
fire, for the purpose of drying the sago, in the manner used for corn,
meal, and flour in America, or for roasting coffee and chicory in
England. But the Chinese have no idea of substituting artificial
means, when manual ones are obtainable.
A considerable quantity of sago is exported from Singapore in the
state of flour. The whole quantity made and exported there exceeds, on
the average, 2,500 tons annually. The quantity shipped from this
entrepot is shown by the annexed returns, nearly all of which was
grown and manufactured in the settlement. The estimated value for
export is set down at 14s. per picul of 1¼ cwt.
EXPORTS FROM SINGAPORE.
Piculs
1840-41 Pearl sago 41,146
" Sago flour 33,552
1841-42 Pearl sago 46,225
" Sago flour 7,447
1842-43 Pearl sago 25,306
" Sago flour 4,838
1843-44 Pearl sago 14,266
" Sago flour 14,067
1844-45 Pearl sago 18,472
" Sago flour 36,141
1845-46 Pearl sago 19,333
" Sago flour 26,925
1846-47 Pearl sago 40,765
" Sago flour 9,025
Imports of sago into the United Kingdom, and quantity retained for
home consumption:--
Imports. Home consumption.
Cwts. Cwts.
1826 9,644 2,565
1830 2,677 3,385
1834 25,763 13,827
1838 18,627 28,396
1842 45,646 50,994
1846 38,595 45,671
1848 65,000
1849 83,711 72,741
1850 89,884 83,954
THE BREAD-FRUIT TREE.
_Artocarpus incisa_.--This tree is less cultivated than would be
supposed from its useful properties. In the West Indies and the Indian
Islands, where it has been introduced from its native place, the South
Sea Islands, it is held in very little consideration, the graminea,
tuberous roots, and farinaceous plants being more easily and readily
cultivated. There are two or three varieties known in the Asiatic
regions. The properties of this tree are thus enumerated by
Hooker:--The fruit serves for food; clothes are made from the fibres
of the inner bark; the wood is used for building houses and making
boats; the male catkins are employed as tinder; the leaves for table
cloths and for wrapping provisions in; and the viscid milky juice
affords birdlime.
_A. integrifolia_is the Jack or Jacca, the fruit of which attains a
large size, sometimes weighing 30 lbs., but is inferior in quality to
the bread-fruit.
The nuts or fruit of _Brosimum Alicastrum_, an evergreen shrub, native
of Jamaica, are nutritious and agreeable articles of food. When boiled
with salt fish, pork or beef, they have frequently been the support of
the negroes and poorer sorts of white people in times of scarcity, and
proved a wholesome and not unpleasant food; when roasted it eats
something like our common chesnut, and is called bread-nut.
_Kafir Bread_.--According to Thunberg, the Hottentots being very
little acquainted with agriculture, or with the use of the cerealia,
and subsisting principally upon wild bulbs and fruits, obtain food
also from _Encephalartos caffer_, a species of _Zamia_, with a
cylindrical trunk, the thickness of a man's body, and about seven feet
high. Having cut down a tree, they took out the pith, that nearly
fills its trunk, and which abounds in mucilage and an amylaceous
fluid; after keeping this for some time buried under ground in the
skin of an animal, they reduced it by pounding and kneading into a
kind of paste; and then baked it in hot ashes, in the form of round
cakes, nearly an inch thick. The Dutch colonists, in consequence of
this practice of the natives, called the plant brood-boon, which
signifies literally bread tree.
THE PLANTAIN AND BANANA.
The several varieties of the edible plantain which are known and
cultivated throughout the West Indies, Africa, and in the East are all
reducible to two classes, viz., the Plantain and the Banana (_Musa
Paradisiaca_and _sapientum_). The difference between these two plants
is even so slight as to be scarcely specific; it is therefore most
probable that there was originally but one stock, from which they
have, by cultivation and change of locality, been derived.
The tiger plantain (_M. maculata_) and the black ditto (_M.
sylvestris_) are cultivated in Jamaica. The whole of the species and
varieties of the tribe are what are called polygamous monoecious
plants, each individual tree bearing the male and female organs of
reproduction.
The plantain and its varieties invariably bear male, female and
hermaphrodite flowers within the same spathe, all of them being
imperfect and consequently unproductive of seed. An individual may,
even from excess of culture, moisture, &c., be entirely incapable of
flowering. During the prevalence of a disease or blight among the
plantain walks of Demerara in the years 1844 and 1845, it was
seriously proposed to introduce male plantains, or obtain fresh stock
by seed.
It is, therefore, necessary to determine with exactness, if possible,
whether the Plantain or Banana, (whichever be the parent stock) exists
anywhere at present, or has been known to have existed as a perfect
plant, that is bearing fertile seeds; or, whether it has always
existed in the imperfect state, that is, incapable of being procreated
by seed, the only state in which it at present exists in our colonies.
Whether Linnæus be right in his conjecture (Spec. Plant, 1763) that
the "Bihai" (_Heliconia humilis_), a native of Caraccas, which
produces fertile seeds, is the stock plant of the plantain, it is
almost impossible to ascertain; but the absence of any description of
a wild seed-bearing plantain, renders it highly probable that the
cultivated species are hybrids produced long ago. The banana, from
time immemorial, has been the food of the philosophers and sages of
the East, and almost all travellers throughout the tropics have
described these plants exactly as they are known to us, either as
sweet fruit eaten raw, or a farinaceous vegetable roasted or boiled.
It is remarkable that the plantain and banana should be indigenous, or
at all events cultivated for ages both in the Old and New World.
Numerous South American travellers describe some one of these plants
as being indigenous articles of food among the natives, thus showing
(if the plantain and its varieties be hybrids) a communication between
the tropics of America, Asia and Africa, long before the time of
Columbus. The older writers on the colony of Guiana, as Hartsinck,
Bellin and others, consider the plantain to be a native. It is
remarkable that Sir R. Schomburgk, during his travels, found a large
species of edible plantain far in the interior. It appears, therefore,
from all the investigations that have been made, that the plantain is
either a hybrid, or its power of production from seed has been
destroyed long ago by cultivation, and that it is not known to exist
anywhere in a perfect state; in which case any attempt to improve the
present stock by the introduction of suckers from elsewhere, must be
totally futile. Mr. A. Garnett recommends the following system of
cultivation, as calculated to prevent the blight. The walk or
plantation is to be formed into beds 36 feet wide, divided by open
drains 30 inches deep. Two rows of plantains to be planted upon each
bed at 18 feet distance, both between and along the rows, to afford a
clear ventilation to the enlarging plants, and so soon as the
plantation has been established, the space of land between each row to
be shovel-ploughed 12 inches deep; the same to be repeated annually,
and upon the interspace may be planted maize, yams, sugar cane, or
eddoes, and the whole kept clear at all times. Thus, with the
conjoined principles of good tillage, free ventilation, and mixed
crops, the blight may yet be successfully combated.
A great diminution in the cultivation of the plantain has been
occasioned in British Guiana by this blight or disease, which first
made its destructive appearance in Essequibo, upwards of thirty years
ago, where its ravages increased with such fatal intensity as to
render the profitable growth of the plant almost hopeless; and up to
this hour no one has been able to discover the immediate or remote
cause of this extraordinary vegetable endemic; whether arising from
the action of insects among the sheathes of the petioles of the
leaves, or in the soil, or from organic decay of the plant, remains
without solution. The last-named cause seems to be rejected, by the
fact that the fructification of the plant is as healthy and abundant
in parts of the colony where the blight does not prevail, both in
number and size of the fruit upon the spike, as at any former period.
On the east coast of Demerara, both the plantain and banana have been
grown for more than twenty years upon the same land, without any
attack of the disease, and without any extraneous manure or even lime
having been applied, and the plants still exhibit great luxuriance,
and produce their former weight of fruit.
The foliage of the plantain affords food and bedding, and is used for
thatch, making paper, and basket making; and from its petioles is
obtained a fine and durable thread. The tops of the young plants are
eaten as a delicate vegetable; the fermented juice of the trunk
produces an agreeable wine.
The abundance and excellence of the nutritive food which the plants of
this valuable genus supply are well known; but of the numerous uses to
which they are applied I may mention, the following:--
The fruit is served up both raw and stewed; slices fried are also
considered a delicacy. Plantains are sometimes boiled and eaten with
salt meat, and pounded and made into puddings, and used in various
other ways. In their ripe state these fruits contain much starchy
matter. From their spurious stems, the fibres of the spiral vessels
may be pulled out in such quantity as to be used for tinder. _M.
textilis_ yields a fibre which is used in India in the manufacture of
fine muslins, and the coarser woody tissue is exported in large
quantities from Manila, under the name of white rope or Manila hemp.
Horses, cattle, swine, and other domestic animals are fed upon the
fruit, leaves, and succulent trunks.
The same extent of ground which in wheat would only maintain two
persons, will yield sustenance under the banana to fifty. That eminent
naturalist and elegant writer, the Baron Von Humboldt, states
("Political Essay on New Spain," vol. ii.) that an acre of land
cultivated with plantains produces nearly twenty times as much food as
the like space sown with corn in Europe. He refers to a place in
Venezuela, where the most careful tillage was rendered to a piece of
land, yielding produce supporting a humble population residing in
huts, each placed in the centre of an enclosure, growing the sugar
cane, Indian corn, the Papaw tree, and the Musa--a tropical
garden!--upon the elaborate culture of which a whole family relied for
subsistence.
Although from the extensive plantain walks in our colonies--which are
seldom cultivated with a garden-like care--so large an average
proportion may not be obtained as twenty times the production of wheat
in Europe, yet I have had practical experience of the prodigious
quantity of farinaceous matter obtainable from an acre of tolerably
well-cultivated plantains, and no esculent plant requires less labor
in its culture upon land suitable for its production. They are readily
increased by suckers, which the old plants produce in abundance.
Lindley enumerates ten species of Musa, some of which grow to the
height of 25 or 30 feet, but that valuable species _M. Cavendishii_,
does not grow more than four or five feet high.
The bananas of the family of the Musaceæ, appear to be natives of the
southern portion of the Asiatic continent (R. Brown, "Bot. of Congo,"
p. 51). Transplanted at an unknown epoch into the Indian Archipelago
and Africa, they have spread also into the, New World, and in general
into all intertropical countries, sometimes before the arrival of
Europeans.
According to Humboldt it affords, in a given extent of ground,
forty-four times more nutritive matter than the potato, and 133 times
more than wheat. These figures must be considered as only
approximative, since nothing is more difficult than to estimate the
nutritive qualities of different aliments.
_Musa paradisiaca_ is cultivated in Syria, to latitude 34 deg.
Humboldt says it ceases to yield fruit at a height of 3,000 feet,
where the mean annual temperature is 68 deg., and where, probably, the
heat of summer is deficient.
The banana seems, however, to be found no higher than 4,600 feet in a
state of perfection.
No fruit is so easily cultivated as are the varieties of the plantain.
There is hardly a cottage in the tropics that is not partly shaded by
them; and it is successfully grown under other fruit trees, although
it is independent of shelter. Its succulent roots and dew-attracting
leaves render it useful in keeping the ground moist during the
greatest heats. The plantain may be deemed the most valuable of
fruits, since it will, in some measure, supply the place of grain in
time of scarcity. To the negroes in the West Indian Islands the
plantain is invaluable, and, like bread to the Europeans, is with them
denominated the staff of life. In Jamaica, Demerara, Trinidad, and
other principal colonies, many thousand acres are planted with these
trees.
The vegetation of this tree is so rapid that if a line of thread be
drawn across, and on a level with the top of one of the leaves, when
it begins to expand, it will be seen, in the course of an hour, to
have grown nearly an inch. The fruit when ripe is of a pale yellow,
about a foot in length and two inches thick, and is produced in
bunches so large as each to weigh 40 lbs. and upwards.
The soil best suited to the growth of the plantain is found in the
virgin land most recently taken in from the forest, having a formation
of clay and decomposed vegetable substances. A large portion of
organic matter is required, as well as clay or other ponderous strata,
to afford the greatest production of fruit. I have known good
plantains produced in the West Indies, upon land considerably
exhausted by the culture of cotton, but which was enriched by the
application of a quantity of the decomposed seed of that shrub near
the roots of the young plantains.
In the Straits' settlements of the East, the following are the most
approved varieties:--The royal plantain, which fruits in eight months;
one which bears in a year, the milk plantain, the downy plantain, and
the golden plantain or banana. A species termed _gindy_ has been
lately imported from Madras, where it is in great request. It has this
advantage over the other kinds, that it can be stewed down like an
apple while they remain tough.
The Malays allege that they can produce new varieties, by planting
three shoots of different sorts together, and by cutting the shoots
down to the ground three successive times, when they have reached the
height of nine or ten inches.
About 144 suckers of the plantain are set on an orlong (1-1/3 acres),
each of which spreads into a group of six or eight stems, of about six
inches to one foot in diameter, which yield each a bunch of fruit, and
are then cut down, when fresh shoots succeed. In very rich soils the
plant will continue to bear for twenty years, but otherwise it is dug
up after the seventh or eighth year. The cost of cultivating 100
orlongs of land exclusively with plantains, will be nearly 2,000
Spanish dollars until produce be obtained. About 43,200 bunches may be
had afterwards yearly, which might give a return of 2,160 dollars, or,
deducting the cost of cultivation and original expenses, a profit per
annum of 1,450 dollars.
The plantain has frequently been suggested as an article of export
from our colonies. A few bunches are occasionally brought over by the
Royal West India Mail Company's steamers running to Southampton, but
more as a curiosity than as articles of commerce.
In its ripe state no unexceptionable and sufficiently cheap method of
preserving it has yet been suggested.
In some districts of Mexico it is, indeed, dried in the sun, and in
this state forms a considerable article of internal commerce under the
name of "plantado pasado."
It is sometimes so abundant and cheap in Demerara, Jamaica, Trinidad,
and other of our colonies, that it might, if cut and dried, in its
green state, be exported with advantage.
It is in the unripe state that it is so largely used by the peasantry
of the colonies as an article of food. It has always been believed to
be highly nutritive, but Dr. Shier states that, in any sample of the
dried plantain which he analysed, he could not find a larger amount
than 88 per cent of nitrogen, which corresponds with about 5½ per
cent. of proteine compounds.
When dried, and reduced to the state of meal, it cannot, like wheat
flour, be manufactured into maccaroni or vermicelli, or at least the
maccaroni made from it falls to powder when put into hot water. The
fresh plantain, however, when boiled whole, forms a pretty dense firm
mass, of greater consistency and toughness than the potato. The mass,
beaten in a mortar, constitutes the _foo-foo_ of the negroes. The
plantain meal cannot be got into this state unless by mixing it up
with water to form a stiff dough, and then boiling it in shapes or
bound in cloths.
Plantain meal is prepared by stripping off the husk of the plantain,
slicing the core, and drying it the sun. When thoroughly dry it is
powdered and sifted. It is known among the Creoles of the West Indies
under the name of _Conquin tay_. It has a fragrant odour, acquired in
drying, somewhat resembling fresh hay or tea. It is largely employed
as the food of infants, children, and invalids. As food for children
and convalescents, it would probably be much esteemed in Europe, and
it deserves a trial on account of its fragrance, and its being
exceedingly easy of digestion. In respect of nutritiveness, it
deserves a preference over all the pure starches on account of the
proteine compounds it contains.
The plantain meal would probably be best and freshest were the sliced
and dried plantain cores exported, leaving the grinding and sifting to
be done in Europe. The flavor of the meal depends a good deal on the
rapidity with which the slices are dried; hence the operation is only
fitted for dry weather, unless indeed, when there was occasion for it,
resource were had to a kiln or stove. Above all, the plantain must not
be allowed to approach too closely to yellowness or ripeness,
otherwise it becomes impossible to dry it. The color of the meal is
injured when steel knives are used in husking or slicing, but silver
or nickel blades do not injure the color. On the large scale a
machine, on the principle of the turnip slicer, might be employed. The
husking could be greatly facilitated by a very simple machine. Were
the plantain meal to come into use in England, and bear a price in any
way approaching to that of Bermuda arrowroot, it would become an
extensive and very profitable export. Full-sized and well-filled
bunches give 60 per cent. of core to 40 of husk and top-stem, but in
general it would be found that the core did not much exceed 50 per
cent., and the fresh core will yield 40 per cent. of dry meal, so that
from 20 to 25 per cent. of meal is obtained from the plantain, or 5
lbs. from an average bunch of 25 lbs.; and an acre of plantain walk of
average quality, producing during the year 450 such bunches, would
yield a ton and 10 lbs. of meal, which, at the price of arrowroot,
namely, 1s. per lb., would be a gross return of £112 10s. per acre. A
new plantain walk would give twice as much. Even supposing the meal
not to command over half the price of arrowroot, it would still form
an excellent outlet for plantains whenever, from any cause, the price
in the colony sank unusually low.
In respect of the choice of a situation for establishing a plantain
walk, with a mill, boiling-house and drying ground, it will be
necessary to fix upon new land with plenty of moisture, and flat if
possible, in order that there may be no difficulty in making roads to
carry the trees; whilst a deep river traversing the land, where there
is no tide or danger of salt water--where facility would be afforded
in making the basins wherein to wash the fibre; where a sea port would
be near at hand for shipping the produce--where workmen, provisions,
and fuel would be readily obtained, and where the climate is
particularly healthy, should be especially sought after.
The plantain grows in profusion between the tropics in all parts of
the world; but as it is an object to have the London market available
for the prepared fibre, the following places may be mentioned as best
calculated to produce a good and constant supply, viz:--the West India
Colonies, the British Colonies in Africa, the South American
Republics, along the Mosquito shore, and other places on the Continent
of America, including Porto Rico, Hayti, and Cuba. The advantages to
the paper manufacturer in employing the prepared fibre instead of
rags, will be numerous, for the fibre is equal in texture, clean, and
aromatic; whilst rags are dirty, full of vermin, and very often
pestilential.
A large stock of the plantain can always be secured, without fear of
its being injured by keeping. The paper will be superior to that made
of rags, and the process of making it will be more economical,
inasmuch as the _sorting_ of the material will not be required.
Another advantage is, that a new article of commerce will be opened
for the benefit of the colonial shipping interests, and a stimulus
will be given to the cultivation of a fruit which is the favorite food
of large masses of the population.
The following is a "specification" of articles requisite for making
three tons of prepared fibre in a day:--
Four wooden boilers lined with lead, in the form of coolers, 7 feet
deep by 6 in diameter. One hydraulic press, from 400 to 500 tons. One
stout screw press, to compress the fibre before it is submitted to the
hydraulic press. One iron mill with horizontal cylinders. Six waggons;
twenty mules. Utensils, such as spatulas, cutlasses, hoes, rakes, &c.
&c. One lever, to take out the fibre from the boilers. One steam
boiler, equal to 12-horse power, to steam the four wooden boilers.
It being very desirable that the works should be in the immediate
neighbourhood of a river, the machinery should be worked by
water-power; but if this mode should be inconvenient, a steam engine
in addition must be obtained, of about 8 or 10-horse power; or if one
steam engine of 20-horse power were employed, it would be sufficient
for all purposes. Thirty men are required to make three tons of fibre
in a day.
_Buildings_.--A store, 100 feet long by 25 feet broad, in wood,
covered with straw, to contain the dried fibre and the presses. One
open shed of the same dimensions, covered with straw for the boilers.
_Capital required_.--It is ascertained that the following outlay will
be sufficient:--
The materials will cost £2,000
Buildings 500
Purchase of land 1,500
Working capital 1,000
------
£5,000
The estimated expense in cultivating one quarree, or 5 1-5th English
acres, in plantains, will be £30, as the work can be easily performed
by one laborer in 300 days, at 2s. sterling per day.
A quarree will produce 18 tons of mill fibre, the cost of the
preparation of which is as follows:--
For workmen's wages, soda, lime, and fuel, at £3 per ton £54
Freight to Europe at £4 per ton 72
Managers 30
Duty, insurance, office fees, &c., at £1 per ton 18
----
£174
Thus, making the total expense of producing 18 tons of fibre £174, or
£9 13s. 4d. per ton. In 1848 Manila rope, or plantain fibre of good
quality, was worth £38 per ton.
A correspondent in Jamaica, who has devoted much attention to the
subject, has furnished me with some very valuable detailed
information, the most complete and practical that has ever yet
appeared:--
_Cultivation_.--The first care of a planter in superintending the
cultivation of the banana tree, with the two-fold object of
collecting both fibre and fruit, will be to study the nature of the
tree to which he will give the preference. A number of experiments
have been made upon different species of the banana with a view of
obtaining therefrom the largest quantity and the best color of
fibre, as well as the finest fruit. Those experiments were very
tedious and minute, but were absolutely necessary, in order to
arrive at the most economical and advantageous method of rendering
the fibre into a state fit for shipment to Europe. At the same time,
it was of the utmost importance to find out the best description of
tree, for producing the strongest, the most abundant, and the most
silky fibre--for containing the least quantity of juice, for
producing the color sufficiently white to facilitate the operation
of bleaching, for bearing fruit of the most esteemed quality, and,
therefore, the most favorable for general consumption.
A banana tree, which seemed at first sight to possess all those good
qualities--being of a large size, with whitish or flaxen colored
fibre, and producing very savoury fruit, only gave 2 per cent, of
fibre after preparation; that is to say, 100 lbs. in its raw state,
only gave two pounds of fibre after it was boiled. In endeavoring to
find out the cause of such a small result, it was discovered that
this specimen of banana (commonly called the "pig banana,")
contained a larger proportion of water than of fibre, compared with
other sorts--that the heart was too large, and that the inside
leaves were so tender that they almost dissolved in the process of
boiling. These were the greatest inconveniences of this species of
tree. There was also another disadvantage, in the quality of its
fruit, which was yellow in color, and not so useful as those
descriptions of banana which are generally eaten as a substitute for
bread. The results of several experiments made upon various
descriptions of banana, demonstrated the properties of each species,
both as regarded fibre and fruit. The most profitable in both
respects is undoubtedly the yellow banana, or common plantain. This
tree grows to the height of about fifteen feet, it is nine or ten
inches in diameter, its fibre is firm and abundant, and its fruit is
used both in a green and ripe state. This plantain abounds on the
continent of Spanish America and between the tropics, where the
natives cultivate it as producing the most nutricious fruit of its
kind. Cargoes of the fruit are frequently exported from Surinam and
Demerara. On the Spanish part of the American continent, land is
measured by _fanegas_, each fanega containing twelve _quarrees_, and
each quarree five and one-fifth English acres. A quarree measures
one hundred geometrical paces, or three hundred square feet.
In the first instance, the suckers of the plantain (the tree being
propagated by cuttings or suckers which shoot up from the bulb),
should be set at ten feet distance from each other; this proposition
gives 300 plants on one line of trees, or 900 on the surface of one
quarree of land. Each plant propagates itself and gives upon an
average ten trees of the same size and bearing. On one quarree of
land, therefore there would be 9,000 trees, yielding four pounds of
fibre and one bunch of fruit each, which is 9,000 bunches of fruit,
and 36,000 lbs. nett of fibre, in the whole. In good ground the same
plant will last fifteen years without any further trouble. Flat
lands ought to be cultivated in preference to any other. The
plantain thrives with the root in the water, and the head to the
sun. On the borders of the river Orinoco it grows to the height of
twenty feet, is one foot in diameter, and the stalks of the branches
are three inches in circumference.
_Cutting_.--The tree which has not produced its ripe fruit ought to
be cut, for two reasons--first, that the fruit be not lost; and
secondly, that the tree will not have arrived at its full growth and
ordinary size, and the fibres will be too tender. In cutting it
down, take it off six inches above the surface of the ground, then
divide it longitudinally into four parts, take out the heart, which
must be left to serve for manure, and if fermentation is decided
upon, leave the pieces at the foot of the tree, otherwise take them
to the mill to be crushed. The tree being very tender, may, on being
bent down, be cut asunder with a single stroke of a hatchet,
cutlass, or other convenient instrument. One man can cut down 800
trees, and split them in a day.
_Carrying_.--The trees being thus divided, may be immediately
carried to the mill to be crushed, or may remain until the
fermentation separates the juice of sap from the fibres and the
pith. By fermenting the trees, their weight will be so much reduced
as to render their carriage considerably lighter than if taken away
when first cut down. A wagon, with oxen or mules, can carry about a
ton per day, and one man can load the wagon and drive the cattle.
_Crushing_.--If the tree is carried from the plantation without
being subjected to fermentation, it must be passed through a mill,
the rollers of which, if made about three feet in length, and one
foot in diameter, will be found a very convenient size. In this
operation, care should be taken, first of all, to separate the
tender from the harder or riper layers of fibre. The tree is
composed of different layers of fibre, which may be divided into
three sorts; those of the exterior, having been exposed to the
atmosphere, possess a great degree of tenacity--whilst those of the
interior, having been secluded from the air, are much more soft and
tender. If, therefore, the layers of the plantain are passed
indiscriminately through the mill, those which are hard or firm will
not be injured by the pressure, whilst those which are soft will be
almost reduced to pulp. Therefore, the rollers of the mill should be
always placed horizontally, and upon passing the trees lengthways
through the mill, the pressure will be uniform and the fibre
uninjured. In this manner, pass the different sorts of layers
separately, and the produce will be about four pounds of fibre from
each tree. The stalks of the branches of the plantain give the best
fibre, and a large quantity, as compared with the body of the tree;
100 lbs. of the stalk will give 15 lbs. nett of fibre. In general,
if a tree will give 4 lbs. nett of fibre, the stalks will give 1 lb.
out of the 4 lbs. The stalks ought also to be crushed separately,
because they are harder than the exterior layers of the tree. About
3,000 trees may be passed through the mill in a day. Whilst the
experiments were in progress it was ascertained that with a single
horse, 100 plantain trees on an average were crushed in twenty
minutes, giving five minutes rest for the horse.
_Fermentation_.--This operation may be performed in several ways. If
the trees are allowed to ferment upon the spot after being cut, a
great saving will occur in respect of _carriage_; this matter ought
to be carefully studied, because, on an extensive scale of
manufacture, it is of serious importance. It is found that the trees
when cut and heaped up, are subject to a drainage of juice, which,
having a tanning property, discolors those pieces which lie at the
bottom; hence much time is consumed in afterwards restoring the
fibre to its natural color. The cut plants should be removed from
the stumps of the trees, and then placed in heaps, shaded from the
sun by laying the leaves over them. They will take several weeks to
ferment. To pursue this process in the immediate vicinity of the
establishment, would give rise to many inconveniences, in
consequence of the very large space of ground that would thereby be
occupied. Fermentation requires a mean temperature. A tree cut down
and exposed to the sun, would be nearly dry at about 30 deg.
centigrade, showing a result quite different to that which ought to
be obtained; whilst a tree placed on a wet soil, and open for the
fresh air to circulate between the plants, covered at the same time
with its own leaves, and shaded by the foliage of the plantation,
would be decomposed at the desired point of about 22 degrees. The
different modes of fermentation require the same proportions. If the
cut plants be covered with a thick layer of earth, they will not
decompose in six _months_; but if, on the contrary, they are covered
slightly, so that they may receive the freshness of the earth, and
the heat of the air, they will decompose in six _weeks_. It is the
same with the fermentation of alkaline baths. Baths at only _one_
degree will produce decomposition, whilst baths at _three_ degrees
will not produce any decomposition. The stuff after being passed
through the mill, or after fermentation, will be put into the
chemical baths, or vats, or chemical liquor, and the persons in
charge of the mill and boilers will do this work. Fermentation may
be advantageously used, in cases where the trees are grown at a
distance from the establishment--but, where they are in the
immediate vicinity of the works, it will be best to crush them by
the mill. The principal saving that is occasioned by fermentation,
will be found in the carriage, as the substance will be much reduced
in weight by that process. In an establishment where the manufacture
is carried on upon a very large scale, trees cut down at a distance
can be fermented, whilst those produced near the mill can be
crushed.
_Chemical Agents._--For decomposing the gluten in the trees during
the process of boiling, soda, carbonate of soda, and quick lime, are
used. The proportions herein given, are those requisite for making
three tons of fibre per day, upon which scale the cost price of the
fibre in a prepared state for bleaching, is subsequently calculated.
To make three tons of fibre per day, it is necessary to have four
boilers of 800 gallons each, and give five boilings in a day, or
1,650 lbs. of nett fibre for each boiler, or 6,600 lbs. for the four
boilers per day. After having put into the boiler a sufficient
quantity of water to cover the material, wait until the water begins
to boil, and then add the chemical agents.
lbs.
To the first boiling of a copper, put of soda 60
To the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th boilings of the same
copper, 15 lbs., each making 60
-----
120
-----
Therefore the four boilings will take of soda 480
The same liquid will serve for two other days, by
adding 15 lbs. to each fresh boiling, say, in the
whole, 40 lbs., or 600
It will consume in soda for nine tons made in three
days 1,080
Or 360 lbs. for three tons made in one day.
On the fourth day commence again in the same manner, and go on for
the two remaining days as above, producing eighteen tons in the six
days. The quick lime is to be employed in each of the boilings, in
the proportion of one-third less than the quantity of soda. Crude
soda may be used in the boilings, without previously discarbonising
it, and quick lime reduced to lime water; but, to render the action
of the chemical ingredients more quick and certain, it is better to
discarbonise the soda before it is put into the boiler. This may be
done by preparing in a small separate boiler the quantity of liquid
necessary for a day's consumption, which is prepared in about an
hour. The carbonisation is effected in the following manner:--
Ten parts of salt of soda. }
Six parts of quick lime. } In weight.
Seventy parts of water (never less.) }
_Boiling_.--This is a most important operation. By it the gluten and
coloring matter are separated from the fibres, which separation is
absolutely necessary, in order to prepare the fibre to receive the
bleaching. It is necessary to observe that the three several sorts
of layers which are found in the tree, and which, under the head of
"crushing," are recommended to be _pressed_ separately, should be
also _boiled_ separately, because the outermost layer has more
coloring matter than the next under it, which again has more than
the innermost layer. As they are boiled so will they be dried and
shipped, and each sort will have a different price in the market;
that fibre which is lightest in color bearing the preference, in
consequence of its not requiring more than _six_ hours to
bleach--whilst the darkest will, probably from its greater tenacity,
take _twelve_ to _eighteen_ hours. It is advisable to place over
each boiler the means of lifting the mass of fibre when boiled, and
suffering it to drain into the boiler before it is carried away to
be washed. This is easily effected by a chain from the roof, to
which may be hung a lever, having at that end over the boiler some
hooks attached to it, whereby the mass is lifted out of the boiler,
and the liquor thus preserved for the next boiling.
_Washing_.--It is absolutely necessary that the fibre should be well
washed after being taken out of the boiler, in order that all
extraneous matter may be separated therefrom. In choosing the site
for an establishment of this kind, care must always be taken to make
choice of a spot in the immediate neighbourhood of a large river, or
other plentiful supply of fresh clean water. The machinery necessary
for cleansing and washing the fibre may be of various descriptions;
but, perhaps a selection from one of the three following sorts will
be found to answer every purpose, viz., those used by paper
manufacturers in England, and by coffee planters and arrowroot
growers in the West Indies.
_Drying_.--The washed fibre, when hung over lines made of the
twisted fibre, or any other convenient material, will be
sufficiently dry in a few hours to be taken down, when more can be
hung up, and then several batches can be dried in a day; and it will
be necessary to have the drying ground as near the water as
possible, in order to save weight in carriage.
_Pressing_.--When the fibre is perfectly dry, it must be well
pressed, for the convenience of packing, carriage, and shipment. The
hydraulic press is the best machine that can be used for the
purpose; but in the absence of that, the lever and screw will make a
large amount of pressure available. A hydraulic press of from 400 to
500 tons, will press bales of from four to five hundred weight each,
which will not be too large for shipment."
STARCH-PRODUCING PLANTS INVESTIGATED.
Starch is one of the constituent parts in all mealy farinaceous seeds,
fruits, roots, and other parts of plants, and is in large demand for
domestic use, the arts, &c. Our common starch is made from wheat, and
a good deal from potatoes. Pure fecula is separated by art from a
variety of plants.
Of plants yielding starch we have the Indian arrowroot, which is the
fecula in the rhizomata of several species of the Marantaceæ. In the
West Indies it is obtained from the _Maranta arundinacea_, _Allomyca_
and _nobilis_, and also from various species of _Canna_ called _Tous
les mois_, and in the East Indies from species of _Curcuma_, and from
_Maranta ramossissima_ in Silhet.
The bread fruit (_Artocarpus incisa_), already alluded to, yields a
large quantity of starch; as do the sweet potato (_Convolvulus
Batatas_, or _Batatas edulis_). The pith or farinaceous part of the
trunk of the _Caryota urens_, is almost equal to the finest sago. In
Assam the sago of this palm is much used.
The two varieties of the Cassava afford a very superior fecula, which
is imported under the name of Brazilian arrowroot. 8,354 bags of
tapioca and farina were imported from Maranham in 1834. Some excellent
starch from Norfolk Island was shown at the Great Exhibition.
The Cycadaceous family yields much starchy matter, along with
mucilage. From the soft stems of _Cycas revoluta_ and _C. circinalis_,
natives of China and the East Indies, a kind of sago is made. These
plants are propagated by suckers. _Zamia pumila_, a native of the Cape
of Good Hope, and other species of this remarkable genus of plants,
which is nearly related to both ferns and palms, supply an amylaceous
matter, which has been sold as arrowroot. A similar product is
obtained from _Alstroemeria pallida_, a perennial plant, with pink red
flowers, growing in Chili. From the nuts of the _Cycas circinalis_,
the Singalese prepare an inferior kind of starch, by pounding the
fresh kernels. These are cut in slices, and well dried in the sun
before they are fit for use, otherwise when eaten they are
intoxicating, and occasion vomiting and purging.
The quantity of starch in a plant varies according to the period of
growth. The results of examination on the comparative yield of starch
in the potato, showed that while it abounded towards the latter part
of the season, it decreased when the tubers began to germinate in the
spring. It was found by Professor Balfour that 240 lbs. of potatoes
left in the ground, contained of starch--
lbs. Per cent.
In August 23 to 25 or 9.6 to 10.4
September 32 " 38 " 13.3 " 16
October 32 " 40 " 13.3 " 16.6
November 38 " 45 " 16 " 18.7
April 38 " 28 " 16 " 11.6
May 28 " 20 " 11.6 " 8.3
The quantity of starch remained the same during the dormant state of
winter, but decreased whenever the plant began to grow, and to require
a supply of nourishment.
Mr. Harris, of Jamaica, some years ago, made experiments upon the
nutritious qualities of the principal roots and vegetables of the West
Indies. These being well washed and scraped, were grated, in each case
into two gallons of clear rain-water, and the whole then filtered
through a clean linen strainer, after which it was left to settle;
when the amylaceous matter had wholly subsided the supernatant liquor
was carefully decanted, and fresh water added, which process was
repeated until every foreign substance appeared to be removed; the
produce of these several operations was then carefully collected and
dried with a temperature of about 110 deg. Fahrenheit, and, when dry,
weighed. In this manner the results given in the following table were
obtained:--
PRODUCE FROM FIVE POUNDS OF THE
Oz. Drms. Centes. prop.
Root of the sweet cassava (_Janipha
Loeflingii_) 14 1 17.27
Root of ocoes or taniers (_Caladium
esculentum_) 11 17 14.29
Root of the bitter cassava (_Janipha
manihot_), the Yucca amarga of the
Spaniards 11 2 13.90
Full grown but unripe fruit of the plantain
(_Musa paradisiaca_) 11 1 13.82
Root of the Guinea yam (_Dioscorea_
_bulbifera_) 8 6 10.46
Root of the sweet potato (_Batatas_
_edulis_) 8 6 10.46
Root of the arrowroot (_Maranta_
_arundinacea_) 5 6 6.71
The full-grown but unripe fruit of the banana
(_Musa sapientum_) 0 0 0.00
This table exhibits, no doubt, very unexpected results, since it
places the sweet cassava at the very top, and the banana at the lowest
place in the list, while the bitter cassava, which seems to be little
more than a variety of the sweet, notwithstanding its being the staple
material of West Indian bread, occupies two places lower down, and is
followed by the plantain. The sweet potato and the yam, both of which
are considered to be less nutritious than the arrowroot, rank above it
in the centesimal proportion of their amylaceous produce. Upon what,
then, do the nutritive properties of these various substances depend?
Is it upon a gluten which was overlooked by Mr. Harris, in his
experiments, or, if not, may we not suspect some inaccuracy in the
proportion of starch assigned by him to each? It is to be wished that
similar experiments were repeated with care in different quarters, and
the list extended to other tropical products applicable to human
sustenance, especially the roots which yield the farinaceous starch of
the South Sea islanders, to the achira of Choco, &c.
I shall extract largely from a very valuable report drawn up by Dr.
John Shier, agricultural chemist, of Demerara, and submitted to the
Governor of that colony in 1847, on the starch-producing plants, which
is deserving of more widely extended publicity than the merely local
circulation it has received. The remarks and results of experiments
are worthy of deep consideration; and although they were meant to
apply specially to British Guiana, they are equally pertinent to the
West India colonies generally, our African and Australian settlements,
and many other of our foreign possessions.
For many reasons it is desirable that the number of the staples of
cultivation and export of our colonies should be increased. It is the
general experience of British agriculturists, that the mixed system of
agriculture is more profitable to the farmer and safer for the land,
than the continued cultivation of any single crop, or indeed of
nearly allied crops; and although fewer valid objections can be urged
against the continued cultivation of the sugar cane, when properly
conducted, than against that of grain crops, it is nevertheless
certain that a well-arranged alternation or rotation of crops would be
better. When an efficient system of covered drainage is adopted in
British Guiana, there can be no doubt that the sugar cane will be
replanted at shorter intervals of time than at present, and that other
crops, such as provender crops for cattle, and provision crops for the
colonial and perhaps the home market, will be made to alternate in
cultivation with the cane. When the cane rows are as far apart as they
require to be, to admit of sufficient tillage with the plough and
other implements, it will also be possible to intercalate crops of
rapidly growing plants; and were this done, as it easily might, in
such a manner as to prevent undue exhaustion of the land, or
impoverishment of the sugar crop, the returns could not fail to be
materially increased. It would then probably be found that the
fluctuations in prices would be less felt, for they would not likely,
at the same time, affect different crops in the same manner.
It has been ascertained, in regard to some plants at least, that a
much larger return can be obtained in the colonies than can be grown
in temperate countries, however fertile. This is partly owing to the
greater fertility of the soil under powerful tropical atmospheric
influences, and partly to the fact that vegetation is continuous
throughout the year, so that slow growing plants can do more within
the time, from their functions not being arrested by the chill of
winter; and of many rapidly growing plants, two successive crops can
be grown within the year.
Starch is a substance easily manufactured, and being largely used in
several of the arts, as well as an article of diet, there consequently
exists a considerable demand for it in England. It may be obtained
from a great variety of plants, and many of the most productive of it
are natives of the tropics.
The high prices commanded by grain and breadstuffs in Europe, renders
the present a remarkably favorable time to ascertain what can be done
in this branch of tropical agriculture; for should the potato disease
return, or this root be less extensively planted than hitherto, starch
must maintain a high price, and it will be worth ascertaining whether
some of the superior starch-producing plants of the tropics might not
be cultivated to such an extent as to supply the English market, and
thus be at once profitable to the colonies and advantageous to the
mother country.
Before entering on such a cultivation, however, various points require
investigation. We ought to be able to answer such questions as the
following:--
1. What differences exist between the characters of starch produced by
different plants?
2. What are the qualities or properties that lead
manufacturers--calico printers for example--to prefer one variety to
another?
3. For culinary purposes, and as an article of diet, what qualities
or characters obtain a preference?
4. Can the starches from different plants be distinguished from one
another by distinct and well marked characters, so that the
substitution of a less esteemed variety for a more esteemed one, or
the adulteration of a high priced variety with a cheaper one, could be
readily detected?
5. What plants produce the most esteemed varieties?
6. What plants produce it in the largest quantity?
7. What plants produce the largest yield per acre?
8. From what plants is it most easily manufactured?
9. Is the process attended with any particular difficulties that ought
to deter the East and West India planters from engaging in it?
In the following observations (continues Dr. Shier) I shall be able to
reply to several of these questions, especially those capable of being
settled in the laboratory. On other points, particularly those
relating to the returns per acre, I am at present but imperfectly
informed, in consequence of the limited extent to which these plants
have hitherto been cultivated in this colony (Demerara), and from the
total absence of authentic data regarding the amount of yield.
_Characters of starch produced from different plants_.--Starches from
different plants are best distinguished from one another by
examination under a good miscroscope. The grains or globules may be
examined either as transparent or opaque objects; and although in the
same species there are considerable differences in size and form, the
different kinds are, on the whole, quite distinguishable. One of the
best ways of examining the form of the globules, under the microscope,
is to lay them on a plate of glass and cover them with a drop of
aqueous solution of iodine, which renders them gradually blue and
opaque. When the difference in size and form between the globules of
different species is considerable, as between the _Tous les mois_
starch and cassava starch, or even between the arrowroot starch and
cassava starch frequently used to adulterate it, it is not difficult,
with a little practice, to detect the fraud.
TABLE ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE SIZE AND FORM OF THE STARCH GLOBULES OF
VARIOUS PLANTS.
1. Tous-les-mois (_Canna coccinea_).--Grown in Grenada, 1-300 to
1-2,000 of an inch; general size, 1-500; form of the globules, large,
elliptical and ovate, and remarkably transparent.
2. Ditto ditto (species unknown).--From a plant grown in the garden of
the Hon. J. Croal, Georgetown, but gathered before the root was fully
ripe; globules spherical, shortly ovate and elliptical; size, from
1-600 to 1-1,600; general size, 1-800.
3. Buck Yam (_Dioscorea triphylla_).--Grown on the banks of the
Demerara River. Form of globules, elliptical, often truncated at one
end, so as to be mullar-shaped, some pear-shaped; length, twice the
width; size, 1-600 to 1-2,000; general size, 1-800.
4. Common Yam (_D. sativa_).--Grown on No. 1 Canal, Demerara River.
Elliptical, some long elliptical; size, 1-700 to 1-2,000; general
size, 1-1,000.
5. Guinea Yam (_D. aculeata_).--Grown in the same locality. Larger
globules, elliptical; smaller ditto, spherical, often truncated; some
shortly ovate, with the appearance of being flattened; general size
and range, same as No. 4.
6. Barbados Yam, grown on banks of Demerara river. Globules,
pear-shaped and mullar-shaped; range, 1-700 to 1-1,600; general size,
1-1,000.
7. Plantain (_Musa paradisiaca_).--Grown on the banks of the Demerara
river. Globules long and narrow, generally long elliptical, often more
acute at the ends than in any other species, some linear ended
abruptly; length, often three times the width; range, from 1-400 to
1-4,000 of an inch; general size, 1-800.
8. Potato (_Solanum tuberosum_).--Irish tubers, from Belfast Sound.
Globules, 1-600 to 1-2,000; general size, 1-1,200.
9. Potato (Commercial).--Locality unknown. Range from 1-600; globules
generally same as former, but a few stray ones as large as 1-40 of an
inch.
10. Sweet Potato (_Convolvulus Batatas_).--Grown at the Lodge,
Demerara. Form of globules, spherical aggregated; range, 1-1,000 to
1-4,000; general size, 1-2,400.
11. Arrowroot (_Maranta arundinacea_).--Specimens from Bermuda, where
the highest priced and best quality is prepared. Ovate and elliptical;
length in the larger globules, twice the width; range, from 1-800 to
1-2,400; general size, 1-1,400.
12. Ditto ditto, grown on plantation Turkeyen, Demerara, by J.W. King.
Size and description same as No. 11.
13. Ditto ditto, grown and prepared in Barbados. Characteristics the
same, but globules more uniform in size.
14. Ditto ditto, grown on plantation Enmore; not quite so uniform in
size.
15. Bitter Cassava (_Janipha Manihot_).--Grown on Haagsbosch
plantation. A few globules occur as large as the 1-1,000 of an inch;
these are ovate, the rest are spherical. The range is from 1-2,000 to
1-8,000; general size, 1-4,000.
16. Sweet Cassava (_Janipha Loeflingii_).--Grown on No. 1 Canal,
Demerara River.
17. Tannia (_Caladium sagittifolium_).--Grown at the Lodge. Globules
not so truly spherical as the foregoing, but range and size the same.
18. Wheat (_Triticum sativum_).--Locality unknown. Form of globules,
spherical and slightly elliptical, some very small; range, 1-2,000 to
1-6,000, the former the general size.
19. Maize (_Zea Mays_).--Grown in the colony, but locality uncertain.
Globules, approaching to spherical, much aggregated; range, 1-2,000 to
1-4,000; general size, 1-3,000.
From an inspection of this list, it does not appear that the species
would be easily distinguishable, and it is not easy briefly to
describe the differences; in practice, however, and especially when
the observer has a number of pure and authentic specimens before him,
to have recourse to as standards of comparison, the discrimination is
by no means difficult.
_Specific gravity of starch derived from various plants_.--Of many
bodies the determination of the specific gravity is one of the best
modes of distinguishing the purity. With the view of ascertaining
whether the different varieties of starch have all the same density,
as has been asserted by some, trials were carefully made of as many
specimens as I could procure. The results are embodied in the
following table:--
TABLE No. I.--DENSITY OF STARCH DERIVED FROM VARIOUS PLANTS.
------------------+-------+-------+-----------------------------------------
| |Tem. at|
Names of |Density|time of| Remarks
Plants | |Obs. F.|
------------------+-------+-------+------------------------------------
1. Bitter cassava|1.4 3 | 87. |Grown in the colony and prepared in
| | | the Colonial Laboratory.
2. Tannia |1.4773 | 87. |Ditto ditto
3. Arrowroot |1.4772 | 86.25 |Ditto ditto
4. Arrowroot |1.4748 | 86.25 |Ditto ditto
5. Common yam |1.4733 | 83.25 |Ditto ditto
6. Sweet potato |1.4718 | 85.75 |Ditto ditto
7. Arrowroot |1.4717 | 82.75 |St. Vincent's, commercial
8. Arrowroot |1.4701 | 84.75 |Grown in the colony and prepared in C.L.
9. Tous les mois |1.4698 | 85.25 |Ditto ditto
10. Sweet cassava |1.4692 | 86.5 |Ditto ditto
11. Wheat starch |1.4632 | 85. |Commercial, of English manufacture
12. Plantain |1.4615 | 85.75 |Grown in the colony and prepared in C.L.
13. Tous les mois |1.4611 | 84.25 |Grenada, commercial
14. Barbados yam |1.4607 | 83.5 |Grown in the colony and prepared in C.L.
15. Irish potato |1.4589 | 84.75 |Tubers from Belfast; prepared in C.L.
16. Guinea yam |1.4581 | 84.2 |Grown in the colony and prepared in C.L.
17. Potato |1.4561 | 84. |Commercial
18. Buck yam |1.4489 | 81.25 |Grown in the colony and prepared in C.L.
19. Arrowroot |1.4443 | 85.5 |Barbados, commercial
20. Arrowroot |1.4158 | 86.25 |Bermuda, ditto
21. Maize |1.4109 | 85.5 |Grown in the colony and prepared in C.L.
------------------+-------+-------+----------------------------------------
From this it will be seen that the order of density does not
correspond with the order in any of the other tables. Probably those
specimens prepared from dry seeds, such as wheat and maize starch,
which, as commercial articles at least, are less pure than those
prepared from recently dug roots, have also the lowest density.
_Hygroscopic properties of starch produced from different
plants_.--Such of the specimens as are marked in the following table,
as prepared in the colonial laboratory, were dried in the sun in
shallow trays, to which they had previously been transferred in the
wet state. When sun dried, the masses were broken down, and the
starches freely exposed to the air in the shade for ten days. Any
adherent masses were then rubbed to powder by light pressure in a
glazed mortar, and the whole sifted. Portions of each of these
starches, and of others for the sake of comparison, were then dried,
at 212 degrees Fahrenheit, in a current of dry air, and the loss
determined:--
TABLE No. II.--SHOWING THE HYGROSCOPIC WATER CONTAINED BY STARCH
PRODUCED FROM DIFFERENT PLANTS.
Per centage of water. Remarks.
1. Potato 20.27 Commercial, locality unknown
2. Sweet potato 19.57 C., C.L.**
3. Buck yam 19.43 C., C.L.
4. Barbados yam 19.40 C., C.L.
5. Arrowroot 18.81 Bermuda, commercial
6. Irish potato 17.28 Tubers from Belfast, C.L.
7. Guinea yam 17.14 C., C.L.
8. Tous les mois 16.74 Grenada, commercial
9. Arrowroot 16.43 Barbados, ditto
10. Common yam 16.36 C., C.L.
11. Plantain 16.23 C., C.L.
12. Arrowroot 15.65 C., C.L.
13. Arrowroot 14.84 C., Plantation Enmore
14. Tous les mois 14.64 C., C.L.
15. Tannia 14.60 C., C.L.
16. Sweet cassava 14.30 C., C.L.
17. Maize 14.22 C., C.L.
18. Arrowroot 13.36 C., C.L.
19. Bitter cassava 11.88 C., C.L.
20. Wheat starch 11.16 Commercial, of English manufacture
[** The initial C. throughout these tables indicates that the plant
was grown in the colony; C.L., that the starch was prepared in the
colonial laboratory.]
That the extremes in this table should occur in the case of the
starches of commerce, was, perhaps, to be expected; nevertheless the
difference between the starch of the sweet potato and that of the
bitter cassava is nearly as great, and both these specimens were
prepared in the laboratory, by the same process, and subject to the
same temperature and exposure.
_Characters of the jellies formed by various
starches._--_Tenacity_.--I have met with no very precise results on
this subject, except the well-known fact that it takes a much larger
quantity of some starches, the arrowroot for instance, to form a jelly
of equal tenacity with that formed by others, such as the _Tous les
mois_; and hence in the West Indies the latter is universally
preferred to the cassava starches.
After trying various plans, the method which I found best fitted for
comparing the tenacity of different starch jellies, was the
following:--Of each of the kinds of starch, 24 grains were weighed out
and mixed with 400 grains of distilled water, in a porcelain capsule
of suitable size. The mixture was then heated and boiled briskly for
three minutes, with constant stirring, and was immediately poured into
a conical test-glass,[45] which the jelly nearly filled. The time at
which each glass was filled was noted, and exactly two hours were
allowed for the contents to cool in a current of air. The glass is
then set on a plate of glass, supported on a ring of a retort stand,
and the weight ascertained, which was necessary to force a metallic
disc, of ascertained size, through the jelly. The most convenient way
of doing this was by using a piece of apparatus of the form rudely
represented on the margin. The rectangular frame is of thin brass
wire, and the slightly cup-shaped disc, _d d_, is soldered to a wire,
attached to the upper short side of the rectangle. From the opposite
or lower side of the rectangle a small glass cup, _c._, is suspended,
into which weights are put as soon as the disc has been made to rest
on the surface of the jelly, _pp_ is the plate of glass on which the
test-glass is set. Whenever the disc tears the skin of the jelly and
begins to sink in it, no further addition, of weights is made, and
the weight of the disc, framework, and cup being known, we have an
estimate of the tenacity of the jelly. This process is but
approximative, and some practice is necessary before the operator
succeeds in getting uniform results from the same series of specimens.
+--------------------+
| | |
| | |
| | |
| d \_____/ d |
| |
| |
| |
| p--------------p |
| |
| |
+--------------------+
|
|
|
|
---------
c.
The following statement shows the results on such specimens as I could
procure. The disc was exactly 7/10ths of an inch in diameter.
TABLE NO. III.--TENACITY OF STARCH IN JELLIES.
No. Names of specimens. Weight in grains required
to break the jelly.
1. Tous les mois, C., C.L. 2,446*
2. Tous les mois, Grenada, Commercial 1,742
3. Maize, C., C.L. 955
4. Barbados yam, C., C.L. 895
5. Irish potato, from Belfast, C.L. 756
6. Tannia, C., C.L. 630
7. Bermuda arrowroot, finest Commercial 627
8. Common yam, C., C.L. 657
9. Guinea yam, C., C.L. 571
10. Plantain, C., C.L. 467
11. Potato starch, Commercial 467
12. Arrowroot, C., C.L. 393
13. Sweet potato, C., C.L. 368
14. Arrowroot, C., C.L. 340
15. Arrowroot, C. 301
16. Arrowroot, St. Vincent's, Commercial 289
17. Barbados arrowroot, Commercial 273
18. Wheat starch, Commercial 183
19. Buck yam, C., C.L. 151
20. Bitter cassava, C., C.L. 150
21. Sweet cassava, C., C.L. 78
[* In this instance the weight stated detached the jelly from the side
of the glass, but the skin of the jelly was not torn as in the other
cases.]
From this list it is obvious that, in respect of tenacity, there is a
very great difference between the jellies prepared from the different
starches--greater, indeed, than exists in regard to any other
character. At first I thought it probable that the tenacity of the
jelly would bear some relation to the size of the globules, and it is
true that we find the Grenada Tous les mois, the largest globule, next
the top, and the cassava among the smallest, at the bottom of the
scale. But, on the other hand, we have the Buck yam starch, a large
sized globule, very high; together with many other exceptions.
As an article of diet, the most tenacious varieties of starch are
preferred, on account of the economy of employing an article of which
a less quantity will suffice; and the same is true when applied to
starching linen, provided the jelly be not deficient in clearness.
_Clearness of jellies_.--When starch jelly is used for the purpose of
starching, or glazing linen, or cotton goods, those varieties that are
most transparent are understood to be preferred, provided, at the same
time, they possess the requisite tenacity. This and other matters
will be best determined by practical men in England; but having had
occasion many times to prepare specimens for trying the tenacity, the
opportunity was always taken of arranging the specimen of jellies in
the order of their clearness, or, to speak more accurately, of their
translucency. In this respect also they exhibit considerable
differences, varying, when prepared according to the formula described
under the head of tenacity, from very translucent approaching to
opaque. The order is shown in the annexed list, which begins with the
clearest.
TABLE NO. IV.--SHOWING THE ORDER OF CLEARNESS OR TRANSLUCENCY OF
UNIFORMLY PREPARED STARCH JELLIES.
Order. Names of specimens.
1. St. Vincent Arrowroot, Commercial
2. Arrowroot, C., C.L.
3. Sweet cassava, C., C.L.
4. Bitter cassava, C., C.L.
5. Bermuda arrowroot, Coml.
6. Arrowroot, C., C.L.
7. Irish potato, C.L.
8. Potato starch, Coml.
9. Buck yam, C., C.L.
10. Arrowroot, C.
11. Plantain, C., C.L.
12. Tannia, C., C.L.
13. Sweet potato, C., C.L.
14. Common yam, C., C.L.
15. Tous les mois, Grenada, Cml.
16. Barbados arrowroot, Coml.
17. Tous les mois, C., C.L.
18. Barbados yam, C., C.L.
19. Guinea yam, C., C.L.
20. Wheat starch, Coml.
21. Maize, C., C.L.
On comparing this list with the former one, and taking a general view
of the subject, it will be seen that the jellies that are most
tenacious are generally the least translucent, and that the order of
the two lists is more nearly the converse than occurs in regard to any
other properties.
_Percentage of starch yielded by different plants_.--On this point no
two writers do or can agree. The quantity of starch, even in the same
plants, the potato for instance, varies with the season, the soil,
climate, age, ripeness, length of time the roots have been out of the
ground, &c.
In the following table I have given the result of a series of trials
made in the Colonial Laboratory, Demerara. The roots were all fresh
dug, and, with two exceptions, noticed in the remarks, were fair
average specimens. The process was the common one. The grater or
rasping machine was of copper, to avoid injuring the color of some of
the starches, which an iron grater is liable to do:--
TABLE NO. V.--PERCENTAGE OF STARCH YIELDED BY DIFFERENT PLANTS.
No. Names of plants. Percentage of starch.
1. Sweet cassava 26.92
2. Bitter cassava 24.84
3. Another sample 20.26
4. A third 16.02
5. Common yam 24.47
6. Arrowroot (roots scarcely ripe) 21.43
7. Another sample 17.28
8. Barbados yam 18.75
9. Tannia 17.05
10. Another sample 15.35
11. Guinea yam 17.03
12. Plantain 16.99
13. Sweet potato 16.31
14. Buck yam 16.07
15. Another sample 15.63
16. A third, from a dark colored variety 14.83
From the foregoing list it appears that the sweet and bitter cassava
merit attention as starch-producing plants. They are occasionally
grown for this purpose in the colonies, and yield a large per centage
of starch; but there exists an opinion, whether well or ill founded,
that it is liable to rot linen, and the preference is given here to
the starch of arrowroot. It remains to be seen, however, what estimate
will be formed of this starch in England, for if it should prove an
esteemed variety, there can be no doubt of its proving a highly
profitable cultivation. Cassava grows readily in almost any soil, and
when the drainage is tolerable, two crops of the sweet variety can, it
is stated be grown in a year. I have seen it growing luxuriantly in
the light soils of the interior, as well as in the stiff clay soils of
the coasts. It is considered an excellent preparatory crop in new and
stiff land, on account of its tendency to loosen the soil. Were the
bitter variety fixed on, the preparation of _Casareep_ might be
combined with the preparation of starch; and as that substance is one
of the most esteemed bases for the preparation of various sauces, it
is probable that this might turn out the most profitable part of the
produce. At all events, bitter cassava would have this advantage over
all other starch-producing roots, that the juice of the roots could be
turned, to account as well as the starch.
Of all the plants mentioned in the list, starch is most readily
separated from the arrowroot, in consequence of the tissue being more
fibrous, and yielding little or no cellular tissue requiring to be run
off the starch. Time and water are thus saved in the process, and were
the fibrous residue pressed and dried, it could probably be turned to
good account in the manufacture of paper.
In respect of facility of preparation, the plantain starch, though of
excellent quality, ranks lowest, for the flesh-colored tissue in which
the starch is embedded is somewhat denser than the starch, and settles
down under it, and it is not a little difficult to arrange the process
so as completely to separate the finer parts of this matter from the
starch, and hence its color is never perfectly white.
_Yield of starch-producing plants per acre_.--On this subject, as
already remarked, I do not at present possess sufficiently accurate
data.
In England ten tons of potatoes are not unfrequently produced per
acre; now assuming 15 the per centage of starch, there would be a
yield of one-and-a-half tons per acre, which, at the-lowest quotation,
28s. a cwt., would give £42 per acre; and were the starch to rank with
that prepared from wheat, it would produce £40 per ton, or £60 per
acre. In the thorough drained land of Demerara, and under a good
system of cultivation, I have no doubt that ten tons of cassava could
easily be grown, and if it yielded 25 per cent. of starch, it would be
a return of 2½ tons, or of £62 10s. per acre, reckoned at the price of
potato starch.
Of the yield of the plantain we possess much more accurate
information. A new plantain walk in this colony (British Guiana) will
yield 450 bunches, of 50 lbs. each, of which, as nearly as possible,
50 per cent. will be of core, containing 17 per cent. of starch, thus
producing 17 cwt. of starch per acre. But an old plantain walk, even
when free from disease, could not be reckoned to yield more than half
this quantity, namely, 8½ cwt. per acre. Considering the value that is
set on the plantain as an article of food, and the difficulties
incident to the process of making starch from it, it is by no means
probable that it will ever be used as a source from which to obtain
starch.
Of the quantity of arrowroot that can be grown per acre, I have been
able (continues Dr. Shier) to procure no information; but from the
price it commands in the market, the facility with which it can be
grown, and the ease with which the process of separating the starch
can be carried on, it deserves a fair trial here. To cultivate it to
advantage it ought to be done on thorough-drained and well-tilled
land, planted at the proper season, and not dug till ripe and in dry
weather.
Of the Tous les mois, I have only been able to procure a single plant,
for which I am indebted to the kindness of the Hon. John Croal. As the
root was immature, it would be unfair to deduce from the quantity of
starch obtained, the per centage generally contained by the plant. Its
immaturity was also indicated by the globules being smaller than in
the specimen obtained from Grenada; in other respects, however, such
as the tenacity of its jelly, it stands highest. It is altogether one
of the most promising starch-producing plants, and obviously deserves
a careful trial. It is a plant that expends a good deal of matter in
maturing a considerable quantity of dense and bulky seeds, but as it
propagates both by root and seed, it is probable that, as a root-crop,
it would be highly advantageous to procure a variety that does not
flower.
Both the tannia and the sweet potato can be readily grown, and the
produce per acre is large; but from the foregoing tables it would
appear that there are other plants whose starch is likely to be held
in greater estimation.
_Difficulties attendant on the process of preparing starch_.--Were the
manufacture of superior starch to be carried out in this colony
(British Guiana) on a large scale and profitably, recourse would
require to be had to all the well-known means of economising labor. In
the cultivation as much as possible would require to be done by cattle
and implement labor, and this would be the easier to accomplish,
inasmuch as, to grow roots to great advantage, the land would require
to be thorough drained. When the produce was brought to the buildings,
machinery similar to what is already in use in Europe, for the
purpose of washing and rasping roots, and of separating and washing
starch, would suffice with comparatively little manual labor. An
ordinary amount of judgment being exercised in determining the proper
period of ripeness of the roots, and in selecting seasons when the
weather is usually most suitable for conducting the process of
manufacture, it does not appear that any unusual difficulty would have
to be encountered by growers or manufacturers, unless as regards the
obtaining of a sufficient supply of good water; for that is essential
to the production of good starch.
The creek water of the colony is generally too brown, and the trench
water too muddy, and contains often too much salt to produce starches
of the finest color, hence recourse would require to be had to rain
water, or Artesian water. The first is remarkably pure, and it
certainly does not appear that were sufficiently capacious reservoirs
built, or ponds dug, and protected from infiltration by the usual
well-known means, there would be great difficulty in getting a
sufficient supply of rain water. It is done in Bermuda, and why not
here? On the other hand, almost all the Artesian wells in the colony
contain a large quantity of oxide of iron held in solution by carbonic
acid, and which separates as an ochrey deposit on free exposure to the
air. Were this water used in the starch process, it would certainly
injure the color materially; but by a chemical process, exceedingly
simple, inexpensive, and easy of application, it is possible to purify
the Artesian water, and render it almost as fit as rain water for the
purpose of manufacturing starch.
In some of the other colonies a great deal of the best starch is
produced by the holders of small lots of land, and many parts of the
labor being light, and suited for women and children, it is one of the
most desirable cultivations for small holders, and would be very
beneficial for Demerara, where the lands of the peasantry too
generally lie in a state of utter neglect; yet small holders could not
be expected to be able to compete with those who should grow starch on
the large scale, and prepare it with the best machinery.
_Cassava meal, plantain meal, &c., as articles of export_.--It may
soon become an important question whether the plantain, or some of the
edible roots grown in the tropics, might not be sent to Europe in a
fresh state as a substitute for the potato. Many of them, the buck yam
and the cassava, for instance, ought to be used when fresh dug, for
every day they are out of the ground they deteriorate. This, however,
is not so much the case with some of the larger yams. It is worth
trying whether the finer sorts that deteriorate by keeping, might not,
after being sliced and dried in the sun, become articles of export,
either in that state or when ground to meal. For this purpose the
bitter cassava, the plantain, and the buck yam are the most promising.
Of the bitter cassava mention has already been made as a substance
from which the starch and _casareep_ might be prepared. In this case,
however, the woody and cellular tissue, with the small quantity of
starch left in it by the ordinary starch process, would form far too
poor an article of diet to constitute part of the food of man. But the
roots might be used as a medium from which to prepare cassava meal,
_casareep_, and the very small quantity of starch which is expressed
along with the juice, leaving all the rest of the starch to form part
of the meal. It is of such meal that the cassava cakes of the Indians
are prepared; and although by no means so nutritive as Indian corn
meal[46], there can be little doubt that in the Scotch and Irish
markets the cassava meal would obtain a preference; and were it
exported in quantity it would probably come into extensive use among
all classes.
The process would be as follows:--After washing in a revolving
apparatus, by which means the adherent earth would be got quit of, and
almost the whole of the thin dark colored cuticle become detached, the
roots could be reduced to pulp in a rasping-mill, without the use of
water; the pulp might be compressed in bags by hydraulic pressure,
whereby the juice, together with a small portion of the starch, would
be expressed. After allowing the starch to subside, the juice should
be concentrated to about the density of 1.4. The starch would be
washed, purified, and dried. The contents of the bags would then be
broken up and dried in the sun or in a current of air, after which the
meal would be sifted through a coarse sieve to separate the coarser
parts, which, if their amount was considerable, could be ground and
added to the rest. In this state of rough meal it is fit for making
the cassava cakes. If ground to flour it might be used to mix with
wheat, rye, or barley flour.
The process is usually conducted as follows:--The squeezed pulp is
broken up, sifted, and exposed to the sun on trays or mats till it is
fully more than half dry. An iron hoop of the size and thickness of
the cake to be made is then laid on a griddle or hot plate, and the
space within the hoop is filled evenly with the somewhat moist meal,
no previous kneading or rolling having been employed. As soon as the
coarse meal coheres, the ring is lifted and the cake is turned and
heated on the opposite side. The heat should not be sufficient to
brown the cake. The cakes are finally dried by exposure to the sun.
From the dry cassava meal cakes may be prepared by sprinkling it with
as much cold water as to moisten it to the proper point, and then
proceeding as above. Hot water cannot be employed, neither can
kneading, or any considerable degree of compression be used, otherwise
the water does not evaporate readily enough; the starch gets too much
altered by the heat, and the cake becomes tough.
If an acre of well-tilled thorough-drained land yield 10 tons of fresh
roots, and I have every reason to believe that such a return might be
obtained, I have ascertained that the produce would be 3½ tons of
meal, 598 lbs. of _casareep_, and 2 cwt. of starch; and estimating the
meal at 1d. per lb., the _casareep_ at 1s. 5d. per lb., and the starch
at 40s. per cwt., the gross amount would be £78 13s. 4d. per acre. In
ascertaining these proportions, very simple machinery was employed,
and had the pulp been better pressed the quantity of _casareep_ would
have been considerably greater.
From the table given in a former note it will be seen that the cassava
meal prepared in this way contains but a very small proportion of
matter nutritive in the sense of contributing to the formation of
blood, and that the expressed juice carries off fully one-half of the
proteine compounds contained in the plant.
Lichenin is a variety of starch occurring in _Cetraria islandica_, or
Iceland moss.
_Indian corn starch_.--The advance of science has recently brought to
our knowledge the preparation and use of another article, not only
important as food, but also essential in the arts. I have had occasion
to mention the high value of the Indian corn, and I might with
advantage allude to many of its uses and properties; at present I must
confine my remarks to a product from this valuable grain, known as
corn starch, and yet another as the fecula of maize. In the close of
1849, Mr. Willard and his associates, of Auburn, established extensive
works at Oswego, for the preparation of these important products,
their establishment covering an area of 49,000 square feet. As the
proprietors have to some extent held unrevealed the process by which
they produce a starch more pure than the starch of commerce, we may
not indulge in speculative curiosity; yet I can hardly doubt their
great success is mainly attributable to perfect machinery, guided by
science and talent. The rapid and extended demand for these new
products presents sufficient evidence of their character, as we are
told that about three millions of pounds of this corn starch are
demanded annually by the trade, notwithstanding the usual supply of
wheat starch is undiminished. A remarkable feature of maize starch is
the absence of impurities; upon being subjected to analysis, it is
found that only 2 76-100 parts in 1000 are of other matter than pure
starch. According to Dr. Ure, wheat yields only 35 to 40 per cent, of
good starch, a material extensively used in arts and manufactures.
In addition to starch, the Oswego starch-factory produces from Indian
corn a fecula, peculiarly adapted to culinary purposes, presenting to
our domestic economy one of the most acceptable, pure, and nutritious
articles of food. Already has it become an indispensable household
article, and is consumed largely at home and abroad. The factory,
though in its infancy, consumes annually 150,000 bushels of corn,
equal to about nine millions of pounds in weight. Hitherto the
quantities of starch used for laundry purposes and in the
manufactories of America, have been produced from costly wheats,
though it may be found in many vegetable substances, such as potatoes,
the horse chesnut and other seeds. In England, where breadstuffs,
particularly wheat, have been raised in quantities inadequate to the
demand for food, attempts have been made to convert the viscid matter
of lichens into a gum, for the use of calico printers, paper-makers,
and ink makers; for the stiffening of silks, crapes, and the endless
variety of dry goods, which, by means of these gums or starch, are
made to appear of greater consistency. Most of these attempts had
partial success, yet the making of starch from wheat has not been
arrested.
The Oswego starch factory has happily introduced the use of Indian
corn, as a grain producing a larger proportion of pure amylaceous
properties than any other known vegetable substance, proffering to the
American manufacturer another economic advantage, sustaining, in a
most legitimate matter, sound rivalry and competition with all the
world. I am not aware whether the Oswego factory has converted its
starch into gum--a process easily accomplished by heat, and thus
rendered soluble in cold water, which cannot be done while in its
condition of starch. Here is another result of vast importance
derivable from Indian corn; and we can well conceive that, in a short
period of time, the advantages now derived from the production of corn
starch, may have grown into a national benefit.
Rice (according to Prof. Solly) contains on an average about 84 per
cent of starch; but till comparatively a few years ago, no starch was
manufactured from it, notwithstanding its low price, and the large
quantity of starch which exists in it. The reason of this was, that
the old process of fermentation, by means of which starch is procured
from grain, was not found to be applicable to rice; and hence the
latter only became available as a source of starch in 1840, when Mr.
Orlando Jones introduced his new process, for which he obtained a
patent. This process consisted in macerating the rice for about 20
hours in a dilute solution of caustic potash, containing about 200
grains of the alkali in every gallon; the liquor is then drawn off,
the rice dried, reduced to powder by grinding, then a second time
digested in a similar alkaline lye for 24 hours, repeatedly agitated.
After this it is allowed to settle, and well washed with pure cold
water. A prize medal was awarded for this rice starch at the Great
Exhibition.
Mr. S. Berger, of Bromley, also received a prize medal. He adopts a
different mode of preparation. In place of employing a dilute solution
of caustic potash to dissolve the gluten and other insoluble matters
of the grain, Mr. Berger uses a solution of carbonate of soda,
containing half a pound to the gallon. The rice is steeped, in cold
water for 48 hours, levigated in a suitable mill, and the pulp thus
formed is treated with the solution of carbonate of soda for 60 or 70
hours, being repeatedly stirred; it is then allowed to settle for some
hours, the alkaline liquor is drawn off, and the starch is washed and
purified. This process was patented by Mr. Berger, in December, 1841.
A third process was patented in February, 1842, by Mr. J. Colman; he
uses dilute muriatic acid for the same purpose as Messrs Jones and
Berger.
ARROWROOT, EAST AND WEST INDIAN.
The genuine arrowroot of commerce is the produce of the tuberous
rhizomata of _Maranta arundinacea_, a native of South America, and _M.
indica_, indigenous to the West Indies, but also cultivated in the
East. The best West Indian arrowroot comes from Bermuda. Its globules
are much smaller and less glistening than those of _Tous-les-mois_, or
potato starch.
The peculiar characteristics of the starch obtained from various
plants has been particularised and described already in the elaborate
investigation of the commercial yield and value of the
starch-producing plants. Amylaceous matter of a similar kind to
arrowroot is obtained from other species of Maranta, as from some
species of _Canna_, well known under the popular name of Indian shot,
from the similarity of their round black seeds.
The arrowroot plant (_M. arundinacea_) is a perennial, its root is
fleshy and creeping, and very full of knots and numerous long white
fibres. Arising from the root are many leaves, spear-shaped, smooth on
the upper surface and hairy beneath. The length of the leaf is about
six or seven inches, and the breadth about three towards their base,
the color and consistence resembling those of the seed. From the root
arise slender petioles upon which the leaves stand, and several
herbaceous erect stalks come out between them, rising to the height of
about two feet. A loose bunch of small white flowers is succeeded by
three-cornered capsules, each containing one hard rough seed.
The propagation and culture of this plant are of the simplest kinds.
The roots should be parted, and the most suitable soil is a rich loam.
In the Bermudas, a deep rich soil, or one in which marsh or peat
prevail, is alone adapted for growing arrowroot in perfection.
A correspondent from the Bermudas, (where arrowroot forms the great
staple crop of the islands), informs me that he ploughed up a small
piece of land, twenty rods (or the eighth part of an acre), with a
small plough and one horse. He ploughed it over three times, and the
third time planted the arrowroot as he ploughed it. The land had not
been turned up before for twenty years.
The expenses and profits stand thus:--
EXPENSE.
£. s. d.
To the ploughman, harrowing and planting the
arrowroot 1 0 0
Arrowroot plants 16 0
Digging it up £1 0 0
Deduct half, as the land was planted for the next
year 0 10 0 0 10 0
Balance carried down, being net profit 5 14 0
--------
8 0 0
PRODUCE.
By 2,000 lbs. of root at 8s. per 100 lbs. 8 0 0
By balance brought down as net profit 5 14 0
The above £5 14s. clear profit on the 20 rods, is at the rate of £45
12s. profit for one acre. Now, if a small cultivator were to plant
three or four acres, and get only one-half of the above profit, it
would give a good return, and would be well worth the trial.
Arrowroot requires a good rich red soil, of which there is still much
lying waste. The best time for planting it is in April, but it can be
planted in March, or indeed at any time after the first of the year,
till May: though if taken up and planted before Christmas, you may
depend it will not come to any perfection. Arrowroot can be planted in
many ways; either in holes made with a hoe, ploughed under, or in
drills like Irish potatoes. Now the way I prefer is to prepare the
land, then strike the line at two feet apart, and make holes with a
pointed stick or dibble six inches apart, putting in each hole one
strong plant or two small ones, then cover them up. This is more
trouble than the old way, but it gives an excellent crop. It can also
be planted like Irish potatoes in drills, two feet apart in the rows,
and six inches between the plants. It should be hand-weeded in the
spring, because if it is hoed, most likely you will cut some of it off
which may be springing under ground, and it will never come up so
strong again. Arrowroot requires very strong ground and plenty of
manure. Farm yard manure is the best; next to that green seaweed
dripping with salt water--this is an excellent manure, and should be
dug in the ground as the arrowroot is taken up. I have no doubt that
it would be of great advantage to the planter, if he were to put a
cask in a cart, fill it with salt water, and put it on the land a few
weeks before it is planted. Some people say that arrowroot does not
pay so well, because it has to stay in the ground a whole year; but
then if you have onions you can plant them over it, and so obtain a
crop which will pay much better than the arrowroot itself. If you have
a large piece of arrowroot ground, take up one half early, and plant
it out with Irish potatoes; then take up the other half later, and
with the plants set out your potato ground, that is if you have taken
up your potatoes; if not, plant the arrowroot between the rows, in
holes; so that when you take up the potatoes, you clean the arrowroot
and loosen the ground, which will give a good crop; or you can plant
Indian corn very thin over the arrowroot ground (if you have nothing
else), but be sure to cut it up before it ripens corn, or it will
injure your arrowroot crop; or you may plant a few melon seeds over
it, and you will have a fine crop of fruit.
In 1845 I planted, in the months of January and February, a quarter of
an acre of good land, in arrowroot and onions.
The expense and profit stand as follow.--
EXPENSE
£. s. d.
To digging the ground 1 0 0
Planting arrowroot 0 6 0
Twelve load of seaweed, at 1s. 0 12 0
Rotten manure for onions, 10 loads, at 2s. 1 0 0
One bottle onion seed 0 16 0
Sowing onion seed and keeping the plants clean 0 10 0
Planting out onions 1 0 0
Cleaning onions after set out 0 15 0
Tops and making basket 1 8 0
Pulling, cutting, and basketing 0 18 0
Carting and shipping 0 8 0
Digging arrowroot 2 0 0
--------
10 13 0
Clear profit on quarter acre 22 13 9
--------
33 6 9
PRODUCE
By onions sold 20 16 0
By arrowroot 12 10 9
--------
33 6 9
This is at the rate of £90 15s. clear profit per acre, which is more
than double the worth of the land. I have not named the arrowroot
plants, because I have planted my land with them again, but they might
be fairly put to the credit of the account. The above statement shows
what may be done with good land and good management; but even if a man
can only clear £10 on an acre of land, he ought not to grumble.
Dr. Ure gives a most interesting and lucid account of the mode of
manufacture in the island of St. Vincent, where the plant is now
cultivated with great success, and the root manufactured in a superior
manner.
It grows there to the height of about three feet, and it sends down
its tap root from twelve to eighteen inches into the ground. Its
maturity is known by the flagging and falling down of the leaves, an
event which takes place when the plant is from ten to twelve months'
old. The roots being dug up with the hoe, are transported to the
washing-house, where they are thoroughly freed from all adhering
earth, and next taken individually into the hand and deprived, by a
knife, of every portion of their skins, while every unsound part is
cut away. This process must be performed with great nicety, for the
cuticle contains a resinous matter, which imparts color and a
disagreeable flavor to the fecula, which no subsequent treatment can
remove. The skinned roots are thrown into a large cistern, with a
perforated bottom, and there exposed to the action of a copious
cascade of pure water, till this runs off quite unaltered. The
cleansed roots are next put into the hopper of a mill, and are
subjected to the powerful pressure of two pairs of polished rollers of
hard brass; the lower pair of rollers being set much closer together
than the upper. The starchy matter is thus ground into a pulp, which
falls into the receiver placed beneath, and is thence transferred to
large fixed copper cylinders, tinned inside, and perforated at the
bottom with numerous minute orifices, like a kitchen drainer. Within
these cylinders, wooden paddles are made to revolve with great
velocity, by the power of a water-wheel, at the same time that a
stream of pure water is admitted from above. The paddle-arms beat out
the fecula from the fibres and parenchyma of the pulp, and discharge
it in the form of a milk through the perforated bottom of the
cylinder. This starchy water runs along pipes, and then through
strainers of fine muslin into large reservoirs, where, after the
fecula has subsided, the supernatant water is drawn off, and fresh
water being let on, the whole is agitated and left again to repose.
This process of ablution is repeated till the water no longer acquires
anything from the fecula. Finally, all the deposits of fecula of the
day's work are collected into one cistern, and being covered and
agitated with a fresh change of water, are allowed to settle till next
morning. The water being now let off, the deposit is skimmed with
palette knives of German silver, to remove any of the superficial
parts, in the slightest degree colored; and only the lower, purer, and
denser portion is prepared by drying for the market.
On the Hopewell estate, in St. Vincent, where the chief improvements
have been carried out, the drying-house is constructed like the
hot-house of an English garden. But instead of plants it contains
about four dozen of drying pans, made of copper, 7½ feet by 4½ feet,
and tinned inside. Each pan is supported on a carriage having iron
axles, with _lignum vitæ_ wheels, like those of a railway carriage,
and they run on rails. Immediately after sunrise, these carriages,
with their pans, covered with white gauze to exclude dust and insects,
are run out into the open air, but if rain be apprehended they are run
back under the glazed roof. In about four days the fecula is
thoroughly dry and ready to be packed, with German silver shovels,
into tins or American flour barrels, lined with paper, attached with
arrowroot paste. The packages are never sent to this country in the
hold of the ship, as their contents are easily tainted by noisome
effluvia, of sugar, &c.
Arrowroot is much more nourishing than the starch of wheat or
potatoes, and the flavor is purer. The fresh, root consists, according
to Benzon, of 0.07 of volatile oil; 26 of starch (23 of which are
obtained in the form of powder, while the other 3 must be extracted
from the parenchyma in a paste, by boiling water); 1.48 of vegetable
albumen; 0.6 of a gummy extract; 0.25 of chloride of calcium; 6 of
insoluble fibrine; and 65.6 of water.
Arrowroot is often adulterated in this country with potato flour and
other ingredients.
Dr. Lankester asserts that the value of arrowroot starch, as an
article of diet, is not greater than that of potato starch, and that
the yield of starch is not greater from the arrowroot than from
potatoes; but this I must decidedly deny. Chemical analysis and
experience are proofs to the contrary.
The analogy arrowroot has to potato starch, has induced many persons
to adulterate the former substance with it; and not only has this been
done, but I have known instances in which potato starch alone has been
sold for the genuine foreign article. There is no harm in this, to a
certain extent; but it certainly is a very great fraud upon the public
(and one for which the perpetrators ought to be most severely
punished), to sell so cheap an article at the same price as one which
is comparatively costly. There is, moreover, in potato starch, a
peculiar taste, bringing to mind that of raw potatoes, from which the
genuine arrowroot is entirely free. This fraud, however, can be
readily detected; arrowroot is not quite so white as potato starch,
and its grains are smaller, and have a pearly and very brilliant
lustre; and further, it always contains peculiar clotted masses, more
or less large, which have been formed by the adhesion of a multitude
of grains during the drying. These masses crush very readily when
pressed between the fingers, and as before stated, arrowroot is free
from that peculiar odor due to potato starch. This may be most readily
developed by mixing the suspected sample with hot water; if it be
genuine arrowroot, the mixture is inodorous, if potato starch, the
smell of raw potatoes is immediately developed. If a mixture of
arrowroot and potato starch be minutely observed by means of a good
microscope, the grains of arrowroot may be readily detected; they are
very small and exceedingly regular in shape, whilst those of potato
starch are much larger, and very irregular in shape. But the most
convenient and delicate test of all, is that proposed by Dr.
Scharling, of Copenhagen. After mentioning the test by the microscope,
he goes on to state that he has obtained more favorable results by
employing diluted nitric acid; and that, if arrowroot or potato starch
be mixed with about two parts of concentrated nitric acid, both will
immediately assume a tough gelatinous state. This mass, when potato
starch is employed, is almost transparent, and when arrowroot is used,
is nearly opaque, as in the case above mentioned, in which
hydrochloric acid is substituted. A mixture of nitric acid and water,
however, operates very differently on these two kinds of starch. The
glutinous mass yielded by the potato starch, becomes in a very brief
period so tough that the pestle employed for stirring the mixture is
sufficiently agglutinated to the mortar, that the latter may be lifted
from the table by its means. Arrowroot, on the other hand, requires
from twenty-five to thirty minutes to acquire a like tenacity.
The _Lancet_ recently stated that, on a microscopical analysis of 50
samples of arrowroot, purchased indiscriminately of various London
tradesmen, 22 were found to be adulterated. In 16 cases this
adulteration consisted in the addition of a single inferior product
much cheaper in price, such as potato flour, sago meal, or tapioca
starch, while in other instances there was a combination of these
articles, potato flour being usually preponderant. Ten of the mixtures
contained scarcely a particle of the genuine Maranta or West India
arrowroot, for which they were sold. One consisted almost wholly of
sago meal; two of potato flour and sago meal; two of potato flour,
sago meal, and tapioca starch; one of tapioca starch; and four of
potato arrowroot, or starch entirely. The worst specimens were those
which were done up in canisters especially marked as "Genuine West
India arrowroot," or as being "warranted free from adulteration;" and
one, which contained a considerable quantity of potato flour, was
particularly recommended to invalids, and certified as the finest
quality ever imported into this country. The profits to the vendors of
the inferior compounds are to be estimated from the fact that the
price of sago meal and potato starch is about 4d. per lb., while the
genuine Maranta arrowroot is from 1s. to 3s. 6d. per lb.
The arrowroot of Bermuda has long borne a high reputation, being
manufactured on a better principle and being therefore of superior
quality to that produced in Antigua, St. Vincent, and other West
Indian islands. The process is tedious and requires a good deal of
labor. There is no doubt, however, that the quality of the water has a
great deal of influence on the fecula. Bermuda arrowroot is
necessarily made from rain water collected in tanks or reservoirs, and
the lime and the deposit from houses, &c., may alter its properties.
After the root is taken from the ground it is placed in a mill, and is
thereby cleansed of its exterior excrescences; it is then thoroughly
washed, when it is ready for the large machine, the principle of which
is similar to the "treadmill." A horse is placed on something like a
platform, and as he prances up and down, the machinery is set in play.
A person stands at the end, and places the root in the wheel of the
machine, which, after being ground, falls into a trough of water.
After going through this process, it is rewashed and then placed in
vessels to dry in the sun. It is packed in boxes lined with blue paper
or tin, and sent to the markets in England and America, where it
generally meets with ready sale.
At a meeting of the Agricultural Society of Bermuda, held in May,
1840, Mr. W.M. Cox submitted a new arrowroot strainer which he had
invented. It consists of two cloth strainers fixed to hoops from 15 to
20 inches in diameter. The strainers working one within the other, are
kept in motion by a lever, moved by hand. The whole apparatus is not
an expensive one, and is well adapted for aiding the manufacture of
arrowroot upon an expeditious and economical plan.
A simple method by which starch may be extracted from the fecula with
much purity consists in enclosing the flour in a muslin bag and
squeezing it with the fingers while submerged in clean water, by which
process the starch passes out in a state of white powder and subsides.
Two essential constituents of flour are thus separated from each
other; a viscid substance remains in the bag, which is called gluten,
and the white powder deposited is starch.
The principal quarters from whence the supply is derived, are the
Bermudas, St. Vincent, Barbados and Grenada, in the West Indies;
Ceylon, and some other parts of the East--and a few of our settlements
on the West coast of Africa. The annual imports for home consumption
average 500 tons.
The cultivation of arrowroot for the production of starch in St.
Vincent has increased enormously of late years. In 1835, the island
produced 41,397 lbs.; in 1845 it exported 828,842 lbs. The exports to
15th June, 1851, were, 2,934 barrels, 2,083 half barrels, 5,610 tins.
The culture is year by year extending, and as, unlike that of the
sugar cane, it may be carried on on a small scale with very little
outlay of capital, we may reasonably anticipate a still further
progressive extension for some years to come. Arrowroot, when once
established in virgin soil, produces several crops with very little
culture. In the first half of 1851, 25,027 lbs. were shipped from
Montego Bay, Jamaica. The quantity of arrowroot on which duty of 1s.
per cwt. was paid in the six years ending 1840, was as follows:--
Cwts.
1835 3,581
1836 3,280
1837 2,858
1838 2,538
1839 2,264
1840 2,124
The imports in the last few years have been in
Cwt.
1847 8,040
1848 10,580
1849 9,252
1850 15,980
1851
About 500 cwt. are re-exported.
East India arrowroot is procured in part from _Curcuma angustifolia_,
known locally as Tikoor in the East, and a similar kind of starch is
yielded by _C. Zerumbet_, _C. rubescens_, _C. leucorhiza_, and
_Alpinia Galanga_, the Galangale root of commerce. _C. angustifolia_
grows abundantly on the Malabar coast, and is cultivated about the
districts of Patna, Sagur and the south-west frontier, Mysore,
Vizigapatam, and Canjam, Cochin and Tellicherry. It was discovered but
a few years ago growing wild in the forests extending from the banks
of the Sona to Nugpore.
The particles of East India arrowroot are very unequal in size, but on
the average are larger than those of West India arrowroot.
Dr. Taylor, in his Topography of Dacca, speaks of fecula or starch
being obtained from the Egyptian lotus (_Nymphæa lotus_), which is
used by the native practitioners as a substitute for arrowroot.
Chinese arrowroot is said to be made from the root of _Nelumbium
speciosum_.
The original Indian arrowroot is extracted at Travancore, according to
Ainslie, from the root of the _Curcuma angustifolia_. It is easily
distinguished by its form, which is sometimes ovoid, sometimes
elongated, of considerable size, rounded at one of the extremities,
and terminating in a point at the other, often resembling a grain of
rice.
The manufacture of arrowroot on the southern borders of the
Everglades, at Key West, Florida, bids fair to become as extensive and
as profitable as at Bermuda, whence, at present, we receive the bulk
of our supplies. The wild root, which the Indians call Compti, grows
spontaneously over an immense area of otherwise barren land. It is
easily gathered, and is first peeled in large hoppers ingeniously
contrived, and thrown into a cylinder and ground into an impalpable
pulp. It is then washed and dried in the sun, baked and broken into
small lumps, when it is ready for the market. The article is
extensively used in the Eastern woollen and cotton establishments, as
well as for family use. Arrowroot is cultivated in the interior of
East Florida with great success. It is also cultivated to a
considerable extent in Georgia, and is, I understand, a profitable
crop.
The following is the process of manufacture:--The roots, when a year
old, are dug up, and beaten in deep wooden mortars to a pulp; which is
then put into a tub of clean water, well washed, and the fibrous part
thrown away. The milky liquor being passed through a sieve or coarse
cloth, is suffered to settle, and the clean water is drawn off; at the
bottom of the vessel is a white mass, which is again mixed with clean
water, and drained; lastly the mass is dried in the sun, and is pure
starch. Arrowroot can be kept without spoiling for a very long time.
A considerable quantity of arrowroot is now produced in the Sandwich
Islands. In 1841 arrowroot to the value of 3,320 dolls. was shipped,
and in 1843, 35,140 lbs., valued at £1,405, was exported, principally
to Tepic and San Blas, where it is used as starch for linen.
A kind of arrowroot of very good quality was sent to the Great
Exhibition of 1851, by Sir R. Schomburgk, which is obtained in St.
Domingo from the stems of a species of Zamia, called there Guanjiga;
and the _Zamia Australis_, of Western Australia, yields even better
fecula. The taste was unpleasant and salt, as if it had been immersed
in lime. The other starch, from the Western Australian Zamia, in
quality rivalled arrowroot. This fecula hangs together in chains,
quite unlike the ordinary appearance of arrowroot when seen under the
microscope.
The following figures show the exports of arrowroot from Bermuda:--
lbs. Value of the exports.
1830 18,174 --
1831 77,153 --
1832 34,833 --
1833 44,651 --
1834 54,471 --
1835 65,500 --
1836 -- --
1841 91,230 --
1842 136,610 --
1843 151,757 £8,682
1844 173,275 10,974
1845 224,480 8,084
1847 -- 4,716
1848 -- 4,747
1849 -- 6,760
1850 854,329 --
In the spring of 1851, 201,130 lbs. were shipped from Bermuda.
In 1843 the quantity of arrowroot in the rough state made in Bermuda
was 1,110,500 lbs.
ARROWROOT EXPORTED FROM ANTIGUA TO
Great Britain B.N. America B.W. Indies
Boxes Boxes Boxes
1835 1,075 20 --
1836 581 43 --
1837 100 42 --
1838 472 20 --
1839 682 -- 32
1840 453 -- 30
1841 289 -- 10
1842 582 -- --
1843 744 -- --
1844 376 -- --
1845 402 5 --
Barbados exported in 1832, 16,814 lbs., value £469; in 1840, 387
packages; in 1843, 302; in 1844, 790 packages; in 1851, 306 packages;
these average about 30 lbs. each.
Ceylon now produces excellent arrowroot. In 1842, 150 boxes were
exported; in 1843, 200; in 1844, 300; in 1845, 600 boxes.
From Africa we now import a large quantity: 250 boxes were received in
1846. Not unfrequently arrowroot from Africa has been sent to the West
Indies in the ships with the liberated Africans, and thence
re-exported to England, as of St. Vincent or Bermuda growth. The duty
on arrowroot, under the new tariff, is equalised on all kinds to 4½d.
per lb.
The imports and home consumption of arrowroot have increased very
largely, as may be seen from the following figures:--
Retained for home
Imports consumption
lbs. lbs.
1826 318,830 358,007
1830 449,723 516,587
1834 837,811 735,190
1835 287,966 895,406
1838 404,738 434,574
1839 303,489 224,792
1840 408,469 330,490
1841 -- 454,893
1842 890,736 846,832
1846 905,072 981,120
1847 1,185,968 1,211,168
1848 906,304 933,744
1849 1,036,185 1,032,992
1850 1,789,774 1,414,669
1851 2,083,681 1,848,778
1852 2,139,390 2,024,316
SALEP is the prepared and dried roots of several orchideous plants,
and is sometimes sold in the state of powder. Indigenous salep is
procured, according to Dr. Perceval from _Orchis mascula_, _O.
latifolia_, _O. morio_, and other native plants of this order. On the
continent it is obtained from _O. papilionaceo_, and _militaris_.
Oriental salep is procured from other orchideoe. Professor Royle states
that the salep of Kashmir is obtained from a species of Eulophia,
probably _E. virens_. Salep is also obtained from the tuberous roots
of _Tacca pinnatifida_, and other species of the same genus, which are
principally natives of the East Indies and the South Sea Islands.
The large fleshy tubers of tacca, when scraped and frequently washed,
yield a nutritious fecula resembling arrowroot.
Salep consists chiefly of bassorin, some soluble gum, and a little
starch. It forms an article of diet fitted for convalescents when
boiled with water or milk. The price of salep is about eight guineas
per cwt. in the London market. A little is exported from
Constantinople, as I noticed a shipment of 66 casks in 1842; excellent
specimens from this quarter were shown in the Egyptian department of
the Great Exhibition in 1851. It was formerly a great deal used, but
has latterly been much superseded by other articles.
Major D. Williams ("Journal of the Agri. and Hort. Soc. of India,"
vol. iv., part I), states that the tacca plant abounds in certain
parts of the province of Arracan, where the Mugs prepare the farina
for export to the China market.
After removing the peel, the root is grated on a fish-skin, and the
pulp having been strained through a coarse cloth, is washed three or
four times in water, and then dried in the sun.
According to a recent examination of the plant by Mr. Nuttall
("American Journal of Pharmacy," vol. ix., p. 305), the Otaheite salep
is obtained from a new species of tacca, which he names _T. oceanica_.
For many years we have obtained from Tahiti, and other islands of the
South Seas, this fecula, known by the name of Tahiti arrowroot,
probably the produce of _Tacca pinnatifida_. It is generally
spherical, but also often ovoid, elliptic, or rounded, with a
prolongation in the form of a neck, suddenly terminated by a plane.
The tacca plant grows at Zanzibar, and is found naturalised on the
high islands of the Pacific. The art of preparing arrowroot from it is
aboriginal with the Polynesians and Feejeeans.
At Tahiti the fecula is procured by washing the tubers, scraping off
their outer skin, and then reducing them to a pulp by friction, on a
kind of rasp, made by winding coarse twine (formed of the coco-nut
fibre) regularly round a board. The pulp is washed with sea water
through a sieve, made of the fibrous web which protects the young
frond of the coco-nut palm. The strained liquor is received in a
wooden trough, in which the fecula is deposited; and the supernatant
liquor being poured off, the sediment is formed into balls, which are
dried in the sun for twelve or twenty-four hours, then broken and
reduced to powder, which is spread out in the sun further to dry. In
some parts of the world cakes of a large size are made of the meal,
which form an article of diet in China, Cochin-Caina, Travancore, &c.,
where they are eaten by the natives with some acid to subdue their
acrimony.
Some twenty varieties of the Ti plant (_Diacaena terminalis_) are
cultivated in the Polynesian islands. There is, however, but one which
is considered farinaceous and edible. In Java the root is considered a
valuable medicine in dysentery.
Within the last three or four years, considerable quantities of a
feculent substance, called Tous les mois, have been imported from the
West Indies. It is cultivated in Barbados, St. Kitts, and the French
islands, and is said to be prepared by a tedious and troublesome
process from the rhizomes of various species of _Canna Coccinea_,
_Achiras_, _glauca_, and _edulis_. It approaches more nearly to potato
starch than to any other fecula, but its particles are larger. Like
the other amylaceous substances, it forms a valuable and nutritious
article of food for the invalid.
The large tuberous roots of the Canna are equal in size to the human
head. The plant attains in rich soils a stature of fourteen feet, and
is identical, it is supposed, with the Achira of Choco, which has an
esculent root highly esteemed; and my friend, Dr. Hamilton, of
Plymouth, has named it provisionally, in consequence, _Canna achira_.
The starch of this root, he asserts, is superior to that of the
_Maranta_.
ROOT CROPS.
Amongst tuberous rooted plants, which serve as food for man in various
quarters of the globe, the principal are the common potato, yam,
cocoes or eddoes, sweet potatoes, taro, tacca, arrowroot, cassava, or
manioc, and the Apios (_Arracacha esculenta_). There are others of
less importance, which may be incidentally mentioned. The roots of
_Tropæolum tuberosum_ are eaten in Peru, those of _Ocymum tuberosum_
in Java. In Kamschatka they use the root of the _Lilium Pomponium_ as
a substitute for the potato. In Brazil the _Helianthus tuberosus_. The
rhizomæ and seed vessels of the Lotus form the principal food of the
aborigines of Australia. As a matter of curious information, I have
also briefly alluded to many other plants and roots, furnishing
farinaceous substance and support in different countries.
The comparative amount of human food that can be produced upon an acre
from different crops, is worthy of great consideration. One hundred
bushels of Indian corn per acre is not an uncommon crop. One peck per
week will not only sustain life, but give a man strength to labor, if
the stomach is properly toned to the amount of food. This, then, would
feed one man 400 weeks, or almost eight years! 400 bushels of potatoes
can also be raised upon an acre. This would give a bushel a week for
the same length of time; and the actual weight of an acre of sweet
potatoes (_Convolvulus batatas_) is 21,344 lbs., which is not
considered an extraordinary crop. This would feed a man (six pounds a
day) for 3,557 days, or nine and two-third years!
To vary the diet we will occasionally give rice, which has been grown
at the rate of 93 bushels to the acre, over an entire field. This, at
45 lbs. to the bushel, would be 4,185 lbs.; or, at 28 lbs. to the
bushel when husked, 2,604 lbs., which, at two pounds a day, would feed
a man 1,302 days, or more than three-and-a-half years!
POTATOES.
The common English or Irish potato (_Solanum tuberosum_), so
extensively cultivated throughout most of the temperate countries of
the civilised globe, contributing as it does to the necessities of a
large portion of the human race, as well as to the nourishment and
fattening of stock, is regarded as of but little less importance in
our national economy than wheat or other grain. It has been found in
an indigenous state in Chili, on the mountains near Valparaiso and
Mendoza; also near Monte Video, Lima, Quito, as well as in Santa Fe de
Bogota, and more recently in Mexico, on the flanks of Orizaba.
The history of this plant, in connection with that of the sweet
potato, is involved in obscurity, as the accounts of their
introduction into Europe are somewhat conflicting, and often they
appear to be confounded with one another. The common kind was
doubtless introduced into Spain in the early part of the sixteenth
century, from the neighbourhood of Quito, where, as well as in all
Spanish countries, the tubers are known as papas. The first published
account of it we find on record is in "_La Cronica del Peru_," by
Pedro de Cieca, printed at Seville, in 1553, in which it is described
and illustrated by an engraving. From Spain it appears to have found
its way into Italy, where it assumed the same name as the truffle. It
was received by Clusius, at Vienna, in 1598, in whose time it spread
rapidly in the South of Europe, and even into Germany. It is said to
have found its way to England by a different route, having been
brought from Virginia by Raleigh colonists, in 1586, which would seem
improbable, as it was unknown in North America at that time, either
wild or cultivated; and besides, Gough, in his edition of Camden's
"Britannia," says it was first planted by Sir Walter Raleigh, on his
estate at Youghal, near Cork, and that it was cultivated in Ireland
before its value was known in England. Gerarde, in his "Herbal,"
published in 1597, gives a figure of this plant, under the name of
_Batata Virginiana_, to distinguish it from the _Batata edulis_, and
recommends the root to be eaten as a "delicate dish," but not as a
common food. "The sweet potato," says Sir Joseph Banks, "was used in
England as a delicacy, long before the introduction of our potatoes.
It was imported in considerable quantities from Spain and the
Canaries, and was supposed to possess the power of restoring decayed
vigor." It is related that the common potato was accidentally
introduced into England from Ireland, at a period somewhat earlier
than that noticed by Gerarde, in consequence of the wreck of a vessel
on the coast of Lancashire, which had a quantity on board. In 1663 the
Royal Society of England took measures for the cultivation of this
vegetable, with the view of preventing famine.
Notwithstanding its utility as a food became better known, no high
character was attached to it; and the writers on gardening towards the
end of the seventeenth century, a hundred years or more after its
introduction, treated of it rather indifferently. "They are much used
in Ireland and America as bread," says one author, "and may be
propagated with advantage to poor people."
The famous nurserymen, Loudon and Wise, did not consider it worthy of
notice in their "Complete Gardener," published in 1719. But its use
gradually spread as its excellencies became better understood. It was
near the middle of the last century before it was generally known
either in Britain or North America, since which it has been most
extensively cultivated.
The period of the introduction of the common potato into the British
North American colonies, is not precisely known. It is mentioned among
the products of Carolina and Virginia in 1749, and by Kalm as growing
in New York the same year.
The culture of this root extends through the whole of Europe, a large
portion of Asia, Australia, the southern and northern parts of Africa,
and the adjacent islands. On the American continent, with the
exception of some sections of the torrid zone, the culture ranges from
Labrador on the east, and Nootka Sound on the west, to Cape Horn. It
resists more effectually than the cereals the frosts of the north. In
the North American Union it is principally confined to the Northern,
Middle, and Western States, where, from the coolness of the climate it
acquires a farinaceous consistence highly conducive to the support of
animal life. It has never been extensively cultivated in Florida,
Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, probably from the greater
facility of raising the sweet potato, its more tropical rival. Its
perfection, however, depends as much upon the soil as on the climate
in which it grows; for in the red loam, on the banks of Bayou Boeuf, in
Louisiana, where the land is new, it is said that tubers are produced
as large, savory, and as free from water as any raised in other parts
of the world. The same may be said of those grown at Bermuda, Madeira,
the Canaries, and numerous other ocean isles.
The chief varieties cultivated in the Northern States of America are
the carter, the kidneys, the pink-eyes, the mercer, the orange, the
Sault Ste. Marie, the merino, and Western red; in the Middle and
Western States, the mercer, the long red, or merino, the orange, and
the Western red. The yield varies from 50 to 400 bushels and upwards
per acre, but generally it is below 200 bushels.
Within the last ten years an alarming disease, or "rot," has attacked
the tubers of this plant, about the time they are fully grown. It has
not only appeared in nearly every part of America, but has spread
dismay, at times, throughout Great Britain and Ireland, and has been
felt more or less seriously in every quarter of the globe.
To the greater uncertainty attending its cultivation of late years,
must be attributed the deficiency of the United States crop of 1849,
as compared with that of 1839. This is one of the four agricultural
products which, by the last census, appears smaller than ten years
since.--("American Census Reports for 1850.")
The crops in Ireland, where the potato is the principal object of
culture, vary from 1½ to 10½ tons per acre, according to the season;
but in the average of three years ending 1849, the annual growth of
Great Britain and Ireland amounted to nine million tons, which, at £3
per ton, exhibits the value at £27,000,000 sterling. Ireland produced
in 1847 a little over two million tons, the yield being 7¼ tons per
acre. In 1848 the produce was 2,880,814 tons, averaging only four tons
to the acre. In 1849, 4,014,122 tons, averaging 5½ tons to the acre.
In 1850, 3,954,990 tons; and in 1851, 4,441,022 tons; the average
yield per acre not stated. In many parts of Scotland 24 tons to the
acre are raised. The sales of potatoes in the principal metropolitan
markets exceed 140,000 tons a year, which are irrespective of the
sales which take place at railway stations, wharfs, shops, &c. The
imports into the United Kingdom average about 70,000 tons annually.
Potatoes are exported to the West Indies, Mediterranean, and other
quarters. For emigrant ships, preserved or dried potato flour is now
much used.
The following quantities of potato flour were imported from France in
the last few years:--
Cwts.
1848 17,222
1849 3,858
1850 12,591
1851 2,631
We also imported the following quantities of potatoes in the last
five years:--
Cwts.
1848 940,697
1849 1,417,867
1850 1,348,867
1851 636,771
1852 773,658
Thoroughly dried potatoes will always produce a crop free from
disease. Such is the positive assertion of Mr. Bollman, one of the
professors in the Russian Agricultural Institution, at Gorigoretsky.
In a very interesting pamphlet[47] by this gentleman, it is asserted,
as an unquestionable fact, that mere drying, if conducted at a
sufficiently high temperature, and continued long enough, is a
complete antidote to the disease.
The account given by Professor Bollman of the accident which led to
this discovery is as follows:--He had contrived a potato-setter, which
had the bad quality of destroying any sprouts that might be "on the
sets, and even of tearing away the rind. To harden the potatoes so as
to protect them against this accident, he resolved to dry them. In the
spring of 1850, he placed a lot in a very hot room, and at the end of
three weeks they were dry enough to plant. The potatoes came up well,
and produced as good a crop as that of the neighbouring farmers, with
this difference only, that they had no disease, and the crop was,
therefore, upon the whole, more abundant. Professor Bollman tells us
that he regarded this as a mere accident; he, however, again dried his
seed potatoes in 1851, and again his crop was abundant and free from
disease, while everywhere on the surrounding land they were much
affected. This was too remarkable a circumstance not to excite
attention, and in 1852 a third trial took place. All Mr. Bollman's own
stock of potatoes being exhausted, he was obliged to purchase his
seed, which bore unmistakable marks of having formed part of a crop
that had been severely diseased; some, in fact, were quite rotten.
After keeping them about a month in a hot room, as before, he cut the
largest potatoes into quarters, and the smaller into halves, and left
them to dry for another week. Accidentally the drying was carried so
far that apprehensions were entertained of a very bad crop, if any.
Contrary to expectation, however, the sets pushed promptly, and grew
so fast that excellent young potatoes were dug three weeks earlier
than usual. Eventually nine times the quantity planted was produced,
and although the neighbouring fields were attacked, no trace of
disease could be found on either the herbage or the potatoes
themselves.
This singular result, obtained in three successive years, led to
inquiry as to whether any similar cases were on record. In the course
of the investigation two other facts were elicited. It was discovered
that Mr. Losovsky (living in the government of Witebsk, in the
district of Sebege), had for four years adopted the plan of drying his
seed potatoes, and that during that time there had been no disease on
his estate. It was again an accident which led to the practice of this
gentleman. Five years ago, while his potatoes were digging, he put one
in his pocket, and on returning home threw it on the stove (poele),
where it remained forgotten till the spring. Having then chanced to
observe it, he had the curiosity to plant it, all dried up as it was,
and obtained an abundant, healthy crop; since that time the practice
of drying has been continued, and always with great success. Professor
Bollman remarks that it is usual in Russia, in many places, to
smoke-dry flax, wheat, and rye; and in the west of Russia, experienced
proprietors prefer, for seed, onions that have been kept over the
winter in cottages without a chimney. Such onions are called _dymka_,
which may be interpreted smoke-dried.
The second fact is this:--Mr. Wasileffsky, a gentlemen residing in the
government of Mohileff, is in the habit of keeping potatoes all the
year round, by storing them in the place where his hams are smoked. It
happened that in the spring of 1852 his seed potatoes, kept in the
usual manner, were insufficient, and he made up the requisite quantity
with some of those which had been for a month in the smoking place.
These potatoes produced a capital crop, very little diseased, while at
the same time the crop from the sets which were not smoke-dried was
extensively attacked by disease. Professor Bollman is of opinion that
there would have been no disease at all if the sets had been better
dried.
The temperature required to produce the desired result is not very
clearly made out. Mr. Bollman's room, in which his first potatoes were
dried, was heated to about 72 degrees, and much higher. By way of
experiment he placed others in the chamber of the stove itself, where
the thermometer stood at 136 degrees, and more. He also ascertained
that the vitality of the potato is not affected, even if the rind is
charred. Those who have the use of a malt-kiln, or even a lime-kiln,
might try the effect of excessive drying, for a month seems to be long
enough for the process.--(Gardener's Chronicle.)
A Mr. Penoyer, of Western Saratoga, Illinois, publishes the following,
which he recommends as a perfect cure and preventive of the potato
rot, having tested it thoroughly four years with perfect success;
while others in the same field, who did not use the preventive, lost
their entire crop by the rot. It not only prevents the rot, but
restores the potato to its primitive vigor, and the product is not
only sound, but double the size, consequently producing twice the
quantity on the same ground, and the vines grow much larger, and
retain their freshness and vitality until the frost kills them. Aside
from the cure of the rot, the farmers would be more than doubly
compensated for their trouble and expense in the increase and quality
of the crop. The remedy or preventive is as follows:--"Take one peck
of fine salt and mix it thoroughly with half a bushel of Nova Scotia
plaster or gypsum (the plaster is the best), and immediately after
hoeing the potatoes the second time, or just as the young potato
begins to set, sprinkle on the main vines, next to the ground, a
tablespoon full of the above mixture to each hill, and be sure to get
it on the main vines, as it is found that the rot proceeds from a
sting of an insect in the vine, and the mixture coming in contact with
the vine, kills the effect of it before it reaches the potato." I
cannot but consider Professor Bollman's as the most important of the
two remedies suggested.
The potato crop of the United States exceeds 100 million bushels,
nearly all of which are consumed in the country; the average exports
of the last eight years not having exceeded 160,000 bushels per annum.
According to the census returns of 1840, the quantity of potatoes of
all sorts raised in the Union, was 108,298,060 bushels; of 1850,
104,055,989 bushels, of which 38,259,196 bushels were sweet potatoes.
Last year (1852) there was under cultivation with potatoes in Canada,
the following extent of land:--
Acres. Bushels.
Upper Canada 77,672 Produce 498,747
Lower Canada 73,244 Produce 456,111
About 782,008 cwts. of potatoes are annually exported from the Canary
Islands. In Prussia, 153 million hectolitres of potatoes were raised
in 1849. In 1840 Van Diemen's Land produced 15,000 tons of potatoes,
on about 5,000 acres of land.
The potato is not yet an article of so much importance in France, as
in England or the Low Countries, but within the last twenty years its
cultivation has increased very rapidly. It is mostly grown where corn
is the least cultivated. The quantity raised in 1818, was 29,231,867
hectolitres, which had increased in 1835 to 71,982,814 hectolitres.
About 2,000,000 hectolitres of chesnuts are also annually consumed in
France, a portion of the rural population in some of the Central and
Southern Departments living almost entirely on them for half the year.
In Peru dried potatoes are thus prepared:--Small potatoes are boiled,
peeled, and then dried in the sun, but the best are those dried by the
severe frosts on the mountains. In the Cordilleras they are covered
with ice, until they assume a horny appearance. Powdered, it is called
_chimo_. They will keep for any length of time, and when used required
to be bruised and soaked. If introduced as a vegetable substance in
long sea voyages, the potato thus dried would be found wholesome and
nourishing. A large and profitable business is now carried on, in what
is called "preserved potatoes," for ships' use, prepared by Messrs.
Edwards and Co., which are found exceedingly useful in the Royal Navy,
in emigrant ships, for troops and other services, from their
portability, nutritious properties, and being uninjured by climate.
Few persons are probably aware of the quantity of potatoes used in
England, America and the Continent, in the manufacture of starch,
arrowroot, and tapioca, &c., A starch manufactory in Mercer, Maine,
United States, grinds from 16,000 to 24,000 bushels annually of
potatoes, and makes 140,000 to 240,000 lbs. of starch, which finds a
ready market at Boston, at four dollars the hundred pounds. The New
England manufacturers prefer it to Poland starch. Another starch
manufacturer, in Hampden, America, consumes 2,500 bushels per day. In
a single district in Bavaria, in Germany, 400,000 lbs. of sago and
starch are manufactured from potatoes; 100 lbs. of potatoes are said
to yield 12 lbs. of starch. From experiments made in America, with
three varieties of potatoes, the long reds, Philadelphia, and
pink-eyes, it was found that the former yielded the most starch, viz.,
about 6 lbs. to the bushel. A bushel of potatoes weighs about 64 lbs.
The following table from Accum, gives the rate of starch and component
parts per cent. in different varieties:--
+-------------------+--------+-------+---------+------+---------+------+
| Sort. |Fibrine.|Starch.|Vegetable| Gum. |Acids and|Water.|
| | | | Albumen.| | Salts. | |
+-------------------+--------+-------+---------+------+---------+-------
|Red potatoes | 7.0 | 15.0 | 1.4 | 4.1 | 5.1 | 75.0 |
|Ditto germinated | 6.8 | 12.2 | 1.3 | 3.7 | | 73.0 |
|Potato sprouts | 2.8 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 3.3 | | 93.0 |
|Kidney potatoes | 8.8 | 9.1 | 0.8 | | | 81.3 |
|Large red ditto | 6.0 | 12.9 | 0.7 | | | 78.0 |
|Sweet ditto | 8.2 | 15.1 | 0.8 | | 74.3 |
|Potato of Peru | 5.2 | 15.0 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 76.0 |
|Ditto of England | 6.8 | 12.9 | 1.1 | 1.7 | 77.5 |
|Onion potato | 8.4 | 18.7 | 0.9 | 1.7 | 70.3 |
|Voigtland | 7.1 | 15.4 | 1.2 | 2.0 | 74.3 |
|Cultivated in the | | | | | |
| environs of Paris| 6.8 | 13.3 | 0.9 | 3.3 | 1.4 | 73.1 |
+-------------------+--------+-------+---------+------+---------+------+
The first six varieties were analysed by Einhoff, the next four by
Lamped, and the last named by Henry.
YAMS.
The different species of yams have a wide range. In the West Indies
there are several varieties, having distinctive names, according to
quality, color, &c., as the white yam, the red yam, the negro yam, the
creole yam, the afoo yam, the buck yam (_Dioscorea triphylla_), which
is found wild in Java and the East; the Guinea yam, the Portuguese
yam, the water yam, and the Indian yam, &c. The last is considered the
most farinaceous and delicate in its texture, resembling in size the
potato; most of the other sorts are coarse, but still very nutritive
and useful. The common yam (_Dioscorea sativa_) is indigenous to the
Eastern Islands and West Indies. The Guinea yam (_D. aculeata_) is a
native of the East. The Barbados or winged yam (_D. alata_?) has a
widely extended range, being common to India, Java, Brazil, and
Western Africa. The yam species are climbing plants, with handsome
foliage, of the simplest culture, which succeed well in any light,
rich, or sandy soil, and are readily increased by dividing the
tuberous roots. The Indian, Barbados, and red yams are planted in the
West Indies early in May, and dug early in the January following. If
not bruised, they will keep well packed in ashes, the first nine, and
the second and last twelvemonths. The Portuguese and Guinea yams are
planted early in January and dug in September. Creole yams and Tanias
are dug in January. Sweet potatoes from January to March. In most of
our colonies large crops of the finest descriptions of yams, cocos,
&c., could be obtained, but the planting of ground provisions is too
much neglected by all classes. From the tubers of yams of all sorts,
and particularly the buck yam, starch is easily prepared, and of
excellent quality. Some varieties of the buck yam are purple-fleshed,
often of a very deep tint, approaching to black, and although this is
an objection, because it renders more washing necessary, yet even from
these the starch is at last obtained perfectly white.
As an edible root the buck yam, especially when grown in a light soil,
is equal to the potato, if not superior to it. It does not, however,
keep for any length of time, and therefore could not be exported to
Europe, unless the roots were sliced and dried.
Yams and sweet potatoes thrive well in the northern parts of
Australia; indeed the former are indigenous there, and constitute the
chief article of vegetable food used by the natives. The yam was
introduced into Sweden, where it succeeded well, and bread, starch,
and brandy were made from it, but it prefers a warmer climate.
Yams are occasionally brought to this country. When cooked, either by
roasting or boiling, the root is even more nutritious than the potato,
nor is it possessed of any unpalatable flavor, the pecularity being
between that of rice and the potato. Dressed in milk, or mashed, they
are absolutely a delicacy; and from the abundance in which they are
cultivated in the West Indies and other parts, they promise to become
a most economical and nutritious substitute for the potato.
The yam frequently grows to the enormous size of forty or fifty pounds
weight, but in this large state it is coarse-flavored and fibrous.
An acre of land is capable of producing 4½ tons of yams, and the same
quantity of sweet potatoes, within the twelve months, or nine tons per
acre for both, being nearly as much as the return obtained at home in
the cultivation of potatoes; and I have the authority of all
analytical chemists for saying that in point of value, as an article
of food, the superiority is as two to one in favor of the tropical
roots.
The kidney-rooted yam (_D. pentaphylla_), is indigenous to the
Polynesian islands, and is sometimes cultivated for its roots. It is
called _kawaii_ in the Feejee islands. _D. bulbifera_, a native of the
East, is also abundantly naturalised in the Polynesian islands, but is
not considered edible.
There are seven or eight kinds of yams grown in India. Two are of a
remarkably fine flavor, one weighing as much as eighteen pounds, the
other three pounds. These are found in the Tartar country.
COCOS OR EDDOES
_Arum esculentum_.--This root has not hitherto been considered of
sufficient importance to demand particular care in its cultivation,
except by those who are engaged in agricultural pursuits, and derive
their subsistence from the production of the soil. But though the
cultivation of the root is almost unknown to the higher classes in
society, and little regarded by planters in the colonies, it is a most
valuable article of consumption. Amongst the laboring population it is
the principal dependence for a supply of food. Long droughts may
disappoint the hopes of the yam crop, storms and blight may destroy
the plantain walks, but neither dry or wet weather materially injure
the coco; it will always make some return, and though it may not
afford a plentiful crop, it will yield a sufficiency until a supply
can be had from other sources. For this reason the laborer in the West
Indies always takes care to put in a good plant of cocos to his
provision ground as a stand by, and knowing their value, is perhaps
the only person who bestows any degree of care or attention upon them.
Previous to their emancipation, whole families of negroes lived upon
the produce of one provision ground, and the coco formed the main
article of their support. Where the soil is congenial to the white and
black Bourbon coco, the labor of one industrious person once a
fortnight will raise a supply sufficient for the consumption of a
family of six or seven persons. The coco begins to bear after the
first year, and with common care and cultivation the same plant ought
to give annually two or three returns for several years. In Jamaica, a
disease something similar to that affecting the potato, has been found
injurious to the coco root. This disease, which has baffled all
inquiry as to its origin, affects the plants in and after the second
year of their being planted. The first indication of it is the change
in the leaves, which gradually turn to a yellow hue, have a sickly
appearance, and at length drop off at the surface of the earth. The
stock or "coco head," as it is called, below ground, having become
rotten, nothing but a soft pulpy mass remains. In some fields every
third or fourth root is thus affected, in others much greater numbers
are destroyed, so much so that the field requires to be almost
entirely replanted, by which not only an expense is entailed, but a
heavy loss sustained, from the field being thrown out of its regular
bearing. The black coco seems to suffer less than the white.
Another species, the Taro (_Arum Colocasia_, _Colocasia esculenta_ and
_macrorhizon_), is an important esculent root in the Polynesian
islands. In the dry method of culture practised on the mountains of
Hawaii, the roots are protected by a covering of fern leaves. The
cultivation of taro is hardly a process of multiplication, for the
crown of the root is perpetually replanted. As the plant endures for a
series of years, the tuberous roots serve at some of the rocky groups
as a security against famine. It is also extensively cultivated in
Madeira and Zanzibar, and has even withstood the climate of New
Zealand. It is grown also in Egypt, Syria, and some of the adjacent
countries, for its esculent roots. A species is cultivated in the
Deccan, for the sake of the leaves, which form a substitute for
spinach. Farina is obtained from the root of _Arum Rumphii_ in
Polynesia.
SWEET POTATOES.
The batatas, or camote of the Spanish colonies (_Convolvulus batatas_,
Linn; _Batatas edulis_, of Choisy, and the _Ipomæa Batatas_ of other
botanists), belongs to a family of plants which has been split into
several genera. It is a native of the East Indies, and of
intertropical America, and was the "potato" of the old English writers
in the early part of the fourteenth century. It was doubtless
introduced into Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia soon after their
settlement by the Europeans, being mentioned as one of the cultivated
products of those colonies as early as the year 1648. It grows in
excessive abundance throughout the Southern States of America, and as
far north as New Jersey, and the southern part of Michigan. The
varieties cultivated there are the purple, the red, the yellow, and
the white, the former of which is confined to the South.
The amount of sweet potatoes exported from South Carolina in 1747-48,
was 700 bushels; that of the common potato exported from the United
States, 1820-21, 90,889,000 bushels; in 1830-31, 112,875,000 bushels;
in 1840-41, 136,095,000 bushels; in 1850-51, 106,342,000 bushels.
The sweet potato is cultivated generally in all the intertropical
regions, for the sake of its roots, and as a legume in temperate
countries. In the Southern States of North America, the culture ceases
in Carolina under latitude 36 degs.; in Portugal and Spain it reaches
to latitude 40 and 42 deg.; and as a legume its cultivation is
attempted to the vicinity of Paris. In India it is a very common crop;
its tubers are very similar to the potato, but have a sweeter taste,
whence the common name; but it must not be confounded with the
topinambur (_Helianthus tuberosus_), a native of Brazil, which is less
cultivated. The root contains much saccharine and amylaceous matter.
Several marked varieties of the sweet potato are raised in the
Polynesian groups. In some islands it forms the principal object of
cultivation.
It is grown in the Northern districts of New Zealand, at Zanzibar,
Monomoisy, Bombay, and other parts of the East Indies. They are
raised on the bare surface of the rock in some parts of the Hawaiian
islands, and a sourish liquor is procured from them. It was early
cultivated on the Western Coast of Africa, for the Portuguese Pilot
(who set out on his voyages to the colony at St. Thomas, in the Gulf
of Guinea) speaks of this plant, and states that it is called "batata"
by the aboriginals of St. Domingo. They are abundant at Mocha and
Muscat. Sweet potatoes form a principal and important crop in the
Bermudas.
A valuable addition has lately been made to the votaries of the sweet
potato in Alabama, supposed to be from Peru. A letter describing it
says:--"It is altogether different and equally superior to any variety
of this root hitherto known. It is productive, and attains a
prodigious size, even upon the poorest sandy land, and the roots
remain without change from the time of taking them out of the ground
until the following May. The plant is singularly easy of cultivation,
growing equally well from the slip or vine, the top or vine of the
full-grown plant being remarkably small; the inside is as white as
snow. It is dry and mealy, and the saccharine principle contained
resembles in delicacy of flavor fine virgin honey."
There is in general a great error in cultivating this root, as most
people still plant in the old way, two or three sets in the hole,
which is a great deal too close.
When a piece of land is to be planted in sweet potatoes, it should be
top-dressed with some manure, to be dug or ploughed under a week or
two before it is to be planted. Drills should be made two feet apart,
and the potatoes placed in the drill about one foot asunder. From
eight to twelve to the pound are the best size for planting. The
"white upright" kind, when intended for sets, should be taken up early
in March, and kept about a month, so as to be quite dry before
planting. Abundant crops can rarely be raised from the stem of the
"uprights;" the old potato, however, grows to a large size. I have
planted a potato weighing about an ounce, and dug it up in August,
weighing over two pounds. The drills can be made with a small plough
to great advantage, when a person understands it.
The best manure for the sweet potato is anything green, such as fresh
seaweed, green oats, bushes, or anything of the kind, put in in
abundance.
Care should be taken to get early and good strong slips. A slip with
about six joints is quite long enough; three or four joints to be put
under ground, and the rest above. For slips, the land must be prepared
as already described for the potatoes; this should be done before the
slips are ready to cut.
The best way to plant slips is to drill, the same way as for the
potatoes, only a little closer; then put the end of the slip in,
leaving about two joints out of ground, placing them one foot apart.
The drills can be made in dry weather, so as not to have any delay
when it rains; by this means a great many can be planted in a day.
The best land for sweet potatoes is the light sandy kind; a rich
friable black mould, or a rocky substratum; for hill sides, rocky
ravines, and places which would be called barren and unprofitable for
other crops, are found to yield a good return when planted with sweet
potatoes. The best time to plant slips to get stock from, is the
latter end of August or early in September, as the season may suit.
The sweet potato of Java, says Mr. Crawfurd, is the finest I ever met
with. Some are frequently of several pounds weight, and now and then
have been found of the enormous weight of 50 lbs. The sweetness is not
disagreeable to the palate, though considerable, and they contain a
large portion of farinaceous matter, being as mealy as the best of our
own potatoes. In Java it is cultivated in ordinary upland arable, or
in the dry season as a green crop in succession to rice.
A tuberous root (_Ocymum tuberosum_), an inhabitant of the hot plains,
is frequently cultivated in Java. It is small, round, and much
resembling in appearance the American potato, but has no great flavor.
Its local name is _kantang_.
CASSAVA OR MANIOC.
Of this plant, which is a shrub about six feet high, extensively grown
for its farinaceous root, there are several species, nearly all
natives of America, principally of Brazil, whence it derives one of
its common names of Manihot or Mandioc. Two species of Manihot have
been found indigenous in South Australia. The varieties commonly
cultivated for their roots, are the sweet and the bitter.
1. Sweet cassava (_Janiphi_ (or _Jatropha_,) _Loeflingii_, Kunth;
_Manihot Aipi_, of Pohl).--This species has a spindle-shaped root
brown externally, about six or seven ounces or more in weight, which
contains amylaceous matter, without any bitterness, and is used as
food, after being rasped and washed, so as to cleanse it from the
fibrous matter, in the same manner as arrowroot is prepared. It is
distinguished from the bitter cassava by a tough ligneous fibre, which
runs through the heart of the tuber. Manihot starch is sometimes
imported into Europe under the name of Brazilian arrowroot. The
cassava is known in Peru as _yucca_.
A dry mixed soil is best suited to its culture. So exhausting is this
crop, that it cannot be raised more than two or three times
successively on the same land. The roots arrive at maturity in eight
or nine months after planting, but may be kept in the ground a much
longer time without injury. Sweet cassava might be sliced, dried in
the sun, and sent to Europe in that state. In dry weather the process
succeeds remarkably well, and the dried slices keep for a considerable
time. Dr. Shier ascertained that when these sliced and dried roots
were first steeped and then boiled, they return to very nearly their
original condition, and make an excellent substitute for the potato.
The plant thrives on even the poorest soil; the mode of planting is
simple. It consists in laying cuttings a foot long in square pits a
foot deep, and covering them with mould, leaving the upper ends open.
From two to four pieces may be placed in each square. The planting
ought to be in the rainy season. The cuttings must be made from the
full-grown stem. A humid soil causes the root to decay, a dry soil is
therefore more adapted for its cultivation. As blossoms are
occasionally plucked from potato plants, so the manihot or cassava is
deprived of its buds to increase the size of its roots. The raw root
of the bitter species, when taken out of the ground, is poisonous--if
exposed, however, to the sun for a short time, it is innocuous, and
when boiled is quite wholesome.
The starch of the root of the manioc is prepared in the following
manner, as described by Dr. Ure:--" The roots are washed and reduced
to a pulp by means of a rasp or grater. The pulp is put into coarse
strong canvas bags, and thus submitted to the action of a powerful
press, by which it parts with most of its noxious juice. As the active
principle of this juice is volatile, it is easily dissipated by baking
the squeezed cakes of pulp upon a plate of hot iron. The pulp thus
dried concretes into lumps, which become hard and friable as they
cool. They are then broken into pieces, and laid out in the sun to
dry. In this state they are a wholesome nutriment. These cakes
constitute the only provisions laid in by the natives, in their
voyages upon the Amazon. Boiled in water, with a little beef or
mutton, they form a kind of soup similar to that of rice.
The cassava cakes sent to Europe are composed almost entirely of
starch, along with a few fibres of the ligneous matter. It may be
purified by diffusion in warm water, passing the milky mixture through
a linen cloth, evaporating the straining liquid over the fire, with
constant agitation. The starch, dissolved by the heat, thickens as the
water evaporates, but on being stirred it becomes granulated, and must
be finally dried in a proper stove.
2. Bitter cassava (_Janipha Manihot_, of Kunth; _Jatropha Manihot_, of
Linnæus; and _Manihot utilissima_, Pohl).--This species has a knotty
root, black externally, which is occasionally 30 lbs. in weight. In
the root there is much starchy matter deposited, usually along with a
poisonous narcotic substance, which is said to be hydrocyanic acid.
The juice of the plant, when distilled, affords as a first product a
liquor which, in the dose of thirty drops, will cause the death of a
man in six minutes. It is doubted whether this acid pre-exists in the
plant; some suppose it to be generated after it is grated down into a
pulp. It can be driven off by roasting, and then the starch is used in
the form of cassava bread. It is principally from the starch of the
bitter cassava that tapioca is prepared by elutriation and granulating
on hot plates. This serves to agglutinate it into the form of
concretions, constituting the tapioca of commerce. This being starch
very nearly pure, is often prescribed by physicians as an aliment of
easy digestion. A tolerably good imitation of it is made by beating,
stirring, and drying potato starch in a similar way.
The grated starch of the roots, floated in water, is spontaneously
deposited, and when repeatedly washed and dried in the sun, forms
cassava flour, called "Moussache" by the French.
The juice of the bitter cassava, mixed with molasses and fermented,
has been made into an intoxicating liquor, which is much relished by
the negroes and Indians.
The concentrated juice of the bitter cassava, under the name of
cassareep, forms the basis of the West India dish, "pepper pot." One
of its most remarkable properties is its highly antiseptic power,
preserving meat that has been boiled in it for a much longer period
than can be done by any other culinary process. Cassareep was
originally an Indian preparation.
The manioc or cassava is cultivated in America, on both sides of the
equator, to about latitude 30 degrees north and south. Among the
mountains of intertropical America, it reaches to an elevation of
3,200 feet. It is cultivated also in great abundance on the island of
Zanzibar, and among the negro tribes of Eastern Africa to the
Monomoesy, inclusive; on the west coast of Africa, in Congo and
Guinea. It appears not to have been introduced into Asia. The farina
of the manioc is almost the only kind of meal used in Brazil, at least
in the north, near the equator. An acre of manioc is said to yield as
much nutriment as six acres of wheat. Meyen states, "It is not
possible sufficiently to praise the beautiful manioc plant." The
Indians find in this a compensation for the rice and other cerealia of
the Old World. It has been carried from Brazil to the Mauritius and
Madagascar.
The following quantities of Brazilian arrowroot, or tapioca, were
imported in the undermentioned years:--
Cwts.
1833 942
1834 888
1835 1,663
1836 3,735
1837 2,142
1838 462
1839 402
1840 983
1841 1,870
1843 2,325
St. Lucia grows a considerable quantity of manioc; it exported of
cassava flour in--
Barrels.
1827 8
1828 814
1829 279
1830 99
1831 59
1834 713
The cassava root grows abundantly in most of the West India islands
and tropical America; the trouble of planting is inconsiderable, and
the profit arising from its manufacture, even by the common process of
hand-grating, is immense. I should be glad if I could induce the
enterprising of our colonial settlers to give this a fair trial, as
well as encourage the present growers to increase their crops and
improve the quality of the article, so as to render it suitable for
the English market. The manufacture of starch will one of these days
become a productive source of colonial wealth. Since cassava was first
grown in the West, its capabilities as a starch-producer have, to a
certain extent, been known, and for that purpose it has been in
limited use.
Mr. James Glen, of Haagsbosch plantation, Demerara, has recently
tested its value as an article of export, and added it to the other
industrial resources of that colony.
This gentleman, by erecting machinery on his plantation for grinding
the root and preparing the starch of the bitter cassava, has already
shipped the article in considerable quantities to Europe, and it has
been sold at a price which puts the profit upon sugar cultivation
completely to the blush. His agent in Glasgow writes, that any
quantity (like that already shipped) can command a ready sale at 9d.
per lb. Its use is co-extensive, or nearly so, with that of sugar. The
productive capabilities of the soil are not perhaps generally known;
nor is it necessary that, to pay the grower there, it should bring
even half that price. A sample of a ton, which was prepared at
Haagsbosch in 1841, was submitted for examination to Dr. Shier, at the
colonial laboratory, Georgetown, who admitted it to be a beautiful
specimen of starch, although it had undergone but _one_ washing. The
root from which it was made, was planted eight or nine months
previously, upon an acre of soil, which had never undergone any
preparation of ploughing, or been broken and turned up in any way. The
plants were never weeded after they had begun to spring, nor were they
tended or disturbed until they were ripe and pulled up. The expense of
planting the acre was five dollars, and reaping this crop would, I
suppose, amount to as much more, say £2 in all. The green cassava was
never weighed, but the acre yielded fully a ton of starch--equal, at
9d. per lb., to £84.
The experimental researches of Dr. Shier have led him to believe that
the green bitter cassava will give one-fifth its weight of starch. If
this be the case the return per acre would, under favorable
circumstances, when the land is properly worked, be enormous. On an
estate at Essequibo, a short time ago, an acre of cassava, grown in
fine permeable soil, was lifted and weighed; it yielded 25 tons of
green cassava. Such a return as this per acre would enable our West
India colonies to inundate Great Britain with food, and at a rate
which would make flour to be considered a luxury. Dr. Shier is
convinced that, in thorough drained land, where the roots could
penetrate the soil, and where its permeability would permit of their
indefinite expansion, a return of 25 tons an acre might uniformly be
calculated upon. What a blessing, not only for those colonies, but for
the world, would the introduction be of this cheap and nutritious
substitute for the potato.
NEW TUBEROUS PLANTS RECOMMENDED AS SUBSTITUTES FOR THE POTATO.
In the present disturbed state of the grain markets of Europe, the
advantage of cultivating plants which directly or indirectly can form
a substitute for the potato, admits of no doubt. It appears to me,
moreover, that when the way is once opened up, even under ordinary
circumstances, the tropical colonies of Great Britain, without
diminishing the quantity of sugar and coffee they produce, could
advantageously supply the British market with the purest starches, and
possibly also with various other articles of farinaceous food.
Anything that will lead the planters to a more varied cultivation than
the present uniform and persistent one, will be advantageous to our
colonies; and the growth of farinaceous root crops for exportation,
cannot fail to produce most beneficial effects on that class of the
peasantry in the British possessions, who are owners of small lots of
land, which at present they either totally neglect, or cultivate most
imperfectly.
In 1846, Dr. A. Gesner, one of my correspondents, called attention, in
my "Colonial Magazine," to two indigenous roots of North America,
which he thought deserving special attention. These were _Apios
tuberosa_, and _Claytonia acutiflora_, _or Virginiana_.
1. _A. tuberosa_ (Boerhave), or _Glycine Apios_.--This plant is common
throughout the Northern and Southern States of America, and is also
met with in the lower British North American Provinces. It is known
under the native name of _Saa-ga-ban_ by the Micmac Indians, by whom
the pear-shaped roots are used as an article of food. Like the
_Arachis hypogæa_, it belongs to the Leguminosæ family. The fruit and
flower resemble those of the wood vetch. It is thus described in
Professor Eaton's "Manual of Botany for North America," published in
1836:--"Color of corolla, blue and purple; time of flowering, July
(and August in Nova Scotia), perennial; stem, twining; leaves,
pinnate, with seven lance-ovate leaflets; racemes shorter than the
leaves, axillary; root, tuberous. Root very nutritive; ought to be
generally cultivated."
The average size of the tubers is that of cherries, but a few are
found of much larger dimensions. In their appearance they resemble the
common potato, having apparently the peculiar indentations called
eyes. The skin of the tuber is of a rusty or blackish brown color. The
interior is very white, and the root has the taste and odor of the
common potato. The Indians state that the roots, if kept either in a
dry or moist state, will not suffer any decay for a lengthened period.
They are very farinaceous, and contain a large per centage of starch,
which resembles that of wheat; by being dried the tuber shrinks a
little, but it immediately expands on being thrown into warm water. It
contains much nutritive matter, is wholesome, and I have no doubt, if
properly cultivated, it will prove to be very prolific. The tubers are
situated a few inches below the surface of the soil, and are strung
together like beads by a strong ligament.
A similar kind of earth-nut, or tuberous root, probably the _Glycine
subterranea_ of Linnæus, the Voandzou of Madagascar, is extensively
cultivated in various parts of Africa.
2. _Claytonia acutiflora_ or _Virginiana_, the Musquash of the Micmac
Indians, is found throughout the Northern and Southern States of North
America. It is thus described by Prof. Eaton, "Man. Bot. N.A."--"Color
of corolla, white and red; situation, alpine, perennial; leaves,
linear, lance-ovate; petals, obovate, retuse; leaves of the calyx,
somewhat acute; root, tuberous. It blossoms in May. The seed is ripe
in June, when the plant disappears."
These roots may be collected along the sea coasts and principal lakes
and rivers of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward's Island,
although they are not plentiful, for they are greedily devoured by
some of the wild animals, and wherever swine have been permitted to
run at large they have been destroyed.
Dr. Gesner shipped several bushels of the saa-ga-ban to the principal
agricultural societies in Great Britain, also to Halifax, and Nova
Scotia. The ordinary potato of this country does not yield more than
14 per cent. of starch, and it contains 76 per cent. of water. From
the best saa-ga-ban Dr. Gesner obtained 21 per cent. of starch, and
the quantity of water is reduced to 50 per cent. It also contains
vegetable albumen, gum, and sugar. From these facts it is evident that
the saa-ga-ban is much more nutritive than the potato, and the weight
of the tubers, in their wild state, compared with the weight of the
slender vine in the best samples, is equal in proportion to the common
cultivated potato in its ordinary growth. The starch is very white,
and closely resembles that made from the arrowroot. It is not
improbable that the quantity of water in the tuber will be increased
by cultivation; yet the fibrous parenchyma will be reduced, and taken
altogether, the nutritive properties will be increased; if the plant
improve as much by cultivation as the potato and many others have
done, its success is certain.
The North American Indians have several wild roots which they dig up
for sustenance when other food is exhausted. Among these are--1st, the
mendo, or wild sweet potato; 2nd, the tip-sin-ah, or wild prairie
turnip; 3rd, the omen-e-chah, or wild bean. The first is found
throughout the valleys of the Mississippi and St. Peter's, about the
basis of bluffs, in rather moist but soft and rich ground. The plant
resembles the sweet potato, and the root is similar in taste and
growth. It does not grow so large or long as the cultivated sweet
potato, but I should have thought it the same, were it not that the
wild potato is not affected by the frost. A woman will dig from a peck
to half a bushel a day.
The Indians eat them, simply boiled in water, but prefer them cooked
with fat meat.
The wild potato, of the north-west of America, is a general article of
food; it is called by them wabessepin; it resembles the common potato,
is mealy when boiled, and grows only in wet clay ground, about one and
a half feet deep. The crane potato, called sitchauc-wabessepin, is of
the same kind, but inferior in quality. The Indians use these for food
as well as the memomine, and another long and slender root called
watappinee. Probably it is the first of these that is referred to by
Nicollet, as the prairie potato. "All the high prairies (he says)
abound with the silver-leafed _Psoralia_, which is the prairie turnip
of the Americans, the _pomme des prairies_ of the Canadians, and
furnishes an invaluable food to the Indians." There are several
species of _Psoralia_, viz., _esculenta_, _argophylla_, _cuspidata_,
and _lanceolata_.
The prairie turnip grows on the high dry prairies, one or two
together, in size from that of a small hen's egg to that of a goose
egg, and of the same form. They have a thick black or brown bark, but
are nearly pure white inside, with very little moisture. They are met
with four to eight inches below the surface, and are dug by the women
with a long pointed stick, forced into the ground and used as a lever.
They are eaten boiled and mashed like a turnip, or are split open and
dried for future use. In this state they resemble pieces of chalk. It
is said that when thus dried they may be ground into flour, and that
they make a very palatable and nutritious bread. M. Lamare Picot, a
French naturalist, has lately incurred a very considerable expense to
obtain the seed, which he has carried to France, believing that it is
capable of cultivation, and may form a substitute both for potato and
wheat.
The wild bean is found in all parts of the valleys where the land is
moist and rich. It is of the size of a large white bean, with a rich
and very pleasant flavor. When used in a stew, I have thought it
superior to any garden vegetable I had ever tasted. The Indians are
very fond of them, and pigeons get fat on them in spring. The plant is
a slender vine, from two to four feet in height, with small pods two
to three inches long, containing three to five small beans. The pod
dries and opens, the beans fall to the ground, and in spring take root
and grow again. The beans on the ground are gathered by the Indians,
who sometimes find a peck at once, gathered by mice for their winter
store.
There are also several kinds of edible roots growing in the ponds or
small lakes, which are gathered by the Indians for food.
The _psui-cinh-chah_, or swamp potato, is found in mud and water,
about three feet deep. The leaf is as large as the cabbage leaf. The
stem has but one leaf, which has, as it were, two horns or points. The
root is obtained by the Indian women; they wade into the water and
loosen the root with their feet, which then floats, and is picked up
and thrown into a canoe. It is of an oblong shape, of a whitish
yellow, with four black rings around it, of a slightly pungent taste,
and not disagreeable when eaten with salt or meat.
The _psui-chah_, with a stem and leaf similar to the last, has a root
about the size of a large hickory-nut. They grow in deep water, and
being smaller are much more difficult to get, but the Indians prefer
them; they have an agreeable taste, and are harder and firmer when
cooked. Both these roots are found in large quantities in the musk-rat
lodges, stored by them for winter use.
The _ta-wah-pah_, with a stem, leaf, and yellow flower, like the
pond-lily, is found in the lakes, in water and mud, from four to five
feet deep. The Indian women dive for them, and frequently obtain as
many as they are able to carry. The root is from one to two feet in
height, very porous; there are as many as six or eight cells running
the whole length of the root. It is very difficult to describe the
flavor. It is slightly sweet and glutinous, and is generally boiled
with wild fowl, but is occasionally roasted.
In his exploring expedition into the interior of Guiana, in the region
of the Upper Essequibo, Sir E. Schomburgk notices the discovery of a
variety of Leguminosæ, whose tubers grow to an enormous size, fully
equal to the largest yam. These roots were not, at the time he was
there, in full perfection, but their taste was somewhat between the
yam and the sweet potato. The Taruma Indians called them Cuyupa. The
roots are considered fit for use when the herb above ground dies. Sir
Robert brought a few of the seeds of the plant with him on his return
to Demerara.
Two interesting productions have been recently introduced into the
Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, from the Ecuador, by M. Bourcier,
formerly Consul-General of France in that country. One is the red and
yellow _ocas_, which is of the form of a long potato, and has the
taste of a chesnut; the other is the _milloco_, which has the taste
and form of our best potatoes. These two roots, which are found in
great abundance in the neighbourhood of Quito, grow readily in the
poorest land. The _oca_ is cultivated in the fields of Mexico, but
only succeeds in the warmer districts. From the bulbous roots of the
cacomite, a species of _Tigridia_, a good flour is also prepared
there.
Stevenson ("Travels in South America," vol. ii., p. 55) says, a root
called the oca is cultivated in several of the colder provinces of
Peru. "This plant," he states, "is of a moderate size, in appearance
somewhat like the acetous trefoil; the roots yellow, each about five
or six inches long, and two in circumference. They have many eyes, and
the roots, several of which are yielded by one plant, are somewhat
curved. When boiled it is much sweeter than the camote or batata;
indeed it appears to contain more saccharine matter than any root I
ever tasted; if eaten raw it is very much like the chesnut. The roots
may be kept for many months in a dry place. The transplanting of the
oca (he adds) to England, where I am persuaded it would prosper, would
add another agreeable and useful esculent to our tables."
The Brussels paper, _L'Emancipation_, mentions that a root has been
discovered by the Director of the Museum of Industry, in that place,
destined to take the place of the potato. It is the _Lathyrus
tuberosus_, called by the peasants the earth mouse, on account of its
form, and the earth chesnut on account of its taste. This plant exists
only in some localities of Lorraine and Burgundy. The Lathyrus has
never been cultivated, and it is thought that it will attain, with
cultivation, the size of the potato. The French peasants have a
prejudice against cultivating it, because they say it walks under
ground, and leaves the place it is planted in to go into the
neighbouring field. The fact is, that it grows in a chaplet, of which
the bulbs are arranged along a root running horizontally, of which the
two extremities are very rarely found, so that on taking up the
hinder tubercles it continues its growth in front, which gives rise to
the saying that if the plant had only time enough, it would make the
tour of the world.
The bulb of _Gastrodia sesamoides_ (R. Brown), a curious herbaceous
species of orchis, native of New Holland, is edible, and preferred by
the aborigines to potatoes and other tuberous roots. Some of my
accredited informants believe it might be turned to profitable
account, but being a parasitic plant, it could scarcely be
systematically cultivated. It flourishes in its wild state on loamy
soil in low or sloping grounds. The first indication of its vegetation
in the spring, is the appearance of a whitish bulb above the sward, of
an hemispherical shape, and about the size of a small egg. The dusky
white covering resembles a fine white net, and within it is a pellucid
gelatinous substance. Again within this is a firm kernel, about as
large as a Spanish nut, and from this a fine fibrous root descends
into the soil. It is known in Van Diemen's Land, and other parts of
Australia, by the common name of native bread. Captain Hunter, in his
Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson on the first settlement of
the Convict Colony, speaks of finding large quantities of "wild yams,"
on which the natives fed, but the roots were not bigger than a walnut;
therefore it was probably this plant.
_Arracacha esculenta_, of Bancroft and Decandolle (_Conium
Arracacha_).--This perennial herb is a native of South America, which,
from its salubrious qualities, is extensively cultivated in the
mountains of Venezuela and other parts of tropical and Southern
America, for culinary purposes. It is propagated by planting pieces of
the tuberous root, in each of which is an eye or shoot. The late Baron
de Shack introduced it into Trinidad, from Caraccas, and it has thence
been carried to the island of Grenada. It throve there remarkably
well, but has been unaccountably neglected. He also sent roots of this
valuable plant to London, Liverpool, and Glasgow. Although it bears
cold better than the potato, it requires a warmer and more equal
temperature than most of the countries of Europe afford. It would,
however, make an excellent addition to the culinary vegetables of many
tropical countries, uniting the taste of the potato and parsnip, but
being superior to both.
The arracacha has been introduced into the South of Europe, not as a
substitute for, but as a provision against a failure of the potato
crop. It is highly recommended by the Rev. J.M. Wilson, in the "Rural
Encyclopædia."
Stevenson ("Travels in South America," vol. ii., p. 383) says the
yucas (cassava), camotes (sweet potatoes), and yams cultivated at
Esmeraldas and that neighbourhood, were the finest he ever saw. "It is
not uncommon for one of these roots to weigh upwards of twenty pounds.
At one place I saw a few plants of the yuca that had stood upwards of
twenty years, the owner having frequently bared the bottom of the
plants and taken the ripe roots, after which, throwing up the earth
again, and allowing a sufficient time for new roots to grow, a
continual succession of this excellent nutritious food was procured."
The Aipi grows in Brazil, and according to T. Ashe, may be eaten raw,
and, when pressed, yields a pleasant juice for drink; or being
inspissated by the heat of the sun, is kept either to be boiled and
eaten, or dissolved and drank. The tapinambar grows in Chili, and is
used by the Indians.
The tapioca, or bay rash, a plant which grows about the out-islands of
the Bahamas group, was found of great use as a food plant to the
inhabitants of Long Island, during a scarcity of food occasioned by
the drought in 1843. This root grows in the form of a large beet, and
is from twelve to sixteen inches in length. It is entirely
farinaceous, and, when properly ground and prepared, makes good bread.
It fetches there four to six cents a pound.
The root of the kooyah plant (_Valeriana edulis_) is much used by some
of the North American Indians as food. The root is of a very bright
yellow color, with a peculiar taste and odor, and hence is called
"tobacco root." It is deprived of its strong poisonous qualities by
being baked in the ground for about two days. A variety of other roots
and tubers furnish them with food. Among these are kamas root
(_Camassia esculenta_), which is highly esteemed; the bulb has a sweet
pleasant flavor, somewhat of the taste of preserved quince. It is a
strikingly handsome bulbous plant, with large beautiful purple
flowers. Yampah root (_Anethum graveolens_) is a common article of
food with the Indians of the Rocky Mountains.
The roots of a thistle (_Cersium virginianium_, or _Carduus
virginianus_), which are about the ordinary size of carrots, are also
eaten by them. They are sweet and well flavored, but require a long
preparation to fit them for use.
The people of Southern India and Ceylon have for many hundred years
been in the habit of eating the bulb or root, which is the first shoot
from the Palmyra nut, which forms the germ of the future tree, and is
known locally as _Pannam kilingoes_. It is about the size of a common
carrot, though nearly white. It forms a great article of food among
the natives for several months in the year; but Europeans dislike it
from its being very bitter. Recent experiments have proved that a
farina superior to arrowroot can be obtained from it, prepared in the
same way; and 100 roots, costing 2½d., yield one and a-half to two
pounds of the flour.
From the boiled inner bark of the Russian larch, mixed with rye flour,
and afterwards buried a few hours in the snow, the hardy Siberian
hunters prepare a sort of leaven, with which they supply the place of
common leaven when the latter is destroyed, as it frequently is by the
intense cold. The bark is nearly as valuable as oak bark. From the
inner bark the Russians manufacture fine white gloves, not inferior to
those made of the most delicate chamois, while they are stronger,
cooler, and more pleasant for wearing in the summer.
The fruit of the _Cycas angulata_ forms the principal food of the
Australian aborigines during a portion of the year. They cut it into
thin slices, which are first dried, afterwards soaked in water, and
finally packed up in sheets of tea-tree bark. In this condition it
undergoes a species of fermentation; the deleterious properties of the
fruit are destroyed, and a mealy substance with a musty flavor
remains, which the blacks probably bake into cakes. They appear also
to like the fruit of the _Pandanus_, of which large quantities were
found by Dr. Leichardt in their camps, soaking in water, contained in
vessels formed of stringy bark.
The flour obtained from the seeds of Spurry (_Spergula sativa_), when
mixed with that of wheat or rye, produces wholesome bread, for which
purpose it is often used in Norway and Gothland. In New Zealand,
before the introduction of the potato, the roots of the fern were
largely consumed.
Many species of _Bolitus_ are used as food by the natives in Western
Australia, according to Drummond.
The thick tuberous roots of a climbing species of bean (_Pachyrhizus
angulatus_, or _Dolichos bulbosus_) are cultivated and eaten in some
parts of the Polynesian islands. The bulbous roots of some species of
Orchideæ are eagerly sought after in New South Wales by the natives,
being termed "boyams," and highly esteemed as an article of food for
the viscid mucilage which they contain. The root of the Berar
(_Caladium costatum_) is eaten by the natives of the Pedir coast
(Achin), after being well washed.
The pignons or edible seeds of _Pinus Pinea_ are consumed occasionally
in Italy. In Chili the cone or fruit of the _pehuen_, or _pino de la
tierra_, are considered a great delicacy. The _pinones_ are sometimes
boiled, and afterwards, by grinding them on a stone, converted into a
kind of paste, from which very delicate pastry is made. The pine is
cultivated in different parts of this province on account of its
valuable wood and the pinones. The seeds from the cones of the
Auracanean pine, collected in autumn, furnish the Pawenches (from
_pawen_ pine) and Auracanians with a very nutritious food. When
cooked, the flavor is not unlike that of the chesnut, and as they will
keep for some time, they constitute, when the gathering season has
been favorable, a great part of their diet.
The seeds of the cones of the nut pine (_Pinus monophyllus_), a new
species described by Dr. Torrey, and alluded to by Col. Fremont in his
exploring expedition to the Rocky Mountains, are largely used by the
North American Indians. The nut is oily, of a most agreeable flavor,
and must be very nutritious as it constitutes the principal
subsistence of many of the native tribes.
The cone of another magnificent pine (_Auracaria Bidwillii_),
indigenous to the Eastern coast of Australia, about the Moreton Bay
district, is frequently met with twelve inches in diameter, and
containing 150 edible seeds as large as a walnut. The aborigines
roast these seeds, crack the husk between two stones, and eat them
hot. They taste something like a yam or hard dry potato. The trees
bear cones only once in four years, during a period of six months.
This season is held as a great festival by the aborigines of that
locality, called by them Bunga Bunga, and they congregate in greater
numbers than is known in any other part of Australia, frequently
coming from a distance of 300 miles. They grow sleek and fat upon this
diet. An Act has been passed by the legislature of the colony,
prohibiting, under heavy pains and penalties, the demolition of those
trees, being the natural food of the natives.
The common people eat the seeds of the red sandal wood (_Adenanthera
Pavonina_) in the South of India. The pulp of the fruit of the
_Adansonia digitata_, or monkey bread, is also used as an article of
food.
SINGHARA OR WATER NUTS.--The large seeds of _Trapa bicornis_, a native
of China, and of _T. bispinosa_ and _natans_, species indigenous to
India, are sweet and eatable, and the aquatic plants which furnish
them are hence an extensive article of cultivation. In Cashmere and
other parts of the East they are common food, and known under the name
of Singhara nuts. In Cashmere the government obtains from these nuts
£12,000 of annual revenue. Mr. Moorcroft mentions that Runjeet Sing
derived nearly the same sum. From 96,000 to 128,000 loads of this nut
are yielded annually by the lake of Ooller alone. The nut abounds in
fecula. In China the kernel is used as an article of food, being
roasted or boiled like the potato. The seeds of various species of
_Nelumbium_, natives of the East Indies, Jamaica, and the United
States, also form articles of food. The fruit of _N. speciosum_ is
supposed to be the Egyptian bean of Pythagoras. The petioles and
peduncles contain numerous spiral vessels, which have been used for
wicks of candles. The fruit of _Willughbeia edulis_, a native of the
East, as its name implies, is eatable. The kernel of the mango can be
reduced to an excellent flour for making bread.
Not only from the Lichen tribe, but also from the Algæ, fungi, mosses
and ferns man derives nutriment and valuable products. Some of the
cryptogamic plants form considerable articles of commerce,
particularly as food plants, affording gelatinous and amylaceous
matter, and being useful in medicine and the arts.
_Nostoe eduli_ is used in China as food; _Gelidium corneum_ enters
into the formation of the edible swallows' nests of the Japanese
islands. Agar-agar moss is shipped from Singapore to the extent of
13,000 tons a-year. Irish moss, Iceland moss, Ceylon moss, and some
others, are also of some importance. Iodine and kelp are prepared to a
considerable extent from sea weeds; one species (_Fucus tenax_)
furnishes large supplies of glue to the Canton market, and the
orchilla weed is of great importance to the dyer. It is principally as
food that I have to speak of them in this section.
In some of the islands off the Scotch coasts, sea-wrack (_Fucus
vesiculosus_) forms the chief support of horses and cattle in the
winter months. _F. serratus_ is similarly employed in Norway.
The _Laminaria saccharina_ is interesting from the fact of its
containing sugar. It is highly esteemed in Japan, where it is
extensively used as an article of diet, being first washed in cold
water and then boiled in milk or broth.
CARRAGEEN, or IRISH ROCK MOSS, _Sphæroccus_ (_Chondus_) _crispus_,
abounds on the Western Coast of Ireland, round the Orkneys, Hebrides,
Scilly Islands, &c. It is purplish white, and nearly transparent, and
is largely imported to feed cattle and pigs in Yorkshire. It is also
used for dressing the warp of webs in the loom, and mixing with the
pulp for sizing paper in the vat. It swells up like tragacanth in
water; and, by long decoction, affords a considerable quantity of a
light, nutritious, but nauseous jelly. It is sometimes sold as pearl
moss, and is employed in the place of gelatine or isinglass for
preparing blanc-manges, jellies, &c. It fetches about £7 the ton.
AGAR-AGAR, a sort of edible seaweed, or tripe de roche, is found
growing on the rocks about the eastern islands that are covered by the
tide. It is much used for making a kind of jelly, which is highly
esteemed both by Europeans and natives for the delicacy of its flavor.
The first quality is worth about 30s. the picul (133 lbs.). An
inferior kind is collected on the submerged banks in the neighbourhood
of Macassar (Celebes), by the Bajow Laut, or Sea Gipsies. It is also
collected on the rocks about the settlement of Singapore, for export
to China, where it is much used as a size for stiffening silks and for
making jellies. It constitutes the bulk of the cargoes of the Chinese
junks on their return voyage. The quantity shipped from Singapore is
about 10,000 piculs (12,500 tons) annually.
ICELAND MOSS (_Cetraria islandica_) combines valuable alimentary and
medicinal properties. It is imported in bags and barrels from Hamburg
and Gothenburg, and is said to be the produce of Norway and Iceland.
The quantity consumed varies; in 1836, 20,599 lbs. paid duty; in 1840,
6,462 lbs. In Carniola, swine, oxen, and horses, are fattened on it.
Boiled in water or milk, and flavored to the palate with sugar, wine,
and aromatics, it forms a very agreeable diet for invalids.
CEYLON MOSS (_Gracelaria_, or _Gigartina, lichenoides_), a small and
delicate fucus, is well known for the amylaceous property it
possesses, and the large proportion of true starch it furnishes. The
fronds are filiform; the filaments much branched, and of a light
purple color. It grows abundantly in the large lake or back-water
which extends between Putlam and Calpentyr, Ceylon. It is collected by
the natives principally during the south-west monsoon, when it becomes
separated by the agitation of the water. The moss is spread on mats
and dried in the sun for two or three days. It is then washed several
times in fresh water, and again exposed to the sun, which bleaches it,
after which it is collected in heaps for exportation.
Professor O'Shaughnessy has given the best analysis of this moss,
which he described under the name of _Fucus amylaceus_; 100 grains
weight yielded the following proportions:--
Vegetable jelly 54.50
True starch 15.00
Ligneous fibre 18.00
Sulphate and muriate of soda 6.50
Gum 4.00
Sulphate and phosphate of lime 1.00
-----
Total 99.00
With a trace of wax and iron.
I observe among the imports into New Orleans, 911 bushels of Spanish
moss in 1849, and 1,394 bushels in 1848. I do not know precisely its
use, or from whence derived, but I believe it is chiefly used for
stuffing cushions, mattresses, &c.
FERN.--The rhizome of _Pteris esculenta_ is used as food in Australia,
and that of _Marattia alata_ in the Sandwich Islands. The trunks of
the _Alsophila_, or tree fern, of the western side of Van Diemen's
Land, and of the common tree fern, _Cibotium Billardieri_ (the
_Dicksonia antarctica_, of Labillardiere), contain the edible pith or
bread-fruit eaten by the natives. Many other species of ferns are
esculent. Typha bread is prepared in Scinde from the pollen of the
flowers of the _Typha elephantina_, and in New Zealand from another
species of bulrush (_Typha utilis_).
"It must not be supposed, as some have believed, that the fern root,
wherever it grows, is fit for food. On the contrary, it is only that
found in rich loose soils which contains fecula in sufficient quantity
for this purpose: in poorer ground the root contains proportionally
more fibre. We were now encamped on an alluvial flat in the valley of
the river, thirty or forty feet below the general level of the plain;
and I observed that, even in this favourable spot, a great deal of
discrimination was used in selecting the best roots, which was
discoverable by their being crisp enough to break easily when bent:
those which would not stand this test being thrown aside. Here a
quantity sufficient for several days was procured, and was packed in
baskets, to last till another spot equally favourable could be
reached.
"The process of cooking fern root is very simple; for it is merely
roasted on the fire, and afterwards bruised by means of a flat stone
similar to a cobbler's lap-stone, and a wooden pestle. The long fibres
which run like wires through the root are then easily drawn out; and
the remainder is pounded till it acquires the consistence of tough
dough, in which state it is eaten, its taste being very like that of
cassava bread. Sometimes it is sweetened with the juice of the 'tutu.'
"The natives consider that there is no better food than this for a
traveller, as it both appeases the cravings of hunger for a longer
period than their other ordinary food, and renders the body less
sensible to the fatigue of a long march. It is in this respect to the
human frame, what oats or beans are to the horse. They have a song in
praise of this root, which I have once or twice heard chanted on
occasions of festivals, by a troop of young women who carry baskets of
the food intended for the guests."--("Shortland's New Zealand.")
I ought not to omit noticing the _Tuber cibarium_, a plant of the
mushroom family, growing under ground, which furnishes the famous
truffle, so celebrated in the annals of cooking, of which immense
quantities are imported, chiefly from the South of France. It is
common also in Italy and Germany, and is often found in
Northamptonshire, and some other of our own counties. The "kemmayes,"
a desert plant of the truffle kind, is a great favorite with the
Arabs.
In Terra del Fuego the only vegetable food of the natives, besides a
few berries of a dwarf arbutus, is a species of globular bright yellow
fungus (_Cyttaria Darwinii_), which grows in vast numbers on the beech
trees. In its tough and mature state it is collected in large
quantities by the women and children, and eaten uncooked. It has a
slightly sweet mucilaginous taste, with a faint smell like that of a
mushroom.
SECTION III.
SPICES, AROMATIC CONDIMENTS, FRAGRANT WOODS, &c.
The various spices and condiments which form so large an item in our
commercial imports, are obtained from the barks, the dried seeds, the
fruit, flower-buds, and root-stocks, of different plants. The chief
aromatic barks comprise the cinnamon, cassia lignea, cascarilla, and
canella alba. The medicinal barks will be noticed elsewhere. The seeds
and fruits include pepper, pimento, cardamoms, anise, nutmegs,
chillies. The flower-buds of some furnish cloves and cassia buds; the
roots supply ginger, galangale, turmeric, and ginseng. A few other
useful substances, such as vanilla, the costus, or putchuk, mace, soy,
and some of the odoriferous woods I have included under this section.
CINNAMON.
The true cinnamon of commerce is obtained from the inner bark of
_Cinnamonum verum_, R. Brown; or _C. zeylanicum_; the _Laurus
cinnamonum_, of Linnæus, a handsome looking tree, native of the East
Indies. The island of Ceylon is the chief seat of its cultivation, and
for a long time the Dutch depended solely for their supply of this
bark for the home market on the produce of the wild cinnamon trees in
the King of Kandy's territories there. At last, from the increasing
demand, they resorted to the growth and more careful culture of the
tree themselves. About the year 1794, the cultivation had succeeded so
well that they were enabled to meet the demand for the spice from
trees of their own growth, independent of any supplies from the
Kandian monarch's territory.
In 1796, when this island fell into our hands, the local government
endeavoured, after the former fashion of the Dutch, to restrain the
production of this article of commerce within due bounds, by
destroying all above a certain quantity.
General Maitland, in 1805, and his successors in the government,
seeing the folly of such a ridiculous policy, very wisely fostered and
promoted the extended cultivation of cinnamon plantations.
In the island of Java, and in Cochin-China, cinnamon culture has
within the last few years made considerable progress.
The leaves of the cinnamon tree are more or less acuminated, from five
to eight inches long, by about three broad, growing in pairs opposite
each other. They have three principal ribs, which come in contact at
its base, but do not unite. The leaves, when first developed, are of a
bright red hue, then of a pale yellow, and lastly of a dark shining
green; when mature, they emit a strong aromatic odor if broken or
rubbed in the hands, and have the pungent taste of cloves. The young
twigs of the true cinnamon tree are not downy, like those of the
cassia bark. The plant blooms in January and February, and the seeds
ripen in July and August.
The blossoms grow on slender foot-stalks, of a pale yellow color, from
the axillæ of the leaves and the extremity of the branches. They are
numerous clusters of small white flowers, having a brownish shade in
the centre, about the same size as the lilac, which it resembles. The
fruit is a drupe, about the size of a small hedge strawberry,
containing one seed, and of the shape of an acorn, which when ripe is
soft and of a dark purple color.
The roots are fibrous, hard, and tough, covered with an odoriferous
bark; on the outside of a greyish brown, and on the inside of a
reddish hue. They strike about three feet into the earth, and spread
to a considerable distance. Many of them smell strongly of camphor,
which is sometimes extracted from them.
The trees in their wild state will grow ordinarily to the height of 30
feet. The trunk is about three feet in circumference, and throws out a
great number of large spreading horizontal branches, clothed with
thick foliage. When cultivated for their bark, the trees are not
permitted to rise above the height of ten feet.
The true cinnamon tree (according to Mr. Crawfurd) is not a native of
the islands of the Eastern Archipelago; but Marshall, in his
description and history of the tree ("Annals of Philos," vol. x.)
assigns very extensive limits to its cultivation. He asserts that it
is found on the Malabar coast, in Cochin-China, and Tonquin, Sumatra,
the Soolo Archipelago, Borneo, Timor, the Nicobar and Philippine
Islands. It has been transplanted, and grows well in the Mauritius,
Bourbon and the eastern coast of Africa; in the Brazils, Guiana, in
South America, and Guadaloupe, Martinique, Tobago, and Jamaica; but
produces in the West a bark of very inferior quality to the Oriental.
Rumphius has remarked, that the trees which yield cinnamon, cassia,
and clove bark (_Cinnamonum Culilaban_), though so much alike, are
hardly ever found in the same countries.
The term clove bark has been applied to the barks of two different
trees belonging to the natural order _Laurineæ_. One of these barks is
frequently called "Culilaban bark." It consists of almost flat
pieces, and is obtained from _Cinnamonum Culilaban_, a tree growing in
Amboyna, and probably other parts of the Moluccas.
The other bark, known as clove bark, occurs in quills, which are
imported from South America. Murray says it is produced by the _Myrtus
carophyllata_, a tree termed by Decandolle _Syzgium carophyllæum_. It
appears, however, that this is an error, for both Nees and Von Martius
declare it to be the produce of _Dicypellium caryophyllatum_; and the
last quoted authority states that this tree is the noblest of all the
laurels found in the Brazils, where it is called "Pao Cravo." It grows
at Para and Rio Negro.
Cinnamon may be propagated by seeds, plants, or layers; roots also, if
carefully transplanted, will thrive in favorable localities, and yield
useful shoots in twelve months. It is usually cultivated from suckers,
which should not have more than three or four leaves, and require
continual watering. If raised from seed, the young plants are kept in
a nursery for a year or two, and then transplanted; but the trees from
seeds are longer arriving at maturity. The plants are kept well
earthed about the roots to retain the moisture, and coco-nut husks are
placed above them, which in time form an excellent compost.
A cinnamon plantation, even in a favorable locality, seldom yields
much return until eight or nine years have elapsed.
The mode of cultivation pursued by the natives differs from that
followed in the plantations of the Europeans. The native system is to
allow the cinnamon to grow large before cutting; the European practice
is to cut it young. The result is that the native produces quantity,
but coarse; the European produces quality, but less in quantity. I
have found, in conversation with the native growers, that they
consider the bush or tree decidedly weakened by its being kept down by
constant cutting twice a year; and that their plants are stronger and
better. It is not absolutely an original opinion, but I think the two
systems might be judiciously blended. In cutting the cinnamon sticks
for peeling, as the Europeans do it twice a year, there is always risk
of losing much valuable young wood, which is destroyed in slashing
into the bushes with _catties_ (bill-hooks) to take out that which is
in a fit state for peeling, all of which is so much loss from the next
cutting; and on this ground I should be inclined to advocate cutting
once a year. There are, I know, other considerations than the mere
growth of the sticks to be taken into account. Of these may be named
the time when the bark peels best from the stick, which of course must
depend upon age as well as season, the excited or unexcited state of
the shoots, and their several effects upon the quality of the spice.
Weeding the plantations does not seem to be of so much consequence, if
the shrub gets plenty of free air all round it.
Cinnamon land continues to yield abundantly crop after crop, not for
years, but for scores of years. The greater portion of the late
preserved plantations in Ceylon were planted by the Dutch, one hundred
years ago, and the bushes are stated to be as vigorous as ever, and
quite likely to go on yielding crops till the year 2000. This
productiveness can only be accounted for on Liebig's principle of
returning to the soil a portion of what we take from it. In the
operation of peeling cinnamon, the tops and lateral branches are cut
off, and left by the peelers on the ground close to the bushes. These,
no doubt, furnish a considerable quantity of manure to the plants.
The general appearance of the plantation is that of a copse, with
laurel leaves and stems, about the thickness of hazel; occasionally a
tree may be seen which, having been allowed to grow for seed, has
reached a height of forty or fifty feet, with a trunk eighteen inches
in diameter. When in full bloom, the cinnamon bushes have a very
beautiful appearance, the small white petals affording a most
agreeable contrast with the flame-colored extremities of the upper,
and the dark green of the inferior foliage, with the blossoms of
various lovely parasitical plants.
The cinnamon tree flourishes only in a small portion of the island of
Ceylon. It is chiefly confined to the south-west angle, formed by the
sea coast, from Tangalle in the south to Chilaw on the west. It is in
a climate of agreeable temperature, which is at once hot and moist;
hot from its tropical position, and moist from the frequency and
plentifulness of rains. The general level of the country is low, in
the midst of fresh-water lakes, divided from the sea by a narrow
riband of land. And the water in the soil of the cinnamon gardens is
of extraordinary purity, so as to be for that reason much in request
in the neighbouring city as a beverage. This exact combination of
influences does not occur anywhere else in the island, at least not in
the same degree.
The cultivation principally centres round Colombo, the capital and
principal port.
On the hills and valleys, in the neighbourhood of Kandy, which have a
temperate climate, the tree flourishes well; a rather elevated
situation, with shelter, contributing to the luxuriance of the plants.
The best soil for it appears to be a pure quartz sand, which in some
places rests on black moss or mould. From the surface to the depth of
a few inches, this sand is as fine in its nature and as pearly white
in its appearance as the best table salt; but below that depth, and
near the roots of the bushes, the sand is greyish.
A specimen of this soil being carefully dried by Dr. Davy, was found
to consist of 98.5 silicious sand, 0.5 vegetable matter, and 1.1
water--in 100 parts. This circumstance impresses one very strongly on
visiting the cinnamon gardens; it seems so strange to see a plain of
pure quartz sand whitened in the sun, and yet covered over with a
luxuriant growth of trees. In richer soils the aroma does not seem to
develop itself in the same concentrated form.
A mixture of loam and peat, with sand, is said, however, to form a
good soil in some localities. These plantations may well suggest a
doubt as to the truth of the proposition so unqualifiedly laid down by
some authors, that "earth destitute of organic matter cannot sustain
vegetation." Certainly it is not organic matter which supports the
cinnamon trees of Colombo.
_Peeling_.--The best cinnamon is obtained from the stalks or twigs,
which shoot up in a cluster of eight or ten together from the roots,
after the parent bush or tree has been cut down. These shoots are cut
once in about three years, close to the ground. Great care is
requisite, both as to the exact size and age; for if the bark is too
young, it has a green taste, if too old it is rough and gritty. These
shoots yield an incomparably fine cinnamon bark. When cut for peeling
they are of various sizes and lengths, depending on the texture of the
bark. These rods afford the hazel-like walking-sticks so much esteemed
by strangers, and which, though difficult to be procured during the
prevalence of the oppressive cinnamon regulations, may now be very
easily obtained from proprietors of grounds producing that spice.
Cinnamon is barked at two periods of the year, between April and
December. Those suckers which are considered fit for cutting, are
usually about three-fourths of an inch in diameter, and five feet or
more long. The first operation is to strip them of the outside
pellicle of bark. The twigs are then ripped up lengthwise with the
point of a knife, and the liber or inner bark gradually loosened, till
it can be entirely taken off. While drying they are cut up into long
narrow rolls, called "quills," then stuck into one another, so as to
form pipes about three or four feet long, which are afterwards made up
in round bundles.
During the first day the cinnamon is suspended under shelter upon open
platforms, and on the second day it is placed on wicker-work shelves,
and exposed to the sun until sufficiently dry to be examined and
sorted for shipment.
It is brought home in bags or bales of 80 or 90 lbs. weight, and
classed before export into three sorts; first, second, and third
quality. The different kinds of cinnamon bark may be thus classified,
according to quality--
1. That which ranks above all others in quality, is known by the
Singhalese name of _penne_ or _rasse kuroondu_, sharp sweet, or honey
cinnamon.
2. _Naya kuroondu_, snake cinnamon.
3. _Kapoorn kuroondu_, camphorated cinnamon, from the very strong
smell of camphor which it possesses. This variety is principally
obtained from the plantations of the interior.
4. _Kahate_ or _canalle kuroondu_, astringent cinnamon. In this
species the bark peels off very easily, and smells agreeably when
fresh, but it has a bitter taste.
5. _Savel kuroondu_, mucilaginous or glutinous cinnamon. This sort
acquires a very considerable degree of hardness, which the chewing of
it sufficiently proves. It has otherwise little taste, and an
ungrateful smell; but the color is very fine, and it is often mixed
with the first and best sort; the color being much alike, excepting
only that in the good sort some few yellowish spots appear towards the
extremities.
6. _Dawool kuroondu_, or drum cinnamon. The wood of this tree, when
grown hard, is light and tough, and the natives make some of their
vessels and drums of it. The bark is of a pale color.
7. _Nika kuroondu_, wild cinnamon, whose leaf resembles that of the
nicasol (_Vitex Negundo_). The bark of this tree has neither taste or
smell when peeled, and is made use of by the natives only in physic,
and to extract an oil from to anoint their bodies.
8. _Mal kuroondu_, flowering cinnamon, because this tree is always in
blossom. The substance of the wood never becomes so solid and weighty
in this as in the other named species, which are sometimes nine or ten
feet in circumference. If this ever-flowering cinnamon be cut or
bored, a limpid water will issue out of the wound; but it is of use
only for the leaves and bark.
9. _Toupat kuroondu_, trefoil cinnamon, of which there are three
varieties, which grow in the mountains and valleys of the interior
about Kandy.
10. _We kuroondu_, white ant's cinnamon.
The first-named four of these are, however, alone varieties of the
_Cinnamonum verum_.
Good cinnamon is known by the following properties:--It is thin and
rather pliable; it ought to be about the substance of royal paper, or
somewhat thicker. It admits of a considerable degree of pressure, and
bends before it breaks; the fracture is then splintering. It is of a
light color, approaching to yellow, bordering but little upon the
brown; it possesses a sweetish taste, at the same time it is not
stronger than can be borne without pain, and is not succeeded by any
after-taste. The more cinnamon departs from these characteristics, the
coarser and less serviceable it is esteemed; and it should be rejected
if it be hard, and thick as a half-crown piece; if it be very dark
colored or brown; if it be very pungent and hot on the tongue, with a
taste bordering upon that of cloves, so that it cannot be suffered
without pain. Particular care should be taken that it is not
false-packed, or mixed with cinnamon of a common sort.
The following remarks, by Mr. Dunewille, of Malacca, as to the
suitability of the Straits' Settlements for cinnamon culture, are
interesting, although in some instances a repetition of previous
observations:--
It appears, from experience, that the soil of Ceylon is more
favorable to the growth of cinnamon than to that of any other
aromatic plant, and I find the climate of Ceylon, if at all, differs
but in a very slight degree from that of the Straits. I therefore
conclude that the spice, if cultivated in the Straits, will prove
superior to that of Ceylon, if one may judge from the various spices
that grow here almost wild, and it would moreover yield a better
return than in Ceylon. My supposition is confirmed from having seen
the spice which was prepared last year in Pringet by the Honorable
Resident Councillor of Malacca, and which I found to be equally as
good in every respect as that grown and cultivated in the maritime
provinces in Ceylon.
A sandy soil is that which is generally selected for cinnamon, but
other soils may be chosen also, such as a mixture of sandy with red
soil, free from quartz, gravel, or rock, also red and dark brown
soils. Such land in a flat country is preferable to hilly spots,
upon which, however, cinnamon also grows, and are known by the name
of the "Kandyan Mountains." The soil that is rocky and stony under
the surface is bad, and not adapted for the cultivation of cinnamon,
as the trees would neither grow fast, nor yield a remunerative
return.
When a tract of land of the above description is selected, the whole
of the ground should be cleared, leaving a few trees for shade, to
which the laborers might return for rest and relaxation; these may
be from 50 to 60 feet apart. The trees felled should be well lopped,
burnt and cleared away, the stumps should be removed with roots,
after which they may be allowed to remain, in order to save expense
of carriage, merely by observing some degree of order in the
disposition, by forming regular rows, of which the intervening
spaces are planted with cinnamon. The ground being thus cleared,
holes may be dug at eight to ten feet apart, and of one foot square;
the distance from each plant will depend upon the nature of the
soil--that is, the poorer the soil, the nearer to each other should
the trees be planted, and _vice versa_.
When this operation is over, should the holes be intended for
cinnamon roots, or stumps, the latter must be carefully removed with
as much earth as can be carried up with them and placed in the
holes, taking care not to return the earth removed originally in
digging the holes, which are to be filled with the soil scraped from
the surface, which has been previously burnt, exposed, and formed
into manure. Should no rain have fallen after the placing of the
roots in the holes, the stumps should be well covered, and watered
morning and evening, until such time as the sprouts shoot out fresh
buds, which will be in a fortnight or so from the time they were
transplanted, when the watering may be discontinued. In a month the
new shoots will be three or four inches high; this much depends upon
the weather.
If the holes be intended for young plants or seedlings, the plants
must be removed with boles of earth from the nurseries, and placed
in the holes, taking the same care as with the stumps, both in
watering and covering, in the event of its being dry weather. When
the seedlings take root, the coverings should not be removed until
the plants throw out a new pair of leaves from the buds, which is a
sign of their having taken root.
When a plantation is formed of old stumps, all the branches should
be cut down within six inches from the ground; this should be done
with one stroke of a sharp instrument, in order to avoid the
splitting of the stem. From these stumps cinnamon may be cut and
peeled within eighteen months from the time of transplanting. Often
this is done after the lapse of twelve months from the time of
transplanting.
From seedlings one cannot expect to gather a crop before two or
three years from the time the plants were transplanted, when there
will be but one or a single tree, which, when cut down as already
shown, four or six inches to the ground, ought to be covered with
fresh earth gathered from the space between the rows, and formed in
a heap round the plant. The next crop will be three or four times as
much as the first, from the number of sprouts the stem will throw
out, and so on every year, the crop increasing according to the
number of sprouts each stem will throw out yearly from the cuttings.
In the course of seven or eight years, the space left between the
rows will only admit the peelers and others to go round the bushes,
weed, clear and remove cuttings, as the branches from each bush will
almost touch each other at their ends.
It is essentially necessary to take every care not to allow any
creepers or other weeds to grow, the former interfere with the
growth of the bushes by entangling, because it not only takes out so
much of the support feeding the cinnamon trees, but interferes with
the peelers during the cutting season, and prevents the branches
growing up straight with a free circulation of air. The plantation
ought to be kept clean and free from weeds; the cinnamon requires no
manuring, but when the plantation is weeding the bushes should be
covered with the surface soil and raising the ground round the bush
by making a heap of the earth, which answers well in lieu of manure.
This operation must be attended to as soon as the cinnamon sticks
are removed for peeling. The plantation requires weeding three or
four times a year during the first two or three years, then twice a
year will answer the purpose; as by that time the trees will form
into bushes and destroy the seeds of the weeds on the ground.
The forming of a nursery is necessary, for which a space of ground,
say an acre, should be selected in a rich bit of soil free from
stones. Clear the whole brushwood, only leaving the large trees for
shade, remove all stones, stumps, and roots, dig the place well six
or eight inches deep, then form into long beds of three or four feet
wide, put the seeds down nine or twelve inches apart, cover them
eight or twelve inches above the ground by a platform, and water
them every other day until the seeds grow up and give one pair of
leaves, then leave off watering (unless great dry weather prevail,
then it ought to be continued) but not uncover until the plants grow
up six or eight inches high, and can bear the sun; these seedlings
will be ready for transplanting after three months from the time
they were sown.
The forming of nurseries is done at the close of the year, before
December. When this is done first, the party commences clearing and
preparing the land during the dry season, which is from the
beginning of December up to the end of March following. April will
set in with heavy rain (it is generally so in Ceylon), and it will
continue wet weather till the end of August, very often till
September and October, and you have the benefit of four or five
months rain.
The cinnamon seeds are to be gathered when they are fully ripe, they
must be heaped up in a shady place, to have the outside red pulp
rotted, when it turns quite black, then have the seeds trampled or
otherwise freed from the decomposed pulp, without injuring the
seeds, and well washed in water (just as is done to cherry coffee,
before they are made into parchment in the whole shell). Finally,
have the seeds[48] well dried in the air without exposing them to
the sun, and then put them in on the ground prepared for their
reception. In washing the seeds, those that float on the surface
should be rejected.
There are five different sorts of cinnamon, viz.:--
1st is called Panny Meers Carundoo.
2nd Tittha " "
3rd Kahatte " "
4th Wallee " "
5th Savell " "
Of these, the first kind is the best of all, the 2nd and 3rd,
although inferior, are peeled likewise, the 4th and 5th are
spurious.
The distinction in the cinnamon can be known both by taste, the
shape of the leaves on the tree, and an experienced "Challya" man
will judge the cinnamon by first sight.
The quality of the bark depends upon its situation in the branch,
that peeled from the middle of the bush or branch being the _most
superior_, and classed as 1st sort, that taken from the upper end is
the 2nd quality, while the bark removed from the base of the branch,
or the thickest end, is the inferior, and called the 3rd sort.
From the cinnamon bark refused in the sorting store of all kinds, in
separating the first, second and third qualities and in making bales
for exportation, the refuse is collected, and by a chemical process
cinnamon oil is extracted, which sells very high, with an export
duty of 3s. or l½ rupees on each ounce, exclusive of the British
duties payable in England for importation, which is at present one
shilling and three pence per pound.[49] Of the cinnamon roots
camphor is made, which sells well both in Ceylon and other parts of
the world.
Cinnamon, as a medicine, is a powerful stimulant, but it is not much
used alone. It is generally united with other tonics and stimulants,
but its ordinary use is to mask the disagreeable odor and taste of
other medicines. The oil of cinnamon is prepared by being grossly
powdered and macerated in sea water for two days and two nights, and
both are put into the still. A light oil comes over with the water,
and floats on its surface; a heavy oil sinks to the bottom of the
receiver, four hours before the light oil separates from the water,
and whilst the heavy oil continues to be precipitated for ten,
twelve, or sometimes fourteen days. The heavy oil, which separates
first, is about the same color as the light oil, but sometimes the
portion which separates last has a browner shade than the supernatant
oil. The same water can be used advantageously in a second
distillation. Professor Duncan informs us that 80 lbs. of
newly-prepared cinnamon yield about 2½ ozs. of oil, which floats upon
the water, and 5½ of heavy oil. The same quantity of cinnamon, if kept
in store for many years, yields 2 ozs. of light oil and 5 ozs. of
heavy oil.
Cinnamon oil is obtained from the fragments of bark which remain after
peeling, sorting, and packing. It is distilled over with difficulty,
and the process is promoted by the addition of salt water, and the use
of a low still. The oil thus obtained by distillation is at first of a
yellow color, but soon assumes a reddish brown hue. It has an odor
intermediate between that of cinnamon and vanilla, but possesses in a
high degree both the sweet burning taste and the agreeable aromatic
smell of cinnamon. It is heavier than water, its specific gravity
being 1.035.
The ripe fruit of this tree yields a concrete oil called cinnamon
suet, which was formerly employed to make candles for the Kandian
kings. An oil, called clove oil, is also distilled from the leaf,
which is said to be equal in aromatic pungency to that made from the
clove at the Moluccas.
The following were the quantities sold, and the average prices
realised during the Dutch rule in Ceylon:--
s. d.
1690 3,750 bales sold at 4 8 all round.
1709 3,750 " 4 6 "
1710 3,500 " 4 4 "
1720 5,000 " 4 4 "
1740 4,000 " 9 3 "
1760 5,000 " 8 5 "
1780 2,500 " 12 6 "
1784 2,500 " 17 4 "
The last quotation appears to have been the highest ever obtained for
cinnamon, for 17s. 8d. average would give about 22s. for the first
sort. In later years we find the deliveries and prices to have been as
follows:--
s. d.
1824 5,934 bales sold at 6 6 all round.
1828 3,918 " 6 0 "
1830 5,849 " 7 8 "
1842 1,018 " --- "
1845 3,245 " --- "
The comparative exports of cinnamon from Ceylon in the first six
months of 1853, as compared with the same period last year, are as
follows:--
1853. 1852.
lbs. lbs.
Quarter ending 5th January 99,778 93,291
" 5th April 73,815 135,248
------- -------
Total 173,593 228,539
The diminished export was caused by the prospective abolition of the
export duty, which came into operation on the 1st July last. The
quantity that will be sent to the English market by the close of the
year (1853) will be something prodigious compared with the average
consumption. From October 10, 1852, to July 22, 1853, the shipments
were 406,326 lbs.
RETURN OF CINNAMON EXPORTED FROM CEYLON, SHOWING THE QUANTITY AND
VALUE.
Quantity. Value.
Year. lbs. £
1836 724,364 --
1837 558,110 --
1838 398,198 --
1839 596,592 --
1840 389,373 --
1841 317,919 24,857
1842 121,145 15,207
1843 662,704 66,270
1844 1,057,841 105,784
1845 408,211 40,821
1846 491,656 49,165
1847 447,369 44,736
1848 491,688 49,168
1849 733,782 73,378
1850 644,857 64,485
1851 500,518 50,051
1852 427,667 42,766
The question of the export duty on cinnamon has, during the last
twenty years, occupied a considerable space in Ceylon correspondence
and the Island journals. This duty was first imposed in 1832, on the
abolition of the Grovernment monopoly, and was then fixed at the rate
of 3s. per lb. on all qualities. From the 19th April, 1835, it was
fixed at 3s. per lb. on the best, and 2s. on the second quality. It
was reduced in January, 1837, to 2s. 6d. on the first and second
sorts, and 2s. on the third; and in June, 1841, to 2s. on all
qualities; in 1843, to 1s.; and in September, 1848, to 4d. per lb.
Such a rate of export duty could be maintained only on an article for
which there was a considerable demand, and which could not be supplied
from other places, and this was for a long time the case. The
circumstances are now different, and the abolition of the duty, which
has so repeatedly been brought under the notice of the Treasury, has
at length been determined on. The quantity of cinnamon, &c., taken for
consumption in the United Kingdom, scarcely amounts to 2,800 bales per
annum. The sale and consumption is nearly stationary, and cinnamon is
only in demand for those finer purposes for which cassia, its
competitor, cannot be used. Whilst we imported the large amount of
700,095 lbs. in 1850, only 28,347 lbs. went into consumption. The
consumption has declined in the last two years to about 21,500 lbs.
Cinnamon is now imported into the United Kingdom duty free.
The land under cultivation with cinnamon in Ceylon is about 13,000
acres, principally in the western and southern provinces. The number
of gardens being eleven at Kaderane, seven at Ekelli, seven at
Morotto, six at Marandham, and two at Willisene. Several enterprising
planters have recently commenced the cultivation of this spice at
Singapore and Malacca. The plants already promise well. Indeed there
can be little doubt of its thriving, as the tree has been long grown
in gardens and pleasure grounds in those settlements, as an ornamental
plant, and has always flourished.
The Ceylon article is being supplanted in the continental markets by a
cheaper one, of China and Malabar growth. The Javanese, tempted by the
fatally high prices caused by the excessive duties on our Colonial
spice, smuggled a quantity of seed, and with it a cinnamon cultivator,
out of the island, and have since paid considerable attention to its
growth. The Dutch have at present more than five millions of plants,
equal to upwards of 5,000 acres, the greater part of which are in
tolerably full bearing.
The cinnamon trees in Java begin to blossom in the month of March.
They do not all flower at the same time, but in succession. The fruit
begins to ripen in October in the same manner, so that the crop lasts
from October to February. In Ceylon the blossom begins to appear in
November. The seeds when plucked ought to be fully ripe, and after
being separated from the outer pulpy covering, should be dried in the
shade. They can be kept for two or three months in dry sand or ashes,
but must not be exposed to the sun, as they would split, and thus be
rendered useless.
The plants in nurseries must be well sheltered from the sun and heavy
rains, but the plants are strengthened by the covers being removed at
night when heavy rains are not expected to fall, and in the day time
when only light rains prevail. The mode of planting out, cultivation,
preparing the bark, &c., appears to be the same in Java as that
practised in Ceylon. The only difference is, that while in Ceylon the
cinnamon, when ready for market, is packed in "gunny" or canvass bags,
in Java it is put into boxes, made of wood free from any smell or
flavor which would injure the spice. The inferior cinnamon, however,
is packed in straw mats.
The following is a return of the extent of cinnamon culture in Java
:--
In 1840. In 1841.
Residencies in which cinnamon is cultivated 10 10
Number of plantations 48 49
" families devoted to this culture 7,901 9,688
" paid _budjans_ 294 345
Extent of ground occupied by the cultivation,
in _bahus_ of 71 decametres 1,690 1,880
--------- ---------
Cinnamon trees of which the bark can be taken 1,106,566 1,407,213
Young trees in the parks 2,478,427 2,565,774
For renewing 307,000 86,800
--------- ---------
Total 3,891,998 4,059,787
--------- ---------
Cinnamon crop, in Dutch lbs. 57,074 38,219
" refuse 23,283 82,803
The number of trees peeled in 1842 was taken at 1,824,599, and the
crop reckoned at 108,905 lbs.
In the residency of Bantam, four trees suffice to produce a pound of
cinnamon, whilst in the other residencies eleven trees must generally
be stripped to furnish the same quantity; in 1839 one pound could
scarcely be obtained from thirteen trees.
This cultivation increases each year, and the quality of the produce
improves, whilst the expenses diminish. However, the Dutch Government
has judged it proper not to extend it, although the soil of Java
appears favorable to this culture.
From 200,000 to 300,000 lbs. of true cinnamon, not freed from its
epidermis, is exported annually from Cochin-China.
JAVA CINNAMON SOLD IN HOLLAND.
lbs.
In 1835 2,200
" 1836 1,300
" 1837 1,600
" 1838 2,100
" 1839 4,700
" 1840 7,900
" 1841 23,900
" 1842 13,000
" 1843 23,000
" 1844 101,400
" 1845 134,500
" 1848 250,550
STATISTICS OF PACKAGES IN LONDON.
1842. 1843. 1844. 1845.
Imported 2,196 4,458 9,197 8,909
Exported 3,661 3,964 6,712 6,081
Duty paid 838 738 801 1,012
Stock 2,709 2,622 4,230 5,549
CASSIA BARK.
_Cinnamonum Cassia_, or _aromaticum_, the _Laurus cassia_ of Linnæus,
seems to be the chief source of the "cassia lignea" of commerce. It
differs from the true cinnamon tree in many particulars. Its leaves
are oblong-lanceolate; they have three ribs, which coalesce into one
at the base; its young twigs are downy, and its leaves have the taste
of cinnamon.
Malabar cassia appears to be the produce of another species of
_Cinnamonum_, probably _C. eucalyptoides_, or _Malabatrum_.
Dr. Wight, of the Madras Medical Service, in a report to the East
India Company, expresses his belief that the cassia producing plants
extend to nearly every species of the genus. "A set of specimens (he
observes) submitted for my examination, of the trees furnishing cassia
on the Malabar coast, presented no fewer than four distinct species;
including among them the genuine cinnamon plant, the bark of the older
trees of which, it would appear, are exported from the coast as
cassia. Three or four more species are natives of Ceylon, exclusive of
the cinnamon proper, all of which greatly resemble the cinnamon plant,
and in the woods might easily be mistaken for it and peeled, though
the produce would be inferior. Thus we have from Western India and
Ceylon alone, probably not less than six plants producing cassia; add
to these nearly twice as many more species of _Cinnamonum_, the
produce of the more eastern states of Asia, and the Islands of the
Eastern Archipelago, all remarkable for their striking family
likeness; all, I believe, endowed with aromatic properties, and
probably the greater part, if not the whole, contributing something
towards the general result, and we at once see the impossibility of
awarding to any one individual species the credit of being the source
whence the _Cassia lignea_ of commerce is derived; and equally the
impropriety of applying to any one of them the comprehensive specific
appellation of cassia, since all sorts of cinnamon-like plants,
yielding bark of a quality unfit to bear the designation of cinnamon
in the market, are passed off as cassia."
The cassia tree, according to Mr. Crawfurd, is found in the more
northern portion of the Indian isles, as in the Philippines,
Majindanao, Sumatra, Borneo, and parts of Celebes. It is also grown on
the western coast of Africa. The principal seat of its culture is,
however, the Malabar coast, and the provinces of Quantong and Kingse,
in China.
The famous cassia of China is incomparably superior in perfume and
flavor to any spice of its class. Its native place is unknown, though
supposed to be the interior provinces of China. The market price is
said to be £5 per lb.
The Malabar sort brought from Bombay is thicker, darker colored, and
coarser than that from China, and is more subject to foul packing. A
small quantity of cassia is brought from Mauritius and Brazil, and a
large amount from the Philippine Islands.
Cassia bark fetches from 80s. to 105s. per cwt. in the London market,
according to quality. The imports appear on the decline. In 1843 and
1844 we imported nearly two millions of pounds. The quantity imported
and retained for home consumption in the past four years are shown in
the following figures:--
Imported. Retained for consumption.
lbs. lbs.
1848 510,247 76,152
1849 472,693 83,500
1850 1,050,008 97,178
1851 267,582 82,467
The cheaper Indian barks, as well as the cinnamon of the East, seemed
at one time to be fast driving out of the market the superior class
cinnamon of Ceylon.
In 1841 Java exported 400 cwts. of cinnamon; and the quantity of
cassia imported into the United Kingdom from India and the Philippine
Islands, in the five years ending with 1844, was--
lbs.
1840 329,310
1841 1,261,648
1842 1,312,804
1843 2,470,502
1844 1,278,413
40,000 lbs. were received from India in 1848; and 3,795 arrobas of
cassia were exported from Manila in 1847. In 1852, 2,806 cwts. of
cassia were received at Singapore from China, and 1,380 cwts. exported
from that settlement to the Continent, against 903 cwts. shipped in
the previous year.
What the Ceylon spice-grower wants, is an extended field of
operation--a larger class of consumers to take off his cinnamon, and
this can only be obtained by bringing it within the means of the great
mass of cassia buyers.
Look at the quantity of cinnamon exported by the Dutch in the middle
of the eighteenth century. Eight or nine thousand bales a year were
exported, and now, after a lapse of a hundred years, Ceylon hardly
sends away half that quantity. Yet the consumption of spice must have
kept pace with the increased population of countries using it, and so
it has. But the difference is made up, and more than made up, by
cassia from China, Java, Sumatra, Malabar Coast, &c., and though the
new article is not equal to the cinnamon of Ceylon, yet the vast
difference in the price obtains for it the preference. Now what the
Ceylon planter wants, is to be allowed to produce a spice on equal
terms, and of a superior quality to cassia, which might be done under
an _ad valorem_ export duty of 5 per cent. Spice of this description
of course could not afford the high cultivation bestowed on the fine
qualities, neither would it be required. In fact little or no
cultivation need be given it. At present anything inferior to the
third sort is not worth producing, because it cannot stand the
shilling export duty. But under a more enlightened system of things,
with a low duty such as I suggest, myriads of bushes would spring up
on those low, sandy, and at present unprofitable wastes that skirt the
sea-coast of the western province, around Negombo and Chilaw.
The difference of duty would be more than made up by the diffusion of
capital in planting, the employment of vast numbers of laborers, the
purchase from Government of many thousand acres of now valueless
flats, and all the attendant benefits arising out of the development
of a new field of operation for the colonial industrial resources.[50]
The cassia tree grows naturally to the height of 50 or 60 feet, with
large, spreading, horizontal branches. The peelers take off the two
barks together, and separating the rough outer one, which is of no
value, they lay the inner bark to dry, which rolls up and becomes the
_Cassia lignea_ of commerce. It resembles cinnamon in taste, smell and
appearance. The best is imported from China, either direct from
Canton, or through Singapore, in small tubes or quills, sometimes the
thickness of the ordinary pipes of cinnamon and of the same length;
but usually they are shorter and thicker, and the bark itself coarser.
It is of a tolerably smooth surface and brownish color, with some cast
of red, but much less so than cinnamon. The exports from China are
said to be about five million pounds annually; price about 32s. per
cwt. In 1850, 6,509 piculs of cassia lignea (nearly one million
pounds), valued at 87,850 dollars, were shipped from the single port
of Canton. Cassia bark is of a less fibrous texture, and more brittle,
and it is also distinguished from cinnamon by a want of pungency, and
by being of a mucilaginous or gelatinous quality.
CASSIA BUDS are the dried flower buds (perianth and ovary) of the
cassia tree, and are mostly brought from China. They bear some
resemblance to a clove, but are smaller, and when fresh have a rich
cinnamon flavor. They should be chosen round, fresh, and free from
stalk and dirt. They are used chiefly in confectionery, and have the
flavor and pungency of cassia. The exports from Canton in 1844 were
21,500 lbs.; in 1850, 44,140 lbs., valued at 7,400 dollars. The
average quantity of cassia buds imported into the United Kingdom, in
each of the thirteen years ending with 1842, was 40,231 lbs.; the
average quantity entered for home consumption in these years was 6,610
lbs., and the average annual amount of duty received was £312.
Cassia bark yields a yellow volatile oil, called oil of cassia, the
finer kind of which differs but little in its properties from that of
cinnamon, for which it is generally substituted; it has a specific
gravity of 1071. The best is manufactured in China, where the wood,
bark, leaves and oil are all in request. The cassia oil is rated at
150 dollars per picul, and the trade in this article reaches about
250,000 dollars.
CANELLA ALBA, or wild cinnamon, is a valuable and ornamental tree,
growing about fifteen feet high, which is cultivated in South America
and the West Indies for its pungent bark, which is shipped to this
country in bales or cases, in long quills and flat pieces, something
like cinnamon. Large old cuttings root readily in the sand. It is
grown chiefly in the Bahama Islands, from whence we derive our
supplies.
By the Caribs, the ancient natives of the West Indies, and the
negroes, it was first employed as a condiment. In this country it is
chiefly used as an aromatic stimulant and tonic, ranking between
cinnamon and cloves. The bark possesses, however, no other quality
than its hot spicy flavor and strong aromatic odor when exposed to the
action of heat.
CASCARILLA BARK is obtained chiefly from the _Croton cascarilla_, a
small shrub growing at St. Domingo, the Bahama Islands, and the
Antilles. The chief portion comes from Eleuthera. In Hayti a pleasant
kind of tea is made from the leaves. Other species of the family
supply some of the bark of commerce.
From its strong and aromatic properties it has been found very
efficacious in all febrile diseases, and vies with the Jesuits' bark;
as a tonic it has very wholesome qualities, a pleasant and strong
bitterness, and was for some time held in considerable repute among
the faculty.
About twenty years ago, large shipments were made from the Bahamas.
It was found, upon adulteration with hops, to reduce the cost of that
article, and for the encouragement of the hop grower a prohibitory
impost was laid upon it by the Home Government, consequently it became
an unsaleable product.
The sea-side balsam, or sweet wood (_Croton Eleuteria_), from which
some cascarilla bark is obtained, grows in the Bahama Islands and
Jamaica, but almost all the bark imported comes from Nassau, New
Providence. In 1840, 15,000 lbs. were imported for home consumption.
This bark produces the combined effect of an aromatic and of a
moderately powerful tonic; but it does not possess any astringency. It
has been employed as a substitute for cinchona. When burned it gives
out a musky odor, and is often used in pastiles.
The value of this bark ranges, according to quality, from 17s. 6d. to
43 s. per cwt.
CLOVES.
The cloves of commerce are obtained from the flower buds of
_Caryophyllus aromaticus (Eugenia caryophyllata_), which was
originally a native of the Moluccas, but is now cultivated in several
parts of the East and West Indies. They have the form of a nail, and
when examined are seen to consist of the tubular calyx with a roundish
projection, formed by the unopened petals. It is a very handsome tree,
growing to the height of about twenty feet. The trunk is straight, and
rises four or five feet before it throws out branches. The bark is
smooth, thin, of a grey color, and the wood of the trunk too hard for
ordinary cabinet work.
The leaves are opposite, smooth, narrow, pointed, of a rupous color
above, and green on the under side. They have a very aromatic odor
when bruised between the fingers. The flowers produced in branched
peduncles, at the extremity of the bough, are of a delicate peach
color. The elongated calyx, forming the seed vessel, first changes to
yellow, and, when ripe, red, which is from October to December, and in
this state it is fit to gather. If left for a few weeks longer on the
trees, they expand, and become what are termed "mother cloves," fit
only for seed or for candying. The ground under the tree is first
swept clean, or else a mat or cloth is spread. The nearest clusters
are taken off with the hand, and the more distant by the aid of
crooked sticks. Great care should be taken not to injure the tree, as
it would prevent future bearing.
The cloves are then prepared for shipment by smoking them on hurdles
near a slow wood fire, to give them a brown color, after which they
are further dried in the sun. They may then be cut off from the flower
branches with the nails, and will be found to be purple colored
within, and fit to be baled for the European market. In some places
they are scalded in hot water before being smoked, but this is not
common. The tree may be propagated either from layers or seed. Layers
will root in five or six months if kept moist.
A strong dark loam, a gravelly, sandy, or clayey soil, but one not
retentive of moisture, seems that best suited for its successful
culture.
It does not thrive well near the sea, nor in the higher mountains, the
spray of the sea and the cold being found injurious. The plants at
first require the shade of other trees, such as the mango, coco-nut,
&c. Although generally a hardy plant, it suffers from excessive
drought. They should be planted about twenty feet apart. In its native
country the tree begins to yield fruit in the sixth year, but a crop
can seldom be looked for in other quarters under eight years. It is
very long lived, sometimes attaining the age of 130 years.
There appears, according to Mr. Crawfurd, to be five varieties of the
clove, viz.--the ordinary cultivated clove; a kind called the female
clove by the natives, which has a pale stem; the kiri or loory clove;
the royal clove, which is very scarce, and the wild clove. The three
first are equally valuable as spices, the female clove being
considered fittest for the distillation of essential oil. The wild
clove, having scarcely any aromatic flavor, is valueless.
The produce which may be expected from the tree seems to be uncertain;
it may, however, be averaged at five or six pounds. A clove tree, well
weeded and taken care of, will produce from five to twenty pounds. On
the other hand, a tree that is neglected will not give above two or
three pounds. At intervals of from three to six years they usually
produce one extraordinary crop, but then a year now and then
intervenes, when they yield none at all; in others they will afford a
double harvest.
The clove tree was originally confined to the five principal Molucca
islands, and chiefly to Machean. From these it was conveyed to
Amboyna, a very short time only before the arrival of the Portuguese.
By them the cultivation was strictly restricted to Amboyna, every
effort being made to extirpate the plant elsewhere.
It has now, however, spread to Java, Singapore, and the Straits'
Settlements, Ceylon, the Mauritius and Seychelles, Bourbon, Zanzibar,
Cayenne, Dominica, Martinique, St. Kitts, St. Vincent, and Trinidad.
Cloves contain a volatile oil, associated with resinous, gummy, and
astringent matter, which is yielded in larger proportion than by any
other plant. Neuman obtained by distillation two ounces and two
drachms from sixteen ounces of cloves. On an average cloves yield from
17 to 22 per cent. of oil, including the heavy and light oils. The oil
is aromatic and acrid, and has been used as a condiment and a
stimulant carminative. It is also extensively used by distillers and
soap makers.
It is said that the clove does not thrive well on the soil of Java,
the plantations of which trial had been made not having succeeded to
the extent expected, although they were directed by skilled persons
from Amboyna; the places they made choice of did not differ materially
as to soil and climate from those of the Moluccas.
M. Teysman, Director of the Botanical Gardens at Batavia, seems to
have bestowed much attention on the subject. The exports however from
the island have been considerable. In 1830, there were 803 piculs
shipped; in 1835, 4,566; in 1839, 2,334; in 1843, 2,027 piculs of 133
lbs.
M. Buee, who introduced the culture of the clove in the island of
Dominica, about 1789, thus describes the results of his experience,
which may be useful to other experimental cultivators. He obtained a
few plants from Cayenne, and raised 1,600 trees from seed, which, in a
year from the first sowing, were transplanted. The seeds were sown at
about six inches apart from each other, in beds; over these beds small
frames were erected about three feet from the ground, and plantain
leaves were spread on the top, in order to shelter the young plants
from the sun. The leaves were allowed gradually to decay, and at the
end of nine months the young plants, which by that time were strong,
were permitted to receive the benefit of the sun; but if not protected
from it when very young, they were found to droop and die.
When transplanted, the trees were placed at sixteen feet apart from
each other. They grew very luxuriantly, and at the end of fifteen
months after their removal, attained the height of from three to four
feet. The ground wherein they were planted had been a coffee
plantation during forty years. The coffee trees had decayed, and an
attempt had been made to replace them; but they refused to grow;
whereas the clove plants flourished as if on congenial soil, and a
crop was gathered on some of them when they were not more than six
years old, which period is two or three years earlier than the usual
time for gathering.
The cloves sent from St. Vincent to England in 1800, were obtained
from trees eight feet high, having a stem only two inches in diameter.
Trial was made in that island of the relative growth of the plant on
different soils; it grew sickly on land which was not manured, but on
land which had received this preparation it flourished.
In Singapore, about ten years ago, there were then about 15,000 clove
trees planted out, a few of which only had come in bearing. If these
plantations had proved equally productive with those of the sister
settlement of Pinang, it would have been able to export 60,000 lbs. of
cloves, its own produce; but this expectation, it will be seen, has
not been realised. In the season of 1841-42, there was 1000 piculs of
cloves shipped from Pinang, but none were exported in the two previous
years.
The quantity of land under cultivation with cloves there, in 1843, was
463 orlongs in Prince of Wales Island, and 517 in Province Wellesley.
The number of trees planted out in the former island was 72,779; in
the latter province 7,639. There were in the island 25,161 plants in
nursery.
The trees in bearing were--In Prince of Wales Island, 28,739; not
bearing, 44,040; produce in 1843, 87 piculs, 50 catties; gross value,
3,399 dollars; estimated produce of cloves for 1844, 469 piculs. In
Province Wellesley--Trees in bearing, 1,073; not bearing, 6,566;
produce in 1843, 1 picul, 13 catties; gross value 45 dollars.
The export of cloves from Pinang was, in 1849, 24,000 lbs.; in 1850,
52,400; in 1851, 27,866; in 1852, 45,087.
From tabular statements drawn up in 1844, by Mr. F.S. Brown, Chairman
of the Pinang Chamber of Commerce, it appears that there were, in
1843, in that island and Province Wellesley adjoining, 96 clove
plantations, containing 80,418 clove trees; besides many young trees
in nurseries ready to be planted out. The produce of cloves there, in
1842, was 11,813 lbs., and this was a very short crop, it having that
year proved a complete failure; the average crop for some years
previous had been 46,666 lbs. Pinang only began to export this spice
in 1832. Of the clove trees in Pinang there were then only 29,812 in
bearing, leaving 75,767 in that settlement alone to come to maturity;
estimated to yield about 300,000 lbs.
No success has attended repeated trials of cloves in Singapore. Until
the trees reach the age of bearing, they grow and look extremely well;
but any expectation of a crop that may have been raised by their
hitherto fine condition, ends in disappointment, for just then the
trees assume the appearance of sudden blight, as if
lightning-stricken, and then die. 125 clove plants and 350 seedlings
were sent to Singapore from Bencoolen, by Sir T. Raffles, in the close
of 1819; but although every care was paid them--while the nutmegs
which accompanied them throve amazingly well--little or no progress
has been made with clove culture. Two or three hundred-weight were
shipped in 1845, but since then hardly any mention is made of the
spice.
In a petition presented by the spice planters of Pinang and Province
Wellesley, to the authorities at home, in 1844, praying that the duty
on British Colonial nutmegs, mace, and cloves might be reduced to 1s.
9d., 1s. 3d., and 3d. respectively, on importation into England, in
order to compete with foreign produce, it was stated that a few years
hence Prince of Wales Island might be expected to produce 600,000 lbs.
of nutmegs, 200,000 lbs. of mace, and 300,000 lbs. of cloves; whilst
Singapore, if equally successful in the culture of the same, would
yield yearly 137,000 lbs. of nutmegs, 45,000 lbs. of mace, and 60,000
lbs. of cloves. In short, the planters needed only encouragement to
produce in the course of a few years a full supply of those valuable
spices for the whole consumption of Great Britain.
Dr. Ruschenberger, who visited Zanzibar in 1835, thus speaks of the
clove plantations there:--"As far as the eye could reach over a
beautifully undulated land, nothing was to be seen but clove trees of
different ages, varying in height from five to twenty feet. The form
of the tree is conical, the branches grow at nearly right angles with
the trunk, and they begin to shoot a few inches above the ground. The
plantation contains nearly four thousand trees, and each tree yields
on an average six pounds of cloves a year; they are carefully picked
by hand, and then dried in the shade; we saw numbers of slaves
standing on ladders gathering the spice, while others were at work
clearing the ground of dead leaves. The whole is in the finest order,
presenting a picture of industry and of admirable neatness and beauty.
They were introduced into Zanzibar in 1818, from Mauritius, and are
found to thrive so well that almost everybody in the island is now
clearing away the cocoa nut to make way for them. The clove bears in
five or six years from the seed; of course time enough has not yet
elapsed for the value and quantity of Zanzibar cloves to be generally
known; they are worth, however, in the Bombay market, about 30s. the
Surat maund of 39¼ lbs.; the price for Molucca cloves in the Eastern
market is from 28 to 30 dollars per picul of 133 lbs.; for those of
Mauritius, 20 to 24 dollars per picul."
The average annual consumption of cloves in the United Kingdom, in the
four years ending 1841, was 49,000 lbs. The largest quantity of cloves
imported during the past twenty-five years was 1,041,171 lbs., in
1847. The quantities imported and entered for home consumption in the
last five years have been as follows:--
Imports. Home consumption.
lbs. lbs.
1848 117,433 126,691
1849 274,713 133,713
1850 749,646 159,934
1851 253,439 138,132
1852 313,949 175,287
In 1848 we received 60,000 lbs. of cloves from British India.
THE NUTMEG.
_Myristica moschata_, _M. officinalis_, or _aromatica_.--This tree is
of a larger growth than the clove, attaining a height of thirty feet,
and has its leaves broader in proportion to their length; the upper
surface of these is of a bright green, the under of a greyish color.
It is a dioecious plant, having male or barren pale yellow flowers upon
one tree, and female or fertile flowers upon another. The fruit is
drupaceous, and opens by two valves when ripe, displaying the
beautiful reticulated scarlet arillus, which constitutes mace. Within
this is a hard, dark brown, and glossy shell, covering the kernel,
which is the nutmeg of the shops.
The kernels of _M. tomentosa_ are also used as aromatics, under the
name of wild or male nutmegs.
Lindley describes two other species, _M. fatua_, a native of Surinam,
with greenish white flowers, and _M. sebifera_ or _Virola sebifera_, a
native of Guiana, with yellowish green flowers.
By expression, nutmegs are made to yield a concrete oil, called
_Adeps Myristicæ_, or sometimes erroneously oil of mace. A volatile
oil is also procured by distillation. Nutmegs and mace are used
medicinally as aromatic stimulants and condiments. In large doses they
have a narcotic effect. The fleshy part of the fruit is used as a
preserve.
Dr. Oxley has given such an admirable account of the nutmeg and its
cultivation, as the result of 20 years experience in Singapore, that I
shall draw largely from his valuable paper, which is contained in the
second volume of "The Journal of the Indian Archipelago," page 641.
The nutmeg tree, like many of its class, has a strong tendency to
become monoecious, and planters in general are well pleased at this
habit, thinking they secure a double advantage by having the male and
female flowers on the same plant. This is, however, delusive, and
being against the order of nature, the produce of such trees is
invariably inferior, showing itself in the production of double nuts
and other deformities. It is best, therefore, to have only female
trees, with a due proportion of males.
The female flowers, which are merely composed of a tripid calyx and no
corolla, when produced by a tree in full vigor are perfectly
urceolate, slightly tinged with green at the base, and well filled by
the ovary, whereas the female flowers of weakly trees are entirely
yellow, imperfectly urceolate, and approach more to the staminiferous
flowers of the male.
The shape of the fruit varies considerably, being spherical, oblong,
and egg-shaped, but the nearer they approach sphericity of figure, the
more highly are they prized.
There is also a great variety in the foliage of different trees, from
elliptic, oblong and ovate, to almost purely lanceolate-shaped leaves.
This difference seems to indicate in some measure the character of the
produce; trees with large oblong leaves appearing to have the largest
and most spherical fruit, and those with small lanceolate leaves being
in general more prolific bearers, but of inferior quality.
Whilst its congener the clove has been spread over Asia, Africa, and
the West Indies, the nutmeg refuses to flourish out of the Malayan
Archipelago, except as an exotic, all attempts to introduce it largely
into other tropical countries having decidedly failed. The island of
Ternate, which is in about the same latitude as Singapore, is said to
have been the spot where it was truly indigenous, but no doubt the
tree is to be found on most of the Moluccas. At present the place of
its origin is unproductive of the spice, having been robbed of its
rich heritage by the policy of the Dutch, who at an early period
removed the plantations to the Banda isles for better surveillance,
where they still remain and flourish. But although care was formerly
taken to extirpate the tree on the Moluccas, the mace-feeding pigeons
have frustrated the machinations of man, and spread it widely through
the Archipelago of islands extending from the Moluccas to New Guinea.
Its circle of growth extends westward as far as Pinang, or Prince of
Wales Island, where, although an exotic, it has been cultivated as a
mercantile speculation with success for many years. Westward of Pinang
there are no plantations, looking at the subject in a mercantile point
of view. The tree is to be found, indeed, in Ceylon, and the West
Coast of India, but to grow it as a speculation out of its indigenous
limits, is as likely to prove successful as the cultivation of apples
and pears in Bengal.
In the Banda Isles, where the tree may be considered as indigenous, no
further attention is paid to its cultivation than setting out the
plants in parks, under the shade of large forest trees, with long
horizontal branches, called "Canari" by the natives. There it attains
a height of 50 feet and upwards, whereas from 20 to 30 feet may be
taken as a fair average of the trees in the Straits' Settlements; but
notwitstanding our pigmy proportions (adds Dr. Oxley), it does not
appear, from, all I could ever learn, that we are relatively behind
the Banda trees, either in quantity or quality of produce, and I am
strongly impressed with the idea that the island of Singapore can
compete with the Banda group on perfectly even terms. Our climate is
quite unexceptionable for the growth of the nutmeg, being neither
exposed to droughts or high winds; and although we may lose by
comparison of soils, we again gain by greater facilities of sending
our products to market, by the facility of obtaining abundant supplies
of manure, and any amount of free and cheap labor.
A nutmeg plantation, well laid out and brought up to perfection, is
one of the most pleasing and agreeable properties that can be
possessed. Yielding returns, more or less daily, throughout the year,
there is increasing interest, besides the usual stimulus to all
agriculturists of a crop time, when his produce increases to double
and quadruple the ordinary routine.
Trees having arrived at fifteen years growth, there is no incertitude
or fear of total failure of crop, only in relative amount of produce,
and this, as will be seen, is greatly in the planter's own power to
command. It is against reason to suppose that a tree in flower and
fruit will not expend itself if left to unaided nature: it must be
supplied with suitable stimuli to make good the waste, therefore he
who wants nuts must not be sparing of manure.
The first requisite for the planter is choice of location. It is true
that the nutmeg tree, aided by manure, will grow in almost any soil
where water does not lodge, but it makes a vast difference in the
degree of success, whether the soil be originally good, or poor and
improved by art. The tree does not thrive in white or sandy soils, but
prefers the deep red and friable soils formed by the decomposition of
granite rocks and tinged with iron, and the deeper the tinge the
better. I am therefore inclined to think, that iron in the soil is
almost necessary for the full development of the plant. If under the
before-mentioned soil there be a rubble of iron-stone at four or five
feet from the surface (a very common formation in Singapore), forming
a natural drainage, the planter has obtained all that he can desire
in the ground, and needs only patience and perseverance to secure
success. The form of the ground ought to be undulating, to permit the
running off of all superfluous water, as there is no one thing more
injurious to the plant than water lodging around its roots, although,
in order to thrive well, it requires an atmosphere of the most humid
sort, and rain almost daily. Besides the form of the ground, situation
is highly desirable, particularly as regards exposure. A spot selected
for a nutmeg plantation cannot be too well sheltered, as high winds
are most destructive to the tree, independently of the loss occasioned
by the blowing off of fruit and flower.
At present there is abundant choice of land in Singapore, the greater
portion of the island being as yet uncultivated, and much answering to
the above description. The land can be purchased from Government at
the rate of from 10s. to 20s. per acre in perpetuity. I would advise
the man who wishes to establish a plantation, to select the virgin
forest, and of all things let him avoid deserted gambier plantations,
the soil of which is completely exhausted, the Chinese taking good
care never to leave a spot until they have taken all they can out of
it. A cleared spot has a great attraction for the inexperienced, and
it is not easy to convince a man that it is less expensive to attack
the primitive forest, than to attempt to clear an old gambier
plantation, overrun with lalang grass; but the cutting down and
burning of large forest trees is far less expensive than the
extirpation of the lalang, and as the Chinese leave all the stumps of
the large trees in the ground, it is almost more difficult to remove
them in this state than when you have the powerful lever of the trunk
to aid you in tearing up the roots, setting aside the paramount
advantage that, in the one case you possess a fresh and fertile soil,
in the other an effete and barren one.
Forest land, or "jungle," as it is called in the East, can be cleared
for about 25 to 30 dollars (£5 to £6) per acre, by contract, but the
planter had better be careful to have every stump and root of tree
removed, ere he ventures to commence planting, or the white ants,
attracted by the dead wood, will crowd into the land, and having
consumed the food thus prepared for them, will not be slow in
attacking the young trees. Whilst the planter is thus clearing the
ground, he may advantageously at the same time be establishing
nurseries; for these the ground ought to be well trenched and mixed
with a small quantity of thoroughly decomposed manure and burned
earth, making up the earth afterwards into beds of about three feet
wide, with paths between them for the convenience of weeding and
cleaning the young plants. Of course if the planter can obtain really
good plants, the produce of well-selected seed, it will be a great
saving of time and expense to him, but unless the seed be carefully
chosen, I would prefer beginning my own nurseries, and in the
selection of seed would recommend the most perfectly ripe and
spherical nuts. Oval long nuts are to be rejected, particularly any
of a pale color at one end.
The planter having selected his seed, which ought to be put in the
ground within twenty-four hours after being gathered, setting it about
two inches deep in the beds already prepared, and at the distance of
twelve to eighteen inches apart, the whole nursery to be well shaded
both on top and sides, the earth kept moist and clear of weeds, and
well smoked by burning wet grass or weeds in it once a week, to drive
away a very small moth-like insect that is apt to infest young plants,
laying its eggs on the leaf, when they become covered with yellow
spots, and perish if not attended to speedily.
Washing the leaves with a decoction of the Tuba root is the best
remedy I know of, but where only a few plants are affected, if the
spots be numerous, I would prefer to pluck up the plant altogether,
rather than run the risk of the insect becoming more numerous, to the
total destruction of the nursery. The nuts germinate in from a month
to six weeks, and even later, and for many months after germination
the seed is attached to the young plant, and may be removed apparently
as sound as when planted, to the astonishment of the unlearned, who
are not aware of the great disproportion in size between the ovule and
albumen, the former of which is alone necessary to form the plant. The
plant may be kept in nursery with advantage for nearly two years.
Should they grow rapidly, and the interspaces become too small for
them, every second plant had better be removed to a fresh nursery; and
set out at a distance of a couple of feet from each other. When
transplanted, either in this way or for their ultimate position in the
plantation, care should be taken to remove them with a good ball of
earth, secured by the skin of the plantain, which prevents the ball of
earth falling to pieces. The nurseries being established, the ground
cleared and ready, the next proceeding is to lay out and dig holes
about 26 or 30 feet apart, and as the quincunx order has so many
advantages, it is the form I would recommend for adoption. The holes
should be at least six feet in diameter, and about four feet deep, and
when refilled the surface soil is to be used, and not that which is
taken out of the hole. Each hole should be filled up about one foot
higher than the surrounding ground, to allow for the settling of the
soil and the sinking of the tree, which, planted at this height, will
in a few years be found below the level. Over each hole thus filled
up, a shed, made of Attap leaves or other shelter, closed on two
sides, east and west, and proportioned to the size of the plant, is to
be erected. It is not a bad plan to leave an open space in the centre
of the top of each shed, about twelve inches wide, by which the young
plant can obtain the benefit of the dew and gentle rains, which more
than compensates for the few rays of sun that can only fall upon it
whilst that body is vertical. After the sheds have been completed,
each hole should have added to it a couple of baskets of well
decomposed manure, and an equal quantity of burned earth, when all is
ready for the reception of the plant, which, having been set out, if
the weather be dry will require watering for ten days or a fortnight
after, in fact until it takes the soil.
The planter having set out all his trees must not deem his labors
completed, they are only commencing. To arrive thus far is simple and
easy, but to patiently watch and tend the trees for ten years after,
requires all the enthusiasm already mentioned. About three months
after planting out, the young trees will receive great benefit if a
small quantity of liquid fish manure be given them. In the first six
years they ought to be trenched round three times, enlarging the
circle each time, the trenches being dug close to the extremities of
the roots, which generally correspond to the ends of the branches, and
each new trench commencing where the old one terminated. They must of
course greatly increase in size as the circle extends, requiring a
proportionate quantity of manure, but the depth ought never to be less
than two feet.
The object of trenching is to loosen the soil and permit the roots to
spread, otherwise the tree spindles instead of becoming broad and
umbrageous. Manure is beyond all other considerations the most
important to the welfare of the estate; it is that which gives
quantity and quality of produce, and without it a plantation cannot be
carried on. The want of it must limit the cultivation in the Straits'
Settlements, and will arrest many a planter, who, having got his
plantation to look well up to the eighth year with very little manure,
thinks he can go on in the same manner. The nutmeg tree likes well all
sorts of manures, but that which is best suited for it seems to be
well-rotted stable and cow-yard manure, mixed with vegetable matter,
and when the tree is in bearing the outer covering of the nut itself
is about one of the very best things to be thrown into the dung-pit.
Dead animals buried not too near the roots, also blood, fish, and oil
cakes are beneficial. Guano is of no use.
But although manuring is the chief element in successful cultivation,
there are many other matters for the planter to attend to during the
period that the trees are growing. All obnoxious grasses must be
carefully kept out of the plantation, at least from between the trees,
and the harmless grasses rather encouraged, as they keep the surface
cool. The trunk of the tree ought to be carefully washed with soap and
water once a year to keep it clear of moss; this has been ridiculed as
a work of supererogation, but let those who think so omit the
operation.
Parasitical plants of the genus Loranthus are very apt to attach
themselves to the branches, and if not removed do great injury.
The insect enemies of the tree are not very numerous, but it has a
few, white ants among the number. They seldom attack a vigorous plant;
it is upon the first symptoms of weakness or decay that they commence
their operations. Their nests may be dislodged from the roots of the
plant by a dose of solution of pig dung, to which they have a great
aversion.
There are several species of insects which lay their eggs on the
leaves, and unless carefully watched and removed, they commit great
havoc amongst the trees. For this purpose it is necessary to wash the
leaves with a decoction of Tuba root, and syringe them by means of a
bamboo with lime and water, of the consistence of whitewash; this
adheres to the leaves, and will remain even after several heavy
showers.
Another nuisance is the nest of the large red ant; these collect and
glue the leaves together, forming a cavity for the deposition of their
_larvæ_. The best mode of destroying them is to hang a portion of some
animal substance, such as the entrails of a fowl, fish, &c., to the
end of a pole, thrust through and protruding from the branches; the
ants will run along the pole and collect in immense quantities around
the bait, when, by a lighted faggot, they can be burned by thousands.
This repeated once or twice a day for a week or so, will soon rid the
tree of the invaders.
The number of men to be kept on an estate to preserve it in first-rate
order after it has come into bearing, must depend of course upon the
size of the plantation, but in general one man for every one hundred
trees will be found sufficient, provided there be some four or five
thousand trees. On a small scale the proportion must be greater.
The nutmeg planter is under the necessity of keeping up nurseries
throughout the whole of his operations for the replacement of bad
plants and redundant males. Of the latter ten per cent. seems to be
about the best proportion to keep, but I would have completely
dioecious trees. No person can boast to get a plantation completely
filled up and in perfect order much sooner than fifteen years. Of the
first batch planted, not more than one-half will turn out perfect
females, for I do not take into account monoecious trees, which I have
already condemned. The tree shows flower about the seventh year, but
the longer it is before doing so, the better and stronger will it be.
I cannot refrain from a smile when a sanguine planter informs me with
exultation that he has obtained a nut from a tree only three or four
years planted out; so much the worse for his chance of success, too
great precocity being incompatible with strength and longevity.
The best trees do not show flower before the ninth year, and one such
is worth a score of the others. This will be evident when it is stated
that I have seen several trees yield more than 10,000 nuts each in one
year, whereas I do not believe that there is a plantation in the
Straits' that averages 1,000 from every tree. This very great
disparity of bearing shows plainly that the cultivation of the plant
is not yet thoroughly understood, or greater uniformity would prevail,
and I think it clearly enough points out that a higher degree of
cultivation would meet its reward.
The tree has not been introduced into the Straits' sufficiently long
to determine its longevity, but those introduced and planted in the
beginning of the present century, as yet show no symptoms of decay.
The experiment of grafting the trees, which at first view presents so
many advantages, both in securing the finest quality of nut and the
certainty of the sex, has still to be tried in this cultivation. Some
three years ago (continues Dr. Oxley), I succeeded in grafting several
plants by approach; these are not sufficiently old for me to decide
whether it be desirable or not, for although the plants are looking
well and growing, they as yet have thrown out their branches in a
straggling irregular manner, having no leaders, and consequently they
cannot extend their branches in the regular verticles necessary for
the perfect formation of the tree, without which they must ever be
small and stunted, and consequently incapable of yielding any quantity
of produce. The grafts have succeeded so far as stock and scion
becoming one, and in time a perpendicular shoot from the wood may
appear. If after that it should increase in size and strength, so as
to form a tree of full dimensions, the advantage gained would be worth
any trouble, the quality of some nuts being so far above that of
others, it would make a difference beyond present calculation; in
short, 1,000 such picked trees at the present prices would yield
something equivalent to £4,000 a year, for £4 per tree would be a low
estimate for such plants. If this ever does occur, it will change the
aspect of cultivation altogether, and I see no good reason why it
should not, except that those possessing trees of the quality alluded
to, would not very willingly permit others to graft from them, so it
is only the already successful planter who can try the experiment
properly.
An acre of land contains on an average 92 trees, and it is calculated
an outlay of 300 dollars is required upon every acre to bring the tree
to maturity; but as not more than one-half of the trees generally turn
out females, and as many others are destroyed by accident and diseases
to which this plant is very liable, it makes the cost of each tree, by
the time it yields fruit, about eight dollars. The nutmeg tree begins
to bear when about eight years old, but it gives no return for several
years longer; and therefore to the expense of cultivation must be
added the interest of the capital sunk. The plant being indigenous in
the Moluccas, the expense of cultivation there is greatly less, and
this consequently forms a strong ground of claim to the British
planter for protective duties to their spices from the British
Government.
The planter having his tree arrived at the agreeable point of
producing, has but slight trouble in preparing his produce for market.
As the fruit is brought in by the gatherers, the mace is carefully
removed, pressed together and flattened on a board, exposed to the sun
for three or four days, it is then dry enough to be put by in the
spice-house until required for exportation, when it is to be screwed
into boxes, and becomes the mace of commerce. The average proportion
of mace yielded in Singapore is one pound for every 433 nuts.
The nutmeg itself requires more care in its curing, it being necessary
to have it well and carefully dried ere the outer black shell be
broken. For this purpose the usual practice is to subject it for a
couple of months to the smoke of slow fires kept up underneath, whilst
the nuts are spread on a grating about eight or ten feet above. The
model of a perfect drying-house is easily to be obtained. Care should
be taken not to dry the nuts by too great a heat, as they shrivel and
lose their full and marketable appearance. It is therefore desirable
to keep the nuts, when first collected, for eight or ten days out of
the drying-house, exposing them at first for an hour or so to the
morning sun, and increasing the exposure daily until they shake in the
shell. The nuts ought never to be cracked until required for
exportation, or they will be attacked and destroyed by a small
weasel-like insect, the larvæ of which is deposited in the ovule, and,
becoming the perfect insect, eats its way out, leaving the nut bored
through and through, and worth less as a marketable commodity. Liming
the nuts prevents this to a certain extent, but limed nuts are not
those best liked in the English market, whereas they are preferred in
that state in the United States. When the nuts are to be limed, it is
simply necessary to have them well rubbed over between the hands with
powdered lime. By the Dutch mode of preparation, they are steeped in a
mixture of lime and water for several weeks. This no doubt will
preserve them, but it must also have a prejudicial effect on the
flavor of the spice.
After the nuts are thoroughly dried, which requires from six weeks to
two months smoking, they cannot be too soon sent to market. But it is
otherwise with the mace; that commodity, when fresh, not being in
esteem in the London market, seeing that they desire it of a golden
color, which it only assumes after a few months, whereas at first when
fresh it is blood red; now red blades are looked upon with suspicion,
and are highly injurious to the sale of the article.
This is one of those peculiar prejudices of John Bull, which somewhat
impugns his wisdom; but it must be attended to, as John is very ready
to pay for his caprice; therefore those who provide for him have no
right to complain, although they may smile.
The nutmeg tree was sent from Bencoolen to Singapore, the latter end
of 1819, so that thirty-four years have elapsed since its first
introduction. Sir Stamford Raffles shipped to the care of the resident
commandant, Major Farquhar, 100 nutmeg plants, 25 larger ditto, and
1,000 nutmeg seeds, which were committed to the charge of Mr. Brooks,
a European gardener, who was specially engaged by the East India
Company to look after their embryo spice plantations here. Some of
these plants were set out in rather a bad soil and locality, but
several of them are at present, and have been for the last ten years,
fine fruitful trees. 315 of the trees in the Government garden
yielded, in 1848, 190,426 nuts, or at the average of 604 for each
tree; but of these not over 50 were of the old stock, most having been
planted since 1836; so that a planter may safely calculate on having a
better average than is here set forth, provided he attends to his
cultivation, and his trees are brought up to the age of fifteen
years. If a plantation be attended to from the commencement after the
manner I have endeavoured to explain, and the trees be in a good
locality, the planter will undoubtedly obtain an average of 10 lbs. of
spice from each tree from the fifteenth year; this, at an average
price of 2s. 6d. per lb., is 25s. per annum. He can have about seventy
such trees in an acre, so that there is scarcely any better or more
remunerative cultivation when once established. But the race is a long
one, the chances of life, and a high rate of interest in the country,
make it one of no ordinary risk, and it is one that holds out no
prospect of any return in less than ten years.
A person commencing and stopping short of the bearing point, either by
death or want of funds, will suffer almost total loss, for the value
of such a property brought into a market where there are no buyers
must be purely nominal. Again, if the property has arrived at the
paying point, almost any person of common honesty can take charge of
and carry it on, for the trees after twelve years are remarkably
hardy, and bear a deal of ill treatment and neglect; not that I would
recommend any person to try the experiment. But it is some consolation
for the proprietor to know that stupidity will not ruin him, and that
even at the distance of thousands of miles he can give such
directions, as, if attended to, will keep his estate in a flourishing
and fruitful state.
The total number of nutmeg trees in Singapore in 1848 was 55,925, of
which 14,914 only were in bearing. The produce of that year was
4,085,361 nutmegs, or 33,600 lbs. in weight. The greater number of the
trees, it will be perceived, have not come into full bearing, but the
produce is increasing rapidly, and in 1849 it amounted to fully 66,670
lbs.
Among the principal growers in that island are Dr. Oxley, Mr. C.R.
Prinsep, and Mr. W. Montgomerie, who have each large plantations, with
from 2,000 to 5,000 bearing trees on them. Others, as Sir. J.
d'Almeida, Mr. Nicol, and one or two more, have planted extensively,
but have not yet got their trees to the bearing point.
A large supply of nutmeg and clove plants arrived at Pinang in 1802,
from the Molucca Islands. There were 71,266 nutmeg and 55,264 clove
plants; allowing one half of the former to have been male trees, there
would only have been 35,633 useful nutmeg plants. It is believed that
a mere fraction of these ever reached maturity, but they served to
introduce the cultivation permanently. Plants were likewise sent to
Ceylon and Cape Comorin. It does not appear that the climates of these
two localities suit the nutmeg tree, as it requires rain, or at least
a very damp climate throughout the year. The East India Company's
spice plantations in Pinang were sold in 1824, and the trees were
dispersed over the island.
The spice cultivators of the Straits' Settlements have for some time
sought a further protective duty on nutmegs, and the extension of a
similar protection to mace and cloves, the produce of these
settlements; for singularly enough the present tariff affords no
protection to mace, the growth of British possessions. From tabular
statements, furnished by the Chamber of Commerce of Pinang, drawn up
apparently with great care, it appears that in 1843 there were 3,046
acres cultivated with spice trees in Pinang and province Wellesley,
containing 233,995 nutmegs, and 80,418 clove trees, besides 77,671
trees in nurseries ready to be planted out; and by a similar statement
from Singapore, which is however not so complete, that 743 acres are
cultivated, containing 43,544 nutmeg trees. The island of Pinang is
estimated to contain 160 square miles, nearly the whole of which, with
the exception perhaps of summits of the hills, is well adapted to
spice growing. Province Wellesley is of much greater extent, and the
soil of it has already been proved to be equally well fitted for that
kind of cultivation; and the settlements of Malacca and Singapore are
said to be admirably suited, in many places, for that species of
produce, the latter of which has already several plantations fast
approaching to maturity.
The cultivation is capable of great extension; encouragement is only
required to be held out, and new plantations will be rapidly formed in
these settlements. The same tables show that the produce in 1842 was,
in Pinang and Province Wellesley, 18,560,281 nutmegs, 42,866 lbs. of
mace, and 11,813 lbs. of cloves[51]; and in Singapore, 842,328
nutmegs, and 1,962 lbs. of mace. Thus making the produce from the two
settlements 19,408,608 nutmegs in number (or in weight 147,034 lbs.),
44,822 lbs. of mace, and 11,813 lbs. of cloves. Now the consumption of
these spices in Great Britain was, on an average of four years ending
1841, as follows:--Nutmegs, 121,000 lbs.; mace, 18,000 lbs.; cloves,
92,000 lbs. Showing, therefore, that the Straits' Settlements already
produce more than sufficient of the two former to supply the home
market.
In the course of four or five years more, Pinang alone will more than
double the present quantity of nutmegs and mace produced in the
Straits, and the produce of cloves will be more than tripled.
I have been able, from several elaborate papers in my "Colonial
Magazine," to condense details, showing the progress of spice
plantations in Prince of Wales Island and Province Wellesley. In the
close of 1843 there were 64,902 nutmeg trees in bearing in the island;
39,209 male trees, 103,982 not bearing; making a total of 208,093
trees planted out, besides 52,510 plants in nursery. The quantity of
ground under cultivation was 2,282 orlongs. The produce in 1842 was
15,116,591 good nuts, 1,461,229 inferior nuts, and 38,260 lbs. of
mace. The gross value of the produce in 1843, reckoning the good nuts
at five dollars per thousand, and the inferior at one dollar, was
76,944 dollars. The estimated number of nuts in 1843 was 12,458,762;
in 1844, 25,429,000.
In Province Wellesley there were 247 orlongs under cultivation with
the nutmeg, on which were 10,500 bearing trees, 8,095 male trees, and
7,307 not yet bearing, making in all 25,902 trees planted out. The
produce was in 1842, 1,969,619 good nuts, 18,842 inferior ditto, and
4,500 lbs. of mace. The value of the produce of nutmegs was 9,867
dollars. The estimated number of nuts in 1843 was 1,980,000; in 1844,
2,958,000. There were in all 423 nutmeg plantations on the island and
main land.
There were annually exported in the four years ending 1850, 48,000
lbs. of nutmegs from Pinang, and 57,400 lbs. of mace.
The French at an early period cultivated the nutmeg at the Mauritius,
and from thence they carried it to Cayenne. In Sumatra it appears to
have been grown successfully, and according to Sir S. Raffles, there
was in 1819 a plantation at Bencoolen of 100,000 nutmeg trees,
one-fourth of which were bearing. Attempts have been made in Trinidad
and St. Vincent to carry out the culture, but for want of enterprise
very little progress seems to have been made in the matter.
Under the new duties which came into operation this year, nutmegs,
instead of standing at 1s. per pound all round, have been classified,
and the so-called "wild" nutmegs of the Dutch islands are to pay only
5d per pound. This deprives the Straits' produce of its last
protection against that of the Banda plantations, where the tree grows
spontaneously, while it gives the long Dutch nut a high protection. If
an alteration in this suicidal measure is not speedily obtained, the
Straits' planters will be ruined. The Dutch have the power of
inundating the market with the long aromatic nut. If the original plan
of putting all British and all foreign nutmegs on the same footing had
been adhered to, the Straits' planters would not have complained, as
they would have trusted to their superior skill and care to compensate
for the grand advantage the Dutch have in their rich soils.
On observing this alteration of duty, Mr. Crawfurd and Mr. Gilman
immediately prepared the following memorandum for the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, which however failed to influence that Minister:--
"MEMORANDUM ON THE DUTIES ON NUTMEGS.
"The duty proposed to be levied on nutmegs is 1s. per pound for
cultivated, and 5d. per pound for those commonly called wild. The
ground on which this distinction is founded, is said to be that the
market value of the one is but half that of the other, and that the
Customs can readily distinguish between them.
Now it is admitted, on all sides, that there is but one species of
culinary nutmeg, the _Myristica Moschata_ of botanists, although at
least a score of the same genus, all unfit for human food. The
parent country of the aromatic nutmegs extends from the Molucca
Islands to New Guinea, inclusive. In this they grow with facility
and even in the Banda Islands, where there are parks of them, they
hardly undergo any cultivation, and may truly be said, even there,
to be a wild product. It is only when grown as exotics, as in the
British settlements of Pinang and Singapore, that they require
cultivation, and that a more careful and expensive one than any
other produce of the soil.
Aromatic nutmegs are sometimes large and sometimes small--sometimes
round, sometimes oblong, and sometimes long, and this will be found
the case whether cultivated or uncultivated. How, then, the Customs
are able to distinguish them it is difficult to understand. In the
ordinary Prices Current no mention whatever is made of the wild and
cultivated, the lowest quality being quoted in the most recent at
2s. per pound, and the highest at 3s. 10d.,--the best of what are
called wild fetching a higher price than the lower qualities of what
are called cultivated.
But suppose the distinction could be made with the most perfect
certainty, to make it would be a palpable departure from the
principle adopted with every other commodity, of charging a
uniform rate of duty on quality. To give an example, the present
price of black pepper is 3-5/8d. to 4d. per pound, while that of
white pepper is 8½d. to 1s. 2d. per pound, both paying the same
duty of 6d.; yet nothing can be more easily distinguished than
these two commodities, which, except as to curing, are the same
article.
Tea is a still more striking example. The duty is the same on all
qualities, though prices range from 1l½d. to 3s. 6d. per pound. It
was the very circumstance of the difficulty of distinguishing
between the different kinds of tea, especially between Bohea and
Congou, which, after an eighteen months trial, overthrew the system
of rated duties of 1s. 6d., 2s., and 3s., adopted on the abolition
of the East India Company's monopoly in 1833.
Unless the duty on nutmegs is equalised there will be no end of
trouble and disputes, and however expert the Customs may be, they
will certainly be outwitted, and long-shaped and small nutmegs,
although really cultivated, will be introduced at the lower duty, by
unscrupulous traders, as wild ones.
It may be added that duties of 12d. and 5d. do not, even if a
departure from the principle of charging on quality were
justifiable, represent the just proportional rates which ought to be
levied upon what are supposed to be, respectively, cultivated and
wild, as they are represented in the ordinary Price Current by the
highest and lowest prices, which are 3s. 10d. and 2s. The just
proportional duty ought to be on the lowest, not 5d., but 7d. The
duty, as first proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, of 1s.
per pound on nutmegs, without distinction, was perfectly
satisfactory to the planters, merchants, and the trade in general.
It is a mistake to suppose that a duty of 1s. would exclude the
so-called wild nutmegs. They would be imported in large quantities,
as the cost is low. In quantity it was 17 Spanish dollars per picul,
and there is no reason to suppose it would be more now. The finest
picked cost say 34 Spanish dollars.
In Pinang and Singapore for cultivated the price is 65 to 70
dollars.
The planters for the most part do not sell on the spot, but consign
here for sale on their own account.
London, May 23rd, 1853.
NUTMEGS IMPORTED AND EXPORTED TO AND FROM SINGAPORE.
Value of the
Imported. Exported. Growth of native growth.
piculs. piculs. Singapore. £
1841 227½ 412 184½ 3,323
1842 258 809 551 9,897
1843 150½ 249 98½ 1,760
1844 52 282 230 4,131
1845 41 383 342 6,143
1846 79 331 252 4,526
1847 139 416 277 4,275
NUTMEGS EXPORTED FROM JAVA.
Nutmegs. Mace.
piculs. piculs.
1830 1,304 177
1835 5,022 1,606
1839 5,027 1,581
1843 2,133 486
IMPORTS INTO THE UNITED KINGDOM.
NUTMEGS, WILD AND CULTIVATED. | MACE.
Imports. Home consump. | Imports. Consumption.
lbs. lbs. | lbs. lbs.
1847 367,936 150,657 | 1847 60,265 18,821
1848 336,420 167,143 | 1848 47,572 19,712
1849 224,021 178,417 | 1849 45,978 20,605
1850 315,126 167,683 | 1850 77,337 21,997
1851 358,320 194,132 | 1851 77,863 21,695
1852 357,940 239,113 | 1852 61,697 21,480
MACE EXPORTED--ACTUAL GROWTH OF SINGAPORE.
Quantity--piculs. Value--£
1841 25½ 583
1842 72 1,616
1843 40¾ 943
1844 16½ 359
1845 71 1,616
1846 8 179
1847 75 1,661
109 piculs of imported mace were also re-shipped in 1847.
40,000 lbs. of mace were imported into the United Kingdom from India
in 1848.
GINGER, GALANGALE, AND CARDAMOMS.
The rhizome of _Zingiber officinale_ (_Amomum Zingiber_), constitutes
the ginger of commerce, which is imported chiefly from the East and
West Indies. It is also grown in China. In the young state the
rhizomes are fleshy and slightly aromatic, and they are then used as
preserves, or prepared in syrup; in a more advanced stage the aroma is
fully developed, their texture is more woody, and they become fit for
ordinary ginger. The inferior sorts, when dried after immersion in hot
water, form black ginger. The best roots are scraped, washed, and
simply dried in the sun with care, and then they receive the name of
white ginger. The rhizome contains an acid resin and volatile oil,
starch and gum. It is used medicinally as a tonic and carminative, in
the form of powder, syrup, and tincture.
The root stocks of _Alpinia racemosa_, _A. Galanga_, and many other
plants of the order, have the same aromatic and pungent properties as
ginger.
The consumption of ginger is about 13,000 or 14,000 cwt. a year. Of
16,004 cwt. imported in 1840, 5,381 came from the British West Indies,
9,727 from the East India Company's possessions and Ceylon, and 896
cwt. from Western Africa.
The difference between the black and white ginger of the shops is
ascribed by Dr. P. Browne and others to different methods of curing
the rhizomes; but this is scarcely sufficient to account for them, and
I cannot help suspecting the existence of some difference in the
plants themselves. That this really exists is proved by the
statements of Rumphius ("Herb. Amb.," lib. 8, cap. xix., p. 156), that
there are two varieties of the plant, the white and the red. Moreover
Dr. Wright ("Lond. Med. Journal," vol. viii.) says that two sorts are
cultivated in Jamaica, viz., the white and the black; and, he adds,
"black ginger has the most numerous and largest roots."
The rhizome, called in commerce ginger root, occurs in
flattish-branched or lobed palmate pieces, called _races_, which do
not exceed four inches in length. Several varieties, distinguished by
their color and place of growth, are met with. The finest is that
brought from Jamaica. A great part of that found in the shops has been
washed in whiting and water, under the pretence of preserving it from
insects.
The dark colored kinds are frequently bleached with chloride of lime.
Barbados ginger is in shorter flatter races, of a darker color, and
covered with a corrugated epidermis. African ginger is in smallish
races, which have been partially scraped, and are pale colored. East
India ginger is unscraped; its races are dark ash colored externally,
and are larger than those of the African ginger. Tellichery ginger is
in large plump races, with a remarkable reddish tint externally.
Jamaica black ginger is not frequently found in the shops. The Malabar
dark ginger is in unscraped short pieces, which have a horny
appearance internally, and are of a dirty brown color both internally
and externally.
Ginger is imported in bags weighing about a hundred-weight.
The Malabar ginger exported from Calicut is the produce of the
district of Shernaad, situated in the south of Calicut; a place
chiefly inhabited by Moplas, who look upon the ginger cultivation as a
most valuable and profitable trade, which in fact it is. The soil of
Shernaad is so very luxuriant, and so well suited for the cultivation
of ginger, that it is reckoned the best, and in fact the only place in
Malabar where ginger grows and thrives to perfection. Gravelly grounds
are considered unfit; the same may be said of swampy ones, and whilst
the former check the growth of the ginger, the latter tend in a great
measure to rot the root; thus the only suitable kind of soil is that
which, being red earth, is yet free from gravel, and the sod good and
heavy. The cultivation generally commences about the middle of May,
after the ground has undergone a thorough process of ploughing,
harrowing, &c.
At the commencement of the monsoons, beds of ten or twelve feet long
by three or four feet wide are formed, and in these beds small holes
are dug at three-fourths to one foot apart, which are filled with
manure. The roots, hitherto carefully buried under sheds, are dug out,
the good ones picked from those which are affected by the moisture, or
any other concomitant of a half-year's exclusion from the atmosphere,
and the process of clipping them into suitable sizes for planting
performed by cutting the ginger into pieces of an inch and a half to
two inches long. These are then buried in the holes, which have been
previously manured, and the whole of the beds are then covered with a
good thick layer of green leaves, which, whilst they serve as manure,
also contribute to keep the beds from unnecessary dampness, which
might otherwise be occasioned by the heavy falls of rain during the
months of June and July. Rain is essentially requisite for the growth
of the ginger; it is also however necessary, that the beds be
constantly kept from inundation, which, if not carefully attended to,
the crop is entirely ruined; great precaution is therefore taken in
forming drains between the beds, and letting water out, thus
preventing a superfluity. On account of the great tendency some kinds
of leaves have to breed worms and insects, strict care is observed in
the choosing of them, and none but the particular kinds used in
manuring ginger are taken in, lest the wrong ones might fetch in
worms, which, if once in the beds, no remedy can be resorted to
successfully to destroy them; thus they in a very short time ruin the
crop. Worms bred from the leaves laid on the soil, though highly
destructive, are not so pernicious to ginger cultivation as those
which proceed from the effect of the soil. The former kind, whilst
they destroy the beds in which they once appear, do not spread
themselves to the other beds, be they ever so close, but the latter
kind must of _course_ be found in almost all the beds, as they do not
proceed from accidental causes, but from the nature of the soil. In
cases like these, the whole crop is oftentimes ruined, and the
cultivators are thereby subjected to heavy losses.
Ginger is extensively diffused throughout the Indian isles, it being
especially indigenous to the East, and of pretty general use among the
natives, who neglect the finer spices. The great and smaller varieties
are cultivated, and the sub-varieties distinguished by their brown or
white colors. There is no production which has a greater diversity of
names. This diversity proves, as usual, the wide diffusion of the
plant in its wild state. The ginger of the Indian Archipelago is
however inferior in quality to that of Malabar or Bengal. In the
cultivation of ginger great improvement may be adopted and expense
saved. The garden plough and small harrow should be used.
The present mode of preparing the land for this crop in the West
Indies, is by first carefully hoeing off all bush and weeds from the
piece you intend to plant; the workmen are then placed in a line, and
dig forward the land to the full depth of the hoe, cutting the furrow
not more than from five to six inches thick. The land is then allowed
to pulverise for a short time; you then prepare it for receiving the
plants by opening drills with the hoe, from ten to twelve inches
apart, and the same in depth, chopping or breaking up any clods that
may be in the land. Two or three women follow and drop the plants in
the drills, say from nine to ten inches apart. The plants or sets are
the small knots or fingers broken off the original root, as not worth
the scraping. The plants are then covered in with a portion of the
earth-bank formed in drilling. It requires great care and attention in
keeping them clean from weeds until they attain sufficient age. It
throws out a pedicle or foot stalk in the course of the second or
third week, the leaves of which are of similar shape to that of the
Guinea grass.
Ginger is a delicate plant, and very liable to rot, particularly if
planted in too rich a soil, or where it may be subject to heavy rains.
The general average of yield is from 1,500 to 2,000 lbs. per acre in
plants, although I have known as much as 3,000 lbs. of ginger cured
from an acre of land. The planting season generally commences in
Jamaica in February and March, and the crop is got in in December and
January, when the stalks begin to wither. The ginger is taken from the
ground by means of the hoe, each laborer filling a good-sized basket,
at the same time breaking off the small knots or knobs for future
planting.
A good scraper of ginger will give you from 30 to 40 lbs. of ginger
per day. It is then laid on barbacues (generally made of boards) to
dry. It takes from six to ten days to be properly cured. The average
yield in weight is about one-third of what is scraped. When intended
for preserving, the roots must be taken up at the end of three or four
months, while the fibres are tender and full of sap.
The ginger grown in the West Indies is considered superior in quality
to that of the East, doubtless because more care is paid to the
culture and drying of the root, but it is of less importance to
commerce. The quantities imported from these two quarters is however
becoming more equal, and Africa is coming into the field as a
producer, 1,545 casks and packages having arrived from the western
coast in 1846. The annual average export of ginger from Barbados
between the years 1740 and 1788, was 4,667 bags; between 1784 and
1786, 6,320 bags; in 1788, 5,562 cwt. were shipped; in 1792, 3,046
bags and barrels. In 1738, so widely was the culture of this root
diffused in Jamaica, that 20,933 bags, of one cwt. each, and 8,864
lbs. in casks were shipped. The exports may now be taken on an average
at 4,000 cwt.; but, like all the other staple products of the island,
this has fallen off one-half since the emancipation of the negro
population.
In the three years which preceded the abolition of slavery, 5,719,000
lbs. of ginger were shipped from Jamaica. In the three years ending
with 1848, the quantity shipped had decreased 2,612,186 lbs., as will
be seen by the following returns:--
GINGER SHIPPED.
lbs. lbs.
1830 1,748,800 | 1846 1,462,000
1831 1,614,640 | 1847 1,324,480
1832 2,355,560 | 1848 320,340
--------- | ---------
5,719,000 | 3,106,820
In 1843 there were shipped from Jamaica 3,719 casks and bags; in 1844,
3,692 casks and 1730 bags; in 1845, 3,506 casks, valued at £4 10s.
each, and 1,129 bags, valued at £2 each, equal in all to £18,037.
From the island of Hayti 8,769 lbs. of ginger were exported in 1835,
and 15,509 lbs. in 1836. 39 packages of ginger were shipped from
Barbados in 1851.
In Maranham and one or two other provinces of Brazil, ginger of an
excellent quality is grown, and a good deal is exported. It was very
early an article of culture in South America. According to Acosta, it
was brought to America by one Francisco de Mendoza, from Malabar, and
so rapidly did its cultivation spread, that as far back as 1547,
22,053 cwt. were shipped to Europe. Southey, in his "History of
Brazil" (vol. i., p. 320), says, "Ginger had been brought from the
island of St. Thomas, and throve so well that in the year 1573, 4,000
arrobas of 25 lbs. each were cured; it was better than what came from
India, though the art of drying it was not so well understood. Great
use was made of this root in preserves, but it was prohibited, as
interfering with the Indian trade in that wretched species of policy
which regards immediate revenue as its main object."
Ginger was worth in the London market 25s. to 60s. the cwt. in bond;
middling and fine qualities, 80s. to 160s. The duty is 5s. per cwt.
Amount of imports of ginger into the United Kingdom, with the
quantities entered for home consumption:--
West India Entered for East India Entered for
ginger. home consumption. ginger. home consumption.
cwts. cwts. cwts. cwts.
1831 3,551 4,709 849 79
1832 5,947 6,795 2,508 213
1833 6,064 6,570 10,049 1,099
1834 9,913 9,918 10,004 1,638
1835 8,321 8,982 4,489 1,647
1836 10,226 6,304 13,589 3,524
1837 10,933 9,905 23,876 3,386
1838 13,366 9,944 25,649 1,431
1839 8,996 7,213 29,624 914
1840 5,381 7,935 9,719 1,568
1841 4,446 5,523 5,292 1,177
1842 4,671 5,068 3,680 1,956
1843 4,013 5,953 4,106 3,254
casks, &c. casks. bags. bags.
1844 4,619 3,128 5,101 6,964
1845 6,033 4,000 8,165 7,938
Total Retained for
ginger imported. home consumption.
cwts. cwts.
1846 24,370 15,937
1846 20,010 15,163
1847 12,995 9,744
1848 13,748 10,454
1849 28,015 12,880
1850 33,953 16,543
1851 35,678 19,855
1852 20,297 18,691
GALANGALE ROOT is a good deal used in China, and forms an article of
commerce, fetching in the London market 12s. to 16s. per cwt. in
bond. It is the rhizoma of _Alpinia Galanga_. Its taste is peppery and
aromatic. Externally the color of the root-stocks is reddish brown,
internally pale reddish white.
1,280 cwt. of galangale root, valued at 2,880 dollars, was exported
from Canton in 1850.
CARDAMOMS.
Cardamoms are the production of various species of plants of the same
tribe as the ginger, and might be profitably cultivated with that
aromatic root, as well as the Turmeric (_Curcuma longa_), which see.
Various species of _Alpiniæ_, _Amomum_, _Elettaria_, _and Renealmia_,
appear to furnish the cardamoms of the shops, which consist of the
oval, trivalvular capsules containing the seeds. The bright yellow
seeds are used in medicine as aromatic tonics and carminatives; and
for curries, ketchups, soups, &c. Their active ingredient is a pungent
volatile oil. The least dampness injures the finer sorts. About 688
cwts. of cardamoms, and 5,000 cwts. of bastard cardamoms are annually
exported from Siam, "We imported about 300 tons in 1849. The price
ranges from 1s. 6d. to 3s. the pound. The estimated value of the
cardamoms and pepper shipped from Ceylon in the past few years was as
follows:--1846, £208; 1847, £246; 1848, £205; 1849, £454; 1850, £960;
1851, £771; 1852, £590. The" following are some of the plants from
which cardamoms are procured.
1. _Amomum Cardamomum_, a Java plant, supplies the round cardamoms. It
has pale brown flowers. The fruit varies in size from that of a black
currant to a cherry.
_2. A. angustifolium_ (Pereira), a plant having red blossoms;
furnishes the large Madagascar cardamoms, and also supplies some of
the seeds called "Grains of Paradise," which are, however, larger than
those imported under that name.
This species is found in Abyssinia, according to my friend Mr. Chas.
Johnston, author of "Travels in Abyssinia," who favored me with some
specimens. The seeds are pale olive brown, devoid of the fiery peppery
taste of the grains of paradise.
3. _A. maximum_, the great winged amomum, produces the Java cardamoma
of the London market, and is also grown extensively in Ceylon, the
Malay islands, Nepaul, Sumatra, and other islands of the Eastern
Archipelago. There were exported from Ceylon in 1842, 5,364 lbs.; in
1843, 9,632 lbs.; 1844, 7,280 lbs.; and in 1845, 11,812 lbs. The pods
are large and long, and dark colored, approaching to black, the taste
nauseous and disagreeable, not the least resembling that of the
Malabar cardamoms. It is propagated by cuttings of the rhizoma. The
plants yield in three years, and afterwards give an annual crop. They
are not used here, but sent to the continent.
4. _Alpinia Cardamomum_.--This is the source of the clustered
cardamoms, and furnishes the best known sort. Its produce is in great
request throughout India, fetching as much as £30 the candy of 600
Lbs. About 192 candies are grown annually in Travancore, and the usual
crop in Malabar is reckoned at 100 candies annually. It flourishes on
the mountainous parts of the Malabar coast, and among the western
mountains of Wynaad. The bulbous plants, which grow three or four feet
high, are produced in the recesses of the mountains by felling trees,
and afterwards burning them, for wherever the ashes fall in the
openings or fissures of the rocks, the plant naturally springs up. In
the third year the plants come to perfection, bearing abundantly for a
year or two, and then die. In Soonda Balagat, and other places where
cardamoms are planted, they are much inferior to those grown in the
wild state. It may be propagated by cuttings or divisions of the
roots. Not more than one-hundredth part of the cardamoms raised in
Malabar are used in the country. They are sent in large quantities to
the ports on the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf, up the Indus to
Scinde, to Bengal and Bombay. The price of Malabar cardamons at
Madras, in June, 1853, was about £3 the maund of 25 lbs. They fetch in
the Bombay market £4 10s. the maund of 40 lbs. Cardamoms form a
universal ingredient in curries, pillaus, &c. The seed capsules are
gathered as they ripen, and when dried in the sun are fit for sale.
They should be chosen full, plump, and difficult to be broken; of a
bright yellow color, and piercing smell; with an acrid bitterish,
though not very unpleasant taste, and particular care should be taken
that they are properly dried.
_5. Amomum Grana-Paradisi_, which is indigenous to the islands of
Madagascar and Ceylon, yields an inferior sort of cardamoms, known by
the names of grains of paradise, or Meleguetta pepper. These are worth
in the English market only from 1s. 2d. to 1s. 4d. per pound, while
the long and Malabar cardamoms fetch 2s. 8d. to 3s. 3d. the pound.
This plant is a native of Guinea, and the western parts of Africa
about Sierra Leone. We imported from thence in 1841, 7,911 pounds.
The taste of these Guinea grains is aromatic and vehemently hot or
peppery. They are imported in casks from Africa, and are principally
used in veterinary medicine, and to give an artificial strength to
spirits, wine, beer, &c. The average quantity on which duty was paid
in the six years ending with 1840, was 16,000 lbs. per annum. They are
esteemed in Africa the most wholesome of spices, and generally used by
the natives to season their food.
Dr. Pereira, from a careful examination and close inquiry, is of
opinion that the _Amomum Grana-Paradisi_ of Smith, and the _Amamum
Melegueta_ of Roscoe, are identical species.
In the second volume of the "Pharmaceutical Journal," Dr. Pereira
states that the term "grains of paradise," or Melegueta, has been
applied to the produce of no less than six scitamineous plants. At the
present time, and in this country, the term is exclusively given to
the hot acrid seeds imported into England from the coast of Guinea,
and frequently called Guinea grains; and by the Africans Guinea
pepper.
_Elettaria Cardomomum_, Don.--The fruit of this species constitutes
the true, small, officinal Malabar cardamoms. It is an ovate oblong,
obtusely triangular capsule, from three to ten lines long, rarely
exceeding three lines in breadth, coriaceous, ribbed, greyish or
brownish yellow. It contains many angular, blackish or reddish brown
rugose seeds, which are white internally, have a pleasant aromatic
odor, and a warm agreeable taste. 100 parts of the fruit yield 74
parts of seeds, and 26 parts of pericarpal coats.
This seems to be identical with _Amomum Cardamomum_.
_Elettaria major_, is a perennial, native of Ceylon, which grows in
shady situations in a rich mixed soil. The dried capsules are known in
commerce as wild or Ceylon cardamoms, and are of less value in the
market than those of Malabar (_Elettaria Cardamomum_, Maton). It is
chiefly grown about the Kandyan district; and in the eight years
ending with 1813, the average export was nine and a-half candies per
annum. The seeds in taste resemble our carraways, and are used for
seasoning various dishes.
Ceylon cardamoms are now worth in the London market (Sept., 1853) 1s.
to 1s. 3d. per lb.; Malabar ditto, 2s. 3d. to 3s.
PEPPER.
The black pepper of commerce is obtained from the dried unripe fruit
(drupes) of _Piper nigrum_, a climbing plant common in the East
Indies, and of the simplest culture, being multiplied with facility by
cuttings or suckers. The ripe fruit, when deprived of its outer fleshy
covering by washing, forms the white pepper of the shops. The dried
fruiting spikes of _P. longum_, a perennial shrub, native of Malabar
and Bengal, constitute long pepper. The fruit of _Xylopia aromatica_
is commonly called Ethiopian pepper, from being used as pepper in
Africa. The seeds of some species of fennel-flower (_Nigella sativa_
and _arvensis_), natives of the south of Europe, were formerly used
instead of pepper, and are said to be still extensively employed in
adulterating it. In Japan, the capsules of _Xanthoxylum piperitum_, or
_Fagara Piperita_, are used as a substitute for pepper, and so is the
fruit of _Tasmannia aromatica_ in Van Diemen's Land. According to Dr.
Roxburgh, _P. trioicum_ is cultivated in the East, and yields an
excellent pepper.
The pepper vine rises about two feet in the first year of its growth,
and attains to nearly six feet in the second, at which time, if
vigorous and healthy, the petals begin to form the corolla or blossom.
All suckers and side shoots are to be carefully removed, and the vines
should be thinned or pruned, if they become bushy at the top. Rank
coarse weeds and parasitical plants should be uprooted. The vine would
climb, if permitted, to the elevation of twenty feet, but is said to
bear best when kept down to the height of ten or twelve feet. It
produces two crops in the year. The fruit grows abundantly from all
the branches, in long small clusters of from 20 to 50 grains; when
ripe it is of a bright red color. After being gathered, it is spread
on mats in the sun to dry, when it becomes black and shrivelled. The
grains are separated from the stalks by hand rubbing. The roots and
thickest parts of the stems, when cut into small pieces and dried,
form a considerable article of commerce all over India, under the name
of _Pippula moola_.
Almost all the plants of the family _Piperaceæ_ have a strong aromatic
smell and a sharp burning taste. This small group of plants is
confined to the hottest regions of the globe; being most abundant in
tropical America and in the East Indian Archipelago, but more rare in
the equinoctial regions of Africa. The common black pepper, _P.
nigrum_, represents the usual property of the order, which is not
confined to the fruit, but pervades, more or less, the whole plant. It
is peculiar to the torrid zone of Asia, and appears to be indigenous
to the coast of Malabar, where it has been found in a wild state. From
this it extends between the meridians of longitude 96 deg. and 116
deg. S. and the parallels of latitude 5 deg. S. and 12 deg. N., beyond
which no pepper is found. Within these limits are the islands of
Sumatra and Borneo, with the Malay peninsula and part of Siam. Sumatra
produces by far the greatest quantity of pepper. In 1842, the annual
produce of this island was reckoned at 30,000,000 lbs., being more
than the amount furnished by all the other pepper districts in the
world.
A little pepper is grown in the Mauritius and the West India Islands,
and its cultivation is making some progress on the Western Coast of
Africa, as we imported from thence 2,909 bags and casks in 1846, and
about 110,000 lbs. in 1847.
Mr. J. Crawfurd, F.R.S., one of the best authorities on all that
relates to the commerce and agriculture of the Eastern Archipelago,
recently estimated the produce of pepper as follows:--
lbs.
Sumatra (West Coast) 20,000,000
" (East Coast) 8,000,000
Islands in the Straits of Malacca 3,600,000
Malay Peninsula 3,733,333
Borneo 2,666,667
Siam 8,000,000
Malabar 4,060,000
----------
Total 50,000,000
If we add to this
Western Coast of Africa and B.W. Indies 53,000
Java 4,000,000
Mauritius and Ceylon 80,000
----------
It gives 54,133,000
as the total produce of the world
Black pepper constitutes a great and valuable article of export from
the Indian Islands; which, as we have seen, afford by far the largest
portion of What is consumed throughout the world. In the first
intercourse of the Dutch and English with India, it constituted the
most considerable and important staple of their commerce. The
production of pepper is confined in a great measure to the western
countries of the Eastern Archipelago, and among these to the islands
in the centre and to the northern quarter, including the Peninsula. It
is obtained in the ports on both sides of the coast of the latter, but
particularly the north-eastern coast. The principal quarters
(according to Mr. Crawfurd, my authority on this subject), are Patani,
Tringanu, and Kalantin. In the Straits a large quantity is produced in
the island of Singapore, and above all in Pinang, where the capital of
Europeans and the skill and industry of the Chinese have been
successfully applied to its culture. The western extremity of Sumatra,
and the north-west coast of that island, are the most remarkable
situations in it for the production of pepper, and here we have
Acheen, Tikao, Bencoolen, Padang, and the country of the Lampungs. The
production of the eastern extremity of Sumatra or Palembang is
considerable, but held of inferior quality. In the fertile island of
Java, the quantity of pepper grown is inconsiderable, nor is it
remarkable for the goodness of its quality.
The province of Bantam has always furnished, and still continues to
produce, the most pepper; but the culture of this creeper is fast
giving place in Java to staples affording higher profits and requiring
less care. The exports were, in the following years:--
piculs. | lbs.
1830 6,061 | 1843 3,737,732
1835 11,868 | 1848 461,680
1839 11,044 | 1851 95,037
1841 13,477 | 1852 135,690
The number of pepper vines in the district of Bencoolen, in the close
of last year, 1852, was as follows:--1,571,894 young vines; 2,437,052
bearing ditto; total, 4,008,946.
Up to the end of September there had been delivered to the Government
1,145 piculs white pepper, and 1,128 piculs black pepper, while of the
harvest of 1852 there were still probably to be received 330 piculs
white, and 4,967 piculs black pepper.
The south, the west, and the north coasts of the great island of
Borneo produce a large quantity of pepper; as early as 1721 it was a
staple commodity of this island. Banjarmassin is the most productive
place on the south coast, and the State of Borneo Proper on the north
coast. The best pepper certainly does not grow in the richest soils,
for the peppers of Java and Palembang are the worst of the
Archipelago, and that of Pinang and the west coast of Sumatra are the
best. Care in culture and curing improves the quality, as with other
articles, and for this reason chiefly it is that the pepper of Pinang
is more in esteem than that of any other portion of the Archipelago.
From the ports and districts of Siam 3,500 to 4,000 tons are exported
annually.
The duty at present levied on pepper in England is 6d. per lb., while
the wholesale price for that of Pinang, Malabar, and Sumatra is about
4d. per lb. White pepper ranges from 9d. to 1s. 6d. per lb. The prime
cost in Singapore is not more than 1½d. per lb.
About 70,000 or 80,000 piculs of pepper are annually exported from
Singapore, of which between 30,000 and 40,000 piculs have, until
within the last two years, gone on to Great Britain. More than
one-half of the pepper exported from Singapore is grown in the island
by Chinese settlers.
The low selling price of the article in the English market, the high
duty levied upon it, and the large freight paid for its carriage to
Great Britain, now leave so small a price to the cultivator in
Singapore, that the cultivation ceases to be remunerative, and is
carried on at a loss; and has consequently within the last year or two
begun to decrease rapidly, involving the Chinese growers, who are
generally of the poorest class, and without capital, in great
distress. A reduction in the duty on pepper has always been followed
by a very large increase in the consumption of the article, as will
appear from the following table, showing the importation and
consumption in Great Britain during some of the first and last years
of the different rates of duty:--
Duty Singapore price
Year Quantity consumed s. d. s. d. s. d.
1811 1,457,383 1 10½ 0 7½ to 0 7¾
1814 941,569 1 10½ 0 11 " 1 1
1820 1,404,021 2 6 0 6½ " 0 6¾
1824 1,447,030 2 6 0 4¾ " 0 5½
1826 2,529,027 2 0 0 4 " 0 4½
1836 2,749,491 1 0 0 0 " 0 0
1837 2,625,075 0 6 0 0 " 0 0
1845 3,210,415 0 6 0 2¼ " 0 4¾
In a memorial from the mercantile community of Singapore, sent home in
1848, it is asserted that a reduction in the duty of pepper being
always attended by a large increase in the consumption, would not lead
to any serious loss in the revenue, while it would confer a great boon
on the poorer classes, to whom it has now become a necessary article
of life. The reduction would also be of great advantage to British
manufacturers, as well as to our Indian possessions, by giving rise to
an increased demand or British goods and productions, and of the
highest benefit to the agricultural settlers in the island of
Singapore, by enabling them to procure for their labor an honest means
of livelihood.
The pepper vines, which are allowed to climb poles or small trees, are
tolerably productive at Singapore; and pepper planting is esteemed by
the Chinese to be a profitable speculation, particularly if they are
enabled to evade the payment of quit-rent. An acre of pepper vines
will yield 1,161 lbs. of clean pepper. In Sumatra a full grown plant
has been known to produce seven pounds; in Pinang the yield is much
more. The average produce of one thousand vines is said, however, to
be only about 450 lbs.
Colonel Low, in his "Dissertation on Pinang," published at Singapore
some years ago, gives an interesting account of the culture:--
"Pepper was, during many years, the staple product of Pinang soil,
the average annual quantity having been nearly four millions of
pounds; but previous to the year 1810, the above amount had
decreased to about two-and-a-half millions of pounds, which was the
result of the continental system.
The price having fallen at length to three and three-and-a-half
dollars the picul--with only a few occasional exceptions of
rises--the cultivation of this spice was gradually abandoned, and
the total product at this day does not exceed 2,000 piculs. The
original cost, when pepper was at a high price, together with
charges of transporting it to Europe, amounted to £36,357 for every
five hundred tons, and the loss by wastage was estimated at £5,405.
In 1818 there remained on the island 1,480,265 pepper vines in
bearing, and the average value of exports of pepper from Pinang,
including that received from other places, was averaged at 106,870
Spanish dollars.
As might have been foreseen, the fall of prices has so greatly
diminished the cultivation of pepper to the eastward, that a
reaction is likely to take place; and has in fact partly shown
itself already. Some Chinese in Pinang and Province Wellesley seem
to be preparing to renew the cultivation. There is abundant scope
for the purpose on both sides of the harbour, and every facility is
at hand for carrying it on.
The pepper plant or vine requires a good soil, the richer the
better, but the _red_ soil of the higher hills is not congenial, the
Chinese think, to it. The undulations skirting the bases of the
hills, and the deep alluvial lands, where not saturated with water,
or liable to be overflowed, are preferred.
The Chinese have always been the chief cultivators, and when the
speculation flourished they received advances from the merchants,
which they paid back in produce at fixed rates.
When pepper was extensively cultivated on Prince of Wales Island,
the European owner of the land had the forest cleared by contract,
and the vines planted by contract, and when the vines came into
bearing the plantation was farmed to the Chinese from year to year,
on payment of a specific quantity of pepper. Any other plan would
have ruined the capitalist, as the culture is almost entirely in
their hands in the Straits' Settlements, and they will not work so
well for others as when they are specially interested.
The plants are set out at intervals, _every way_, of from seven to
twelve feet, according to the degree of fertility of the soil, so
that there are from 800 to 1,000 vines in one orlong of land; to
each vine is allotted a prop of from ten to thirteen feet high, cut
from the thorny tree called _dadap_, or where that is scarce, from
the less durable _boonglai_; these props take root, thus affording
both shade and support to the plant. The plant may be raised from
seed pepper, but the plan is not approved of, cuttings being
preferable, as they soonest come into bearing. The pits in which
these cuttings are set should be a foot-and-a-half square, and two
feet in depth; manure is not often applied, and then it is only some
turf ashes. However unpicturesque a pepper plantation may be, still
its neat and uniform appearance renders the landscape lively, and
there can be little doubt that the island has suffered in its
salubrity since the jungle usurped the extensive tracts formerly
under pepper cultivation.
When the vine has reached the height of three or four feet, it is
bent down and laid in the earth, and about five of the strongest
shoots which now spring up are retained and carefully trained up the
prop, to which they are tied by means of ligatures of some creeping
plants.
One Chinese, after the plantation has been formed, can take care of
two orlongs of land. The usual mode is this:--an advance is made by
the capitalist to the laborer for building a house, and for
agricultural implements; he then receives two dollars monthly to
subsist on, until the end of the third year, when the estate or
plantation is equally divided betwixt the contracting parties.
The Chinese and even European cultivators used formerly to engage
the Chinese who had just arrived from China; they paid off their
passage-money, and then allowed them two dollars monthly, for
provisions, for one year; with a suit of clothes, by which means the
cost of the labor of one man averaged about three dollars monthly;
but this plan is attended with risks.
The cost attendant on the cultivation of two orlongs of land, with
pepper, for three years--the Chinese laborer receiving the usual
hire of _five_ Spanish dollars monthly--will be nearly as follows:--
Spanish dollars.
Price of land, clearing, and planting 40
Quit rent, at 75 cents per annum per orlong 9
Two thousand plants 4
" dadap props 6
Implements 6
House 10
Labor 200
Interest, loosely calculated at 30
---
Total Spanish dollars 305
In a very good soil a pepper vine will yield about one-eighth of a
pound of dry produce at the end of the first year; at the end of the
second, about a quarter of a pound; and at the expiration of the
third, probably one pound; at the end of the fourth, from three to
three-and-a-half pounds; ditto fifth, from eight to ten pounds.
After the fifth year up to the fifteenth, or even the twentieth
year, about ten pounds of dry merchantable produce may be obtained
from each vine, under favorable circumstances. The Chinese
speculator used to rent out his half-share of a new plantation for
five years, to his cultivating partner, after the expiration of the
first three years, at the rate of thirty piculs per annum; the total
produce of these five years giving about fifty-six piculs annually
as an average.
A pepper plantation never survives the thirtieth year, unless in
extremely rich soil, and then it is unproductive; nor will the young
vine thrive on an old worn out pepper land, a peculiarity which is
applicable to the coffee tree. The chief crop lasts from August to
February. Four pounds of dry produce, for ten of green, is
considered a fair estimate. Great care is requisite in the
management of the vine, and especially in training and tying it on
the props. It is subject to be injured by the attacks of a small
insect. The green pepper dries in two or three days, and if it is
intended that it shall be black, it is pulled before it is quite
ripe. To make white pepper, the berry is allowed to remain somewhat
longer on the vine; it is, when plucked, immersed in boiling water,
by means of which process and subsequent friction, before drying,
the husk is separated.
The exports of pepper from Pinang in the last four years have
been--In 1849, 2,591,233 lbs.; in 1850, 6,397,733 lbs.; in 1851,
2,366,933 lbs.; in 1852, 2,112,133 lbs."
A small quantity of pepper seems to be annually exported from Ceylon,
which I presume is the growth of that island; thus there were:--
54 cwts. shipped in 1842
83 " " 1843
102 " " 1844
In the Customs' returns of Ceylon, it is classed with cardamoms, and
160 to 170 cwt. of the two were shipped in each of the years 1850 and
1851. Last year the quantity was smaller.
Pepper cultivation has been introduced into the Mauritius, and in 1839
more than 500,000 lbs. were imported from thence, but as the shipments
have since decreased, I presume it has given place to the more
profitable staple sugar. I have been able to glean no information as
to the progress it has made in the West Indies. In Cayenne it has
been successfully carried on for many years; and large shipments of
pepper have been made thence to France.
BLACK PEPPER EXPORTED FROM SINGAPORE.
Piculs. Value in rupees.
1841 Total Exports 66,810
" Growth of Singapore 21,231 47,674
1842 Exports 74,228
" Growth of Singapore 32,277 72,473
1843 Exports 57,883
" Growth of Singapore 35,585 79,900
1844 Exports 67,148
" Growth of Singapore 42,995 386,152
1845 Exports 65,892
" Growth of Singapore 39,019 350,443
1846 Exports 56,709
" Growth of Singapore 35,712 -----
1847 Exports 60,994
" Growth of Singapore 36,565 328,397
Pliny, the naturalist, states that the price of pepper in the market
of Rome in his time was, in English money, 9s. 4d. a pound, and thus
we have the price of pepper at least 1,774 years ago. The pepper
alluded to must have been the produce of Malabar, the nearest part of
India to Europe that produced the article, and its prime cost could
not have exceeded the present one, or about 2d. a pound. It would most
probably have come to Europe by crossing the Indian and Arabian ocean,
with the easterly monsoon, sailing up the Red Sea, crossing the
desert, dropping down the Nile, and making its way along the
Mediterranean by two-thirds of its whole length. This voyage, which in
our times can be performed in a month, most probably then took
eighteen. Transit and customs duties must have been paid over and over
again, and there must have been plenty of extortion. All this will
explain how pepper could not be sold in the Roman market under
fifty-six times its prime cost. Immediately previous to the discovery
of the route to India by the Cape of Good Hope, we find that the price
of pepper in the markets of Europe had fallen to 6s a pound, or 3s.
4d. less than in the time of Pliny. What probably contributed to this
fall, was the superior skill in navigation of the now converted Arabs,
and the extension of their commerce to the islands of the Eastern
Archipelago, which abounded in pepper. After the great discovery of
Vasco de Gama, the price of pepper fell to about 1s. 3d. a pound, a
fall of 8s. 1d. from that of the time of Pliny, and of 4s. 9d. from
that of the Mahommedan Arabs, Turks, and Venetians.
In 1826, 14,000,000 lbs. of pepper were imported into the United
Kingdom, of which about 5,500,000 were re-exported. In 1841,
15,000,000 lbs. were imported, of which 6,500,000 were re-shipped to
other countries.
The home consumption, it will be seen, now averages about 3,250,000
lbs.:--
Imports Home consumption
lbs. lbs.
1845 9,852,984 3,209,718
1846 5,906,586 3,299,955
1847 4,669,930 2,966,022
1848 8,125,545 3,185,337
1849 4,796,042 3,257,911
1850 8,028,319 3,170,883
1851 3,996,496 3,303,403
1852 6,641,699 3,524,501
The following return shows the number of bags of pepper imported into
the United Kingdom, with the quantity retained for home consumption:--
Imports. Retained for home consumption.
Black. White. Black. White.
bags bags bags. bags.
1843 37,840 3,861 21,163 2,257
1844 60,705 2,123 23,525 2,122
1845 80,600 3,208 30,294 2,861
1847 37,194 1,236 28,768 2,654
1848 65,518 3,042 31,665 3,950
1849 43,651 2,616 32,246 3,859
CHILLIES AND CAYENNE PEPPER.
Chillies or capsicum are long roundish taper pods, divided into two or
three cells, full of small whitish seeds. When this fruit is fresh, it
has a penetrating acrid smell; to the taste it is extremely pungent,
and produces a most painful burning in the mouth. They are
occasionally imported dry, and form the basis of Cayenne pepper; put
in vinegar when green or ripe, they are an acceptable present in
Europe. In Bengal the natives make an extract from the chillies, which
is about the consistence and color of treacle.
The consumption of chillies in India is immense, as both rich and poor
daily use them, and it is the principal ingredient in all chutnies and
curries; ground into a paste, between two stones, with a little
mustard, oil, ginger, and salt, it forms the only seasoning which the
millions of poor in that country can obtain to eat with their insipid
rice. They are worth in the Bombay market about 40s. the candy of 600
lbs.
Immense quantities of the capsicum are used by the native population
of the West Indies, Africa, and Mexico; the consumption as a condiment
being almost universal, and perhaps equal in quantity to salt. Ten
barrels of these peppers were shipped from Montego Bay, Jamaica, in
the first six months of 1851.
The wholesale price of chillies in the London market is from 15s. to
25s. the cwt., and there is a duty of 6d. per pound on them. Cayenne
fetches 9d. to 2s. the pound.
Chilli is the Mexican name for all varieties of _Capsicum_. They are
natives of the East and West Indies, and other hot climates. _C.
annuum_ is the species commonly noticed, but there seems to be
numerous varieties, which by many are reckoned species. Thus, _C.
frutescens_ is a shrubby plant, which, along with _C. minimum_,
supplies the variety called bird-pepper, it grows to a larger and more
bushy size; _C. baccatum_ has a globular fruit, and furnishes cherry
or berry capsicum. They are all of the simplest culture, and may even
be grown with very little care in England. Culture appears to increase
the size, but to diminish the pungency of the fruit. In capsicums
irritant properties prevail so as to obscure the narcotic action.
Their acridity is owing to an oleaginous substance called capsicin.
Cayenne pepper is used in medicine chiefly in the form of tincture, as
a rubefacient and stimulant, especially in cases of ulcerated sore
throat. It acts on the stomach as an aromatic condiment, and when
preserved in acetic acid it forms chilli vinegar.
Red pepper may be considered one of the most useful vegetables in
hygiene. As a stimulant and auxiliary in digestion it has been
considered invaluable, especially in warm countries. A kind called the
tobacco red pepper, is said to possess the most pungent properties of
any of the species. It yields a small red pod, less than an inch in
length, and longitudinal in shape, which is so exceedingly hot that a
small quantity of it is sufficient to season a large dish of any food.
Owing to its oleaginous character, it has been found impossible to
preserve it by drying, but by pouring strong boiling vinegar on it a
sauce or decoction can be made, which possesses in a concentrated form
all the essential qualities of the vegetable. A single drop of this
sauce will flavor a whole plate of soup or other food.
The "wort" or Cayenne pottage may be termed the national dish of the
Abyssinians, as that, or its basis "dillock," is invariably eaten with
their ordinary diet, the thin crumpet-like bread of teff or wheat
flour. Equal parts of salt and the red cayenne pods are well powdered
and mixed together with a little pea or bean meal to make a paste.
This is called "dillock," and is made in quantities at a time, being
preserved in a large gourd-shell, generally suspended from the roof.
The "wort" is merely a little water added to this paste, which is then
boiled over the fire, with the addition of a little fat meat and more
meal to make a kind of porridge, to which sometimes is also added
several warm seeds, such as the common cress or black mustard, both of
which are indigenous in Abyssinia.--("Johnston's Abyssinia.")
A great quantity of Agi or Guinea pepper is grown in Peru, the natives
being very fond of this condiment. It is not uncommon for an American
Indian to make a meal of twenty or thirty pods of capsicum, a little
salt, and a piece of bread, washed down by two or three quarts of
chica, the popular beverage.
PIMENTO.
The pimento, _Eugenia Pimento_ (_Myrtus Pimenta_), is a native of
Mexico, and the West Indies. It flourishes spontaneously and in great
abundance on the north side of the island of Jamaica; its numerous
white blossoms mixing with the dark green foliage, and with the
slightest breeze diffusing around the most delicious fragrance, give a
beauty and a charm to nature rarely equalled, and of which he who has
not visited the shady arbors and perfumed groves of the tropics can
have little conception. This lovely tree, the very leaf of which when
bruised emits a fine aromatic odor, nearly as powerful as that of the
spice itself, has been known to grow to the height of from 30 to 40
feet, exceedingly straight, and having for its base the spinous ridge
of a rock, eight or ten feet above the surface of the hill or
mountain. A single tree has frequently produced 150 lbs. of the raw,
or 100 lbs. of the dried fruit.
The fruit has an aromatic odor, and its taste combines that of
cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves; hence its common name of allspice. The
fruit of _Eugenia acris_ is used for pimento.
The trunk is of a grey color, smooth and shining, and altogether
destitute of bark. It is luxuriantly clothed with leaves of a deep
green, somewhat like those of the bay tree, and these leaves are, in
the months of July and August, beautifully contrasted and relieved by
an exuberance of white flowers. The leaves yield by distillation a
delicate odoriferous oil, which is said to be sometimes passed off for
oil of cloves.
The berries are gathered before they are ripe, and spread on a
terrace, exposed to the sun for about a week, during which time they
lose their green color, and acquire that reddish brown tint which
renders them marketable. Some planters kiln-dry them. Like many of the
minor productions of the tropics, pimento is exceedingly uncertain,
and perhaps a very plenteous crop occurs but once in five years.
In 1800 there were 12,759 bags and 610 casks of pimento imported from
Jamaica; in 1824 there were 33,308 bags and 599 casks shipped from the
island; in 1829 the quantity exported was 6,069,127 lbs.
In the year ending October 1843, the export of pimento from Jamaica
was 29,322 bags and 156 casks; in the year ending October 1844, 12,055
bags and 88 casks; in the year ending October 1845, 233 casks, valued
at 30s. each, and 59,494 bags, valued at 20s.
From 1st January to 1st August, 1851, 128,277 lbs. pimento were
shipped from the port of Montego Bay, Jamaica.
There was a very considerable pimento plantation made in Tobago, some
years ago, by a Mr. Franklin, but it was abandoned by his sons, that
they might attend the more exclusively to sugar culture.
Jamaica exported nearly two millions of pounds of pimento less, in
the three years ending 1848, than she did in the three previous to the
emancipation of the slaves. The number of pounds shipped annually, in
these periods, is shown by the following figures:--
Year. lbs.
1830 5,560,620
1831 3,172,320
1832 4,024,800
1846 2,997,060
1847 2,800,140
1848 5,231,908
Pimento is imported into this country in bags of about 100 lbs. each.
The imports have been:--
Year. Imports. Home consumption.
cwts. cwts.
1848 20,773 4,230
1849 24,994 3,419
1850 20,448 3,467
1851 14,840 3,935
1852 22,708 3,872
The following is a statement of the imports from the West Indies, and
the consumption of the United Kingdom, in pounds:--
Entries for
Year. Imports. home consumption.
lbs. lbs.
1831 1,801,355 305,739
1832 1,366,183 296,197
1833 4,770,255 330,890
1834 1,389,402 320,719
1835 2,536,353 343,942
1836 3,230,978 400,941
1837 2,026,128 383,401
1838 892,974 383,997
1839 1,071,511 309,078
1840 999,068 338,969
1841 797,757 297,201
1842 1,643,318 450,683
1843 2,028,658 378,096
The imports have been, in--
bags.
1843 18,649
1844 2,408
1845 21,092
1847 9,649
1848 18,196
1849 14,108
Pimento is worth in the London market 6d. to 7d. per lb. The duty is
5s. per cwt.
VANILLA.
The fleshy, pod-like, odoriferous fruit of different species of
_Epidendrum_ constitute the substance called vanilla, which is used in
confectionery for giving a delicious perfume to chocolate, liqueurs,
&c. As an aromatic it is much sought after by confectioners, for
flavoring ices and creams; and also by perfumers, liqueurists, and
distillers. The best comes from the forests round the village of
Zurtila, in the intendancy of Oaxaca, on the eastern slopes of the
Cordillera of Anahuac, between the parallels of 19 deg. and 20 deg. N.
All the vanilla which is used in Europe is imported from Mexico,
Venezuela, and Vera Cruz.
It is a native of tropical America, and grows wild in Brazil, Peru,
the banks of the Orinoco, and all places where heat, shade, and
moisture prevail. There are many species indigenous to the Bahamas,
Trinidad, Jamaica, Cuba, Dominica, Martinique and St. Vincent, which
would produce considerable gain to the inhabitants if they would give
themselves the trouble of cultivating or collecting its fruit.
This parasitical plant has a trailing stem, not unlike the common ivy,
but not so woody, by which it attaches itself to the trunks of trees,
and sucks the moisture which their bark derives from the lichens and
other cryptogamia, but without drawing nourishment from the tree
itself, like the misletoe and loranthus. The Indians in Mexico
propagate it by planting cuttings at the foot of trees selected for
that purpose. It rises to the height of 18 or 20 feet; the flowers are
of a greenish yellow, mixed with white. The plant is subcylindrical
about eight or ten inches long, of a yellow color when gathered, but
dark brown or black when imported into Europe. It is one-celled
siliquose, and pulpy within, wrinkled on the outside, and full of a
vast number of seeds like grains of sand, having when properly
prepared, a peculiar and delicious fragrance. It should be gathered
before it is fully ripe.
Different species of vanilla are natives of Guiana, and it is found in
large quantities along the banks of its rivers, and in the wooded
districts which intersperse the savannahs. The oily and balsamic
substance which the minute seeds possess, may be found to have
medicinal qualities. Its cultivation can be connected with no
difficulties; it needs only to plant the slips among trees, and to
keep them clear of weeds. It would prove therefore a great addition to
a cocoa plantation. In 1825 the price was, in Germany, sixty-six
dollars (equal to £9) per pound, and twenty-five to thirty dollars are
paid for it in Martinique.
Humboldt states that the annual value of vanilla exported from the
state of Vera Cruz was 40,000 dollars, £8,000 sterling. Some vanilla
is exported from Maranham. The cultivation of vanilla, which was
introduced into Java in the year 1847, is said to have made
considerable progress, there being now no fewer than thirty
plantations.
The fruit of this orchideous plant is entirely neglected in the
province of Caracas, though abundant crops of it might be gathered on
the humid coast between Porto Cabello and Ocumare, especially at
Turiamo, where the pods attain the length of nearly a foot. The
English and American merchants often seek to make purchases at the
port of La Guayra, but with difficulty procure it in small quantities.
In the valleys that descend from the chain of coast towards the
Caribbean sea, in the province of Truxillo, as well as in the mission
of Guiana, near the cataracts of the Orinoco, a great quantity of the
vanilla pods might be collected, the produce of which would be still
more abundant, if, according to the practice of the Mexicans, the
plant were disentangled from time to time from the other creepers,
with which it is intertwined and stifled.
When collected to prepare it for the market, about 12,000 of the pods
are strung like a garland by their lower end, as near as possible to
their foot-stalk; the whole are plunged for an instant into boiling
water to blanch them; they are then hung up in the open air and
exposed to the sun for a few hours. By some they are wrapped in
woollen cloths to sweat. Next day they are lightly smeared with oil,
by means of a feather or the fingers, and are surrounded with oiled
cotton to prevent the valves from opening. As they become dry, on
inverting their upper end they discharge a viscid liquor from it, and
they are pressed several times with oiled fingers to promote its flow.
The dried pods, like the berries of pepper, change color under the
drying operation, grow brown, wrinkled, soft, and shrink to one-fourth
of their original size. In this state they are touched a second time
with oil, but very sparingly, because with too much oil they would
lose some of their delicious perfume.
They are then packed for the market in small bundles of 50 or 100 in
each, enclosed in lead foil, or tight metallic cases.
There are four local varieties, all differing in price and excellence;
viz., the vanilla _fina_, the _zacate_, the _rezacate_, and the
_vasura_.
One pod of vanilla is sufficient to perfume a pound and a half of
cacao. It is with difficulty reduced to fine particles, but it may be
sufficiently attenuated by cutting it into small bits, and grinding
these along with sugar.
As it comes to us, vanilla is a capsular fruit, of the thickness of a
swan's quill; straight, cylindrical, but somewhat flattened, truncated
at the top, thinned off at the ends, glistening, wrinkled, furrowed
lengthwise, flexible, from five to ten inches long, and of a reddish
brown color. It contains a pulpy parenchyma, soft, unctuous, very
brown, in which are embedded black, brilliant, very small seeds.
The kind most esteemed in France is called _leq_ vanilla; it is about
six inches long, from one-fourth to one-third of an inch broad,
narrowed at the two ends and curved at the base; somewhat soft and
viscid, of a dark reddish color, and of a most delicious flavor, like
that of balsam of Peru. It is called vanilla _giorees_, when it is
covered with efflorescences of benzcoin acid, after having been kept
in a dry place, and in vessels not hermetically closed.
The second sort, called _vanilla simarona_, or bastard, is a little
smaller than the preceding, of a less deep brown hue, drier, less
aromatic, destitute of efflorescence. It is said to be the produce of
the wild plant, and is brought from St. Domingo.
A third sort, which comes from Brazil, is the _vanillon_, or large
vanilla of the French market; the _vanilla pamprona_ or _bova_ of the
Spaniards. Its length is from five to six inches, its breadth from
one-half to three-fourths of an inch. It is brown, soft, viscid,
almost always open, of a strong smell, but less agreeable than the
_leq_. It is sometimes a little spoiled by an incipient fermentation.
It is cured with sugar, and enclosed in tin plate boxes, which contain
from 20 to 60 pods[52]. The average annual import of vanilla into
Havre, in the five years ending 1841, was about 16 boxes; in 1842 it
was 30 packages.
TONQUIN BEANS.--The seeds of the Tongo tree (_Dipterix odorata_), a
native of Guiana, are the well-known tonquin beans used to give a
pleasant flavor to snuff.
TURMERIC.
This article of commerce is furnished by the branches of the rhizome
or root-stock of the _Curcuma longa_, and _C. rotunda_, plants which
are natives of Eastern Asia, but have been grown in England and the
West Indies. They thrive well in a rich light soil, and are readily
increased by offsets from the roots.
In the East Indies, where it is known as Huldee, turmeric is much
employed in dyeing yellow, principally silks, but the color is very
fugitive. It is also used medicinally as an aromatic carminative, and
as a condiment; it enters into the composition of curry sauce or
powder, and many other articles of Indian cookery. It is cordial and
stomachic, and considered by the native doctors of India an excellent
application in powder for cleansing foul ulcers.
It is grown in, and exported chiefly from, Bengal and Malabar, Madras,
Java, and China. The turmeric of Java is in high estimation in the
European markets, ranking next to that of China, and being much
superior to that of Bengal. The seeds of _Anethum Sowa_, from their
carminative properties, form an ingredient in curry powder.
The price of turmeric in London is from 12s. to 20s. per cwt.,
according to quality. The entries for home consumption are about 4,000
to 5,000 cwts. annually. It is better shipped in casks or cases than
in bags.
A kind of arrowroot is prepared from _C. angustifolia_, another
species of this tribe of plants.
_Amaranthus gangiticus_, and another species, are much cultivated by
the Hindoos for their stews and curries.
The quantity and value of the curry stuff imported into Ceylon,
chiefly from India, has been in the last few years as follows:--
Quantity.
Years. cwts. packages. Value.
1847 6,866
1848 9,981
1849 26,347 109 9,664
1850 24,396 300 7,267
1851 32,550 9,446
1852 9,039
What is comprised under the term "curry stuff," I am not aware, but
it appears to be a bulky article, for it was imported to the extent of
32,000 cwt. in 1852.
There are two varieties of turmeric usually sent into Europe from the
East (whence all the turmeric imported into Europe is obtained), the
"long" turmeric (_Curcuma longa_), and the "round," or as it is better
known the "Chinese turmeric." The latter description is very rare, the
former is the common article of commerce. According to one of my
correspondents, Mr. Hepburn, chemist, of Falmouth, Jamaica, the common
or long turmeric is indigenous to that island, growing luxuriantly in
the mountainous districts, in rather damp soils, its locality being in
the vicinity of rivers, water-courses and springs. In this respect it
differs from ginger, which requires a rather dry soil for its culture.
I am not aware that this plant possesses the property of impoverishing
the soil like the ginger. From the general habits of the plant in its
natural state, we may gather the following rules for our guidance in
its culture. The plants should be laid down in rows of five or six
inches distant from each other, in a soil moderately damp, of an
aluminous or clayey nature, and free to a great extent of the more
soluble alkalies, potash and soda, as these, by absorption, may
destroy the coloring matter of the plant, and so diminish its value as
a dye-stuff. Finally, in preparing the roots for exportation, they
should be cleansed from all earthy particles, exposed for drying in
the shade, and without any further preparation bagged for shipment.
The coloring matter of turmeric is of an orange yellow color
exceedingly delicate and capable of change, either from the action of
light or of alkalies, which turn it to a dark brown color. It is
slightly soluble in water, and readily soluble in an alkaline
solution, becoming dark brown. Alcohol extracts the coloring matter.
The uses to which turmeric is applied are two: as an ingredient in the
curry powder and paste, and as a dye for silk. It was some time ago
used as a medicine; but though retained in the "Pharmacopoeias" of the
present day, it is entirely discarded by the practitioner as a
curative agent. The best Bengal and Malabar turmeric fetches a price
nearly as high as that of ginger, and I see no reason why the West
India planter could not send it into the British market quite as cheap
as the East India trader. According to Dallas, 397 bags of turmeric
were exported from Jamaica in 1797.
Turmeric is grown about the city of Patna and Behar. It is much
cultivated about Calcutta and all parts of Bengal. One acre yields
about 2,000 lbs. of the fresh root. It is also grown on the central
table land of Afghanistan. The exports from Calcutta in 1841 were
11,000 Indian maunds, and 28,137 in 1842. The value of that exported
from Madras in 1839 was 40,000 rupees, or £4,000; in 1840, £4,200. The
quantity shipped from that Presidency in 1850 was 6,877 bags.
In the neighbourhood of Dacca about 200 lbs. of seed is sown to the
beegah, measuring 80 cubits by 80, and the yield is from 640 to 800
lbs.
140 tons were imported into Liverpool in 1849, for dyeing and for
curries; 414 tons in 1850; 11,554 bags and packages in 1851; and only
3,595 ditto in 1852. The price in January 1853 was, for Bengal, 10s.
to 12s.; China, 12s. to 14s., and Malabar 9s. to 12s. the cwt. The
imports into London were 18 tons in 1848, 191 in 1849, and 980 in
1850. The deliveries for consumption, 192 tons in 1848, 270 in 1849,
and 870 tons in 1850.
In China turmeric is used with Prussian blue in coloring and facing
tea.
GINSENG
The produce of this plant, as an article of commerce, is confined to
our transatlantic neighbours, who have the monopoly of the supply to
China.
The root of _Panax quinquefolium_, the American ginseng, is much
esteemed by the Chinese, for certain supposed beneficial effects upon
the nerves, and for other presumed virtues; but our physicians have
not discovered any proofs of its efficacy in Europe. The plant is an
herbaceous perennial, growing upon the confines of Tartary and China,
near the great wall. It is found wild, flourishing in moist
situations, and attains the height of from two to three feet; it is
also now produced largely in the northern, middle, and western States
of the Union, particularly Virginia, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania, and
a considerable trade is carried on with it to China. A variety of the
plant was discovered, a few years ago, in the Himalaya mountains, and
small quantities have been thence sent to Canton. It is also found
growing in Canada. The root is about three or four inches in length,
and one inch in thickness. It resembles a small carrot, but not so
taper at the end, and is sometimes single, sometimes divided into two
branches. The stem is striated, without branches, and of a red color
near the root. The leaves, from four to six of which surround the stem
where they form sheaths (bracteal), are simply pinnate. The flower
stalk is long and green, the inflorescence a simple umbel. The fruit
is a berry of a red color, and contains two seeds of the size of
mustard seed. The officinal root differs in appearance, according to
the country from which it is brought. In Korea and China it is white,
corrugated when dry, and covered with a powder resembling starch. In
Mandscharia and Dauria it is yellow, smooth and transparent, and when
cut resembles amber. The taste of the root is bitter. Crude ginseng
now sells in the Canton market at 70 to 80 dollars per picul of 133
lbs., and cured or clarified root at 130 to 140 dollars.
The stem of the plant, which is renewed every year, leaves, as it
falls off, an impression upon the neck of the root, so that the number
of these rings or marks indicates the age of the plant, and the value
of the root increases accordingly. The Chinese government were
formerly in the habit of sending out annually 30,000 Tartar soldiers
to search for the plant, and each was obliged to bring home two ounces
of the root gratis, and for all above that quantity he was paid its
weight in silver. The Asiatic ginseng is said to be obtained from the
root of _P. Schinseng_ of Nees von Esenbeck, _P. Pseudo ginseng_ of
Wallich. This root might be procured in Prince Edward's Island and
some of the other British North American colonies.
I have been able to trace, after some labor and research, the
progressive exports of this curious article of trade from the United
States.
In 1790, 813 casks, of the value of 47,025 dollars, were exported; and
in 1791, 29,208 lbs. From 1803 to 1807, the annual value of ginseng
shipped was about 123,000 dollars, and from 1820 to 1830, it averaged
157,000 dollars.
The following figures show the value of the article in subsequent
years:--1831, 115,921 dollars; year ending 30th September, 1835,
94,960 dollars; 1837, 212,899 lbs., valued at 108,548 dollars; 1840,
22,728 dollars; 1841, 437,245 dollars.
The quantity shipped in 1839, from Philadelphia alone, was 317,443
lbs. In 1841, 637,885 lbs. were exported from the United States.
The value of that exported in the years ending 30th June, was 1844,
95,008 in dollars, and in 1845, 117,146 dollars; 110,000 lbs. were
collected at Toledo, Ohio, in 1845. The value of the exports in the
following years, ending June 30th, were--1847, 64,466 dollars; 1849,
162,640; 1849, 182,966; 1850, 122,916 dollars.
CORIANDER, CARRAWAY, AND OTHER SEEDS.
The fruits of anise, carraway, coriander, &c., (erroneously called
seeds,) are in demand for various purposes.
CARRAWAY SEED is imported to the extent of 500 tons annually from
Germany and Holland, the price being about 33s. per cwt. It is also
now much grown in Essex and Kent. In the years 1848 and 1849, 7,000
cwt. of this seed was imported, of which nearly the whole quantity was
retained for home consumption.
CORIANDER SEED is chiefly used by distillers, to produce an aromatic
oil. The quantity imported annually does not exceed 50 tons, and it is
brought principally to the port of Hull. It is also cultivated in
Suffolk, Essex and Kent.
Of MUSTARD SEED the aggregate quantity imported annually is about
2,000 tons for home consumption, and the flour is used as a well-known
condiment to food, &c., and in medicine; the average price being about
9d. per pound.
ANISE.--The fruit of _Pimpinilla anisum_, under the name of aniseed,
is principally imported from Alicant and Germany (the first is
preferred), but some is also brought from the East Indies. It is an
annual plant, largely cultivated in Spain, Malta, and various parts of
Germany, and also in the island of Scio, Egypt, and parts of Asia. The
imports are not large; 192 cwts. paid duty in 1833, and 315 cwts. in
1840. About 60 cwts. are annually received at Hull from Germany. It is
used to flavor liqueurs, sweetmeats, and confectionery of various
kinds. Oil of aniseed is obtained by distillation from the fruit, and
1,544 lbs. were imported in 1839. About two pounds of oil are obtained
from one hundred-weight of seed.
STAR ANISE, _Illicum anisatum_, is a native of the countries extending
from 23½ deg. to 35 deg. of north latitude, or from Canton to Japan.
The capsules constitute in India a rather important article of
commerce, and are sold in all the bazaars. Large quantities are also
used in Europe in the preparation of liqueurs. 695 piculs of star
aniseed were exported from Canton in 1850, valued at 8,200 Spanish
dollars. 81 piculs of oil of aniseed were exported from Canton in
1845, and 105 piculs in 1850, valued at 11,900 dollars. 3,000 piculs
of aniseed are exported annually from Cambodia.
PUTCHUK, OR COSTUS.
The substance called costus was highly prized by the ancients, and
specimens may be met with at a few of the London drug-houses. It has
been shown by Dr. Falconer to be the produce of a genus of the thistle
tribe, to which he has given the name of _Aucklandia_. The root of _A.
Costus_ is supposed to be the _Costus Arabicus_, on the following
grounds:--It corresponds with the descriptions given by the ancient
authors, and is used at the present day for the same purposes in
China, as costus was formerly applied to by the Greeks. The
coincidence of the names--in Cashmere the root is called koot, and the
Arabic synonym is said to be _koost_. It grows in immense abundance on
the mountains which surround Cashmere. It is a gregarious herb, about
six or seven feet high, with a perennial thick branched root, with an
annual round smooth stem, large leaves and dark purple flowers. The
roots are dug up in the months of September and October, when the
plant begins to be torpid; they are chopped up into pieces, from two
to six inches long, and are exported without further preparation. The
quantity collected, according to Dr. Falconer, is very large,
amounting to about two million pounds per annum. The cost of its
collection and transport to a mercantile depot in Cashmere, is about
2s. 4d. the cwt. The commodity is laden on bullocks and exported to
the Punjaub, whence the larger portion goes down to Bombay, where it
is shipped for the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and China; a portion of
it finds its way across the Sutlej and Jumna into Hindostan Proper,
whence it is taken to Calcutta, and bought up there with avidity under
the name of putchuk. The value is enhanced at Jugadree, on the Jumna,
to about 16s. 9d. or 23s. 4d. per cwt. In the Chinese ports it
fetches nearly double that price the cwt. The Chinese burn the roots
as an incense in the temples of their gods, and they also attach great
efficacy to it as an aphrodisiac. The imports into Canton in 1848 were
414 piculs; in 1850, 854 piculs; valued at 5,150 dollars. In Cashmere
it is chiefly used for the protection of bales of shawls from insects.
The exports from the port of Calcutta were, in 1840-41, 19,660 maunds;
in 1841-42, 12,847; in 1847-48, 2,050¼; in 1848-49, 2,110¾;--worth
about £1,500 annually.
Specimens of amboyna wood, the odoriferous sandal wood from Timor,
clove wood, and other choice woods from the Moluccas and Prince of
Wales Island, were sent home to the Great Exhibition in 1851.
LIGNUM ALOES, the eagle wood and Calambak of commerce, yielding an
aromatic perfume, is furnished by the _Aquilaria malaccensis_, and
_agallocha_, in Silhet, an ornamental evergreen shrub. A very high
artificial value is placed on the better qualities of this product by
the natives of the East; the best quality being worth about £14 the
picul of 133 lbs.
This fragrant wood is probably the lign aloes of the Bible.
Incense to the value of nearly one million and a quarter francs was
exported from Alexandria in 1837.
Calambak or eagle wood, the true lignum aloes so highly esteemed in
the East as a perfume or incense, is said to be produced by the
_Aloexylum agallochum_, Lour. This remarkable wood contains a large
quantity of an odoriferous oleo-resin; when heated it undergoes a sort
of imperfect fusion, and exhales a fragrant and very agreeable odor.
Its price in Sumatra is about £30 per cwt. Inferior specimens are
obtained at Malacca. Eagle wood is also obtained from several other
trees. The true eagle wood is however very scarce.
SECTION IV.
DYES AND COLORING STUFFS, AND TANNING SUBSTANCES.
Of the several classes of materials collected at the Industrial
Exhibition in Hyde Park, in 1851, few possessed so much importance in
the eyes of the textile and leather manufacturer and chemist as the
different products used in the arts and manufactures for coloring and
tanning purposes. These were in a great measure lost sight of by the
public at large, being scattered about in small quantities in a great
number of directions; and, from the minute samples shown, were in many
instances overlooked altogether. Besides furnishing some novel and
general statistical facts, which may prove interesting, I propose also
in this section to draw attention more prominently to some of these
products, which are at present little known or appreciated.
Coloring substances for staining and dyeing are obtained indifferently
from the animal, mineral, and vegetable kingdoms, but it is of the
last alone that I shall have to speak. The importance of a more
careful consideration of this subject will be admitted, if we consider
how much the prosperity and extent of our cotton, silk, woollen, and
leather manufactures depends on a liberal and cheap supply of dyes and
tannin, to give beauty and color to the fabrics, and substance and
utility to the skins. Even oil colors, for painters' purposes, which
do not come within the scope of my remarks, form an item in our yearly
exports of the value of £250,000, and when we calculate the large
amount of cotton, silk and wool worked up, most of which requires
various coloring agents, gums, starches, and mordants;--that nearly
30,000 tons of hides are annually imported, exclusive of those
obtained from our now slaughter-houses, besides goat, seal, and other
skins--and that the exports of our various manufactures of cotton,
linen, silk, wool and leather in 1852, setting aside our home
consumption, amounted to nearly fifty millions sterling, we shall be
able to form a better estimate of the importance of the various
subjects we are about to notice.
Great Britain does not pay less than £600,000 annually for the dried
carcasses of the tiny cochineal insect, while the produce of another
small insect, that which produces the lac dye, is scarcely less
valuable. Then there are the gall nuts used for dyeing and making
black ink. Upwards of £3,000,000 is paid for barks of various kinds
for tanners' purposes, about one million for other tanning substances
and heavy dye woods, besides about £200,000 for various extracts of
tannin, such as Gambier, Cutch, Divi-divi, and Kino. The aggregate
value of the dye stuffs and gum it is difficult to estimate.
The beautiful specimens of materials imported from China, India, New
Zealand, the Continent, and other countries, and exhibited at the
Crystal Palace, proves to us that we have yet much to learn from other
nations in the art of fixing colors and obtaining brilliant dyes. The
French are much our superiors in dyeing and the production of fast and
beautiful colors. Their chemical researches and investigations are
carried out more systematically and effectively than our own. Russia
imports dyewoods and dye-stuffs to the value of five millions and a
half of silver roubles annually.
It was well observed by the Jury Reporters at the Great Exhibition,
that "a vast number of new coloring materials have been discovered or
made available, and improved modes have been devised of economically
applying those already in use; so that the dyer of the present time
employs many substances of the very existence of which his practical
predecessors were wholly ignorant. From the increased use of many of
the vegetable colors, and from the improved modes of applying the
coloring matters, a demand has naturally sprung up for various dye
stuffs; and at the present time, many of the dyeing materials of
distant countries are beginning to excite the attention of practical
men; for though they have been acquainted with many of these
substances, it is only recently that the progress of the art has
rendered their use desirable or even practicable."
It would be quite impossible, within the limits which I have assigned
myself, to make even a bare enumeration of the various plants and
trees from which coloring substances and dye stuffs can be obtained, I
must, therefore, be content to specify only a few.
The roots of some species of Lithospermum afford a lac for dyeing and
painting. Dried pomegranates are said to be used in Tunis for dyeing
yellow; the rind is also a tanning substance.
Sir John Franklin tells us that the Crees extract some beautiful
colors from several of their native vegetables. They dye a beautiful
scarlet with the roots of two species of bed-straw, _Galium
tinctorium_ and _boreale_. They dye black, with an ink made of elder
bark and a little bog-iron ore dried and powdered, and they have
various modes of producing yellow. They employ the dried roots of the
cowbane (_Cicuta virosa_), the bruised buds of the Dutch myrtle, and
have discovered methods of dyeing with various lichens.
In the "Comptes Rendus," xxxv., p. 558, there is an account by M.J.
Persoz, of a green coloring matter from China, of great stability,
from which it appears that the Chinese possess a coloring substance
having the appearance of indigo, which communicates a beautiful and
permanent sea green color to mordants of alumina and iron, and which
is not a preparation of indigo, or any derivative of this dyeing
principal. As furnished to M. Persoz by Mr. Forbes, the American
consul at Canton, it was in thin plates of a blue color, resembling
Japanese indigo, but of a finer grain, differing also from indigo in
its composition and chemical properties. On infusing a very small
quantity of it in water, this fluid soon acquired a deep blue color
with a greenish tinge; upon boiling and immersing a piece of calico on
which the mordants of iron and alumina had been printed, it was dyed a
sea green color of greater or less intensity according to the strength
of the mordant--the portions not coated remaining white.
A berry called _Makleua_ grows on a large forest tree at Bankok, which
is used most extensively by the Siamese as a vegetable black dye. It
is merely bruised in water, when a fermentation takes place, and the
article to be dyed is steeped in the liquid and then spread out in the
sun to dry. The berry, when fresh, is of a fine green color, but after
being gathered for two or three days it becomes quite black and
shrivelled like pepper. It must be used fresh, and whilst its mixture
with water produces fermentation. The bark of _Datisca cannabina_ also
dyes yellow. It contains a bitter principle, like quassia.
A coloring matter is prepared from the dried fruit of the _Rottlera
tinctoria_, by the natives of the East, to dye orange, which is a
brilliant and tolerably permanent dye. It is apparently of a resinous
nature.
A small quantity of Alkanet root (_Anchusa tinctoria_), is imported
from the Levant and the south of France, and is used to color gun
stocks, furniture, &c., of a deep red mahogany and rosewood color. It
is brought over in packages weighing about two cwt., the price being
40s. or 50s. per cwt.
Turmeric is now imported to the extent of upwards of 800 tons, a
portion of this is used in dyeing. The culture and commerce has been
already noticed in Section III.
The bark and roots of the berberry are used in the East to dye yellow;
the color is best when boiled in ley. Some of the species of
Symplocos, as _S. racemosa_, known as lodh about the Himalaya
mountains, and _S. tinctoria_, a native of Carolina, are used for
dyeing. The scarlet flowers of _Butea frondosa_ (the Dhaktree), and
_B. superba_, natives of the Indian jungles, yield a beautiful dye,
and furnishing a species of kino (_Pulas kino_), are also used for
tanning. _Althea rosea_, the parent of the many beautiful varieties of
hollyhock, a native of China, yields a blue coloring matter equal to
indigo. Indigo of an excellent quality has been obtained in the East
from a twining plant, _Gymnema tingens_ or _Asclepias tingens_.
The juice of the unripe fruit of _Rhamnus infectorius_, _catharticus_
and _virigatius_, known as Turkey or French berries, is used for
dyeing leather yellow. When mixed with lime and evaporated to
dryness, it forms the color called sap-green. A great quantity of
yellow berries are annually shipped from Constantinople; 115 tons were
imported into Liverpool last year. The average annual imports into the
United Kingdom are about 450 tons. They come from the Levant in hair
bales weighing three and a quarter cwt., or in tierces of four to five
cwt., and are used by calico printers for dyeing a yellow color. They
are sometimes called Persian berries.
It is a subject of surprise that the common betel-nut of the East has
never been introduced for dyeing purposes. The roots of the awl tree
of Malabar and other parts of India, _Morinda citrifolia_, and of _M.
tinctoria_, found abundant in all the Asiatic islands, are extensively
used as a dye stuff for giving a red color. It is usually grown as a
prop and shade for the pepper vine and coffee tree. The coloring
matter resides principally in the bark of the roots, which are long
and slender, and the small pieces are the best, fetching 8s. to 10s. a
maund. It is exported in large quantities from Malabar to Guzerat, and
the northern parts of Hindostan, but seldom finds its way to Europe.
The wood and roots of another species, _M. umbellata_, known in the
eastern islands as "Mangkudu," are used extensively for their red dye,
in Celebes and Java. Specimens of all these, and of the Lopisip bark,
bunchong bulu wood, and the gaju gum (from undescribed plants), have
been introduced into England. They are said to furnish excellent dyes
in the Asiatic islands. Native dyes from Arracan have also been
imported, viz., thit-tel and the-dan yielding red dyes, ting-nget and
reros, affording dark purple dyes; and thit-nan-weng, a chocolate dye.
These would be worth enquiry, and particulars of the plants yielding
them, the quantities available, and the prices might be procured. Dyes
and colors from the following plants are obtained in India: several
species of _Terminalia_, _Sinecarpus Anacardium_, _Myrica Sapide_,
_Nelumbium speciosus_, _Butea frondosa_, and _Nyctanthes
arboretristis_. The bunkita barring, obtained from an undescribed
plant in Borneo, produces a dark purple or black dye. A species of
ruellia, under the name of "Room," is employed in its raw state by the
Khamptis and Lingphos to dye their clothes of a deep blue. It is
described by the late Dr. Griffiths as "a valuable dye, and highly
worthy of attention." It might, perhaps, be usefully employed as the
ground for a black dye. In Nepaul they use the bark of _Photinia
dubia_ or _Mespilus Bengalensis_ for dyeing scarlet. The bark of the
black oak, _Quercus tinctoria_ and its varieties, natives of North
America, are used by dyers under the name of quercitron.
In the south of Europe, _Daphne Gnidium_ is used to dye yellow. The
root of reilbon, a sort of madder in Chili, dyes red. A purple tint or
dye is obtained from the bark of an undescribed tree, known under the
name of "_Grana ponciana_," growing about Quito; and Stevenson
(Travels in South America) says, "if known in Europe, it would
undoubtedly become an article of commerce." Another much more
expensive species of coloring matter (red) is obtained in various
parts of South America from the leaves of the _Bignonia Chica_, a
climbing evergreen shrub, native of the Orinoco country, with large
handsome panicles of flowers. The coloring substance is obtained by
decoction, which deposits, when cool, a red matter; this is formed
into cakes and dried. Dr. Ure thinks it might probably be turned to
account in the arts of civilization. The order of plants to which it
belongs, contains a vast number of species, all natives of tropical
regions, and their value for the production of coloring substances may
be worth investigation.
It is met with in British Guiana, and the Indian tribes of that
district prepare the pigment with which they stain their skin from it;
it is called by them "Caraveru." The coloring matter is used as a dye
in the United States, and for artistical purposes would rival madder.
Sir Robert Schomburgk thinks it might form an article of export if it
were sufficiently known, as its preparation is extremely simple. The
leaves are dried in the sun, and at the first exposure, after having
been plucked from the vine which produces them, they show the abundant
feculent substance which they contain.
LANA DYE.--A beautiful bluish-black color, known as "Caruto," is
procured in Demerara and Berbice from the juice of the fruit of the
_Genipa Americana_, Linn.--a tree very common in the colony. The
Indians use it for staining their faces and persons. The Lana dye was
honorably mentioned by the jurors at the Great Exhibition in 1851. The
bluish-black color obtained from it is remarkably permanent, a fact
which has very long been known, though hardly any attempt appears to
have been made to introduce it to the notice of European dyers.
Another pigment is prepared by them from arnotto, mixed with turtle
oil, or carap oil, obtained from the seeds of the _Carapa guianensis_
(Aubl.). The wild plantain (_Urania guianensis_) and the cultivated
plantain (_Musa paridisiaca_), the Mahoe (_Thespesia populnea_), and
the pear seed of the Avocado (_Persea gratissima_), furnish dyes in
various parts of the West Indies; specimens of many of these have been
imported from British Guiana and Trinidad.
Russia produces good specimens of the wood of _Statice coriaria_, the
leaves and bark of sumach, the bark of the wild pomegranate, yellow
berries, _Madia sativa_, saffron, safflower and madder roots for
dyeing purposes.
_Avicenna tomentosa_, a species of mangrove, is very common about the
creeks of Antigua, Jamaica, and other West India islands, where it is
used for dyeing and tanning.
In New Zealand, the natives produce a most brilliant blue-black dye
from the bark of the Eno, which is in great abundance. Some of the
borders of the native mats, of a most magnificent black, are dyed with
this substance. It has been tried in New South Wales; but, as with
other local dyes, although found well suited for flax, hemp, linen,
or other vegetable productions, it could not be fixed on wools or
animal matter. Dr. Holroyd, of Sydney, some time since, imported a ton
of it for a friend near Bathurst. It is of great importance that
chemical science should be applied to devise some means of fixing this
valuable dye on wool. As the tree is so common, the bark could be had
in any quantity at about £3 10s. a ton; and our tweed manufacturers
are in great want of a black dye for their check and other cloths.
The principal heavy woods used for dyeing are fustic, logwood,
Nicaragua wood, barwood, camwood, red Sanders wood, Brazil wood, and
sappan wood. All the dyewoods are nearly £2 per ton higher than last
year.
Common Spanish fustic which in September, 1852, was only £3 10s. per
ton, now fetches £6 10s. in the Liverpool market; and there is a great
demand for all kinds of dyewoods. Tampico and Puerto Cabello fustic
are now worth £6 10s. to £7 the ton, Cuba ditto, £9 10s. to £10.
Sappan wood is £4 higher than last year; barwood has risen cent per
cent; logwoods are £2 per ton higher.
The following were the prices of the different dyewoods in the
Liverpool market, on the 1st September, 1853, per ton:--
£ s. d. £ s. d.
FUSTIC, common Spanish 5 10 0 to 6 10 0
Tampico 6 10 0 7 0 0
Puerto Cabello 6 10 0 7 10 0
Cuba 8 0 0 9 10 0
LOGWOOD, Jamaica 5 0 0 5 5 0
St. Domingo 5 5 0 5 10 0
Campeachy, direct 7 12 6 8 0 0
Indirect and Tobasco 6 10 0 7 0 0
NICARAGUA. WOOD.
Rio de la Hache, solid 9 0 0 11 10 0
" " small 6 0 0 6 10 0
Lima 12 0 0 14 10 0
BARWOOD, Angola }
Gaboon } 7 0 0 -----
CAMWOOD 25 0 0 30 10 0
RED SANDERS WOOD 5 15 0 6 10 0
SAPPAN WOOD 10 0 0 15 0 0
RED SANDERS WOOD (_Pterocarpus santalinus_), which is hard and of a
bright garnet red color, is employed to dye a lasting reddish brown on
wool. It only yields its color to ether or alcohol. The tree, which is
a lofty one, is common about Madras and other parts of India; it is
also indigenous to Ceylon, Timor, and other Eastern islands. The
exports of this wood from Madras in one year have been nearly 2,000
tons.
The imports of red Sanders wood from Calcutta and Bombay chiefly into
London are to the extent of 700 or 800 tons a year, worth £6 to £9 per
ton.
Of FUSTIC we import from 1,500 to 2,000 tons annually. We derive our
supplies from Brazil, Tampico, Puerto Cabello, Cuba, and Jamaica. The
best is obtained from Cuba; for while the common white fustic from
Jamaica and the Spanish Main fetches only £5 10s. to £6 10s. the ton,
that of Cuba realizes from £8 to £9 10s. the ton.
SAPPAN WOOD (_Cæsalpinia Sappan_) is an article of considerable
commerce in the East. It is the bukkum wood of Scinde, and is procured
in Mergui, Bengal, the Tenasserim Provinces, Malabar and Ceylon. In
1842 as much 78,000 cwts. were shipped from Ceylon, but the export
from thence has decreased. This island, however, ships dyewoods
annually to the amount of £2,000. A large quantity is exported from
Siam and the Philippine Islands; as much as 200,000 piculs annually
from the former, and 23,000 piculs from Manila. 3,524 piculs were
shipped from Singapore in 1851, and 4,074 piculs in 1852. The picul is
about one cwt. and a quarter. Sappan wood yields a yellowish color,
like that of Brazil wood (_C. brasiliensis_) but it does not afford of
dye matter so much in quantity or so good in quality.
It forms a large export from Ceylon: the shipments from thence were,
in 1842, 77,694 cwt.; in 1843, 1,692; in 1844, 2,592; in 1845, 2,854.
I have no detailed returns at hand, but in 1837, 23,695 piculs of
sappan wood, and 2,266 piculs of roots of ditto were shipped, and in
the first six months of 1843, 22,326 piculs were exported from Manila;
a large portion of this comes to Europe, but some goes to China, the
United States, Singapore, &c. 15,500 piculs were shipped from Manila
in 1844, 5,250 ditto in 1845; and 1,210 tons in 1850. About 3,000
piculs of sappan wood and the same quantity of other dye-stuffs are
annually imported into Shanghae. The price of straight sappan wood at
Shanghae in July, last year, was thirty dollars per picul.
In Calcutta, in June last year, 4,000 piculs of the root of Manila
sappan wood sold freely at about 7s. 6d. per factory maund, Siam ditto
6s.
75 tons were imported into Liverpool in 1849; and 120 tons in 1850,
from Calcutta. The imports of sappan wood into the United Kingdom, in
1850, amounted to 3,670 tons, worth £8 to £12 the ton, and this
continued the price in January 1853.
Camwood, red sanders wood, barwood, and other dye woods, are found in
great quantities in many parts of Africa. The dyes of Africa are found
to resist both acids and light, properties which no other dyes seem to
possess in the same degree. About thirty miles east of Bassia Cove, in
the republic of Liberia, is the commencement of a region of unknown
extent, where scarcely any tree is seen except the camwood. This
boundless forest of wealth, as yet untouched, is easily accessible
from that settlement; roads can be opened to it with little expense,
and the neighbouring kings would probably give their co-operation to a
measure so vastly beneficial to themselves. It is impossible to
ascertain the exact amount of export of these commodities to Europe
and the United States, but it is very great, and employs a large
amount of vessels. One Liverpool house imported 600 tons in a single
year, worth £9,000.
In 1841 upwards of 3,000 tons of dye woods were imported into
Liverpool from the western coast of Africa.
CAMWOOD (_Baphia nitida_) is used as a mordant and for producing the
bright red color seen in English bandana handkerchiefs. The imports
from Sierra Leone to Liverpool in 1849 were 216 tons, worth £20 to £25
per ton.
Gaboon barwood is another variety of this dyewood which is imported
from the west coast of Africa, in straight flat pieces, from three to,
five feet in length; the average annual import being about 2,000 tons,
of the value of £4 a ton.
The imports of barwood into Liverpool were in--
Tons.
1835 2,000
1836 1,000
1837 1,150
1838 650
1839 350
1841 2,012
1850 1,710
Dyewoods imported in 1850. Re-exported.
Logwood 32,930 4,332
Fustic 9,808 1,771
Nicaragua 7,909 112
Barwood 1,896 1,229
Sappan 3,670 --
Green Ebony, and }
Cocuswood } 1,457 --
Red Sanders 656 --
Camwood 416 --
Brazil and Brazillito 309 --
------ -----
59,051 7,444
Thus we perceive the annual consumption of heavy dyewoods in this
country, in dyeing cotton, linen, woollen and silk goods, &c., exceeds
in weight 51,000 tons.
ARNOTTO.--The plants of this family are chiefly natives of the warmest
parts of South America, the East and West Indies, and Africa. In
America the seeds are called achote or roucou. From the port of
Barcelona, in Venezuela, about 2,000 quintals are annually exported.
The species grown for its dye is the _Bixa orellana_. It is used to
impart a bright orange color to silk goods, and to afford a deeper
shade to simple yellows. The dry hard paste is also found to be the
best of all ingredients for giving a golden tint to cheese or butter.
A convenient liquid preparation is now sold to dairymen. The Spanish
Americans mix it with their chocolate, to which it gives a beautiful
rich hue.
It is of two sorts, viz.:--
1. Flag or cake arnotto, which is by far the most important article in
a commercial point of view, is furnished almost wholly by Cayenne. It
is imported in square cakes, weighing two or three pounds each,
wrapped in banana leaves, packed in casks.
2. Roll arnotto is principally brought from Brazil. The rolls are
small, not exceeding two or three ounces in weight. It is hard, dry,
and compact, brownish on the outside, and of a beautiful red color
within.
The dye is usually prepared by macerating the pods in boiling water
for a week or longer. When they begin to ferment, the seeds ought to
be strongly stirred and bruised with wooden pestles to promote the
separation of the red skins. This process is repeated several times,
till the seeds are left white. The liquor passed through close cane
sieves, pretty thick, of a deep red color, and a very bad smell, is
received into coppers. In boiling, it throws up its coloring matter to
the surface in the form of scum, which is taken off, saved in large
pans, and afterwards boiled down to a due consistence, and then made
up, when soft, into balls or cakes of two or three pounds weight.
The following description of the manufacture is from Dr. Ure:--
"The pods of the tree being gathered, their seeds are taken out and
bruised; they are then transferred to a vat, which is called the
steeper, where they are mixed with as much water as covers them. Here
the substance is left for several weeks or even months; it is now
squeezed through sieves placed above the steeper, that the water
containing the coloring matter in suspension may return into the vat.
The residuum is preserved under the leaves of the pine-apple shrub,
till it becomes hot by fermentation. It is again subjected to the same
operation, and this treatment is continued till no more color remains.
"The substance thus extracted is passed through sieves, in order to
separate the remainder of the seeds, and the color is allowed to
subside. The precipitate is boiled in coppers till it be reduced to a
consistent paste; it is then suffered to cool, and dried in the shade.
Instead of this long and painful labor, which occasions diseases by
the putrefaction induced and which affords a spoiled product, Leblond
proposes simply to wash the seeds of arnotto till they be entirely
deprived of their color, which lies wholly on their surface; to
precipitate the color by means of vinegar or lemon juice, and to boil
it up in the ordinary manner, or to drain it in bags as is practised
with indigo.
"The experiments which Vauquelin made on the seeds of arnotto imported
by Leblond, confirmed the efficacy of the process which he proposed;
and the dyers ascertained that the arnotto obtained in this manner was
worth at least four times more than that of commerce; that, moreover,
it was more easily employed; that it required less solvents; that it
gave less trouble in the copper, and furnished a purer
color."--("Dict. of Arts.")
Our imports of arnotto for home consumption are from 200,000 to
300,000 lbs. per annum. The plant is grown in Dacca and other parts of
India, and the eastern Archipelago. At the Hawaiian Islands,
Tongataboo, Rio Janeiro, Peru and Zanzibar, the arnotto is an
indigenous shrub which rises to the height of seven or eight feet,
producing oblong heavy pods, somewhat resembling those of a chesnut.
Within these there are generally thirty or forty irregularly-formed
seeds, which are enveloped in a pulp of a bright red color, and a
fragrant smell.
The imports of arnotto have been as follows:--
Retained for
lbs. home consumption.
1834 252,981 --
1835 163,421 --
1839 303,489 224,794
1840 408,469 330,490
1847 270,000 296,821
1849 162,400 145,824
1850 301,504 231,280
The price of flag arnotto in the London market, in June 1853, was 1s.
per lb.
We imported from France, in 1850, 1,924 cwt. of roll or flag arnotto,
of the official value of £21,499; and in 1851, 1,253 cwt., worth
£13,968.
Wood dye exported from Ceylon--
Value Quantity
£ cwts.
1848 1,359 --
1849 2,035 --
1850 1,766 5,206
1851 259 776
1852 770 2,396
CHAY-ROOT.--There is a plant called chay, the _Oldenlandia umbellata_,
which is extensively cultivated as a dye plant in the East, especially
on the coasts of Coromandel, Nellore, Masulipatam, Malabar, and other
parts of India. The outer bark of the roots furnishes the coloring
matter for the durable red for which the chintzes of India are famous.
Chay-root forms a considerable article of export from Ceylon. The wild
plant there is considered preferable; the roots, which are shorter,
yielding one-fourth part more coloring matter, and the right to dig it
is farmed out. It grows spontaneously on light, dry, sandy ground on
the sea coast; the cultivated roots are slender, with a few lateral
fibres, and from one to two feet long. The dye is said to have been
tried in Europe, but not with very advantageous effect. Dr. Bancroft
suspects it may be injured by the long voyage, but he adds that it
cannot produce any effect which may not be more cheaply obtained from
madder.
This red dye, similar to Munjeet, is used to a great extent in the
southern parts of Hindostan by the native dyers.
It is not held in very good estimation in Europe but seems to deserve
a better reputation than it at present possesses. Attention was drawn
to it as a dye-stuff in 1798, by a special minute of the Board of
Trade recommending its importation; but Dr. Bancroft, who made some
experiments with a sample of damaged chay-root, considered it inferior
to madder and hence discouraged its further importation.
The bark and root of various species of Morinda (_M. citrifolia_ and
_tinctoria_) are used in different parts of the East Indies, and
considered a very valuable red dye. The colors dyed with it are for
the most part exceedingly brilliant, and the coloring matter is far
more permanent than many other red colors are, with improved
management it would probably rival that of madder, and is, therefore,
worthy more attention from dyers.
MANGROVE BARK (_Rhizophora mangle_), is used to dye a chocolate color
in the East and West Indies. This was one of the colors introduced by
Dr. Bancroft, and for the exclusive use of which he obtained an Act of
Parliament. It is procured in plenty at Arracan, Malabar, and
Singapore in the East.
SHUMAC or SUMACH, sometimes called young fustic, is the powder of the
leaves, peduncles, and young branches of a small deciduous plant
(_Rhus coriaria_), native of the South of Europe, but which is also
grown in Syria and Palestine, for its powerful astringent properties,
which renders it valuable for tanning light-colored leather, and it
imparts a beautiful bright yellow dye to cottons, which is rendered
permanent by proper mordants. It is principally imported from the
Ionian Islands and the Morea. The species grown for the purpose in
Spain, Portugal, and Italy is _R. Cotinus_, a shrub with pale purple
flowers, whereas _R. coriaria_ has greenish yellow blossoms. They may
be propagated by cuttings of the roots and layers. _R. typhina_, and
_R. glabia_, with their varieties, are North American species, which
are also used for tanning purposes. In Montpellier and the South of
France the twigs and leaves are known under the name of _redoul_ or
_roudo_. They are gathered every year, and the shoots are chipped or
reduced to powder by a mill.
The imports into the United Kingdom were in 1846,10,256 tons; in 1847,
11,975 tons; in 1848, 9,617 tons; in 1849, 12,590 tons; in 1850,
12,929 tons, and in 1852, 9,758; which were all retained for
consumption. In 1841, we received about 9,000 tons from the port of
Leghorn. There were exported from Sicily in 1842, 123,305 tons, valued
at £68,894. It is imported in packages of about a cwt., wrapped in
cloth. America takes a large quantity of sumach. The imports into the
port of Boston alone, were 19,070 bags in 1847; 34,524 in 1848; and
30,050 in 1849.
The prices in Liverpool, duty paid, in the close of this year, are per
cwt.:--
s. d. s. d.
Sicily, Messina 10 0 to 10 6
" Palermo 12 0 " 13 0
" Trieste 7 0 " 7 6
" Verona 5 6 " 6 6
" Tyrolese 8 0 " 9 0
SAFFLOWER.--The dried flowers of _Carthamus tinctorius_ yield a pink
dye, which is used for silks and cottons, and the manufacture of
rouge; the color, however, is very fugitive. It is an annual plant,
cultivated in China, India, Egypt, America, Spain, and some of the
warmer parts of Europe; and is indigenous to the whole of the Indian
Archipelago. A large quantity is grown in and exported from Bali. The
Chinese safflower is considered the best, and that from Bombay is
least esteemed. The annual quantity exported from the district of
Dacca averages about 150 tons. The shipments from Calcutta exceed 300
tons to various quarters. Our imports are on the decline, and are now
only about 1,200 cwt. per annum. Safflower was shown in the Great
Exhibition from Celebes, Assam, the vicinity of Calcutta, Dacca, the
states of Rajpootana, and other places.
There are two species: _C. tinctorius_, which has small leaves and an
orange flower; and _C. oxyacantha_, with larger leaves and a yellow
flower, a native of Caucasus. The former is cultivated in Egypt, the
Levant, &c., where it forms a considerable article of commerce. 6,633
cwts. of safflower were imported into the United Kingdom in 1835, of
which about one-half was retained for home consumption. Of 5,352 cwts.
imported in 1840, nearly the whole came from our possessions in the
East. In 1847, about 405 tons were imported; in 1848, 506 tons; in
1849, 407 tons; in 1850, 522 tons. The price of safflower varies from
£1 to £8 per cwt., according to quality. That from Bombay is least
esteemed, fetching only 20s. to 30s.
The annual quantity of safflower, according to Dr. Taylor, exported
from the district of Dacca for eight years ending with 1839, amounted
to 4,000 maunds, or about 149 tons. The exports through the Calcutta
Custom House are occasionally large: in 1824-25 there were about 316
tons; 8,500 Indian maunds were shipped from Calcutta in each of the
years 1841 and 1842.
The prices in the Liverpool market, in January 1853, were for Bengal,
good and fine, £6 to £7 10s. per cwt.; middling, £4 to £4 10s.;
inferior and ordinary, £2 10s. to £3.
GAMBOGE is extensively used as a pigment, from its bright yellow
color. There are two kinds known in commerce, the Ceylon and the Siam.
The former is procured from the _Hebradendron Cambogoides_, Graham; a
tree which grows wild on the Malabar and Ceylon coasts, and affords
the coarsest kind. The pipe gamboge of Siam is said to be obtained
from the bruised leaves and young branches of _Stalagmites
cambogoides_. The resinous sap is received into calabashes, and
allowed to thicken, after which it is formed into rolls. Several other
plants, as the _Mangostana Gambogia_, Gaertner, and the _Hypericum
bacciferum_ and _Cayanense_, yield similar yellow viscid exudation,
hardly distinguishable from gamboge and used for the same purpose by
painters. The _Garcinia elliptica_, Wallich, of Tavoy and Moulmein,
affords gamboge, and approaches very closely in its characters to
Graham's _Hebradendron_. In like manner the Mysore tree bears an
exceedingly close resemblance to that species. It is common in the
forests of Wynaad in the western part of Mysore, and has been named by
Dr. Christison _Hebradendron pictorium_. Another gamboge tree has
recently been found inhabiting the western Burmese territories. Both
these seem to furnish an equally fine pigment. As it can be obtained
in unlimited quantity, it might be introduced into European trade, if
the natives learn how to collect it in a state of purity, and make it
up in homogenous masses in imitation of pipe gamboge, the finest Siam
variety. It seems to possess more coloring matter, more resin and less
gum than the ordinary gamboge of commerce. Gamboge owes its color to
the fatty acid. The resin must be regarded as the chief constituent,
and is most abundant in that imported from Ceylon, which contains
about 76 per cent., and is therefore best adapted for painting.
Gamboge also has its medicinal uses.
Various species of _Lecanora_, particularly _L. tartarea_, known as
cudbear, are used in dyeing woollen yarn. The _Rocella tinctoria_ and
_fusiformis_ furnish the orchil, or orchilla weed of commerce, which
is sometimes sold as a moist pulp, but usually in the form of dry
cakes, known under the name of _litmus_; it produces a fine purple
color. Our imports, which have amounted to 6,000 or 7,000 cwts.
annually, are derived chiefly from the Canary, Azores, and Cape Verd
Islands. Rock orchilla was shown at the Exhibition, from the Berlingen
Isles, from Angola, Madeira and the Cape de Verds. Orchilla weed is
very plentiful about the shores of the islands of New Zealand, some
being sent from thence to the Exhibition; but from a want of knowledge
as to the time at which it should be gathered, and the mode of
preparing it for the market, it has not yet become a saleable
commodity there. The rich varieties of lichens on the rocks and plains
of Australia have not been tested, as they ought to be, with Helot's
lichen test. Various lichens, and _Rocella tinctoria_, from Tenasserim
and other parts of India, have been introduced by the East India
Company. In the Admiralty instructions given to Capt. Sir James C.
Ross, on his Antarctic voyage, a few years ago, his attention was
specially called to the search and enquiry for substitutes for the
_Rocella_, which is now becoming scarce. A prize medal was awarded, in
1851, to an exhibitor from the Elbe for specimens of the weed, and an
extract of red and violet orchil. Specimens of varieties of the
lichens used in the manufacture of cudbear, orchil and litmus, and of
the substance obtained, were also shown in the British department,
which were awarded prize medals.
The beauty of the dyes given by common materials, in the Highlands of
Scotland, to some of the cloths which were exhibited, should lead our
botanists and chemists to examine, more closely than they have
hitherto done, the dye-stuffs that might be extracted from British
plants. Woad (_Isatis tinctoria_) and the dyers' yellow woad (_Reseda
lutea_), are both well known. A piece of tweed, spun and woven in
Ross-shire, was dyed brown and black, by such cheap and common dyes as
moss and alder bark, and the colors were unexceptionable.
Sutherlandshire tweed and stockings, possessing a rich brown color,
were produced with no more valuable dye than soot; in another piece,
beautifully dyed, the yellow was obtained from stoney rag, brown from
the crops of young heather, and purple from the same, but subjecting
the yarn to a greater action of the dye than was necessary to produce
brown. There is very little doubt but that beautiful and permanent
dyes, from brown to a very rich purple, might be cheaply procured by
scientific preparations of the common heather (_Genista tinctoria_).
The inhabitants of Skye exhibited cloth with a peculiarly rich dye,
obtained from the "crobal" moss. In the Spanish department, specimens
of vegetable dyes from many cultivated and wild plants were furnished
by the Agricultural Board of Saragossa, and of several of these it
would be important to obtain descriptions and particulars.
Gums are of essential importance to the dyer, and the imports of
these, therefore, are large, averaging about 8,000 tons.
INDIGO.
The plants which afford this dye grow chiefly in the East and West
Indies, in the middle regions of America, in Africa and Europe. They
are all species of the genera _Indigofera_, _Isatis_ and _Nerium_.
_Indigofera tinctoria_ or _coerulea_, furnishes the chief indigo of
commerce, and affords in Bengal, Malabar, Madagascar, the Isle of
France, and St. Domingo, an article of middling quality, but not in
large quantity. The _Indigofera disperma_, a plant cultivated in the
East Indies and America, grows higher than the preceding, is woody,
and furnishes a superior dye-stuff. The Guatamela indigo comes from
this species.
_Indigofera Anil_ grows in the same countries, and also in the West
Indies. The _Indigofera Argentea_, which flourishes in Africa, yields
little indigo, but it is of an excellent quality. _I.
pseudotinctoria_, cultivated in the East Indies, furnishes the best of
all. _I. glauca_ is the Egyptian and Arabian species. There are also
the _cinerea_, _erecta_ (a native of Guinea), _hirsuta_, _glabra_,
with red flowers, species common to the East, and several others.
The _Wrightia tinctoria_, of the East Indies, an evergreen, with white
blossoms, affords some indigo, as does the _Isatis tinctoria_, or,
Woad, in Europe, and the _Polygonum tinctorium_, with red flowers, a
native of China. _Baptisia tinctoria_ furnishes a blue dye, and is the
wild indigo of the United States.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY.--Indigo is at present grown for commercial purposes
in Bengal, and the other provinces of that Presidency, from the 20th
to the 30th deg. of north latitude; in the Province of Tinnevelly; in
the Madras Presidency; in Java, in the largest of the Philippine
islands, in Guatemala, Caraccas, Central America and Brazil. Bengal
is, however, the chief mart for indigo, and the quantity produced in
other places is comparatively inconsiderable. It is also still
cultivated in some of the West India islands, especially St. Domingo,
but not in large quantities. Indigo grows wild in several parts of
Palestine, but attention seems not to have been given to its
cultivation or collection. On most parts of the eastern and western
coasts of Africa, it is indigenous; at Sierra Leone, Natal, and other
places it is found abundant.
In our settlements of Honduras, Demerara, and various portions of the
American continent, it would amply reward the labor of the cultivator;
several inferior sorts of Indigofera being found there indigenous, and
only requiring care and culture to improve them.
The quality of indigo depends upon the species of the plant, its
ripeness, the soil and climate of its growth, and the mode of
manufacture. The East India, and Brazilian indigo arrives here packed
in chests, the Guatemala in ox-hides, called serons.
The indigo imported from the western hemisphere was for some time
considered superior in quality to that of the East. Its cultivation,
however, has been neglected, and the Bengal indigo is preferred at
present to any imported from South America, where it is now only
cultivated by the Brazilians and Colombians. If proper attention were
paid to the cultivation of the plant, and to the preparation of the
dye, it is very likely part of that important trade would be brought
back. It thrives best in a moist climate, and the interior of Guiana,
chiefly newly-cleared land, would be well adapted for it.
The late Mr. Dunlop ("Travels in Central America") gives an
interesting description, which, at the risk of repetition in some
points, I shall give entire.
"Several vessels generally arrive at the Union from South America at
the time of the periodical fairs, where nearly all the indigo (the
only produce of any importance), is disposed of; formerly it reached
10,000 bales, but at present it does not at most exceed 3,000 bales of
150 lbs. each.
The indigo well known in Europe by the name of Guatemala indigo, was
never cultivated in that province (in the same manner as not a grain
of the Honduras cochineal is grown there), being entirely grown in the
state of San Salvador, in the vicinity of San Miguel, San Vicenti, and
the City of Salvador, with the exception of a small quantity of very
superior quality grown in the state of Nicaragua, and a few bales in
Costa Rica, which is all consumed in the State. Under the government
of Spain, the produce of the state of San Salvador alone had reached
10,000 bales, and that of Nicaragua 2,000; the produce of San Salvador
in 1820, two years before its independence, being 8,323 bales. But
since 1822 the annual produce had gradually declined, and in 1846 it
did not exceed 1,000 to 1,200 bales, nearly all the indigo estates
being abandoned, partly, no doubt, from the great fall in the price of
the article, but more on account of the impossibility of getting
laborers to work steadily.
The plant cultivated in Central America for the manufacture of indigo,
is the triennial plant, supposed to be a native of America; but there
is also an indigenous perennial plant, abounding in many parts of
Central America, which produces indigo of a very superior quality, but
gives less than half the weight which is produced by the cultivated
species. The ground for sowing the indigo seed is prepared in
April,--a piece of good forest land near one of the towns being
selected, a part is cut to make a rude fence, and the remainder burnt,
which is easily accomplished, as everything is very dry at that
season; and the ground is afterwards scratched with two sticks,
fastened crosswise, to resemble somewhat the shape of a plough, and
the seed scattered over it by hand. The rainy season always commences
early in May, and the indigo is ready for cutting about the middle of
July, taking about two and a half months to come to perfection. The
growing crop somewhat resembles lucerne, and is in the best state for
making indigo, when it becomes covered with a sort of greenish farina.
The crop of the first year is small, and sometimes not worth
manufacturing; that of the second year is the best, and the third is
also very good, if it has been carefully weeded; but many indigo
fields have lasted more than ten years without being re-sown, as the
seed which falls naturally springs up again, and where the land is
good yields nearly as large a crop as a new sown field. When the plant
is ready for manufacturing, a number of men are collected, each of
whom is either provided with, or brings his own mule or horse, if he
has one. Two men always go together, cut the plant, then about the
height of full-grown red clover, and take it to the vats, which are
large tanks made of brick and lime, holding at least 1,000 gallons,
and some as much as 10,000. Into these the plant is thrown till they
are nearly full, when weights are put above it to prevent its
floating; and the vats filled with water till it covers the mass of
the indigo plant. After remaining from twelve to twenty-four hours,
according to the state of the plant, weather, and other circumstances
(the time required being determined by the color which the water
assumes), the herb is taken out, and the water beaten with paddles in
the very small vats, and by a wheel suspended above and turned by men
or horses in the larger ones, till it changes from a green color,
which it has acquired ere the removal of the herb, to a fine blue,
when it is allowed to stand for some hours, till the coloring matter
has settled to the bottom of the tank, a process which is generally
hastened by throwing in an infusion of certain herbs to facilitate its
settlement, or as the natives term it curdle (_cuajar_) the colored
water. As soon as all the color has settled, the water is drawn off,
and the blue, which is of the consistency of thick mud, is taken out
of the vat and spread upon cotton, or coarse woollen cloth, and dried
in the sun. The color in a great measure depends upon removing the
herb exactly at the proper time, and upon properly beating the water,
neither too long, or too short. Unless these processes are properly
performed, the indigo will not be of first-rate quality; but some
estates will never produce the best indigo, whatever care may be
bestowed on the manufacture.
A _mansana_, of 100 yards square, which is nearly two British statute
acres, produces generally about 100 to 120 lbs. of indigo, the
carriage and cutting of the herb costing about twenty dollars, and the
cleaning of the field and all other expenses connected with it,
including the manufacture of the indigo, about as much more.
The indigo of Central America is not put into moulds when drying, as
that of Bengal, but is allowed to remain in the rough shape in which
it dries, and without further preparation is ready for baling and
exportation.
The bales are generally made up in 150 lbs. each, and the quality is
classed by numbers, from 1 to 9; Nos. 1 to 3 being of the quality
called _cobres_ in Europe; Nos. 4 to 6 of that called _cortes_, and
Nos. 7 to 9 of that called _flores_; Nos. 1 to 6 do not at present pay
the expenses of manufacture, and are never intentionally made. No
doubt, with a little more skill in the manufacture, the whole might,
as in Bengal, be made of the quality called _flores_; but such
improvements cannot be expected till a new race of people inhabit
Central America. At present about one-half of the indigo produced is
under No. 7, and as the cultivation is said not to pay at the present
prices--and, indeed, hardly can be supposed to compete with Bengal, a
country where labor is so much cheaper, and capital abundant--it is
probable, that the cultivation will shortly be entirely abandoned,
unless the price should again rise in Europe." In 1846, 21,933 lbs. of
indigo were exported from Angostura.
The following particulars were contributed to my "Colonial Magazine,"
by the late Dr. Edward Binns, of Jamaica:--
The species generally cultivated is the _I. tinctoria_, which
requires a rich moist soil and warm weather. The seed, which is at
first sight not unlike coarse gunpowder, is sown three or four
inches deep, in straight lines, twelve or fifteen inches apart. The
shoots appear above ground in about a week; at the end of two months
the plant flowers, when it is fit for cutting, which is done with a
pruning knife. It must be mentioned that great care is requisite in
weeding the indigo field when plants first shoot through the earth.
In the State of St. Salvador, large vats made of mahogany, or other
hard wood, are constructed for the reception of the plant, where it
is allowed to undergo maceration and fermentation. In a short time
the water becomes greenish, and emits a strong pungent smell, while
carbonic acid gas is freely evolved. In about twenty-four hours it
is run off into large flat vessels, and stirred about until a blue
scum appears, when additional water is added, and the blue flakes
sink to the bottom. The supernatant water has now acquired a
yellowish tinge, when it is run off carefully, and the blue deposit
or sediment put into bags to drain. It is subsequently dried in the
shade, or sometimes in the sun, then placed in cotton bags and
carried to the indigo fair, or forwarded to the city of Guatemala.
The East Indian mode of manufacturing the indigo differs materially,
and many suppose it preferable to the Salvador. It consists in
_steaming_ the fermented mass in large pipes enclosed in huge
boilers. I am inclined to believe this to be the most economical, if
not the best way of manufacturing indigo. From Guatemala alone, it
is computed that from 6,000 to 8,000 serons of indigo are exported
annually; while San Miguel, Chalatenaugo, Tejulta, Secatecolnea, St.
Vincent, Sensuntepepe, not only, it is said, produce a larger
quantity, but the four last-mentioned places have the advantage as
to quality. The _Belize Advertiser_ stated, some time since, that
the value of this dye from one State in 1830 produced 2,000,000
dollars, the minimum of an immense sum which has been most unjustly
and unwisely wrested from the people of Jamaica, and the West India
islands.
Bridges ("Annals of Jamaica," p. 584, Append.), speaking of the vast
returns of an indigo plantation, says, "The labour of a single negro
would often bring to his owner £30 sterling per annum clear
profit,--a sum which was at the time the laborer's highest price. It
continued the _staple_ of Jamaica till an intolerable tax oppressed
it, while its price was lowered by the competition of other
colonies.
Its cultivation immediately declined throughout them all, but
nowhere so rapidly as here. The financial error was quickly
discovered,--a remedy was attempted by a bounty; but it came too
late, the plantations were thrown up, and the planters, attracted by
the temporary gain, abused the tardy boon, by introducing, as of
their own growth, large quantities of foreign indigo." As Bridges
may be said in this passage to be merely a commentator on Edwards,
who has entered more largely upon the subject, I shall condense from
the latter, statements connected with the manufacture and decay of
this branch of industry, once the staple of Jamaica.
Edwards ("West Indies," vol. ii., p. 275, 2nd edition) reckons three
kinds of indigo--the wild, Guatemala, and French. The first is the
hardest, and the dye extracted from it of the best quality as
regards color and grain; but one or other of the two species is
commonly preferred by the planter, as yielding a greater return. Of
these the French surpasses the Guatemala in quantity, but yields to
it in fineness of grain and beauty of color. The indigo thrives
almost on any land, though the richest soils produce the most
luxuriant plants, and the longest dry weather will not kill it. The
cultivation and manufacture our author thus describes:--"The land
being prepared, trenches, two or three inches in depth, are made by
the hoe. These are ten or twelve inches asunder. The seeds are then
strewed in the trenches by the hand, and slightly covered with
mould. When the plants shoot, they are carefully weeded, and kept
constantly clean, until they rise high enough to cover the ground. A
bushel of seed is sufficient for four or five acres. The best season
for planting is March; but if the land be good, it may be sown at
any time, and in three months the plants attain maturity. In
seasonable situations, they have four cuttings in the year. The
subsequent growths from the plants ripen in six or eight weeks; but
the produce diminishes after the second cutting, so that the seeds
should be sown every second year. A species of grub, or worm, which
infests the plant on the second year is avoided by changing the
soil; or, in other words, by a rotation of crops. The produce per
acre of the first cutting is about 60 lbs. It is nearly as much in
North America; but when the thermometer falls to sixty, the returns
are very uncertain, that degree of heat being too low for the
necessary vegetation, maceration, and fermentation. The yieldings
for the subsequent cuttings somewhat diminish; but in Jamaica and
St. Domingo, if the land is new, about 300 lbs. per acre of the
second quality may be expected annually from all the cuttings
together; and four negroes are sufficient to carry on the
cultivation of five acres, besides doing other occasional work,
sufficient to reimburse the expenses of their maintenance and
clothing."
The process for obtaining the dye, according to the same author, was
conducted through the means of two cisterns, the one elevated above
the other, in the manner of steps. The higher, which was also the
longer, was named the _sleeper_--its dimensions sixteen feet square
and two and a half in depth. The second, into which the fluid was
discharged, was called the _battery_; it was about twelve feet
square, and four and a half in depth. These cisterns were of stone;
but strong timber answered remarkably well. There was also a
lime-vat, six feet square and four feet deep, the plug of which was
at least eight inches from the bottom. This was for the purpose of
permitting the lime to subside, before the lime-water was withdrawn.
The plants then being ripe, or fit for cutting, were cut with
reaping-hooks, or sickles, a few inches from the ground--six was the
minimum--and placed by strata in the _sleeper_, until it was about
three parts full. They were then pressed with boards, either loaded
with weights or wedged down, so as to prevent the plants from
floating loosely; and as much water was admitted as they would
imbibe, until it covered the mass four or five inches deep. In this
state it was allowed to ferment until the water had extracted the
pulp. To know when this had been thoroughly effected, required
extreme attention and great practical knowledge; for if the fluid
were drawn off too soon, much of the pulp was left behind; and if
the fermentation continued too long, the tender tops of the plants
were decomposed, and the whole crop lost. When the tincture or
extract was received in the battery, it was agitated or churned
until the dye began to granulate, or float in little flakes upon the
surface. This was accomplished at one period in Jamaica by paddles,
worked by manual labor, and, in the French islands, by buckets or
cylinders, worked by long poles; but subsequently--that is, at the
time Edwards wrote--convenient apparatus was constructed, the levers
of which were worked by a cog-wheel, kept in motion by a horse or
mule. When the fluid had been churned for fifteen or twenty minutes,
a small quantity was examined in a cup or plate, and if it appeared
curdled or coagulated, strongly impregnated lime-water was gradually
added, not only with a view to promote separation, but to prevent
decomposition. Browne remarks ("Civil and Nat. Hist. of Jamaica,"
art. "Indigo"), the planters "must carefully distinguish the
different stages of this part of the operation also, and attentively
examine the appearance and color as the work advances,--for the
grain passes gradually from a greenish to a fine purple, which is
the proper color when the liquor is sufficiently worked,--too small
a degree of agitation leaving the indigo green and coarse, while too
vigorous an action brings it to be almost black." The liquor being
then, as we shall suppose, properly worked, and granulation
established, it was left undisturbed until the flakes settled at the
bottom, when the liquor was drawn off, and the sediment (which is
the indigo) placed in little bags to drain, after which it was
carefully packed in small square boxes, and suffered to dry
gradually in the shade.
Such is the account, nearly word for word, which Edwards gives of
the mode of manufacturing indigo. I shall now quote his remarks upon
the outlay and gain upon the article _verbatim_.--"To what has been
said above of the nature of the plant suiting itself to every soil,
and producing four cuttings in the year, if we add the cheapness of
the buildings, apparatus, and labor, and the great value of the
commodity, there will seem but little cause for wonder at the
splendid accounts which are transmitted down to us concerning the
great opulence of the first indigo-planters. Allowing the produce of
an acre to be 300 lbs., and the produce no more than 4s. per pound,
the gross profit of only twenty acres will be £1,200, produced by
the labor of only sixteen negroes, and on capital in land and
buildings scarce deserving consideration." Yet, notwithstanding this
statement, the author informs us afterwards that he knew, in the
course of eighteen years' residence in the West Indies, upwards of
twenty persons who tried to re-establish indigo manufactories, but
failed. This appears strange, since it is plain that what has once
been done can be done again, but especially in the manufacture of an
article requiring a capital so very small in proportion to the
profits as almost to tempt the most cautious and the most timid man
to embark in it.
I quote the following passage from the same author, for the purpose
of showing the very loose manner in which statements are made on the
authority of others, who are as incompetent to decide the merits of
a question as the party himself chronicling their opinion. Speaking
of the twenty unfortunate indigo-planters, our author thus
writes:--"Many of them were men of foresight, knowledge, and
property. That they failed is certain; but of _the causes of their_
FAILURE _I confess I can give no satisfactory account._ I was told
that disappointment trod close upon their heels at every stop. At
one time the fermentation was too long continued, at another the
liquor was drawn off too soon; now the pulp was not duly granulated,
and now it was worked too much. To these inconveniences, for which
practice would doubtless have found a remedy, were added others of a
much greater magnitude--the mortality of the negroes, from the
vapour of fermented liquor (an alarming circumstance, that, I am
informed, both by the French and English planters, constantly
attends the process), the failure of the seasons, and the ravages of
the worm. These, or some of these evils, drove them at length to
other pursuits, where industry might find a surer recompense."--(p.
283.)
The fallacy of much of this requires no comment, as it must strike
even the most careless reader,--for if the so-called indigo-growers
did not know the process of manufacturing the commodity, then it
could not be surprising that they failed. Thus the cause of their
failure required no comment, and no explanation. Were a ploughman
taken from the field and placed at the helm of a ship, and the
vessel in consequence wrecked, would any one be astonished but at
the folly of those who placed him there? This was the case with the
indigo-growers,--they attempted what they did not understand, and,
consequently, lost their labor and their money. The mortality of the
negroes employed, stated as another reason for abandoning the
attempt, requires a somewhat more lengthy notice.
I can briefly say, that I have learned that in the Central States of
America, deaths among indigo-laborers are not more frequent than in
other branches of tropical industry; and I never heard or have read
that the _original_ growers complained of the mortality attending
the progress. The truth is, that this statement is not founded on
fact. There is nothing whatever in the manufacture of indigo, either
in the cultivation or the granulation, or even the maceration and
fermentation of the plant, which is directly or indirectly, _per
se_, injurious to human life. I have certainly never seen the indigo
plant macerated on a large scale; but I have myself steeped much of
it in water, and allowed it even to rot, and found nothing in the
mass differing in any marked degree from decomposed vegetable
matter. It seems to me that this idea of the manufacture of indigo
being especially inimical to human life, is as unfounded as the
belief, even by Humboldt, up to a very recent period, that none of
the Cerealia would grow in tropical climates. In conversing with an
old gentleman in Jamaica, some twelve years since, who had tried the
manufacture of indigo, and with every prospect of success, but
abandoned it, as he confessed, for the cultivation of the sugar
cane, since it was then more profitable, he suggested the solution,
that as the manufacture was light work, probably aged and
debilitated, in place of youthful and vigorous slaves, were too
frequently employed in the process--hence the mortality. This may be
correct to a certain extent; but I am also inclined to think that
another cause of mortality might be found in the mode and manner in
which the negro was fed and clothed, and not because aged persons
were exclusively engaged in the manufacture. I believe I may state,
without fear of contradiction, that the real cause of the decline
and consequent abandonment of the indigo plant was the monstrous
duty levied upon it by the English government. Indeed, this has been
already stated in the extract from Bridges; while the cause of the
failure of the attempt to renew it, over and above the reasons we
have given, was the greater temptation to embark capital in sugar
plantations,--the West Indies enjoying a monopoly in this article,
while they had competitors in the Southern States of America in the
other. I have, therefore, no hesitation in saying, that, with a
trifling capital, under prudent management, indigo might be
cultivated to a very great extent, and with considerable profit,
even now, in Jamaica. But the adventurer is not to expect to count
his gains, as the original growers did, by thousands; he must be
content with hundreds, if not fifties; for at the present day every
branch of industry is laden with difficulties, encumbered by
taxation, and obstructed by competition. There are two objections,
however, which I have not removed,--I allude to "the failure of the
seasons and the ravages of the worm." Very little need be said to
combat these. Seasons are mutable, and the same heaven that frowns
this year on the labors of the husbandman, may smile the next; while
a remedy for the "ravages of the worm" may be found in the mutation
of the soil, the destruction of the grub, or the rotation of
crops,--accessories to success which seem not to have entered into
the vocabularies of the twenty pseudo indigo-growers, "many of them
men of knowledge, foresight and property."
The following passage from Bryan Edwards will corroborate much that
I have endeavored to enforce. It furnishes not only a solution which
has been hinted at before, of the enigma why indigo ceased to be
cultivated in Jamaica, but also _an incentive_ to re-introduce the
culture. He says (p. 444), "It is a remarkable and well-known
circumstance, after the cultivation of indigo was suppressed by an
exorbitant duty of near £20 the hundred-weight, Great Britain was
compelled to pay her rivals and enemies £200,000 annually for this
commodity, so essential to a great variety of her most important
manufactures. At length, the duty being repealed, and a bounty some
time after substituted in its place, the States of Georgia and South
Carolina entered upon, and succeeding in the culture of this
valuable plant, supplied at a far cheaper rate than the French and
Spaniards (receiving too our manufactures in payment) not only the
British consumption, but also enabled Great Britain to export a
surplus at an advanced price to foreign markets."--It is therefore
plain that the manufacture of indigo was lost to Jamaica, not from
any difficulty in growing the plant, or from any loss of life
attending the process of manufacturing it, but from the ruinously
heavy duty of £20 the hundred-weight--and that now, when no duty
exists, it might be again cultivated with great advantage.
The cultivation of indigo has been repeatedly attempted in Cuba, but
never with much success; although the shrub called the Xiquilite, from
which it is extracted, grows wild in several districts of the island,
but more especially towards the eastern extremity. The first
_anileria_, or manufactory of indigo, was established in 1795, under
the patronage of the _Ayuntamento_ of the Havana, who made an advance
of 3,500 dollars, without interest, to the party engaging in the
speculation, in order to encourage the enterprise; but the undertaking
proved unsuccessful, and the same fate has befallen every subsequent
attempt to introduce this branch of industry. In 1827, the whole
produce amounted only to 56 arrobas. In 1837 the imports of indigo
greatly exceeded the exports; the former having amounted to 121,350
lbs., and the latter to 82,890 lbs. In 1833, 5,184 lbs. reached the
United Kingdom from the Havana, and in 1843, 62,675 lbs.
In 1826 British Honduras exported 358,552 lbs.; in 1830, 2,650 serons;
in 1844, 1,247 serons; and in 1845, 1,052 serons.
The indigo shrub is one of the most common bushes in Trinidad, where
it grows wild on almost all the indifferent soils. In 1783, there were
several plantations and manufactories of indigo established in
Trinidad; these were subsequently abandoned, on account of a
supposition that they were unhealthy. Prior to 1783, the colonists had
a kind of simple process by which they extracted sufficient coloring
matter to serve domestic consumption. This process is at present
unknown, hence all the indigo used there is imported from Europe,
although the plant from which it can be made vegetates in every
direction.
In 1791 Hayti imported 930,016 lbs. of indigo, while in 1804 the
export had dwindled to 35,400 lbs.
Indigo, as I have already stated, was once a most important crop in
South Carolina, some attention has recently again been given to it by
an individual or two in Louisiana, and the enterprise is said to
promise success; enough might undoubtedly be raised in the United
States to supply the home market. Some indigo produced at Baton Rouge
was pronounced to have been equal to the best Caraccas, which sells at
two dollars per pound; and the gentleman who cultivated it remarks,
that one acre of ground there, well cultivated, will yield from 40 to
60 lbs.; that it requires only from July to October for cultivating
it; that there is not connected with it one-third of the expense or
time that is generally required for the cultivation of cotton.
I take the following from Smyth's "Tour in the United States."
"This plant is somewhat like the fern when grown, and when young is
hardly distinguishable from lucern grass, its leaves in general are
pinnated, and terminated by a single lobe; the flowers consist of five
leaves, and are of the papilonaceous kind, the uppermost petal being
longer and rounder than the rest, and lightly furrowed on the side,
the lower ones are short and end in a point; in the middle of the
flower is formed the style, which afterwards becomes a pod containing
the seeds.
"They cultivate three sorts of indigo in Carolina, which demand the
same variety of soils. First, the French or Hispaniola indigo, which
striking a long tap root will only flourish in a deep rich soil, and
therefore, though an excellent sort, is not so much cultivated in the
maritime parts of the State, which are generally sandy, but it is
produced in great perfection one hundred miles backwards; it is
neglected too on another account, for it hardly bears a winter so
sharp as that of Carolina. The second sort, which is the false
Guatemala, or true Bahamas, bears the winter better, is a more tall
and vigorous plant, is raised in greater quantities from the same
compass of ground, is content with the worst soil in the country, and
is therefore more cultivated than the first soil, though inferior in
the quality of its dye.
"The third sort is the wild indigo, which is indigenous here; this, as
it is a native of the country, answers the purposes of the planter
best of all, with regard to the hardiness of the plant, the easiness
of the culture, and the quantity of the produce. Of the quality there
is some dispute not yet settled amongst the planters themselves; nor
can they distinctly tell when they are to attribute the faults of
their indigo to the nature of the plant, to the seasons, which have
much influence upon it, or to some defect in the manufacture.
"The time of planting the indigo is generally after the first rains
succeeding the vernal equinox; the seed is sown in small straight
trenches, about eighteen or twenty inches asunder; when it is at its
height, it is generally eighteen inches tall. It is fit for cutting,
if all things answer well, in the beginning of July.
"Towards the end of August a second cutting is obtained, and if they
have a mild autumn, there is a third cutting at Michaelmas. The indigo
land must be weeded every day, the plants cleansed from worms, and the
plantation attended with the greatest care and diligence. About
twenty-five hands may manage a plantation of fifty acres, and complete
the manufacture of the drug, besides providing their own necessary
subsistence and that of the planter's family.
"Each acre yields, if the land be very good, 60 or 70 lbs. weight of
indigo, at a medium the produce is 50 lbs. This however, is reckoned
by many skilful planters but a very indifferent crop.
"When the plant is beginning to blossom it is fit for cutting, and
when cut great care ought to be taken to bring it to the steeper
without pressing or shaking it, as great part of the beauty of the
indigo depends upon the fine farina, which adheres to the leaves of
this plant. The apparatus for making indigo is inconsiderable and not
expensive, for besides a pump, the whole consists only of vats and
tubs of cypress wood, common and cheap in this country.
"The indigo, when cut, is first laid in a vat, about twelve or
fourteen feet long and four feet deep, to the height of about fourteen
inches, to macerate and digest; then this vessel, which is called the
_steeper_, is filled with water; the whole having laid from about
twelve to sixteen hours, according to the weather, begins to ferment,
swell, rise, and grow sensibly warm. At this time spars of wood are
run across, to mark the highest point of its ascent; when it falls
below this mark, they judge that the fermentation has attained its due
pitch, and begins to abate; this directs the manager to open a cock,
and let off the water into another vat, which is called the _beater_;
the gross matter that remains in the first vat is carried off to
manure the ground, for which purpose it is excellent, and new cuttings
are put in, as long as the harvest of the weed continues. When the
water, strongly impregnated with the particles of indigo, has run into
the second vat or beater, they attend with a sort of bottomless
buckets, with long handles, to work and agitate it, when it froths,
ferments, and rises above the rim of the vessel that contains it. To
allay this violent fermentation, oil is thrown in as the froth rises,
which instantly sinks it. When this beating has continued for twenty,
thirty, or thirty-five minutes, according to the state of the weather
(for in cool weather it requires the longest continued beating), a
small muddy grain begins to be formed; the salts and other particles
of the plant united, dissolved, and before mixed with the water, are
now re-united together, and begin to granulate. To discover these
particles the better, and to find when the liquor is sufficiently
beaten, they take up some of it from time to time on a plate, or in a
glass; when it appears in a hopeful condition, they let loose some
lime water from an adjacent vessel, gently stirring the whole, which
wonderfully facilitates the operation; the indigo granulates more
fully, the liquor assumes a purplish color, and the whole is troubled
and muddy; it is now suffered to settle; then the clearer part is
permitted to run off into another succession of vessels, from whence
the water is conveyed away as fast as it clears on the top, until
nothing remains but a thick mud, which is put into bags of coarse
linen. These are hung up and left for some time until the moisture is
entirely drained off.
"To finish the drying, this mud is turned out of the bags, and worked
upon boards of some porous timber, with a wooden spatula; it is
frequently exposed to the morning and evening sun, but for a short
time only; and then it is put into boxes or frames, which is called
the curing, exposed again to the sun in the same cautious manner,
until, with great labor and attention the operation is finished, and
the valuable drug fitted for the market. The greatest skill and care
is required in every part of the process, or there may be great danger
of ruining the whole; the water must not be suffered to remain too
short or too long a time, either in the steeper or beater; the beating
itself must be nicely managed, so as not to exceed or fall short; and
in the curing the exact medium between too much or too little drying
is not easily attained. Nothing but experience can make the overseers
skilful in these matters. There are two methods of trying the goodness
of indigo; by fire and by water. If it swims it is good, if it sinks
it is inferior, the heavier the worse; so if it wholly dissolves in
water it is good. Another way of proving it, is by the fire ordeal; if
it entirely burns away it is good, the adulterations remain
untouched."
Indigo to the extent of 220,000 lbs. per annum is grown in Egypt. The
leaves are there thrown into earthen vessels, which are buried in pits
and filled with water; heat is applied, and the liquid is boiled away
until the indigo becomes of a fit consistence, when it is pressed into
shape and dried. Many Armenians have been invited from the East Indies
to teach the fellahs the best mode of preparation, and, in
consequence, nine indigo works have been established belonging to the
government.
The indigo plant is found scattered like a weed abundantly over the
face of the country in the district of Natal, Eastern Africa. It is
said that there are no less than ten varieties of the plant commonly
to be met with there. Mr. Blaine submitted, in 1848, to the Manchester
Chamber of Commerce, a small specimen of this dye-stuff, which had
been extracted by a rude process from a native plant, which was
pronounced by good authority to be of superior quality, and worth 3s.
4d. per pound. Mr. W. Wilson, a settler at Natal, in a letter to the
editor of the _Natal Witness_, thus speaks of the culture:--
"My attention was first forcibly drawn to the cultivation of indigo
by some seed imported by Mr. Kinlock, from India. This seed, on
trial, I found to grow luxuriantly; and after a few experiments I
succeeded in manufacturing the dye. The success which thus attended
my first attempts has encouraged me to try indigo planting on a more
extensive scale. For this purpose I am allowing all the plants of
this season to run to seed, and intend to plant equal quantities of
Bengal and native indigo.
While my attention was engaged in these preliminary experiments, I
observed that the country abounded in a variety of species of
indigo, and by a series of experiments found it rich and abundant,
and have since learnt that it is known and in use among the natives,
and called by them Umpekumbeto.
This of course induced further inquiry, and on consulting different
works I find that the Cape of Good Hope possesses more species of
indigo than the whole world besides. Now I take it for granted that
if Providence has placed these materials within our reach, it was
evidently intended that we should, by the application of industry,
appropriate them to our use. It becomes, then, a matter of necessity
that indigo must thrive, this being its native soil and climate; and
the experiments I have successfully made, go to support me in the
opinion that the cultivation of indigo will bring an ample reward.
Indeed it seems contrary to the laws of nature that it should be
otherwise.
I have obtained from the 140th part of an acre the proportion of 300
lbs. of indigo per acre. That the plant will cross successfully, I
have also ascertained."
_Cultivation in India._--During the nine years which preceded the
opening of the trade with India in 1814, the annual average produce of
indigo in Bengal, for exportation, was nearly 5,600,000 lbs. But since
the ports were opened, the indigo produced for exportation has
increased fully a third; the exports during the sixteen years ending
with 1829-30, being above 7,400,000 lbs. a year.
The consumption in the United Kingdom has averaged, during the last
ten years, about 2,500,000 lbs. a year.
In 1839-40 the export of indigo from Madras amounted to 1,333,808
lbs. A small quantity is also exported from the French settlement of
Pondicherry. In 1837 the export from Manila amounted to about 250,000
lbs. The export from Batavia in 1841 amounted to 913,693 lbs., and the
production in 1843 was double that amount. The annual exports of
indigo, from all parts of Asia and the Indian Archipelago, were taken
by M'Culloch, in 1840, to be 12,440,000 lbs. The imports are about
20,000 chests of Bengal, and 8,000 from Madras annually, of which
9,000 or 10,000 are used for home consumption, and the rest
re-exported.
The total crop of indigo in the Bengal Presidency has ranged, for the
last twenty years, at from 100,000 to 172,000 factory maunds; the
highest crop was in 1845. The factory maund of indigo in India is
about 78 lbs.
In the delta of the Ganges, where the best and largest quantity of
indigo is produced, the plant lasts only for a single season, being
destroyed by the periodical inundation; but in the dry central and
western provinces, one or two _ratoon_ crops are obtained.
The culture of indigo is very precarious, not only in so far as
respects the growth of the plant from year to year, but also as
regards the quantity and quality of the drug which the same amount of
plant will afford in the same season.
The fixed capital required, as I have already shown, in the
manufacture of indigo, consists simply of a few vats of common masonry
for steeping the plant, and precipitating the coloring matter; a
boiling and drying house, and a dwelling for the planter. Thus a
factory of ten pair of vats, capable of producing, at an average,
12,500 lbs. of indigo, worth on the spot £2,500, will not cost above
£1,500 sterling. The buildings and machinery necessary to produce an
equal value in sugar and rum, would probably cost about £4,000.
The indigo of Bengal is divided into two classes, called, in
commercial language, Bengal and Oude; the first being the produce of
the southern provinces of Bengal and Bahar, and the last that of the
northern provinces, and of Benares. The first class is in point of
quality much superior to the other. The inferiority of the Oude indigo
is thought to be more the result of soil and climate, than of any
difference in the skill with which the manufacture is conducted. The
indigo of Madras, which is superior to that of Manila, is about equal
to ordinary Bengal indigo. The produce of Java is superior to these.
Large quantities of indigo, of a very fine quality, are grown in
Scinde. I have to acknowledge the receipt, from the Indian Government,
of an interesting collection of documents on the culture and
manufacture of indigo in Upper Scinde. The papers are chiefly from the
pen of Mr. Wood, Deputy Collector of Sukkur, though there are several
others, perhaps of much value, from various other of the revenue
officers of Scinde.
Mr. Wood is of opinion that Scinde is much better suited than Bengal
for the production of this dye-stuff--the alluvial soil on the banks
of the Indus is equal in richness to that on those of the Ganges, and
the climate seems equally well suited for the growth of the plant. But
in two years out of three, the crops of the Bengal planter are injured
by excessive inundations, while the work of gathering and manipulation
is necessarily performed, during the rainy season, under the greatest
imaginable disadvantages. In Scinde, on the other hand, the inundation
of the river is produced almost solely from the melting of the snows
in the Himalayas, and it is not liable to those excessive fluctuations
in amount, or that suddenness in appearance peculiar to inundations
chiefly arising from falls of rain. The Granges sometimes rises ten
feet in four-and-twenty hours, and at some part of its course its
depth is at times forty feet greater during a flood than in fair
weather, while the Indus rarely rises above a foot a day, its extreme
flood never exceeding fifteen feet, the limits and amount of the
inundation being singularly uniform over a succession of years.
Moreover, as rain hardly ever falls in Scinde, and when it does so
only continues over a few days, and extends to the amount of three or
four inches, no danger or inconvenience from this need be apprehended.
Mr. Wood mentions that hemp may be grown in profusion on the indigo
grounds, and that were the production of the dye once introduced, it
would bring hundreds of thousands of acres now barren into
cultivation, and secure the growth or manufacture of a vast variety of
other commodities for which the country is eminently fitted. An
experimental factory might, it is believed, be set up for from two to
three thousand pounds, but this appears to be an amount of adventure
from which the Government shrinks.
The districts of Kishnagar, Jessore, and Moorshedabad, in Bengal,
ranging from 88 to 90 degs. E. latitude, and 22½ to 24 degs. N.
longitude, produce the finest indigo. That from the districts about
Burdwan and Benares is of a coarser or harsher grain. Tirhoot, in
latitude 26 degs., yields a tolerably good article. The portion of
Bengal most propitious to the cultivation of indigo, lies between the
river Hooghly and the main stream of the Ganges.
In the East Indies, after having ploughed the ground in October,
November, and the beginning of December, they sow the seed in the last
half of March and the beginning of April, while the soil, being
neither too hot nor too dry, is most propitious to its germination. A
light mould answers best; and sunshine, with occasional light showers,
are most favorable to its growth. Twelve pounds of seed are sufficient
for sowing an acre of land. The plants grow rapidly, and will bear to
be cut for the first time at the beginning of July; nay, in some
districts so early as the middle of June. The indications of maturity
are the bursting forth of the flower buds, and the expansion of the
blossoms; at which period the plant abounds most in the dyeing
principle. Another indication is taken from the leaves, which, if
they break across when doubled flat, denote a state of maturity. But
this character is somewhat fallacious, and depends upon the poverty or
richness of the soil. When much rain falls, the plants grow too
rapidly, and do not sufficiently elaborate the blue pigment. Bright
sunshine is most advantageous to its production.
The first cropping of the plants is the best; after two months a
second is made; after another interval a third, and even a fourth; but
each of these is of diminished value.
_Culture in India._--For the following excellent account of the modes
of culture, and practice, &c., in Bengal, and other parts of India, I
am indebted to Mr. G. W. Johnson, one of the correspondents of my
"Colonial Magazine." Mr. Johnson, besides his own Indian experience,
has consulted all the best authorities, and the opinions of
contributors to the leading periodicals of Calcutta on this important
subject:--
When America became known to Europeans, its indigo became to them a
principal object of cultivation, and against their skill the native
Hindostanee had nothing to oppose, but the cheapness of his simple
process of manufacture. The profit and extent of the trade soon
induced Europeans to brave the perils of distance and climate to
cultivate the plant in Hindostan; but these obstacles, added to the
superior article manufactured by the French and Spaniards in the
West Indies, would long have held its produce in India in
subordination, if the anarchy and wars incident to the French
Revolution, especially when they reached St. Domingo, had not almost
annihilated the trade from the West, and consequently proportionally
fostered that in the East. The indigo produce of St. Domingo was
nearly as large as that of all the other West India islands
together. From the time that the negroes revolted in that island,
the cultivation of indigo has increased in Hindostan, until it has
become one of its principal exports, and the quality of the article
manufactured is not inferior to that of any other part of the world.
The most general mode of obtaining the necessary supply of _weed_,
as it is called by the planter, is as follows:--The land attached to
the factory is parcelled out among the ryots or farmers, who
contract to devote a certain portion of their farm to the
cultivation of indigo, and to deliver it, for a fixed price per
bundle, at the factory; a sum of money, usually equal to half the
probable produce, has to be advanced to the ryot by the planter, to
enable him to accomplish the cultivation, and to subsist upon until
the crop is ready for cutting.
If, as is generally the case, sufficient land is not attached to the
factory to supply it with plant, the owner obtains what he requires
by inducing the ryots in his vicinity to cultivate it upon a part of
their land. Yet it is with them far from a favorite object of
cultivation; and, indeed, if it were not for the money advanced to
each ryot by the planter, to provide seed, &c., and which gives him
a little ready money, bearing no interest, it is doubtful whether he
would engage in the cultivation at all. Even this advance of money
does not induce him to appropriate it to any but the worst part of
his farm, nor to bestow upon it more than the smallest possible
amount of labor. The reasons for this neglect are valid, for the
grain crops are more profitable to the ryot, and indigo is one of
the most precarious of India's vegetable products.
In Bengal the usual terms of contract between the manufacturer and
the ryot are, that the latter, receiving at the time a certain
advance of money, perhaps one rupee (2s.) per biggah, with promise
of a similar sum at a more advanced period of the season, undertakes
to have a certain quantity of land suitably and seasonably prepared
for sowing, to attend and receive seed whenever occasion requires,
and to deliver the crop, when called upon, at the factory, at a
specified price per bundle or 100 bundles. The particular conditions
of these contracts vary generally in Bengal; they amount to
advancing the ryot two rupees for every biggah of land, furnishing
him with seed at about one-third its cost, on an engagement from
him to return whatever his lands may produce (which, as has been
said, is generally none at all), at the price charged, and receiving
the plant from him at six, seven, eight, or sometimes nine bundles
for a rupee--much oftener the former than the latter rates. A ryot
cultivating alluvial lands, and having no seed, can hardly ever
repay his advances; but it does not follow that he has been a loser,
for he, perhaps, could not value his time, labor, and rent
altogether at half the amount; and as long as this system is kept
within moderate bounds, it answers much better than private
cultivation to the manufacturer, and has many contingent advantages
to the cultivator.
In Tirhoot similar engagements are entered into with the ryots, who
are there called _Assamees_. These engagements with Assamees are
generally made in the month of September, on a written instrument
called a _noviskaun_, by which they agree for a certain quantity of
land, for five years, to be cultivated with indigo plant, and for
which they are to be paid at the rate of six rupees per biggah, for
every full field of plant measured by a luggie or measuring-rod. The
luggie, it must be observed, varies in size throughout the district.
In the southern and eastern divisions of Tirhoot and Sarun it is
eight-and-a-half to ten feet long; and in the northern and western
from twelve to fourteen feet. The Assamee receives, on the day of
making his _bundobust_, or settlement, three rupees advance on each
biggah he contracts for, another rupee per biggah when the crop is
fit to weed, and the remaining two rupees at the ensuing settlement
of accounts. Exclusive of the price of his maul or plant, the
Assamee is entitled to receive two or three rupees per biggah (as
may be agreed on) for gurkee, or lands that have failed, as a
remuneration for his trouble, and to enable him to pay his rent. The
foregoing are the principal stipulations of the noviskaun, but the
Assamee further engages to give you such land as you may select,
prepare it according to instructions from the factory, sow and weed
as often as he is required, cut the plant and load the hackeries at
his own cost, and in every other respect conform to the orders of
the planter or his aumlah (managing man). The Assamee is not charged
for seed, the cartage of his plants, or for the cost of drilling. I
should mention that a penalty is attached to the non-fulfilment of
the Assamees engagements, commonly called _hurjah_, viz., twelve
rupees for every biggah short of his agreement, and this for every
year that the noviskaun has to run. This is, however, seldom
recoverable, for if you sue the Assamee in court and obtain a decree
(a most expensive and dilatory process), he can in most instances
easily evade it by a fictitious transfer of his property to other
hands.
The planter generally finds it his interest to get the Zemindar of
the village in which he proposes cultivating, to join in the
noviskaun, as a further security; or he engages with a jytedar, or
head Assamee, having several others subordinate to him, and for
whose conduct he is responsible. But a still better system is lately
gaining ground in this district, I mean that of taking villages in
ticka, or farm, by far the best and cheapest plan that has ever been
resorted to for the cultivation of indigo.
When the planter cultivates the ground himself, it is called in
Tirhoot _Zerant_ cultivation. _Zerants_, or _Neiz_, are taken on a
pottah or lease for five years, at the average rent of three rupees
per biggah. The heavy cost attending this cultivation has occasioned
its decrease in most factories in Tirhoot and particularly since the
fall in prices. About a third, I believe, was the proportion it
formerly bore to the whole cultivation of the district, but of late
such factories only have retained it as cannot procure sufficient
good land under the Assamewar system; but now that the plan of
taking villages in farm is becoming more and more prevalent here, it
is very likely that Zerants will be entirely abandoned. From all the
information I have been able to collect, the cost of a biggah of
Zerant (ten feet luggie) may be estimated at sixteen rupees; that of
Assamewar is generally twenty-five per cent. less, both exclusive of
interest, agents' charges, and private expenses.
It can only be the reluctance of the ryot to cultivate indigo that
induces a manufacturer to grow it himself, for it has been found an
expensive plan, profitable only when the dye is at its highest rate,
and even then scarcely furnishing an adequate return. They not only
could not cultivate so cheaply as the native laboring husbandman,
but ordinarily had to engage extensive tracts of land, much of
which was not suitable for their purpose, or, perhaps, for any
other, and consequently, although the average rate of rent was even
low on the whole, it constituted a very heavy charge on the portion
from which they obtained their return.
In Oude there are three systems of obtaining a supply of the plant,
viz., _Kush Kurreea_, _Bighowty_, and _Nij_; but the latter is a
mere trifle in proportion to the others, and is, therefore, not
worth mentioning. On the _Bighowty_ system, which prevails chiefly
in the Meerut and Mooradabad districts, the planter advances for a
biggah of _Jumowah_ (irrigated sowings) nine rupees, and for a
biggah of _Assaroo_ (rain sowings) five rupees four annas. The next
year's plant, or _khoonti_, becomes his on an additional payment of
eight annas per biggah. He also supplies the seed at the rate of six
seers per biggah, being almost double the quantity made use of in
Bengal, but which is necessary to make up for the destruction of the
plant the year following by the frost, white ants, hot winds, grass
cutters, and, I may add, the village cattle, which are let loose to
graze on the khoonte during the latter period, when not a blade of
grass or vegetation is to be seen anywhere left.
The Bighowty system is a sadly ruinous one, as, independently of the
attempts to assimilate Assaroo, at five rupees four annas, with
_Jumowah_, at nine rupees per biggah, which is very easily effected
if the planter is not very vigilant, he is obliged to maintain an
extensive and imposing establishment of servants, not only to
enforce the sowings, weeding, and cutting, but also to look after
his khoonte, and protect it from being destroyed by bullocks and
grass cutters, or from being ploughed up clandestinely by the
Zemindars themselves.
The Kush Kurreea system again has its evils, as the planter never
gets plant for the full amount of his advances, and hence often
leads to his ruin.
_Soils._--Indigo delights in a fresh soil; new lands, of similar
staple to others before cultivated, always surpass them in the
amount and quality of their produce. Hence arises the superior
productiveness of the lands annually overflowed by the Ganges, the
earthy and saline deposits from which in effect renovate the soil.
The further we recede from the influence of the inundation, the less
adapted is the soil for the cultivation of indigo. The staple of the
soil ought to be silicious, fertile, and deep. Mr. Ballard, writing
on the indigo soils of Tirhoot, says that high "soomba," or light
soils, are generally preferred, being from their nature and level
less exposed to the risk of rain or river inundation; but they are
difficult to procure, and, moreover, require particular care in the
preparation. Next in estimation is "doruss," a nearly equal mixture
of light earth and clay; a soil more retentive of moisture in a dry
season than any other. "Muttyaur," or heavy clay soils, are
generally avoided, although in certain seasons, with mild showers of
rain, they have been known to answer. The safest selection I should
conceive to be an equal portion of soomba and doruss. In a country,
however, interspersed with jheels and nullahs, it is difficult to
form a cultivation without a considerable mixture of low lands, more
or less, according to the situation of the Assamee's fields. Great
care should be taken, at all events, to guard against oosur lands,
or such as abound with saltpetre; these can be most easily detected
in the dry months. _Puchkatak_, that is, lands slightly touched with
_oosur_, have been known to answer, as partaking more of the nature
of _doruss_ soil; but the crop is generally thin, although strong
and branchy.
There is another description of land that should be cautiously
avoided. It goes by the name of _jaung_, and is a light soil, with a
substratum of sand from six to twelve inches below the surface. The
plant generally looks very fine in such fields till it gets a foot
high, when the root touching the sand, and having no moisture to
sustain it, either dies away altogether, or becomes so stunted and
impoverished as to yield little or nothing in the cutting. Of the
_daub_ or _dearab_ (alluvial) land, says Mr. Ballard, there is
scarcely any in the district except what falls to the lot of my own
factories, being situated on the banks of the Ganges and Great
Gunduck. Of _bungur_, a stiff reddish clay soil, there is little in
Tirhoot; it pervades the western provinces, and is best adapted for
Assaroo sowings, which do not succeed in Tirhoot.
_Preparation of the soil._--The root of the indigo plant being
fusiform, and extending to about a foot in length, requires the soil
to be loosened thoroughly to that depth at least. Experience
teaches that the fineness of the tilth to which the soil is reduced
previously to the seed being committed to it, is one very
influential operation for the obtaining a productive crop. Yet in
some districts of Bengal, particularly about Furudpore, the sowing
is performed without any previous ploughing. This is where the
river, when receded, has left the soil and deposit so deep, that
about October, or a little later, the seed being forcibly discharged
from the sower's hand, buries itself, and requires no after covering
by means of the rake or harrow.
In Tirhoot they are indefatigable in this first step of the
cultivation. Mr. Ballard says, that the preparation of indigo lands
should commence in September, as soon as the cessation of the rains
will permit; and as we do not rely on rain for our sowings (as is
the custom in Bengal and elsewhere, and irrigation is never resorted
to, from the heavy expense attending it), our principal aim is to
preserve as much moisture in the fields as possible. They should
receive, for this purpose, not less than eight ploughings, besides a
thorough turning up with the spade, after the fourth ploughing, to
clear the field from stubble, grass and weeds. It is absolutely
indispensable to get all this done on our light soils, especially
before the end of October, and have the land carefully harrowed
down, so as to prevent the moisture escaping.
Should there be heavy rains between the interval of preparing and
sowing, it will be necessary to turn the fields up with either one
or two ploughings, and harrow them down as before. If only a slight
shower, running the harrow over them will be sufficient to break the
crust formed on the surface, and which, if allowed to remain, would
quickly exhaust the moisture. This, with the occasional use of the
weeding-hook, is all that the lands will require till the time of
sowing.--("Transactions of the Agri.-Hort. Society of Calcutta,"
vol. ii., p. 22.)
_Sowing_.--The time when the seed is committed to the soil varies in
different parts of India, and, even in the same place, admits of
being performed at two different seasons. The periods of sowing in
Bengal are first immediately after the rains, from about the latter
end of October. The rivers are then rapidly retiring within their
beds, and as soon as the soft deposit of the year has drained itself
into a consistency, though not solid enough to keep a man from
sinking up to his knees in it, they begin to scatter the seed
broadcast. This is continued until the ground has become too hard
for the seed to bury itself; the plough is then used to loosen the
crust, and the sowing continued to about the middle, or even the end
of November, from which period the weather is considered too cold,
until February. These autumnal sowings are called October sowings,
from the month in which they generally commence. Much of the plant
perishes during the months of December and January, and more again
in the spring, unless there are early and moderate showers. The crop
that remains is not so productive ordinarily in the vat, as that
obtained from spring sowings, and some think the quality of the
produce inferior. But there is no expense of cultivation, and the
liabilities of the crop to failure are such a discouragement to cost
and labor in rearing it, that the October sowing is followed by most
planters who can obtain suitable land. The second period of sowing
is the spring, with the first rains of March, or even the end of
February. The land having been measured and placed under its slight
course of tillage during the two or three preceding mouths, is sown
broadcast as soon as the ground has been well moistened, or even in
prospect of approaching rain. The quantity of seed used for this
autumn sowing is generally more than what is considered requisite
for spring sowing; six seers at the former and four at the latter
season per biggah, in Bengal, is the quantity usually allowed.
Some cultivators commence the autumn sowing as early as at the close
of September, or as soon as the low lands are in a state to permit
the operation after the inundation has subsided. This seed time may
be said to continue until the end of December, and the crops from
these sowings often yield an average produce, if the lands are not
very low and wet. If they are, the sowing had better be delayed
until January, or even February, for the crops from these latter
sowings are usually the most productive, and the dye obtained from
them the finest. The object for thus delaying the sowing is, that
the young plants may have a more genial season for vegetation. Those
who prefer sowing earlier, and yet are aware of the importance of
saving the young plants as much as possible from the comparative low
temperature of the season, sow some other crop with their indigo.
Til, the country linseed, is good for this purpose in high lying
soils. But I never knew an intermixture of crops that was not
attended by inconveniences and injuries more than was compensated by
the advantages gained.
The success of sowings during March and April is very doubtful. It
depends entirely upon the occurrence of rain, which in those months
is proverbially uncertain. If the season should be sufficiently wet,
the sowing may be performed in May; but a June sowing is very rarely
remunerating. The rains setting in during the latter part of this
month so promote the growth of weeds, that the young plants are
choked and generally destroyed. The exceptions only occur in high
lands, in unusually propitious seasons, and ought never to be relied
upon except when the earlier sowings have failed. To protract the
manufacturing season, some planters begin sowing upon low lying
lands in the hot season, for the chance of a crop at the
commencement of the rains; and they sow at the close of the rains
with the hope of, as it were, stealing another in the next year. In
the western provinces sowing necessarily occurs in the dry weather,
usually in March and April, though occasionally either a little
earlier or later.
In Tirhoot the sowings commence about the latter end of February or
the beginning of March, if by that time there is sufficient warmth
in the atmosphere to ensure a healthy vegetation. Light soils are
sown on one close ploughing; heavy soils on two, with from four to
eight seers of seed, in proportion to the size of the biggah. After
strewing the seed, the field should be harrowed down by two turns of
the harrow, and then again by two turns more after the third day. In
case of rain before the plant appears (which it ought to do on the
sixth or seventh day), if a slight shower, the harrow should be used
again; if very heavy, it were best to turn up the ground and re-sow.
If rain fall after the appearance of the plant, and before it has
got past four leaves, and attained sufficient strength to resist the
hard crust before alluded to, immediate recourse must be had to
drilling. In fact, the closest attention is required to watch the
state of the young crop for a month at least after the sowings; if
it yield the least, or assume a sickly appearance, drills are the
only resource. These, if applied in time, in all March, for
instance, or before the middle of April at latest, are generally
successful, not only in restoring plants, but recovering such as may
have become sickly from want or excess of moisture, or any other
cause. In dry seasons they have been known to give a crop when
broadcast sowings have failed. Each drill, with a good pair of
bullocks, should do five biggahs a day. They are regulated to throw
from three to four seers per biggah, but the quantity can be
increased or diminished at pleasure. The natives do not employ them
in their grain sowings, but commonly adopt a contrivance with their
own plough for sowing in furrows, whenever their fields are
deficient in moisture. The drill employed in Tirhoot resembles
considerably the implement known by that name in England. It is
found not only to effect a great saving of seed, ten seers being
there sown broad-cost on a biggah of 57,600 feet square, and only
seven seers by this drill; but also materially to improve the
quality and regularity of the growth of the plant. Experience has
demonstrated, that the more lateral room the plants have, the more
abundant is their produce of leaves, in which the coloring matter
chiefly resides. The seed employed should always be as new as
possible, for though, if carefully preserved, it vegetates when one
year old, and even when nearly two years old has produced a moderate
crop, yet this has been under circumstances of an unusually
favorable season and soil. The plants from old seed rarely attain a
height of more than a foot before they wither and die. As frauds are
very likely to be practised by giving old seed the glossiness and
general appearance of new, great circumspection should be shown by
the planter, who does not grow his own, in obtaining seed from known
parties.
Planters in the lower provinces are induced to use up-country seed,
because, coming from a colder climate, it vegetates, and the plants
ripen rapidly, so as to be harvested more certainly before the
annual inundation, but they employ one-fourth more. Three seers per
Bengal biggah are sufficient, if it is "Dassee" seed; but four is
not too much if it is up-country seed. A Bengal biggah is only a
third of the size of that of Tirhoot. If the weather is dry, the
seed very often does not germinate until the occurrence of rain, and
it has been known in a dry, light soil, to remain in the ground
without injury for six weeks. If seasonable showers occur, the
plants make their appearance in four days, or even less; and they
must be watched, in order that they may be weeded on the earliest
day that they are sufficiently established to allow the operation to
be safely performed. In dry weather, it must not be done while they
are very young, otherwise many of the seedlings will have their
roots disturbed, and perish from the drought. However, not more than
a fortnight should be allowed to pass, after the seedlings have
appeared, before the weeds are carefully removed, and this clearing
should be frequently repeated until the plants so overshadow the
ground that they of themselves keep back the advance of the weeds.
The first weeding is best performed immediately after a shower of
rain.
Irrigation is rarely adopted for the indigo crops in the lower
provinces of Bengal, unless they happen to be grown in some
situation very favorable to the operation, such as the bank of a
river. It is much more attended to in the western provinces, and in
Oude, the water being obtained from wells, which are dug in nearly
every cultivated plot. In Oude, Mr. Ballard says that a biggah of
land employs three persons to irrigate it, and occupies never less
than six days. The ryot, or cultivator, requires for the work a pair
of bullocks, which cost him at least 32s., a bucket made of a white
bullock hide, at 2s., and a rope for 2s. more, both of which do not
last him above a year. He never pays less than 8s. for the rent of a
biggah of land near a well.
In Bengal the plant requires three months to attain its highest
state of perfection for manufacturing, but is often cut, from
necessity, within half that time; for the approach of the river
compels the premature removal of the crop, unless, indeed, its
growth has been so retarded that it would not pay the expense of
working. Most indigo factories have consequently to begin in June,
or early in July, whenever they may have effected their spring
sowings, and the labors of the season are commonly terminated by the
middle or end of August.
When the plants begin to flower is considered the best time for
cutting them, and this is just what the botanist would have
suggested, because then the proper sap of all plants is most
abundant, and most rich in their several peculiar secretions. A
vividly green, abundant and healthy foliage, downy at the back, is
the surest intimation of the plants being rich in indigo. Plants
that are ready for cutting in July and August, are usually the most
productive.
In the western provinces from sixteen to twenty maunds of plant is
considered a good produce per biggah. In the upper provinces the
produce of the best crop, which is sown directly the rains commence,
is not more then ten maunds per biggah. The factory maund is equal
to about seventy-eight pounds. One thousand maunds of plant are
considered as producing quite an average quantity of indigo if this
amounts to four maunds. Adopting another mode of estimate, Mr.
Ballard says, that in Bengal an average crop may he considered to be
from ten to twelve bundles, over an extensive cultivation, in a good
season, from each Bengal biggah; the sheaf or bundle being measured
by a six-feet cord or chain. Speaking of the produce in Tirhoot, the
same gentleman says the "luggie," or measuring rod, varies
throughout the district. The common Tirhoot biggah, is, I believe,
equal to two-and-a-half or three Bengal biggahs (about an English
acre). Its produce varies according to the size of the luggie, the
fertility of the soil, and accidents of season; eight to ten hackery
loads, however, is generally considered a good average return. South
and east of Tirhoot, one hundred maunds from six hundred biggahs,
including "khoonti," or a second cutting, is reckoned a successful
result. In another part of the district, including Sarun, where the
"luggie" is larger, the average produce is about one-third better.
As we measure our plant on the ground (he adds), the bundle system
is unknown here; but, I believe, forty-five or fifty Tirhoot hackery
loads of plants (estimated to yield a maund of dry indigo), will be
found equal to two hundred Bengal bundles.--("Trans. Agri. Hort.
Soc., vol. ii. p. 23.")
In Oude the _jamowah_, or crop sown in May, yields on an average
twenty maunds, or say thirteen bundles, per biggah (160 feet
square). The "assaroo," or rain sowings, producing a very inferior
plant, the average return is not more than three maunds, or two
bundles. The "khoonti," or crop of the next year from the same
plants, averages fifteen maunds, or ten bundles per biggah.
In Central and Western India, the plants are allowed to produce the
second and even the third year, according to some statements; but in
Bengal the same stocks are rarely suffered to yield a second crop:
being nearly all on lands that are under water in the height of the
inundation, the stock is rotted in the ground. Mr. Ballard, speaking
of the duration of the plant, says that, as for three years' plant
and "khoonti," it is a mere chimera, like the many others with which
the planters have hitherto deluded themselves, and which it only
requires a little reflection to overthrow. A biggah may be cut here
and there, on an extensive cultivation, but it can never be relied
upon as forming a part of the cultivation.
The uncertainty of the indigo crop has been already noticed, and is,
indeed, as proverbial as that from the hop plant in England. In
Bengal the crop is particularly subject to be destroyed by the
annual inundation of the river, if it occurs earlier than usual. A
storm of wind, accompanied by rain and hail, as completely ruins the
crop as if devoured by the locust; neither from this latter scourge
is the crop exempt.
This proneness to injury extends throughout its growth. The
seedlings are liable to be destroyed by an insect closely resembling
the turnip-fly, as well as by the frog. Caterpillars feed upon the
leaves of older plants, and the white ant destroys them by consuming
their roots. To these destructive visitations are to be added the
more than ordinary liability of the plant to injury, not merely from
atmospheric commotions, but even from apparently less inimical
visitations. Thus not only do storms of wind, heavy rains, and hail,
destroy the indigo planter's prospects, but even sunshine, if it
pours out fervently after showers of rain, is apt, as it is properly
termed, to _scorch_ the plants; and if it occurs during the first
month of their growth, is most injurious to their future advance.
The reason of this effect appears to be the violent change from a
state of imbibing to a rapid transpiration of moisture. No human
invention or foresight can preserve the crop from the atmospheric
visitations. To destroy and drive away the little coleopterous
insects which attack the seedlings, it would be a successful method
to spread dry grass, &c., over the surface intended to be
cultivated, and to burn the litter immediately before the sowing.
The heat and smoke produced has been found perfectly efficacious
against the turnip-fly in England. To destroy the caterpillar,
slacked lime dusted over the leaves, while the dew is upon them, is
an effectual application. The white ants may be driven away or
destroyed by frequent hoeings, which is the best preventive of the
scorching, for hoeing preserves the soil in an equable and fitting
state of moisture.
The great supply of seed for Bengal cultivation is obtained from the
western provinces, and forms an article of trade of no
inconsiderable magnitude. The stubble in the low lands of Bengal is
generally submerged before it has time to throw out fresh shoots, on
which the blossom and subsequent seed-pod are formed. There are,
however, some high tracts reserved for that purpose, and on these
the plant is found well in flower in September, and the seed fit to
gather in November or early in December.
Two methods are pursued to extract the indigo from the plant; the
first effects it by fermentation of the fresh leaves and stems; the
second, by maceration of the dried leaves; the latter process being
most advantageous. They are thus described by Dr. Ure, in his
"Dictionary of Arts and Manufactures:"--
1. _From the recent leaves._--In the indigo factories of Bengal,
there are two large stone-built cisterns, the bottom of the first
being nearly upon a level with the top of the second, in order to
allow the liquid contents to be run out of the one into the other.
The uppermost is called the fermenting vat, or the steeper; its
area is twenty feet square, and its depth three feet; the lowermost,
called the beater or beating vat, is as broad as the other, but
one-third longer. The cuttings of the plant, as they come from the
field, are stratified in the steeper, till this be filled within
five or six inches of its brim. In order that the plant, during its
fermentation, may not swell and rise out of the vat, beams of wood
and twigs of bamboo are braced tight over the surface of the plants,
after which water is pumped upon them till it stands within three or
four inches of the edge of the vessel. An active fermentation
speedily commences, which is completed within fourteen or fifteen
hours; a little longer or shorter, according to the temperature of
the air, the prevailing winds, the quality of the water, and the
ripeness of the plants. Nine or ten hours after the immersion of the
plant, the condition of the vat must be examined; frothy bubbles
appear, which rise like little pyramids, are at first of a white
colour, but soon become grey, blue, and then deep purple red. The
fermentation is at this time violent, the fluid is in constant
commotion, apparently boiling, innumerable bubbles mount to the
surface, and a copper colored dense scum covers the whole. As long
as the liquor is agitated, the fermentation must not be disturbed,
but when it becomes more tranquil, the liquor is to be drawn off
into the lower cistern. It is of the utmost consequence not to push
the fermentation too far, because the quality of the whole indigo is
deteriorated; but rather to cut it short, in which case there is,
indeed, a loss of weight, but the article is better. The liquor
possesses now a glistening yellow color, which, when the indigo
precipitates, changes to green. The average temperature of the
liquor is commonly 85 deg. Fahr.; its specific gravity at the
surface is 1.0015; and at the bottom 1.003.
As soon as the liquor has been run into the lower cistern, ten men
are set to work to beat it with oars, or shovels four feet long,
called _busquets_. Paddle wheels have also been employed for the
same purpose. Meanwhile two other laborers clear away the
compressing beams and bamboos from the surface of the upper vat,
remove the exhausted plant, set it to dry for fuel, clean out the
vessel, and stratify fresh plants in it. The fermented plant appears
still green, but it has lost three-fourths of its bulk in the
process, or from twelve to fourteen per cent. of its weight, chiefly
water and extractive matter.
The liquor in the lower vat must be strongly beaten for an hour and
a half, when the indigo begins to agglomerate in flocks, and to
precipitate. This is the moment for judging whether there has been
any error committed in the fermentation, which must be corrected by
the operation of beating. If the fermentation has been defective,
much froth rises in the beating, which must be allayed with a little
oil, and then a reddish tinge appears. If large round granulations
are formed, the beating is continued, in order to see if they will
grow smaller. If they become as small as fine sand, and if the water
clears up, the indigo is allowed quietly to subside. Should the vat
have been over-fermented, a thick fat-looking crust covers the
liquor, which does not disappear by the introduction of a flask of
oil. In such a case the beating must be moderated. Whenever the
granulations become round, and begin to subside, and the liquor
clears up, the beating must be discontinued. The froth or scum
diffuses itself spontaneously into separate minute particles, that
move about the surface of the liquor, which are marks of an
excessive fermentation. On the other hand, a rightly fermented vat
is easy to work; the froth, though abundant, vanishes whenever the
granulations make their appearance. The color of the liquor, when
drawn out of the steeper into the beater, is bright green; but as
soon as the agglomerations of the indigo commence, it assumes the
color of Madeira wine; and speedily afterwards, in the course of
beating, a small round grain is formed, which, on separating, makes
the water transparent, and falls down, when all the turbidity and
froth vanish.
The object of the beating is three-fold; first, it tends to
disengage a great quantity of carbonic acid present in the liquor;
secondly, to give the newly-developed indigo its requisite dose of
oxygen by the most extensive exposure of its particles to the
atmosphere; thirdly, to agglomerate the indigo in distinct flocks or
granulations. In order to hasten the precipitation, lime water is
occasionally added to the fermented liquor in the progress of
beating, but it is not indispensable, and has been supposed capable
of deteriorating the indigo. In the front of the beater a beam is
fixed upright, in which three or more holes are pierced, a few
inches in diameter. These are closed with plugs during the beating,
but two or three hours after it, as the indigo subsides, the upper
plug is withdrawn to run off the supernatant liquor, and then the
lower plugs in succession. The state of this liquor being examined,
affords an indication of the success of both the processes. When the
whole liquor is run off, a laborer enters the vat, sweeps all the
precipitate into one corner, and enters the thinner part into a
spout which leads into a cistern, alongside of a boiler, twenty feet
long, three feet wide, and three feet deep. When all this liquor is
once collected, it is pumped through a bag, for retaining the
impurities, into the boiler, and heated to ebullition. The froth
soon subsides, and shows an oily looking film on the liquor. The
indigo is by this process not only freed from the yellow extractive
matter, but is enriched in the intensity of its color, and increased
in weight. From the boiler the mixture is run, after two or three
hours, into a general receiver called the _dripping vat_, or table,
which, for a factory of twelve pairs of preparation vats, is twenty
feet long, ten feet wide, and three feet deep, having a false bottom
two feet under the top edge. This cistern stands in a basin of
masonry (made water-tight with Chunam, hydraulic cement), the bottom
of which slopes to one end, in order to facilitate the drainage. A
thick woollen web is stretched along the bottom of the inner vessel,
to act as a filter. As long as the liquor passes through turbid, it
is pumped back into the receiver; whenever it runs clear, the
receiver is covered with another piece of cloth to exclude the dust,
and allowed to drain at its leisure. Next morning the drained magma
is put into a strong bag, and squeezed in a press. The indigo is
then carefully taken out of the bag, and cut with a brass wire into
bits, about three inches cube, which are dried in an airy house,
upon shelves of wicker work. During the drying a whitish
effloresence comes upon the pieces, which must be carefully removed
with a brush. In some places, particularly on the coast of
Coromandel, the dried indigo lumps are allowed to effloresce in a
cask for some time, and when they become hard they are wiped and
packed for exportation.
2. _Indigo from dried leaves._--The ripe plant being cropped, is to
be dried in sunshine from nine o'clock in the morning till four in
the afternoon, during two days, and threshed to separate the stems
from the leaves, which are then stored up in magazines till a
sufficient quantity he collected for manufacturing operations. The
newly dried leaves must be free from spots, and friable between the
fingers. When kept dry, the leaves undergo, in the course of four
weeks, a material change, their beautiful green tint turning into a
pale blue-grey, previous to which the leaves afford no indigo by
maceration in water, but subsequently a large quantity. Afterwards
the product becomes less considerable.
The following process is pursued to extract indigo from the dried
leaves:--They are infused in the steeping vat with six times their
bulk of water, and allowed to macerate for two hours, with continual
stirring, till all the floating leaves sink. The fine green liquor
is then drawn off into the beater vat, for if it stood longer in the
steeper, some of the indigo would settle among the leaves and be
lost. Hot water, as employed by some manufacturers, is not
necessary. The process with dry leaves possesses this advantage,
that a provision of the plant may be made at the most suitable
times, independently of the vicissitudes of the weather, and the
indigo may be uniformly made; and, moreover, that the fermentation
of the fresh leaves, often capricious in its course, is superseded
by a much shorter period of simple maceration.
PRODUCTION OF INDIGO IN INDIA.
maunds.
1840 120,000
1841 162,318
1842 79,000
1843 143,207
1844 127,862
1845 127,862
1846 101,328
1847 110,000
1848 126,565
1849 126,000
Average of the ten years 126,744 maunds.
The yield from the different districts in 1849, was nearly as
follows:--
maunds.
Bengal 84,500
Tirhoot 24,500
Benares 9,500
Oude 6,500
---------
125,000
In 1790 the general object of cultivation in Mauritius was indigo, of
which from four to five crops a year were procured. One person sent to
Europe 30,000 lbs., in 1789, of very superior quality.
CEYLON.--Indigo, though indigenous in Ceylon, is still imported from
the adjoining continent, but its growth in this island would be
subject to none of the vicissitudes of climate, that in the course of
a single night have devastated the most extensive plantations in
Bengal, and annihilated the hopes and calculations of the planter at a
time when they had attained all the luxuriance of approaching
maturity.
The district of Tangalle, in the southern province, is the best
adapted to the culture and manufacture of indigo for various reasons,
such as the abundance of the indigenous varieties of the plant, the
similarity of the climate to that of the coast of Coromandel, where
the best indigo is produced; facility of transport by water to either
of the ports of export, Galle or Colombo, during the south-east, or to
Trincomalee by the south-west monsoon; every necessary material is at
hand for building a first rate indigo factory, including drying yards,
leaf godowns (stores), steeping vats and presses, except roof and
floor tiles--which may be obtained in any quantity from Colombo,
during the south-west monsoon, at a moderate rate, compared with their
cost at home.
In 1817 an offer was made to the Grovernment to introduce the
cultivation of indigo, on condition of a free grant of the land
required for the purpose and freedom from taxation for thirty years,
after which the usual tax was to be levied; and in case the
cultivation were abandoned, the land was to revert to the Crown. But
whether from the disturbed state of the colony at the time or from
incredulity on the part of the Government, as to the capability of the
colony in this respect, the application was unheeded. A subsequent
proposal, emanating from a Swedish gentleman of great ability, skill
and enterprise, was defeated by his death, although a company was on
the point of formation to carry out the scheme. It would not be
difficult, says Mr. Barrett, to select 500,000 acres, the property of
the Crown, which at a comparatively small expenditure might be brought
into a proper state of cultivation for the reception of indigo seed;
for very little would be required to be done beyond clearing the land
of weeds, burning the grass, and then lightly ploughing and levelling
the ground; and whenever manure might be requisite, the fecula of the
leaf affords one of the richest that could be employed. Ceylon
produces two other plants from which a very valuable blue dye may be
obtained by a similar process to that of making indigo. The Singhalese
head men of the Tangalle district have long been anxious for the
establishment of an indigo plantation there, and would readily take
shares in a company established for that purpose. Indigo would seem to
have been exported by the Dutch from Ceylon so late as 1794. The wild
varieties of indigo which grow on the sea-shore are used by the dobies
(_washermen_).
Indigo grows in a wild state in Siam, and all the dye used in the
country is manufactured from these plants. The extensive low grounds
are admirably suited for the cultivation of this plant.
A large quantity is raised in Manila, but I have no full details of
the cultivation in the Philippines. However, in the first six months
of 1843, 1,039 piculs of indigo were shipped to Europe, and about 650
to other quarters--equal in all to about 226,000 lbs. in the half
year. In the year 1847 the exports of indigo were 30,631 arrobas,
equal to about 7,658 cwt.; in 1850 the total exports from Manila were
4,225 quintals.
JAVA.--The cultivation of indigo was introduced into Java in the time
of the company. It was so much neglected during the administration of
Governor Daendels, that the exportation ceased. It however revived
subsequently, and in 1823 the exports were close upon 17,000 lbs. In
1826 it had risen to 46,000 lbs. In the single province of Westbaglen,
about 60 square miles in extent, 86 indigo factories were established
in the course of seven or eight years. In 1839, the exports of this
dye-stuff from Java were 588,764 kilogrammes, valued at 7½ million
francs.
It has been found by experience that a good soil is essentially
necessary for the plant, and the indigo transplanted from elevated
grounds to the rice fields succeeds better and yields more coloring
matter than when raised direct on the spot from the seed. The
residencies of Cheribon, Baglen and Madura, are those in which the
crop succeeds best. From being so exhausting a crop, and finding it
prejudicial to their rice grounds, they are gradually abandoning
indigo culture in Java, and about two-thirds of the indigo plantations
have within the, last year or two been replaced with sugar.
The value of the Java indigo is set down at 250 rupees (£25) per
maund. If this be the average price, and it cannot be manufactured
lower, Bengal has little to fear from Javanese competition. The
product of indigo rose from 276 maunds in 1825, to 28,000 in 1842, and
the quantity sold by the Dutch Trading Company in the last-named year
was 10,500 chests, of about the same dimensions as those usually
exported from Calcutta.
Some further statistics of the culture in Java are shown in the
following returns of the quantity exported:--
lbs.
1830 22,063
1835 535,753
1839 595,818
1841 913,693
1843 1,890,429
1851 769,580
1852 838,288
The produce in 1848 was 1,151,368 lbs.
1840. 1841.
Residencies in which this culture is introduced 9 10
Number of factories 728 728
Families occupied with this culture 197,085 192,159
Extent of fields where the cutting has been made
in _bahas_ of 71 decametres 40,844 38,829
Quantity of _bahus_ planted before the gathering 317 538
Quantity of indigo crop in pounds 2,032,097 1,663,427
" average pounds per _bahu_ 49¾ 43
The extent of fields destined for the crop of 1842 was 37,970 bahus,
and the amount of the crop was calculated by approximation at
1,862,000.
The gradual increase of the export in the eighteen years ending 1842,
is shown as follows:--
Maunds.
1825 76
1826 126
1827 109
1828 310
1829 600
1830 480
1831 563
1832 2,213
1833 2,861
1834 3,310
1835 7,023
1836 5,365
1837 10,822
1838 9,788
1839 15,680
1840 27,946
1841 24,044
1842 28,000
Total imports of indigo into the United Kingdom, and quantity retained
for home consumption:--
Imports. Home consumption.
cwts. cwts.
1848 59,127 9,032
1849 81,449 12,270
1850 70,482 16,374
1851 89,994 27,947
1852 83,565 16,381
IMPORTS OF INDIGO.
Mexico and the ports
East Indies. of South America.
lbs. lbs.
1831 6,996,062 ------
1832 6,196,080 66,363
1833 6,315,529 125,264
1834 3,595,697 64,638
1835 3,861,853 88,306
1836 7,218,991 198,003
1837 5,706,896 365,091
1838 6,578,352 142,739
1839 4,651,542 363,148
1840 6,940,192 124,766
1841 7,451,653 247,031
1842 8,931,112 155,003
1843 6,319,294 130,836
Entered for home consumption about two millions and a half pounds
annually. (" Parl. Returns No. 656, September 1843, and 426,
September 1844.")
The consumption of indigo in Europe and North America in round
numbers, estimated from authentic sources, is thus set down by Mr.
Macculloch in 1849:--
chests.
In Great Britain for home consumption 9,820
" France total for ditto 10,400
" American ports from London and Liverpool 2,500
" " Calcutta 700
" " Holland, &c 400
Other European countries export from London and Liverpool. 21,530
" " Holland 4,270
" " Calcutta 120
" " France 300
----------
50,040
MADDER.
This substance, which is so extensively used in dyeing red, is the
product of the long slender roots of the _Rubia tinctorum_, a plant of
which there are several varieties. Our principal supplies of this
important article of commerce are obtained from Holland, Belgium,
France, Turkey, Spain, and the Balearic Isles, the Italian States,
India, and Ceylon.
The plant is generally raised from seed, and requires three years to
come to maturity. It is, however, often pulled in eighteen months
without injury to the quality; the quantity only is smaller. A rich
soil is necessary for its successful cultivation, and when the soil is
impregnated with alkaline matter, the root acquires a red color; in
other cases it is yellow. The latter is preferred in England, from the
long habit of using Dutch madder, which is of this color, but in
France the red sells at two francs per cwt. higher, being used for the
Turkey-red dye. Madder does not deteriorate by keeping, provided it be
kept dry. It contains three volatile coloring matters, madder purple,
orange, and red. The latter is in the form of crystals, having a fine
orange red color, and called Alizaine. This is the substance which
yields the Turkey-red dye. The chay root is employed in the East
Indies as a substitute for madder, and so is the root of _Morinda
citrifolia_, under the name of Sooranjee.
Turkey madder roots realise about 30s. per cwt. About 1,100 tons are
annually shipped from Naples, worth about £30 per ton.
Madder has become an article of great request, on account of the fine
scarlet color produced from its roots, and is so essential to dyers
and calico printers that without it they cannot carry on their
manufactures. It is cultivated extensively in Holland, from whence it
is imported in large quantities into both England and France, though
it is cultivated to some extent in both countries. It has also been
raised as a soiling crop, but the coloring matter is of so penetrating
and subtile a character, that the flesh, milk, and even the bones of
animals fed upon it are said to be tinged to a considerable degree
with it. The soils best adapted, and which should be selected for its
cultivation, are dry, fertile, and deep sandy loams; the roots are
long and fibrous, and descend to a depth of from two to three feet. It
may be propagated by seed, which, by some, is thought the best
method, but the more usual mode is by the division of, and
transplanting, the roots. The ground should be thoroughly and deeply
pulverised, clean, and well-manured for the preceding crop, that the
manure may be thoroughly rotted and incorporated with the soil: in
April or May the suckers will be fit for taking from the older
plantations--those of two or three years producing the best. The sets
should have roots four or five inches long. Mark out rows two feet
apart, with a line, and set the plant with a dibble, one foot apart in
the rows. The roots should be dipped in a puddle of fine rich earth
and water, beaten to the consistence of cream, previous to planting;
let the crown of the plant be clearly over ground, and secure the
earth well around the root, to keep out drought. The plantation
requires nothing more but to be kept perfectly clean and well-hoed
during the summer months; and after the top decays in the autumn, to
be earthed up by the plough for the winter, each year, till the plants
are three years old, when they are of the proper size and age for
lifting, which must be done by trenching the land two feet
deep--several hands accompanying the digger to pick out the roots,
which must be thoroughly cleaned and dried on a kiln till they are so
brittle as to break across, when they are fit to be packed in bags,
and sold to the dye-stuff manufacturers who grind and reduce them to
powder for use. The produce is variable; usually from eight to twenty
cwt. per acre, but as much as 3,000 to 6,000 lbs. is frequently
obtained. The forage amounts to about 15,000 lbs. the first year, and
7,500 lbs. the second year. In a new and good soil manure may be
dispensed with for the first crop. Some cultivators interline and grow
other crops between the rows, but the best cultivators state that such
a practice is objectionable. The breadth of land under this crop in
England is much reduced, in consequence of the reduction in price from
the competition of the Dutch growers.
Madder is extensively grown on the central table land of Afghanistan,
forming one of the leading products of Beloochistan.; and, according
to Mr. Pottinger, it sells in the Kelat Bazaar at about 10 lbs. for
2s. The cultivation there pursued is as follows:--The ground is
repeatedly ploughed, and laid out finally in small trenches, in which
the seed is sown, covered slightly with earth, and then the whole is
flooded. Whilst thus irrigated, the trenches are filled with a mixture
of rich manure and earth. The plants appear in about ten days, and
attain a height of three or four feet during the first summer. They
are cut down in September and used as fodder for cattle. Subsequently,
and until spring arrives, the ground is manured and repeatedly
flooded. During the second year's growth, the plants which are
intended to produce seed are set apart, but the stems of the remainder
are cut every four or six weeks, in order to increase the size and
goodness of the roots.
Madder is said to repay a nett profit of 200 dollars to the acre,
when properly managed. It produced on the farm of a gentleman, who
has devoted some attention to this product in Ohio, at the rate of
2,000 lbs. per acre, and it may be made to produce 3,000 lbs., which
is a greater yield than the average crops of Germany and Holland. Nine
acres were planted by another person in the United States, in 1839,
which he harvested in 1842. The labor required is said to be from 80
to 100 days work per acre.
In the third year the stems are pruned as in the two preceding, and in
September the roots are dug up. The roots are fusiform and thin,
without any ramifications, and usually from three to five feet long.
As soon as raised, they are immediately cut into small pieces and
dried, and are then merchantable.
Mr. Joseph Swift, an enterprising American farmer, of Erie county,
Ohio, who occupies about 400 acres of choice land, mostly alluvial, in
the valley of the Vermilion river, seven miles from Lake Erie, has
detailed his practice in the "New Genesee Farmer" (an agricultural
periodical), for March, 1843. His directions must be understood as
intended for those who wish to cultivate only a few acres, and cannot
afford much outlay of capital. Those who desire to engage in the
business on an extensive scale, would need to adopt a somewhat
different practice:--
_Soil and preparation._--" The soil should be a deep, rich, sandy
loam, free from weeds, roots, stones, &c., containing a good portion
of vegetable earth. Alluvial "bottom" land is the most suitable, but
it must not be wet. If old upland is used, it should receive a heavy
coating of vegetable earth, from decayed wood and leaves. The land
should be ploughed very deep in the fall, and early in the spring
apply about one hundred loads of well-rotted manure per acre, spread
evenly, and ploughed in deeply; then harrow till quite fine and free
from lumps. Next plough the land into beds four feet wide, leaving
alleys between three feet wide, then harrow the beds with a fine
light harrow, or rake them by hand, so as to leave them smooth and
even with the alleys; they are then ready for planting.
_Preparing sets and planting._--Madder sets or seed roots are best
selected when the crop is dug in the fall. The horizontal uppermost
roots (with eyes) are the kind to be used; these should be separated
from the bottom roots, and buried in sand in a cellar or pit. If not
done in the fall, the sets may be dug early in the spring, before
they begin to sprout. They should be cut or broken into pieces,
containing from two to five eyes each; _i.e._, three to four inches
long. The time for planting is as early in the spring as the ground
can be got in good order, and severe frosts are over, which in this
climate (America) is usually about the middle of April. With the
beds prepared as directed, stretch a line lengthwise the bed, and
with the corner of a hoe make a drill two inches deep along each
edge and down the middle, so as to give three rows to each bed,
about two feet apart. Into these drills drop the sets, ten inches
apart, covering them two inches deep. Eight or ten bushels of sets
are requisite for an acre.
_After culture._--As soon as the madder plants can be seen, the
ground should be carefully hoed, so as to destroy the weeds and not
injure the plants; and the hoeing and weeding must be repeated as
often as weeds make their appearance. If any of the sets have failed
to grow, the vacancies should be filled by talking up parts of the
strongest roots and transplanting them; this is best done in June.
As soon as the madder plants are ten or twelve inches high, the tops
are to be bent down on the surface of the ground, and all except the
tip end covered with earth, shovelled from the middle of the alleys.
Bend the shoots outward and inward in every direction, so as in time
to fill all the vacant space on the beds, and about one foot on each
side. After the first time covering, repeat the weeding when
necessary, and run a single horse plough through the alleys several
times to keep the earth clean and mellow. As soon as the plants
again become ten or twelve inches high, bend down and cover them as
before, repeating the operation as often as necessary, which is
commonly three times the first season. The last time may be as late
as September, or later if no frosts occur. By covering the tops in
this manner, they change to roots, and the design is to fill the
ground as full of roots as possible. When the vacant spaces are all
full, there is but little chance for weeds to grow; but all that
appear must be pulled out.
_The second year._--Keep the beds free from weeds; plough the alleys
and cover the tops, as before directed, two or three times during
the season. The alleys will now form deep and narrow ditches, and if
it becomes difficult to obtain good earth for covering the tops,
that operation may be omitted after the second time this season.
Care should be taken, when covering the tops, to keep the edges of
the beds as high as the middle; otherwise the water from heavy
showers will run off, and the crop suffer from drought.
_The third year._--Very little labor or attention is required. They
will now cover the whole ground. If any weeds are seen, they must be
pulled out; otherwise their roots will cause trouble when harvesting
the madder. The crop is sometimes dug the third year; and if the
soil and cultivation have been good, and the seasons warm and
favorable, the madder will be of a good quality; but generally it is
much better in quality, and more in quantity, when left until the
fourth year.
_Digging and harvesting._--This should be done between the 20th of
August and the 20th of September. Take a sharp shovel or shovels,
and cut off and remove the tops with half an inch of the surface of
the earth; then take a plough of the largest size, with a sharp
coulter and a double team, and plough a furrow outward, beam-deep,
around the edge of the bed; stir the earth with forks, and carefully
pick out all the roots, removing the earth from the bottom of the
furrow; then plough another furrow beam-deep, as before, and pick
over and remove the earth in the same manner; thus proceeding until
the whole is completed.
_Washing and drying._--As soon as possible after digging, take the
roots to some running stream to be washed. If there is no running
stream convenient, it can be done at a pump. Take large round
sieves, two-and-a-half or three feet in diameter, with the wire
about as fine as wheat sieves; or if these cannot be had, get from a
hardware store sufficient screen wire of the right fineness, and
make frames or boxes, two-and-a-half feet long and the width of the,
wire, on the bottom of which nail the wire. In these sieves or
boxes, put half a bushel of roots at a time, and stir them about in
the water, pulling the branches apart so as to wash them clean;
then, having a platform at hand, lay them onto dry. (To make the
platform, take two or three common boards, so as to be about four
feet in width, and nail deals across the under side). On these
spread the roots about two inches thick for drying in the sun. Carry
the platforms to a convenient place, not far from the house, and
place them side by side, in rows east and west, and with their ends
north and south, leaving room to walk between the rows. Elevate the
south ends of the platforms about eighteen inches, and the north
ends about six inches from the ground, putting poles or sticks to
support them--this will greatly facilitate drying. After the second
or third day's drying, the madder must be protected from the dews at
night, and from rain, by placing the platforms one upon another to a
convenient height, and covering the uppermost one with board. Spread
them out again in the morning, or as soon as danger is over. Five or
six days of ordinarily fine weather will dry the madder
sufficiently, when it may be put away till it is convenient to
kiln-dry and grind it.
_Kiln-drying,_--The size and mode of constructing the kiln may be
varied to suit circumstances. The following is a very cheap plan,
and sufficient to dry one ton of roots at a time. Place four strong
posts in the ground, twelve feet apart one way, and eighteen the
other; the front two fourteen feet high, and the other eighteen; put
girts across the bottom, middle, and top, and nail boards
perpendicularly on the outside as for a common barn. The boards
must be well seasoned, and all cracks or holes should be plastered
or otherwise stopped up. Make a shed-roof of common boards. In the
inside put upright standards about five feet apart, with
cross-pieces to support the scaffolding. The first cross-pieces to
be four feet from the floor; the next two feet higher, and so on to
the top. On these cross-pieces lay small poles, about six feet long
and two inches thick, four or fire inches apart. On these scaffolds
the madder is to be spread nine inches thick. A floor is laid at the
bottom to keep all dry and clean. When the kiln is filled, take six
or eight small kettles or hand-furnaces, and place them four or five
feet apart on the floor (first securing it from fire with bricks or
stones), and make fires in them with charcoal, being careful not to
make any of the fires so large as to scorch the madder over them. A
person must be in constant attendance to watch and replenish the
fires. The heat will ascend through the whole, and in ten or twelve
hours it will all be sufficiently dried, which is known by its
becoming brittle like pipe stems.
_Breaking and grinding._--Immediately after being dried, the madder
must be taken to the barn and threshed with flails, or broken by
machinery (a mill might easily be constructed for this purpose), so
that it will feed in a common grist-mill. If it is not broken and
ground immediately, it will gather dampness so as to prevent its
grinding freely. Any common grist-mill can grind madder properly.
When ground finely it is fit for use, and may be packed in barrels
like flour for market.
_Amount and value of product, &c._--Mr. Swift measured off a part of
his ground, and carefully weighed the product when dried, which he
found to be over two thousand pounds per acre, notwithstanding the
seasons were mostly dry and unfavorable. With his present knowledge
of the business, he is confident that he can obtain at least three
thousand pounds per acre, which is said to be more than is often
obtained in Germany. The whole amount of labor he estimates at from
eighty to one hundred days' work per acre. The value of the crop, at
the usual wholesale price (about fifteen cents per pound), from
three to four hundred dollars. In foreign countries it is customary
to make several qualities of the madder, which is done by sorting
the roots; but as only one quality is required for the western
market, Mr. Swift makes but one, and that is found superior to most
of the imported, and finds a ready sale.
Madder is produced in Middle Egypt to some extent, for the consumption
of the country, principally for dyeing the _tarbouche_ or skull caps
which are universally worn. Its culture was introduced in 1825. In
1833, 300 acres in Upper Egypt, and 500 in the Delta and the Kelyout,
were devoted to madder roots.
New South Wales is eminently suited to the culture of this valuable
root, and as the profits upon its cultivation are very large, I would
strongly recommend it to the attention of agriculturists there. The
article produces to France an annual sum of one million sterling; the
price of the finest quality in the English market being £60 per ton.
Its yield varies from £40 to £50 per acre, and the expenses upon its
proper culture should not exceed one-half that amount. The colonists
would find it to their interest to turn their attention to such
articles as this, for which there is an extensive demand at home,
instead of confining themselves exclusively to the commoner and
bulkier products, which they export at a much less profit, and which
when once the market is fully supplied, may fall to a price at which
they cannot afford to sell.
The following is a calculation of the expenses generally supposed to
attend a crop according to the mode of cultivation practised in
Vaucluse:--
Rent per hectare (2½ English acres), 3 years, at £ s. d.
165 francs 19 17 6
Manure, 440 francs £17 12 6
Carriage of ditto, 132 francs 3 5 10
--------- 22 18 4
---------
£42 15 10
These expenses may almost be dispensed with in our colonies, as the
soil at Vaucluse has long been exhausted.
Two and a-half acres require 170 lbs. seed, at 2½d. per pound,
which, with the labor afterwards bestowed, including the
cost of spade trenching, will be 30 0 0
---------
£72 15 10
The average produce per hectare is 77 cwt., which, at £1 4s. 2d. per
cwt. (the price on the spot), is £93. The price is now much lower, but
still it is clear a most profitable return would be derived from the
first crop, and a proportionably larger one afterwards.
A considerable portion of the madder roots, instead of being ground
and exported in that form, as heretofore, is now exposed, after being
invested with dilute sulphuric acid, to a boiling heat by means of
steam, by which the coloring matter is considerably altered and
improved in quality for some dyeing processes, while the quantity
rendered soluble in water is greatly increased. The madder so prepared
is known as "garancine," and forms an important branch of manufacture
in the south of France, which was well illustrated at the Great
Exhibition in 1851, by a collection of specimens supplied by the
Chamber of Commerce of Avignon. The spent madder, after being used in
dyeing, is now also converted by Mr. H. Steiner, of Accrington, into a
garancine (termed _garanceuse_ by the French) by steaming it with
sulphuric acid in the same manner as the fresh madder, and thus a
considerable quantity of coloring matter is recovered and made
available which was formerly thrown away in the spent madder. Both
varieties of garancine give a more scarlety red than the unprepared
madder, and also good chocolate and black, without soiling the white
ground, but are not so well fitted, particularly the garancine of
spent madder, for dyeing purples, lilacs, and pinks. The value of the
garancine imported from France in 1848 was £59,554, and of that
imported in 1851 £93,818. This preparation of ground madder is
imported into Liverpool to the extent of from 500 to 600 tons annually
from Marseilles, for the use of calico printers in the manufacturing
districts. The price is £7 to £8 the ton.
This important root is already cultivated to a considerable extent in
Russia but not nearly in sufficient quantity to meet the local demand;
so that large quantities are imported from Holland and elsewhere,
every year.
The quantity of madder, madder-root, and garaneine annually imported
into the United Kingdom is exceedingly large, over 15,000 tons, as is
shown by a reference to the following figures:--
Madder. Madder roots. Garancine. Total.
cwts. cwts. cwts. cwts.
1848 81,261 139,463 5,955 276,679
1849 92,736 161,986 4,969 259,691
1850 100,248 161,613 5,845 267,706
1851 92,925 202,091 9,382 304,398
1852 84,385 179,813 ---- ----
We imported from France, duty free, the following:--
Madder. Official value. Madder-root.
cwts. £ cwts. £
1848 54,084 122,851 25,068 70,749
1849 57,108 131,059 23,459 81,274
1850 54,559 123,628 13,693 55,263
1851 65,577 151,502 34,017 167,721
The price in the Liverpool market, in June 1853, for Bombay
madder-roots was £1 18s. to £2 14s. the cwt.
INDIAN MADDER.--_Rubia cordifolia_, or _Munjestha_, a variety with
white flowers, a native of Siberia, is cultivated largely in the East,
particularly about Assam, Nepaul, Bombay, Scinde, Quitta, China, &c.,
for its dye-stuff, and is known as Munjeet. A small quantity is
exported from China and India; about 338 Indian maunds were shipped
from Calcutta in 1840, and 2,328 in 1841. It fetches in the London and
Liverpool markets from 20s. to 25s. and 30s. per cwt., duty free; 405
tons were imported into Liverpool from Bombay and Calcutta, in 1849,
and 525 tons in 1850, but none was imported in 1851 and 1852.
It was remarked by the Jury in 1851, at the Great Exhibition, that
this is a valuable dye-stuff, and hitherto not so well appreciated as
it deserves, for some of the colors dyed with it are quite as
permanent as those dyed with madder, and even more brilliant. Its use
however is gradually increasing, and it is unquestionably well worthy
the attention of dyers.
LOGWOOD.--The logwood of commerce is the red heart wood, or duramen,
of a fine lofty growing tree (_Haematroxylon Campechianum_), growing
in Campeachy and the bay of Honduras, and which is also now common in
the woods of Jamaica and St. Domingo. It is principally imported as a
dye wood, cut into short lengths. We chip, grind, and pack it into
casks and bags, ready for the dyers, hatters, and printers' use, who
esteem it as affording the most durable deep red and black dyes. It is
sometimes used in medicine as an astringent. That grown in Jamaica is
least valued that of Honduras, Tobasco, and St. Domingo, fetches a
somewhat higher price; but that imported from Campeachy direct, is the
most esteemed. The annual imports into Liverpool are about 1,300 tons
from Honduras, 100 from Tobasco, and 1,800 from Campeachy.
It thrives best in a damp tenacious soil, with a small proportion of
sand. It is imported in logs, which are afterwards chipped, and is of
great commercial importance from its valuable dyeing properties. Old
wood is preferred; it is so hard as almost to be indestructible by
the atmosphere. The albumen is of a yellowish color, and is not
imported. The bark and wood are slightly astringent. The imports of
logwood into the United Kingdom, were 23,192 tons in 1848, 23,996 tons
in 1849, and 34,090 tons in 1850, of which 3,484 tons were re-exported
in 1848, and 2,307 tons in 1849. The imports in the past two years of
1852 and 1853, have averaged 20,000 tons, of which about 3,000 tons
were re-exported. It is increasing in use, for in 1837, the quantity
retained for home use was only 14,677½ tons. The price varies
according to quality from £4 to £7 per ton.
We received from Honduras 5,401 tons in 1844; and 55,824 tons in 1845.
From Montego Bay, Jamaica, 398 tons were shipped between January and
July 1851.
FUSTIC.--This is the common name of a species of dye wood in extensive
use, which is obtained from _Maclura tinctoria_, or _Broussonitia
tinctoria_, Kunth, a large and handsome evergreen tree, growing in
South America and the West Indies. The wood is extensively used as an
ingredient in the dyeing of yellow, and is largely imported for that
purpose. The quantity entered for home consumption in the United
Kingdom was 1,731 tons in 1847, 1,653 in 1848, and 1,842 tons in 1849.
Ninety-one tons were shipped from Montego Bay, Jamaica, in the first
six months of 1851.
QUERCITRON.---This bark furnishes a yellow dye, of which about 3,500
tons are annually imported in hogsheads of from half a ton to a ton.
296 tons were imported into Liverpool from Philadelphia in 1849, and
514 tons in 1850.
BRAZIL WOOD.--This very ponderous wood is obtained in Brazil from the
_Cæsalpina Braziliensis_, which yields a red or crimson dye, when
united with alum or tartar, and is used by silk dyers. It is imported
principally from Pernambuco, 1,200 quintals having been shipped to
London in 1835, but about 500 tons, worth about £4 a ton, were
imported from Costa Rica in 1845.
The tree is large, crooked, and knotty, and the bark is thick, and
equals the third or fourth of its diameter.
The imports may be stated at about 600 tons annually, the average
price being £50 per ton.
Brazil wood is found in the greatest abundance and of the best
quality, in the Province of Pernambuco, but being a government
monopoly it has been cut down in so improvident a manner, that it is
now seldom seen within several leagues of the coast.
Among the Cuba dye woods is Copey _(Clusia rosea_, Linn).
Braziletto, obtained from _C. Crista_, is one of the cheapest and
least esteemed of the red dye woods, imported from Jamaica and other
West India islands to the extent of 150 tons per annum, fetching £6 to
£8 per ton. 2,361 tons of Nicaragua wood were imported in 1848, 2,701
tons in 1849, and 6,130 tons in 1850.
Spain exhibited various vegetable dyes obtained from cultivated and
wild plants furnished by the Agricultural Board of Saragossa.
LICHENS.
The chief lichens employed in the manufacture of orchil and cudbear
are the following:--
Angola weed (_Ramalina furfuracea_).
Mauritius weed (_Rocella fusiformis_), which comes also from
Madagascar, Lima, and Valparaiso, and then bears the distinctive
commercial name of the port of shipment.
Cape weed (_Rocella tinctoria_), from the Cape de Verd Islands.
Canary Moss (_Parmelia perlata_).
Tartareous Moss (_Parmelia tartarea_).
Pustulatus Moss (_Umbilicaria pustulata_).
Velvet Moss (_Gyrophora murina_).
The last three are imported from Sweden.
Of these lichens, the first, which is the richest in coloring matter,
grows as a parasite upon trees; all the remainder upon rocks.
_Rocella corallina_, _Variolaris lactea_ and _dealbata_, have been
also resorted to.
About 130 tons of cudbear are imported annually from Sweden.
These lichens are found on rocks, on the sea coast. The modes, of
treating them for the manufacture of the different dyes is the same in
principle, though varying slightly in detail. They are carefully
cleaned and ground into a pulp with water, an ammoniacal liquor is
from time to time added, and the mass constantly stirred in order to
expose it as much as possible to the air. Peculiar substances existing
in these plants are, during this process, so changed by the combined
action of the atmosphere, water, and ammonia, as to generate the
coloring matter, which, when perfect, is pressed out, and gypsum,
chalk, or other substances, are then added, so as to give it the
desired consistency; these are then prepared for the market under the
forms of cudbear or litmus.
HENNA (_Lawsonia inermis_), is an important dye-stuff, and the
distilled water of the flowers is used as a perfume. The Mahomedan
women in India use the shoots for dyeing their nails red, and the same
practice prevails in Arabia. In these countries the manes and tails of
the horses are stained red in the same manner. The _Genista tomentosa_
yields red petals used in dyeing, and containing much tannic acid.
ORCHILLA WEED.--The fine purple color which the orchilla weed yields,
is in use as an agent for coloring, staining, and dyeing. About 30,000
lbs. is obtained annually in the island of Teneriffe. 460 arrobas (or
115 cwt.) of orchilla were exported from the Canary Isles in 1833. In
1839, 6,494 cwts. paid duty, and 4,175 cwts. in 1840. The average
imports of the three years ending with 1842, was 6,050 cwt. A little
comes in from Barbary and the islands of the Archipelago.
Dr. W.L. Lindley, in a very interesting paper, read before the
Botanical Society of London, in December, 1852, on the dyeing
properties of the lichens, stated--
The subject of the _colorific_ and _coloring_ principles of the
lichen has, within the last few years, attracted a due share of that
attention which, has been increasingly devoted to organic chemistry.
Since 1830, Heeren, Kane, Schunck, Rochleder and Heldt, Knop,
Stenhouse, Laurent and Gerhardt, have published valuable papers on
these principles; but, here again, we have to regret the great
discrepancy in the various results obtained, and there is therefore,
here also, imperatively demanded re-investigation and correction
before _any_ of the results already published can he implicitly
relied upon, and before we can have safe data from which to
generalise. I have no doubt that a great proportion of the obscurity
overhanging this subject depends on the circumstance that many of
the chemists, who have devoted attention to the color-educts and
products of the lichens, were not themselves botanists, and have
therefore probably, in some cases at least, analysed species under
erroneous names, and also because their investigations have
comprehended a much too limited number of species.
Their utility in the arts, and especially in dyeing--including the
collection of a series of the commercial dye lichens, _i.e._, those
used by the manufacturers of London, &c., in the making of orchil,
cudbear, litmus, and other lichen dyes. While investigating the
dyeing properties of the lichens, I made experiments, with a view to
test their colorific power, on as many species as I could obtain in
sufficient quantity, to render it at all useful to operate on--that
number, however, being very limited (between forty and fifty).
Dr. Lindley adds, many parties may be able to aid his
investigations, by furnishing information on their economic uses,
and on their special applications in dyeing and other
arts--(particularly on their employment, as dye agents, by the
natives of Britain and other countries)--with specimens of the
lichens so used, and their common names--specimens of fabrics dyed
therewith--notes of the processes employed for the elimination of
the dyes, &c. Parties resident in, or travelling through our western
Highlands and Islands, the northern Highlands, Ireland, Wales,
Norway, Iceland, and similar countries, are most likely to be able
to afford this description of information--many native lichens being
still used by the peasantry of these countries to dye their homespun
yarn, &c.
He proceeded to treat--1. The vast importance of this humble tribe
of plants in the grand economy of nature, as the pioneers and
founders of _all_ vegetation. 2. Their importance to man and the
lower animals, as furnishing various articles of food. 3. Their
importance in medicine, and especially in its past history, at home
and abroad. 4. Their importance in the useful and fine arts, and
especially in the art of dyeing. 5. Their affinities and analogies
to other cryptogamic families, and to the Phanerogamia. 6. Their
value as an element of the picturesque in nature; and, 7. Their
typical significance.
He then adverted more especially to the subject of his
communication, under the ten following heads:--
I. The colors of the Thallus and apothecia of Lichens--their causes, and
the circumstances which modify and alter them.
II. History of the application of their coloring matters to the art of dyeing.
III. Chemical nature and general properties of these coloring matters.
IV. Tests and processes for estimating qualitatively, and quantitatively the
colorific powers of individual species--with their practical applications.
V. Processes of manufacture of the Lichen-dyes, on the large and small
scale in different countries--with the principles on which they are founded.
VI. Nomenclature of the dye-Lichens, and of the Lichen-dyes.
VII. Botanical and commercial sources of the same.
VIII. Special applications of the Lichen-dyes in the arts.
IX. Commercial value of the dye-Lichens, and their products.
X. Geographical distribution of the dye-Lichens--with the effect of climate;
situation, &c., on their colorific materials.
Of the four first sections of his paper, the following is a very
short summary or synopsis:--
Under the first head, the author spoke of chlorophylle and various
organic and inorganic substances, which enter into the formation of
the colors of the thallus and apothecia of lichens, and of the
modifications of these colors depending on various degrees of--1.
Exposure to air and light. 2. Temperature. 3. Moisture, &c. 4.
Atmospheric vicissitudes. 5. Season of the year. 6. Nature of the
Gonidic reproduction (_i.e._, gemmation). 7. Nature of habitat. 8.
Organic decomposition. 9. Coalescence of parts, monstrosities, &c.
Under the second section, he traced historically the manufacture of
Lichen-dyes, and the native use of Lichens as dye agents, among
different nations, from the times of Theophrastus, Dioscorides, and
Pliny, down to the present day, sketching briefly the ancient end
modern history of orchil, cudbear, and litmus, and specifying the
native use of lichen-dyes in different, countries of Europe, Asia,
and America. He alluded more particularly to their application to
the dyeing of yarns, &c., by the Scotch Highlanders, under the name
of "_Crottles_." "The process of the manufacture of the various
crottles, generally consisted in macerating the powdered lichen for
two or three weeks, in stale urine, exposing the mass freely to the
air by repeated stirring, and adding lime, salt, alum, or
argillaceous and other substances, either to heighten the color or
impart consistence. To such an extent did this custom at one time
prevail, that, in several of our northern counties each farm and
cottage had its tank or barrel of putrefying urine, a homely but
perfectly efficient mode of generating the necessary amount of
ammonia. In the county of Aberdeen, in particular, every homestead
had its reservoir of "Graith,"[53] and the "Lit-pig,"[54] which
stood by every fireside, was as familiar an article of furniture in
the cots of the peasantry, as the "cuttie-stool," or the "meal
girnel." So lately as 1841 (and I presume the practice continues to
the present day), Mr. Edmonston stated that, of four or five native
dyes, used by the Shetlanders to color cloth and yarns, two at least
were furnished by lichens, viz., a _brown dye_ from _Parmelia
saxatilis_, under the name of "Scrottyie," and a _red_ one from
_Lecanora tartarea_, under that of "Korkalett." It is very probable,
however, that steam and free trade have gradually dispelled this
good old custom, even in the remoter corners of our island;
machinery-made articles being now readily supplied, at a rate so
extraordinarily cheap, as to render it absolutely expensive (as to
time, if not also as to money) to prepare colors, even by a process
so simple and inexpensive as that just mentioned."
Under the third head, he examined, in a general way, the chemistry
of the colorific and coloring matters of the lichens and the results
to which it has led, avoiding as much as possible the technicalities
inseparable from such a subject, and giving a short _vise_ of the
researches of Heeren, Kane, Rochleder, and Heldt, Stenhouse,
Schunck, Laurent, and Gerhardt, and others. "Our untaught senses
should undoubtedly lead us to expect the lichens, whose thallus
exhibits the brightest tints, to yield the finest dyes, and these,
too, of a color similar to that of the thallus, but experience
teaches us that the beautiful reddish or purplish coloring-matters
are producible in the greatest abundance by the very species from
which we should least expect to derive any, viz., in those most
devoid of external color. This, though at first sight very
remarkable, is easily explicable, when we remember that, in most of
the so-called dye-lichens, colorific principles exist in a colorless
form, and only become converted into colored substances under a
peculiar combination of circumstances.
"Some lichens contain coloring matters, ready formed, and these
exhibit themselves in the tint of the thallus of the plants, _e.g._
chrysophanic [or parietinic] acid in _Parmelia parietina_, and
vulpinic acid in _Evernia vulpina_. In other species we find
principles, which, while in the plant, and unacted on by chemical
re-agents, are colorless, but which, when the lichens are exposed to
the combined influence of atmospheric air, water, and ammonia, yield
colored substances. This series of colored products is usually
comprehended more for convenience sake than on account of chemical
identity, under the generic term orceine."
The whole subject of the chemistry of these bodies is at present in
a most unsatisfactory condition, demanding fresh investigation and
research, in illustration of which, the author exhibited tables of
the colorific and coloring principles, so far as they are at present
known, showing their chemical formulæ and the authority therefor,
and various relative information. "It is highly probable that when
the chemistry of the lichens has been more fully studied, and the
whole subject of their color-educts and products better understood,
we shall begin to reduce the present confused mass of complex
substances, and find the same principles more extensively diffused
through different lichen species." Dr. L. entered somewhat minutely
on the chemical reactions of the better known colorific and coloring
principles, and their derivatives, so far at least as these throw
any light on the production and transmutation of the red or purple
colors extracted from what may be termed _par excellence_, the
_dye-lichens_. After a few remarks on the chemical constitution of
orchil and litmus, as given by Kane, Gelis, Pereira, and others, he
discussed the subject of decolorisation of weak infusions of orchil
and litmus by exclusion of atmospheric air, and by various
deoxidising agents, and the different theories as to the causation
of this phenomenon. "I have repeatedly had occasion to notice that,
when weak infusions of these substances are excluded for some time
from atmospheric air, in a bottle, with a tightly fitting cork, they
gradually lose color, but rapidly regain it on re-exposure. It is
curious that both orchil and litmus are what are called transient or
false colors, _i.e._, they slowly lose their bloom and tint by long
exposure to the atmosphere; the coloring matter, therefore, appears
to be decolorised both by exposure to, and exclusion from the air,
phenomena apparently of very opposite characters. The cause of the
latter phenomenon has never, so far as I am aware, been quite
satisfactorily explained; but it has been variously supposed to be
due:--
1. To the mere negation of oxygen.
2. To the development, in the liquids, of various substances,
capable of exerting a decolorising influence on the coloring matter.
3. To deoxidation of the coloring matter by substances, which have a
great tendency to become oxidised or peroxised; _e.g._ hydrogen, in
the case of decolorisation by sulphuretted hydrogen, nascent
hydrogen, and the protoxides of iron and tin, &c.
4. To the fixation of an additional amount of hydrogen in a new
colorless body, formed by the union of the sulphuretted hydrogen or
other substances with the coloring matter of the liquid. This view
is chiefly supported by Kane, who says, "that precisely as the
coloring matters combine with water, to form different shades of
red-colored bodies--with ammonia to produce a series of bodies,
which are blue and purple--so they combined with sulphuretted
hydrogen to form colorless compounds in solution, which, if solid,
very probably would be white." He supposes, in a word, that for
every colored substance existing in orchil and litmus, there is a
corresponding white one, producible by the action of sulphuretted
hydrogen, &c.; and, in proof of this theory, he mentions having
obtained from Azolitmine and Betaorceine colorless bodies, to which
he gave the respective names of Leuco-litmine and Leuco-orceine.
The author then gave a short summary of Dr. Westring's experiments
on the dyeing powers of the Swedish lichens, which he found might be
conveniently divided into four classes, according to the degree of
heat employed in their maceration, viz.:--
1. Lichens, whose coloring matter was easily extractable by _cold_
water alone.
2. Those which required for the elimination of their coloring
matter, maceration in _tepid_ water (_i.e._ below 258 degs. Swedish
thermometer).
3. Those which required maceration in _warm_ water (_i.e._between 50
and 60 degs. Swedish thermometer).
4. Those requiring _boiling_ water alone, or with the aid of
solvents.
"It must be admitted that our knowledge of the true nature of the
colorofic and coloring principles of the lichens is, as yet, very
imperfect and confused, and one great cause of the dubity and
obscurity overhanging the subject, is the fact that different
analysts have arrived at most opposite results, even in the
examination of the same species. For instance, in _Rocella
tinctoria_, which has, of all the dye-Lichens, been most frequently
selected for analytical investigation, on account of its important
product orchil, the discrepancies between the results obtained are
very striking. In it Heeren discovered his _Erythrine_; Kane his
_Erythriline_; Schunk his _Erythric acid_; and Stenhouse three
different substances in as many varieties of the plant; all of these
bodies differing more or less from each other in composition and
properties (at least, if we are to assume, as correct, the
descriptions given of them by their respective discoverers").
"I have already hinted that there is no ratio between the external
and internal color or structure of a lichen, and the kind or amount
of coloring matter it will be found to yield. It is exceedingly
natural to suppose that such a ratio should exist; but, proceeding
for some time on this supposition, I was frequently disappointed in
my results--the most showy and brilliantly colored lichens often
furnishing the dullest and most worthless colors. For instance, the
bright yellow thallus of _Parmelia parietina_, and the beautiful
scarlet apothecia of _Scyphophorus cocciferus_, instead of producing
a rich yellow in the one case, and a deep crimson in the other,
yielded, respectively, only dirty greenish-yellow and brownish
colors. As a general rule I should almost be inclined to say that
the finer the color of the thallus of any given lichen, the more is
that lichen to be suspected of poverty in valuable coloring matters;
and that, on the other hand, the palest pulverulent or crustaceous
species, especially such as are saxicolous, may be expected to yield
the most beautiful and valuable pigments (_e.g._ the Rocellas and
Lecanoras). In such circumstances it is necessary to have some test,
of easy applicability, of the kind and amount of colorific
properties of any lichen, and this fortunately is readily
attainable."
The fourth section of the paper was devoted to the consideration of
the various tests of colorific power, which have been recommended by
different authors. "Of these, the greater number proceed on the
principle of developing the coloring matter by some alkali, in
conjunction with the decomposing action of atmospheric oxygen and
water; others are founded on the reaction between colorific
principles of certain of the dye lichens and some of our ordinary
chemical re-agents." The author noticed in particular--
1. Helot's test, }
2. Westring's tests, }qualitative.
3. Stenhouse's test, }
4. " quantitative.
Helot's test consists in digesting the dried and powdered lichen or
a few hours, at a temperature of 130 degs., in a weak solution of
ammonia, sufficiently strong, however, to be tolerably pungent. One
that is fit for the dyer will yield a rich violet red liquor.
Dr. Westring recommended simply macerating three or four drachms of
the lichen in cool spring water, assisting, perhaps, the solvent
action of the water by minute quantities of common salt, nitre,
quicklime, sulphate of copper or iron, or similar re-agents. If
these means failed, after a sufficient length of time had been
allowed for the development of color, he digested a fresh portion of
the pulverised lichen in water, containing small quantities of
sal-ammoniac and quicklime [in the proportion of 25 parts of water,
1-10th lime, and 1-20th sal-ammoniac for every part of lichen], for
a period varying from eight to fourteen days, and by this process,
he says, he never failed to develop all the color which the plant
was capable of yielding.
Dr. Stenhouse, of London, one of our latest and best authorities on
the chemistry of the lichens, adds to an alcoholic infusion of the
lichen, a solution of common bleaching powder (chloride of lime),
whereby, if it contain certain colorific principles capable of
developing, under the joint action of air, water, and ammonia, red
coloring matters, a fugitive but distinct _blood-red color_ will be
exhibited. The amount of this colorific matter may be estimated
quantitatively by noting the quantity of the chloride of lime
solution required to destroy this blood-red color in different
cases: or the same result may be obtained by macerating for a short
period in milk of lime--filtering--precipitating the filtered liquor
by acetic or muriatic acid--collecting this precipitate on a weighed
filter--drying at ordinary temperatures and again weighing.
The author entered into a full analysis of these tests and
processes--pointing out their respective advantages and
disadvantages--and showing their practical value and applications.
He stated that he had made use of these, and various other tests, in
upwards of 300 experiments, and the one which he employed to the
greatest extent, because most uniformly applicable, was Helot's
ammonia test. The following combination is that most favorable for
the development of the coloring matter of the lichens--viz., the
presence
1. Of _water_ as a solvent menstruum.
2. Of atmospheric _oxygen_.
3. Of _ammonia_, in the state of vapor or in solution, and
4. Of a moderate degree of _heat_;
And according as the proportion of these combining elements varies,
so do the kind and amount of color educed by them. This combination
is the foundation of all the processes for the manufacture of the
lichen dyes throughout the world, however different these may appear
to be in detail or results.
I believe it may come to be a matter of great commercial importance
to discover, at home or abroad, some cheap and easily-procurable
substitute for the _Roccellas_, which are gradually becoming scarce,
and consequently valuable in European commerce, having sometimes
fetched, in times of scarcity, no less than £1,000 per ton. No
plants can be so easily collected and preserved as
lichens--requiring merely to be cleaned, dried, pulverised, and
packed; and if their bulk be an objection to transport, their whole
colorific matter may be collected in the way I have already
mentioned. Ascending to the verge of eternal snows, and descending
to the ocean level--with a geographical diffusion that is
co-extensive with the surface of our earth, it is difficult to say
where lichens shall not be found. There are myriads of small rocky
islets in the boundless ocean, and there are thousands of miles of
barren rocky coast and sterile mountain range in every part of the
world, which, though at present unfit to bear any of the higher
members of the vegetable kingdom, are yet carpeted and adorned with
a rich covering of lichens, and of those very species too, which I
have already spoken of as prolific in colorific materials. I
sincerely believe, therefore, that a more general attention to the
very simple tests just enumerated, would ultimately result in a
greatly extended use of the lichens as dye agents. What renders it
very probable that efforts in this direction are likely to meet with
success is the great similarity of species found all over the world.
It has been repeatedly noticed that the European species, which, of
course, are best known, differ little from those of North America.
Dr. Robert Brown remarked the same fact with regard to New Holland
species, and Humboldt also recognised the similarity in natives of
the South American Andes. Of a large collection made by Professor
Royle, in the Himalayas, Don pronounced almost every one to be
identical with European species. From examining the raw vegetable
products, sent by different countries to the Great Exhibition of
1851, I am satisfied that, even now, there are many fields open for
the establishment of an export trade in _Roccellas_ and other
so-called orchella weeds." I there saw specimens of good dye lichens
from almost every part of the world, including our own young
colonies; and as a single instance of their probable value, I may
introduce here the copy of a note appended to a specimen of orchella
weed from the island of Socotra, contained in the Indian collection
of that exhibition, "_abundant_, but _unknown_ as an article of use
or commerce. Also abundant on the hills around (Aden) and _might_ be
made an article of trade." Roccellas from this source are estimated
as worth £190 to £380 per ton. I believe that a similar statement
might be made with regard to the countless islands of the broad
Atlantic and Pacific, which may, at some future period, perhaps not
far distant, be found to be rich depots of orchella weeds, just as
some of them are, at present, rich fields of guano, and may, as
such, become new nuclei of British commerce and enterprise. Even at
home, in the immediate vicinity of Edinburgh, or, to restrict our
limits still more narrowly, within the compass of Arthur's Seat,
there are not a few very good dye-lichens, which require merely to
be scraped with an old knife or similar instrument, from the rocks
to which they adhere, and subjected to the ammonia process already
mentioned. Of twelve specimens thus collected at random one morning,
I found no less than three yielded beautiful purple-red colors,
apparently as fine as orchil or cudbear, while the others furnished
rich and dark tints of brownish-red, brown and olive-green.
Dr. Lindley's communication was illustrated with specimens of
coloring matters yielded by various lichens collected in the
neighbourhood of Edinburgh, &c.
BARKS FOR TANNING.
Let us now take a brief review of the sources from whence tanning
materials may be obtained, which will also enable us to form a fair
estimate of the prospect of future supplies. Only one medal was
awarded, at the Great Exhibition, for tanning substances, viz., to
Messrs. Curtis, Brothers (United Kingdom, No. 126), but honorable
mention was made of the following competitors:--One from Tunis, one
from Van Diemen's Land, one from New Zealand, one from Belgium, one
from the Cape of Good Hope, one from Canada, and one from the United
Kingdom.
The substance from which pure tannin is most frequently obtained for
chemical purposes is nutgalls, for tannin constitutes above 40 per
cent, of their weight. It may be procured also from several other
sources, such as oak, horse chestnut, sumach, and cinchona barks,
catechu, kino, &c.
The basis of the skins of animals is composed of a substance to which
the name of gelatine is given. One of the properties of this substance
is, that when combined with tannin, it forms the compound of tannate
of gelatine, or leather, a substance which is so useful to mankind.
From time immemorial, the substance employed to furnish the tannin to
the hides of animals, in order to convert them into leather, has been
oak bark. But as the purpose for which oaks are grown is their timber,
and not their bark, the supply of oak bark cannot be calculated upon,
and this is, perhaps, one of the causes why tanning as an art is in
such a backward state.
The consumption of tannin required in the leather manufacture may be
estimated from the fact that more than 672,000 cwts. of raw hides were
imported in 1851, besides the hides of the cattle, &c., consumed in
the United Kingdom. On the Continent and in the United States the
consumption of bark for this purpose is also considerable.
The imports of bark for the use of tanners and dyers has amounted
yearly to the very large quantity of 380,674 cwt., besides what we
obtain at home. Oak bark contains usually the largest proportion of
tannin, and according to Davy's experiments eight-and-a-half pounds of
oak bark are equivalent for tanning purposes to two-and-a-quarter of
galls, three of sumach, seven-and-a-half of Leicester willow, eleven
of Spanish chesnut, eighteen of elm, and twenty-one of common willow
bark. Tannin obtained from these sources, however, differs materially
in some of its characters. The tannin of nutgalls, which is that
generally employed for chemical purposes, is sometimes called
gallo-tannic acid, to distinguish it from other species.
Notwithstanding the number of different substances which have from
time to time been introduced for the use of tanners, it is,
nevertheless, pretty generally acknowledged that there is nothing
superior, or even equal, to good oak bark, and that all attempts to
hurry the process beyond a certain point by the use of concentrated
solutions of tan, &c., are for the most part failures, as the
manufacture of good leather, to a great extent, depends on the process
being conducted in a slow and gradual, but--at the same time--thorough
and complete matter.
Oak bark is, however, by no means the only astringent bark well suited
to the use of the tanner, and in various parts of the world other
similar substances are used with very great success. All these tanning
materials, though they may not be considered by the English tanner
equal to the best oak bark, are, nevertheless, of great value to him;
they may be employed in conjunction with oak bark, or even as a
substitute in times of scarcity, or when the price of oak bark is
high; in fact the very existence of such substances tends to keep down
and equalise the price of bark, and to prevent it from undergoing
those great fluctuations in value which would necessarily occur were
it the only tanning material available to our manufacture--("Prof.
Solly in Jury Reports of Great Exhibition.")
There are a vast number of bark and other substances useful for
tanning purposes, which are found in the tropics, that are
comparatively unknown or little regarded in Europe; but which might be
readily obtained in large quantities and at a trifling cost. The bark
of many species of _Acacia_ furnishes the tanning principle in a great
degree, particularly that of _A. arabica_, which, under the name of
Babul wood, is largely used about Scinde, Biliary, Gruzerat, and other
parts of India; where it is regarded as a powerful tonic. The fruit of
_A. vera_, termed Egyptian and Senegal "bablah," has been employed in
tanning and dyeing. Numerous species of this tribe are found abundant
in New South Wales and the Cape Colony, and these, particularly the
wattle bark of Australia, are in common use for tanning, from their
astringent properties. The bark and rind of the fruit of the
pomegranate (_Pumica Granata_) have similar properties.
The bark of _Avicenna tomentosa_ is in great use in the Brazils for
tanning. So are the curved pods of _Cæsalpinia Coriari_, in the East
and West Indies, under the name of Divi-divi. _Coriaria myrtifolia_ is
not only used in tanning leather, but also for staining black. It is
worth £9 to £10 per ton. _Pterocarpus marsupium_ furnishes about
Tellicherry the concrete exudation called kino, a powerful astringent
used for tanning.
The plants of the mangrove tribe, _Rhizophora Mangle_, and other
allied species, have frequently an astringent bark, which is in many
cases used for tanning and dyeing black. This tree is very common in
most tropical countries, where it forms dense thickets on the muddy
banks of rivers and the sea shores. The bark of _Bauhinia variegata_,
is made use of in Scinde and other parts of Asia. The bitter
astringent bark and the galls of several of the Tamarisk tribe are
also well suited for the purpose.
_Mesembryanthemum nodiflorum_, one of the numerous indigenous species
of the Cape, is used in making morocco leather.
The extract procured from the bark of the _Butea_, that of the
_Buchanania latifolia_, the _Scyzgium_ (_Calyptranthes_), _Jambolana_,
&c., are likely to be of consequence to the tanners, and could be
produced in India in large quantities. Specimens of these, and of the
bark of the Saul tree, of _Nychanthes arbortrista, Terminalia
angustifolia_, and of the gaub fruit (_Diospyros glutinosa_), were
shown by the East India Company. The bark of the hemlock tree is
extensively employed for tanning in New Brunswick.
The bark of yellow hercules (_Xanthoxylum ochroxylon_), and the pods
of _Acacia tortuosa_ are used for tanning in the West Indies.
In the instructions given by the Admiralty to Sir James Boss, when
proceeding on his Antarctic Expedition, his attention was particularly
called to the astringent substances adapted for tanning, and to the
various extracts of barks, &c., imported into England from our
Australian settlements, and which are employed by the tanner. Little
sterling information has as yet been obtained as to the qualities of
the astringent gums, barks, and dyes, yielded in such abundance by the
trees of those colonies, and the proportion of tannin they contained.
In 1846, 563 tons of bark for tanning were exported from Port Phillip.
A large quantity of tannin is extracted from various species of
Eucalyptus, the gigantic gum trees in Australia and Van Diemen's Land
(of which quarter all the species are natives), and sent to the
English market; it is said to be twice as powerful in its operations
as oak bark. Some of these trees attain a height of 200 feet. Their
bark separates remarkably into layers. A sort of kino gum, an
astringent resinous-like substance, is also extracted from _E.
resinifera_, the brown gum-tree of New Holland, which is sold in the
medicine bazaars of India. It exudes in the form of red juice from
incisions in the bark. A single tree will often yield 60 gallons. In
Brazil they use the bark of _Luhea panicata_, an evergreen climber,
for tanning leather; and in Peru the bark of some species of
_Weinmaunia_ serve the same purpose. Among other powerful astringents
I may notice the root of a species of Sea Lavender (_Statice
Caroliniana_), _Myrica cerifera_, and _Heuchera Americana_, all
natives of North America. Also the petals of _Hibiscus Rosa-sinensis_,
a native of Asia.
The sea-side grape (_Coccolaba uvifera_) yields an astringent
substance, known as Jamaica kino.
The bark of the _Cassia auriculata_, and the milky juice of the
_Asclepias gigantea_, are used for tanning in India.
The red astringent gum obtained from _Butea frondosa_, a middling
size tree, common in Bengal and the mountainous parts of India, is
used by the natives for tanning. English tanners, however, object to
its use on account of the color which it communicates to the leather.
The barks of the _Mora excelsa_, Benth; Courida (_Avicenna nutida_),
cashew (_Anicardium occidentale_), guava and hog-plum (_Spondius
lutea_, Linn.), have all been successfully used for tanning in
Demerara and the West India Islands, where they are very abundant.
Specimens were sent from British Guiana.
The root of the Palmetto palm (_Chaemaerops Palmetto_) is stated to be
valuable for the purposes of tanning. The leaves of _Nerium Oleander_
contain tannic acid. The bark of a species of Malphigia is much used
by the Brazilians.
The panke (_Gunnera scabra_) is a fine plant, growing in Chili, on the
sandstone cliffs, which somewhat resembles the rhubarb on a gigantic
scale. The inhabitants eat the stalks, which are subacid, tan leather
with the roots, and also prepare a black dye from them. The leaf is
nearly circular, but deeply indented on its margin. Mr. Darwin
measured one which was nearly eight feet in diameter, and therefore no
less than twenty-four in circumference. The stalk is rather more than
a yard high, and each plant sends out four or five of these enormous
leaves, presenting together a very noble appearance.
The barks replete with the tanning principle should be stripped with
hatchets and bills from the trunk and branches of trees in spring,
when their sap flows most freely. The average quantity of oak bark
obtained from our forests is estimated at 150,000 tons annually, of
which Ireland and Scotland furnish but a very small quantity.
The following table, given by Dr. Ure, shows the quantity of
extractive matter and tannin yielded by different substances:--
In 480 parts In 100 parts
by Davy. by Cadet.
Sicilian sumach 78 --
Malaga ditto 79 --
Souchong tea 48 --
Green tea 41 --
Bombay catechu 261 --
Bengal ditto 231 --
Nutgalls 127 46
Bark of pomegranate -- 32
" Virginian sumach -- 10
" Carolina ditto -- 5
Catechu and Gambier are very valuable for tanning, and are alluded to
under the heads GAMBIER and ARECA PALM.
CATECHU is obtained from the _Acacia Catechu_, an arboreous tree
growing from fifteen to twenty feet high, with a brown and scabrous
bark. The interior wood is brown, dark red or blackish, and the
exterior white, one or two inches thick. It inhabits various parts of
the East Indies, of which it is a native, and is also now common in
Jamaica. It bears whitish or pale yellow flowers.
The catechu obtained from this tree in Pegu, is celebrated throughout
India, and fetches £4 to £5 more per ton than gambier and other
astringent extracts. When of good quality, catechu is more powerful as
an astringent than kino. Of all the astringent substances we know,
catechu appears to contain the largest proportion of tannin, and Mr.
Purkis found that one pound was equivalent to seven or eight of oak
bark for tanning leather.
The term catechu, observes Dr. Pereira, is applied to various
astringent extracts imported from India and the neighbouring
countries. A few years ago the terms catechu, terra japonica, and
cutch were employed synonymously; they are now, however, for the most
part used in trade somewhat distinctively, though not uniformly in the
same sense. The manufacture of catechu from the _Acacia catechu_ as
practised in Canara and Behar, has been described by Mr. Kerr ("Med.
Obs. and Inquiries," vol. v.), and Dr. Hamilton ("Journey through
Mysore," &c., vol. iii.), while Professor Royle has explained the
process followed in Northern India. According to the last-mentioned
gentleman, "the kutt manufacturers move to different parts of the
country in different seasons, erect temporary huts in the jungles, and
selecting trees fit for their purpose, cut the inner wood into small
chips. These they put into small earthen pots, which are arranged in a
double row, along a fireplace built of mud; water is then poured in
until the whole are covered; after a considerable portion has boiled
away, the clear liquor is strained into one of the neighbouring pots,
and a fresh supply of the material is put into the first, and the
operation repeated until the extract in the general receiver is of
sufficient consistence to be poured into clay moulds, which, in the
Kheree Pass and Doon, where I have seen the process, are generally of
a quadrangular form. This catechu is usually of a pale red color, and
is considered there to be of the best quality. By the manufacturers it
is conveyed to Saharunpore and Moradabad, whence it follows the course
of commerce down the Ganges, and meets that from Nepaul, so that both
may be exported from Calcutta."
GAMBIER.
The Gambier plant (_Uncaria Gambler_, Roxburgh, _Nauclea Gambir_,
Hunter), has been described by Rumphius under the name of _Funis
uncatus_. It is a stout, scandent, evergreen shrub, which strongly
resembles the myrtle. It is generally cultivated in the same
plantation with pepper, as the leaves and shoots, after undergoing the
process by which their juice is extracted, to furnish a kind of
catechu, are found to be an excellent manure for the pepper vines. The
leaves and young shoots of the gambier plant are collected as soon as
they have attained a sufficient size, and boiled in iron pans until
the juice acquires the consistence of treacle. The decoction is poured
out into narrow troughs, dried, and afterwards cut up into small
cakes, and packed in baskets for exportation. The gambier extract,
which is of a yellowish brown color, and has the consistence of hard
cheese, is much esteemed by the Malays for mixing with the preparation
of betel, which they are in the habit of chewing; and considerable
quantities have lately been imported to this country, where it is used
for dyeing colors, and for tanning leather. The demand for gambier
here is on the increase; and when better known to our chemists, it
will probably be found applicable to many other purposes than those to
which it is at present applied.
There were, in 1850, 400 gambier and pepper plantations on the island
of Singapore; each measures or occupies on an average an area of 500
fathoms square, and employs eight to ten hands to cultivate and
manufacture the gambier and pepper. There are some pepper plantations
in addition, and they have been found to answer very well without any
gambier being cultivated with them. Gambier cultivation is generally a
losing undertaking, but it is adopted to obtain the refuse of the
leaves for manuring the pepper vines, and also to employ the people in
the plantations; it besides affords the proprietors the means of
getting monthly sums to carry on the cultivation of pepper, which
affords two crops yearly. There were formerly 600 plantations in
Singapore, but the reason already assigned, and the formation of spice
plantations contiguous have caused the abandonment of all those near
the town. Each plantation must have an equal extent of forest land to
that cultivated with gambier and pepper, to enable the manufacture of
the gambier being carried on, and each gambier plantation, of 500
fathoms square, contains about 3,500 pepper vines, which yield on an
average two catties per vine, or 70 piculs of pepper, and about 170
piculs of gambier annually;--a good plantation will, however, yield
sometimes as much as 120 piculs of pepper, and 200 piculs of gambier,
and a bad one as little as 40 to 50 piculs of pepper, and 60 to 80
piculs of gambier. Were it not for the enormous commission charged by
the agents of these plantations, from whom the cultivators get all the
advances, it would prove a profitable cultivation. The rates of
commission charged generally are as follows:--Per picul of gambier,
fifteen to twenty-five cents; per picul of pepper, thirty to forty
cents; and if the price of the former is below one-and-a-half dollars,
and the latter below three-and-a-half dollars per picul, a small
reduction is made in the rates of commission. On every picul of rice
supplied to the planters twenty to twenty-five cents commission is
charged; this includes the interest of money advanced, which is never
charged. A gambier and pepper plantation is valued or estimated at
about 400 dollars on an average. The following is supposed to be a
correct estimate, on an average, of the yearly expenditure and returns
of a gambier and pepper plantation of 500 fathoms square, viz:--
EXPENDITURE.
drs. c. men. drs. c.
Eight men at 3½ dollars and 7 Java rupees per
month, wages for headman and labourers
respectively 22.70 12 272.40
Five piculs of rice, including commission, say 6.50 12 81.60
Fish, &c. 5 12 60.0
Boat or cart hire to carry rice and produce 1¾ 12 21.0
------
435.0
PRODUCE.
170 piculs of gambier, valued at l dollar 45 cents
per picul, less 15 cents commission chargeable,
nett 221.30 -- ---
70 piculs of pepper, at 4½ dollars, less 40 cents
per picul commission, nett 287.0 -- 508.0
Yearly profit, 73 dollars, or about £15.
Several gambier and pepper plantations have been abandoned in
Singapore, partly from the ground being impoverished, but more
particularly from the exhaustion of the forest adjacent to their
estates. The exhaustion of the trees by yearly consumption deprives
the planters of the necessary fire wood which is used for the boiling
down of the gambier. A gambier plantation gets exhausted in fifteen
years, either from the want of firewood or the land getting
impoverished.
There are about 200 plantations at Johore, and the produce of gambier
for the season of 1851 was calculated at 30,000 piculs.
This shrub was, at one period, cultivated with success at Pinang and
other places to the eastward, but as Java was the principal market for
the produce, and the Dutch had levied a duty of twelve Java rupees per
picul on it, the cultivation at the former island did not repay its
cost, and it was accordingly abandoned. Prices have been lately
advancing, and the Chinese are talking of trying it again. The plant
is partial to hilly land or slopes at the skirts of hills. Two hundred
plants are usually placed on one orlong of land, being six feet
asunder. They are raised from seed, and are topped to eight or ten
feet, when the gambier is to be prepared. The Chinese dry the seed
slightly, and sow in rainy weather.
The seeds vegetate in forty days, and are planted out in the second or
third month afterwards.
At the expiration of fourteen months, the first cutting of the
branches, with the leaves on, is made. These are put into a boiler,
and when the juice has been extracted, the branches and refuse are
thrown away, and the boiling is continued until the liquor has
obtained the proper consistence, when it is put into shallow troughs,
dried, and cut into slices for sale. The second cutting takes place
eight months subsequently to the first. The plant now grows strong and
admits of frequent cropping, and it will endure for twenty years. No
manure is used, but the plantation is kept clean.
Estimated cost of cultivating ten orlongs, about 13 acres, according
to Colonel Low:--
Spanish dollars.
Value of cleared land, ten orlongs 200
Six laborers per annum 360
Quit rent 7
Boilers, firewood, and implements 20
Houses 50
Incidental 30
----
Total first year 667
Second year 397
----
1,064
The six laborers on the plantation will, after the above period, be
constantly employed in cutting and preparing the gambier: the average
product will be 15 piculs monthly, which, at two dollars per picul,
will be 30 dollars monthly, or 360 dollars per annum. This is the
account obtained by collating different Chinese statements.
The _Nauclea Gambir_ is placed by Jussieu under the natural order
_Rubiaceæ_; it is a shrub attaining the height of six to eight feet,
branchy; the leaves are ovate, pointed, smooth, waving, distinctly
veined transversely underneath, of dark green color, and, when chewed,
they have a bitter astringent taste, leaving however, afterwards, a
sweetish taste in the mouth, not unlike liquorice; the flowers are
aggregate, globular, composed of numerous florets, crowded on a
globular naked receptacle; tubes of the corolla of a pinkish color;
the upper part of the corolla fine, cleft, and of a greenish yellow
color; the staminæ are five in number, and short; the pistil is longer
than the corolla; the flowers are destitute of fragrance; the capsules
(as correctly stated by Mr. Hunter) are stalked oblong, incrusted, and
crowned with a calyx; tapering to a point below; two celled, two
valved, the valves adhering at the apex, splitting at the sides; seeds
very numerous, oblong, very small, compressed, furnished at both ends
with a membraneous pappus.
The gambier plant is propagated either by seeds or cuttings, but the
latter are preferred. It is cultivated to some extent at Singapore,
but it is said that the gambier can be imported cheaper from the
islands in the vicinity, more especially at the Dutch settlement at
Rhio. The extract is used extensively by the natives of India, Eastern
Archipelago, Cochin-China, and Cambodia, as a masticatory, wrapped up
with the betel.
There are three different qualities of extract; the first and best is
white, brittle, and has an earthy appearance when rubbed between the
fingers (which earthy appearance gave it the name of Terra Japonica,
being supposed, at first also, to come from Japan), and is formed into
very small round cakes. This is the dearest sort, and most refined,
but it is not unfrequently adulterated with sago; this kind is brought
in the greatest quantity from the island of Sumatra. The second
quality is of a brownish yellow color, is formed into oblong cakes,
and, when broken, has a light brown earthy appearance; it is also made
into a solid cube form; it is sold in the bazars in small packets,
each containing five or six. The third quality contains more
impurities than the preceding, is formed into small circular cakes,
and is sold in packages of five or six in the bazar.
The method employed in preparing the extract is thus correctly related
by Finlayson:--"The leaves are collected three or four times a year;
they are thrown into a large cauldron, the bottom of which is formed
of iron, the upper part of bark, and boiled for five or six hours,
until a strong decoction is obtained; the leaves are then withdrawn,
and allowed to strain over the vessel, which is kept boiling for as
many hours more, until the decoction is inspissated; it is then
allowed to cool, when the catechu subsides, The water is drawn off; a
soft soapy substance remains, which is cut into large masses; these
are further divided by a knife into small cubes, about an inch square,
or into still smaller pieces, which are laid in frames to dry. This
catechu has more of a granular, uniform appearance than that of
Bengal; it is, perhaps, also less pure."
The younger leaves of the shrub are said to produce the whitest and
best gambier; the older, a brown and inferior sort. There are other
species of _Nauclea_ indigenous to Singapore, but they do not produce
any extract.
Dr. Bennett has particularised four qualities of gambier:--
1. Small round cakes, about the size of a small lozenge. Color pale,
purplish, yellowish, white.
2. Cubes, in which shape it is principally imported into England, and
square prisms, or oblong pieces.
3. Circular discs, or short cylindrical pieces.
4. Cubical amylaceous pieces, of a darker brown than the other kinds.
Gambier is one of the most powerful of the pure astringents.
The chief places of manufacture are Saik, Malacca, Singapore, and Rhio
or Bintang. Bennett, in his "Wanderings," says there are 60,000
plantations of gambier on this island. After that of Rhio, the next
best gambier is that of Lingin. That used by the Malays, with the
leaves of betel, in the same manner as cutch in other parts of India,
is the finest and whitest; the red being stronger tasted and rank, is
exported to Batavia, China, and England, for the purposes of tanning
and dyeing. It is frequently adulterated with sago powder, but it may
be detected by solution in water.
Large quantities of gambier are imported, under the corrupted name of
cutch, into Calcutta, from Pegu. The quantity of gambier produced in
Rhio, by the Chinese settlers, amounts to about 4,600 tons a year,
about 2,000 of which are exported for the consumption of Java, the
rest being sent to Cochin-China and other neighbouring countries.
Two methods of obtaining gambier are described. One consists in
boiling the leaves in water, and in inspissating the decoction; the
other, which yields the best gambier, consists in infusing the leaves
in warm water, by which a fecula is obtained, which is inspissated by
the heat of the sun, and formed into cakes.
The injudicious practice adopted by the Land Office in Singapore, of
granting indiscriminate licenses, or "cutting papers" as they are
formed, seems open to objection, and is driving many of the Chinese
cultivators to the neighbouring island of Johore, where they readily
obtain permission to cultivate, without obstruction, this important
article of commerce. Parties of 300 or 400 at a time left in 1846. It
appears that, under his permissive license, the squatter obtains
permission to clear as much land as he possibly can, but the order
does not define any extent beyond which no cutting should take place.
The squatter clears as much land as the means at his disposal will
allow, in the hope and expectation that the jungle contiguous to the
cleared ground will be at his command for fuel--a supply of fuel, easy
of access, and adequate to the number of plants grown, being
indispensable to the culture and manufacture of gambier. When the time
for gathering the leaves arrives, another squatter (perhaps from
motives of envy or malice) obtains a "cutting paper," and commences
clearing in close proximity to the already-formed gambier plantation;
obviously depriving the owner of the fuel he has reasonably calculated
upon. The established planter cannot of course eject the intruder from
the land, since the latter possesses an equal right to it, in virtue
of his "cutting paper," which, as it specifies no limits, leaves him
the disposer or destroyer of the crop of the industrious planter.
Instead of the present system, a better practice ought to be
introduced, defining the boundaries to be included in a "cutting
paper," and effectually preventing a trespass on the fuel-land of the
industrious planter. This might easily be effected by specifying the
number of acres, as well as the direction, in every clearing paper
granted.
The average produce of gambier in Singapore is between 7,000 and 8,000
piculs monthly. The ordinary price is about 1¼ dollars per picul. A
deficiency of rain, labor, or other causes, will occasionally reduce
the annual produce from 90,000 or 100,000 piculs, to 60,000 or 70,000,
and this diminished supply will raise the market price of the article
probably 35 cents per picul. But, in addition to the effect occasioned
by a deficient supply, there are other causes in operation exercising
a powerful influence in reducing prices. Gambier was first exported in
1830, from Singapore, to the extent of 2,587 piculs, at 4½ dollars per
picul. As a rival to bark it failed at so costly a price to meet with
encouragement; the culture and manufacture consequently declined until
1834, when 1,858 piculs were shipped to England at a somewhat lower
rate. The demand then became active, the exportations were at first
multiplied, then doubled every succeeding year, until they reached, in
1846-47 no less than 173,117 piculs. The price has gradually declined
to 1¼ dollars per picul, at which rate it displaces its rival, bark.
This price, however, is unremunerative to the grower, so that, unless
more encouragement offers, the supply will decline.
The number of Chinese employed in the cultivation, &c., of gambier
and pepper in Singapore is about 11,000. Their rate of wages
fluctuates with the price of gambier. If a picul of gambier realizes
1½ dollars, the monthly pay will be about three dollars; if gambier
fetches two dollars, their pay will amount to four dollars in the
month. The workmen who clean the plantation always receive a dollar
less than those who cut and boil the gambier.
A good deal of gambier seems now to be grown in Java, for 58,305
piculs were exported from that island in 1843. A small quantity is
taken by the Chinese ports, but whether as a masticatory or for
tanning and dyeing I am not aware.
VALUE OF THE TERRA JAPONICA IMPORTED INTO CEYLON.
£
1840 611
1841 1,053
1842 768
1843 471
1844 1,153
1845 537
1846 824
1847 1,549
1848 1,095
1849 896
1850 265
1851 386
In the Customs' returns of imports to this country, two articles are
enumerated, under the separate names of cutch and terra japonica; the
former is catechu and the latter the produce of the gambier plant. The
imports of gambier were, in 1836, 970 tons; 1837, 2,738 tons; 1838,
1,600 tons; 1839, 5,213 tons.
Cutch. Terra Japonica.
tons. tons.
1848 Imported to the United Kingdom 1,186 5,623
Retained for home consumption 765 5,102
1849 Imported 1,636 6,851
Retained for home consumption 869 5,400
1850 Imported 1,172 4,585
Home consumption 787 3,655
1851 Imported 2,401 4,783
Home consumption 2,020 4,431
1852 Imported 2,236 3,244
Home consumption 1,708 3,003
Catechu, imported under its Indian name of cutch, is brought over in
bales or baskets of from one to four cwt., the price being £18 to £25
per ton. About 450 cwt. of terra japonica or gambier is annually
imported into Hull from the East Indies. The imports of the two
substances into Liverpool is about 900 tons. Gambier is only worth £13
to £14 the ton; a few years ago it fetched 26s. the cwt. The imports
into the port of London average 1,500 tons annually.
4,679 bales, and 14,436 baskets of terra japonica were imported into
Liverpool in 1851, and 14,000 bales and baskets in 1852. The imports
of cutch were 10,290 bags, and 2,592 baskets, in 1851, and 11,873 bags
and baskets in 1852; the prices, which were from 16s. 6d. to 18s. per
cwt. for each article, in 1851, were rapidly run up in Liverpool, in
1853, owing to short supplies, to 25s. for gambier, and 22s. to 24s.
per cwt. for cutch, or catechu.
EXPORTS OF GAMBIER FROM SINGAPORE, WITH THE OFFICIAL VALUE IN RUPEES.
Piculs. Value in rupees.
1840-41 Exported 79,508 457,560
" Growth of Singapore 59,325
1841-42 Exported 93,340 470,790
" Growth of Singapore 47,696
1842-43 Exported 148,746 548,281
" Growth of Singapore 110,151
1843-44 Exported 139,050 584,449
" Growth of Singapore 121,791
1844-45 Exported 157,654 539,978
" Growth of Singapore 134,528
1845-46 Exported 110,766 425,643
" Growth of Singapore 75,797
1846-47 Exported 173,117 591,943
" Growth of Singapore 143,795
The exports of gambier from Singapore were as follows:--
To England. To the Continent. Total.
piculs. piculs. piculs.
1849 134,546 6,121 140,667
1850 87,611 16,166 103,777
1851 68,365 11,639 80,004
1852 68,045 9,006 77,051
The exports of cutch from Pinang, in the last four years, have
been:--1849, 3,693 piculs; 1850, 900; 1851, 4,143; 1852, 3,880; or, on
an average, 197 tons.
DIVI-DIVI is the commercial name for the curved pod of a leguminous
shrub, _Cæsalpinia coriaria_, which is sometimes imported from
Carthage. Its tannin differs materially from that of nutgalls. The
quantity of mucilage which it contains precludes it from the use of
dyers; but, as it furnishes nearly 50 per cent. of tannin, it is
largely used by curriers. It is imported into Liverpool from Rio de la
Hacha, Maracaibo, and Savanila. 400 tons of the seed pods and bark of
the Algaroba, or Locust-tree (_Prosopis pallida_) were imported in
1849 into Liverpool from Valparaiso, as a substitute for divi-divi in
tanning. 3,200 lbs. of divi-divi were exported from the port of
Augostara, in 1846.
Specimens of divi-divi which had been raised at Calcutta were shown in
the Indian department of the Great Exhibition.
Dr. Hamilton states that, according to some admirably conducted
experiments of Mr. Rootsey, of Bristol, undertaken at his request, the
pods of divi-divi contain above 50 per cent. of tannin. It appears
also, from trials made, that one part of divi-divi is sufficient for
tanning as much leather as four parts of bark, and the process
occupies but one-third of the time.
The average produce of pods from a full-grown tree has been estimated
at 100 lbs. weight, one-fourth of which consists of seeds or refuse,
leaving about 75 lbs. of marketable matter.
At an interval of six feet apart, an acre of ground will contain 1,210
trees, yielding an average of 810 cwts., and 30 pounds, or above 40½
tons of marketable matter, worth, at only £5 per ton, £200. Should the
interval between the trees be extended two feet more, we shall still
have 680 to the acre, the produce of which would not improbably be
increased by the increased space given for the extension of the
branches.
The ground in which this tree admits of being cultivated is that which
is least adapted to the staple products of tropical agriculture;
guinea grass may be profitably raised beneath its shade and as with
the exception of the three years which precede the commencement of its
bearing, there is hardly any deduction to be made from its returns, it
promises to be among the most valuable objects of a planter's
attention.
Jacquin describes the _Cæsalpinia coriaria_ as a handsome branching
tree, of about fifteen feet in stature, covered with a dark spotted
bark. Its leaves are doubly pinnate, and the leaflets of twelve pair
without a terminal one; they are oblong, obtuse, smooth, very entire.
The flowers are disposed in spikes issuing from the extremities of the
branches; they are small, yellowish, and slightly fragrant. To these
succeed oblong, compressed, somewhat obtuse pods, curved laterally,
the inner side being concave and the other convex. The seeds rarely
exceed three or four in each pod, and are of a brownish color.
Divi-divi resembles a dried pea-shuck curled up, filled with yellow
powder, and a few dark brown seeds. The price ranges from £8 to £13
per ton.
The imports into the United Kingdom in 1844, were 3,900 tons; in 1845
and 1846, about 1,400 tons each year; during the subsequent three
years the imports were merely nominal, but in 1850 a renewed demand
seems to have sprung up, for 2,770 tons were imported into Liverpool,
and a few tons into London.
CORK-TREE BARK (_Quercus suber_) has been imported into Ireland to a
considerable extent, frequently to the amount of 1,500 tons annually.
The quantity of cork imported annually into the United Kingdom is
about 3,000 tons. It is brought from Spain, Italy, and Barbary. Oak
bark and valonia being very cheap and plentiful, the price of cork
hark is only nominal, being, for Spanish cork-tree bark, £7 10s. to £8
per ton; Leghorn ditto, £6 to £7 per ton. It is less astringent than
oak bark, and is more generally useful for stoppers of bottles and
bungs for casks. 160 tons of cork-tree bark were imported into
Liverpool from Rabat in 1849, and 150 tons in 1850.
1,867 cwts. of bark for tanning were imported from Chili in 1844, of
which 292 were Quillai bark.
MIMOSA BARK.--The bark of the _Mimosa decurrens_, which abounds in
Australia and Van Diemen's Land, is found to be a very powerful
tanning agent.
The first shipment of tannin was made from Sydney to England as far
back as 1823, in the shape of an extract of the bark of two species of
mimosa, which was readily purchased by the tanners at the rate of £50
per ton. One ton of bark had produced four cwts. of extract of the
consistency of tar.
In 1843, 3,078 tons of mimosa bark was shipped from Port Phillip to
Great Britain. The price then realised in the London market was £12 to
£14 per ton, but it has since declined to £8 a ton. The quantity of
this bark to be procured in the colony is quite inexhaustible. The
price of chopped mimosa bark in Australia, for export, in the close of
1846, was £2 5s. per ton. Bark valued at £912 was exported from Van
Diemen's Land in 1848.
The imports of mimosa bark have only been to a limited extent within
the last few years, reaching 350 tons in 1850, against 110 tons in
1849, 230 tons in 1848, and 600 tons in 1847. The prices realised were
£10 to £11 for chopped, £12 to £12 10s. for ground, and £8 to £9 per
ton for unchopped bark. Whilst the imports were 3,900 tons in 1814,
they dwindled to less than 400 tons in 1850.
From an experiment, conducted by Professor Brandt, the strength of the
mimosa bark, as compared with that of young English oak bark, is found
to be in the proportion of 57 to 39, so that the mimosa bark is half
as strong again as the best English bark.
Mr. Samuel Mossman, in a communication to the Botanic Society of
Edinburgh, in 1851, stated that the bark of _A. dealbata_ pays to ship
to England, notwithstanding the distance, from the fact of its
containing a greater per centage of tannin than any other bark. It is
a handsome tree, from fifteen to thirty feet high, forming luxuriant
groves on the banks of streams, most abundant in Port Phillip and
Twofold Bay, between the parallels of latitude 34 and 30 degrees.
New Zealand is rich in barks and dyes. The bark of the Tanahaka
(_Phyllodadus trichomanoides_, of Don) is used by the natives as a red
dye for the ornamental parts of their kaitahas, their best border
garments. There is also another red dye, called Tawaivwai, the bark of
which is very profuse. A black dye is procured from the hinau. They
are of a rich hue, and exceedingly fast colors. The barks are to be
found all over the colony. The hinau and tanahaka are employed in
tanning, all the leather used in the colony being tanned either at the
Bay of Islands or Port Nicholson.
The bark of the Rimu or red pine (_Dacrydium Cupressinum_, of
Solander), a very common tree, possesses tanning qualities far
superior to any of the Australian barks. One pound of the bark yields
85 grains of extract.
The native tanning barks of New Zealand are various and easily
obtained. Specimens of the bark and dye, &c., of most of these trees
were sent home to the Great Exhibition. One pound of the Tanahaka bark
is said to yield 63 grains of tannin. The sails of boats are dyed with
it to preserve them. The Towai (_Licospermum racemosum_, of Don,
_Weinmaunia racemosa_, Decandole), is supposed to be valuable for the
purposes of the tanner, and is said to yield 104 grains of tannin for
every pound of bark. The bark of the Pohutu kawa of the natives, the
_Metrosideros tomentosa_of Richard, and _Callistemon ellipticum_ of
Allan Cunningham, would also be useful for tanning, one pound of it
furnishing about 60 grains of tannin.
The bark of the Hino tree, the _Elæocarpus hinau_ of Cunningham, the
_Dicera dentata_ of Forster, is used by the natives for dyeing black.
The black mangrove (_Rhizophora mangle_) is a tree attaining an
altitude of from 30 to 50 feet, and occupying marshy situations in the
vicinity of the sea. Almost every part of the mangrove--the bark,
roots, and the fruit more particularly--abounds in an astringent
principle, which is successfully applied to the purposes of tanning.
As the tree is so abundant within the tropics, it might be worth the
while of some practical speculator to make an extract on the spot, and
introduce it into the English market, for the use of tanners and
dyers. For tanning, the mangrove is said to be infinitely superior to
oak bark, completing in six weeks an operation which with the latter
occupies at least six months, and the sole-leather so tanned is said
to be more durable than any other. The bark and leaves, which contain
nearly as much tannin as the oak, are made use of in the West Indies,
as well as in Scinde and other parts of Asia.
3,713 piculs of mangrove bark, valued at £819, were shipped from
Shanghae, one of the Chinese ports, in 1849.
MYROBALANS.--This is a name applied to the almond-like kernels of a
nut or dried fruit of the plum kind, of which there are several sorts
known in the East. They are the produce of various species of
_Terminalia_, as _T. Bellerica, chebula, citrina_, and _angustifolia_.
They vary from the size of olives to that of gall nuts, and have a
rough, bitter, and unpleasant taste. Many of the trees of this tribe,
which are all natives of the tropical regions of Asia, Africa, and
America, are used for tanning, and some for dyeing. They are highly
valued by dyers, creating, when mixed with alum, a durable dark brown
yellow. Myrobalans fetch in the Bombay market 8s. to 26s. the Surat
candy of 821 lbs. The bark and leaves of _T. Catappa_ yield a black
pigment, with which Indian ink is made; the seeds are eaten like
almonds. A milky juice is said to flow from _T. angustifolia_, which,
when dried, is fragrant, and, resembling Benzoin, is used as a kind of
incense in the Catholic churches in the Mauritius. The fruit of _T.
Bellerica_, and of _T. Chebula_, both useful timber trees, indigenous
to the East Indies, are used medicinally as a tonic and astringent.
117 cwts. of myrobalans were shipped from Ceylon in 1845.
The annual imports of myrobalans into Hull, amount to about 1,600
cwts. The quantity which arrived at Liverpool was 185 tons in 1849,
851 tons in 1850; 27,212 bags in 1851, and 19,946 bags in 1852; they
come from Calcutta and Bombay, and are also used for dyeing yellow and
black. The price in January, 1853, was 6s. to 12s. per cwt. The
average annual imports into the United Kingdom may be taken at 1,200
tons.
KINO.--The Kino, of Botany Bay and Van Diemen's Land, is the produce
of the iron bark tree, _Eucalyptus resinifera_. White ("Journal of a
Voyage to New South Wales"), says this tree sometimes yields, on
incision, 60 gallons of juice. Kino is imported in boxes. The
tincture of kino is used medicinally, but an inconvenience is
frequently found to arise, from its changing to the gelatinous form.
Dr. Pereira seems to think this species of kino consists principally
of pectin and tannic acid. That chiefly used as East Indian kino, is
an extract formed by inspissating a decoction of the branches and
twigs of the gambler plant. Vauquelin analysed it, and found it to
consist of, tannin and peculiar extractive matter, 75; red gum, 24;
insoluble matter, 1.
The East Indian kino, imported from Bombay and Tellicherry, is the
produce of _Pterocarpus marsupium_, a lofty, broad-spreading forest
tree, which blossoms in October and November. The bark is of a greyish
color, and is upwards of half an inch in thickness on the trunk. When
cut, a blood-red juice speedily exudes and trickles down; it soon
thickens, and becomes hard in the course of fifteen or sixteen hours.
The gum is extracted in the season when the tree is in blossom, by
making longitudinal incisions in the bark round the trunk, so as to
let the gum ooze down a broad leaf, placed as a spout, into a
receiver. When the receiver is filled it is removed. The gum is dried
in the sun until it crumbles, and then filled in wooden boxes for
exportation.
_P. erinaceus_, a tree 40 to 50 feet in height, a native of the woods
of the Gambia and Senegal, furnishes kino, but none is collected in or
exported from Africa. _Butea frondosa_, or the dhak tree of the East
Indies, furnishes a similar product, in the shape of a milky, colored,
brittle, and very astringent gum. Kino is used as a powerful
astringent, and is administered in the form of powder and tincture.
Some specimens of Butea kino, analysed by Prof. Solly, after the
impurities had been separated, yielded 73¼ per cent. of tannin.
VALONIA is the commercial name of the cupula or cup of the acorn,
produced by the _Quercus ægilops_ and its varieties, the Balonia or
Valonia oak, natives of the Levant, from whence, and the Morea, they
form a very considerable article of export; containing abundance of
tannin they are largely used by tanners. The tannin differs materially
from that of nutgalls. The bark of _Q. tinctorea_, a native of North
America, yields a yellow dye.
The quantity of valonia imported for home consumption, in 1836, was
80,511 cwts., of which Turkey furnished 58,724 cwts., and Italy and
the Ionian islands 7,209 cwts. Of 163,983 cwts. imported in 1840,
143,095 cwts. were brought from Turkey, 15,195 cwts. from Italy, and
the residue from Greece and the Ionian Islands. The entries for home
consumption in the three years ending with 1842, amounted to about
8,200 tons a year. The increase since has been considerable, the
imports having been, in 1848, 10,237 tons; in 1849, 16,671 tons; in
1850, 12,526 tons; in 1851, 10,639 tons; in 1852, 13,870 tons. We
receive about 14,000 to 20,000 cwts. annually from Leghorn. The
imports into the port of Hull are 3,900 cwts. per year.
The prices of Smyrna valonias are from £13 to £14 per ton; those of
picked Morea, £10 per ton. The duty received on valonias imported in
1842 was about £4,000.
The annual produce is sufficient to meet the wants of all Europe. It
can be had in Turkey to any extent and at all periods. Many cargoes
are sent to Dublin, and the German markets. A little valonia is
exported from Manila, the shipments having been about 150 tons per
annum.
Camata and Camatina are two varieties of very young valonias, which
are found more valuable for some processes of tanning than the common
kinds.
Extensive as has been the enumeration of the vegetable substances used
in the various branches of art and manufacture which have formed the
principal subjects of this section, it is probable that with the
progress of knowledge, of scientific experiment, and of investigation
into the properties of given commodities, the list will be
indefinitely increased. What I have stated will suffice to give the
reader an idea of the surprising variety of sources from which we
receive the raw materials which enable us to perfect some of the most
elegant processes of manufacturing skill and ingenuity, and will
further afford some criterion--though, of course, not a perfect
one--for estimating the relative importance of the tanning and dyeing
substances.
SECTION V.
OLEAGINOUS PLANTS, AND THOSE YIELDING FIXED OR ESSENTIAL OILS.
Few cultivators are probably aware of the great importance of oil to
this country, and the number of purposes for which it is employed in
the arts and manufactures. It is extensively used for candle and soap
making, for burning in lamps, for diminishing friction in machinery of
all kinds, and especially for locomotives--in wool-dressing, in the
manufacture of paints and varnishes, as an article of food, for
medicinal purposes, &c.
So important are vegetable oils deemed, that the Society of Arts, in
its prize list for 1851, offered gold medals for the importation or
introduction into this country of any new plants or trees from China,
India, or elsewhere, producing oils or fatty substances, such as can
be used as food, or are applicable to manufacturing purposes; and also
to the person who shall manufacture and import the finest specimen of
oil, not less than ten gallons, the produce of olives grown in any
British colony in Africa or Australasia.
The time of burning of equal quantities of the following oils has been
found to be--
Hours.
Oil of poppy 14
" sunflower 13
" rape 11
" mustard 11½
" flax seed 10
" gold of pleasure
(_Camelina sativa_) 9½
" olives 9
" hemp seed 8
" tallow 10½
FOREIGN VEGETABLE OILS IMPORTED.
1821. 1845. 1850.
tuns. tuns. tuns.
Coco-nut oil -- 2,148 98,040
Olive oil 1,900 12,315 20,783
Palm oil 3,200 25,285 448,589 cwts.
Rape seed oil 800 3,973 --
Linseed oil 10,500 38,634 --
------ ------ -------
16,400 82,355
Fish oils 32,356 22,626 21,328
The total quantity of all kinds of wool annually consumed in England
and Wales, in 1843, was estimated at 801,566 packs. Now, five gallons
of olive, rapeseed or other oils, being used in the preparation of
every pack of wool, for cloth (independent of the quantity used in
soap, applicable to the woollen manufactures), it follows that five
gallons on 801,566 packs are equal to 4,007,830 gallons, or 15,904
tuns; and adding for olive or sperm oil used in machinery 1-11th of
the whole, 1,446 tuns, the total quantity consumed is 17,350
tuns.--("Enderby on the South Whale Fishery.")
_Fixed oils_ are found in the cells and intercellular spaces of the
fruit, leaves, and other parts of plants.
Some of these are drying oils, as linseed oil, from _Linum
usitatissimum_; some are fat oils, as that from olives (fruit of _Olea
sativa_ or _Europæa_); whilst others are solid, as palm oil.
The solid oils or fats procured from plants are, butter of cacao, from
_Theobroma cacao_; of cinnamon from _Cinnamomum verum_; of nutmeg,
from _Myristica moschata_; of coco-nut, from _Cocos nucifera_; of
laurel, from _Laurus nobilis_; of palm oil, from _Elais guianiensis_;
Shea butter, from _Bassia Parkii_; Galam butter, or Ghee, from _Bassia
butyracea_; and vegetable tallow, from _Stillingia sebifera_ in China,
from _Vateria indica_ in Canara and China, and from _Pentadesma
butyracea_ in Sierra Leone, and from the almond. These oils contain a
large amount of stearine, and are used as substitutes for fat. Some of
them are imported in large quantities, and enter into the composition
of soap, candles, &c.
Castor oil, from the seeds of _Ricinus communis_, differs from other
fixed oils in its composition.
Decandolle states the following as the quantity of oil obtained from
various seeds:--
Per cent.
in weight.
Hazel-nut 60
Garden cress 57
Olive 50
Walnut 50
Poppy (_Papaver somniferum_) 48
Almond 46
Caper-spurge (_Euphorbia Lathyris_) 41
Colza (_Brassica oleracea_) 39
White mustard (_Sinapis alba_) 36
Tobacco 34
Plum 33
Woad 30
Hemp 25
Flax 22
Sunflower 15
Buckwheat 14
Grapes 12
The following table, quoted from Boussingault, shows the results of
some experiments made by M. Grauzac, of Dagny:--
Seed produced Oil obtained per
per acre. acre, in lbs. Oil per Cake
cwts. qrs. lbs. lbs. ozs. cent. per cent.
Colewort 19 0 15 875 4 40 54
Rocket 15 1 3 320 8 18 73
Winter rape 16 2 18 641 6 33 62
Swedish turnips 15 1 25 595 8 33 62
Curled colewort 16 2 18 641 6 33 62
Turnip cabbage 13 3 19 565 4 33 61
Gold of pleasure 17 1 16 545 8 27 72
Sunflower 15 3 14 275 0 15 80
Flax 15 1 25 385 0 22 69
White poppy 10 1 18 560 8 46 52
Hemp 7 3 21 229 0 25 70
Summer rape 11 3 17 412 5 30 65
The subjoined list will serve to exhibit the richness of the produce
of different Indian seeds, from which varieties of oil are extracted;
it gives the proportion of oil per cent. in weight:--
Sesame oil (_Sesamum indicum_) 46.7
Black til, coloured variety of ditto (_Verbesena sativa_) 46.4
Gingelie oil (_S. orientale_) 46.7
Ground nuts, produced by _Arachis hypogoea_ 45.5
Wounded seeds obtained from the Poonnay-tree (_Calophyttum
Inophyllum_), a bitter lamp oil 63.7
Karunj seeds, from the _Pongamia glabra_ 26.7
Ram til, the seeds of the nuts Ellu, or _Guizotia oleifera_ 35
Poppy seeds (_Papaver somniferum_) 43 to 58
Silaam, an oil seed from Nepaul 41
Rape seed (_Brassica napus_) 33
The foregoing are not all the seeds from which oil is extracted by the
natives of the East. In addition to this there are cottonseed oil,
used for their lamps. Castor oil and Argemone seed, similarly used.
Oil obtained from the fruit of _Melia Azadriachta_, for medicine and
lamps. Apricot oil in the Himalayas, sunflower oil, oil of
cucumber-seed for cooking and lamps, oil of colocynth seed, a lamp
oil.
The seeds of bastard saffron (_Carthamus tinctorius_) yield oil.
Mustard oil, the produce of various species of _Sinapis_, &c. Shanghae
oil, from _Brassica Chinensis_. Illiepie oil, from _Bassia
longifolia_, which is used for frying cakes, &c., in Madras; and
Muohwa oil, from another species of the same genus in Bengal, _B.
latifolia_. Oil is expressed from the seeds of _Cæsalpina oleosperma_,
a native of the East. The neem tree seeds afford a very clear or
bitter oil, used for burning.
Wood oil is a remarkable substance, obtained from several species of
_Dipterocarpus_, by simply tapping the tree.
The horse-eyes and cacoons of Jamaica (_Fevillea scandens_) yield a
considerable quantity of oil or fat, as white and hard as tallow. It
has been employed for similar purposes on the Mosquito shores.
The seeds of the _Argemone mexicana_, and of the _Sanguinaria
canadensis_, also contain a bland, nutritious, colorless, fixed oil.
The mass from which the seed is expressed is found to be extremely
nutritious to cattle.
The _Camelina sativa_ is cultivated in Europe, for the extraction of
an oil used only by the soap makers, and for lamps.
A solid oil, of a pale greenish color, a good deal resembling the oils
of the Bassia in character, though rather harder, and approaching more
in properties to myrtle wax, was shown at the Great Exhibition, from
Singapore. It is supposed to be the produce of the tallow tree of
Java, called locally "kawan," probably a species of Bassia. It is very
easily bleached; indeed, by exposure to air and light, it becomes
perfectly white; if not too costly, it promises to become a valuable
oil.
According to Mr. Low, there are several varieties of solid oil
commonly used in the Islands of the Archipelago, and obtained from the
seeds of different species of _Dipterocarpus_.
Piney tallow is obtained from the fruit of the _Vateria Indica_, a
large and quick-growing tree, abundant in Malabar and Canara. It is a
white solid oil, fusible at a temperature of 97 degrees, and makes
excellent candles, especially when saponified and distilled in the
manner now adopted with palm oil, &c. It has one great advantage over
coco-nut oil, that the candles made of it do not give out any
suffocating acrid vapors when extinguished, as those made with the
latter oil do.
An oil is produced from the inner shell of the cashew-nut (_Anacardium
occidentale_ var. _indicum_), in the East.
In Japan a kind of butter, called _mijo_, is obtained from a species
of the Dolichos bean (_Dolichos soya_).
The kernel of the seeds of the tallow tree of China, _Stillingia
sebifera_, an evergreen shrub, contains an oil, which, when expressed,
consolidates through the cold to the consistence of tallow, and by
boiling becomes as hard as bees' wax. The plant also yields a bland
oil. A similar fatty product is obtained from a shrub in British
Guiana, the _Myristica (Virola) sebifera_.
Oil is obtained in South America from the sand box tree _(Hura
crepitans_), and from the _Carapa guianensis_.
A fatty oil is obtained in Demerara from the seeds of the butter tree,
_Pekea_ (?) _Bassia butyrosa_, and also from the Saouari (_P.
tuberculosa_).
The fleshy seeds contained in the woody capsules of the Monkey pot
(_Lecythis Tabucajo_), which derive their generic name from their
similarity to an oil jar, are common in the West India Islands and
South America, and yield a considerable quantity of oil.
The seeds of the plants of the cucumber family frequently supply a
bland oil, which is used in the East as a lamp oil and for cooking.
Among the vegetable oils imported into Ningpo, and other Chinese
ports, from Shantong, Leatong, and Teisin, are oil of teuss, obtained
from green and dried peas; black oil of the fruit of the tree _kin_
(?) and oil from the pea of suchau.
The seeds of _Spergula saliva_, a large, smooth-seeded variety of the
common cow spurrey, which is cultivated in Flanders as a pasture grass
and green crop, afford, on expression, a good lamp oil.
A pale brownish yellow oil is obtained from the seeds of _Carthamus
tinctorius_, in Bombay; the seeds contain about 28 per cent. of oil.
Excellent oil is expressed in various parts of India from the seeds of
different species of _Sinapis_, especially from the black mustard
seed. _S. glauca, S. dichotorna_, and _S. juncea_ are extensively
cultivated in the East for their oil. The _Erysimum perfoliatum_ is
cultivated in Japan for its oil-seeds.
A beautiful pale yellow oil is procured from the seeds of the
angular-leaved physic nut, _Jatropha curcas_, a shrub which is often
employed in the tropics as a fence for enclosures. It is used by the
natives in medicine and as a lamp oil. About 700 tons of this oil was
imported into Liverpool in 1850 from Lisbon, for the purpose of
dressing cloth, burning, &c.
A rich yellow oil, perfectly clear and transparent, is obtained from
the seeds of _Bergera koenigii_.
RAPE OIL.--The imports of rape oil, from _Brassica napus_, into
Liverpool, are about 15 to 20 tuns annually.
Rape oil has been found to be better suited than any other oil for the
lubrication of machinery, when properly purified from the mucilage,
&c., which it contains in the raw state. Rape oil is now used
extensively for locomotives, for marine engines, and also for burning
in lamps. It is stated that a locomotive consumes between 90 and 100
gallons of oil yearly; and the annual consumption of oil by the London
and North-Western Railway, for this purpose alone, is more than 40,000
gallons. The oil obtained from good English rape seed is purer and of
superior quality to that from foreign or colonial seed; and as an acre
of land yields nearly five quarters of seed, which is worth at present
50s. per quarter, it is a profitable crop.
Rape seed is now largely imported for expressing oil. The imports,
which in 1847 were but 87,662 quarters, weighing 17,532 tons, had
reached, in 1851, 107,029 quarters, weighing 21,606 tons. The price of
new seed is £25 to £27 the last of ten quarters. The oil is £34 per
tun.
The refuse cake, after the seed is crushed for oil, is in demand as
food for cattle, being worth £4 the ton.
We imported in 1851, from Trance, 289 tuns of rapeseed oil, worth
about £17,000, on which there was no duty levied.
There are exported annually from Hesse Darmstadt, 34,660 cwts. of
poppy and rape oils.
The oil of the colza is much used in Europe, and highly prized. In
France it has been adopted for all the purposes of lighthouses. In
this country it has lately come into extensive domestic use, for
burning in the French moderateur lamps, being retailed at from 3s. 4d.
to 4s. the gallon.
DOMBA OIL.--The Poonay or Palang tree (_Calophyllum Inophyllum_), the
Alexandrian laurel, is a beautiful evergreen, native of the East
Indies, which flourishes luxuriantly on poor sandy soils, in fact
where scarcely anything else will grow. The seeds or berries contain
nearly 60 per cent. of a fragrant, fixed oil, which is used for
burning as well as for medicinal purposes, being considered a cure for
the itch. As commonly prepared it has a dark green color. It is
perfectly fluid at common temperatures, but begins to gelatinise when
cooled below 50 degrees.
THE EARTH-NUT (_Arachis hypogæa, or hypocarpogea_).--This very
singular plant has frequently been confounded with others, partly
through the carelessness of travellers, and by the improper use of
names, which tended to mislead and confuse. Its common appellative,
the earth-nut, has led to the conclusion that it was a species of nut,
such as is known in England under the name of "pig nut," "hawk nut,"
and "ground nut." This, as well as the "earth chesnut," belongs to a
totally different genera. On the Continent and in the East Indies a
similar confusion had long existed by the appellation of "ground
pistachio," which caused the fruit to be confounded with the nut of
the tree _Pistacia vera_. Some resemblance, on the other hand,
existing between these--as well as from their being eaten by different
nations, and used as an article of food, and also for producing
oil--rendered the true description still more difficult. Botanists
are, however, no longer at a loss, having well established the nature
and character of all these plants. The Arachis "nut" partakes of the
nature of the pea or bean of our own country, and is a low annual
plant of the order _Diadelphia decandria_ of Linn.; originally from
Africa, but now extensively cultivated in every quarter of the globe.
It has been naturalised in Europe, and with the climate of the South
of France it may be turned to good account.
It has been said to be indigenous in Florida, Peru, Brazil, and
Surinam; but the plant may be grown on a light sandy soil, under a
moderate heat, equal to that of Italy or the South of France. The
class to which it belongs approaches to the pea tribe; but its
remarkable difference to this, as to the pulse we know as a bean, is
the circumstance of its introducing its fruit or pod--if we may so
call it--into the earth, for the purpose of ripening its seed. The
Arachis, or earth nut, has obtained its name from this operation. The
flowers, leaves, and stems are produced in the ordinary manner we see
in the pea tribe. When the yellow flower has withered and the seed
fertilised, there is nothing left but the bare stem which had
supported it. This stem, in which is the germ of the future fruit and
pod, now grows rapidly in a curved manner, with a tendency to arrive
shortly on the surface of the ground, into which it penetrates this
now naked stem, and sinks into the earth several inches. It is in this
obscure position that the fruit takes its ripened form, and is either
gathered from its hiding place or left to the future season, when its
time of rising into new existence calls it from what was thought its
unnatural position.
When mature, it is of a pale yellow color, wrinkled, and forms an
oblong pod, sometimes contracted in the middle; it contains generally
two seeds. The nuts or peas are a valuable article of food in the
tropical parts of Africa, America, and Asia. They are sweetish and
almond-like, and yield an oil, when pressed, not inferior in use and
quality to that obtained from the olive. The leaf resembles that of
clover, and, like it, affords excellent food for cattle. The cake,
after the oil is expressed, forms an excellent manure.
The Arachis is usually sown in dry, warm weather, from May to June,
and are placed at the distance of eighteen inches from each other.
Insects are fond of them; and if the season is cold and unfavorable to
them, or the growth retarded, they become musty and bad, or are eaten
by insects.
The mode of obtaining the oil is nearly the same as for other pulse or
seeds; and under favorable circumstances the Arachis will produce half
its weight of oil. When heated and pressed the quantity is very
considerably increased. This oil is good for every purpose for which
olive or almond oil is used. For domestic purposes it is esteemed, and
it does not become rancid so quickly as other oils. Experiments have
been made on its inflammable properties, and it is proved that the
brilliancy of light was superior to that of olive oil, and its
durability was likewise proved to be seven minutes per hour beyond the
combustion of the best olive oil, with the additional advantage of
scarcely any smoke. In Cochin-China and India it is used for lamps. It
is known as Bhoe Moong or Moong Phullee in Bengal, and as Japan or
Chinese pulse in Java.
From China this plant was probably introduced into the continent of
India, Ceylon, and the Malayan Archipelago, where it is generally
cultivated.
In South Carolina the seed is roasted and used as chocolate. The
leaves are used medicinally.
It is grown in Jamaica, and there called Pindar nut.
That the culture of the Arachis in warm climates, or even in a
temperate one, under favorable circumstances, should be encouraged,
there can be but one opinion. And when it is considered that its
qualities are able to supersede that of the olive and the almond,
which are but precarious in their crops--to which may be added, that
as a plant it is greedily devoured in the green state by cattle--how
much may it not serve to assist the new settler in regions of the
world which have a climate suited to it.
It is known by various local names--such as _mani manoti_ by the
Spaniards, and has obtained also that of _cacahuete_ in some
countries. It has the additional term _hypogea_ attached to it, which
literally signifies subterranean. This is apt to mislead; for the
plant grows above ground as other pulse, whereas only its seed and
pericarp are inserted, after blooming, into the earth. Hence the
better term _hypocarpogea_.
It appears to form an important article of cultivation along the whole
of the west coast of Africa, and probably on the east coast, on
several parts of which it was found by Loureiro ("Flor. Cochin," p.
430). It was doubtless carried from Africa to various parts of
equinoctial America, for it is noticed in some of the early accounts
of Peru and Brazil. 800 quarters of this nut were imported into
Liverpool from the West Coast of Africa, in 1849, for expressing oil,
and about half that quantity in 1850.
Eighty to 90 tuns of the expressed oil are now annually imported. The
seeds contain about 44 per cent. of a clear pale yellow oil, which is
largely used in India as food, and for lamps, particularly at Malwa
and Bombay, &c. Two varieties are grown in Malacca, the white seed and
the brown seed, and also in Java, in the vicinity of sugar
plantations; the oil cake being used as manure. It is there known as
katjang oil.
This plant, which seems to be a native of many parts of Asia, has
within the last ten years been much cultivated about Calcutta. The
seeds contain abundance of fixed oil, have a faint odor, and very mild
agreeable taste; 1,950 parts of seed, separated from their coverings
and blanched, give 1,405 of kernels, from which, by cold pressure,
703 parts of oil are procured. The seeds are consumed as a cheap
popular luxury, being half roasted, and then eaten with salt. The oil
is calculated to serve as an efficient and very cheap substitute for
olive oil, for pharmaceutical purposes. It burns with little smoke,
with a clear flame, and affords a very full bright light, answering
perfectly in Argand lamps.
The oil cake affords, also, an excellent food for cattle.
The ground nut has of late become of considerable importance as an
article of exportation, by English houses; yet more so by French
houses at Ghent, Rouen, and Bordeaux; some of whom have contracted
with the merchants of the African colonies for large quantities,
sending shipping for the cargoes. One house alone contracted for
60,000 bushels in the years 1844 and 1845. This nut oil is so very
useful to machinery that the naval steam cruisers on the coast have
adopted it. A ground-nut oil factory exists in the colony of Sierra
Leone; but from the want of steam power and proper machinery, and from
bad management, together with the inferior attainments of the African
artisan, when compared with the European mechanic, and their
facilities in quantity or quality, there is abundant scope for
improvement. The price in the colony is 4s. 6d. per gallon. It is
capable of being refined so as to answer the purpose of a salad oil;
the nut is prolific, and eaten by the natives and Europeans, boiled,
roasted, or in its raw state; and frequently introduced at the table
as we do the Spanish Barcelona nut at dessert. It grows in the rainy
season, and is collected in the dry, and sold in the colony for one
shilling to eighteen-pence per bushel, in goods and cash. Form of the
nut, long, light shell, contains two kernels covered with a brown
rind, when shelled white in appearance.
It is a low creeping plant, with yellow flowers; after they drop off,
and the pods begin to form, they bury themselves in the earth, where
they come to maturity. The pod is woody and dry, containing from one
to three peas, or nuts, as they are called, hence the common names,
ground-nut or pea-nut. They require to be parched in an oven before
they are eaten, and form a chief article of food in many parts of
Africa.
From a narrow strip of land, extending about 40 miles northerly from
Wilmington (North Carolina), comes nearly the entire quantity of earth
nuts (known as pea-nuts) grown in the United States for market. From
that tract and immediate vicinity, 80,000 bushels have been carried to
Wilmington market in one year.
The plant has somewhat the appearance of the dwarf garden-pea, though
more bushy. It is cultivated in hills. The pea grows on tendrils,
which put out from the plant and take root in the earth, where the nut
is produced and ripened. The fruit is picked from the root by hand,
and the vines are a favorite food for horses, mules, and cattle. From
30 to 80 bushels are produced on an acre. There are some planters who
raise from 1,000 to 1,500 bushels a year.--("Hunt's Merchant's
Magazine," vol. xv., p. 426.)
The ground-nut is exceedingly prolific, and requires but little care
and attention to its culture, while the oil extracted from it is quite
equal to that yielded by the olive. Almost any kind of soil being
adapted for it, nothing can be more simple than its management. All
that is required is the soil to be turned over and the seed sown in
drills like potatoes; after it begins to shoot it may be earthed with
a hoe or plough. In many parts of Western Australia they are now grown
in gardens for feeding pigs, the rich oil they are capable of yielding
being entirely overlooked. In regard to their marketable value at
home, I will give a copy of a letter of a friend of mine, received
from some London brokers, largely engaged in the African trade:--
"Wilson and Rose present compliments to Mr. N., and beg to inform
him the price of African ground nuts is as under:--Say for River
Gambia, £11 per ton here. Say for Sierra Leone, £10 per ton here.
For ground nuts free on board at the former port, £8 per ton is
demanded; these are the finest description of nut, the freight would
be about £4 per ton; the weight per bushel imperial measure, and in
the shell, is about 25 lbs."
The following, also, is an extract from a letter written in 1842, by
Mr. Forster (the present M.P. for Berwick), an eminent African
merchant. Speaking of the staple of Africa, he says:--
"I have lately been attempting to obtain other oils from the coast,
and it was only yesterday I received from the hands of the oil
presser the result of my most recent experiment on the ground nut,
which I am happy to say is encouraging. I send you a sample of the
oil extracted from them. They are from the Gambia. It is a pure
golden colored oil, with a pleasant flavor, free from the frequent
rancidity of olive oil."
Since then the cultivation has gone on, and the exportation largely
increased. The French also have entered into the trade, and several
vessels are exclusively employed in exporting this product from the
river Gambia, conveying it to oil factors on the continent, who
extract its oil. Seeing, then, the many advantages the cultivation of
such a product bestows, and its adaptation to the soil and climate of
Australia, I cannot refrain from expressing a hope that some of the
influential landowners in the cultivated districts will give the
matter their consideration.
I am informed by an American merchant that he cleared 12,000 dollars
in one year, on the single article of ground or pea nuts obtained from
Africa. Strange as it may appear, nearly all these nuts are
transhipped to France, where they command a ready sale; are there
converted into oil, and thence find their way over the world in the
shape of olive oil; the skill of the French chemists enabling them to
imitate the real Lucca and Florence oil, so as to deceive the nicest
judges. Indeed, the oil from the pea nuts possesses a sweetness and
delicacy that cannot be surpassed.
Advices from the West Coast of Africa to the 16th August, 1853, report
that the ground nut season had closed; the quantity shipped during the
season having exceeded 900,000 bushels. The yield has increased 20 per
cent, each year for the last three years, and it is expected the
increase will be still greater in the forthcoming season.
TEUSS OIL.--The Chinese use what is called teuss or tea oil, for food
and other purposes. I have alluded to it under the head of pulse, at
page 312. It is obtained, however, from a species of the ground nut,
and is sold in Hong Kong, at 2s. 6d. the gallon, being imported from
the main land. By a local ordinance it is imperative on every
householder at Victoria, Hong-Kong, to have a lamp burning over his
door at night. When burning, this oil affords a clear, bright light,
and is not so offensive to the smell as train and other common lamp
oils.
TOBACCO SEED OIL.--A discovery, which may prove of some commercial
importance, appears to have been made by a British resident in Russia,
namely, that the seed of the tobacco plant contains about fifteen per
cent. of an oil possessing peculiar drying properties, calculated to
render it a superior medium, especially for paints and varnishes. The
process employed for the extraction of the oil is to reduce the seed
to powder, and knead it into a stiff paste with _quantum sufficit_ of
hot water, and then submit it to the action of strong fires. The oil
thus obtained is exposed to a moderate heat, which, by coagulating the
vegetable albumen of the seed, causes all impurities contained in the
oil to form a cake at the bottom of the vessel employed, leaving the
oil perfectly limpid and clear.
POPPY OIL.--About 80 cwt. of poppy seed is imported annually into
Hull, and small quantities come into other ports to be crushed into
oil. The seeds of the poppy yield, by expression, 56 per cent. of a
bland and very valuable oil, of a pale golden color, fluid to within
ten degrees of the freezing point of water. It dries easily, is
inodorous, and of an agreeable flavor like olive oil.
Dr. J.V.C. Smith, writing from Switzerland, to the editor of the
"Boston Medical Journal," says:--
"Immense crops are raised here of articles wholly unknown to the
American farmers, and perhaps the kinds best fitted to particular
localities where grain and potatoes yield poorly under the best
efforts. One of these is poppies. Thousands of acres are at this
moment ready for market--which the traveller takes for granted, as
he hurries by, are to be manufactured into opium. They are not,
however, intended for medical use at all, but for a widely different
purpose. From the poppy seed a beautiful transparent oil is made,
which is extensively used in house painting. It is almost as
colorless as water, and possesses so many advantages over the flax
seed oil that it may ultimately supersede that article. Where flax
cannot be grown poppies often can be, in poor sandy soil. Linseed
oil is becoming dearer, and the demand for paint is increasing. With
white lead, poppy oil leaves a beautiful surface, which does not
afterwards change, by the action of light, into a dirty yellow.
Another season some one should make a beginning at home in this
important branch of industry. The oil may be used for other
purposes, and even put in the cruet for salads."
TALLICOONAH or KUNDAH OIL, is obtained from the seeds of the _Carapa
Touloucouna_ (of the Flore de Senegambie). The tree grows to the
height of 40 feet; the fruit is a large, somewhat globular five-celled
capsule. The seeds (of which there are from 18 to 30 in each capsule),
vary in size from that of a chesnut to a hen's egg. They are
three-cornered, of a brownish or blackish red color. It is found
abundantly in the Timneh country, and over the colony of Sierra Leone.
It is manufactured in the following manner:--The nuts having been well
dried in the sun, are hung up in wicker racks or hurdles, and exposed
to the smoke of the huts, after which they are roasted and subjected
to trituration in large wooden mortars, until reduced to a pulp. The
mass is then boiled, when the supernatant oil is removed by skimming.
The natives principally prepare the oil to afford light; the leaves
are used by the Kroomen as a thatch. It is held in high estimation as
an anthelmintic. The oil is sold in Sierra Leone at 2s. a gallon, and
could be procured in abundance from the coast as an article of
commerce.
CARAP or CRAB OIL (_Carapa guianensis_).--This is a sort of vegetable
butter, being sometimes solid and sometimes half fluid, which is
obtained from the seed of a large tree abundant in the forests of
Guiana, and also found in Trinidad. It is said to turn rancid very
soon when exposed to the air, but this is probably caused by the
presence of impurities, arising from the crude and imperfect way in
which it is prepared by the natives, who boil the kernels, leave them
in a heap for a few days, then skim them, and lastly reduce them into
a paste in a wooden mortar, which is then spread on an inclined board,
and exposed to the heat of the sun, so that the oil may melt and
gradually trickle down into a vessel placed below to receive it. A
prize medal was awarded for this oil at the Great Exhibition in 1851.
Carap oil in Trinidad is highly esteemed as an unguent for the hair,
and also for applying to the wounds of animals, for destroying ticks
and other insects which infest cattle--also for the cure of
rheumatism. An oil called Carap oil is also obtained in the East, from
the almonds of _Xylocarpus granatum_, or _Carapa Molluccensis_, of
Lanark, which is used by the natives to dress the hair and anoint the
skin, so as to keep off insects.
Cacao fat, the butter-like substance obtained from the seeds of
_Theobroma cacao_, is esteemed as an emollient.
The nuts of the Great Macaw tree (_Acrocomia fusiformis_), a majestic
species of palm, furnishes much oil. This tree is the _Cocos
fusiformis_, of Jacquin, and other intertropical botanists. It is a
native of Trinidad and Jamaica, and is found also very commonly in
South America.
The method of extracting the oil is as follows:--The nut or kernel is
slightly roasted and cleaned, then ground to a paste, first in a mill,
and then on a livigating stone. This paste, gently heated and mixed
with 3-10ths of its weight of boiling water, is put into a bag, and
the oil expressed between two heated plates of iron; it yields about
7-10ths or 8-10ths of oil. If discolored it can be purified, when
melted, by filtration. It is then of the consistence of butter, of a
golden yellow hue, the odor that of violets, and the taste sweetish.
If well preserved it will keep several years without spoiling, which
is known to have taken place by the loss of its golden hue and
delightful aroma.
It is frequently sold in the shops as palm oil, and of late has
entered largely into the composition of toilet soaps. As an emollient
it is said to be useful in some painful affections of the joints; the
negroes deem it a sovereign remedy in "bone ache." The nut itself is
sometimes fancifully carved by the negroes, and is highly ornamental,
being of a shining jet black, and susceptible of a very high polish.
This tree may be increased from suckers.
_A. sclerocarpa_ is the Macahuba palm of Brazil.
THE AGAITI, as it is called by the Portuguese, or napoota by the
natives and Arabs (_Didynamia Gymosperma?_), much cultivated in all
Eastern Africa for its oil, which is considered equal to that of
olives, and fetches as high a price in the Indian market. The plant,
which is as tall and rank as hemp, and equally productive, having
numerous pods throughout the stems, is found everywhere in a wild as
well as cultivated state.
The "Cape Shipping Gazette," of August, 1850, says:--
"The attention of the George Agricultural and Horticultural Society
having been drawn to the fact that an excellent oil, equal to the
olive oil of Italy, can be extracted from the kernel of the fruit
known by the name of "T Kou Pijte" and "Pruim Besje," they have
offered a reward of £10 for the best sample, not less than a half
aum of this oil--and £15 if it shall be adjudged equal to the best
oil of Italy. This fact is deserving of notice, as an instance of
the advantages which are likely to result from the attention now
being devoted to the natural productions of the colony."
_Madia sativa_ is a handsome annual plant, native of Chili, which has
been naturalised in Europe. It grows about two feet high, and produces
flowers in July and August, of a pale yellow color.
The whole plant is viscid and exhales a powerful odor, which is
somewhat like heated honey. It requires rather a rich soil, of a
ferruginous character. The root is fusiform, the stem cylindrical, and
furnished with sessile, three to five longitudinally-nerved leaves,
which are apposite on the lower portion of the stem, and alternate on
the upper. M. Victor Pasquier, who has written on the culture of the
plant, analysed the seed, and found 100 parts to consist of 26.5 of
testa, and 73.5 of kernel; 100 parts of the latter yielded 31.3 of
vegetable albumen, gum, and lignine, 56.0 of _fixed oil_, and 12.5 of
water. In dry seasons the oil is both more abundant and better than in
damp seasons. The produce of oil, compared with that of the poppy, is
equal; with colza, as 32 to 28; with linseed, 32 to 21; with the
olive, 32 to 16.
The leaves and stems of this plant are rejected by cattle; but the
oil-cake, which always contains a considerable portion of the oil,
forms a nutritive food, of which they are very fond. The oil expressed
without heat is transparent, of a golden yellow color, inodorous,
rather fatter than the oil of rape or olives, and of a soft,
agreeable, nutty taste. It is fit to be employed in the preparation of
food, in salads, and for all the purposes of the best and mildest
fixed oils. It burns with a brilliant, reddish-white flame, and leaves
no residue. It is little liable to become rancid, and is completely
decolorised by animal charcoal.
The oil of the seeds of this plant, now extensively cultivated in
France, will yield, according to the observations of Braconnet, a
solid soap, similar to that made from olive oil. Boussingault obtained
from the oil a solid, as well as a fluid acid. The solid one is
probably palmic acid, it fuses at exactly 140 degrees of Fahrenheit.
The fluid acid in its properties resembles the oleic acid discovered
by Chevreul, and seems to dry easily.
The following is the composition of each, as determined by his
analysis:--
Solid acid. Fluid acid.
Carbon 74.2 76.0
Hydrogen 12.0 11.0
Oxygen 13.8 13.0
------ ------
100. 100.
COCUM OIL, or butter, is obtained from the seeds of a kind of
mangosteen (_Garcinia purpurea_), and used in various parts of India
to adulterate ghee or butter. It is said to be exported to England for
the purpose of mixing with bears' grease in the manufacture of
pomatum. It is a white, or pale greenish yellow, solid oil, brittle,
or rather friable, having a faint but not unpleasant smell, melting at
about 95 degrees, and when cooled after fusion remaining liquid to 75
degrees.
An excellent solid oil, of a bright green color, is obtained from
Bombay, having a consistence intermediate between that of tallow and
wax, fusible at about 95 degrees, and easily bleached; it has a
peculiar and somewhat aromatic odor. There is some uncertainty as to
the plant from which it is obtained. It was referred to the _Salvadora
persica_, and to the _Vernonia Anthelminticea_, a plant common in
Guzerat and the Concan Ghats.
A pale yellow clear oil is obtained from the seed of _Dolichos
biflorus_(_?_). Oil is also expressed in India from the seed of the
_Argemone mexicana_, which is used for lamps and in medicine; and from
the seeds of the cashew nut (_Anacardium occidentale_), from _Sapindus
marginatus_, and the country walnut (_Aleurites triloba_.) The fruit
of the _Chirongia sapinda_, (or _Buchanania latifolia_,) yields oil.
From the seeds of the _Pongamia glabra_, or _Galidupa arborea_, a
honey brown and almost tasteless oil is procured, which is fluid at
common temperatures, but gelatinises at 55 degrees.
Other sources of oil are the _Celastrus paniculatus_ (_?_) _Balanites
Egyptictca_ and the saul tree (_Shorea Robusta_).
THE CANDLE-TREE or PALO BE VELAS, (_Parmentiera cereifera_,
Seemann.)--This tree, in the valley of the Chagres, South America,
forms entire forests. In entering them a person might almost fancy
himself transported into a chandler's shop. From all the stems and
lower branches hang long cylindrical fruits, of a yellow wax color, so
much resembling a candle as to have given rise to the popular
appellation. The fruit is generally from two to three, but not
unfrequently four feet long, and an inch in diameter. The tree itself
is about 24 feet high, with, opposite trifoliated leaves, and large
white blossoms, which appear throughout the year, but are in greatest
abundance during the rainy season. The _Palo de Velas_ belongs to the
natural order _Crescentiaceae_, and is a _Parmentiera_, of which genus
hitherto only one species, the _P. edulis_, of De Candolle, was known
to exist. The fruit of the latter, called _Quauhscilote_, is eaten by
the Mexicans, while that of the former serves for food to numerous
herds of cattle. Bullocks especially, if fed with the fruit of this
tree, guinea-grass, and _Batatilla_ (_Ipomoea brachypoda_, Benth.),
soon get fat. It is generally admitted, however, that the meat
partakes in some degree of the peculiar apple-like smell of the fruit,
but this is by no means disagreeable, and easily prevented, if, for a
few days previous to killing the animal, the food is changed. The tree
produces its principal harvest during the dry season, when all the
herbaceous vegetation is burned up, and on that account its
cultivation in tropical countries is especially to be recommended; a
few acres of it would effectually prevent that want of fodder which is
always most severely felt after the periodical rains have
ceased.--("Hooker's Journal of Botany.")
CINNAMON SUET is extracted by boiling the fruit of the cinnamon. An
oily fluid floats on the surface, which on cooling subsides to the
bottom of the vessel, and hardens into a substance like mutton suet.
The Singhalese make a kind of candles with it, and use it for culinary
purposes. It emits a very pleasant aroma while burning. According to
the analysis of Dr. Christison, it contains eight per cent, of a fluid
not unlike olive oil; the remainder is a waxy principle.
CROTON OIL is obtained by expression from the seeds or nuts of _Croton
Tiglium_, an evergreen tree, 15 to 20 feet in height, belonging to the
same order as the castor oil plant, producing whitish green flowers,
and seeds resembling a tick in appearance, whence its generic name. It
is a native of the East Indies. 100 parts of seeds afford about 64 of
kernel. 50 quarters of croton nuts for expressing oil were imported
into Liverpool from the Cape Verd Islands, in 1849.
The _Croton Tiglium_ grows plentifully in Ceylon, and the oil, if
properly expressed, might be made an article of trade. The best mode
of preparing it is by grinding the seeds, placing the powder in bags,
and pressing between plates of iron; allow the oil to stand for
fifteen days, then filter. The residue of the expression is triturated
with twice its weight of alcohol, and heated on the sand-bath from 120
to 140 degs. Fahrenheit, and the mixture pressed again. In this step
the utmost caution is necessary in avoiding the acrid fumes. One seer
of seed furnishes by this process rather more than eleven fluid ounces
of oil, six by the first step, and five by alcohol.
The oil acts as an irritant purgative in the dose of one drop. In
large doses it is a dangerous poison. When applied externally it
produces pustules.
In 1845, eight cases of croton oil and six cases of the seed were
exported from Ceylon.
Other species of Croton, as _C. Pavana_, a native of Ava and the
north-eastern parts of Bengal, and _C. Roxburghii_, yield a purgative
oil. The bark of _C. Eleuteria_, _C. Cascarilla_, and other species is
aromatic, and acts as a tonic and stimulant. It forms the cascarilla
bark of commerce already spoken of. When bruised, it gives out a musky
odor and is often used in pastilles.
The oil obtained from the seeds of _Jatropha curcas_, a native of
South America and Asia, is purgative and emetic, and analagous in its
properties to croton oil. It is said to be a valuable external
application in itch. In India it is used for lamps.
OIL OF BEN, known as Sohrinja in Bengal, and Muringo in Malabar is
obtained from the seeds or nuts of the horseradish tree, _Moringa
pterygosperma_, Burmann; the _Hyperanthera Moringa_, of Linnæus. This
clear limpid oil having no perceptible smell, is much esteemed by
watchmakers and perfumers; it is expensive and not often to be
procured pure, consequently the oil would be a very profitable export.
It grows rapidly and luxuriantly everywhere in Jamaica, particularly
on the north side of the island--as well as Trinidad and other
quarters of the West. It is easily propagated either by cuttings from
the tree (the branches) or by seeds, and bears the second year. The
produce of each tree may be estimated at from one to two gallons. From
the flowers a very pleasant perfume might be easily distilled.
The following account I derive from my friend Dr. Hamilton--
"It is a small tree, of about twenty feet in height, of most rapid
growth, coming into flower within a few months after it has been
sown, and continuing to produce seeds and blossoms afterwards
throughout the year. The tree is now naturalised in the West Indies.
The timber is said to dye a fine blue, and the gum, which, exudes
from wounds in the bark, bears a strong resemblance to that obtained
from the _Astragalus tragacantha_, for which it might, no doubt, be
substituted.
The numerous racemes of white blossoms with which the tree is
constantly loaded, are succeeded by long triangular pods, somewhat
tourlose at the ends, and about two feet in length, when arrived at
the full growth. These pods, while yet young and tender, are not
unfrequently cooked and served up at the planter's tables like
asparagus, for which they are not a bad substitute. The pods, when
full grown, contain about fifteen seeds; each considerably larger
than a pea, with a membraneous covering expanding into three wings,
whence the specific name of _pterygosperma_. On removing the winged
envelope the seeds appear somewhat like pith balls; but upon
dividing them with the nail, they are found to abound in a clear,
colorless, tasteless, scentless oil, of which the proportion is so
large that it may be expressed from good fresh seeds by the simple
pressure of the nail. Geoffry informs us, that he obtained 30½
ounces of oil from eight pounds of the decorticated seeds, being at
the rate of very nearly 24 lbs. of oil from 100 lbs. of seed.
Notwithstanding the great value of its oil, and the facility with
which it can be obtained in the West Indies, the moringa has been
hitherto valued merely as an ornamental shrub, and cultivated for
the sake of its young pods or the horseradish of its roots, as
luxuries for the table.
The oil is peculiarly valuable for the formation of ointments, from
its capability of being kept for almost any length of time without
entering into combination with oxygen. This property, together with
the total absence of color, smell, and taste, peculiarly adapts it
to the purposes of the perfumer, who is able to make it the medium
for arresting the flight of those highly volatile particles of
essential oil, which constitute the aroma of many of the most
odoriferous flowers, and cannot be obtained by any other means, in a
concentrated and permanent form. To effect this, the petals of the
flowers, whose odor it is desired to obtain, are thinly spread over
flakes of cotton wool saturated with this oil, and the whole
enclosed in air tight tin cases, where they are suffered to remain
till they begin to wither, when they are replaced by fresh ones, and
the process thus continued till the oil has absorbed as much as was
desired of the aroma; it is then separated from the wool by
pressure, and preserved under the name of _essence_, in well stopped
bottles.
By digesting the oil thus impregnated in alcohol, which does not
take up the fixed oil, a solution of the aroma is effected in the
spirit, and many odoriferous tinctures or waters, as they are
somewhat inaccurately termed, prepared. By this process most
delicious perfumes might be obtained from the flowers of the _Acacia
tortuosa_, _Pancratium carribeum_, _Plumeria alba_, _Plumeria
rubra_, and innumerable other flowers, of the most exquisite
fragrance, which abound within the tropics, blooming unregarded, and
wasting their odors on the barren air."
THE OIL PALM.
There are several species of this genus of beautiful palms of the
tribe _Cococinæ_, but that chiefly turned to account is _Elais
guineensis_, a native of the Coast of Guinea to the south of Fernando
Po, which furnishes the best oil.
There are three other varieties--_E. melanococca_, a native of New
Granada, _E. Pernambucana_, common on the coast of Brazil, and _J.
occidentalis_, indigenous to Jamaica. All the species grow well in a
sandy loam and may be increased by suckers.
The value of the oil of this palm, as an article of commerce, is
exemplified by the large annual imports, averaging more than 516,000
cwt. for many years past.
Our supplies of palm oil are almost wholly derived from the West Coast
of Africa, of which it is the staple article of export.
Palm oil has the greatest specific gravity of any of the fixed
vegetable oils. It is used principally in this country for making
yellow soap. But the inhabitants of the Guinea coast employ it for the
same purposes that we do butter.
The trade in palm oil has almost driven out the slave trade from the
Bight of Benin, which was a few years ago one of its principal seats.
The old slave traders at Whydah have generally gone into the palm oil
trade, and are carrying it on to a very great extent. In August 1849,
no less than twelve vessels were lying at that port taking in oil;
whilst, only three years before, it was rare to see three vessels
there at once, and of those in all probability two would be slavers.
This palm is called Maba by the natives about the Congo river. It is
moneocious, which indeed Jacquin, by whom the genus was established,
concluded it to be, although first described as dioecious by Gaertner,
whose account has been adopted, probably without examination, by
Schroder, Willdenow, and Persoon.
The average imports of this oil into Liverpool alone, have now been
for some years upwards of 18,000 tons, worth nearly £800,000 sterling,
and giving employment to upwards of 30,000 tons of shipping; thus
proving that the natives who formerly exported their brethren as a
matter of traffic, now find, at least, an equally profitable trade in
the exportation of the vegetable products of their native soil.
Palm oil is produced by the nut of the tree, which grows in the
greatest abundance throughout Western Africa. The demand for it, both
in Europe and America, is daily increasing, and there is no doubt it
will, ere long, become the most important article of African trade.
IMPORTS INTO LIVERPOOL.
casks. tons.
1835 28,500 9,500
1836 33,500 11,000
1837 26,000 9,900
1838 27,520 10,320
1839 36,500 14,300
1852 about -- 23,500
In the colony of Liberia, I notice the manufacture of a new article of
African production, which is called "Herring's Palm Kernel Oil or
African Lard." It is thus spoken of in the newspapers of that Republic
:--
We had been for a long time impressed with an idea that the oil
contained in the kernel of the palm nut, was superior both in
quality and appearance to that of palm oil, which is obtained from
the exterior part.
On making an effort to extract the oil from the kernel (which was by
means of a little machine, of our own invention and contrivance), we
found that our thoughts upon the matter were correct, that the oil
possessed admirable beauty in its appearance, with a taste, when
used for cooking purposes, unexcelled by that of the best lard.
After being made and set by, it assumes a consistence like that of
hard butter, and has to be cut out with a knife or spoon; its
appearance in this state is very beautiful, presenting such
richness, clearness, and adaptedness to table purposes, that one
would not suppose that this oil is obtained from the same tree from
which palm oil is, for there is as much disparity both in their
appearance and taste as there is between lard and butter.
The exquisite transparency which the kernel oil bears in a liquid
state, especially when undergoing the purifying process, is a cause
of admiration. On showing some of it to several foreigners, I was
asked in two instances which was the oil and which the water, or
whether it was oil or water; thus you may have an idea of its
clearness. We make two qualities of this oil, differing however in
taste only, the one being for table uses and the other for
exportation and for whatever use they may choose to put it to
abroad.
There have been many conjectures in respect to the uses to which
this oil might he put in foreign countries; but that it will be a
useful article, and especially in our trade, when made more
extensively, there can be no doubt, for the quantity in which it
might be had would undoubtedly introduce it to a respectable rank
among the other commodities of our productive country so eagerly
sought after.
There is nothing, to my knowledge, that can be turned to as good
account and at the same time so abundant and easily obtained, as the
palm kernel, for they are as common as the pebbles of stony land,
especially in this section of the country, where we have palm
orchards of spontaneous growth for miles together, and interspersing
the surrounding country in almost innumerable numbers.
According to statistical ascertainment, there is on an average
exported from this port, thirty thousand gallons of palm oil
annually, from which fact we ascertain demonstratively that the palm
kernels which are thrown away here (leaving out the whole leeward
coast of our possessions) are sufficient to make thirty thousand
gallons of oil, more or less. This is not at all a problematical
speculation of ours, but we feel authorised to advance this
assertion from the fact that one bushel of kernels, completely
worked up, will make two gallons of oil. But to work them up is the
thing, plentiful as they are; we however, hesitate not to say, that
it can be done and probably will be.
Having now so far conquered the difficulties attending the
manufacture of this oil, as that we can safely vouch a reasonable
supply for home consumption, we most cheerfully recommend it to the
citizens of this Republic, whose demands for it, for eating
purposes, we doubt not can be supplied, and on very reasonable
terms.
We will assure our customers that there will not be an ounce of dirt
or sediment in a hundred pounds of our oil.
The recent abolition of the soap duty, by stimulating the demand for
palm oil, will have an instant effect on the trade and commerce of
Western Africa, by confirming the suppression of the slave trade, and
giving an additional impetus to negro improvement. It will also
increase the production for England of ground nuts, whence the oil so
largely used in making continental soaps is expressed. "When (observes
a recent writer) the Portuguese first treated with that coast, they
found palm oil and ground nuts articles of native food, and so they
remained down to a period within living memory. So used, they neither
required any cultivation nor gave rise to any notions of property.
Though whole tracts of country are crowded by the oil-palm tree,
little care was taken of what was, in fact, superabundant; and as for
ground nuts, they were simply dug up as prudence or necessity
dictated. Some thirty years ago a cask or two of palm oil was sent
home from the Gold Coast; it met so ready a sale that it was further
inquired after, and the total amount now imported into England ranges
from 25,000 to 30,000 tons annually. The exportation of ground nuts is
even larger; but, owing to our excise on soap, they had heretofore
gone principally to France---to Marseilles especially.
"Of these two articles, it is to be observed, the Western Coast of
Africa appears to have a monopoly; and with respect to palm oil, it is
further to be remarked, that it is exactly behind those ports and up
those rivers, which were formerly the great nests of the slave trade,
that its production is largest; and just as the slave trade there has
been crushed, a commerce in palm oil has sprung up and replaced it.
There are men alive who recollect the slave trade flourishing on the
Gold Coast; it has long been extinct there, and palm oil is now
largely exported. It is but a very few years ago since that traffic
appeared to be irrepressible at the mouths of the Niger: it is now
expelled, and thence Liverpool obtains, instead, its supplies of palm
oil. So also, later still, at Whydah, and the other ports of the
kingdom of Dahomy, and along the Lagoon, which connects Dahomy with
the Benin River, there the Spanish slave dealers are themselves
inaugurating a commerce in palm oil. Already the trade in that quarter
is considerable, and it would have extended much more rapidly than it
has done, were it not that disorder and warfare in the interior have
been promoted and prolonged by the indiscreet zeal of some of our own
naval officers and by the desire of some of our missionaries to rule
at Abeeokutu, at Lagos, and at Badagray. When, however, order and
tranquillity are restored, a most important trade will undoubtedly
arise there. A generation ago, when palm oil was merely an article of
food, there was, we have said, no property in palm trees. Since,
however, a large foreign demand has arisen for this oil, the
plantations, as already they are called, begin to be cared for; and
lately the title to some of them has been disputed in our courts on
the Gold Coast: a contention which constitutes the first evidence we
have received of the value of land, not actually under their own
cultivation, being recognised by the natives. Thus the feeling of
property and the desire for accumulation are springing up out of the
palm oil trade; and they are everywhere the germs of nascent
civilisation. It is no light question, therefore, thus involved in an
increased demand for this article; it may produce African consequences
of incalculable importance to the whole human race. It is in France
hitherto that the great consumption of ground nut oil has occurred. It
is there used in the manufacture of soaps, which, though preferred
abroad, are little used in England--very much because of the Excise
laws. The specific gravity of the soap made out of ground nut oil is
higher than those laws permitted; in consequence we could neither make
it for our own use nor for foreign exportation; and thus France has
substantially the soap trade of the world. By the repeal of the duty,
England will be enabled to compete--in this, as in all other
trades--with France abroad."
The price, in Liverpool, for palm oil, in October, 1853, was £38 10s.
to £39 per ton.
We export annually nearly four million gallons of oil made from
linseed, hemp seed, and rape seed.
PALM OIL RETAINED FOR HOME CONSUMPTION
cwts.
1835 242,733
1836 234,357
1837 211,919
1838 272,991
1839 262,910
1840 314,881
1841 300,770
1842 353,672
1843 377,765
1844 363,335
1848 510,218
1849 493,331
1850 448,589
1851 493,598
1852 408,577
The quantity of the four principal vegetable oils annually imported
into Great Britain, is shown by the following figures:--
Palm oil. Coco-nut oil. Castor oil. Olive oil.
cwts. cwts. cwts. tuns.
1848 510,218 85,463 4,588 10,086
1849 493,331 64,452 9,681 16,964
1850 448,589 98,040 -- 20,738
1851 608,550 55,995 -- 11,503
1852 623,231 101,863 -- 8,898
THE OLIVE-TREE (_Olea Europea_).--There are several varieties of this
plant, two of which have been long distinguished--the wild and the
cultivated. The former is an evergreen shrub or low tree, with spiny
branches and round twigs; the latter is a taller tree, without
spines, and with four-angled twigs. The fruit is a drupe about the
size and color of a damson. Its fleshy pericarp yields by expression
olive oil, of which the finest comes from Provence and Florence.
Spanish or Castile soap is made by mixing olive oil and soda, while
soft soap is made by mixing the oil with potash.
The wild olive is indigenous to Syria, Greece, and Africa, on the
lower slopes of Mount Atlas. The cultivated species grows
spontaneously in Syria, and is easily reared in Spain, Italy and the
South of France, various parts of Australia and the Ionian Islands.
Wherever it has been tried on the sea-coasts of Australia, the success
has been most complete. There are several fine trees near Adelaide,
some of them fourteen feet high, bearing fruit in abundance.
Unfortunately no one has attempted to cultivate the plant on a large
scale, but in a few years Australia ought to suply herself with olive
oil.
The olive tree is also grown in Hong-Kong.
There are five or six varieties of _O. Europoea_, or _sativa_, grown in
the south of Europe, of which district they are for the most part
natives.
The entire exports of olive oil from the kingdom of Naples have been
estimated at 36,333 tuns a year, which, taken at its mean value when
exported at £62 per tun, is equivalent to the annual sum of
£2,252,646.
There are one or two distinct species, natives of the East Indies and
the Cape of Good Hope. This genus of plants, besides their valuable
products of oil and fruit, are also much admired for the fragrance of
their white flowers. There is a yellow-blossomed variety, native of
China, _O. fragrans_, the Lan-hoa of the Chinese, which is used to
perfume their teas.
Olive oil now forms an article of export from Chili, being grown in
most parts of that republic, particularly in the vicinity of St. Jago,
where trees of three feet in diameter, and of a proportionate height,
are common. The olive was first carried from Andalusia to Peru in
1560, by Antonio de Ribera, of Lima. Frezier speaks of the olive being
used for oil in Chili, a century and a half ago.
The culture of the olive has been recommended for Florida and most of
the Southern States of America. Formerly, on account of its slow
growth, the olive was not considered very useful; but some years since
a new variety was introduced into France, and into some parts of Spain
and Portugal, which yields an abundant crop of fruit the second year
after planting. They are small trees or rather shrubs, about four or
five feet high. The fruit is larger than the common olive, is of a
fine green color when ripe, and contains a great deal of oil, The
advantages accruing from this new mode of cultivating the olive tree,
are beyond all calculation. By the old method an olive tree does not
attain its full growth, and consequently does not yield any
considerable crop under thirty years; whereas the new system of
cultivating dwarf trees, especially from cuttings, affords very
abundant crops in two or three. An acre of land can easily grow 2,500
trees of the new variety, and the gathering of the fruit is easy, as
it can be done by small children. At Beaufort, South Carolina, the
olive is cultivated from plants which were obtained in the
neighbourhood of Florence, Italy.
A gentleman in Mississippi is stated, by an American agricultural
journal, to have olive trees growing, which at five years from the
cutting bore fruit, and were as large at that age as they usually are
in Europe at eight years old. The olive then, it is added, will yield
a fair crop for oil at four years from the nursery, and in eight years
a full crop, or as much as in Europe at from fifteen to twenty years
of age.
The lands and climate there are stated to be as well adapted to the
successful cultivation of the olive for oil, pickles, &c., as any part
of Europe. Some hundreds of the trees are grown in South Carolina, and
the owner expressed his conviction that this product would succeed
well on the sea-coast of Carolina and Georgia. The frosts, though
severe, did not destroy or injure them, and in one case, when the
plant was supposed to be dead, and corn was planted in its stead, its
roots sent out shoots. It is well known to be a tree of great
longevity, even reaching to 1,000 or 1,200 years; so that, when once
established, it will produce crops for a great while afterwards. The
expense of extracting the oil is also stated to be but trifling.
The olive is of slow growth; trees 80 years of age measure only from
27 to 30 inches in circumference at the lower part of their trunks. An
olive tree is mentioned by M. Decandolle as measuring above 23 feet in
circumference, which, judging from the above inferences, may be safely
estimated at 700 years old. Two other colossal olives are recorded,
one at Hieres, measuring in circumference 36 feet, and one near Genoa,
measuring 38 feet 2 inches. The produce in fruit and oil is regulated
by the age of the trees, which are frequently little fortunes to their
owners. One at Villefranche produces on an average, in good seasons,
from 200 to 230 pounds of oil. The tree at Hieres, above-mentioned,
produces about 55 imperial gallons.
The olive is found everywhere along the coast of Morocco, but
particularly to the south. The trees are planted in rows, which form
alleys, the more agreeable because the trees are large, round, and
high in proportion. They take care to water them, the better to
preserve the fruit. Oil of olives might be here plentifully extracted
were taxation fixed and moderate; but such has been the variation it
has undergone, that the culture of olives is so neglected as scarcely
to produce oil sufficient for domestic consumption.
Olive oil might form one of the most valuable articles of export from
Morocco. It is strong, dark, and fit only for manufacturing purposes.
This is, perhaps, not so much the fault of the olive as of the methods
by which it is prepared. No care is taken in collecting the olives.
They are beaten from the trees with poles, as in Portugal and Spain,
suffered to lie on the ground in heaps until half putrified, then put
into uncleaned presses, and the oil squeezed through the filthy
residuum of former years. Good table oil might be made, if care were
taken, as in France and Lucca, to pick the olives without bruising
them, and to press only those that were sweet and sound. But such oil
would ill suit the palate of a Maroqueen, accustomed to drink by the
pint and the quart the rancid product of his country.
The olive is the great staple of Corfu, which has, in fact, the
appearance of an extensive olive grove. It produces annually about
200,000 barrels. Olive oil is also produced for the purposes of
commerce, and for local consumption, by France, Algiers, Tuscany,
Spain, Sardinia, Portugal, Madeira, and South Australia.
Olive plantations are extending considerably both in Upper and Lower
Egypt. Large quantities of trees were planted under the direction of
Ibrahim Pasha.
The olive tree might be expected to be quickly matured at the Cape.
The native olive, resembling the European, is of spontaneous growth
and plentiful, so that if the Spanish or Italian tree were introduced,
there is no doubt of its success. The wood of the olive is exceedingly
hard and heavy, of a yellowish color, a close fine grain, capable of
the highest polish, not subject to crack nor to be affected by worms.
The root, in consequence of its variety of color, is much used for
snuff-boxes and similar bijouterie.
The wood is beautifully veined, and has an agreeable smell. It is in
great esteem with cabinet makers, on account of the fine polish of
which it is susceptible.
The sunny slopes of hills are best suited to its natural habits.
Layering is the most certain mode of propagating this fruit, although
it grows freely from the seed, provided it has first been steeped for
twelve hours in hot water or yeast.
Olives intended for preservation are gathered before they are ripe. In
pickling, the object is to remove their bitterness and preserve them
green, by impregnating them with a brine. For this purpose various
methods are employed. The fruit being gathered are placed in a lye,
composed of one part of quicklime to six of ashes of young wood
sifted. Here they remain for half a day, and are then put into fresh
water, being renewed every 24 hours; from this they are removed into a
brine of common salt dissolved in water, to which add some aromatic
plants. The olive will in this manner remain good for twelve months.
For oil, the ripe fruit is gathered in November; the oil, unlike other
plants, being obtained from the pericarp, and immediately bruised in a
mill, the stones of which are set so wide as not to crush the kernel.
The pulp is then subjected to the press in bags made of rushes; and,
by means of a gentle pressure, the best or virgin oil flows first. A
second, and afterwards a third quality of oil is obtained, by
moistening the residuum, breaking the kernel, &c., and increasing the
pressure. When the fruit is not sufficiently ripe, the recent oil has
a bitterish taste, and when too ripe it is fatty.
The following are the present market prices of olive oil in
Liverpool, (October, 1853,) and they are 40 per cent, higher than a
few years ago:--Galipoli, per tun of 252 gallons, £68; Spanish, £64;
Levant, £60. French olives, in half barrels of two gallons, are worth
£3 to £4; Spanish, in two gallon kegs, 9s. to 10s.
The preserved or pickled olives, so admired as an accompaniment to
wine, are, as we have seen the green unripe fruit, deprived of part of
their bitterness by soaking them in water, and then preserved in an
aromatised solution of salt.
The marc of olives after the oil has been expressed, indeed, the
refuse cake of all oil plants, is most valuable, either as manure or
for feeding cattle.
More than 29,000 acres are under culture with the olive in the
Austrian empire, Venice, Dalmatia, Lombardy, Carinthia, and Carniola.
The climate of Dalmatia is highly suitable for the olive, and the oil
is better than that produced in most parts of Italy. Nearly 17,000
cwt. are annually obtained.
In 1837 there were 11,526 acres of ground under cultivation with
olives in Southern Illyria, which yielded 261,800 gallons. Olives and
sumach form the principal crops of the landholder. I have not been
able to get any recent correct statistics of the culture and produce.
The oil of Istria is considered equal to that of Provence. The stones
and refuse are used there for fuel. The olive is also extensively
cultivated in the Quarnero Islands, especially Veglia and Cherso, and
in Corfu. There were in 1836, 219,339 acres under cultivation in the
Ionian Islands, producing 113,219 barrels. The olive is gathered there
in December. The average price of the barrel of olive oil was 48s. 3d.
Nearly two millions of gallons of olive oil were exported from Sicily
in 1842. Naples alone shipped five millions of gallons in 1839, and
about 2,500 cwts. of oil is shipped annually from Morocco. Russia
imports about 500,000 poods (40 lbs. each) of olive oil annually.
"Provence oil, the produce of Aix, is the most esteemed. Florence oil
is the virgin oil expressed from the ripe fruit soon after being
gathered; it is imported in flasks surrounded by a kind of network
formed by the leaves of a monocotyledonous plant, and packed in half
chests; it is that used at table under the name of salad oil. Lucca
oil is imported in jars holding nineteen gallons each. Genoa oil is
another fine kind. Galipoli oil forms the largest portion of the olive
oil brought to England, it is imported in casks. Apulia and Calabria
are the provinces of Naples most celebrated for its production; the
Apulian is the best. Sicily oil is of inferior quality; it is
principally produced at Milazzo. Spanish oil is the worst. The foot
deposited by olive oil is used for oiling machinery, under the name
of' droppings of sweet oil.'"--("Pereira's Materia Medica.")
The manufacture of olive oil in Spain has undergone very considerable
improvement during the last few years; in particular, the process for
expressing the oil has been rendered more rapid and effectual by the
introduction of the hydraulic press, and thus the injurious
consequences which resulted from the partial fermentation of the fruit
are avoided.
There are four different kinds of oil known in the districts where it
is prepared.
1. _Virgin oil_--A term which is applied, in the district Montpellier,
to that which spontaneously separates from the paste of crushed
olives. This oil is not met with in commerce, being all used by the
inhabitants, either as an emollient remedy, or for oiling the works of
watches. A good deal of virgin oil is, however, obtained from Aix.
2. _Ordinary oil_.--This oil is prepared by pressing the olives,
previously crushed and mixed with boiling water. By this second
expression, in which more pressure is applied than in the previous
one, an oil is obtained, somewhat inferior in quality to the virgin
oil.
3. _Oil of the infernal regions_.--The water which has been employed
in the preceding operation is in some districts conducted into large
reservoirs called the _infernal regions_, where it is left for many
days. During this period, any oil that might have remained mixed with
the water separates and collects on the surface. This oil being very
inferior in quality, is only fit for burning in lamps, and is
generally locally used.
4. _Fermented oil_ is obtained in the departments of Aix and
Montpellier, by leaving the fresh olives in heaps for some time, and
pouring boiling water over them before pressing the oil. But this
method is very seldom put in practice, for the olives during this
fermentation lose their peculiar flavor, become much heated, and
acquire a musty taste, which is communicated to the oil.
The fruity flavor of the oil depends upon the quality of the olives
from which it is pressed, and not upon the method adopted in its
preparation,"--(French "Journal de Pharmacie.")
The price of olive oil is sufficiently high to lead to its admixture
with cheaper oils. The oil of poppy seeds is that which is usually
employed for its adulteration, as it has the advantage of being cheap,
of having a sweet taste, and very little smell. M. Gobley has invented
an instrument which he calls an areometer, to detect this fraud. It is
founded on the difference between the densities of olive oil and oil
of poppies.
The imports, which in 1826 were only 742,719 gallons, had risen in
1850 to 5,237,816 gallons. The following figures show the progressive
imports and consumption:--
Imported. Retained for home consumption.
gallons. gallons.
1827 1,028,174 1,070,765
1831 4,158,917 1,928,892
1835 606,166 554,196
1839 1,793,920 1,806,178
1843 3,047,688 2,516,724
1847 2,190,384 --
1848 2,541,672 --
1849 4,274,928 --
1850 5,860,806 --
1851 2,898,756 2,749,572
1852 2,242,296 1,066,400
The imports of olive oil into the port of Liverpool were 9,815 tuns
in 1849, and 10,038 tuns in 1850. It was brought from Manila, Malaga,
and Corfu, but chiefly from Barbary, Palermo, Gallipoli, and the
Levant. In 1850 we imported from France 259,646 imperial gallons of
olive oil, officially valued at £34,638; the average in ordinary years
is only about 20,000 gallons from the continent.
ALMOND OIL.--To the south of the Empire of Morocco there are forests
of the Arzo tree, which is thorny, irregular in its form, and produces
a species of almond exceedingly hard. Its fruit consists of two
almonds, rough and bitter, from which an oil is produced, very
excellent for frying. In order to use this oil it requires to be
purified by fire, and set in a flame, which must be suffered to die
away of itself; the most greasy particles are thus consumed, and its
arid qualities wholly destroyed. "When the Moors gather these fruits
they drive their goats under the trees, and as the fruit falls the
animals carefully nibble off the skins, and then greedily feed.
The oil of almonds is more fluid than olive oil, and of a clear,
transparent, yellowish color, with a very slight odor and taste. It is
occasionally employed for making the finer kinds of soap, and also in
medicine.
In manufacturing it the fruit are first well rubbed or shaken in a
coarse bag or sack, to separate a bitter powder which covers their
epidermis. They are then pounded to a paste in mortars of marble,
which paste is afterwards subjected to the action of a press, as in
the case of the olive.
About 80 tuns of almond oil are annually imported into this country,
the price being about 1s. per pound. Five-and-a-half pounds of almond
oil will yield by cold expression one pound six ounces of oil, and
three-fourths of a pound more if the iron plates are heated.
SESAME OR TEEL.--Of this small annual plant there are two or three
species. _Sesamum orientale_, the common sort; and _S. indicum_, a
more robust kind, cultivated at a different season, are both natives
of the East Indies. _S. indicum_ bears a pale purple flower, and _S.
orientals_ has a white blossom. It is the latter which is chiefly
grown, and the seeds afford the Gingellie oil or suffed-til, already
extensively known in commerce in the East. The expressed oil is as
clear and sweet as that from almonds, and probably the Behens oil,
used in varnish, is no other. It is called by the Arabs "Siriteh," and
the seed, "bennie " seed, in Africa. _S. orientals_ is grown in the
West Indies under the name of "wangle." It is said to have been first
brought to Jamaica by the Jews as an article of food. 1,050 bags of
gingelly teel, or sesame seed, were imported into Liverpool, in 1849,
from the East, South America, and Africa, for expressing oil, and
3,700 bags in 1850. There are two kinds of seed, light and dark, and
it is about the same size as mustard seed, only not round.
A hectare of land in Algeria yields 1,475 kilogrammes of seed, which
estimated at 50 cents the kilogramme, amounts to 737 francs, whilst
the cost of production is only 259 francs, leaving a profit of 478
francs (nearly £20). The oil obtained from this seed is inferior to
good olive oil, but is better adapted for the manufacture of soap.
This plant is not unlike hemp, but the stalk is cleaner and
semi-transparent. The flower also is so gaudy, that a field in blossom
looks like a bed of florist's flowers, and its aromatic fragrance does
not aid to dispel such delusion. It flourishes most upon land which is
light and fertile. The fragrance of the oil is perceptibly weaker when
obtained from seed produced on wet, tenacious soils. A gallon of seed
seems to be the usual quantity sown upon an acre. In Bengal, _S.
orientale_ is sown during February, and the crop harvested at the end
of May; but _S. indicum_ is sown on high, dry soil, in the early part
of the rains of June, and the harvest occurs in September. About
Poonah it is sown in June and harvested in November. In Nepaul two
crops are obtained annually; one is sown as a first crop in April and
May, and reaped in October and November; the other as an autumn crop,
after the upland rise in August and September, and reaped in November
and December.
In Mysore, after being cut it is stacked for a week, then exposed to
the sun for three days, but gathered into heaps at night; and between
every two days of such drying, it is kept a day in the heap. By this
process, the pods burst and shed their seeds without thrashing.
The seeds contain an abundance of oil, which might be substituted for
olive oil; it is procured from them in great quantities, in Egypt,
India, Kashmir, China, and Japan, where it is used both for cooking
and burning. It will keep for many years and not acquire any rancid
smell or taste, but in the course of a year or two becomes quite mild,
so that when the warm taste of the seed, which is in the oil when
first expressed, is worn off, it is used for all the purposes of salad
oil. It possesses such qualities as fairly entitle it to introduction
into Europe; and if divested of its mucilage, it might perhaps compete
with oil of olives, at least for medicinal purposes, and could be
raised in any quantity in the British Indian Presidencies. It is
sufficiently free from smell to admit of being made the medium for
extracting the perfume of the jasmine, the tuberose, narcissus,
camomile, and of the yellow rose. The process is managed by adding one
weight of flowers to three weights of oil in a bottle, which being
corked is exposed to the rays of the sun for forty days, when the oil
is supposed to be sufliciently impregnated for use. This oil, under
the name of Gingilie oil, is used in India to adulterate oil of
almonds.
The flour of the seed, after the oil is expressed, is used in making
cakes, and the straw serves for fuel and manure.
The oil is much used in Mysore for dressing food, and as a common lamp
oil. From 200 to 400 quarters under the name of Niger seed are
imported annually into Liverpool for expressing oil.
Three varieties of Til are extensively cultivated throughout India,
for the sake of the fine oil expressed from their seeds, the white
seeded variety, the parti-colored, and the black. It is from the
latter that the sesamum or gingelly oil of commerce is obtained.
Sesamum seed contains about 45 per cent. of oil. Good samples of the
oil were shown at the Great Exhibition from Vizianagram, Ganjain,
Hyderabad, Tanjore, the district of Moorshedabad, and Gwalior. The
gingelly seed is stated to be worth about £4 per ton in the North
Circars.
An oil resembling that of sesamum is obtained from the seed of
_Guizotea oleifera_ and _Abyssinica_, a plant introduced from
Abyssinia, and common in Bengal. The ram til, or valisaloo seeds,
yield about 34 per cent, of oil. The oil is generally used for
burning, and is worth locally about 10d. per gallon.
BLACK TIL (_Verbesena sativa_).--This is known as kutsela or kala til,
in the Deccan. It is chiefly cultivated in Mysore and the western
districts of Peninsular India, as well as in the Bombay presidency.
About Seringapatam, as soon as the millet crop has been reaped the
field is ploughed four times, and the seed sown, a gallon per acre,
during the month of July or August, after the first heavy rain. No
manure or weeding is required, for the crop will grow on the worst
soils. It is reaped in three months, being cut close to the ground,
and stacked for a week. After exposure to the sun for two or three
days, the seed is beaten out with a stick. The crop in Mysore rarely
yields two bushels per acre, but about Poonah the produce is much
larger. The seed is sometimes parched and made into sweetmeats, but is
usually grown for its oil. This is used in cooking, but it is not so
abundant in the seed, nor so good as that of the sesame. Bullocks will
not eat the stems unless pressed by hunger.
About 5,000 maunds are exported annually from Calcutta. 3,703 bags
were imported into Liverpool in 1851. The price per quarter of eight
bushels, in January, 1853, was from 30s. to £2; of teel oil, in tins,
weighing 60 to 100 pounds, £2 to £2 4s.
Bombay linseed was worth £2 11s. to £2 12s. the quarter of eight
bushels, in January, 1853. Bengal ditto 2s. less. The imports into
Liverpool were 68,468 bags and 54,834 pockets in 1851, and 14,490 bags
and 33,700 pockets in 1852. About 9,000 bags of mustard seed and from
18,000 to 20,000 bags of rape seed are also imported thence. The price
of the latter is about £2 the quarter.
NATIVE OIL MILLS.--The principal native oil mill of India, of which,
however, there are some varieties, consists of a simple wooden mortar
with revolving pestle. It is in common use in all Belgaum and
Bangalore. Two oxen are harnessed to the geering, which depends from
the extremity of the pestle,--a man sits on the top of the mortar, and
throws in the seeds that may have got displaced. The mill grinds twice
a day; a fresh man and team being employed on each occasion. When
sesame oil is to be made, about seventy seers measure, or two and a
half bushels of seeds are thrown in; to this ten seers, or two quarts
and three-quarters of water, are gradually added; this on the
continuance of the grinding, which lasts in all six hours, unites with
the fibrous portion of the seeds, and forms a cake, which, when
removed, leaves the oil clean and pure at the bottom of the mortar.
From this it is taken out by a coco-nut shell cup, on the pestle being
withdrawn. Other seed oils are described by Dr. Buchanan, as made
almost entirely in the same way as the sesamum. The exceptions are the
hamlu, or castor oil, obtained from either the small or large
varieties of _Ricinus_. This, at Seringapatam, is first parched in
pots, containing something more than a seer each. It is then beaten in
a mortar, and formed into balls; of these from four to sixteen seers
are put in an earthenware pot and boiled with an equal quantity of
water, for the space of five hours; frequent care being taken to stir
the mixture to prevent it from burning. The oil now floats on the
surface, and is skimmed off pure. The oil mill made use of at Bombay,
and to the northward, at Surat, Cambay, Kurrachee, &c., differs a
little from that just described, in having a very strong wooden frame
round the mouth of the mortar; on this the man who keeps the seeds in
order sits. In Scinde a camel is employed to drive the mill instead of
bullocks.
Castor oil seed is thrown into the mill like other seeds, as already
described; when removed it requires to be boiled for an hour, and then
strained through a cloth to free it from the fragments of the seed.
It is a curious fact, and illustrative of the imperfect manner in
which the oil is separated from the seeds, that while the common
pressman only obtained some 26¼ per cent., Boussingault, in his
laboratory, from the same seeds, actually procured 41 per cent. When
the oil cakes are meant for feeding stock, this loss is of little
consequence, inasmuch as the oil serves a very good purpose, but when
the cake is only intended to be used as a manure, it is a great loss,
inasmuch as the oil is of little or no use in adding any food for
crops to the soil.
The chief oil made on the sea board of India, is that yielded by the
coco-nut palm. The nut having been stripped of the husk or coir, the
shell is broken, and the fatty lining enclosing the milk is taken out.
This is called cobri, copra, or copperah in different localities.
Three maunds, or ninety pounds of copperah, are thrown into the mill
with about three gallons of water, and from this is produced three
maunds, or seven and three-quarter gallons of oil. The copperah in its
unprepared state is sold, slightly dried in the market. It is burned
in iron cribs or grates, on the top of poles as torches, in
processions, and as means of illumination for work performed in the
open air at night. No press or other contrivance is made use of by the
natives in India for squeezing out or expressing the oil from the
cake, and a large amount of waste, in consequence of this, necessarily
ensues.--_Bombay Times_, June 5, 1850.
Oil, of the finest kind, is made in India by expression from the
kernels of the apricot. It is clear, of a pale yellow color, and
smells strongly of hydrocyanic acid, of which it contains, usually,
about 4 per cent.
"On inquiring into the use made of the sunflower, we were given to
understand that it is here (in Tartary) raised chiefly for the oil
expressed from it. But it is also of use for many other purposes. In
the market places of the larger towns we often found the people eating
the seeds, which, when boiled in water, taste not unlike the boiled
Indian corn eaten by the Turks. In some districts of Russia the seeds
are employed with great success in fattening poultry; they are also
said to increase the number of eggs more than any other kind of grain.
Pheasants and partridges eat them with great avidity, and find the
same effects from them as other birds. The dried leaves are given to
cattle in place of straw; and the withered stalks are said to produce
a considerable quantity of alkali."--_Bremner's Interior of Russia._
658 barrels linseed oil were brought down to New Orleans from the
interior in 1849, and 1009 in 1848.
During the period of the Great Exhibition special enquiry was made by
many manufacturers as to the different oils of Southern India,
suitable for supplying the place of animal fat in the manufacture of
candles, and generally adapted for various other purposes. Enquiries
should be directed to the specific gravity, the boiling point, the per
centage of pure oil in the seeds, and the means of obtaining a regular
supply. The demand for vegetable oils in European commerce has been
steadily on the increase for several years past, and the quantities
consumed are now so large that the oleaginous products of India and
the colonies must sooner or later have a considerable commercial
importance, from the value which they are likely to acquire. Indeed
some have already established a footing in the home market, and Drs.
Hunter, Cleghorn, and others in India, have specially directed the
attention of the natives and merchants to the subject.
MARGOSE, OR NEEM OIL.--From the pericarp or fleshy part of the fruit
of the _Melia Azederachta_, the well known Margosa oil is prepared;
which is cheap and easily procurable in Ceylon. Dr. Maxwell, garrison
surgeon of Trichinopoly, states that he has found this oil equally
efficacious to cod-liver oil in cases of consumption and scrofula. He
began with half-ounce doses, morning and evening, which were gradually
reduced.
ILLEPE OIL.--The seeds of three species of Bassia, indigenous to
India, yield solid oils, and are remarkable for the fact, that they
supply at the same time saccharine matter, spirit, and oil, fit for
both food and burning in lamps. The Illepe( _B. longifolia_) is a tree
abundant in the Madras Presidency, the southern parts of Hindostan
generally, and the northern province of Ceylon. In Ceylon the
inhabitants use the oil in cooking and for lamps. The oil cake is
rubbed on the body as soap, and seems admirably adapted for removing
the unctuosity of the skin caused by excessive perspiration, and for
rendering it soft, pliable, and glossy, which is so conducive to
health in a tropical climate. The oil is white and solid at common
temperatures, fusing at from 70 to 80 degrees. It may be
advantageously employed in the manufacture of both candles and soap;
in Ceylon and some parts of India this oil forms the chief ingredient
in the manufacture of soap.
Mahower (_B. latifolia_) is common in most parts of the Bengal
Presidency. The oil a good deal resembles that last described,
obtained from the Illepe seeds; and may be used for similar purposes.
It is solid at common temperatures, and begins to melt at about 70
degrees.
Vegetable butter is obtained from the Choorie (_B. butyracea_). This
tree, though far less generally abundant than the other two species,
is common in certain of the hilly districts, especially in the eastern
parts of Kumaon; in the province of Dotee it is so abundant that the
oil is cheaper than ghee, or fluid butter, and is used to adulterate
it. It is likewise commonly burnt in lamps, for which purpose it is
preferred to coco-nut oil. It is a white solid fat, fusible at about
120 degrees, and exhibits very little tendency to become rancid when
kept.
Shea, or galam butter, is obtained in Western Africa from the _Bassia
Parkii_, or _Pentadisma butyracea_, a tree closely resembling the _B.
latifolia_, and other species indigenous to Hindostan. According to
Park, the tree is abundant in Bambara, the oil is solid, of a
greyish-white color, and fuses at 97 degrees. Its product is used for
a variety of purposes--for cooking, burning in lamps, &c.
This tree has much of the character of the laurel, but grows to the
height of eighteen or twenty feet. Its leaf is somewhat longer than
the laurel, and is a little broader at the point; the edges of the
leaf are gently curved, and are of a dark sap green color. The nut is
of the form and size of a pigeon's egg, and the kernel completely
fills the shell. When fresh it is of a white drab color, but, if long
kept, becomes the color of chocolate. The kernel, when new, is nearly
all butter, which is extracted in the following manner:--The shell is
removed from the kernel, which is also crushed, and then a quantity is
put into an earthen pot or pan, placed over the fire with a portion of
water and the nut kernels. After boiling slowly about half an hour the
whole is strained through a grass mat into a clean vessel, when it is
allowed to cool. Then, after removing the fibrous part from it, it is
put into a grass bag and pressed so as to obtain all the oil. This is
poured into the vessel along with the first-mentioned portion, and
when cold is about the consistence of butter.
The nuts hang in bunches from the different boughs, but each nut has
its own fibre, about seven or eight inches long, and about the
thickness and color of whip-cord. The nut is attached to the fibre in
a very singular manner. The end of the fibre is concealed by a thin
membrane, about half an inch wide and three-quarters of an inch long.
This membrane is attached to the side of the nut, and, when ripe,
relinquishes its hold, and the nut falls to the ground, when it is
gathered for use. A good-sized healthy tree yields about a bushel of
nuts, but the greater number are not so prolific. The trees close to
the stream present a more healthy appearance, probably on account of
being better watered, and the fire being less powerful close to the
stream.
THE CANDLE NUT TREE (_Aleurites triloba_, of Foster) grows in the
Polynesian Islands, and is also met with in some parts of Jamaica and
the East Indies. In the latter quarter it is known as the Indian
Akhrowt. A very superior kind of paint oil is produced from the nut,
and the cake, after the expression of the oil, forms an excellent food
for cattle, and a useful manure. 31½ gallons of the nut yield ten
gallons of oil, which bears a good price in the home markets.
The yearly produce of this oil in the Sandwich Isles, where it is
called kukui oil, is about 10,000 gallons. It has been shipped to the
markets of Chili, New South Wales, and London, but not as yet with
much profit. It realized about £20 per imperial ton in the port of
London. In 1843, about 8,620 gallons were shipped from Honolulu,
valued at 1s. 8d. per gallon.
In Ceylon the oil is known as kekune oil, and a good deal of it might
be obtained there from the district of Badulla. From the trials made
it appears that it cannot be used as a drying oil, but will probably
answer best as a substitute for rape oil. Samples have been sent to
several clothiers, and the nature and quality of the oil renders it
most applicable to their purposes.
COLZA (_Brassica oleracea_), a variety of the common cabbage, is much
grown in the South of Europe and other parts, for the oil obtained by
pressure from its seeds, and which is used for lamps and other
purposes. The plant will not thrive on sand or clay, but requires a
rich light soil. After the ground has been well ploughed and manured,
the seed should be sown in July, in furrows eight or ten inches
asunder. The plants are transplanted about October. When ripe the
stalks are reaped with a sickle, and the seeds threshed out with a
flail. The cake, after the oil is expressed, is an excellent food for
cattle.
Like all the oleaginous plants cultivated for their seed, colza
greatly impoverishes the soil.
In Peru the caoutchouc is used as a substitute for candles. A roll of
it (which is generally about a yard long and three inches in diameter)
is cut lengthways into four parts, but before it is lighted the piece
is rolled up in a green plantain leaf, to prevent it from melting or
taking fire down the sides. The natives of Peru also bruize the beans
of a species of wild cacao after they have been well dried, and use
the substance instead of tallow in their lamps.
Mr. Dearman, writing from Dacca, to Dr. Spry, Secretary to the
Agricultural and Horticultural Societies of India, in 1839, says--"I
will send you some seeds from a tree, which resemble chestnuts. One of
these seeds, after taking off the shell, being stuck on the point of
a penknife, and lighted at a candle flame, will burn without the least
odor for four or five minutes, giving a light equal to two or three
candles. From the flower of the tree (he adds), I am told, is
distilled a delightful scent." [I presume this must be the candle-nut
tree.]
At the Feejee and Hawaian islands, the seeds of the castor oil plant
and of the candle-nut tree (_Aleurites triloba_) are strung together
and used for candles. Species of torches are also made from the candle
wood in Demerara.
THE CANDLEBERRY MYRTLE (_Myrica cerifera_) abounds in the Bahama
Islands. The shrub produces a small green berry, which, like the hog
plum, puts out from the trunk and larger limbs. Much patient labor is
required in gathering these berries, and from them is obtained a
beautiful green wax, which burns very nearly, if not fully, as well as
the spermaceti, or composition candles imported from abroad. Not long
since Mr. Thos. B. Musgrove, of St. Salvador (or Cat Island), obtained
about 80 lbs. of this wax, and made some excellent candles of it. The
method of procuring this wax is by boiling the berries in a copper or
brass vessel for some time. Iron pots are found to darken and cloud
the wax. The vessel after a sufficient time is taken from the fire,
and when cool the hardened wax, floating on the top of the water, is
skimmed off.
MYRTLE WAX.--According to the experiments of M. Cadet and Dr. Bostock,
myrtle wax differs in many respects from bees' wax, Specimens of it
assume shades of a yellowish green color. Its smell is also different;
myrtle wax, when fresh, emitting a fragrant balsamic odor. It has in
part the unctuosity of bees' wax, and somewhat of the brittleness of
resin. Its specific gravity is greater, insomuch that it sinks in
water, whereas bees' wax floats upon it; and it is not so easily
bleached to form white wax. The wax tree of Louisiana contains immense
quantities of wax.
Mr. Moodie ("Ten Tears in South Africa") says,--
"I occasionally employed my people, at spare times, in gathering wax
berries that grow in great abundance upon small bushes in the sand
hills, near the sea, and yield a substance partaking of the nature
of wax and tallow, which is mixed with common tallow, and used by
the colonists for making candles. The berry is about the size of a
pea, and covered with a bluish powder. They are gathered by
spreading a skin on the sand, and beating the bush with a stick.
When a sufficient quantity of the berries are collected, they are
boiled in a great quantity of water, and the wax is skimmed off as
fast as it rises; the wax is then poured into flat vessels and
allowed to cool, when it becomes hard and brittle, and has a
metallic sound when struck. The cakes thus formed are of a deep
green color, and are sold at the same price as tallow. The wild pigs
devour these berries when they come in their way, and seem very fond
of them."
A good specimen of myrtle, or candleberry wax, accompanied by candles
made from it in the crude unbleached state in New Brunswick, was shown
at the Great Exhibition.
Vegetable wax was also sent from Shanghae, in China; from St. Domingo,
in the northern parts of which the plant is indigenous; and a
remarkable specimen from Japan. This substance, from its high melting
point and other physical characteristics, has of late attracted a good
deal of attention; it is admirably suited as a material for the
manufacture of candles.
At a meeting of the Central Board, at Cape Town, in March, 1853, the
members voted about £300, to employ some 20 or 30 men, in gathering
berries from the Downs, and making wax during the winter months, that
is, from the beginning of May to the end of September. The wax fetches
a good price in the Cape market.
In the annual report of the Cape of Good Hope Agricultural Society,
in May, 1853, a very fine sample of myrtle, or terry wax, grown on
the Cape Flats, was exhibited by Mr. Feeny, Superintendent of the
Road Plantation, by direction of the Commissioners of the Central
Road Board, in different stages of purification, from green to
white, as also some candles; and it being conceived by the meeting
that this article might ultimately become one of considerable
importance for purposes of export, a letter of thanks was addressed
to Mr. Feeny; and Nathaniel Day, the constable who assisted him, was
presented with the sum of £5, as a remuneration for his trouble in
assisting to purify and prepare the wax. On reference to the juror's
report on the Great Exhibition, it will be gratifying to find that
the berry wax, forwarded by this Society, had attracted peculiar
notice, and a prize medal been awarded for it; the following
reference is therein made to it: "some fine specimens of myrtle or
berry wax, from the Cape of Good Hope, are exhibited by J.
Lindenberg, of Worcester. This is an excellent material for the
manufacture of candles, when employed in conjunction with other
solid fats. The jury awarded a prize medal for these specimens."
Your Committee would suggest every possible attention being drawn to
this subject, in which they are gratified to state, the
Commissioners of the Central Road Board have evinced a readiness to
co-operate, by offering to place at the Society's disposal the sum
of £10 10s., "to be given as a premium for the best information
respecting the wax berry plant, the soils and situations in which it
is found to grow most luxuriantly: the best mode of propagating and
cultivating it, of collecting the berries, and extracting and
preparing the wax, &c." And from a letter received from the
Secretary to the Central Road Board, it appears that the Board had
authorised the shipment to England of 2,561 lbs. of the wax, by the
_Queen of the South_ in November last, which, from the account sales
lately received from Messrs. J.R. Thomson & Co., realised as
follows, viz.:--
4 cases weighing nett 856 lbs. à 8d. £28 10 8
4 " 1040 lbs. à 9d. 39 0 0
3 " 745 lbs. à 11d. 34 2 11
3 " 6 lbs. à 11d. 0 5 6
---------------
£101 19 1
Discount 2½ per cent. 2 11 0
---------------
£99 8 1
CHARGES.
Warehouse Entry 3s. 6d. Fire Insurance
2s., Ports 2s. 6d £0 8 0
Freight 7 3 3
Primage 0 14 4
Dock Charges 3 9 6
Sale Expenses 0 9 0
Brokerage 1 0 6
---------------
£13 4 7
Commission at 2½ per cent 2 11 0
---------------
Carried forward £16 15 7
Brought forward £15 15 7
---------
£83 12 6
Deduct Bills of Lading, &c. 0 19 6
---------
£82 13 0
Deduct the Board's expenses for gathering and
preparing, &c 28 8 7
---------
Leaving a clear profit of £54 4 5
This statement shows that from a plant, which is indigenous to the
colony, and might he cultivated to almost any extent, and mostly on
soils unavailable for other purposes, an article of great export
could be derived at a comparatively small expense; it is with that
view that I desire to direct public attention more prominently to
it.
In the Museum of the Royal Botanic Gardens, at Kew, wax is shown as
scraped from the trunk of the wax palm (_Ceroxylon andicola_), and
candles made from it, as also some made of acorns and closely
resembling common tallow. Concrete milk and butter made from the Shea
butter tree, and others growing in Para, are also exhibited.
Wax candles have been made from the seeds of _Myrica macrocarpa_ in
Colombia, and also from vegetable wax in Java. Some of these are to be
seen in the Museum of the Pharmaceutical Society of London.
CASTOR OIL PLANT.
Castor oil is expressed from the seeds of _Ricinus communis (Palma
Christi)_, a plant with petale-palmate leaves, which is found native
in Greece, Africa, the South of Spain, and the East Indies, and is
cultivated in the West Indies, as well as in North and South America.
In the temperate and northern parts of Europe, the plant is an
herbaceous annual, of from three to eight feet high; in the more
southern parts it becomes scrubby and even attains an height of twenty
feet; while in India it is often a tree thirty to forty feet high. The
best oil is obtained by expression from the seeds without heat, and is
hence called "cold drawn oil." A large quantity of oil may be produced
by boiling the seeds, but it is less sweet and more apt to become
rancid than that procured by expression.
The _Palma Christi_ grows continuously for about four years, and
becomes a large tree in constant bearing, ripening its rich clusters
of beans in such profusion, that 100 bushels may be obtained annually
from an acre, and their product of oil two gallons per bushel.
There are several species, all of which yield oil of an equally good
quality. A shrubby variety is common in South Australia, and other
parts of New Holland. _Ricinus lividus_ is a native of the Cape of
Good Hope. It is a hardy plant, of the easiest culture, and will
thrive in almost any soil, whether in the burning plains or the
coldest part of the mountains. The seed should be planted in the
tropics in September, singly, and at the distance of 10 or twelve feet
apart. They will bear the first season, and continue to yield for
years. When the seed-pods become brown, they are in a fit state to
pluck. It is often grown in the East intermixed with other crops. The
primitive mode of obtaining the oil is to separate the seeds from the
husks, and bruise them by tying them up in a grass mat. In this state
they are put into a boiler amongst water, and boiled until all the oil
is separated, which floats at the top, and the refuse sinks to the
bottom; it is then skimmed off, and put away for use. The purest oil
is obtained, as before-mentioned, by crushing the seeds (which are
sewed up in horsehair bags), by the action of heavy iron beaters. The
oil, as it oozes out, is caught in troughs, and conveyed to receivers,
whence it is bottled for use.
Castor oil is used for lamps in the East Indies, and the Chinese have
some mode of depriving it of its medicinal properties, so as to render
it suitable for culinary purposes.
That which we import from the East Indies comes from Bombay and
Calcutta, and is obtained at a very low price. It is exceedingly pure,
both in color and taste.
In the West Indies the shrub grows about six feet high. The stalks are
jointed, and the branches covered with leaves about eighteen inches in
circumference, forming eight or ten sharp-pointed divisions, of a
bluish green color, spreading out in different directions. The flowers
contain yellow stamina; the seed is enclosed in a triangular husk, of
a dark brown color, and covered with a light fur, of the same color as
the husk. When the capsule is thoroughly ripened by the sun, it
bursts, and expels the seeds, which are usually three in number.
In Jamaica this plant is of such speedy growth, that in one year it
arrives at maturity, and I have known it to attain to the height of
twenty feet. A gallon of the seed yields by expression about two
pounds of oil.
The wholesale price in Liverpool, in October, 1853, was 3d. to 5d. per
lb.
It is brought over from the East Indies in small tin cases, soldered
together and packed in boxes, weighing about 2 cwt. each.
In Ceylon castor oil is obtained from two varieties of the plant, the
white and the red.
The native mode of preparing the oil is by roasting the seed; this
imparts an acridity to the oil, which is objectionable. By attending
to the following directions, the oil may be prepared in the purest and
best form. The modes of preparation are--1. By boiling in water. 2. By
expression. 3. Extraction by alcohol. In the first the seeds are
slightly roasted to coagulate the albumen, cleaned of the integuments,
bruised in a mortar, and the paste boiled in pure water. The oil which
rises on the surface is removed, and treated with an additional
quantity of fresh water; 10,000 parts of clean seed give by this
process (in Jamaica) 3,250 of oil, of good quality, though
amber-colored. 2. Expression is the simplest and most usually adopted
process; the cleaned kernels are well bruised, placed in cloth bags,
and compressed in a powerful lever and screw press. A thick oil is
obtained, which must be filtered through cloth and paper to separate
the mucilage. In Bengal the manufacturers boil the oil water, which
coagulates some albumen, and they subsequently filter through cloth,
charcoal, and paper. 3. The extraction by alcohol is practised by some
druggists. Each pound of paste is triturated with four pounds of
alcohol, specific gravity 8.350, and the mixture subjected to
pressure. The oil dissolved by the alcohol escapes very freely: one
half is recovered by the distillation of the spirit, the residue of
the distillation is boiled in a large quantity of water. The oil
separates and is removed, and gently heated to expel any adherent
moisture; then filtered at the temperature of 90 deg. Fahrenheit;
1,000 parts of the paste have by this process given 625 of colorless
and exceedingly sweet oil.
The cultivation of the _Palma christi_, and the manufacture of castor
oil, is extensively carried on in some parts of the United States, and
continues on the increase. A single firm at St. Louis has worked up
18,500 bushels of beans in four months, producing 17,750 gallons of
oil, and it is stated that 800 barrels have been sold, at 50 dollars
per barrel. The oil may be prepared for burning, for machinery, soap,
&c., and is also convertible into stearine. It is more soluble in
alcohol than lard-oil.
American castor oil is imported for the most part from New York and
New Orleans, but some comes from our own possessions in North America.
In the United States, according to the "American Dispensatory," the
cleansed seeds are gently heated in a shallow iron reservoir, to
render the oil liquid for easy expression, and then compressed in a
powerful screw press, by which a whitish oily liquid is obtained,
which is boiled with water in clean iron boilers, and the impurities
skimmed off as they rise to the surface. The water dissolves the
mucilage and starch, and the heat coagulates the albumen, which forms
a whitish layer between the oil and water. The clear oil is now
removed, and boiled with a minute portion of water until aqueous
vapors cease to arise: by this process an acrid volatile matter is got
rid of. The oil is put into barrels, and in this way is sent into the
market. American oil has the reputation of being adulterated with
olive oil. Good seeds yield about 25 per cent. of oil. A large
proportion of the drug consumed in the eastern section of the Union is
derived by way of New Orleans from Illinois and the neighbouring
States, where it is so abundant that it is sometimes used for burning
in lamps.
In Jamaica the bruised seeds are boiled with water in an iron pot, and
the liquid kept constantly stirred. The oil which separates swims on
the top, mixed with a white froth, and is skimmed off. The skimmings
are heated in a small iron pot, and strained through a cloth. When
cold it is put in jars or bottles for use.
Castor oil imported. Retained.
lbs. lbs.
1826 263,382 453,072
1831 393,191 327,940
1836 981,585 809,559
1841 871,136 732,720
1846 1,477,168 --
1849 1,084,272 --
1850 3,495,632 --
The imports of castor oil come chiefly from the East India Company's
possessions, and were as follows, nearly all being retained for home
consumption:--
lbs.
1830 490,558
1831 343,373
1832 257,386
1833 316,779
1834 685,457
1835 1,107,115
1836 972,552
1837 957,164
1838 837,143
1839 916,370
1840 1,190,173
1841 869,947
1842 490,156
1843 717,696
In 1841, 12,406 Indian maunds of castor oil were shipped from Calcutta
alone, and 7,906 ditto in 1842.
In 1842, 8 cases were shipped from Ceylon, 10 in 1843, 24 in 1844, and
14 in 1845.
1,439 barrels were shipped from New Orleans in 1847. The quantity
brought down to that city from the interior was 1,394 barrels in 1848,
and 1,337 barrels in 1849.
Within the last year or two, an attempt has been made to introduce the
cake obtained in expressing the seeds of the castor oil plant as a
manure, which is deserving attention, both because it is in itself
likely to prove a serviceable addition to the list of fertilizers
which may be advantageously employed, and because it may lead to the
use of similar substances, which are at present neglected, or thrown
aside as refuse.
The castor oil seed resembles in chemical composition the other oily
seeds. It consists of a mixture of mucilaginous, albuminous, and oily
matters; and the former two of these are identical in constitution and
general properties with the substances found in linseed and rape cake,
while the oil is principally distinguished by its purgative
properties. The cake obtained is in the form of ordinary oil-cake, but
is at once distinguished from it by its color, and by the large
fragments of the husk of the seeds which it contains. It is also much,
softer, and may be easily broken down with the hand. I have analysed
two samples of castor cake, stated to have been obtained by different
processes; and though I have not been informed of the exact nature of
these processes, I infer, from the large quantity of oil, that one
must have been cold-drawn. The first of the following analyses is that
of the sample which I believe the cold-drawn. It is the most complete
of the two, and contains a determination of the amount of oil. In the
other analysis this was not done, but there was no doubt on my mind
that its quantity was much smaller.
No. 1. No. 2.
Water 8.32 16.31
Oil 24.32 --
Nitrogen 3.05 3.35
Ash 7.22 4.95
The ash contains--
Siliccous matters 1.96 --
Phosphates 3.36 2.27
Excess of phosphoric acid 0.64 --
In order to give a proper idea of the value of this substance as a
manure, I shall quote here, for comparison sake, the average
composition of rape cake, as deduced from the analyses contained in
the Transactions of the Highland Society of Scotland:--
Water 10.68
Oil 11.10
Nitrogen 4.63
Ash 7.79
The ash contains--
Siliccous matters 1.18
Phosphates 3.87
Excess of phosphoric acid 0.39
It will be at once seen that there is a close general resemblance
between these two substances, although there is no doubt that the
castor cake is inferior to rape cake; still I believe that this
inferiority is fully counterbalanced by the difference in price, which
is such that, compared with rape cake, the castor cake is really a
cheap manure. There is only one of its constituents which it contains
in larger quantity, and that is the oil. No weight is, however, to be
attached to the quantity of oil in a manure. In a substance to be used
as food, it is of very high importance; but so far as we at present
know, its value as manure is extremely problematical. Whale, seal, and
other coarse oils have been used as manures, and by some few observers
benefits have been derived from their application, but the general
experience has not been favorable to their use, nor should we
chemically be induced to expect any beneficial effect from them. We
have every reason to believe that the oils which are found in plants
are produced there as the results of certain processes which are
proceeding within the plant, and there is no evidence to show that any
part of it is ever absorbed in the state of oil by the roots when they
are presented to them. On the other hand, the oils are extremely inert
substances, and undergo chemical changes very slowly; so that there is
no likelihood of their being converted into carbonic acid, or any
other substance which may be useful to the plant; and as they contain
no nitrogen, and consist only of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, they
can yield only those elements of which the plant can easily obtain an
unlimited supply. I can conceive cases in which the oil might possibly
produce some mechanical effect on the soil, but none in which it could
act as a manure, in the proper sense of the term.
KANARI on.--Mr. Crawfurd, in his "History of the Indian Archipelago,"
speaks most favorably of an oil obtained from the "Kanari," a tree
which, he says, is a native of the same country as the sago palm, and
is not found to the westward, though it has been introduced to Celebes
and Java. I have not been able to distinguish its botanical name; but
Mr. Crawfurd describes it as a large handsome tree, and one of the
most useful productions of the Archipelago. It bears a nut of an
oblong shape, nearly the size of a walnut, the kernel of which is as
delicate as that of a filbert, and abounds with oil. The nuts are
either smoked and dried for use, or the oil is expressed from them in
their recent state. It is used for all culinary purposes, and is purer
and more palatable than that of the coco-nut. The kernels, mixed up
with a little sago meal, are made into cakes and eaten as bread.
THE COCO-NUT PALM.
This palm (_Cocos nucifera_) is one of the most useful of the
extensive family to which it belongs, supplying food, clothing,
materials for houses, utensils of various kinds, rope and oil; and
some of its products, particularly the two last, form important
articles of commerce. An old writer, in a curious discourse on palm
trees, read before the Royal Society, in 1688, says, "The coco nut
palm is alone sufficient to build, rig, and freight a ship with bread,
wine, water, oil, vinegar, sugar, and other commodities. I have sailed
(he adds) in vessels where the bottom and the whole cargo hath been
from the munificence of this palm tree. I will take upon me to make
good what I have asserted." And then he proceeds to describe and
enumerate each product. Another recent popular writer speaks in
eloquent terms of the estimation in which it is held, and the various
uses to which it is applied.
"Its very aspect is imposing. Asserting its supremacy by an erect and
lofty bearing, it may be said to compare with other trees, as man with
inferior creatures. The blessings it confers are incalculable. Year
after year the islander reposes beneath its shade, both eating and
drinking of its fruit; he thatches his hut with its boughs, and weaves
them into baskets to carry his food; he cools himself with a fan
plaited from the young leaflets, and shields his head from the sun by
a bonnet of the leaves; sometimes he clothes himself with the
cloth-like substance which wraps round the base of the stalks, whose
elastic rods, strung with filberts, are used as a taper. The larger
nuts, thinned and polished, furnish him with a beautiful goblet; the
smaller ones with bowls for his pipes; the dry husks kindle his fires;
their fibres are twisted into fishing-lines and cords for his canoes.
He heals his wounds with a balsam compounded from the juice of the
nut; and with the oil extracted from its pulp embalms the bodies of
the dead. The noble trunk itself is far from being valueless. Sawn
into posts, it upholds the islander's dwelling; converted into
charcoal, it cooks his food; and, supported on blocks of stones, rails
in his lands. He impels his canoe through the water with a paddle of
the wood, and goes to battle with clubs and spears of the same hard
material. In Pagan Tahiti, a coco-nut branch was the symbol of regal
authority. Laid upon the sacrifice in the temple, it made the offering
sacred; and with it the priests chastised and put to flight the evil
spirits which assailed them. The supreme majesty of Oro, the great god
of their mythology, was declared in the coco-nut log from which his
image was rudely carved. Upon one of the Tonga Islands there stands a
living tree, revered itself as a deity. Even upon the Sandwich Islands
the coco palm retains all its ancient reputation; the people there
having thought of adopting it as the national emblem."
Besides the foregoing and following uses, I am aware of several scents
and spirituous liquors being procured from the flowers and pulp of the
coco-nut.
This palm tree is one of the finest objects in nature. Its stem is
tall and slender, without a branch; and at the top are seen from ten
to two hundred coco-nuts, each as large as a man's head: over these
are the graceful plumes, with their green gloss, and beautiful fronds
of the nodding leaves. Nothing can exceed the graceful majesty of
these intertropical fruit trees, except the various useful purposes to
which the tree, the leaf, and the nut are applied by the natives.
1. The stem is used for--Bridges, posts, beams, rafters, paling,
ramparts, loop-holes, walking sticks, water butts, bags (the upper
cuticle), sieves in use for arrowroot.
2. The coco-nut is used for--milk, a delicious drink; meat from the
scraped nut, for various kinds of food; jelly, _kora_, pulp, nut, oil,
excellent and various food for man, beast, and fowl.
The shell for vessels to drink out of, water pitchers, lamps, funnels,
fuel, _panga_ (for a game).
The fibre for sinnet, various cordage, bed stuffing, thread for tying
combs, scrubbing-brushes, girdle (ornamental), whisk for flies,
medicines, various and useful.
3. The leaf is used for--Thatch for houses, lining for houses,
_takapau_ (mats), baskets (fancy and plain), fans, _palalafa_ (for
sham fights), combs (very various), bedding (white fibre), _tafi_
(brooms), _Kubatse_ (used in printing), _mama_ (candles), screen for
bedroom, waiter's tray.
Here are no less than forty-three uses of which we know something; and
the natives know of others to which they can apply this single
instance of the bounty of the God of nature. For house and clothes,
for food and medicine, the coco-nut palm is their sheet anchor, as
well as their ornament and amusement, who dwell in the torrid zone.
This fine palm, which always forms a prominent feature in tropical
scenery, is a native of Southern Asia. It is spread by cultivation
through almost all the intertropical regions of the Old and New
Worlds; but it is cultivated nowhere so abundantly as in the Island of
Ceylon, and those of Sumatra, Java, &c. On the shores of the Red Sea
it advances to Mokha, according to Niebuhr; but it does not succeed
in Egypt. It is cultivated in the lower and southern portions of the
Asiatic Continent, as on the coasts of Coromandel and Malabar, and
around Calcutta. In the island of Ceylon, where the fruit of this tree
forms one of the principal aliments of the natives, the nuts are
produced in such quantities that in one year about three millions were
exported, besides the manufactured produce in oil, &c. According to
Marshall it requires a mean temperature of 72 deg. Its northern limit,
therefore, is nearly the same as the southern limit of our cereals.
Rumphius enumerates thirteen varieties of this palm, but many of these
have now been placed under other genera, and Lindley resolves them
into three species--_C. nucifera_, the most generally diffused
species, a native of the East Indies; and _C. flexuosa_ and _plumosa_,
natives of Brazil. The trunk, which is supported by numerous, small
fibrous roots, rises gracefully, with a slight inclination, from forty
to sixty feet in height; it is cylindrical, of middling size, marked
from the root upwards with unequal circles or rings, and is crowned by
a graceful head of large leaves. The terminal bud of this palm, as
well as that of the cabbage palm (_Euterpe montana_), is used as a
culinary vegetable. The wood of the tree is known by the name of
porcupine wood. It is light and spongy, and, therefore, cannot be
advantageously employed in the construction of ships or solid
edifices, though it is used in building huts; vessels made of it are
fragile and of little duration. Its fruit, at different seasons, is in
much request; when young, it is filled with a clear, somewhat sweet,
and cooling fluid, which is equally refreshing to the native and the
traveller. When the nut becomes old, or attains its full maturity, the
fluid disappears, and the hollow is filled by a sort of almond, which
is the germinating organ. This pulp or kernel, when cut in pieces and
dried in the sun, is called copperah, and is eaten by the Malays,
Coolies, and other natives, and from it a valuable species of oil is
expressed, which is in great demand for a variety of purposes. The
refuse oil cake is called Poonae, and forms an excellent manure.
A calcareous concretion is sometimes found in the centre of the nut,
to which peculiar virtues have been attributed.
Along the Gulf of Cariaco there are many large coco walks. In moist
and fertile ground it begins to bear abundantly the fourth year; but
in dry soils it does not produce fruit until the tenth. Its duration
does not generally exceed 80 or 100 years, at which period its mean
height is about 80 feet. Throughout this coast a coco tree supplies
annually about 100 nuts, which yield eight flascos of oil. The flasco
is sold for about 1s. 4d. A great quantity is made at Cumana, and
Humboldt frequently witnessed the arrival there of canoes containing
3,000 nuts.
Throughout the South Sea Islands, coco-nut palms abound, and oil may
be obtained in various places. Some of the uninhabited islands are
covered with dense groves, and the ungathered nuts, which have fallen
year after year, lie upon the ground in incredible quantities. Two or
three men, provided with the necessary apparatus for pressing out the
oil, will, in the course of a week or two, obtain enough to load one
of the large sea canoes. Coco nut oil is now manufactured in different
parts of the South Seas, and forms no small part of the traffic
carried on with trading vessels. A considerable quantity is annually
exported from the Society Islands to Sydney. They bottle it up in
large bamboos, six or eight feet long, and these form part of the
circulating medium of Tahiti. The natives use the bruised fronds of
_Polypodium crassifolium_ to perfume this oil. _Evodia triphylla_, a
favorite evergreen plant with the natives of the Polynesian Islands,
is also used for this purpose.
The most favorable situation for the growth of the coco palm is the
ground near the sea-coast, and if the roots reach the mud or salt
water, they thrive all the better for it. The coco-nut walks are the
real estates of India, as the vineyards and olive groves are of
Europe. I have seen these palms growing well in inland situations,
remote from the sea, but always on plains, never upon hills or very
exposed situations, where they do not arrive to maturity, wanting
shelter, and being shaken too violently by the wind. The stems being
tall and slight, and the whole weight of leaves and fruit at the head,
they may not unaptly be compared to the mast of a ship with round top
and topmast without shrouds to support it. Ashes and fish are good
manures for it.
The coco-nut is essentially a maritime plant, and is always one of the
first to make its appearance on coral and other new islands in
tropical seas, the nut being floated to them, and rather benefiting
than otherwise by its immersion in the salt water. Silex and soda are
the two principal salts which the coco-nut abstracts from the soil,
and hence, where these do not exist in great abundance, the tree does
not thrive well. I do not know myself what is the practice in Ceylon,
but in Brazil, Dr. Gardner tells me, salt is very generally applied to
the coco-nut when planted. Far in the interior, he states, he has seen
as much as half a bushel applied to a single tree, and that too when
it cost about 2s. a pound, from the great distance it had to be
brought. That the application, therefore, of salt, of seaweed, and
saline mud, does more than supply soda, must be very evident, if we
only recollect how difficult it is to dry any part of our dress that
has been soaked in salt water, and what effect damp weather has on
table salt, which, in a balance, has often been made use of as an
hydrometer. Moisture is always attracted by salt, and the more sea mud
and other such little matters that coco-nut planters can apply round
the roots of their trees, there will most assuredly be the less
occasion for watering them in the dry season. Sea weed contains but
very little fibrous matter, being chiefly composed of mucilage and
water; and the experiments of Sir J. Pringle and Mr. C. W. Johnson,
prove that salt in small quantities assists the decomposition of both
animal and vegetable substances. Decomposed poonac, or oil-cake, is
one of the best manures that can be applied, as it returns to the soil
the component parts of which it has beau deprived to form the fruit.
The primary direction of the planter's industry will be to the
establishment of a nursery of young plants. In Ceylon, for this
purpose, the nuts are placed in squares of 400, covered with one inch
of sand, or salt mud; are watered daily till the young shoots appear,
and are planted out after the rains in September. Sand and salt mud
are to be found on almost all the coasts where it would be desirable
to plant nuts, and if they are put into the ground at the commencement
of the rainy season, artificial watering will scarcely be necessary.
Any period, when there are showers, would answer for transplanting
them. I should say from the middle to the end of January would be
best, when they are placed in the nursery in October and November; and
in October when they are planted in June.
It is said that they should be allowed from 20 to 30 feet space apart,
but I will calculate their return when planted 27 feet apart every
way. This will give 58 coco-nut trees per acre. If manured, for the
first two years, with seaweed and salt mud, and supplied with water in
dry weather, there need be no loss, and the plants will thrive the
better. The land must be kept clear of weeds till the plants are
matured, in order to permit them abundance of air and light. In five
years, when well cared for, the flower may be expected, but the plants
will not be in full bearing before the seventh or eighth year. From 50
to 80 nuts are the annual crop of a tree; but I will calculate at the
lowest rate. One hundred nuts will yield, when the oil is properly
expressed, at least two gallons and a half. I shall not take into
account the making of jaggery sugar and toddy, or spirit from the sap,
as I do not consider that the manufacture would be remunerative; and
it must be attended with much trouble, besides requiring a great deal
of care and some skill.
Take the case now of a plantation of 100 acres in extent. This would
give us 5,800 trees, which, at 50 nuts per tree, 290,000 nuts, at 2½
gallons of oil per hundred, would yield 7,250 gallons of oil, the
value of which any person may calculate, but which, at the low rate of
3s. over charges, would furnish, as the gross plantation return in
oil, a sum of £1,087 10s. sterling. If the cultivator, instead of
making his produce into oil, were to sell it in its natural state, his
gross return in the West Indies would be nearly £600 sterling, at the
rate of ten dollars per thousand.
Either of these sums would be a handsome return from 100 acres of any
land, _requiring no cultivation or care whatever, after the fourth
year, and yielding_ the same amount for upwards of half a century! But
this is not all. An outlay of a few pounds will secure other
advantages, and ought to enable the owner of a coco-nut plantation to
turn his gross receipts for oil into nett profits. The coir made from
the husk of the nut is calculated to realise nearly one-fourth of the
proceeds of the oil, but if we put it down at one-fifth, we shall
have, in addition to the value of the oil, £217 10s., thus making a
total of £1,305 sterling. If we obtained 60 nuts from each tree, the
return would be £1,566 sterling, and if 75, £1,957 8s. sterling; and
this from 100 acres of sea side sand! But even _this_ does not exhibit
the whole return of this article of culture. Each nut may be
calculated to give a quarter of a pound of poonac, or oil-cake, being
the refuse after expression, fit for feeding all kinds of stock, which
may be estimated as worth £10 per ton. We must, therefore, add on this
account to our first calculation, the sum of say £325; to the second,
£390; and to the third, £485. This would give, in round numbers, the
entire returns of the 100 acres planted:--At 50 nuts per tree, £1,630;
at 60 ditto, £1,957; at 75, ditto, £2,446.
These are striking results, and may appear exaggerated; but I will, to
show how very moderate has been my calculation, give two returns, with
which I have been favored from Ceylon. These, it will be seen, differ
materially, but the latter I can rely on as a practical result, from a
plantation in Jaffna, the peninsula of the northern portion of the
island. After estimating the expense of establishing the plantation,
the first writer sets down his return thus:--
"The produce, calculating 90 trees to an acre, and 75 nuts to a tree,
sold at £2 per 1,000, would yield 675,000 nuts, worth £1,350; or if
converted into oil, calculating 30 to give one gallon, it would
produce 22,500 gallons, or about 90 tons from 100 acres."
From Jaffna, the following is an abridged estimate of return of 100
acres in full bearing:--"At 27 feet apart, 58 trees per acre, 5,800
trees, at 60 nuts per tree, 3,480 nuts per acre, 100 acres, 348,000
nuts, at 40 nuts per imperial gallon, 8,700 gallons of oil, at 2s. per
gallon, netted £8 14s. per acre. The poonac left will pay the expense
of making the oil. If shipped to England, at the present time (close
of 1848), the selling price there being 55s. per cwt., measuring 12
imperial gallons, say, 4s. 7d. per gallon, and the cost and charges of
sending it home and selling it being 23s., it would leave 3s. per
gallon, or £13 per acre." This sum is _nett proceeds_.
It will be seen by the above, that I have been extremely moderate in
my computation of the return which may be anticipated, for there is no
doubt that planters can, in favorable localities, on the coasts of
most of our colonies, cultivate this palm with as much success as
attends its culture in Ceylon. By the first of the calculations I have
cited from, that island, the gross return appears thus:--
22,500 gallons at 4s. 7d £5,156 5
Coir--one-fifth of value 1,031 4
Cake from 675,000 nuts, say ¼ lb. each, 75 tons at £10 750 0
-----------
Total gross return from 100 acres 6,937 9
According to the other calculation, the return will stand thus:--
8,700 gallons at 4s. 7d £1,993 15
Coir 398 15
Cake from 348,000 nuts, 34 tons 340 0
----------
Total gross return from 100 acres 2,732 10
It will be seen that in my calculation I have set down the return
lower than it is rendered in the less favorable statement from Ceylon
by a sum of upwards of £1,000 sterling. But even supposing _one-half_
of the amount of the lower Ceylon estimate could be realised, we
should have a return of £1,366 5s. sterling from 100 acres of sea side
sand.
I now proceed to point out the very small outlay required to obtain
these results. In places where the coco-nut would be grown, there is
generally no heavy woodland requiring great labor with axe and fire,
and consequently one able-bodied man should get through the felling
and clearing away bush, on an acre of the land to be prepared for the
plant, in a short period,--say, on an average, four days. I will
calculate, that for wages and rations, each hand employed will cost
sixteen dollars per month, an outside price. Let us then say that ten
laborers shall be at work. They fell two acres and a half per diem. In
one month there should be nearly 70 acres felled; but I will say that
the 100 acres will occupy them two months in felling and stacking the
wood. During this period our planter may be considered to have had the
aid of two more hands, engaged in the preparation, planting out, and
care of the nursery of young plants. Two more hands must also be
occupied in the construction of tanks and sheds, except where there is
a stream of fresh water. For grubbing up the roots, if not very large
size, the assistance of about a dozen cattle would be required, a
labor which would be performed by means of the common grubbing
machine, an implement in the form of a claw. We will consider that all
hands are occupied another month in this manner, and in removing and
re-stacking the wood, and turning up the land. The planting out would
require but little time and labor. At the end of three months then,
one-half of the hands, besides those engaged in the nursery and tanks,
might be discharged. We must make an allowance for provision for the
fodder of the cattle. Six thousand nuts would be required.
Let us now see what are the planter's expenses; making ample allowance
on account of each item:--
dollars.
6,000 picked nuts at 10 dollars per 1,000 60
Hire and rations of 12 hands, at 16 dollars for 3 months 676
Two hands at nursery, for same period 96
Purchase of 12 cattle at 20 dollars 240
Foddering cattle one month 32
Hire of two extra hands, making tanks and sheds 3 months 96
Hire of 6 hands for 9 months 864
Tools (including plough) 100
-----
Total 2,064
About £415 sterling for expenses for the first year.
Where fencing is required, we must add for making about three miles of
fence, say £30 sterling. Two carts would also have to be provided,
which will cost, say £20 more. In all we may compute the first year's
expenditure at £460 sterling.
Second year's expenditure: ploughing land, or hoeing it twice,
watering plants, manuring, repairing fences, and supplying plants,
say hire of eight men for six months, about £150 sterling. The same
for the third.
Fourth year's expenditure: hire of six hands for three months,
cleaning land, and manuring plants, about £60 sterling, and the like,
at the cultivator's option, for the fifth year.
SUMMARY OF EXPENSES.
£
First year 460
Second year 150
Third year 150
Fourth year 60
Fifth year 60
---
Total expenditure 880
Add for buildings 80
And we have a grand total of £960 sterling expended; for what purpose?
To secure a net income of _at least_ £1,200 sterling per annum for at
least 50 years!
In the first year's expenses many items might be cut down, but I leave
the calculation as one to be considered by a party with small capital,
intending to establish a coco-nut plantation. I have allowed nothing
for the cost of land, as it is impossible to compute that. In general
it would cost next to the nothing mentioned. I have, by careful
calculation, arrived at the conclusion that by combining the
cultivation of provisions with the gradual but steadily progressive
establishment of a coco-nut plantation, any man of energy and
perseverance may, with the aid of but four hands, clear, fence, and
plant, in a favorable locality, 50 acres of coco-nuts within the year,
yet have a balance in his pocket at its close. Such a person would,
ere doing anything beyond putting in his nursery plants, establish a
provision ground, of considerable extent, for the purpose of supplying
himself and his laborers with bread kind, and vegetables, and of
enabling him, by the disposal of the surplus produce in the market, to
raise a sufficient sum of money to furnish the wages and rations of
the men. I need not enter into a calculation to show how this could be
done, as every one must be aware of an easy method of following out so
simple a suggestion. Of course he would have to bear in mind that the
provision ground is of secondary importance, and limit his exertions
in that line accordingly; devoting to the coco-nut plantation the
strictest daily attention.
The cultivation of this tree deserves much more attention than has
hitherto been paid to it, particularly in the East, where it not only
forms part of the daily food of all classes of the community, but is
an exportable article to neighbouring regions, the oil which it yields
having of late years become in great demand in England, for the
manufacture of composite candles and soap, and there is no doubt of
its continually extended application to such purposes. Supposing,
nevertheless, the result of an increased cultivation of the coco-nut
should be such as to cause a fall in price, and sink the nett return
in England to 2s. per gallon; this being clear profit, would make this
kind of plantation a safe and sure investment for both capital and
labor in the Colonies.
A kind of sugar made from the sap is called "jaggery," and the sap
when fermented forms an intoxicating beverage known as toddy. The
fibrous outer covering, or husk of the nut, when macerated and
prepared, is termed "coir," and is spun into yarn and rope. It is
extensively shipped from Ceylon, in coils of rope, bundles of yarn,
and pieces of junk.
The coco-nut is usually planted as follows:--Selecting a suitable
place, you drop into the ground a fully ripe nut, and leave it. In a
few days a thin lance-like shoot forces itself through a minute hole
in the shell, pierces the husk, and soon unfolds three pale green
leaves in the air; while, originating in the same soft white sponge
which now completely fills the nut, a pair of fibrous roots pushing
away the stoppers which close two holes in an opposite direction,
penetrate the shell, and strike vertically into the ground. A day or
two more, and the shell and husk, which in the last and germinating
stage of the nut are so hard that a knife will scarcely make any
impression, spontaneously burst by some force within; and, henceforth,
the hardy young plant thrives apace, and needing no culture, pruning,
or attention of any sort, rapidly arrives at maturity. In four or five
years it bears; in twice as many more it begins to lift its head among
the groves, where, waxing strong, it flourishes for near a century.
Thus, as some voyager has said, the man who but drops one of these
nuts into the ground, may be said to confer a greater and more certain
benefit upon himself and posterity, than many a life's toil in less
genial climes. The fruitfulness of the tree is remarkable. As long as
it lives it bears, and without intermission. Two hundred nuts, besides
innumerable white blossoms of others, may be seen upon it at one time;
and though a whole year is required to bring any one of them to the
germinating point, no two, perhaps, are at one time in precisely the
same stage of growth.
Coco-nuts form a considerable article of export from many of the
British colonies: 375,770 were exported from Honduras in 1844, and
254,000 in 1845; 105,107 were shipped from Demerara, in 1845;
3,500,000 from Ceylon in 1847.
They are very abundant on the Maldive Islands, Siam, and on several
parts of the coast of Brazil. Humboldt states, that on the south
shores of the Gulf of Cariaco, nothing is to be seen but plantations
of coco-nut trees, some of them containing nine or ten thousand trees.
Ceylon is one of the localities where the greatest progress has been
made in this species of culture.
In 1832 several Europeans settled at Batticaloa, expressly for the
purpose of cultivating this palm to a large extent. They planted
cotton bushes between the young trees, which were found to ripen well,
and nurse and shade them.
There are now an immense number of coco-nut topes, or walks, on the
coasts of the island, and about 20,000 acres of land are under
cultivation with this tree.
The value of this product to Ceylon, may be estimated by the following
return of its exports in 1847, besides the local consumption:--
£
Declared value of nuts 5,485
Ditto of Coir 10,318
Kernels, or Copperah 6,503
Shells 210
Oil 19,142
Arrack 11,657
-------
Total £53,315
The annually increasing consumption of the nuts holds out a great
inducement to the native proprietors to reclaim all their hitherto
unproductive land. The fruit commands a high price in the island,
(ranging from ¾d. to 3d. per nut), owing to the constant demand for it
as an article of food, by both Singhalese and Malabars; there is not
so much, therefore, now converted into copperah for oil making. In the
maritime provinces of the island, it has been estimated that the
quantity of nuts used in each family, say of five persons, amounts to
100 nuts per month, or 1,000 per annum. It needs only a reduction in
the cost of transit, to extend the consumption in the interior of the
island to an almost unlimited extent.
In 1842, Ceylon exported but 550 nuts, while in 1847 she shipped off
to other quarters three millions and a half of nuts, valued at £5,500.
The average value of the nuts exported may be set down at £7,000.
In Cochin China the cultivation of the coco-nut tree is much attended
to, and they export a large quantity of oil. At Malacca and Pinang it
shares attention with the more profitable spices. Since the palm has
been acclimatised in Bourbon, about 20,000 kilogrammes of oil have
been produced annually. About 8,000 piculs of oil are exported
annually from Java.
A correspondent, under date December, 1849, has furnished me with the
following particulars of coco-nut planting in Jaffna, the northern
district of Ceylon, in which the culture has only recently been
carried on; the facts and figures are interesting:--
The Karandhai estate, the property of the late Mr. J. Byles, was
sold last month for £2,400, part of it bearing. It consisted of 303
acres, of which 228 are planted with coco nuts--about half the trees
six years old.
The Victoria estate, in extent 170 acres, planted and part in
bearing, and about seventy acres of jungle, was also sold for
£1,500. Mr. G. Dalrymple was the purchaser of the latter, and Mr.
Davidson of the former. Both lots were cheap. The properties are
among the best in the district, the latter, especially, is a
beautiful estate.
About two-thirds of the estates planted are looking well, and the
remainder but indifferently, in fact, ought never to have been
planted, and I believe will never give any return. About 7,000 acres
are now under cultivation here, and clearing is still going on.
Estates can now be put in for about one half what they cost
formerly, viz., about £4 or £5 per acre, and can be kept in order,
inclusive of all charges, for about 15s. to 20s. per acre for the
first two years, and about half that afterwards. Estates, in some
instances, have been put in for about £3 per acre.
Elephants have almost disappeared; now and then a stray one comes.
Figs are still a great nuisance, but the greatest anxiety among
planters is regarding beetles. You will be sorry to hear that the
first year the trees showed fruit or flower, one-tenth of them were
destroyed by the beetle; the insects still go on destroying, and
hardly a tree attacked ever recovers.
This is a very serious evil, and upon which the fortunes of all
those involved in coco-nut planting depend. The trees come into
bearing but very slowly, and I consider no estate will give any
return over its current expenses under twelve years. It takes twelve
months from the formation of the flower, till the fruit ripens. On
an estate, perhaps one of the oldest and best in this district, out
of 120 acres, part seven and eight years old, about 12 per cent, are
in flower or in bearing, and give a return of about twenty-four nuts
per tree, on an average, yearly. On the next oldest, the return is
not near so great. But few of the estates here will, I think, pay
interest on the money laid out, and many will never pay anything
over the expense of keeping them up, even after coming into bearing.
I doubt if any estate in this district, however economically
managed, will ever give a net return of more than £2, or perhaps of
£2 10s. per acre, at least without there is a great increase in the
consumption of oil in Europe. The consumption of this oil, in
Europe, is under 5,000 tons. If the beetles do not destroy half the
trees, the estates here when in bearing, if they yield anything,
will give half that quantity; and it must be borne in mind that
coco-nut oil is not a strong oil, like palm oil, and that soap
boilers will never use it to any extent, for it will allow but
little admixture of rosin, &c.; its use in Europe will be
principally for candles and fancy soaps; but as by refining and
compression they can now purify tallow, and make of it candles fully
equal to those made from coco-nut oil, the consumption of the latter
is not likely to increase. The consumption of candles is always
limited on the continent of Europe, liquid oil being preferred, and
in many instances gas is now being used where candles formerly were.
The return of land planted with coco-nut trees in Ceylon, in 1851, was
22,500 acres; but this refers only to regular estates recently opened
and cultivated chiefly by Europeans. Let us suppose that the natives
possess besides, twenty millions of trees; Butollac in his time
estimated the number at thirteen millions. At 100 trees to the acre,
twenty millions of trees give 100,000 acres, so that the total amount
of land planted with coco-nut trees would be 122,500 acres.
An hydraulic press, for the manufacture of coco-nut oil, 1,200 horse
power and weighing twenty-three tons, was cast at the Ceylon Iron
Works, in 1850, by Messrs. Nelson and Son.
In the island of Singapore there are now many extensive plantations in
a very flourishing condition, holding out favorable prospects to the
proprietors. Hitherto the island has been supplied almost wholly from
abroad with nuts and oil for its consumption, which will, before long,
be obtained exclusively from its own soil. In 1846 there were 10,000
coco-nut trees in bearing in Singapore.
I have omitted to notice, in the foregoing observations, a very
mistaken notion which prevails in many quarters, that it is best to
let the trees drop their fruit, and not to pick the nuts when ripe.
Nature directs differently. As soon as the husk of the nut is more
brown than green it should be picked. It then makes better oil and
better coir, than when left to shrivel up and fall from the tree.
Colonel Low, in his "Dissertation on Pinang," gives some interesting
details and statistics on coco-nut planting:--
On a rough estimate--for an actual enumeration has not been lately
taken--the total number of _bearing trees_ in Pinang may be stated
at 50,000, and those in Province Wellesley at 20,000; but very large
accessions to these numbers have of late years been made. The tree
is partial to a sandy soil in the vicinity of the sea, and Province
Wellesley offers, therefore, greater facilities, perhaps, for its
cultivation than Pinang does, as its line of clear beach is longer,
and has many narrow slips of light or sandy land lying betwixt the
alluvial flats inland. There are several kinds of this tree known
here; one has a yellowish color, observable both on the branches and
unripe fruit; its branches do not droop much. A second has green
spreading branches, more drooping than the former, the fruit being
green colored until ripe; this is, perhaps, the most prolific; it
also bears the soonest, if we except the dwarf coco-nut, which
fruits at the second or third year, before the stem has got above
one foot high. This last kind was brought from Malacca; it attains
in time to the height of the common sort. Its fruit is small and
round, and of course less valuable than the other sorts. There is
also a coco-nut so saturated with green, that the oil expressed from
its kernel partakes of that color.
It is a mistaken supposition that the coco-nut tree will flourish
without care being taken of it. The idea has been induced by the
luxuriant state of trees in close proximity to houses and villages,
and in small cove's where its roots are washed by the sea. In such
circumstances, a tree, from being kept clear about the roots, from
being shaded, and from occasional stimuli, advances rapidly to
perfection; but in an extended plantation, a regular and not
inexpensive system of culture must be followed to ensure success.
The nuts being selected, when perfectly ripe, from middle-aged trees
of the best sorts, are to be laid on the ground under shades, and
after the roots and middle shoots, with two branches, have appeared,
the sooner they are planted the better. Out of 100 nuts, only
two-thirds, on an average, will be found to vegetate. The plants are
then to be set out at intervals of thirty or forty feet--the latter
if ground can be spared--and the depth will be regulated by the
nature of the soil, and the nut must not be covered with earth. The
plants require, in exposed situations, to be shaded for one and even
two years, and no lalang grass must be permitted to encroach on
their roots. A nursery must be always held in readiness to supply
the numerous vacancies which will occur from deaths and accidents.
The following may be considered the average cost of a plantation,
until it comes into bearing:--
FIRST COST--100 ORLONGS OF LAND.
Spanish dollars.
Purchase money of land, ready for planting 1,000
7,000 nuts at 1½ dollars, per 100 105
Houses of coolies, carts, buffaloes, &c., &c. 100
-----
Spanish dollars 1,205
YEARLY COST OF SEVEN YEARS.
First year, 10 laborers at 3 dollars per month, including
carts, &c. 360
Wear and tear of buildings, carts, and implements 50
Overseer, at 7 dollars per month 84
Quit rent, average 50
Nursery and contingencies 50
-----
Total per annum 594
Seven years at the rate will be 4,158
-----
Total, Spanish dollars 4,752
To this sum interest will have to be added, making, perhaps, a sum
total of 6,000 Spanish dollars, and this estimate will make each
tree, up to its coming into bearing, cost one Spanish dollar at the
lowest. The young tree requires manure, such as putrid fish and
stimulating compounds, containing a portion of salt. On the
Coromandel coast, the natives put a handful of salt below each nut
on planting it.
The cultivators of Kiddah adopt a very slovenly expedient for
collecting the fruit. Instead of climbing the tree in the manner
practised by the natives on the Coromandel coast, by help of a hoop
passing round the tree and the body of the climber--and a ligature
so connecting the feet as will enable him to clasp the tree with
them--the Malays cut deep notches or steps in the trunk, in a
zig-zag manner, sufficient to support the toes or the side of the
foot, and thus ascend with the extra, aid only of their arms. This
mode is also a dangerous one, as a false step, when near the top of
a high tree, generally precipitates the climber to the ground. This
notching cannot prove otherwise than injurious to the tree. But the
besetting sin of the planter of coco-nuts, and other productive
trees, is that of crowding. Coco-nut trees, whose roots occupy, when
full grown, circles of forty to fifty feet in diameter, may often be
found planted within eight or ten feet of each other; and in the
native campongs all sorts of indigenous fruit trees are jumbled
together, with so little space to spread in, that they mostly assume
the aspect of forest trees, and yield but sparing crops.
The common kinds of the coco-nut, under very favorable
circumstances, begin to bear at six years of age; but little produce
can be expected until the middle or end of the seventh year. The
yearly produce, one tree with another, may be averaged at 80 nuts
the tree; where the plantation is a flourishing one--assuming the
number of trees, in one hundred orlongs, to be 5,000--the annual
produce will be 400,000 nuts, the minimum local market value of
which will be 4,000 Spanish dollars, and the maximum 8,000 dollars.
From either of these sums 6 per cent. must be deducted for the cost
of collecting, and carriage, &c. The quantity of oil which can be
manufactured from the above number of nuts will be, as nearly as
possible, 834 piculs of 133-1/3 lbs.
The average price of this quantity, at 7 dollars per picul 5,838
Deduct cost of manufacturing, averaged at one-fourth, and
collecting, watching, &c 2,059
-----
Profit, Spanish dollars 3,779
The Chinese, who are the principal manufacturers of the oil, readily
give a picul of it in exchange for 710 ripe nuts, being about 563
piculs of oil out of the total produce of the plantation of 100
orlongs. The price of coco-nut oil has been so high in the London
market as £35 per tun, or about an average of ten dollars per picul.
It is said that English casks have not been found tight enough for
the conveyance of this oil to Europe, but if the article is really
in great demand, a method will no doubt be discovered to obviate
this inconvenience.
So long, however, as the cultivator can obtain a dollar and a half,
or even one dollar for 100 nuts, he will not find it profitable to
make oil, unless its price greatly rises.
Soap is manufactured at Pondicherry from this oil, but it is not
seemingly in repute; the attempt has not been made in Pinang with a
view to a market.
There is scarcely any coir rope manufactured at this island, so that
the profit which might (were labor cheaper) arise from this
application of the coco-nut fibre, is lost. The shell makes good
charcoal; the leaves are scarcely put to any purpose, the nipah or
attap being a superior material for thatching.
The coco-nut tree is extremely apt to be struck by lightning, and in
such cases it is generally destroyed. It is a dangerous tree,
therefore, to have close to a house. If the trees are widely
planted, coffee may be cultivated under their shade. It is generally
believed that the extracting of toddy from this tree hastens its
decline. The Nicobar and Lancavi Islands used partly to supply the
Pinang market with this indispensable article; but their
depopulation has greatly reduced the quantity.
On the whole it may be said that there is no cultivation which
insures the return of produce with so much certainty as that of the
coco-nut tree; and as Rangoon, the Tenasserim coast, and Singapore
will, probably, always remain good markets for the raw nut, there
appears to be every chance of the value of the produce affording
ample remuneration to the planter.
_Coco-nut beetle._--The chief natural enemy of this tree is a
destructive species of elephant-beetle (_Oryctes Rhinoceros_), which
begins by nibbling the leaves into the shape of a fan; it then
perforates the central pithy fibre, so that the leaf snaps off; and
lastly, it descends into the folds of the upper shoot, where it bores
itself a nest, and if not speedily extracted or killed, will soon
destroy the tree. At Singapore, on account of the depredations of this
beetle, the difficulties have been considerable.
In Pinang and Province Wellesley it has only been observed within the
last two years, and it is believed to have come from Keddah. A similar
kind of beetle is, however, found on the Coromandel coast. The natives
of Keddah say that this insect appears at intervals of two, three, or
more years.
Its larvæ, which are also very formidable insects or grubs, about
three inches long, with large reddish heads, are found in decaying
vegetable matter. It is when the tree has made considerable progress,
however, that the parent insect does most mischief. When they are from
one to two years old, throwing out their graceful branches in quick
succession with the greatest vigor, and promising in three or four
years more to yield their ruddy fruit, this destructive enemy begins
to exercise his boring propensities; and, making his horn act as an
auger, he soon penetrates the soft and yielding fibre of the young
tree, and if not discovered in time, destroys the leading shoot or
branch. The only remedy which has been adopted in Ceylon, is the
following:--Several intelligent boys are provided each with an iron
needle or probe, of about a foot long, with a sharp double barbed
point, like a fish-hook, and a ring handle; they go through the
plantation looking narrowly about the trees, and when they perceive
the hole in the trunk, which indicates that the enemy is at work, they
thrust in the barbed instrument and pull him out. Sometimes he may
only have just commenced, when his capture is more easily effected,
but even should he have penetrated to the very heart of the tree, the
deadly needle does not fail in its errand, but brings the culprit out,
impaled and writhing on its point. This is the only known way of
checking the ravages of this beetle, except destroying its larvæ. Some
cultivators, however, think pouring salt water or brine on the top of
the tree, so as to descend among the folds of the upper shoots, a good
plan to get rid of the larvæ.
Nearly two million coco-nuts are shipped annually from Bahia.
From Ceylon, 114,600 coco-nuts were shipped in 1851, and 70,185 in
1852.
Coco-nut oil; 98,159 gallons were shipped from Ceylon in 1852; 359,233
gallons in 1851.
The prices of Ceylon oil have ranged from £31 to £33 10s. per tun; of
Cochin oil, £34 to £35, within the last two years. The price per
leaguer in Colombo, without casks, has been £8 10s. to £9.
_Copperah_ is the name, given by the natives to the kernel of the ripe
nut after it has been exposed to the sun on mats, until it has become
rancid and dissolved. It has recently been shipped to England in this
state for the purpose of converting into oil. The exports of copperah
from Ceylon were, in 1842, 115 cwts.; in 1843, 2,194; in 1844, 2,397;
and in 1852, 39,174 cwts.
The returned value of the copperah or kernels exported from Ceylon, as
entered in the Custom House books, is--
1840 2,508
1841 1,460
1842 3,022
1843 5,795
1844 6,194
1845 3,282
1846 5,517
1847 6,503
1848 12,639
1849 7,819
1850 4,166
1851 9,678
1852 13,325
632 cwts. of poonac (being the refuse or cake, after expressing the
oil) were exported from Ceylon in 1842. It is worth there about £10
the ton.
The oil from the nut is obtained for culinary purposes by boiling the
fresh pulp, and skimming it as it rises. That for exportation is
usually obtained by pressing the copperah in a simple press turned by
bullocks. Recently, however, steam power has been applied in Colombo,
with great advantage. About 2½ gallons of oil per 100 nuts, are
usually obtained. It is requisite that care should be taken not to
apply too great and sudden a pressure at once, but by degrees an
increasing force, so as not to choke the conducting channels of the
oil in the press.
In many of the colonies the oil is expressed by the slow and laborious
hand process of grating the pulp.
The quantity shipped from Ceylon was 2,250 tuns, in 1842; 3,985 in
1843; 2,331 in 1844; 1,797 in 1845. The quantity in gallons shipped
since, was 101,553 in 1846; 197,850 in 1847; 300,146 in 1848; 867,326
in 1849; 407,960 in 1850; 442,700 in 1851; and 749,028 in 1852.
The duty on importation is of and from British possessions, 7d. and
7/8ths. per cwt.; if the produce of foreign possessions, 1s. 3¾ d, per
cwt. In the close of 1852, the price of coco-nut oil in the London
market was, for Ceylon, £32, £33, to £33 10s. per ton; Cochin,
middling to fine, £34 to £35.
The following return shows the Custom House valuation of the oil
shipped from Ceylon for a series of years, and which is of course much
below its real value:--
1839 £26,597
1840 32,483
1841 24,052
1842 34,242
1843 43,874
1844 24,067
1845 15,945
1846 7,939
1847 19,142
1848 24,839
1849 34,831
1850 35,035
1851 31,444
1852 58,045
Among the coco-nut oil exported from Ceylon, in 1849, there were
47,427½ gallons, valued at £3,595, the whole of which, I believe, was
Cochin oil; the raw material of this kind not being, like the copperah
generally in Ceylon, subjected to the action of fire, the product is
finer, and fetches a better price in the London market.
Amongst the imports from British possessions in Asia, were 2,600
cwts., of copperah (dried coco-nut kernels, from which oil is
expressed), valued at £1,100; amongst the imports re-exported to Great
Britain, we find 870 cwts. of the same article, valued at £300. Of the
oil exported a quantity of 11,000 gallons was shipped for the United
States. About 600,000 piculs of coco-nut oil are annually exported
from Siam.
A large quantity of oil is made in Trinidad, chiefly on the east
coast, where, in one locality, there is an uninterrupted belt of
coco-nut palms fourteen miles in extent. They usually bear when five
years old.
The cultivation of the coco-nut in a proper soil presents a very
profitable speculation for small capitalists. Whether sold at the rate
of a dollar per hundred in their natural state, to captains of ships,
who freely purchase them, or manufactured into oil, they are a very
remunerative product. Each tree in the West Indies is calculated to
produce nuts to the value of one dollar yearly. There is one thing to
which we would draw the attention of chemists and other scientific
men.
For twenty-four or even forty-eight hours after its manufacture this
oil is as free from any unpleasant taste as olive oil, and can be used
in lieu of it for all culinary purposes, but after that time it
acquires such a rancid taste as to be wholly unpalateable. If any
means could be discovered of preventing this deterioration in quality,
and preserving it fresh and sweet, it could compete with olive oil,
and the price and consumption would be largely raised.
COCO-NUT OIL IMPORTED INTO THE UNITED KINGDOM.
Imports. Retained for home consumption.
cwts. cwts.
1835 19,838 14,015
1836 26,058 26,062
1837 41,218 28,641
1838 -- 38,669
1839 -- 15,153
1840 -- 37,269
1841 -- 26,528
1842 -- 26,225
1843 -- 29,928
1844 -- 42,480
1848 85,453 54,783
1849 64,451 14,622
1850 98,040 46,494
1851 55,995 2,333
1852 101,863 27,112
A London coco-nut oil soap was found, on analysis by Dr. Ure, to
consist of:--
Soda 4.5
Coco-nut lard 22.0
Water 73.5
-----
100.0
This remarkable soap was sufficiently solid; but it dissolved in hot
water with extreme facility. It is called marine soap, because it
washes linen with sea water.
Of the six principal vegetable oils, namely--palm, coco-nut castor,
olive, linseed, and rape, the first four are imported in the state of
oil only; the two last chiefly as seed. The proportion in which they
were imported is shown in the following tables; and if to these
quantities are added about a million and a half cwt. of tallow, and
nearly twenty thousand tuns of whale oil and spermaceti, they will
nearly represent the total quantity of oil imported into Great
Britain.
IMPORTS IN 1846.
Palm oil. Olive oil. Castor oil.
cwts. tuns. cwts.
Western Africa 475,364 1 --
United States 13,349 -- 290
Naples and Sicily 14 9,661 --
East Indies -- -- 6,315
Canary Islands 3,719 -- --
Malta -- 2,237 --
Turkish Empire -- 1,712 --
Tuscany -- 832 --
Spain -- 753 --
Brazil 525 -- --
Ionian Islands -- 506 --
Morocco -- 368 --
Madeira 353 -- --
Sardinia -- 333 11
Miscellaneous 7 471 65
------- ------- -------
Total 493,331 16,864 9,681
IMPORTS IN 1850
Linseed. Rape seed.
quarters. quarters.
Russia 482,813 3,235
Sweden 870 --
Norway 268 --
Denmark 37 3,092
Russia 87,273 645
Hanse Towns 1,153 2,872
Holland 7,734 201
Naples 1,476 --
Austrian Territories 40 2,580
Greece -- 1,637
Wallachia and Moldavia 910 1,280
Egypt 17,517 --
East Indian Empire 26,142 13,126
Miscellaneous 262 922
-------- ------
Total 626,495 29,495
OIL-CAKE.--It has been observed by Evelyn that one bushel of walnuts
will yield fifteen pounds of peeled kernels, and these will produce
half that weight of oil, which the sooner it is drawn is the more in
quantity, though the drier the nut the better its quality. The cake or
marc of the pressing is excellent for fattening hogs and for manure.
Oats contain, as a maximum, about seven per cent. of oil, and Indian
corn nine per cent. The cake of the gold of pleasure contains twelve
per cent. Indeed the most valuable oil-cakes are those of the
_Camelina sativa_, poppies and walnuts, which are nearly equal; next
to these are the cakes of hemp, cotton, and beech-mast. In France the
extraction and purification of oil from the cotton seed is a recent
branch of labor, the refuse of which is likely to prove useful in
agriculture; its value as a manure being nearly ten times greater than
that of common dung. Oil is obtained from maize or Indian corn in the
process of making whiskey. It rises in the mash tubs and is found in
the scum at the surface, being separated either by the fermentation or
the action of heat. It is then skimmed off, and put away in a cask to
deposit its impurities; after which it is drawn off in a pure state,
fit for immediate use. The oil is limpid, has a slight tinge of the
yellow color of the corn, and is inoffensive to the taste and smell.
It is not a drying oil, and therefore cannot be used for paint, but
burns freely in lamps and is useful for oiling machinery.
Among the various seeds used in the manufacture of oil-cake, flour of
linseed is the most important. Rape seed is also employed, but is
considered heating. In Lubeck, a marc, called dodder cake, is made
from the _Camelina sativa_. Inferior oil-cake is made from the poppy
in India. Cotton-seed cake has lately been recommended on account of
its cheapness, being usually thrown away as refuse by the cotton
manufacturers. It is extensively used as a cattle food, in an
unprepared state, in various parts of the tropical world, and to a
limited extent in this country.
The cost of seed, freight included, was 2d. per lb. from Charlestown
to Port Glasgow. Cotton oil-cake is now ordered at the same price as
linseed cake. The produce of oil-cake and oil from cotton seed, is two
gallons of oil to one cwt. of seed, leaving about 96 lbs of cake; 8
lbs. is the daily allowance for cattle in England.
Cotton seed oil, very pure, is manufactured to a considerable extent
at Marseilles, by De Gimezney, from Egyptian seed; and he received a
prize medal at the Great Exhibition.
Account of the export of linseed and rapeseed cakes from Stettin,
principally to England, in--
cwts.
1834 33,518
1835 27,038
1836 56,581
1837 70,643
1838 119,540
1839 115,416
1840 162,457
1841 143,816
1842 119,814
The quantity of oil-seed cakes imported into the United Kingdom was
in--
tons.
1849 59,462
1850 65,055
1851 55,076
1852 53,616
Cargoes of oil-cake, to the value of £22,207, were exported from the
port of Shanghae, in China, in 1849.
2,467 tons of oil-cake were brought down to New Orleans from the
interior in 1848, and 1,032 tons in 1849.
Seven samples of American oil-cake gave the following results:--
Oil 11.41
Water 7.60
Nitrogen 4.74
Ash 6.35
From the above figures, the scientific farmer will see that the manure
formed by 100 lbs. of oil-cake is more than that derived from 300 lbs.
of Indian corn. 300 lbs. of corn contain about l¼ lbs. phosphoric
acid; 100 lbs. oil-cake contain about 2½ lbs.
VOLATILE OR ESSENTIAL OILS occur in the stems, leaves, flowers and
fruit of many odoriferous plants, and are procured by distillation
along with water. They are called "essences," and contain the
concentrated odor of the plant. They usually exist ready-formed, but
occasionally they are obtained by a kind of fermentation, as oil of
bitter almonds and oil of mustard. Some of them consist of carbon and
hydrogen only, as oil of turpentine, from _Juniperus communis;_ oil of
savin, from _Juniperus Sabina;_ oil of lemons and oranges, from the
rind of the fruit; and oil of nerole, from orange flowers. A second
set contain oxygen in addition, as oil of cinnamon, from _Cinnamonum
verum;_ otto or attar of roses, from various species of rose,
especially _Rosa centifolia;_ oil of cloves, from _Caryophyllus
aromaticus_.
Those principally obtained from tropical shrubs and plants are
citronella, oil of oranges and lemons, from the rind of the fruit oil
of cinnamon and cloves, croton oil, &c.
The oil of Sandal or Sanders wood _(Santalum album_), grown on the
Malabar coast, is much esteemed as a perfume. Keora oil, from
_Pandanus odoratissimus_, in Bengal. Oil of spikenard, so highly
prized, on account of its perfume, by the ancients, may be procured in
Sagur, Nepaul, and the mountains of the Himalaya.
956 lbs. of essential oils were imported into Hull in 1850. There were
exported from Ceylon in 1842, 902 cases; in 1843, 138; in 1844, 20; in
1845, 25 cases of essential oils, and in the last two years as
follows:--
1852. 1851.
cases. cases.
Cinnamon oil 17 23
Citronella oil 110 87
Essential oil 72 35
Of chemical, essential, and perfumed oils imported from France, the
quantity is about 35,000 lbs. annually, worth £10,000. The duty is 1s.
per lb. We also imported from France, in 1851, 9,596 cwt. of oil or
spirit of turpentine, worth £14,197, on which a duty of 5s. 3d. per
cwt. is levied.
From Western Australia some distilled oil of the Liptospermum was
shown at the Exhibition, which it is stated may be obtained in any
quantity, and a similar oil produced, by distillation, from the
_Eucalyptus piperita_, a powerful solvent of caoutchouc, evidently
very similar, if not altogether identical, with the oil of cajeput.
The characters of these two oils are much alike and without some care
it is difficult to distinguish them from one another by the odor; the
liptospermum oil has a slight tinge of yellow, its specific gravity is
0.9035; the eucalyptus oil is colorless, and has a density of 0.9145.
It is probable that these oils might be used with great advantage in
the manufacture of varnish, they readily dissolve copal, and when its
solution is spread over any surface the oil soon evaporates, and
leaves a hard, brilliant and uniform coating of the resin. These oils,
according to Prof. Solly, are specially worthy of attention.
Dr. Bennett, in his "Wanderings in New South Wales," states that a
large quantity of camphorated oil, which closely resembles the
cajeputi, is produced from the foliage of several species of
_Eucalyptus_. Some of the leaves, which are of a bluish green, contain
it in such abundance as to cover the hand with oil when one of the
leaves is gently rubbed against it.
From the odorous leaves of the _Arbor alba_ is extracted a portion of
the aromatic cajeput oil. This celebrated medicinal oil is principally
made in the island of Borneo, one of the Moluccas.
The leaf of the _Melaleuca minor_ yields, by distillation, the
volatile oil of cajeputi, well known as a powerful sudorific, and a
useful external application in chronic rheumatism. It is an evergreen
shrub, with white flowers like a myrtle, native of the East Indies,
principally flourishing on the sea coasts of the Moluccas and other
Indian islands. Two sacks full of the leaves yield scarcely three
drachms of the oil, which is limpid, pellucid, and of a green color.
Oil of cinnamon and oil of cassia, according to Mulder, have the same
composition. When fresh they are pale yellow, but become brown on
exposure to the air. On exposure they rapidly absorb cinnamic acid,
two resins and water.
More than 22,000 lbs. of essence of bergamot was imported in 1848. It
is obtained by distillation or pressure from the rind of the fragrant
citron.
_Andropogon calamus aromaticus_, of Royle, _A. nardoides_, of Nees v.
Esenb., according to some yields the grass oil of Namur.
The fruits of _Carum carui_, a hardy biennial British plant, popularly
known as caraway seeds, supply a volatile oil, which is carminitive
and aromatic. Oils of a similar kind are obtained from _Coriandrum
sativum_, from anise (_Pimpinella Anisum_), and cumin (_Cuminum
Cyminum_), a native of Egypt.
The production of cinnamon, clove, and cassia oils, have already been
noticed in speaking of those spices.
In Malabar, a greenish sweet-smelling oil is obtained, by
distillation, from the roots of _Unona Narum_, an evergreen climber,
which is used medicinally as a Stimulant.
OIL OF PEPPERMINT.--Mr. De Witt C. Van Slyck, of Alloway, Wayne
county, New York, furnished me with the following particulars on the
cultivation of peppermint, in December, 1849, which may appropriately
be introduced in this place:--
"As an agricultural production, the culture of peppermint in the
United States is limited to few localities; this county and the
adjoining ones, Seneca and Ontario, comprise the largest bed. In the
year 1846 about 40,000 lbs. of oil were produced. In Lewis county,
in this state, it is grown, though to a less extent; the amount of
oil produced there in 1846 was estimated at 4,500 lbs. In Michigan
about 10,000 lbs. are annually produced; Ohio furnishes about 3,000
lbs. and Indiana 700 lbs. per annum. The entire crop in the United
States, in the year 1846, is estimated in round numbers at 58,000
lbs.
The above comprises all the localities of any importance in the
United States, and the above estimates of the annual product of oil
were made from correct data for the year 1846, since which time the
cultivation of mint has rapidly decreased in consequence of a
speculative movement by a New York company, who in the spring of
1847 purchased nearly all the mint then growing in this State, and
stipulated with the growers not to raise it for two years
thereafter, which condition was generally observed on the part of
the growers. The present year (1849), on account of the drought, has
not realised the expectations of those engaged in its culture,
although the amount of oil produced is much larger than the product
of the two preceding years. In this mint district, 8,000 lbs. have
been raised; Lewis county furnishes 1,000 lbs.; Michigan, 8.000
lbs.; Ohio, 1,000 lbs., and Indiana 500 lbs. So that the entire crop
of 1849 will not materially vary from 18,500 lbs.
I have consulted several of the principal dealers in mint oil, whose
opportunities have been ample to form a tolerably correct estimate
of the amount of oil annually consumed, and their opinion fixes the
total consumption, for the various purposes for which it is used in
the United States and in Europe, at from 20,000 to 30,000 lbs.
annually.
The price of mint oil is extremely fluctuating. Like other unstaple
commodities, the value of which depends upon their scarcity or
abundance, it never has assumed a constant and standing value, but
its price has generally been deranged by speculation and monopoly.
It has happened that the amount of oil produced was for several
years greater than the annual consumption, producing an accumulation
in the market, and reducing the price to the very low rate of 75
cents per pound; on the other hand, when the article was scarce, it
readily sold for 5 dollars 25 cents per pound. The average price for
fifteen vears has been about 2 dollars 50 cents, per pound. This
year (1849) it readily sells for 1 dollar 50 cents., (6s. 6d.).
Peppermint began to be cultivated in this vicinity as an
agricultural product about the year 1816, but for several years the
want of a proper knowledge of its culture, and the expense and
difficulty of extracting the oil, prevented its extension beyond a
few growers, who, however, realised fortunes out of the enterprise.
Almost any kind of soil that will successfully rear wheat and maize
is adapted to the growth of mint. Rich alluvions, however, seem to
be most natural, as would be inferred from the fact that the wild
herb is almost uniformly found growing upon the tertiary formations
on the margins of streams. The rich bottom lands along our rivers
and the boundless prairies of the West are eminently adapted for its
successful culture. It is believed by those best acquainted with the
subject, that its cultivation must be ultimately confined to the
western prairies, where it will grow spontaneously, and where the
absence of noxious weeds and grasses, incident to all older settled
lands, renders the expense of cultivation comparatively light, and
where the low price of land will be an important item in the amount
of capital employed, the expense of marketing being slight in
comparison to that of the more bulky products of agricultural
industry.
The method of cultivation is nearly uniform. The mode of propagation
is by transplanting the roots, which may be done in autumn or
spring, though generally the latter, and as the herb is perennial,
it does not require replanting till the fourth year. To ensure a
good crop and obviate the necessity of extra attendance the first
season, the ground intended for planting should be fallowed the
preceding summer, though this is not necessary if the land is
ordinarily clean. The ground should be prepared as for maize, as
soon as possible in the spring furrowed, and roots planted in drills
twenty inches apart, and covered with loose earth, two inches deep,
the planter walking upon the drill and treading it firmly. The
proper time to procure roots is when the herb is a year old, when
from six to eight square rods of ordinary mint will yield a
sufficient quantity of roots to plant an acre, and the crop from
which the roots are taken will not be deteriorated, but rather
benefited by their extraction. As soon as the herb makes its
appearance it requires a light dressing with a hoe, care being taken
not to disturb the young shoots, many of which have scarcely made
their appearance above the ground. In the course of a week or two
the crop requires a more thorough dressing, and at this stage of
growth the cultivator may be used with advantage, followed by the
hoe, carefully eradicating weeds and grass from the drills, and
giving the herb a light dressing of earth. Another dressing a week
or two later is all the crop requires.
The two following years no labor is bestowed upon the crop, though
it is sometimes benefited by ploughing over the whole surface, very
shallow, in the autumn of the second year, and harrowing lightly the
following spring, which frequently renews the vigor of the plant and
increases the product.
The mint should be cut as soon as it is in full bloom, and the lower
leaves become sere; the first crop will not be fit to cut as early
as the two succeeding ones. It is then to be hayed and put in cock,
and is then ready for distillation.
I have consulted many mint growers, who have cultivated it for a
series of years, in regard to the average yield per acre, and have
arrived at the following estimate, which I think is low, provided
the land is suitable, and is properly cultivated. I estimate the
average yield per acre for the first year at 18 lbs.; the second
year at 14 lbs.; and the third year at 8 lbs.--making the product
for three years 40 lbs., which I think will not materially vary from
the actual result, though growers aver they have raised from 30 to
40 lbs. per acre the first season.
Several years since, the only method of extracting the oil then
known was by distilling the herb in a copper kettle, or boiler, and
condensing in the usual manner; a slow and tedious process, by which
about 12 or 15 pounds of oil could be separated in a day. But
recently steam, that powerful agent, which has wrought such immense
changes in our social and national economy, has been applied to this
subject with its usual attendant success. The present method
consists in the use of a common steam-boiler, of the capacity of
from 100 to 150 gallons, from which the steam is conveyed by
conductors into large wooden air-tight tubs, of 200 gallons
capacity, containing the dried herb; from which it is conveyed,
charged with the volatile principle of the plant, into a water-vat,
containing the condenser. The water collected at the extremity of
the condenser, although it does not readily commingle with the oil,
is highly tinctured with it, and is used to feed the boiler. Two
tubs are necessary, in order that when the "charge" is being worked
off in one, the other can be refilled. The oil is then to be
filtered, and is ready for market. The expense of a distillery is
estimated at 150 dollars, which, with the labor of two men, and a
cord of dry wood, will run 40 lbs. of oil per day. The usual price
for distilling is 25 cents per pound.
The cost of production is of course greatly modified by
circumstances. If grown on rich bottom lands, or prairie, unusually
free from weeds and grass, the labor required will be comparatively
trifling. From information derived from the principal mint growers
in this vicinity, I have prepared the following estimate of the cost
of production of an acre of mint for three years:--
FIRST YEAR.
Dollars.
Rent of an acre of land one year 8.00
One day plough and drag, one hand and team 2.00
Half day furrowing, digging roots, one hand and horse 1.00
Three days planting, at 75 cents 2.25
Two days dressing with hoe, at 75 cents 1.50
Two days with cultivator and hoe, 1.00 2.00
Two days with cultivator and hoe (third dressing) 1.50
One and a-half days cutting new mint, at 75 cents 1.13
Curing and drawing to distillery 1.50
Distilling 18 lbs. oil, at 25 cents 4.50
Can for oil 25
-----
25.63
SECOND YEAR.
Rent of an acre of land one year 8.00
Cutting one acre of old mint 75
Curing and hauling to distillery 1.50
Distilling 14 lbs. oil, at 25 cents 3.50
Can for oil 25
-----
14.00
THIRD YEAR.
Rent of an acre of land one year 8.00
Cutting, curing, &c. 2.25
Distilling 8 lbs. of oil, at 25 cents, and can 2.25
-----
12.50
-----
Total expenses for three years 52.13
Forty pounds of oil, at dollars 1.37½ per pound 55.00
Deduct expenses 52.13
-----
Net profit 2.87
In the above estimate I have omitted the expense of roots, for the
reason that the crop will yield as many as are required for
planting. The price of roots is about 50 cents per square rod, and
if they are in demand, the profit of the crop will be greatly
enhanced by selling them at that, or even a lower price.
It will be readily perceived that the culture of peppermint promises
no great return of profit in sections of country where land is
valuable, and where the expense of production is nearly double what
it is in newly-settled districts. It is a fact that in Michigan, and
other Western States, the actual expense of production is about
one-half less than the above estimate, and the yield is a fourth
greater; the greater distance from market, which is usually New York
city, not being taken into account, the freight on oil being
comparatively trifling. Another consideration in favor of prairie
cultivation is, that the mint will endure for years by simply
ploughing over the surface every second year, which seems to
invigorate the herb, and obviates the necessity of replanting every
second or third year, as must be done in older settled localities."
In India the perfumed oils are obtained in the following manner:--The
layers of the jasmine, or other flowers, four inches thick and two
inches square, are laid on the ground and covered with layers of
sesamum or any other oil yielding seed. These are laid about the same
thickness as the flowers, over which a second layer of flowers like
the fruit is placed. The seed is wetted with water, and the whole mass
covered with a sheet, held down at the end and sides by weights, and
allowed to remain for eighteen hours in this form. It is now fit for
the mill, unless the perfume is desired to be very strong, when the
faded flowers are removed and fresh ones put in their place. The seed
thus impregnated is ground in the usual way in the mill and the oil
expressed, having the scent of the flower. At Ghazipoor the jasmine
and bela are chiefly employed; the oil is kept in the dubbers, and
sold for about 4s. a seer.
The newest oils afford the finest perfume. In Europe a fixed oil,
usually that of the bean or morerja nut, is employed. Cotton is soaked
in this, and laid over layers of flowers, the oil being squeezed out
so soon as impregnated with perfume. Dr. Johnson thus describes the
culture and manufacture:--
_Cultivation of Roses_.--Around the station of Ghazipoor, there are
about 300 biggahs (or about 150 acres) of ground laid out in small
detached fields as rose gardens, most carefully protected on all
sides by high mud walls and prickly pear fences, to keep out the
cattle. These lands, which belong to Zemindars, are planted with
rose trees, and are annually let out at so much per biggah for the
ground, and so much additional for the rose plants--generally five
rupees per biggah, and twenty-five rupees for the rose trees, of
which there are 1,000 in each biggah. The additional expense for
cultivation would be about eight rupees eight annas; so that for
thirty-eight rupees eight annas you have for the season one biggah
of 1,000 rose trees.
If the season is good, this biggah of 1,000 rose trees should yield
one lac of roses. Purchases for roses are always made at so much per
lac. The price of course varies according to the year, and will
average from 40 to 70 rupees.
_Manufacture of Rose-water_.--The rose trees come into flower at the
beginning of March, and continue so through April. Early in the
morning the flowers are plucked by numbers of men, women, and
children, and are conveyed in large bags to the several contracting
parties for distillation. The cultivators themselves very rarely
manufacture.
The native apparatus for distilling the rose-water is of the
simplest construction; it consists of a large copper or iron boiler
well tinned, capable of holding from eight to twelve gallons, having
a large body with a rather narrow neck, and a mouth about eight
inches in diameter; on the top of this is fixed an old dekchee, or
cooking vessel, with a hole in the centre to receive the tube or
worm.
This tube is composed of two pieces of bamboo, fastened at an acute
angle, and it is covered the whole length with a strong binding of
corded string, over which is a luting of earth to prevent the vapour
from escaping. The small end, about two feet long, is fixed into the
hole in the centre of the head, where it is well luted with flower
and water. The lower arm or end of the tube is carried down into a
long-necked vessel or receiver, called a bhulka. This is placed in a
handee of water, which, as it gets hot, is changed. The head of the
still is luted on to the body, and the long arm of the tube in the
bhulka is also well provided with a cushion of cloth, so as to keep
in all vapour. The boiler is let into an earthen furnace, and the
whole is ready for operation. There is such a variety of rose-water
manufactured in the bazar, and so much that bears the name, which is
nothing more than a mixture of sandal oil, that it is impossible to
lay down the plan which is adopted. The best rose-water, however, in
the bazar, may be computed as bearing the proportion of one thousand
roses to a seer of water; this, perhaps, may be considered as the
best procurable.
From one thousand roses most generally a seer and a half of
rose-water is distilled, and perhaps from this even the attar has
been removed. The boiler of the still will hold from eight to twelve
or sixteen thousand roses. On eight thousand roses from ten to
eleven seers of water will be placed, and eight seers of rose-water
will be distilled. This after distillation is placed in a carboy of
glass, and is exposed to the sun for several days to become pucka
(ripe); it is then stopped with cotton, and has a covering of moist
clay put over it; this becoming hard, effectually prevents the scent
from escaping. The price of this will be from twelve to sixteen
rupees. This is the best that can be procured.
_Attar of Roses_.--To procure the attar, the roses are put into the
still, and the water passes over gradually, as in the case of the
rose-water process; after the whole has come over, the rose-water is
placed in a large metal basin, which is covered with wetted muslin,
tied over to prevent insects or dust getting into it; this vessel is
let into the ground about two feet, which has been previously wetted
with water, and it is allowed to remain quiet during the whole
night. The attar is always made at the beginning of the season, when
the nights are cool; in the morning the little film of attar which
is formed upon the surface of the rose-water during the night is
removed by means of a feather, and it is then carefully placed in a
small phial; and, day after day, as the collection is made, it is
placed for a short period in the sun, and after a sufficient
quantity has been procured, it is poured off clear, and of the color
of amber, into small phials. Pure attar, when it has been removed
only three or four days, has a pale greenish hue; by keeping it
loses this, and in a few weeks' time it becomes of a pale yellow.
The first few days distillation does not produce such fine attar as
comes off afterwards, in consequence of the dust or little particles
of dirt in the still and the tube being mixed with it. This is
readily separated, from its sinking to the bottom of the attar,
which melts at a temperature of 84 degrees. From one lac of roses it
is generally calculated that 180 grains, or one tolah, of attar can
be procured; more than this can be obtained if the roses are
full-sized, and the nights cold to allow of the congelation. The
attar purchased in the bazar is generally adulterated, mixed with
sandal oil, or sweet oil; not even the richest native will give the
price at which the purest attar alone can be obtained, and the
purest attar that is made is sold only to Europeans. During the past
year it has been selling from 80 to 90 rupees the tolah; the year
before it might have been purchased for 50 rupees.
_General Remarks_.--Native stills are let out at so much per day or
week, and it frequently occurs that the residents prepare some
rose-water for their own use as a present to their friends, to
secure their being provided with that which is the best. The natives
never remove the calices of the rose-flowers, but place the whole
into the still as it comes from the garden.
The best plan appears to be to have these removed, as by this means
the rose-water may be preserved a longer time, and is not spoiled by
the acid smell occasionally met with in the native rose-water. It is
usual to calculate 100 bottles to one lac of roses. The rose-water
should always be twice distilled; over ten thousand roses water may
be put to allow of sixteen or twenty bottles coming out; the
following day these twenty bottles are placed over eight thousand
more roses, and about eighteen bottles of rose-water are distilled.
This may be considered the best to be met with. The attar is so much
lighter than the rose-water, that, previous to use, it is better to
expose the rose-water to the sun for a few days, to allow of its
being well mixed; and rose-water that has been kept six months is
always better than that which has recently been made.
At the commencement of the rose season, people from all parts come
to make their purchases, and very large quantities are prepared and
sold. There are about thirty-six places in the city of Ghazeepore
where rose-water is distilled. These people generally put a large
quantity of sandal oil into the receiver, the oil is afterwards
carefully removed and sold as sandal attar, and the water put into
carboys and disposed of as rose-water. At the time of sale a few
drops of sandal oil are placed on the neck of the carboy to give it
fresh scent, and to many of the natives it appears perfectly
immaterial whether the scent arises solely from the sandal oil or
from the roses. Large quantities of sandal oil are every year
brought up from the south and expended in this way.
6. The chief use the natives appear to make of the rose water, or
the sandal attar as they term it, is at the period of their
festivals and weddings. It is then distributed largely to the guests
as they arrive, and sprinkled with profusion in the apartments. A
large quantity of rose water is sold at Benares, and many of the
native Rajahs send over to Ghazipoor for its purchase. Most of the
rose water, as soon as distilled, is taken away, and after six
months from the termination of the manufacture there are not more
than four or five places where it is to be met with.
I should consider that the value of the roses sold for the
manufacture of rose water may be estimated at 15,000 to 20,000
rupees a year; and from the usual price asked for the rose water,
and for which it is sold, I should consider there is a profit of
40,000 rupees. The natives are very fond of using the rose water as
medicine, or as a vehicle for other mixtures, and they consume a
good deal of the petals for the conserve of roses, or goolcond as
they call it.
The roses of Ghazipoor, on the river Ganges, are cultivated in
enormous fields of hundreds of acres. The delightful odor from these
fields can be scented at seven miles distance on the river. The
valuable article of commerce known as attar of roses is made here in
the following manner:--On 40 pounds of roses are poured 60 pounds of
water, and they are then distilled over a slow fire, and 30 pounds
of rose water obtained. This rose water is then poured over 40
pounds of fresh roses, and from that is distilled at most 20 pounds
of rose water; this is then exposed to the cold night air, and in
the morning a small quantity of oil is found on the surface. From 80
pounds of roses, about 200,000, at the utmost an ounce and a-half of
oil is obtained; and even at Ghazipoor it costs 40 rupees (4_l._) an
ounce.
Five guineas have been often paid for one ounce of attar of roses.
The most approved mode of ascertaining its quality is to drop it on
a piece of paper; its strength is ascertained by the quickness with
which it evaporates, and its worth by its leaving no stains on the
paper. The best otto is manufactured at Constantinople.
A volatile oil, erroneously called oil of spikenard, is met with in
the shops, which is obtained from a plant which has been named by Dr.
Royle, the _Andropogon Calamus aromaticus._
The true spikenard of the ancients is supposed to have been obtained
from the _Nardostachys Jatamansi_, a plant of the Valerian family. Dr.
Stenhouse describes rather minutely ("Journal Pharm. Soc." vol. iv. p.
276) a species of East India grass oil, said to be the produce of
_Andropogon Ivaracusa_, which he believes to be what is usually called
the oil of Namur. It has a very fragrant aromatic odor, slightly
resembling that of otto of roses, but not nearly so rich. Its taste is
sharp and agreeable, approaching that of oil of lemons. It has a deep
yellow color, and contains a good deal of resinous matter.
LEMON GRASS (_Andropogon schoenanthus_).--This fragrant grass, which is
now cultivated very generally throughout the West Indies, in the
gardens of the planters, as an elegant and powerful diaphoratic, was
doubtless introduced from the East. The active principle of the leaves
seems to reside in the essential oil which they contain. Lemon grass
oil forms an important article of export from Ceylon, amounting in
value to nearly £7,000 annually.
The _Andropogon schoenanthus_, which may be seen covering all the
Kandian hills, is the best possible pasture for cattle--at least as
long as it is young. This species of grass is very hard, and grows to
the height of seven feet, and sometimes higher, and has a strong but
extremely pleasant acid taste. It derives its name from having, when
crushed, an odor like that of the lemon, so strong, that after a time
it becomes quite heavy and sickening, although grateful and refreshing
at first. It covers the hills in patches--those, at least, that are
not overgrown with jungle and underwood--and it is to be found nowhere
but in the Kandian district. Spontaneous ignition frequently takes
place, and the appearance of the burning grass is described as most
magnificent. A few days after, from the midst of this parched,
blackened, and apparently dead ground, lovely young green shoots begin
to arise--for the roots of this extraordinary grass have not even
been injured, far less destroyed, by the fire; and in a very short
time the whole brow of the mountain is again overspread with tufts of
beautiful green waving grass.--("Journal of Agriculture.")
Otto of khuskhus or scented grass, from another species, _A.
digitalis_, obtained at Ulwar in the States of Rajpootanah, was shown
at the Great Exhibition in 1851, and Newar oil (from _A. maritima_)
from Agra.
CITRONELLA OIL.--In the Southern province of Ceylon some half dozen
estates about Galle are cultivated with citronella grass. The exports
of this oil from Ceylon in the last three years have been as
follows:--1850, 86,048 oz., valued at £3,344; 1851, 114,959 oz.,
valued at £3,742; in 1852, 131,780 oz., valued at £2,806.
PATCHOULY.--Under this name are imported into this country the dried
foliaceous tops of a strongly odoriferous labiate plant, growing three
feet high in India and China, called in Bengalee and Hindu, _pucha
pat_. About 46 cases, of from 50 to 110 lbs. each, were imported from
China, by the way of New York, in 1844. The price asked was 6s. per
pound. Very little is known of the plant yielding it. Mr. George
Porter, late of the island of Pinang, stated that it grows wild there
and on the opposite shores of the Malay peninsula. Dr. Wallich says,
that it obviously belongs to the family Labiatæ. Viney, in the "French
Journal of Pharmacy," suggests that it is the _Plectranthus
graveolens_ of R. Brown. It forms a shrub of two or three feet in
height. It is the _Pogostemon patchouly_. The odor of the dried plant
is strong and peculiar, and to some persons not agreeable. The dried
tops imported into England are a foot or more in length. In India it
is used as an ingredient in tobacco for smoking, and for scenting the
hair of women. In Europe it is principally used for perfumery
purposes, it being a favorite with the French, who import it largely
from Bourbon. The Arabs use and export it more than any other nation.
Their annual pilgrimship takes up an immense quantity of the leaf.
They use it principally for stuffing mattrasses and pillows, and
assert that it is very efficacious in preventing contagion and
prolonging life. It requires no sort of preparation, being simply
gathered and dried in the sun; too much drying, however, is hurtful,
inasmuch as it renders the leaf liable to crumble to dust in packing
and stowing on board. The characteristic smell of Chinese or Indian
ink is owing to an admixture of this plant in its manufacture. M. de
Hugel found the plant growing wild near Canton. By distillation it
yields a volatile oil, on which the odor and remarkable properties
depend. This oil is in common use in India for imparting the peculiar
fragrance of the leaf to clothes among the superior classes of
natives. The origin of its use is this:--A few years ago, real Indian
shawls bore an extravagant price, and purchasers could always
distinguish them by their odor; in fact, they were perfumed with
Patchouly; the French manufacturers at length discovered this secret,
and used to import the plant to perfume articles of their make, and
thus palm off homespun shawls as real India! Some people put the dry
leaves in a muslin bag, and thus use it as we do lavender, scenting
drawers in which linen is kept; this is the best way to use it, as
this odor, like musk, is most agreeable when very
dilute.--("Gardeners' Chronicle.")
The root of some parasitical plant, under the name of kritz, is used
in Cashmere to wash the celebrated shawls, soap is used only for white
shawls.
From the flowers of the Bengal quince (_Ægle marmemolos_) a fragant
liquid is distilled in Ceylon known as marmala water, which is much
used as a perfume for sprinkling by the natives.
Jasmine oil is distilled from _Jasminum sambac_ and _grandiflora_.
SAPONACEOUS PLANTS.--Many plants furnish abroad useful substitutes for
common soap. The aril which surrounds the seed and the roots of
_Sapindus Saponaria_, an evergreen tree, I have seen used as soap in
South America and the West Indies under the name of soap berries. The
seed vessels are very acrid, they lather freely in water and will
cleanse more linen than thirty times their weight of soap, but in time
they corrode or burn the linen. Humboldt says that proceeding along
the river Carenicuar, in the Gulf of Cariaco, he saw the Indian women
washing their linen with the fruit of this tree, there called the
parapara. Some other species of _Sapindus_ and of _Gypsophila_ have
similar properties. The bruised leaves and roots of _Saponaria
officinalis_, a British species, form a lather which much resembles
that of soap, and is similarly efficacious in removing grease spots.
The bark of many species of Quillaia, as _Q. saponaria_, when beaten
between stones, makes a lather which can be used as a substitute for
soap, in washing woollens and silk clothes, and to clean colors in
dyeing, in Chili and Brazil, but it turns linen yellow. The fruit of
_Bromelia Pinguin_ is equally useful. A vegetable soap was prepared
some years ago in Jamaica from the leaves of the American aloe (_Agave
Americana_) which was found as detergent as Castile soap for washing
linen, and had the superior quality of mixing and forming a lather
with salt water as well as fresh. Dr. Robinson, the naturalist, thus
describes the process he adopted in 1767, and for which he was awarded
a grant by the House of Assembly:--"The lower leaves of the Curaca or
Coratoe (_Agave karatu_) were passed between heavy rollers to express
the juice, which, after being strained through a hair cloth, was
merely inspissated by the action of the sun, or a slow fire, and cast
into balls or casks. The only precaution necessary was to allow no
mixture of any unctuous materials, which destroyed the efficacy of the
soap. A vegetable soap, which has been found excellent for washing
silk, &c, may be thus obtained. To one part of the skin of the Ackee
add one and a half part of the _Agave karatu_, macerated in one part
of boiling water for twenty-four hours, and with the extract from this
decoction mix four per cent. of rosin. In Brazil, soap is made from
the ashes of the bassura or broom plant (_Sidu lanceolata_) which
abounds with alkali. There are also some soap barks and pods of
native plants used in China. Several other plants have been employed
in different countries as a substitute for soap. The bark of _Quillaia
saponaria_ renders water frothy and is used as a detergent by wool
dyers. _Saponaria vaccana_ is common in India. The pericarp of
_Sapindus emarginatus_ mixed with water froths like soap. Saponaceous
berries are found in Java.
The soap-worts to which the genus Sapindus belongs are tropical
plants. The fruit of many species of _Sapindus_ is used as a
substitute for soap, as _Sapindus acuminata_, _Laurifolius
emarginatus_ and _detergens_, all East Indian plants.
SECTION VI.
PLANTS YIELDING DRUGS, INCLUDING NARCOTICS AND OTHER COMMON MEDICINAL
SUBSTANCES.
The chief plants furnishing the drugs of commerce, and which enter
largely into tropical agriculture, are the narcotic plants, especially
tobacco, the poppy for opium, and the betel nut and leaf; as
masticatories--but there are very many others to which the attention
of the cultivator may profitably be directed. I have already trenched
so largely upon my space, that I cannot do that justice to the plants
coming under this section I could have wished. There are very many,
however, of which I must make incidental mention. Some few medicinal
plants have been already alluded to in former sections, particularly
in that on dye-stuffs, &c.
THE COCA PLANT grows about four or five feet high, with pale bright
green leaves, somewhat resembling in shape those of the orange tree.
The leaves are picked from the trees three or four times a year, and
carefully dried in the shade; they are then packed in small baskets.
The greatest quantity is grown about 30 leagues from Cicacica, among
the Yunnos on the frontiers of the Yunghos. Some is also cultivated
near to Huacaibamba.
The natives in several parts of Peru chew these leaves as Europeans do
tobacco, particularly in the mining districts, when at work in the
mines or travelling; and such is the sustenance that they derive from
them, that they frequently take no food for four or five days. I have
often (observes Mr. Stevenson) been assured by them, that whilst they
have a good supply of coca they feel neither hunger, thirst, nor
fatigue, and that without impairing their health they can remain eight
to ten days and nights without sleep. The leaves are almost insipid,
but when a small quantity of lime is mixed with them, they have a very
agreeable sweet taste. The natives generally carry with them a leather
pouch containing coca, and a small calabash holding lime or the ashes
of the molle to mix with them.
_Cocculus indicus_, or Indian berries.--This is the commercial name
for the berries or fruit of the _Menispermum Cocculus_ of Linnæus, _M.
heteroclitum_ of Roxburgh, _Animerta paniculata_ of Colebrooke, _A.
Cocculus_ of Wright and Arnot, and _Cocculus suberosus_ of Decandolle.
It is a strong climbing shrub or tree, native of Malabar, Ceylon, and
the Eastern Islands. The seeds or drupes contain a bitter poisonous
acid, and are used for the purpose of stupefying fish, and, in the
form of a black extract, for fraudulently increasing the intoxicating
power of malt liquors; one pound of the berries, it is said, will go
as far in brewing as a sack of malt. The berry is kidney-shaped, with
a white kernel. Whilst the imports in 1846 were but 246 bags, in 1850
they had increased to 2,359 bags of about 1 cwt. each. The price is
19s. to 24s. the cwt.
A crystalline, poisonous, narcotic principle called picrotoxin, has
been detected in these seeds, and occasionally employed externally in
some cutaneous diseases. _Cocculus crispus_ is used in intermittent
fevers and liver complaints.
The annual imports now average 250 tons, and nearly the whole is
consumed for illegal purposes by brewers. Though the practice is
nominally discountenanced by the Legislature under the penalty of £200
upon the brewer and £500 upon the seller, yet under the recent tariff
great encouragement is given to the introduction of these berries, the
duty having been reduced from 7s. 6d. to 5s. the cwt.
The capsules and seeds of _Xanthoxylum hostile_ are also employed for
the same purpose as cocculus indicus. The bark of _Walseria piscidia_,
a native of the Circar mountains, also intoxicates fish.
About 250 tons of _Nux vomica_, another species of dried flat seed
possessing intoxicating properties, are also imported annually for the
same purposes, and they fetch about 6s. to 8s. the cwt.
BETEL LEAF.--_Piper Betel_, a scandent species of the shrubby
evergreen tribe of plants belonging to the pepper family, furnishes
the celebrated betel leaf of the Southern Asiatics, in which they
enclose a few slices of the areca nut and a little shell lime; this
they chew to sweeten the breath, and to keep off the pangs of hunger,
and it acts also as a narcotic.
Such is the immense consumption of this masticatory, termed Pan, in
the East, that it forms nearly as extensive an article of commerce as
that of tobacco in the West. The tax on the leaf forms a considerable
portion of the local revenue of Pinang; in 1805, the tax yielded as
much as 5,400 dollars.
Rumphius describes six species of this vine, besides several wild and
cultivated varieties. It is very easily reared in the Indian islands,
but in the countries of the Deccan requires manuring, frequent
watering and great care, and in the northern parts of Hindostan it
becomes an exotic very difficult to rear. The vine affords leaves fit
for use in the second year, and continues to yield for more than
thirty, the quantity diminishing as the plants grow older.
ARECA PALM (_Acacia Catechu_).--This is a fine, slender, graceful
tree, rising from 20 to 30 feet high, which, being a native of the
East, is found abundant in many of the forests of India, from 16 to 30
degs. of latitude. The principal places of its growth are the Burmese
territories, a large province on the Malabar coast called the
_Concan_, and the forests skirting the northern parts of Bengal, under
the hills which divide it from Nepaul, the south and west coasts of
Ceylon, the south of China, &c., the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and the
Eastern islands, it produces fruit at five years old, and continues
bearing till about its twenty-fifth year, when it withers and dies. It
thrives at a greater distance from the sea, and in more elevated
regions than the coco-nut palm. In Prince of Wales Island some
hundreds of thousands of these palms are cultivated.
The seeds or nuts form a chief ingredient in the celebrated eastern
masticatory called Pan and which seems to owe its stimulating
properties to the leaves of the _Piper Betel_. When prepared for use,
the nut is cut into slices and wrapped in the fresh leaves of the
betel pepper vine, together with a quantity of quicklime (_Chunam_) to
give it a flavor. The flavor is peculiar, between an herbaceous and an
aromatic taste.
All classes, male and female, chew it; they say it sweetens the
breath, strengthens the stomach, and preserves the teeth, to which it
gives a reddish hue; there is probably less objection to its use than
tobacco or opium, and its taste is more pleasant; but, if taken to
excess, it will produce stupor like other narcotics, and even
intoxication. The nuts grow in large bunches at the top, and when ripe
are red and have a beautiful appearance; they resemble the nutmeg in
shape and color, but are larger and harder. When gathered they are
laid in heaps until the shell be somewhat rotted, and then dried in
the sun, after which the process of shelling commences. The trees vary
in their yield from 300 to 1,000 nuts, averaging about 14 lbs.; which
the cultivators sell at about half a dollar (2s.) a picul of 133 lbs.
As these palms are planted usually at the distance of 7½ feet, it
follows that the produce of an acre is about 10,841 lbs. The tree
bears but once in a year generally, but there are green nuts enough to
eat all the year long. Betel nut is a staple article of import into
China; 25,000 piculs annually is the amount returned, but there is an
immense quantity imported in Chinese junks from Hainan, of which there
is no account kept. In the single port of Canton alone, 15,565 piculs
were imported in 1844, and about 400 to Ningpo. 3,005 piculs of betel
nuts, valued at 8,700 dollars, were imported into Canton in 1850, and
as much as 4,000 tons of areca nuts are shipped annually from Ceylon.
The astringent extract obtained from the seeds of the Areca-palm
constitutes two (or perhaps more) kinds of the catechu of the shops.
According to Dr. Heyne ("Tracts Hist. and Statist. on India"), it is
largely procured in Mysore, about Sirah, in the following manner:--
The nuts are taken as they come from the tree and boiled for some
hours in an iron vessel. They are then taken out, and the remaining
water is inspissated by continual boiling. This process furnishes
Kassu, or most astringent terra japonica, which is black and mixed
with paddy criu, husks, and other impurities. After the nuts are
dried, they are put into a fresh quantity of water, boiled again;
and this water being inspissated, like the former, yields the best
or dearest kind of catechu, called Coony. It is yellowish brown, has
an earthy fracture, and is free from the admixture of foreign
bodies.
Most of the betel nuts imported into China come from Java, Singapore,
and Pinang. Betel nut is not so generally used in the South of China
as among the Southern Islands, and in the north of China it is a
luxury, as the pepper does not grow freely there. Formerly there was a
considerable trade in betel nuts with the Coromandel coast, from
whence the natives brought back manufactured goods and other
necessaries in return, but this has ceased for some time. The common
price was 20,000 for a dollar. These nuts are seldom imported into
England, though they might be of use as a dye in some manufactures.
The natives of the East chew the fruit of _Elate sylvestris_, (which
is something like a wild plum), in the same manner as the areca nut,
with the leaf of the betel pepper and quick lime.
The inner wood furnishes a kind of _Catechu_ or _Cutch_, which
contains much tannin and is a powerful astringent. It is obtained by
the simple process of boiling the heart of the wood for a few hours,
when it assumes the appearance and consistency of tar. It hardens by
cooling, and when formed into small squares and dried in the sun is
fit for the market.
The produce of Bombay is of uniform texture and of a dark red color.
That of Concan and other parts of India is of chocolate color, and
marked inside with red streaks.
The analysis of Sir H. Davy gave the following result:--
Bombay. Concan.
Tannin 54.5 48.5
Extractive 34.0 36.5
Mucilage 6.5 8.0
Insoluble matters, sand, lime, &c. 5.0 7.0
----- -----
100. 100.
Catechu is in extensive use in India for tanning purposes, and of late
years it has entirely superseded madder in the calico works of Europe
for dyeing a golden coffee-brown, one pound of catechu being found
equivalent to six pounds of madder.
Value of the areca nuts exported from Ceylon to the British Colonies
and foreign States in the years named:--
£.
1839 22,956
1840 23,096
1841 22,428
1842 29,222
1843 27,028
1844 20,978
1845 31,836
1846 34,209
1847 35,723
1848 42,482
1849 31,746
1850 42,907
1851 54,846
1852 52,230
THE POPPY.
OPIUM is the concrete inspissated juice of the white poppy, _Papaver
somniferum_ and its varieties, obtained by scratching the capsules and
collecting the exuding juice. The plant has been long known, and is
perhaps one of the earliest described. It is a native of Western Asia
and probably also of the South of Europe, but it has been distributed
over various countries.
In 1826 the imports of opium into the United Kingdom were 79,829 lbs.,
of which 28,329 lbs. were consumed in this country. The imports and
consumption in subsequent years are shown by the following figures:--
Imports. Consumption.
lbs. lbs.
1827 113,140 17,322
1830 209,076 22,668
1833 106,846 35,407
1836 130,794 38,943
1839 196,247 41,682
1842 72,373 47,432
1845 259,644 38,229
1848 200,019 61,055
1819 105,724 44,177
1850 126,318 42,324
1851 118,024 50,682
1852 205,780 62,521
Few who have not looked into the statistics of this trade, are aware
of the enormous consumption of opium all over the world, but chiefly
in China and India.
In 1845, 18,792 chests of opium were sent from Calcutta to China, and
nearly the same number of the Malwa opium from Bombay and Damaun. The
total production of India exported to China, in 1844, was 21,526
chests from Bengal, and 18,321 from Bombay, in all 39,847 chests. The
number of persons in China given to the consumption of opium was
estimated, in 1837, at three millions, and the average quantity smoked
by each individual is about 17½ grains a day. The consumption of
Indian opium (independent of Turkey opium) in China has gradually
increased from 3,210 chests in 1817, to 9,969 chests in 1827, and
about 40,000 chests in 1837, valued at 25,000,000 dollars. Now it has
reached 50,000 to 60,000 chests. Notwithstanding severe penalties,
imprisonment, temporary banishment, and even death, the number of
those who smoke opium has multiplied exceedingly, and the contraband
trade in the drug is carried on to so large an extent, that it is to
be feared the practice will become general throughout the empire.
According to Mr. E. Thornton's statistics, the production of opium in
Bengal has increased cent. per cent. in the last ten years:--
Chests.
1840-41 17,858
1841-42 18,827
1842-43 18,362
1843-44 15,104
1844-45 18,350
1845-46 21,437
1846-47 21,648
1847-48 30,515
1848-49 36,000
The chest is about 140 lbs., so that the production in 1849 was
5,040,000 lbs.
According to the statements annexed to the statistical papers relating
to India, the income from the opium monopoly is obtained by two
principal means, namely, by a system of allowing the cultivation of
the poppy by the natives of British India on account of Government,
and by the impost of a heavy duty on opium grown and manufactured in
foreign states, but brought in transit to a British port for
exportation. The former system obtains in Bengal, the latter in
Bombay. According to the statements published, Bengal opium yields a
profit of 7s. 6d. per lb., whilst the duty derived in the Bombay
presidency is only equal to a surplus of 5s. 8d. per lb. By these
means the total revenue realised by the opium monopoly, in Bengal and
Bombay, in the year 1849-50 yielded £3,309,637.
Lest objection should be taken to this large annual revenue derived
from the cultivation of a drug, the unnatural consumption of which
would be suppressed under any other European government, the Court of
Directors is very anxious to show the benefit which the country
derives from this monopoly; they say "that as the price of opium is
almost wholly paid by foreign consumers, and the largest return is
obtained with the smallest outlay, the best interests of India would,
appear to be consulted." Nobody at all acquainted with the financial
resources and the capabilities of any country, would hazard such an
assertion. By paying cultivators for the restricted growth of the
poppy a price hardly yielding more than the average rate of wages to
the common laborer, I do not see in what way the best interests of
India are consulted, nor is it clear that the population derives any
benefit by being prohibited altogether from manufacturing a drug,
which may be brought from another country _in transitu_ on the payment
of a heavy duty; unless indeed the Court of Directors are of opinion
that in the event of the abolition of the monopoly, the people of the
country would have to make up for the loss of the revenue by
submitting to some other mode of direct or indirect taxation. There is
an inconsistency in the statements of the Court of Directors, which is
absolutely amusing. "The free cultivation of the poppy," say the
Directors, "would doubtless lead to the larger outlay of capital, and
to greater economy in production; but the poppy requires the richest
description of land, and its extended cultivation must therefore
displace other products." How very considerate on the part of the
Directors, but how strongly at variance with facts, since all the fear
of displacing other products, and all this appropriation of the
richest description of land for other purposes has not prevented the
Indian Government, within less than ten years, from more than doubling
the cultivation of the poppy and the manufacture of opium. The
Directors tell us that the heavy transit duty charged at Bombay is to
discourage production, but they do not say whether that discouragement
applies, as one would imagine, to those foreign districts which have
to pay the transit duty for their production. If so, the assertion is
again at variance with facts, because in a subsequent statement they
say, "It is stated that neither the price of opium, nor the extent of
cultivation in Malwa, has been affected by the great enhancement of
the pass duty, which has taken place since 1845."
The following will show that the Company loses no opportunity of
applying the screw:--
The subjugation of Scinde afforded opportunity for the levy of a
higher rate. Down to the period of that event, a large portion of
the opium of Malwa had been conveyed through Scinde to Kurrachee,
and thence onward to the Portuguese ports of Diu and Demaun. That
route is now closed, and it was reasonably expected that an advance
might be made in the charge of passes without the risk of loss to
the revenue from a diminished demand for them. The rate was
accordingly increased in October, 1843, from 125 to 200 rupees per
chest. Upon the principle that it was desirable to fix the price at
the highest amount that could be levied, without forcing the trade
into other channels, a further increase was made in 1845. when it
was determined that the charge should be 300 rupees per chest. Under
the like views it was, in 1847, raised to 400 rupees per chest.
The company was perfectly correct, for though the quantity of opium
did not increase, the revenue did; and whilst in 1840-41 16,773 chests
yielded an income of only 22,046,452 rupees--16,500 chests brought in
1849-50 actually 72,094,835 rupees into the coffers of the Government
of Bombay. But the people of India earned not a pice by it, and those
richest descriptions of land, which it was so desirable to reserve for
other produce than the poppy, remained barren.
The white variety of the poppy is that which is exclusively brought
under cultivation for the production of the drug in India and Egypt.
For the successful culture of opium a mild climate, plentiful
irrigation, a rich soil, and diligent husbandry are indispensable. One
acre of well cultivated ground will yield from 70 lbs. to 100 lbs. of
"chick," or inspissated juice, the price of which varies from 6s. to
12s. a pound, so that an acre will yield from £20 to £60 worth of
opium at one crop. Three pounds of chick will produce one pound of
opium, from a third to a fifth of the weight being lost in
evaporation. A chief chemical feature, which distinguishes Bengal
opium from that of Turkey and Egypt, is the large proportion which the
narcotine in the former bears to the morphia, and this proportion is
constant in all seasons. It is a matter of importance to ascertain
whether the treatment which the juice receives after its collection
can influence in any way the amount of alkaloids, or of the other
principles in opium. In Turkey it is the custom to beat up the juice
with saliva, in Malwa it is immersed as collected in linseed oil,
whilst in Bengal it is brought to the required consistence by mere
exposure to the air in the shade, though, at the same time, all the
watery particles of the juice that will separate are drained off, and
used in making _Lewah_, or inferior opium.
The lands selected for poppy cultivation are generally situated in the
vicinity of villages, where the facilities for manuring and irrigation
are greatest. In such situations and when the soil is rich, it is
frequently the practice with the cultivators to take a crop of Indian
corn, maize, or vegetables off the ground during the rainy season, and
after the removal of this in September, to dress and manure the ground
for the subsequent poppy sowings. In other situations, however, and
when the soil is not rich, the poppy crop is the only one taken off
the ground during the year, and from the commencement of the rains in
June or July, until October, the ground is dressed and cleaned by
successive ploughings and weedings, and manured to the extent which
the means of the cultivator will permit. In the final preparation of
the land in October and November, the soil, after being well loosened
and turned up by the plough, is crushed and broken down by the passage
of a heavy log of wood over its surface, and it is in this state ready
for sowing.
The amount of produce from various lands differs considerably. Under
very favorable circumstances of soil and season, as much as twelve or
even thirteen seers (26 lbs.) of standard opium may be, obtained from
each biggah of 27,225 square feet. "Under less favorable conditions
the turn-out may not exceed three or four seers, but the usual amount
of produce varies from six to eight seers per biggah.
The chemical examination of different soils in connection with their
opium-producing powers, presents a field for profitable and
interesting inquiry; nor is the least important part of the
investigation that which has reference to variations in the
proportions of the alkaloids (especially the morphia and narcotine),
which occur in opium produced in various localities. That atmospheric
causes exert a certain influence in determining these variations is
probable; that they influence the amount of produce, and cause
alterations in the physical appearance of the drug, are facts well
known to every cultivator: thus the effect of dew is to facilitate the
flow of the juice from the wounded capsule, rendering it abundant in
quantity, but causing it at the same time to be dark and liquid. An
easterly wind (which in India is usually concomitant with a damp state
of atmosphere), retards the flow of juice, and renders it dark and
liquid. A moderate westerly wind, with dew at night, form the
atmospheric conditions most favorable for collection, both as regards
the quantity and quality of the exudation. If, however, the westerly
wind (which is an extremely dry wind) blow violently, the exudation
from the capsules is sparing. Whilst the effect of meteorological
phenomena in producing the above results are well marked, their action
in altering the relative proportions of the chemical constituents of
the juice of the poppy plant is more obscure, and it is highly
probable that the chemical composition of the soil plays a most
important part in this respect. Dr. O'Shaughnessy is certainly the
most accomplished chemist who had ever, in India, turned his attention
to the subject, and he has published the results of his analyses of
specimens of opium from the different divisions of the Behar Agency,
which are worthy of much attention. In the opium from eight divisions
of the agency, he found the quantity of morphia to range from 1¾
grains to 3½ grains per cent., and the amount of the narcotine to vary
from ¾ grain to 3½ grains per cent., the consistence of the various
specimens being between 75 and 79 per cent. In the opium from the
Hazareebaugh district (the consistence of the drug being 77), he found
4½ per cent, of morphia, and 4 per cent, narcotine; whilst from a
specimen of Patna-garden opium he extracted no less than 10¾ per cent.
of morphia, and 6 per cent. of narcotine, the consistence of the drug
being 87. With respect to the last specimen, Dr. O'Shaughnessy
mentions that the poppies which produced it were irrigated three times
during the season, and that no manure was employed upon the soil. It
is much to be regretted that these interesting results were not
coupled with an analysis of the soils from which the specimens were
produced, for to chemical variations in it must be attributed the
widely different results recorded above.
Opium as a medicine has been used from the earliest ages; but when it
was first resorted to as a luxury, it is impossible to state, though
it is not at all improbable that this was coeval with its employment
in medicine, for how often do we find that, from having been first
administered as a sedative for pain, it has been continued until it
has taken the place of the evil. Such must have happened from the
earliest ages, as it happens daily in the present; but as a national
vice it was not known until the spread of Islamism, when, by the
tenets of the Prophet, wine and fermented liquors being prohibited, it
came in their stead along with the bang or hasch-schash (made from
hemp), coffee, and tobacco. From the Arabs the inhabitants of the
Eastern Archipelago most probably imbibed their predilection for
opium, although their particular manner of using it has evidently been
derived from the Chinese. China, where at present it is so extensively
used, cannot be said to have indulged long in the vice. Previous to
1767 the number of chests imported did not exceed 200 yearly; now the
average is 50,000 to 60,000. In 1773 the East India Company made their
first venture in opium, and in 1796 it was declared a crime to smoke
opium.
In different countries we find opium consumed in different ways. In
England it is either used in a solid state, made into pills, or a
tincture in the shape of laudanum. Insidiously it is given to children
under a variety of quack forms, such as "Godfrey's cordial," &c. In
India the pure opium is either dissolved in water and so used, or
rolled into pills. It is there a common practice to give it to
children when very young, by mothers, who require to work and cannot
at the same time nurse their offspring. In China it is either smoked
or swallowed in the shape of _Tye_. In Bally it is first adulterated
with China paper, and then rolled up with the fibres of a particular
kind of plantain. It is then inserted into a hole made at the end of a
small bamboo, and smoked. In Java and Sumatra it is often mixed with
sugar and the ripe fruit of the plantain. In Turkey it is usually
taken in pills, and those who do so, avoid drinking any water after
swallowing them, as this is said to produce violent colics; but to
make it more palatable, it is sometimes mixed with syrups or thickened
juices; in this form, however, it is less intoxicating, and resembles
mead. It is then taken with a spoon, or is dried in small cakes, with
the words "Mash Allah," or "Word of God," imprinted on them. When the
dose of two or three drachms a day no longer produces the beatific
intoxication, so eagerly sought by the opiophagi, they mix the opium
with corrosive sublimate, increasing the quantity of the latter till
it reaches ten grains a day. It then acts as a stimulant. In addition
to its being used in the shape of pills, it is frequently mixed with
hellebore and hemp, and forms a mixture known by the name of majoon,
whose properties are different from that of opium, and may account in
a great measure for the want of similitude in the effect of the drug
on the Turk and the Chinese.
In Singapore and China the refuse of the chandu, the prepared extract
of opium, is all used by the lower classes. This extract, when
consumed, leaves a refuse, consisting of charcoal, empyreumatic oil,
some of the salts of opium, and a part of the chandu not consumed. Now
one ounce of chandu gives nearly half an ounce of this refuse, called
Tye, or Tinco. This is smoked and swallowed by the poorer classes, who
only pay half the price of chandu for it. When smoked it yields a
further refuse called samshing, and this is even used by the still
poorer, although it contains a very small quantity of the narcotic
principle. Samshing, however, is never smoked, as it cannot furnish
any smoke, but is swallowed, and that not unfrequently mixed with
arrack.
_Preparation_.--In Asia Minor, men, women, and children, a few days
after the flower falls from the poppies, proceed to the fields, and
with a shell scratch the capsules, wait twenty-four hours, and
collect the tears, which amount to two or three grains in weight
from each capsule. These being collected and mixed with the
scrapings of the shells, worked up with saliva and surrounded by
dried leaves, it is then sold, but, generally speaking, not without
being still more adulterated with cow's dung, sand, gravel, the
petals of flowers, &c. Different kinds of opium are known in the
markets of Europe and Asia.
The first in point of quality is the _Smyrna_, known in commerce as
the _Turkey_ or _Levant_. It occurs in irregular, rounded, flattened
masses, seldom exceeding two pounds in weight, and surrounded by
leaves of a kind of sorrel; the quantity of morphia said to be
derived from average specimens is eight per cent.
Second, _Constantinople Opium_, two kinds of which are found in the
market, one in very voluminous irregular cakes, which are flattened
like the Smyrna; this is a good quality. The other kind is in small,
flattened, regular cakes, from two to two and a half inches in
diameter, and covered with the leaves of the poppy; the quantity of
morphia is very uncertain in this description of opium, sometimes
mounting as high as 15 per cent., and sometimes descending so low as
six, showing the great variety in the quality of the drug.
Third, _Egyptian Opium_, occurs in round flattened cakes, about 3
inches in diameter, and covered externally with the vestiges of
some leaf. It is distinguished from the others by its reddish color,
resembling "Socotrine Aloes." The quantity of morphia in this is
inferior to the preceding. It has one quality which, when
adulterated, ought to be known, that is a musty smell. By keeping it
does not blacken like the other kinds.
Fourth, _English Opium_, is in flat cakes or balls enveloped in
leaves. It resembles fine Egyptian opium more than any other kind.
Its color is that of hepatic aloes, and in the quantity of morphia
it is inferior to the preceding, but in the strength of the mass it
is said by one of its most extensive cultivators to be superior.
Fifth, _French_, and sixth _German Opium_, require no particular
remarks. By a recent notice I find the French are cultivating the
poppy in Algeria, from which they get opium giving a small per
centage of morphia.
Seventh, _Trebizond_ or _Persian Opium_, is sometimes met with of a
very inferior quality in the form of cylindrical sticks, which by
pressure have become angular.
Eighth, _Indian Opium_, divided into four kinds, Cutch, Malwa, Patna
and Benares. Of these Cutch is but little known or cultivated. It
occurs in small cakes covered with leaves, and its color is much
inferior to Smyrna. Malwa opium is to be met with of two kinds. The
inferior is in flattened cakes, without any external covering, dull,
opaque, blackish brown externally, internally somewhat darker, and
soft. Its color is somewhat like the Smyrna, but less powerful, and
with a slight smoky smell. Superior Malwa is in square cakes, about
three inches in length and one inch thick. It has the appearance of
a well prepared, shining, dry, pharmaceutical extract; its color is
blackish brown, its odor less powerful than Smyrna; it is not
covered by petals as the following kinds are, but smeared with oil;
it is then rubbed with pounded petals.
The Behar, Patna, and Benares Opium, being strictly in the hands of
Government, no adulteration can take place, without a most extensive
system of fraud; but it will not be uninteresting to trace the
progress of the opium from the hands of the natives, to the
condition in which it is delivered to the public by the Government.
From the commencement of the hot season to the middle of the rains
the Government is ready to receive opium, which is brought by the
natives every morning, in batches, varying in quantities from twenty
seers to a maund. The examining officer into each jar thrusts his
examining rod, which consists of a slit bamboo, and, by experience,
he can so judge of the qualities of the specimens before him, which
are sorted into lots of No. 1 to No. 4 quality. Opium of the first
quality is of a fine chesnut color, aromatic smell, and dense
consistence. It is moderately ductile, and, when the mass is torn,
breaks with a deeply notched fracture, with sharp needle-like
fibres, translucent and ruby red at the edges. It is readily broken
down under water, and the solution at first filters of a sherry
color, which darkens as the process proceeds. One hundred grains of
this yield an extract to cold distilled water of from 35 to 45, and
at the temperature of 212 degs., leaves from 20 to 28 per cent.,
having a consistency of 70 to 72, the consistence of the factory.
The second quality is inferior to the first, and the third quality
is possessed of the following properties, black paste, of a very
heavy smell, drops from the examining rod, gives off from 40 to 50
per cent, of moisture, and contains a large quantity of "Pasewa;"
while the fourth or last number embraces all the kinds which are too
bad to be used in the composition of the balls, comprising specimens
of all varieties of color and consistence. This number is mixed with
water, and only used as a paste to cement the covering of the balls.
The three first qualities are emptied from their jars into large
tanks, in which they are kept until the supply of the season has
been obtained. The opium is then removed and exposed to the air on
shallow wooden frames, until it becomes of the consistency of from
69 to 70, when it is given to the cake maker, who guesses to a
drachm the exact weight, and envelops the opium in its covering of
petals, cemented by a covering of quality number 4. The balls are
then weighed and stored, to undergo a thorough ventilation and
drying. Formerly the covering of the balls was composed of the
leaves of tobacco; but the late Mr. Flemming introduced the
practice of using the petals of the poppy, which was such an
improvement that the Court of Directors presented him with 50,000
rupees. The balls, forty in number, are packed in a mango wood case,
which consists of two stories with twenty pigeon holes in each,
lined with lath and surrounded by the dried leaves of the poppy.
Sometimes these balls are so soft as to burst their skins, and much
of the liquid opium running out, is lost. In 1823, many of the
chests of Patna lost five catties from this cause, and to this day
we have the same thing continuing to occur. Patna chests are covered
with bullock hides, Benares with gunnies.
Dr. Impey, staff surgeon at Poona, who resided in Malwa from 1843 to
1846, published at Bombay, in 1848, a valuable treatise on the
cultivation, preparation, and adulteration of Malwa opium. It was some
time before he obtained the permission of the East India Company to
publish the result of the experience he had acquired in Malwa, and as
Government inspector of opium at Bombay. It is the most practical
treatise I have yet met with, although a very elaborate, useful paper,
by Mr. Little, surgeon, of Singapore, appears in the 2nd vol. of the
"Journal of the Indian Archipelago," from which I have quoted the
preceding remarks.
Mr. Little furnishes a complete history of the drug, and the physical
and mental effects resulting from its habitual use. There are also
some able remarks in Dr. O'Shaughnessy's Bengal Dispensatory:--
For the successful cultivation of opium, a mild climate, plentiful
irrigation, a rich soil, and diligent husbandry, are indispensable.
In reference to the first of these, Malwa is placed most favorably.
The country is in general from 1,300 to 2,000 feet above the level
of the sea: the mean temperature is moderate, and range of the
thermometer small. Opium is always cultivated in ground near a tank
or running stream, so as to be insured at all times of an abundant
supply of water. The rich black loam, supposed to be produced by the
decomposition of trap, and known by the name of cotton soil, is that
prepared for opium. Though fertile and rich enough to produce thirty
successive crops of wheat without fallowing, it is not sufficiently
rich for the growth of the poppy until largely supplied with manure.
There is, in fact, no crop known to the agriculturist, unless sugar
cane, that requires so much care and labor as the poppy. The ground
is first four times ploughed on four successive days, then carefully
harrowed; when manure, at the rate of from eight to ten cart loads
an acre, is applied to it; this is scarcely half what is allowed a
turnip crop at home. The crop is after this watered once every eight
or ten days, the total number of waterings never exceeding nine in
all. One beegah takes two days to soak thoroughly in the cold
weather, and four as the hot season approaches. Water applied after
the petals drop from the flower, causes the whole to wither and
decay. When the plants are six inches high, they are weeded and
thinned, leaving about a foot and a-half betwixt each plant; in
three months they reach maturity, and are then about four feet in
height if well cultivated. The full-grown seed-pod measures three
and a-half inches vertically, and two and a-half in horizontal
diameter. Early in February and March the bleeding process
commences. Three small lancet-shaped pieces of iron are bound
together with cotton, about one-twelfth of an inch of the blade
alone protruding, so that no discretion as to the depth of the wound
to be inflicted shall be left to the operator; and this is drawn
sharply up from the top of the stalk at the base, to the summit of
the pod. The sets of people are so arranged that each plant is bled
all over once every three or four days, the bleedings being three or
four times repeated on each plant. This operation always begins to
be performed about three or four o'clock in the afternoon, the
hottest part of the day. The juice appears almost immediately on the
wound being inflicted, in the shape of a thick gummy milk, which is
thickly covered with a brownish pellicle. The exudation is greatest
over night, when the incisions are washed and kept open by the dew.
The opium thus derived is scraped off next morning, with a blunt
iron tool resembling a cleaver in miniature. Here the work of
adulteration begins--the scraper being passed heavily over the
seed-pod, so as to carry with it a considerable portion of the
beard, or pubescence, which contaminates the drug and increases its
apparent quantity. The work of scraping begins at dawn, and must be
continued till ten o'clock; during this time a workman will collect
seven or eight ounces of what is called "chick." The drug is next
thrown into an earthen vessel, and covered over or drowned in
linseed oil, at the rate of two parts of oil to one of chick, so as
to prevent evaporation. This is the second process of
adulteration--the ryot desiring to sell the drug as much drenched
with oil as possible, the retailers at the same time refusing to
purchase that which is thinner than half dried glue. One acre of
well cultivated ground will yield from 70 to 100 pounds of chick.
The price of chick varies from three to six rupees a pound, so that
an acre will yield from 200 to 600 rupees worth of opium at one
crop. Three pounds of chick will produce about two pounds of opium,
from a third to a fifth of the weight being lost in evaporation. It
now passes into the hands of the Bunniah, who prepares it and brings
it to market. From twenty-five to fifty pounds having been
collected, is tied up in parcels in double bags of sheeting cloth,
which are suspended from the ceilings so as to avoid air and light,
while the spare linseed oil is allowed to drop through. This
operation is completed in a week or ten days, but the bags are
allowed to remain for a month or six weeks, during which period the
last of the oil that can be separated comes away; the rest probably
absorbs oxygen and becomes thicker, as in paint. This process
occupies from April to June or July, when the rain begins. The bags
are next taken down and their contents carefully emptied into large
vats from ten to fifteen feet in diameter, and six or eight inches
thick. Here it is mixed together and worked up with the hands five
or six hours, until it has acquired an uniform color and consistence
throughout, become tough and capable of being formed into masses.
This process is peculiar to Malwa. It is now made up into balls of
from eight to ten ounces each, these being thrown, as formed, into a
basket full of the chaff of the seeds pod. It is next spread out on
ground previously covered with leaves and stalks of the poppy; here
it remains for a week or so, when it is turned over and left further
to consolidate, until hard enough to bear packing. It is ready for
weighing in October or November, and is then sent to market. It is
next packed in chests of 150 cakes, the total cost of the drug at
the place of production being about fourteen rupees per chest,
including all expenses. About 20,000 chests are annually sent from
Malwa, at a prime cost charge of two lacs and 80,000 rupees. It may
easily be supposed that manipulations so numerous, complex, and
tedious, as those described, give the most ample opportunities for
the adulteration to which the nature of the drug tempts the
fraudulent dealer.
In order to enable the cultivator to carry on his agricultural
operations, he receives from time to time certain advances, the
amount of which reaches in the aggregate to about one-half of the
value of the estimated out-turn of produce. If the land has been
under cultivation in previous seasons, its average produce is known;
if it be new land, and considered by the Sub-Deputy Agent as
eligible, then the cultivator, in addition to the usual advances,
receives an advance of so much per biggah to enable him to bestow a
certain amount of extra care in tilling and dressing the soil. The
first advance is made on the completion of the agreement or
bundobust, and this takes place in September and October. The second
advance is made on the completion of the sowings in November, and
the final or Chook payment is made immediately after the delivery
and weighing of the produce. Nothing therefore can be fairer to the
cultivator than this system of advances; he is subject to no sort of
exaction, in the shape of interest or commission on the money which
he receives, and it puts within his power the certain means of
making a fair profit by the exercise of common care and honesty. It
is an established rule in the Agency that the cultivator's accounts
of one season shall be definitively settled before the commencement
of the next, and that no outstanding balances shall remain over.
When a cultivator has from fraud neglected to bring produce to cover
his advances, the balances due by him are at once recovered, if
necessary by legal means; whereas, if he can satisfactorily show
that he has become a defaulter from calamity and uncontrollable
circumstances, and that the liquidation of his debt is placed
entirely beyond his power, his case is then made the subject of
report to the Government by the Agent, with the request that the
debt may be written off to profit and loss. These provisions are
most wise, for outstanding balances may be made the means of
oppression, and to their operation may be traced a considerable
amount of litigation and agrarian crime in the indigo districts of
lower Bengal. It is clear that when such balances become so large
that the cultivator cannot discharge them, he is no longer a free
agent, but is perfectly subservient to the will of his creditor, for
whom he must cultivate whether he desire it or not. Such burdens may
even be handed down from father to son. The fairness of the Agency
system, and the justice with which the cultivators are treated, are
best evidenced by the readiness with which they come forward to
cultivate, and also by the comparative rarity of agrarian crime,
arising out of matters connected with the poppy cultivation.
Opium is grown to some extent in Egypt; 39,875 lbs. were produced in
1831, and sold at two dollars a pound.
At the end of October, after the withdrawal of the Nile waters the
seed, mixed with a portion of pulverised earth, is sown in a strong
soil, in furrows; after fifteen days the plant springs up, and in two
months has the thickness of a Turkish pipe, and a height of four feet;
the stalk is covered with long, oval leaves, and the fruit, which is
greenish, resembles a small orange. Every morning before sunrise, in
its progress to maturity, small incisions are made in the sides of the
fruit, from which a white liquor distils almost immediately, which is
collected in a vessel; it soon becomes black and thickish, and is
rolled into balls, which are covered with the washed leaves of the
plant; in this state it is sold. The seeds are crushed for lamp oil,
and the plant is used for fuel.
A plant known in Jamaica under the name of bull hoof yields a narcotic
which has been administered successfully in the shape of tincture and
a syrup, instead of opium. This is the _Muracuja ocellata_, or
_Passiflora muracuja_, of Swartz, an elegant climber, bearing bright
scarlet blossoms. There is another species, _M. orbiculata_, found in
Hayti and other islands, which may be expected to partake more or less
of the properties of the former. The flowers are the parts most
commonly employed.
THE TOBACCO PLANT.
Several species of _Nicotium_ furnish tobacco; that chiefly used in
Europe is procured from _N. Tabacum_ and its numerous varieties, a
plant naturally inhabiting the hotter parts of North and South
America. The popular narcotic furnished by tobacco is probably in more
extensive use than any other, and its only rivals are opium and the
betel-nut and leaf of the East. The herb for smoking was brought to
England from Tobago, in the West Indies, or from Tobasco, in Mexico
(whence the name), by Sir Ralph Lane, in 1586. Seeds were shortly
after introduced from the same quarter.
"Tobacco, as used by man," says Du Tour, "gives pleasure to the savage
and the philosopher, to the inhabitant of the burning desert and the
frozen zone; in short, its use, either in powder, to chew, or to
smoke, is universal; and for no other reason than a sort of convulsive
motion (sneezing) produced by the first, and a degree of intoxication
by the two last modes of use."
Tobacco is an annual plant, attaining a height of six feet, having
dingy red, funnel-shaped flowers, and viscid leaves. The leaves are
the officinal part, and their active properties depend on a peculiar,
oily-like alkaloid, called Nicotin. The flavor and strength of tobacco
depend on climate, cultivation, and the mode of manufacture. That most
esteemed by the smoker is Havanna tobacco, but the Virginian is the
strongest. The small Havanna cigars are prepared from the leaves of
_Nicotium repanda_, Syrian and Turkish tobacco from _N. rustica_, and
fine Shiraz tobacco from _N. persica_. With the exception of the
Macuba tobacco, which is cultivated in Martinique in a peculiar soil,
the tobacco of Cuba is considered the finest in the world. That grown
in the island of Trinidad is, however, fully equal to it in quality,
but all raised in the colony is generally consumed there, and is
little known in the English market. This ought not to be the case, for
no article would pay better.
The Maryland is a very light tobacco, in thin, yellow leaves; that of
Virginia is in large brown leaves, unctuous or somewhat gluey on the
surface, having a smell very like the figs of Malaga; that of Havanna
is in brownish light leaves, of an agreeable and rather spicy
smell,--it forms, as I have already stated, the best cigars. The
Carolina tobacco is less unctuous than the Virginian, but in the
United States it ranks next to the Maryland. The shag tobacco is dried
to the proper point upon sheets of copper, and is cut up by
knife-edged chopping stamps. There are said to be four kinds of
tobacco reared in Virginia, viz., the sweet-scented, which is
considered the best; the _big and little_, which follows next; then
the Frederick; and, lastly, the _one and all_, the largest kind, and
producing most in point of quantity.
According to Loudon ("Encyclo. of Plants"), there are fourteen species
of this genus, besides a few varieties. Lindley, however, enumerates
31, but many of these are mere showy species, adapted to flower
gardens. I shall therefore follow chiefly London's classification--
1. _N. Tabacum_, a native of several parts of America, but
principally known as Virginian tobacco, having a stem rising from
four to six feet or more in height, bearing pink flowers. Of this
there are three chief varieties known in America by the popular
names of Orinoco, Broad-leaved and Narrow-leaved. Lindley enumerates
eight varieties of _N. Tabacum_.
2. _N. macrophylla_, or large-leaved tobacco, an ornamental annual,
also with pink flowers, native of America, which rises to the height
of six feet.
3. _N. fruticosa_, or shrubby tobacco, an ornamental evergreen
shrub, native of China, with pink blossoms, which grows to about
three feet.
4. _N. undulata_, or _suaveolens_, sweet-scented or New Holland
tobacco, a green house perennial, native of New South Wales, with
white flowers, which is only two feet high.
5. _N. rustica_.--The common green or English tobacco, an annual
plant, native of America, producing white flowers, which seldom
grows higher than three feet.
6. _N. paniculata_, or panicled tobacco, an annual plant bearing
greenish yellow flowers, native of Peru, rises to the height of
three feet.
7. _N. glutinosa_, or clammy-leaved tobacco, also an annual plant,
native of Peru, growing to the height of four feet, with bright
scarlet flowers.
8. _N. plumbaginifolia_, or curled-leaved tobacco, an ornamental
deciduous annual, native of America, with white blossoms, rising to
the height of two feet.
9. _N. pusilla_, or primrose-leaved tobacco, an ornamental deciduous
biennial, with white flowers, native of Vera Cruz, rising to three
feet.
10. _N. quadrivalvis_, four-valved, or Missouri tobacco, an
ornamental annual, native of North America, with white flowers,
seldom growing higher than two feet.
11. _N. nana_, or rocky mount tobacco, a curious greenhouse annual,
native of North America, with white blossoms, rising only three
inches high.
12. _N. Langsdorffii_, or Langsdorff's tobacco, an ornamental
annual, with greenish yellow flowers, native of Chili, reaching five
feet high.
13. _N. cerinthoides_, or honey-wort tobacco, an ornamental annual,
with greenish yellow flowers, native country unknown.
14. _N. repanda_, or Havanna tobacco, an annual with white flowers,
native of Cuba, rising two feet high.
There are a few species, natives of the Province of Buenos Ayres,
which may be particularised. _N. bonariensis_, having white flowers;
_N. glauca_, yellowish green flowers; _N. longiflora_, white
flowers; and _N. viscosa_, pink flowers.
The important mineral substances presented in Havanna tobacco,
examined by Hertung, are in 100 parts of ashes,
Salts of potash 34.15
Salts of lime 51.38
Magnesia 4.09
Phosphates 9.04
These substances were for the most part insoluble in earth, and must
have been dissolved during the growth of the crop.
ANALYSIS OF FIVE SAMPLES OF TOBACCO.
No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. No. 4. No. 5.
Grown on argillaceous soil Grown in calcareous soil.
Potash 29.08 30.67 9.68 9.36 10.37
Soda 2.26 -- -- -- .36
Lime 27.67 24.79 49.28 49.44 39.58
Magnesia 7.22 8.57 14.58 15.59 15.04
Chloride of sodium .91 5.95 4.61 3.20 6.39
Chloride of potassium -- -- 4.44 3.27 2.99
Phosphate of iron 8.78 6.03 5.19 6.72 7.56
Sulphate of lime 6.43 5.60 6.68 6.14 9.42
Silica 17.65 18.39 5.54 6.28 8.34
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
From the above it will be seen that on the argillaceous soil the
tobacco contained a large quantity of alkalies and silica, while on
the other hand, the lime, magnesia and chlorides were high in
proportion, in the tobacco grown on calcareous soil.
There is no doubt that the manure which contains the largest
proportion of alkaline carbonate, magnesia, lime and gypsum, is that
best adapted for tobacco.
I give an analysis taken from Prof. Johnston's "Lectures," (2nd
edition) of the ash of the tobacco leaf and the composition of a
special manure for tobacco:--
Potash 12.14
Soda 0.07
Lime 45.90
Magnesia 13.09
Chloride of sodium 3.49
Chloride of potassium 3.98
Phosphate of iron 5.48
Phosphate of lime 1.49
Sulphate of lime 6.35
Silica 8.01
------
100.00
All the ingredients which are necessary to replace 100 lbs. of the ash
of tobacco leaves are present in the following mixture:--
Bone dust, sulphuric acid 23 lbs.
Carbonate of potash (dry) 31 "
Carbonate of soda (dry) 5 "
Carbonate of Magnesia 25 "
Carbonate of lime (chalk) 60 "
------
144 "
The following is the result of an analysis of the fresh leaves of
tobacco, by Posselt and Reimann ("Mag. Pharm." xxiv. xxv.):--
Nicotine 0.06
Nicotianine 0.01
Extractive matter, slightly bitter 2.37
Gum, with a little malate of lime 1.74
Green resin 0.26
Vegetable albumen 0.26
Substance analogous to gluten 1.04
Malic acid 0.51
Malate of ammonia 0.12
Sulphate of potash 0.04
Chloride of potassium 0.06
Potash combined with malic and nitric acids 0.90
Phosphate of lime 0.16
Lime in union with malic acid 0.24
Silica 0.08
Woody fibre 4.96
Water (traces of starch) 87.21
------
100.10
Dr. Covell, in "Silliman's American Journal," vol. vii., shows its
components to have been but imperfectly represented in the above
German analysis. He found in tobacco by chemical examination--1, gum;
2, a viscid slime, equally soluble in water and alcohol, and
precipitable from both by subacetate of lead; 3, tannin; 4, gallic
acid; 5, chlorophyle (leaf green); 6, a green pulverulent matter,
which dissolves in boiling water, but falls down again when the water
cools; 7, a yellow oil, possessing the smell, taste and poisonous
qualities of tobacco; 8, a large quantity of a pale yellow resin; 9,
nicotine; 10, a white substance, analogous to morphia, soluble in hot,
but hardly in cold alcohol; 11, a beautiful orange red dye stuff,
soluble only in acids; it deflagrates in the fire, and seems to
possess neutral properties; 12, nicotianine. According to Buchner, the
seeds of tobacco yield a pale yellow extract to alcohol, which
contains a compound of nicotine and sugar.
M.M. Henry and Boutron Charlard found in 100 parts of
Cuba tobacco 8.64 of nicotine.
Maryland 5.28
Virginia 10.00
Ile et Vilaine 11.20
Lot et Garonne 8.20
quantities from 12 to 19 times more than were obtained by Posselt and
Reimann.--"Ure's Dictionary of Arts and Manufactures."
The following are the results of a series of experiments made by
Messrs. Cooper and Brande, for the purpose of ascertaining the
quantity of soluble matter in eight samples of tobacco, of detecting
the presence and quantity of sugar contained in them, and the nature
and relative proportions of their inorganic constituents. An important
paper on the state in which _Nicotine_ exists in tobacco, and on the
relative proportion of it furnished by different varieties of the
plant, has been furnished by Schloessing ("Ann. Ch. et Ph." 3ieme Ser.
XIX. 230).
__________________________________________________________________
|P s |P & |P t o |P s a|P s a|P m t|P o i|P m o|
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at 212 degs. |f w |f l |f i |f w |f h |f s |f r |f c c|
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|c | a |f b |r n |r l |u |o m |a m |
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|. | | | | | n | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
------------------|----|----|------|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
1. Light Missouri}|49 |54.9|20.97 |2.17 |11.73| 5.9 | -- | -- |
leaf and stalk}| | |white | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
2. Light Missouri}|50 |47.7|19.7 |1.77 |12.83| 5.1 |0.75 |1.50 |
leaf only }| | |white | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
3. Dark Missouri }|50 |52.4|16.47 |4.2 |10.14| 2.13| -- | -- |
leaf and stalk}| | |white | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
4. Dark Missouri} |51 |50.6|13.8 |2.17 | 8.73| 2.9 |0.35 |0.71 |
leaf only } | | |white | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
5. Light Virginia}|51.5|53.1|16.4 |2.53 | 8.54| 5.33| -- | -- |
leaf and stalk}| | |gray- | | | | | |
| | |white | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
6. Light Virginia}|54 |46.1|11.97 |2.0 | 6.86| 3.11|1.045|2.09 |
leaf only }| | |green-| | | | | |
| | |gray | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
7. Dark Virginia }|48.5|51.8|14.7 |4.8 |8.40 | 1.5 | -- | -- |
leaf and stalk}| | |gray | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
8. Dark Virginia} |52 |49.8|12.53 |2.63 |8.20 | 1.7 |1.46 |2.93 |
leaf only } | | |gray | | | | | |
------------------------------------------------------------------
1. The samples were dried and the woody fibre and extract were also
dried at 212 degs. The watery infusions of all contained ammoniacal
salts. The salts from the ash, which were soluble in water,
consisted of sulphates, carbonates, phosphates, and chlorides; the
bases being potassa and lime. The solution by hydrochloric acid
contained lime, alumina, phosphate of lime, and oxide of iron.
3. Contained oxide of manganese in small quantity; sulphates in
watery solution of ash abundant. Hydrochloric solution contained an
abundance of lime.
4. A trace of manganese; a trace only of phosphoric acid in watery
solution.
5. Contained abundance of oxide of manganese.
6. Abundance of oxide of manganese.
7. A mere trace of oxide of manganese, and a trace of oxide of iron;
only a trace of alumina.
8. A trace of oxide of manganese; quantity of oxide of iron very
great; only a trace of alumina.
In rich loams, where the solution of the minerals of the soil is
rapid, and where 10 to 20 per cent, of vegetable matter is
incorporated in the earth, tobacco may be obtained for many years, but
it is always an exhausting crop. It has been stated that 170 Lbs. of
mineral matter are removed in less than three months from one acre of
land, by a crop of tobacco. This is very much more than wheat or other
grains abstract from the soil in eight or nine months.
Tobacco is now very extensively cultivated in France and other
European countries, in the Levant, the East and West Indies; and a
little is grown at the Cape and in the Australian Settlements.
A good deal of tobacco is raised in Mexico, but only for home
consumption, as its export is prohibited. It forms an article of
culture in Brazil and some of the South American republics, and is
grown to a small extent along the Western shores of Africa. It is from
North America, however, that we derive the bulk of our supplies of
this great article of commerce, which, with cotton, forms the chief
agricultural wealth of the United States.
In 1821, the tobacco exported from the Brazils amounted to 29,192,000
Lbs., but its cultivation was greatly injured by the siege of the
capital in 1822-23. Fresh seed was subsequently obtained from Cuba,
and in 1835 the exports were 6,051,040 Lbs.
131 cases of Princeza snuff were shipped from Bahia to Lisbon, in
1835; about 60,000 Lbs. per annum of this snuff being now manufactured
at Bahia, with the aid of two steam-engines. The exports of tobacco
from Bahia increased from 2,048,000 Lbs. in 1833, to 6,051,040 Lbs. in
1835. The average shipments are about 21,000 bales and rolls.
The army of smokers in Great Britain and Ireland consume yearly about
six millions of pounds worth of tobacco. The duty alone paid upon
snuff and tobacco for the people of Great Britain, averages
four-and-a-half millions sterling a year! The quantity
consumed--smoked, snuffed, or chewed--during the same period, is about
28 millions of pounds weight, or about four pounds weight per annum
for every male adult. Ireland annually pays not less than £800,000 of
duty on tobacco and snuff, and only about £30,000 on coffee. For every
pound of coffee that the Irish people use, they smoke away about _four
pounds of tobacco_.
North America produces annually upwards of 200 million pounds. The
combustion of the mass of vegetable material used in this kingdom
would yield about 340 million pounds of carbonic acid gas; so that the
yearly produce of carbonic acid gas from tobacco smoking alone cannot
be less than 1,000,000,000 lbs.--a large contribution to the annual
demand for this gas made upon the atmosphere for the vegetation of the
world. Henceforth let no one twit the smoker with idleness and
unimportance. Every pipe is an agricultural furnace,--every smoker a
manufacturer of vegetation,--the consumer of a weed that he may rear
more largely his own provisions.
In the year 1842, 605,000,000 of cigars were made in the German
Commercial Union.
In 1839, the revenue on tobacco in this country was about £3,600,000.
Of this it has been estimated eleven-twelfths are drawn from the
working classes, and one-twelfth from the richer classes. The
following is a calculation of the consumption of tobacco per head of
the population, estimated from the number of pounds on which duty was
paid:--
Consumption per head.
Rate of duty. ozs.
1801 {1s. 7 3-10d. England } 17
{1s. 0 7-10d. Ireland.}
1811 2s. 2 13-20d. 19½
1821 4s. 0d. 11 45
1831 3s. 0d. 12 35
1841 3s. 1 8-10d. 12 4-5
1851 3s. 1 4-5d. 21
Thus it will be seen the consumption is materially affected by the
rate of duty.
A memorial presented to the First Lord of the Treasury a few years
ago, by the American Chamber of Commerce, and signed by Mr. Thomas
Todd, the chairman, furnishes some valuable information, and I am
therefore tempted to give it entire:--
The American Chamber of Commerce of Liverpool desire respectfully to
bring under the consideration of her Majesty's Government the
impolicy of the present high rate of duty on foreign tobacco, and
the benefit to commerce, as well as to the revenue, which would
arise from such a reduction as would remove the temptation now held
out to the smuggler.
The cost of tobacco, including freight and all charges, is from 3d.
to 4d. per lb., and the duty is 3s. per lb., being 900 per cent, on
the value. A duty so enormously disproportioned to the cost offers
an irresistible premium to the illicit trader; for the expense of
smuggling tobacco by the cargo, including the first cost, does not
exceed 9½d. per lb., and it has been ascertained that the smuggler
receives 6d. per lb. less than the duty, or 2s. 6d. per lb., which
yields him a clear profit of 1s. 8½d. per lb., to the injury not
only of the revenue, but of the fair trader.
The effect of this heavy duty in diminishing the consumption of
duty-paid tobacco is further exemplified by the fact that, while all
other articles of general consumption have progressively increased
with the increase of the population, tobacco alone forms an
exception, as will appear from the following:--
COMPARATIVE SCALE OF POPULATION AND CONSUMPTION OF TEA, COFFEE,
AND TOBACCO, IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, COMPILED FROM PARLIAMENTARY
PAPERS.
Population Tea Coffee Tobacco
1801 16,338,102
Duty, 65 a 95 per ct 19d. per lb. 19d. per lb.
& 12½ per ct. & 12½ per ct.
Lbs., 23,163,999 871,846 16,895,752
1811 18,547,720
Duty 96 per cent. 8d. per lb. 26½d. per lb.
Lbs., 24,461,308 6,895,619 21,376,370
1821 21,193,458
Duty, 96 a 100 per ct. 12d. per lb. 4s. per lb.
Lbs., 26,043,257 7,593,001 1,823,365
1831 24,271,763
Duty 96a 100 per ct. 6d. per lb. 3s. per lb.
Lbs., 30,648,348 22,740,627 19,418,941
1841 26,855,928
Duty, 26¼d. per lb. 6d. per lb. 3s. per lb.
Lbs., 36,396,073 28,420,980 22,094,772
The consumption of tobacco in the island of Great Britain, excluding
Ireland, and the duty thereon, were in
Consumption. Duty.
1801 10,514,998 lbs. 1s. 7d.
1811 14,923,243 " 2s. 2½d.
1821 12,983,198 " 4s. 0d.
1831 15,350,018 " 3s. 0d.
1841 16,083,593 " 3s. 0d.
1851 28,062,841 " 3s. 0d.
In the last two periods five per cent is added to all the duties.
Thus, while the consumption of tea and coffee has increased even
beyond the ratio of the population, the consumption of tobacco has
decreased.
This table also exemplifies the greater productiveness of a low duty
compared with a high one; for instance, coffee in 1801, at 1s. 7d.
per lb., yielded £77,654; in 1821, at 1s. per lb., £379,650; and, in
1841, at 6d. per lb., £710,524; tobacco in 1821, at 4s. per lb.,
yielded £3,164,673, and 1841, at 3s. per lb., £3,314,215. But the
difference in duty in the latter case was not sufficient to curtail
the profits of the smuggler to any material extent.
Cigars afford a remarkable example of the amount of duty being
increased by diminishing the rate. In 1828, when the duty was 18s.
per lb., duty was paid on 8,600 lbs. only, yielding £7,740. In 1830,
when the duty was reduced to 9s. per lb., duty was paid on 66,000
lbs., yielding £29,700; and such has been the increase of
consumption, that, in 1841, duty was paid on 213,613 lbs., yielding
£100,899.
We would further illustrate the position by the following facts:
In 1798, Ireland, with a population of 4,000,000, consumed 8,000,000
lbs. of tobacco, and now, with more than double the population, she
consumes about 3,000,000 lbs. of tobacco less than at the former
period. The reason is obvious: in 1789 the duty was 8d. per lb; now
it is 3s. In 1798, England and Scotland, with a population of
10,000,000, consumed 10,000,000 lbs. of tobacco, being one half of
the relative consumption of Ireland at the same period; the duty in
England and Scotland being then 1s. 7d. per lb., and in Ireland only
8d.
But the quantity of tobacco on which duty is paid does not even
approximately show the quantity consumed. If the duty now paid on
tobacco in the United Kingdom retained the same relative proportion
to the population that it held in Ireland in 1798, the duty in 1841
would have been actually levied upon 53,711,856 lbs., instead of
22,094,772 lbs.; and such we believe to be about the actual amount
of consumption, the great bulk of the supply being furnished by the
illicit trader.
In Prussia, it appears that the consumption of tobacco is at the
rate of three pounds per head; while, in England, if we were to
judge from the amount on which duty is paid, it is considerably less
than one pound per head.
Assuming the actual consumption at only 45,000,000 lbs., or two
pounds per head, we believe that a reduction of duty to 1s. per
pound would so effectually destroy the illicit trader, that the
revenue would gain by the change, not only by bringing upwards of
30,000,000 lbs. under duty, which at present escape, but by the
great increase of the consumption consequent upon the encouragement
given to the fair trader.
We would not, however, treat the question merely as a matter of
revenue. We would strongly represent the injustice which this
exorbitant duty inflicts upon those who pursue a legitimate trade,
by enabling the smuggler to lessen the extent of their transactions
by more than half what they would otherwise be; and we would further
earnestly urge upon your consideration the demoralising tendency of
such a systematic and extended violation of the law, not only upon
those engaged in the illicit trade, also upon those parties who are
found to connive at the practice from a sense of the gross injustice
and impolicy of a duty so disproportioned to the value of an article
of such extensive consumption.
We would refer to the opinion of a committee of the House of Commons
on the growth of tobacco in Ireland, in 1840, as follows:--'That it
further appears, from the evidence, that smuggling of foreign
tobacco is at present carried on to a great extent, and that all the
measures now adopted, at great expense to the country, are and will
be ineffectual to repress it so long as the temptation of evading a
duty equal to twelve times the value of the article on which it is
imposed, remains."
We beg, therefore, respectfully to express our opinion, that if the
duty on tobacco were reduced to one shilling per pound, it would be
alike beneficial to the interests of legitimate commerce; to the
consumers, who consist almost entirely of the poorer classes; to the
revenue, by increasing the productiveness of the duty, and by
greatly diminishing the expenditure so ineffectually incurred to
suppress the illicit trade; and to the general morals of society by
removing a powerful inducement to infringe the laws.
The imports of all kinds of tobacco for the last five years have been
as follows:--
| 1848. | 1849. | 1850. | 1851. | 1852.
| lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs.
Unmanufactured|34,090,360|41,546,848|35,166,358|31,061,953|33,205,635
Manufactured | | | | |
and snuff | 1,512,714| 1,905,306| 1,557,618| 2,331,886| 2,930,299
|----------|----------|----------|----------|----------
|35,603,074|43,452,154|36,723,876|33,393,839|36,135,934
Gross duty received:--
| 1848. | 1849. | 1850. | 1851. | 1852.
| £ | £ | £ | £ | £
On raw tobacco| 4,267,579| 4,328,217| 4,337,258| 4,386,910| 4,466,533
Cigars, snuff,| | | | |
&c. | 97,655| 96,814| 92,873| 98,858| 94,298
|----------|----------|----------|----------|----------
| 4,365,234| 4,425,031| 4,430,131| 4,485,768| 4,569,831
The amount of tobacco consumed is so limited that the trade will not
admit of an excessive growth. In the two most thickly populated
countries in Europe--France and England--not more than a certain
quantity finds its way there. In France the trade is monopolised by
Government, which gives out contracts to deliver a stipulated quantity
at certain prices; in England the duty imposed is so enormous that
only a limited quantity of certain descriptions can be imported
without risk of loss. In Germany and Holland, where the trade is more
extensively carried on than elsewhere, the duty imposed is almost
nominal, and all classes of their citizens are enabled to use the weed
at prices very little higher than its first prime cost. The tobacco
trade constitutes so large a staple of American produce that it is
singular greater efforts are not made upon the part of that Government
to cause a reciprocal duty to be imposed, that more favor may be shown
by European Governments to this particular article. England, from the
duty imposed upon it alone, derives a revenue of £4,500,000, being
about £160 to the hogshead, or from ten to sixteen times its original
cost. France makes the trade a monopoly, from which she derives an
income of £3,000,000 sterling.
STATEMENT OF IMPORTS, SALES, AND STOCKS OF TOBACCO AND
STEMS, IN BREMEN, FROM 1840 TO 1850.
----+---------------------------+-----------------------+
| MARYLAND | VIRGINIAN |
----+------+------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| | | | S | | | | S |
| S | | | t | S | | | t |
| t | | | o D | t | | | o D |
| o J | I | | c e | o J | I | | c e |
| c a | m | | k c | c a | m | | k c |
| k n | p | S | e | k n | p | S | e |
Y | u | o | a | l m | u | o | a | l m |
e | 1 a | r | l | a b | 1 a | r | l | a b |
a | s r | t | e | s e | s r | t | e | s e |
r | t y | s | s | t r | t y | s | s | t r |
----+------+------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1840| 4,890|14,570|18,399| 1,061| 245| 3492| 3422| 285|
1841| 1,061|19,629|18,321| 2,369| 285| 3466| 3025| 726|
1842| 2,369|20,821|19,067| 4,123| 726| 6729| 5898| 1557|
1843| 4,123|18,483|15,004| 7,602| 1557| 5541| 4242| 2856|
1844| 7,602|16,978|18,338| 6,242| 2856| 5092| 4282| 3666|
1845| 6,242|24,251|24,571| 5,922| 3666| 1588| 3099| 2155|
1846| 5,922|26,785|23,788| 8,919| 2155| 2386| 2456| 2085|
1847| 8,919|21,743|20,681| 9,981| 2085| 911| 2079| 917|
1848| 9,981|12,084| 9,935|12,130| 917| 847| 1054| 710|
1849|12,130|19,285|22,112| 9,303| 710| 1173| 1734| 149|
----+------+------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
----+---------------------------+-----------------------+
| KENTUCKY | STEMS |
----+------+------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| | | | S | | | | S |
| S | | | t | S | | | t |
| t | | | o D | t | | | o D |
| o J | I | | c e | o J | I | | c e |
| c a | m | | k c | c a | m | | k c |
| k n | p | S | e | k n | p | S | e |
Y | u | o | a | l m | u | o | a | l m |
e | 1 a | r | l | a b | 1 a | r | l | a b |
a | s r | t | e | s e | s r | t | e | s e |
r | t y | s | s | t r | t y | s | s | t r |
----+------+------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1840| 181| 3,803| 3,699| 285| 2853| 3362| 4564| 1651|
1841| 285| 5,206| 4,941| 550| 1651| 7085| 7054| 1682|
1842| 550| 9,407| 8,939| 1018| 1682| 4151| 5386| 447|
1843| 1018| 7,485| 6,441| 2062| 447| 3969| 3447| 969|
1844| 2062| 9,736| 9,569| 2229| 969| 4753| 5513| 209|
1845| 2269|11,439|10,328| 3340| 209| 5273| 4152| 1330|
1846| 3340| 5,028| 6,099| 2269| 1330| 6092| 4716| 2706|
1847| 2269| 3,816| 5,013| 1072| 2706| 6788| 8038| 1456|
1848| 1072| 4,448| 4,980| 540| 1456| 4912| 4473| 1895|
1849| 540| 4,620| 4,746| 414| 1895| 5188| 5083| 1000|
----+------+------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
_Culture and Statistics in the United States_.--Tobacco has been the
great staple of the States of Virginia and Maryland from their first
settlement. About the year 1642 it became a royal monopoly, and
afterwards, in order to encourage its growth in the colonies, and
thereby increase the revenue of the Crown, Parliament prohibited the
planting of it in England. The average quantity shipped from the North
American colonies to the parent country, for ten years preceding the
year 1709, was about twenty-nine millions of pounds. For some years
prior to the American revolution, about 85,000 hhds. were exported,
then valued at little more than four millions of dollars, and
constituting nearly one-third the value of all the exports of the
British North American colonies. From 1820 to 1830 tobacco constituted
about one-ninth in value of all the domestic exports of the United
States. It finds a market principally in Great Britain, France,
Holland, and the north of Europe.[55] The crop of tobacco produced in
the four principal States, was in--
1838. 1839.
hhds. hhds.
Virginia 26,000 45,000
Kentucky 27,000 35,000
Maryland 16,000 16,000
Ohio 3,000 4,000
------ -------
72,000 100,000
The whole crop of 1840 was 219,163,319 lbs., which, at the estimate
of 1,200 lbs. to the hhd., would be equal to 182,636 hhds., and at the
average price of that year, 81 dollars 5 cents. per hhd., would make
the value of the crop of the United States 14,802,647 dollars 80
cents. The average annual export for the ten years ending with 1840,
was 96,775 hhds. The actual exportation of 1840 was 119,484 hhds. The
principal exports are formed of the produce of Virginia, Kentucky,
Tennessee, Maryland, and North Carolina. The exports are chiefly to
the following countries--about 30,000 hhds. annually to England,
15,000 hhds. to France, 20,000 hhds. to Holland, 25,000 hhds. Germany,
and about 22,000 hhds. to other countries. The whole crop for 1845 was
put down at 187,422,000 lbs. In 1839, it was ascertained that one and
a half million persons were engaged in the cultivation and manufacture
of tobacco in the United States, one million of whom were so occupied
in the States of Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri. In the
city of New York the consumption of cigars is computed at 10,000
dollars a day, a sum greater than that which the inhabitants pay for
their daily bread; and in the whole country the annual consumption of
tobacco is estimated at 120 million pounds, being 7 lbs. for every
man, woman, and child, at an annual cost to the consumers of 20
million dollars (more than four million pounds sterling).
It is estimated that the manufacture of tobacco in the United States
is increasing at the rate of 2,000 hhds. per annum.
hhds.
The quantity manufactured in 1851, was stated at 55,000
Exportations for the year estimated at 120,000
-------
175,000
The production for 1852 is supposed to be as follows:--
hhds.
Virginia 27,000
Maryland 33,000
Western States, including frosted 65,000
-------
Total production 125,000
Deficiency in the year's crop 50,000
The quantity produced in the United States, in 1847, was 220,164,000
lbs., worth, at 5 cents per lb., nearly 11 million dollars (more than
two million sterling). The principal producing States were--Kentucky,
65 million lbs.; Virginia, 50 millions; Tennessee, 35 millions; North
Carolina, 14 millions; Ohio, 9 millions; Indiana, 4 millions;
Illinois, Connecticut, and a few others in smaller proportions.
The production in 1848 was 218,909,000 lbs., which, valued at four
cents per lb., would be worth nine million dollars. From persons
largely interested in the tobacco trade, and well informed in relation
thereto, I have gathered the following general statements:--
The crops of tobacco to come to market in the year 1851, were
estimated as follows--
hhds.
Virginia 30,000
Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri, about 50,000
Maryland, about 22,000
Ohio, about 14,000
From the above estimate it will be seen that the quantity produced
in 1850 is less than two-thirds of the usual production in the
States named. The entire crop of Virginia will be required for home
consumption. About 15,000 hhds. Kentucky, and 5,000 hhds. Maryland
will also be wanted for home use. Owing to the increase of
population by immigration and otherwise, the domestic consumption,
which was a few years ago so small as not to be considered worthy of
notice, has now increased to a very important item, and affords a
steady home market for a large portion of the production.
The quantity of Maryland tobacco left for export to Bremen and
Holland, in 1851, will only be about 17,000 hhds., which is not more
than half the amount usually shipped to these countries every year.
Of the Kentucky tobacco contracted for last year by France and
Spain, through their agents in this country, less than one third has
yet been purchased, and those governments will this year require the
deficiency to be made up, in addition to their annual average
supply, which, with the quantity required for England, will take the
entire crop, leaving nothing for the rest of Europe, Africa, South
America, the West Indies, &c. The tobacco markets throughout the
world are in a much more healthy condition than has ever been known,
and it is thought prices will rule very high the coming season. In
Maryland, while the production has been not more than half an
average crop, the price is nearly three times as high as usual; so
that the planter will receive more for his diminished crops than in
ordinary seasons of plenty.
QUANTITY OF TOBACCO EXPORTED ANNUALLY FROM 1821 TO 1850.
Exports for Year ending hhds.|Stocks in Europe, year ending hhds.
September 30th, 1821 66,850| December 31st, 1821 --
" " 1822 83,169| " " 1822 --
" " 1823 99,000| " " 1823 --
" " 1824 77,889| " " 1824 --
" " 1825 75,986| " " 1825 --
" " 1826 64,099| " " 1826 --
" " 1827 100,020| " " 1827 --
" " 1828 96,279| " " 1828 69,485
" " 1829 77,136| " " 1829 63,670
" " 1830 83,810| " " 1830 50,672
" " 1831 86,718| " " 1831 54,690
" " 1832 106,800| " " 1832 61,868
" " 1833 83,153| " " 1833 50,543
" " 1834 87,979| " " 1834 53,413
" " 1835 94,353| " " 1835 57,458
" " 1836 109,042| " " 1836 68,918
" " 1837 100,232| " " 1837 38,703
" " 1838 100,593| " " 1838 31,067
" " 1839 78,995| " " 1839 38,715
" " 1840 119,484| " " 1840 37,623
" " 1841 147,828| " " 1841 50,880
" " 1842 158,710| " " 1842 62,496
June 30 (9 ms.) 1843 94,454| " " 1843 91,196
" (12 ms.) 1844 163,042| " " 1844 88,973
" " 1845 147,168| " " 1845 91,213
" " 1846 147,998| " " 1846 100,774
" " 1847 135,762| " " 1847 88,858
" " 1848 130,665| " " 1848 80,391
" " 1849 101,521| " " 1849 70,527
" ' 1850 145,729| " " 1850 66,777
It is a curious fact that, notwithstanding the variety of climate
and soil in the northern State;, every State and territory in the
Union produces some tobacco. In many of the States its cultivation
is, of course, a secondary object, and perhaps in several it is
attended to as a mere matter of curiosity; but in most of the
States, probably a sufficient quantity has been grown, to show that
with attention to this object, it might, in case of necessity, be
resorted to as a profitable crop. The States in which the great bulk
of the crop is grown lie between the latitudes of about 34 and 40
degrees.
There is a considerable increase of consumption of American tobacco
in Europe, as well as in the United States, which should encourage
the planters of Virginia and North Carolina to cultivate this
article more abundantly than they have done for several years past;
and, since the home manufacture has increased so much, and the
Virginia tobacco is preferred in many parts of the European markets,
they may safely count on getting good prices for many years to come.
It is not in the power of Virginia to make any three years together
more than 56,000 hhds., even with good seasons, and 30,000 hhds.
annually of this will be wanted by our manufacturers.
The planters, then, should enrich their lands, and aim to make full
crops.
The increased consumption in Europe is three per cent., and in the
United States four per cent. per annum.
The crop of the United States from 1840 to 1850 inclusive--say 11
years--averaged about 160,000 hhds.; this embraces the large crops
of 1842-43-44.
The consumption of Europe from 1829 to 1838 was 96,826 hhds.--it is
now 130,000.
An account of the quantities of unmanufactured tobacco, manufactured
called negro-head, and cigars, imported into the United Kingdom in
1850:--
Countries from whence imported. Unmanufactured Manufactured
United States of America 30,173,444 1,191,001
Venezuela, New Granada and Ecuador 895,523 527
Brazil 12,138 56,802
Peru 8,649 6
Cuba 589,627 153,819
British West Indies, including Demerara
and Honduras 26,169 3,242
British Territories in the East Indies 14,500 25,332
Philippine Islands 12,233 51,210
Hongkong and China 2,706 2,340
Turkey, Syria, and Egypt 140,361 2,882
Malta 13,028 7,818
Italy, Sardinian Territories 431,939 17
Gibraltar 7 3,063
Spain 307,641 1,100
France 29,950 1,521
Channel Islands 149 1,342
Belgium 29,922 6,579
Holland 2,418,732 9,078
Hanseatic Towns 50,610 36,680
Other parts 8,930 1,980
---------- ---------
Total unmanufactured 35,166,358 1,556,321
Ditto manfactured 1,556,321
Snuff 1,197
----------
Total 36,723,876
From the tobacco circulars of Messrs. Clagett, Son, and Co., leading
brokers of London, dated Feb., 1st, 1850, I take the following
extracts:--
The exhaustion of the stock has resulted from the concurrence of a
gradually decreasing supply and increasing consumption, which may
be very clearly perceived by a reference, first to the official
returns from New Orleans of the yearly receipts of the western crops
in each of the last seven years; and secondly, to the consumption of
American tobacco in Great Britain and Ireland in the years 1847,
1848, and 1849, as compared with that of 1840, 1841, and 1842. We
have no means of exhibiting with similar accuracy the relative
consumption of Continental Europe in the latter as compared with the
former part of these last ten years, but it is quite reasonable to
assume that the increase, where there has been little or no duty,
must have gone on more rapidly than it has done here, under the
restraining force of a duty of 800 to 900 per cent.
The deliveries from London and Liverpool, independently of those
from Scotland, Bristol, and Newcastle, for the use of Great Britain
and Ireland, have been as follows:--In 1840, 15,037 hhds.; 1841,
15,019 hhds.; 1842, 15,468 hhds.; 1847, 18,091 hhds.; 1848, 18,595
hhds.; 1849, 18,738 hhds.
The highest estimates we have seen of the whole of the crops of the
United Slates in 1849, do not exceed 140,000 hhds., of which it is
not doubted that fully 45,000 hhds. will be required for consumption
there, and we estimate the supply required for the consumption of
Europe, South America, the West Indies, and Africa, at certainly not
less than 125,000 hhds.; if these estimates be realised in fact, it
will follow that the stocks at the close of this year must be 30,000
hhds. less than at the close of 1849.
We estimate the present consumption of American tobacco in Great
Britain and Ireland as follows:--
The deliveries in London and Liverpool in 1849, were 18,738 hhds.;
do. do. Bristol 1,400 hhds.; do. do. Scotland we assume at 2,800
hhds. Total 22,939.
Of Stripts, the deliveries in Liverpool last year were 8,544 hhds.,
of which about 300 were for exportation; the deliveries, therefore,
were--For the use of Great Britain and Ireland, 8,250 hhds. In
London we have no account of the deliveries of stripts, as
distinguished from leaf, for the whole of last year; it is doubtless
less than that in Liverpool, and we assume it at 7,000 hhds.; in
Bristol it was about 900 hhds.; in Scotland we assume it at 2,400
hhds. Total 18,550 hhds.
Now, assuming 1,500 hhds. of the deliveries in Scotland and Bristol
to be included in the coastwise returns in London and Liverpool,
then the consumption of Great Britain and Ireland would appear to be
about 21,500 hhds. of American tobacco, and 17,000 for these to be
stripts. The progressive increase which we have shown in the returns
of 1849, as compared with those of 1840, must still go on.
Without troubling you with any detail of the stocks in each of the
several markets, it may be sufficient to show that the summary of
the whole in all the markets of Europe, other than Great Britain,
consisted on the 31st December, 1849, of about 22,000 hhds.; of
which about 18,000 were Maryland and 2,000 stalks; and it is
important to notice especially the fact, that the stocks of the
manufacturers and dealers in Germany, Holland and Belgium are
unusually small. We have taken very considerable care to inform
ourselves on this point, and are fully satisfied that the usual
stocks in second or dealers' hands do not exist. The whole demand of
the year must, therefore, be supplied from those stocks in
importers' hands, from England or from the United States.
The following were the prices current in London in the spring of
1853:--Virginia Leaf, common, per pound, 3¼d. to 3¾d.; middling, 5d.
to 6d.; good and fine 6½d. to 7½d. Stripts, 5½d. to 10d. Kentucky
Leaf: common 3d., to 3½d.; middling, 3¾d. to 4½d.; good and fine,
5d. to 6d. Stripts, 5d. to 7d. Maryland, 3½d. to 9d. Negrohead and
Cavendish: common and heated, 4d. to 6d.; middling to good, 6d. to
8d. and 9d.; fine, 10d., 12d., 16d.; Barret's none. Columbian, 7d.
to 1s. 8d.; Brazil, 3d. to 6d.; flat, 5d. to 1s. 1d.; Manilla, 7d.
to 2s. 6d.; Havana, 10d. to 5s.; Yara, 11d. to 3s.; Cuba, 9d. to 1s.
1d.; ingars, 3s. to 16s.; cheroots, Manilla, 7s. 6d., nominal;
German and Amersfoort 4d. to 1s. 3d.; stalks, duty paid, 2s. 6d. to
3s. 4d.; smalls, 2s. 9d to 2s.
The shipments to Europe were 76,516 hhds. against 40,652 hhds. the
previous year, and 43,576 hhds. in 1850. The rapidity of sales, the
diminished stocks even now held in first hands, were taken as an
infallible index of the progressive rate of consumption; and of a
truth the quantity of hogsheads received in the principal markets of
Belgium, Holland, Germany, and the North, and as speedily relieved
from the control of the importers, was enough to control even those
who were alive to the existing necessities of Europe, and to give a
color to the rumour of almost inexhaustible consumption.
This extraordinary demand for tobacco on the continent has been
occasioned by three distinct causes; the first of which was the
pressing wants which, for the last two years, were well known to
have existed, and the constant willingness of consumers to act at
the very moderate rates which prevailed some time last spring. The
second was the compulsory purchases by the Austrian Government,
amounting, it is estimated, to 20,000 hhds., by reason that the
discontented Hungarians, for political considerations, abandoned
altogether the cultivation of tobacco, and which deficiency was
obliged to be replaced by American growths. The third cause also had
a political origin: the anticipation of the extension of the
Zollverein or German Customs League to the Kingdoms of Hanover and
Oldenburg, whereby the duties on tobacco in those countries would be
greatly increased, was a natural incentive to the dealers and
manufacturers there to lay in heavy stocks, to reap the benefit
thereon; and these last two causes, therefore, may be viewed in the
light of fortuitous circumstances, which have fostered a speculation
originally founded on the cheapness of money alone.
It has been shown, and the statistics of the past year fully confirm
the statement, that a plethora of money and prosperity among the
middle classes of society, while it induces to the consumption of
tobacco in general, rather curtails than otherwise the demand for
American growths. A poor man addicted to smoking takes his pipe not
from choice, but necessity; as he grows independent, the humble pipe
is abandoned and the more costly cigar assumed. We have frequently
heard this matter noticed, more especially after the disasters which
followed the railway speculations of 1846, when the demand for
English cigars sensibly declined; and we have now a further
verification of the assertion in the opposite sense, the sales of
cigar materials in Bremen having been extended more than 40 per
cent, in three years, viz., from 94,750 bales and cases in 1850 to
135,650 during last season.
From New Orleans we learn that the arrivals from the interior since
the 1st September had amounted to 18,043 hhds. against 5,165 hhds.
last season, and the stock on hand was 24,128 hhds. against 7,927
hhds. only.
The shipments from Virginia during the past year exceeded 13,700
hhds. In 1851 they were under 4,000 casks.
From Baltimore 54,272 hhds. have been exported. The official figures
for the previous year gave 35,967 as the total.
The aggregate stock of tobacco on the 1st of January last, in the
principal ports of America, was taken at 52,982 hhds. against 45,292
the year before and the growth of the Western States, Virginia, and
Maryland during 1852, to come forward for our supply the present
season, is estimated at 185,000 hhds., notwithstanding all the
unfavorable influences and curtailing causes which were said to have
prevailed.
The method adopted of cultivating tobacco in Virginia is thus
described:
Several rich, moist, but not too wet spots of ground are chosen out
in the fall, each containing about a quarter of an acre or more,
according to the magnitude of the crop, and the number of plants it
may require.
These spots, which are generally in the woods, are cleared, and
covered with brush or timber, for five or six feet thick and
upwards; this is suffered to remain upon it until the time when the
tobacco seed must be sowed, which is within twelve days after
Christmas. The evening is commonly chosen to set these places on
fire, and when everything thereon is consumed to ashes, the ground
is dug up, mixed with the ashes, and broken very fine. The tobacco
seed, which is exceedingly small, being mixed with ashes also, is
then sown and just raked in lightly; the whole is immediately
covered with brushwood for shelter to keep it warm, and a slight
fence thrown around it. In this condition it remains until the
frosts are all gone, when the brush is taken off, and the young
plants are exposed to the nutritive and genial warmth of the sun,
which quickly invigorates them in an astonishing degree, and soon
renders them strong and large enough to be removed for planting,
especially if they be not sown too thick. Every tobacco planter,
assiduous to secure a sufficient quantity of plants, generally has
several of these plant beds in different situations, so that if one
should fail, another may succeed; and an experienced planter
commonly takes care to have ten times as many plants, as he can make
use of.
In these beds, along with the tobacco, they generally sow kale,
colewort, and cabbage seed, &c., at the same time.
There are seven different kinds of tobacco, particularly adapted to
the different qualities of the soil on which they are cultivated,
and each varying from the other. They are named Hudson, Frederick,
Thick-joint, Shoe-string, Thickset, Sweet-scented, and Oronoko. But
although these are the principal, yet there are a great many
different species besides, with names peculiar to the situations,
settlements and neighbourhoods wherein they are produced; which it
would be too tedious here to specify and particularise. The soil for
tobacco must be rich and strong; the ground is prepared in the
following manner:--after being well broke up and by repeated
working, either with the plough or hand hoes, rendered soft, light,
and mellow, the whole field is made into hills, each to take up the
space of three feet, and flattened at the top.
In the first rains, which are here called seasons, after the vernal
equinox, the tobacco plants are carefully drawn while the ground is
soft; carried to the field where they are to be planted, and one
dropped upon every hill, which is done by the negro children. The
most skilful slaves then begin planting them, by making a hole with
their finger in each hill, inserting the plant with the taproot
carefully placed straight down, and pressing the earth on each side
of it. This is continued as long as the ground is wet enough to
enable the plants sufficiently grown to draw and set; and it
requires several different seasons, or periods of rain, to enable
them to complete planting their crop, which operation is frequently
not finished until July.
After the plants have taken root, and begin to grow, the ground is
carefully weeded and worked, either with hand hoes or the plough,
according as it will admit. After the plants have considerably
increased in bulk, and begin to shoot up, the tops are pinched off,
and only ten, twelve, or sixteen leaves left, according to the
quality of the tobacco and the soil. The worms, also, are carefully
picked off and destroyed, of which there are two species that prey
upon tobacco. One is the ground worm, which cuts it off just beneath
the surface of the earth; this must be carefully looked for and
trodden to death; it is of a dark brown color, and short. The other
is a horn worm, some inches in length, as thick as your little
finger, of a vivid green color, with a number of pointed
excrescences or feelers from his head like horns. These devour the
leaf, and are always upon the plant. As it would be endless labor to
keep their hands constantly in search of them, it would be almost
impossible to prevent their eating up more than half the crop had it
not been discovered that turkeys are particularly dexterous at
finding them, eat them up voraciously, and prefer them to every
other food. For this purpose every planter keeps a flock of turkeys,
which he has driven into the tobacco grounds every day by a little
negro that can do nothing else; these keep his tobacco more clear
from horn worms than all the hands he has got could do were they
employed solely for that end. When the tops are nipped off, a few
plants are left untouched for seed. On the plants that have been
topped, young shoots are apt to spring out, which are termed
suckers, and are carefully and constantly broken off lest they
should draw too much of the nourishment and substance from the
leaves of the plant. This operation is also performed from time to
time, and is called "suckering tobacco." For some time before it is
ripe, or ready for cutting, the ground is perfectly covered with
leaves, which have increased to a prodigious size, and then the
plants are generally about three feet high. When it is ripe, a
clammy moisture or exudation comes forth upon the leaves, which
appear, as it were, ready to become spotted, and they are then of a
great weight and substance. The tobacco is cut when the sun is
powerful, but not in the morning and evening. The plant, if large,
is split down the middle, and cut off two or three inches below the
extremity of the split; it is then turned directly bottom upwards,
for the sun to kill it more speedily, to enable the laborers to
carry it out of the field, else the leaves would break off in
transporting it to the scaffold. The plants are cut only as they
become ripe, for a field never ripens altogether. There is generally
a second cutting likewise, for the stalk vegetates and shoots forth
again, and in good land, with favorable seasons, there is a third
cutting also procured, notwithstanding acts of the Legislature to
prevent cutting tobacco even a second time.
When the tobacco plants are cut and brought to the scaffolds, which
are generally erected all around the tobacco houses, they are placed
with the split across a small oak stick, an inch and better in
diameter and four feet and a half long, so close as each plant just
to touch the other without bruising or pressing. These sticks are
then placed on the scaffolds, with the tobacco thus suspended in the
middle, to dry or cure, and are called tobacco sticks. As the plants
advance in curing, the sticks are removed from the scaffolds out of
doors into the tobacco house, on to other scaffolds erected therein
in successive regular gradations from the bottom to the top of the
roof, being placed higher as the tobacco approaches to a perfect
cure, until the house is all filled and the tobacco quite cured, and
this cure is frequently promoted by making fires on the floor below.
When the tobacco house is quite full, and there is still more
tobacco to bring in, all that is within the house is struck, and
taken down, and carefully placed in bulks, or regular rows, one upon
another, and the whole covered with trash tobacco, or straw, to
preserve it in a proper condition, that is moist, which prevents its
wasting and crumbling to pieces. But, to enable them to strike the
cured tobacco, they must wait for what is there called a season,
that is rainy or moist weather, when the plants will better bear
handling, for in dry weather the leaves would all crumble to pieces
in the attempt. By this means a tobacco house may be filled two,
three, or four times in the year. Every night the negroes are sent
to the tobacco house to strip, that is to pull off the leaves from
the stalk, and tie them up in hands or bundles. This is also their
daily occupation in rainy weather. In stripping, they are careful to
throw away all the ground leaves and faulty tobacco, binding up none
but what is merchantable. The hands or bundles thus tied up are also
laid in what are called a bulk, and covered with the refuse tobacco
or straw to preserve their moisture. After this, the tobacco is
carefully packed in hogsheads, and pressed down with a large beam
laid over it, on the ends of which prodigious weights are suspended,
the other end being inserted with a mortice in a tree, close to
which the hogshead is placed. This vast pressure is continued for
some days, and then the cask is filled up again with tobacco until
it will contain no more, after which it is headed up and carried to
the pubic warehouses for inspection. At these warehouses two skilful
planters constantly attend, and receive a salary from the public for
that purpose. They are sworn to inspect with honesty, care, and
impartiality, all the tobacco that comes to the warehouse, and none
is allowed to be shipped that is not regularly inspected. The head
of the cask is taken off, and the tobacco is opened by means of
large, long iron wedges, and great labour, in such places as the
inspectors direct. After this strict attentive examination, if they
find it good and merchantable, it is replaced in the cask, weighed
at the public scales, the weight of the tobacco and of the cask also
cut in the wood on the cask, stowed away in the public warehouses,
and a note given to the proprietor, which he disposes of to the
merchant, and he neither sees nor has any trouble with his tobacco
more. The weight of each hogshead must be 950 lbs. nett, exclusive
of the cask--for less a note will not be given. Under the name of a
crop hogshead, however, the general weight is from 1,000 to 1,200 or
1,300 lbs. nett, but if the tobacco is found to be totally bad, and
refused as unmerchantable, the whole is publicly burnt in a place
set apart for that purpose. However, if it be judged that there is
some merchantable tobacco in the hogshead, the owner must unpack the
whole publicly on the spot, for he is not permitted to take any of
it away again, and must select and separate the good from the bad;
the last is immediately committed to the flames, and for the first
he receives a transfer note, specifying the weight, quality, &c.
This great and very laudable care was taken by the public to
prevent frauds, which, however, was not always effectual, for, even
with all these precautions, many acts of iniquity and imposition
were committed.
So little is this crop cultivated in the States north of Maryland,
that scarcely any notice has been taken of it in the agricultural or
other public journals.
In Connecticut, in some few towns of Hartford county, considerable
attention has been directed to it for a number of years past. A ton
and a-half the acre is said to be no uncommon yield. The tobacco is
planted very thick, two feet and a half each way. The seed came
originally from Virginia. It is cured in houses, without having been
yellowed in the sun, and without the use of fire. It is said that the
best Havana cigars (as they are termed) are often manufactured from
mixed Cuba and American tobacco, and sold under that name in
Connecticut.
In the Connecticut Valley is produced about 500 tons of tobacco
annually, the average quantity, 1,500 lbs. per acre, value from seven
to ten cents per pound.
_Culture_.--Seed bed made rich and sown as cabbage early in April as
possible.
Land well ploughed and manured and harrowed as for corn, laid out in
rows three feet apart, and slight hills in the row about two and
a-half feet apart; begin to plant about 10th of June, the ground to be
kept clean with hoe and cultivator, and examine the plants and keep
clear of worms.
"When in blossom and before seed is formed, the plants must be topped
about thirty-two inches from the ground, having from sixteen to twenty
leaves on each stalk, after this the suckers are broken off, and the
plants kept clean till cut. When ripe the leaves are spotted, thick,
and will crack when pressed between the fingers and thumb. It is cut
at any time of the day, after the dew is off, left in the row till
wilted, then turned, and if there is a hot sun, it is often turned to
prevent burning; after wilting it is put into small heaps of six or
eight plants, then carried to the tobacco house for hanging, usually
on poles twelve feet long; hung with twine about forty plants to a
pole, twenty on each side, crossing the pole with a hitch knot to the
stump end of the plants; when perfectly cured, which is known by the
stems of the leaves being completely dry, it is then taken in a damp
time, when the leaves will not crumble, from the poles and placed in
large piles, by letting the tops of the plants lap each other, leaving
the butts out; it remains in these heaps from three to ten days before
it is stripped, depending on the state of weather, but it must not be
allowed to heat. When stripped it is made into small hands, the small
and broken leaves to be kept by themselves; it is then packed in boxes
of about 400 lbs. and marked "Seed Leaf Tobacco."
One acre of tobacco will require as much labor as two of corn that
produce 60 bags to the acre, and requires about the same quantity of
manure. If the tobacco can be cured without fire heat the quality
will be improved, and if dried in the open air, should have shades of
boards to keep off rain and excess of sun. The chief market for
Connecticut tobacco is Bremen.
In a number of the "Charleston Southern Planter," a remedy is
described for preventing the destruction of plants by the fly. The
writer says: "I had a bushel or two of dry ashes put into a large tub,
and added train oil enough (say one gallon of oil to the bushel of
ashes) to damp and flavor the ashes completely: this was well stirred
and mixed with the hand, and sown broadcast over certain patches, and
proved thoroughly effectual for several years, while parts left
without the remedy were destroyed."
The best ground for raising the plant, according to Capt. Carver
("Treatise on Culture of Tobacco," &c.), is a warm rich soil, not
subject to be overrun with weeds. The soil in which it grows in
Virginia is inclining to sandy, consequently warm and light; the
nearer, therefore, the nature of the land approaches to that, the
greater probability there is of its flourishing. The situation most
preferable for a plantation is the southern declivity of a hill, or a
spot sheltered from the blighting north winds. But at the same time
the plants must enjoy a free current of air; for if that be obstructed
they will not prosper.
The different sorts of seed not being distinguishable from each other,
nor the goodness to be ascertained by its appearance, great caution
should be used in obtaining the seed through some responsible
mercantile house, or individual of character.
Each capsule contains about a thousand seeds, and the whole produce of
a single plant has been estimated at 350,000. The seeds are usually
ripe in the month of September, and when perfectly dry may be rubbed
out and preserved in bags till the following season.
There is a large quantity of tobacco raised in the southern part of
Indiana annually, equal in quality to the tobacco raised in Kentucky.
In some counties the article is extensively cultivated, and generally
pays the producer a handsome profit on the labor bestowed on it. The
cultivation of it is becoming more extensive every year. Nearly all
this crop is taken to Louisville for sale, very little being shipped
south on account of the producer.
Heretofore, owing to the heaviness of tobacco and bad roads, the
producer has encountered great difficulties in getting his crop to
market. The hauling of a few hogsheads fifty or sixty miles, or even
forty, is no light job, even over good roads. Hence, tobacco has not
been as extensively cultivated as it would have been under different
circumstances. But, with the facilities afforded by the railroads in
carrying their crops to market, I doubt not the farmers of the
interior will more generally engage in the cultivation of tobacco, and
those who have been in the habit of raising small crops will extend
their operations.
In Maryland the seed is sown in beds of fine mould, and the plants
arising therefrom are transplanted in the beginning of May. They are
set at the distance of three or four feet apart, and are hilled, and
kept continually free from weeds. When as many leaves have shot out as
the soil will nourish to advantage, the top of the plant is broken
off, which of course prevents its growing higher. It is carefully kept
clear from worms, and the suckers which put out between the leaves are
taken off at proper times, till the plant arrives at perfection, which
is in August. When the leaves turn of a brownish color, and begin to
be spotted, the plants are cut down and hung up to dry, after having
sweated in heaps one night. When the leaves can be handled without
crumbling, which is always in moist weather, they are stripped from
the stalks, tied up in bundles, and packed for exportation in
hogsheads. No suckers nor ground leaves are allowed to be
merchantable. An industrious person may manage 6,000 plants of
tobacco, which will yield 1,000 lbs. of dried leaves, and also four
acres of Indian corn.
Miller, an American author, thus describes the mode of culture:--
When a regular plantation of tobacco is intended, the beds being
prepared and well turned up with the hoe, the seed, on account of
its smallness and to prevent the ravages of ants, is mixed with
ashes and sown upon them, a little before the rainy season. The beds
are raked, or trampled with the foot, to make the seed take the
sooner. The plants appear in two or three weeks. As soon as they
have acquired four leaves, the strongest are carefully drawn up and
planted in the field by a line, at a distance of about three feet
from each other. If no rain fall, they should be watered two or
three times. Every morning and evening the plants must he looked
over in order to destroy a worm which sometimes invades the bud.
When they are about four or five inches high, they are to be cleaned
from weeds and moulded up. As soon as they have eight or nine
leaves, and are ready to put forth a stalk, the top is nipped off in
order to make the leaves longer and thicker. After this the buds
which sprout at the joints of the leaves are also plucked off, and
not a day is suffered to pass without examining the leaves to
destroy the large caterpillar, which is often most destructive to
them. When they are fit for cutting, which is known by the
brittleness of the leaves, they are cut off with a knife close to
the ground, and, after lying some time, are carried to the
drying-shed or house, where the plants are hung up by pairs upon
lines, leaving a space between, that they may not touch one another.
When perfectly dry, the leaves are stripped from the stalks and made
into small bundles, tied with one of the leaves. These bundles are
laid in heaps and covered with blankets; care is taken not to
overheat them, for which reason the heaps are laid open to the air
from time to time, and spread abroad. This operation is repeated
till no more heat is perceived in the heaps, and the tobacco is then
ready for packing and shipping.
I have been favored by Mr. J. M. Hernandez, a Cuba planter, with some
valuable instructions for the cultivation of Cuba tobacco, which I
subjoin. These remarks apply principally to America, but most of the
advice and information will be found generally applicable to other
localities:--
The first thing to be considered in this, as in every other culture,
is the soil, which for this kind of tobacco (_N. repanda_) ought to
be a rich, sandy, loam, neither too high nor too low--that is,
ground capable of retaining moisture, the more level the better,
and, if possible, well protected by margins. The next should be the
selection of a spot of ground to make the necessary beds. It would
be preferable to make those on land newly cleared, or, at all
events, when the land has not been seeded with grass; for grass
seeds springing up together with the tobacco would injure it
materially, as the grass cannot be removed without disturbing the
tobacco plants. In preparing the ground for the nurseries, break it
up properly, grub up all the small stumps, dig out the roots, and
carefully remove them with the hand. This being done, make the beds
from three to four inches high, of a reasonable length, and from
three to three and a-half feet broad, so as to enable the hand, at
arm's length, to weed out the tender young plants with the fingers
from both sides of the bed, and keep them perfectly clean.
The months of December and January are the most proper for sowing
the seed in Florida. Some persons speak of planting it as early as
the month of November, I am, however, of opinion, that about the
latter part of December is the best time to sow tobacco seed; any
sooner would expose the plants to suffer from the inclemency of the
most severe part of the winter season. Before the seed is sown take
some dry trash and burn it off upon the nursery beds, to destroy
insects and grass seeds; then take one ounce of tobacco seed and mix
it with about a quart of dry ashes, so as to separate the seed as
much; as possible, and sow it broadcast. After the seed has been
thus sown, the surface of the bed ought to be raked over slightly,
and trodden upon by the foot, carrying the weight of the body with
it, that the ground may at once adhere closely to the seed, and then
water it. Should the nursery-beds apparently become dry from
blighting winds or other causes, watering will be absolutely
necessary, for the ground ought to be kept in a moist state from the
time the seed is planted until the young plants are large enough to
be set out.
The nurseries being made, proceed to prepare the land where the
tobacco is to be set out. If the land is newly cleared--and new land
is probably more favorable to the production of this plant than it
is to that of any other, both as respects quality and
quantity--remove as many of the stumps and roots as possible, and
dig up the ground in such a manner as to render the surface
perfectly loose; then level the ground, and in this state leave it
until the nursery plants have acquired about one-half the growth
necessary to admit of their being set out; then break up the ground
a second time in the same manner as at first, as in this way all the
small fibres of roots and their rooted parts will be more or less
separated, and thus obviate much of that degree of sponginess so
common to new land, and which is in a great measure the cause of new
land seldom producing well the first year, as the soil does not lay
close enough to the roots of the plants growing in it, so that a
shower of rain produces no other effect than that of removing the
earth still more from them.
The ground having been prepared and properly levelled off, and the
plants, sufficiently grown to be taken up--say of the size of good
cabbage plants--take advantage of the first wet or cloudy weather to
commence setting them out. This should be done with great care, and
the plants put single at equal distances, that is, about three feet
north and south, and two and a-half, or two and three-fourths feet
east and west. They are placed thus close to each other to prevent
the leaves growing too large. The direction of the rows, however,
should alter according to the situation of the land; where it has
any inclination, the widest space should run across it, as the bed
will have to be made so as to prevent the soil from being washed
from the roots by rain when bedded; but where the land is rather
level, the three feet rows should be north and south, so as to give
to the plants a more full effect on them by passing across the beds,
than by crossing them in an oblique direction. To set the plants out
regularly, take a task line of 105 feet in length, with a pointed
stick three feet long attached to each end of it, then insert a
small piece of rag or something else through the line at the
distance of two feet and three-fourths from each other; place it
north and south (or as the land may require), at full length, and
then set a plant at every division, carefully keeping the bud of the
plant above the surface of the ground. Then remove the line three
feet from the first row, and so on, until the planting is completed.
Care ought to be taken to prevent the stretching of the line from
misplacing the plants. In this way the plants can be easily set out,
and a proper direction given to them both ways. In taking the plants
up from the nursery, the ground should be first loosened with a flat
piece of wood or iron, about an inch broad; then carefully holding
the leaves close towards each other between the fingers, draw them
up, and place them in a basket or some other convenient thing to
receive them for planting. After taking up those that can be planted
during the day, water the nursery that the earth may again adhere to
the remaining ones. The evening is the best time for setting out the
plants, but where a large field has to be cultivated it will be well
to plant both morning and evening. The plants set out in the
morning, unless in rainy or cloudy weather, should be covered
immediately, and the same should be done with those planted the
evening previous, should the day open with a clear sunshine,--the
palmetto leaf answers the purpose very well. There should be water
convenient to the plants, so as to have them watered morning and
evening, but more particularly in the evening, until they have taken
root. They should also be closely examined when watered, so as to
replace such plants as happen to die, that the ground may be
properly occupied, and that all the plants may open as nearly
together as possible.
From the time the plants are set out, the earth around them should
be occasionally stirred, both with the hand and hoe. At first hoe
flat, but as soon as the leaves assume a growing disposition, begin
gradually to draw a slight heel towards the plant. The plants must
be closely examined, even while in the nursery, to destroy the
numerous worms that feed upon them--some, by cutting the stalk and
gnawing the leaves when first set out; these resemble the grub-worm,
and are to be found near the injured plant, under ground; others,
which come from the eggs deposited on the plant by the butterfly,
and feed on the leaf, grow to a very large size, and look very ugly,
and are commonly called the tobacco-worm. There is also a small worm
which attacks the bud of the plant, and which is sure destruction to
its further growth; and some again, though less destructive, are to
be seen within the two coats of the leaf, feeding as it were on its
juices alone. The worming should be strictly attended to every
morning and evening, until the plants are pretty well grown, when
every other day will be sufficient. The most proper persons for
worming are either boys or girls from ten to fourteen years of age.
They should be made to come to the tobacco ground early in the
morning, and be led by inducements, such as giving a trifling reward
to those who will bring the most worms, to clear it thoroughly.
Grown persons would find it rather too tedious to stoop to examine
the under part of every leaf, and seek the worm under ground: nor
would they be so much alive to the value of a spoonful of sugar, or
other light reward. Beside, where the former would make the search a
matter of profit and pleasure, it would to the latter prove only a
tedious and irksome occupation. Here I will observe, that it is for
similar reasons that the culture of the Cuba tobacco plant more
properly belongs to a white population, for there are few plants
requiring more attention and tender treatment than it does. Indeed
it will present a sorry appearance, unless the eye of its legitimate
proprietor is constantly watching over it.
When the plants have acquired from twelve to fourteen good leaves,
and are about knee high, it may be well to begin to top them, by
nipping off the bud with the aid of the finger and thumb nail
(washing the hands after this in water is necessary, as the acid
juices of the plants, otherwise, soon produce a soreness on the
fingers), taking care not to destroy the small leaves immediately
near the bud: for if the land is good and the season favorable,
those very small top leaves will in a short time be nearly as large,
and ripen quite as soon as the lower ones, whereby two or more
leaves may be saved; thus obtaining from 16 to 18 leaves, in the
place of 12 or 14, which is the general average. As the topping of
the tobacco plant is all essential in order to promote the growth,
and to equalise the ripening of the leaves, I would observe that
this operation should at all events commence the instant that the
bud of the plant shows a disposition to go to seed, and be
immediately followed by removing the suckers, which it will now put
out at every leaf. Indeed, the suckers should be removed from the
plant as often as they appear. The tobacco plant ought never to be
cut before it comes to full maturity, which is known by the leaves
becoming mottled, coarse, and of a thick texture, and gummy to the
touch, at which time the end of the leaf, by being doubled, will
break short, which it will not do to the same extent when green. It
ought not to be out in wet weather, when the leaves lose their
natural gummy substance, so necessary to be preserved. About this
period, the cultivator is apt to be rendered anxious by the fear of
allowing the plants to remain in the field longer than necessary;
until experience removes those apprehensions, he should be on his
guard, however, not to destroy the quality of his tobacco, by
cutting it too soon. When the cutting is to commence, there should
be procured a quantity of forked stakes, set upright, with a pole or
rider setting on each fork ready to support the tobacco, and to keep
it from the ground. The plant is then cut obliquely, even with the
surface of the ground, and the person thus employed should strike
the lower end of the stalk, two or three times with the blunt side
of his knife, so as to cause as much of the sand or soil to fall
from it as possible, then tying two stalks together, they are gently
placed across the riders or poles prepared to receive them. In this
state they are allowed to remain in the sun or open air until the
leaves have somewhat withered, whereby they will not be liable to
the injury which they would otherwise receive, if they came suddenly
in contact with other bodies when fresh cut. Then place as many
plants on each pole or rider as may be conveniently carried, and
take them in the drying house, where the tobacco is strung off upon
the frames prepared for it, leaving a small space between the two
plants, that air may circulate freely among them, and promote their
drying. As the drying advances, the stalks are brought closer to
each other, so as to make room for those which yet remain to be
housed.
In drying the tobacco, all damp air should be excluded, nor ought
the drying of it to be precipitated by the admission of high drying
winds. The process is to be promoted in the most moderate manner,
except in the rainy season, when the sooner the drying is effected
the better; for it is a plant easily affected by the changes of the
weather, after the drying commences. It is then liable to mildew in
damp weather, which is when the leaf changes from its original color
to a pale yellow cast, and from this, by parts, to an even brown.
When the middle stem is perfectly dry, it can be taken down, and the
leaves stripped from the stalk and put in bulk to sweat, that is, to
make tobacco of them; for before this process, when a concentration
of its better qualities takes place, the leaves are always liable to
be affected by the weather, and cannot well be considered as being
anything else than common dry leaves, partaking of the nature of
tobacco, but not actually tobacco. The leaves are to be stripped
from the stalks in damp or cloudy weather, when they are more easily
handled, and the separation of the different qualities rendered also
more easy. The good leaves are at this time kept by themselves as
wrappers, or caps, and the most defective ones for fillings, or
_tripa_. When the tobacco is put in _bulk_, the stem of the leaves
should all be kept in one direction, to facilitate the tying of them
in hanks: afterwards make the bulk two of three feet high, and of a
proportionate circumference. To guard against the leaves becoming
over-heated, and to equalise the fermentation or sweating, after the
first twenty-four hours, place the outside leaves in the centre, and
those of the centre to the outside of the _bulk_. By doing this once
or twice, and taking care to cover the _bulk_ either with sheets or
blankets, so as to exclude all air from it, and leaving it in this
state for about forty days, it acquires an odor strong enough to
produce sneezing, and the other qualities of cured tobacco. The
process of curing may then be considered as completed. Then take
some of the most injured leaves, but of the best quality, and in
proportion to the quantity of tobacco made, and place them in clean
water, there let them remain until they rot, which they will do in
about eight days; then break open your _bulks_, spread the tobacco
with their stems in one direction, and damp them with this water in
a gentle manner, that it may not soak through the leaf, for in this
case the leaf would rot. Sponge is used in Cuba for this operation.
Then tie them in hanks of from, twenty-five to thirty leaves; this
being done, spread the hanks in the tobacco house for about twelve
hours, to air them, that the dampness may be removed, and afterwards
pack them in casks or barrels, and head them tight, until you wish
to manufacture them.
The object of damping the tobacco with this water, is to give it
elasticity, to promote its burning free, to increase its fragrance;
to give it an aromatic smell, and to keep it always soft. This is
the great secret of curing tobacco for cigars properly, and for
which we are indebted to the people of Cuba, who certainly
understand the mode of curing this kind of tobacco better than other
people. It is to them a source of great wealth, and may be made
equally so to others. We have here three cuttings from the original
plants; the last cutting will be of rather a weak quality, but
which, nevertheless, will be agreeable to those who confine their
smoking to weak tobacco.
In ratooning the plant, only one sprout ought to be allowed to grow,
and this from those most deeply rooted; all other sprouts ought to
be destroyed.
The houses necessary for the curing of tobacco ought to be roomy,
with a passage way running through the centre, from one extremity of
the building to the other, and pierced on both sides with a
sufficient number of doors and windows to make them perfectly airy.
In addition to what I have said respecting the mode of cultivating
and treating the tobacco plant, I have further to state, that when
once the plant is allowed to be checked in its growth, it never
again recovers it. That in promoting the drying of the leaf, fire
should not be resorted to, because the smoke would impart to it a
flavor that would injure that of the tobacco itself.
In order to obtain vigorous plants, the seed ought to be procured
from the original stalk, and not from the ratoons, by allowing some
of them to go to seed for that express purpose. In Cuba, the seed is
most generally saved from the ratoon plants, but we should consider
that that climate and soil are probably more favorable to the
production of the plant than America, and consequently we ought to
confide in the best seed, which is had from the original stalk.
All plants have their peculiar empire: nevertheless, we should not
be deterred from planting Cuba tobacco here; for even if we should
be compelled to import the seed every third year, which would be as
often as necessary, it would still prove a profitable culture.
Taking 600 lbs., which is the average product per acre, it would
yield, if well cured, at 50 cents, per lb., 300 dollars in the leaf.
The following exhibits the profit to be derived from it when
manufactured into cigars:--
Dls. Dls.
Six hundred pounds, allowing eight pounds to the 1.000, would
produce 75,000 cigars, which at ten dollars per thousand 750.00
Cost of the leaf 300.00
Worth of manufacture, at two dollars fifty cents per thousand 187.50 487.50
--------
Difference in favor of manufacturer 262.50
This amount being the profits of the manufacturer alone, the profit
to him who could combine both pursuits would be more than doubled.
As to the quantity of land which can be cultivated to the hand,
there is some difference in the practice of planters; however, I
think that I am within the usual calculation in saying, that an acre
and a half would not exceed the quantity that an able hand can
easily cultivate and manage properly.
"With reference to the cultivation of Spanish tobacco from the seed,
the following remarks are also made by a gentleman residing in
Maryland:--
My experience for some years in the cultivation and manufacture of
Spanish tobacco into cigars, convinces me that the first-rate
variety of Spanish tobacco--that is, the most odorous and fine--will
bear reproduction in our climate twice, without much deterioration;
by that time it becomes acidulated and worthless as Spanish tobacco.
For seven years I have imported annually first seed from Cuba, but
have occasionally made experiments with reproduced seed, and I have
arrived at the conclusion above stated. I have obtained, annually, a
cigar maker from Baltimore, who has made for me on my farm, and from
Spanish tobacco. These produced about the average of 70,000 cigars,
per year; they have been sold in Baltimore and Philadelphia for five
dollars the half box, that is ten dollars the thousand. The tobacco
has been uniformly admired, but in former years they have been very
badly made; for the last two years, (writing in 1843,) my crops were
destroyed by the unfavorable weather. This growth and manufacture do
not interfere with my cultivation of other crops; in fact they are
wholly unconnected with the other operations of the farmer." He
mentions having obtained a premium from an agricultural society, for
having produced on one and a half acres, growth and manufacture
included, of Spanish tobacco 504 dollars net profit.
The following letter from Mr. Clarke, to the Hon. H. L. Ellsworth,
Washington, speaks favorably of a new variety of tobacco:--
Willow Grove, Orange County, Virginia,
Feb. 13, 1844.
Dear Sir,--Agreeably to my promise I enclose you the Californian
tobacco seed. It grew from the small parcel given to me by Mr. Wm.
Smith, in your office in March last. On getting home, although late,
I prepared a bed, and sowed the small parcel, the first week in
April, and not having seed enough to finish the bed, sowed the
balance of the bed in Oronoko tobacco seed, and to my astonishment
the Californian plants were soon ready to set out, as soon as the
other kinds of tobacco sown in the month of January; and the Oronoko
seed, that was sown with the Californian, did not arrive to
sufficient size until it was too late to set out. The Californian
tobacco, if it continues to ripen and grow for the time to come, as
it did for me on the first trial, must come into general use--first,
because the plants are much earlier in the spring (say ten days at
least), than any kind we have; secondly, when transplanted, the
growth is remarkably quick, matures and ripens at least from ten to
fifteen days earlier than any kind of tobacco we have in use amongst
us. It is a large broad, silky leaf, of fine texture, and of a
beautiful color, and some plants grow as large as seven feet across,
from point to point; upon the whole, I consider it a valuable
acquisition to the planting community.
Tobacco is one of the chief staples of Cuba. There are many qualities,
but it is usually classed into two kinds. That which is raised on the
western end of the island and is unequalled for smoking, is called
"Vuelta abajo." That which is raised east of Havana, is called "Vuelta
arriba," and is far inferior to the former.
The best Havana tobacco farms are confined to a very narrow area on
the south west part of Cuba. This district, twenty-seven leagues long
and only seven broad, is bounded on the north by mountains, on the
south and west by the ocean, whilst eastward, though there is no
natural limit, the tobacco sensibly degenerates in quality. A light
sandy soil and rather low situation suit the best.
The "Vuelta abajo" is usually divided into five classes.
Calidad or Libra.
Ynjuriado Principal or Firsts.
Segundas or Seconds.
Terceiras or Thirds.
Cuartas or Fourths.
Calidad is the best tobacco, selected for its good color, flavor,
elasticity and entireness of the leaves. The bales contain sixty hands
of four gabillas, or fingers of twenty-five leaves each, and are
marked L.60. Ynjuriado Principal has less flavor, and is usually of a
lighter color. The leaves should be whole and somewhat elastic. The
bales contain eighty hands of four gabillas, or thirty leaves each,
and are marked B. 80. Segundas is the most inferior class of wrapper.
There are many good leaves in it, but the hands are usually made up of
those which are stained, have a bad color, or have been slightly
touched by the worm. The bales contain eighty hands of four gabillas
of thirty-six to forty leaves each, and are marked Y. 2a. 80.
Terceiras is the best tilling, and much wrapper can usually be
selected from it when new. The bales contain eighty hands of four
gabillas of more than forty leaves each, and are marked 3a. 80.
Cuartas is the most inferior class, fit only for filling. The bales
contain eighty hands of four gabillas of no determined number of
leaves, and are marked 4a. 80.
The Vuelta arriba tobacco is prepared in a similar manner, but neither
its color or flavor is good, and it does not burn well.
The crop is gathered in the spring, and usually begins to appear at
market in July. Good tobacco should be aromatic, of a rich brown
color, without stains, and the leaf thin and elastic. It should burn
well and the taste should be neither bitter nor biting. The best is
grown on the margins of rivers which are periodically overflowed, and
is called "De rio." It is distinguished from other tobacco by a fine
sand, which is found in the creases of the leaves.
The tobacco plantations in Cuba increased in number from 5,534 in
1827, to 9,102 in 1846. The production of tobacco has nearly doubled
in the province, of which St. Jago is the port, in the last ten years.
The following figures show the exports from the Havana:--
Leaf tobacco. Cigars.
1840 1,031,136 lbs. 147,818 thousand.
1841 1,460,302 " 161,928 "
1842 1,053,161 " 135,127 "
1843 2,125,805 " 153,227 "
1844 1,197,136 " 147,825 "
1845 1,621,889 " 120,352 "
1846 4,066,262 " 158,841 "
1847 1,936,829 " 1,982,267 "
1848 1,350,815 " 150,729 "
1849 1,158,265 " 111,572 "
The class of tobacco shipped at the port of Havana, is not the same as
that gathered in the districts from which the manufacturers of cigars
there receive their supplies--it would cost too dear. However, it is
not a rare occurrence to find among a number of bales a few of a
quality about equal to that employed there, and this happens in years
when the crop has been very abundant, as in 1846 and 1848. The various
classes are paid in proportion to the capa, or outside leaves, which
are found in an assortment; the three first classes are employed as
covers, and often, if the tobacco is new, they may be found in the
fourth and even in the fifth. In parcels well assorted, one-fourth is
composed of capa--say, first, second, and third, and the rest is
composed of tripa, or interior of the cigar. In the first-named, there
generally comes more of the _capa_ than is necessary to use; the
remaining bales, which contain the inferior class, are fit only for
fillings.
The following is an analysis of the ashes of Havana tobacco:--
Salts of potash 24.30
Salts of lime and magnesia 67.40
Silica 8.30
-----
100.00
Hayti exported in 1836 1,222,716 lbs.
Porto Rico, in 1839 43,203 cwt.
The French have been so successful in cultivating tobacco, in their
possessions in Northern Africa, that they hope soon to be independent
of the foreign grown article. The mode of preparing it, however, is
not very well understood by the colonists. In 1851, the number of
planters in Algeria was only 137, whereas in 1852, it was 1,073. The
number of hectares under culture with the tobacco plant was 446 in
1851, and 1,095 in 1852. The total of the present year's crop is
estimated at 1,780,000 kilogrammes, of which 700,000 kilogrammes have
been grown by the natives, and the rest by Europeans.
In the province of Algiers alone, the quantity of tobacco sold will
amount to 550,000 kilogrammes, which is nearly three times as much as
in 1851, and an equal progression has taken place in the provinces of
Oran, and Constantina.
The cultivation of tobacco in Algeria has proved most successful; in
1851, only 264,912 kilogrammes were produced; in 1852, the quantity
had risen to 735,199 kilogrammes. There are two crops in the year, the
first being the best, but even this is capable of almost indefinite
augmentation.
CULTURE OF TOBACCO IN THE EAST.
Having touched upon the practice of culture in the western world, we
will now bend our steps towards the east, and it may be curious to
notice the method pursued in cultivating and curing the celebrated
Shiraz tobacco of Persia (_Nicotiana Persica_), which is so much
esteemed for the delicacy of its flavor, and its aromatic quality. It
is thus described by an intelligent traveller. The culture of the
plant, it will be seen, is nearly the same; it is only the preparation
of the tobacco that forms the difference:--
In December the seed is sown in a dark soil, which, has been
slightly manured (red clayey soils will not do). To protect the
seed, and to keep it warm, the ground is covered with light, thorny
bushes, which are removed when the plants are three or four inches
high; and during this period, the plants are watered every four or
five days, only however in the event of sufficient rain to keep the
soil well moistened not falling. The ground must be kept wet until
the plants are six to eight inches high, when they are transplanted
into a well moistened soil, which has been made into trenches for
them; the plants being put on the top of the ridges ten or twelve
inches apart, while the trenched plots are made, so as to retain the
water given. The day they are transplanted, water must be given to
them, and also every five or six days subsequently, unless rain
enough falls to render this unnecessary. When the plants have become
from thirty to forty inches high, the leaves will be from three to
fifteen inches long. At this period, or when the flowers are
forming, all the flower capsules are pinched or twisted off. After
this operation and watering being continued, the leaves increase in
size and thickness until the month of August or September, when
each plant is cut off close to the root, and again stuck firmly into
the ground. At this season of the year, heavy dews fall during the
night; when exposed to these the color of the leaves change from
green to the desired yellow. During this stage, of course no water
is given to the soil. When the leaves are sufficiently yellow, the
plants are taken from the earth early in the morning, and while they
are yet wet from the dew, are heaped on each other in a high shed,
the walls of which are made with light thorny bushes, where they are
freely exposed to the wind. While there, and generally in four or
five days, those leaves which are still green become of the desired
pale yellow color. The stalks and centre stem of each leaf are now
removed, and thrown away, the leaves are heaped together in the
drying house for three or four days more, when they are in a fit
state for packing. For this operation the leaves are carefully
spread on each other and formed into sorts of cakes, the
circumference from four to five feet, and three to four inches
thick, great care being taken not to break or injure the leaves.
Bags made of strong cloth, but thin and very open at the sides, are
filled with these cakes, and pressed very strongly down on each
other; the leaves would be broken if this were not attended to. When
the bags are filled, they are placed separately in a drying house,
and turned daily. If the leaves were so dry that there would be a
risk of their breaking during the operation of packing, a very
slight sprinkling of water is given them to enable them to withstand
it without injury. The leaf is valued for being thick, tough, and of
a uniform light yellow color, and of an agreeable aromatic smell.
In India, the Surat, Bilsah, and Sandoway (Arracan) varieties of
tobacco are the most celebrated. The two first are found to be good
for cultivation in the district about Calcutta, but the Cabool is
still more to be preferred. Tobacco requires in the East, for its
growth, a soil as fertile and as well manured as for the production of
the poppy or opium. It is, therefore, often planted in the spaces
enriched by animal and vegetable exuviæ, among the huts of the
natives. I have tried seed in different soils, says Capt. C.
Cowles,--namely a light garden mould with a large portion of old house
rubbish, dug to a good depth, which had a top dressing of the
sweepings of the farm-yard and cow-houses; a rather heavy loam, highly
manured with burnt and decayed vegetables, and old cow dung; the third
was a patch of ground, which was originally an unwholesome swamp, from
being eighteen inches to two feet, lower than the surrounding land;
the soil appeared to be a hard sterile clay, and covered with long
coarse grass and rushes. As there was a tank near it, I cut away one
side of it, and threw the soil over the ground, bringing it rather
above the level. Such was its appearance, (a hard compost marly clay,)
that I expected no other good from it than that of raising the land so
as to throw the water off; contrary, however, to my expectations, it
produced a much finer crop of tobacco than either of the other soils,
and with somewhat less manure. The agricultural process is limited to
some practical laws founded on experience, and these are subject to
two principal agents; viz., the soil and climate. With respect to the
former, it is the practice amongst the growers in tobacco countries,
such as Cuba, the States of Virginia, North and South Carolina, and
the Philippine Islands, to select a high and dry piece of land, of a
siliceous nature, and combined with iron, if possible; and with
respect to the latter, there are seasons of the year too well known
to the planters to need any explanation. The only difference (if there
is any) depends on the geographical situation of the place, with
respect to its temperature, or in the backwardness or advancement of
seasons, and even on the duration of the same--in which circumstances
the planter takes advantage of the one for the other.
The influence of a burning climate may be modified by choosing the
coolest month of the year, whereas the soil cannot be altered without
incurring great expense. I have seen tobacco lose its natural quality
and degenerate by transplanting from one soil to another, although of
the same temperature, and _vice versa_.
Mr. Piddington has analysed several Indian soils, distinguished for
the production of superior tobacco. These are the table soils from
Arracan, (Sandoway,) a soil from Singour, in Burdwan, near
Chandernagore, the tobacco of which, though of the same species as
that of the surrounding country, sells at the price of the Arracan
sort; and the soil of the best Bengal tobacco, which is grown at, and
about Hingalee, in the Kishnagur district.
The best tobacco soils of Cuba and Manila, are for the most part red
soils. Now, the red and reddish soils contain most of their iron in
the state of peroxide, or the reddish brown oxide of iron; while the
lighter grey soils contain it only in the state of protoxide, or the
black oxide of iron. Mr. Piddington believes the quality of the
tobacco to depend mainly on the state and quantity of the iron of the
soil, while it is indifferent about the lime, which is so essential to
cotton. None of the tobacco soils contain any lime. Their analysis
show them to contain:--
Arracan soil. Singour soil. Hingalee soil.
Oxide or iron, (peroxide) 15,65 10,60 6,00
Water and saline matter 1,10 75 1,50
Vegetable matter and fibre 3,75 1,10 75
Silex 76,90 80,65 87,25
Alumina 2,00 4,50 1,50
------- ------- -------
99,40 97,60 97,00
Water and loss 60 2,40 3,00
------- ------- -------
100 100 100
From which it will be seen that the best tobacco soil hitherto found
in India contains about sixteen per cent., or nearly one-sixth, of
iron, which is mostly in a state of peroxide; and that the inferior
sort of tobacco grows in a soil containing only six per cent., or
one-sixteenth of iron, which is, moreover, mostly in the state of
protoxide, or black oxide. Mr. Piddington thought it worth examining
what the quantity of iron in the different sorts of tobacco would be,
and found that while the ashes of one ounce, or 480 grains of Havana
and Sandoway cheroots gave exactly 1.94 grains, or 0.40 per cent., of
peroxide of iron the ashes of the same quantity of the Hingalee, or
best Bengal tobacco, only gave 1.50 grains, or 0.32 per cent.; and it
appears to exist in the first two in a state of peroxide, and in the
last as a protoxide of iron; rendering it highly probable that the
flavor of the tobacco to the smoker depends on the state and quantity
of the iron it contains! Green copperas water, which is a solution of
sulphate of iron, is often used by the American and English
tobacconists and planters, to colour and flavor their tobacco; and
this would be decomposed by the potass of the tobacco, and sulphate of
potass and carbonate of iron is formed. Carbonate of iron is of an
ochre-yellow color. Mr. Piddington says he took care to ascertain that
this process had not been performed with the tobacco used for this
experiment; and adds that Bengal cheroot makers do not know of this
method. Mr. Laidley, of Gonitea, dissents from the idea suggested by
Mr. Piddington that ferruginous matter in the soil is essential to the
successful growth of tobacco. He observes that if we attend only to
the iron contained, why every plant will be found to require a
ferruginous soil; but tobacco contains a notable quantity of nitrate
of potass and muriate of ammonia (the latter a most rare ingredient in
plants), and these two salts are infinitely more likely to affect the
flavor of the leaf than a small portion of oxide of iron, an inert
body. Now as neither of these can be supplied by the atmosphere, we
must search for them in the soil, and accordingly he imagined that a
compost similar to the saltpetre beds which Napoleon employed so
extensively in France, would be a good manure for tobacco lands;
namely, calcareous matter, such as old mortar, dung, and the ashes of
weeds or wood. He was aware that good tobacco might be grown in
Beerbhoom, having raised some himself several years ago from American
seed. The plants grew most vigorously, and he further observed, in
confirmation of his opinion about the proper manure, that in other
districts in which he had resided the natives always grew the tobacco
(each for his own use) upon the heap of rubbish at his door,
consisting of ashes, cow-dung, and offal of all kinds. While the soil
of the Gangetic diluvium almost always contains carbonate of lime, the
Beerbhoom soil does not, as far at least as Mr. Laidley had examined
it.
The following is the mode of culture pursued about the city of
Coimbetore. Between the middle of August and the same time in
September, a plot of ground is hoed and embanked into small squares;
in these the seed is sown, and covered by hand three times at
intervals of ten days. To secure a succession of seedlings water is
then given, and the sun's rays moderated by a covering of bushes.
Watering is repeated every day for a month, and then only every fifth
day. The field in which the seedlings are transplanted, is manured and
ploughed at the end of August. Cattle are also folded upon the ground.
Four or five ploughings are given between mid September and the middle
of October, when the field is divided as above into small squares.
These are watered until the soil is rendered a mud. Plants of the
first sowing are then inserted at the end of September, about a cubit
apart, the transplanting being done in the afternoon. At intervals of
ten days the seedlings of the other two sowings are removed. A month
after being transplanted the field is hoed, and after another month
the leading shoot of each plant is pinched off, so as to leave them
not more than a cubit high. Three times during the next month all side
shoots thrown out are removed. When four months old, the crop is ready
for cutting. To render the leaves sweet the field is watered, and the
plants cut down close to the surface, being allowed to remain when cut
until next morning. Their roots are tied to a rope and suspended round
the hedges. In fine weather the leaves are dry in ten days, but if
cloudy they require five more days. They are then heaped up under a
roof, which is covered with bushes and pressed with stones for five
days. After this the leaves are removed from the stems, tied in
bunches, heaped again, and pressed for four days longer. They are now
tied in bundles, partly of the small leaf and partly of the large leaf
bundles, and again put in heaps for ten days--once during the time the
heaps being opened and piled afresh. This completes the drying. A
thousand bundles, weighing about 570 lbs., is a good produce for an
acre.
In 1760, Ceylon produced a considerable quantity of tobacco,
principally about Jaffna, a demand having sprung up for it in
Travancore, and on the Malay coast. The cultivation spread to other
districts of the island, Negombo, Chilaw, and Matura. Not long after
the possession of the island by the British, a monopoly was created by
an import duty of 25 per cent., _ad valorem_, and in 1811 the growers
were compelled to deliver their tobacco into the Government stores at
certain fixed rates. The culture and demand thereupon decreased. In
1853, the duty on the exports of tobacco from this island amounted to
£8,386, and in 1836 to £9,514.
Ceylon now exports a considerable quantity of tobacco. The value of
that exported in 1844 was nearly £18,000: it went exclusively to
British colonies. The shipments since have been as follows:--
1848 £17,992 ----
1849 22,300 ----
1850 20,721 22,184 cwts.
1851 21,422 22,523 "
1852 20,531 21,955 "
About 96,000 piculs of cigars, of five different qualities, are
exported annually from Siam. A good deal of very fine tobacco is grown
in the Philippines, and the Manila cheroots are celebrated all over
the globe. The quantity of raw tobacco shipped from Manila in 1847 was
92,106 arrobas (each about a quarter of a cwt.); manufactured tobacco,
12,054 arrobas; and 1,933 cases of cigars. 5,220 boxes of cigars were
shipped from Manila in 1844. 73,439 millions of cigars were shipped in
1850, and 42,629 quintals of leaf tobacco.
The manufacture of cigars in Manila is a monopoly of the government,
and not only is this the case, but it is a monopoly of the closest
description, and any infringement of the assumed rights of the Spanish
Indian government is visited by the most severe penalties. Public
enterprise, however little of that commodity there now exists in the
Spanish character, is thus kept down; and this is not only detrimental
to the nation itself, but is also unjust towards those persons who are
the purchasers of the article, enhanced in price, as is always the
case, by monopoly. The cheroot, which now costs, free of duty, about
one halfpenny, could be rendered for half that sum, according to
well-authenticated opinions. To protect itself from illicit
manufacturers, or smuggling of any kind in connection with cigars, the
government is compelled to maintain an army of gendarmes, in order to
adopt the most stringent means which despotic states alone tolerate.
No person is, therefore, permitted to have even the tobacco leaf in
its raw state on his premises, and gendarmes pay, at stated intervals,
domiciliary visits to the habitations of the people, in search of any
contraband materials. There are several extensive manufactories of
cigars and cheroots belonging to the government in and near Manila.
Mr. Mac Micking, in his recent work on the Philippines, thus describes
the mode of manufacture by those employed by the government:--
In making cheroots women only are employed, the number of those so
engaged in the factory at Manila being generally about 4,000. Beside
these, a large body of men are employed at another place in the
composition of cigarillos, or small cigars, kept together by an
envelope of white paper in place of tobacco; these being the
description most smoked by the Indians. The flavor of Manila
cheroots is peculiar to themselves, being quite different from that
made of any other sort of tobacco; the greatest characteristic
probably being its slightly soporific tendency, which has caused
many persons in the habit of using it to imagine that opium is
employed in the preparatory treatment of the tobacco, which,
however, is not the case.
The cigars are made up by the hands of women in large rooms of the
factory, each of them containing from 800 to 1,000 souls. These are
all seated, or squatted, Indian like, on their haunches, upon the
floor, round tables, at each of which there is an old woman
presiding to keep the young ones in order, about a dozen of them
being the complement of a table. All of them are supplied with a
certain weight of tobacco, of the first, second, or third qualities
used in composing a cigar, and are obliged to account for a
proportionate number of cheroots, the weight and size of which are
by these means kept equal. As they use stones for beating out the
leaf on the wooden tables before which they are seated, the noise
produced by them while making them up is deafening, and generally
sufficient to make no one desirous of protracting a visit to the
place. The workers are well recompensed by the government, as very
many of them earn from six to ten dollars a month for their labor;
and as that amount is amply sufficient to provide them with all
their comforts, and to leave a large balance for their expenses in
dress, &c., they are seldom very constant laborers, and never enter
the factory on Sundays, or, at least, on as great an annual number
of feast days as there are Sundays in a year.
The Japanese grow a good deal of tobacco for their own consumption,
which is very considerable. They consider that from Sasma as the best,
then that from Nangasakay, Sinday, &c. The worst comes from the
province of Tzyngaru; it is strong, of a black color, and has a
disgusting taste and smell. The tobacco from Sasma is, indeed, also
strong, but it has an agreeable taste and smell, and is of a bright
yellow color. The tobacco from Nangasakay is very weak, in taste and
smell perhaps the best, and of a bright brown color. The tobacco from
Sinday is very good. The Japanese manufacture the tobacco so well,
says Capt. Golownin, (Recollections of Japan,) that though I was
before no friend to smoking, and even when I was at Jamaica could but
seldom persuade myself to smoke an Havana cigar, yet I smoked the
Japanese tobacco very frequently, and with great pleasure.
The culture of tobacco is a very profitable article for the laborers,
seeing that the produce is obtained from grounds which have already
given the first crop. The qualities of Java tobacco are more and more
prized in the European markets, the preparation and assortment are not
yet all that could be desired, but they have progressed in this
branch, and the contracts made with the new adventurers assure them of
a considerable benefit. But before the Java tobaccos can find an
assured opening in the European markets, it is necessary that the
cultivators should make use of seed from the Havana or Manila. The
residencies of Rembang, Sourabaya, Samarang, Chinbou, and Tagal,
present districts suited for its culture; it has been carried on with
success for a good many years in the residencies of Treanger,
Pakalongan, and Kedu, but only for the consumption of the interior,
and of the Archipelago.
Tobacco is cultivated in Celebes, but merely in sufficient quantity
for local consumption. It is exclusively grown by the Bantik
population--the mode of preparation is the same as in Java; it is
chopped very fine and mostly flavored with arrack. When bought in
large quantities, it may be had for thirty cents the pound; but in
smaller quantities it costs double that price.
Tobacco is cultivated in New South Wales with much success. Australia
produces a leaf equal to Virginia, or the most fertile parts of
Kentucky, but the great difficulty is to extract the superabundant
"nitre." The first crop in New South Wales exceeds one ton per acre,
and the second crop off the same plants, yields about half the weight
of the first. In 1844 there were about 871 acres in cultivation in New
South Wales with tobacco, and the produce was returned at 6,382 cwts.
In New England, New South Wales, as fine a "fig" as could be wished
for is manufactured under the superintendence of a thorough-bred
Virginia tobacco manufacturer--but the impossibility of extracting the
nitre by the heating, or any other process, renders the flavor rank
and disagreeable. Perhaps cheroots, or the lower numbers of cigars,
manufactured from the Australian leaf, might prove more successful.
In Sydney the time for sowing tobacco seed is September, but in Van
Diemen's Land it should be a month later, as tobacco plants cannot
stand the frost. The ground should be made fine, and in narrow beds
three feet wide from path to path, to allow for weeding without
stepping on the beds. The seed, being small, should not be raked in;
but after the ground is raked fine, and perfectly clean, and well
pulverised, mix the seed with wood ashes, and sow over the beds, and
pat in with the spade, or tread in with the naked feet, which is
preferable. The ground should be moist, but not much watered, or it
moulds the plants. When about as large as moderate sized cabbage
plants, they should be put out--three feet or three feet six in the
rows, and five feet apart between the rows. When the plant rises to
about two feet high, it will throw out suckers at each leaf, which
must be carefully taken off with the finger and thumb, and all bottom
and decayed leaves that touch the ground taken off. When the tobacco
plant throws out flower, it must be topped off, leaving about twelve
leaves in the stalk to ripen and come to maturity. When the leaves
feel thick between the finger and thumb, and assume a mottled
appearance, they are fit to cut.
In "Tegg's New South Wales Almanac" it is stated that the end of July
is the usual time for sowing the seed. In order, however, to prevent
the plants from being subsequently destroyed by frost, care must be
taken not to sow the seed until the frost has ceased in any respective
locality (unless raised in a frame). Tobacco requires a rich light
soil, and well manured.
By the instructions for cultivating it, the plant must be three feet
apart each way, which would give 4,840 plants to an acre; assuming
that each plant would yield half a pound for the first crop, this
would give 2,420 lbs. to an acre, which is only 180 lbs. in excess of
a ton. In New South Wales several parties use the tobacco stems for
sheep wash. One pound of tobacco is sufficient to wash five sheep on
an average (one washing), which would give 12,100 sheep to one acre.
Assuming that only one crop was grown in New Zealand in one year, of
2,420 lbs. to an acre, at 3d. per pound, (which is about half the
market price of a fair sample of tobacco in bond,) it would amount to
£30 5s. per acre.
Three rows of Indian corn are planted outside the tobacco plants to
shelter them from the wind. In order to save seed, a few plants are
allowed to flower. The Virginian tobacco is the largest; it is known
by a pink flower; the _Nicotiana rustica_ (common green) has a yellow
flower.
A planter in Northern Australia furnishes the following directions:--
The land selected for the growth of tobacco ought to be of the most
fertile description, of a friable description, and upon which no
water can rest within eighteen inches of the surface. Newly cleared
brush lands of this nature are the most prolific; upon such, after
good tillage, put the plants about four feet or more apart, in rows,
and five feet six inches asunder. In interior or old ground, plant
proportionately closer. Before topping or nipping off the head, all
the lower leaves (that is such as may touch the ground) ought to be
broken off, leaving only from five to seven for the crop, which will
yield a greater weight and be of a superior quality than if double
that number were left. When ripe, a dry and cloudy day should be
selected to cut it, as the sun destroys its quality after cutting.
It ought then to lie sufficiently long upon the ground so as to welt
before carting to the sheds, hanging up each stalk next morning so
as not to touch its fellow.
The drying sheds ought to be built upon an elevated or dry spot,
with a hoarded flour of rough split stuff, fifteen or eighteen
inches from the ground, with apertures as windows to admit or to
exclude the external atmosphere. In damp weather close all the doors
and windows, also every night; in contrary weather open all.
In these drying houses the stalks should remain suspended until the
vegetable moisture is entirely evaporated, so that on a dry day the
stems of the leaves will break like a glass pipe, and the finer
parts crumble into snuff upon compression; after which, in humid
weather, they will become quite pliable; then strip the leaves off
the stems, make them up into hands, and pack them tightly into a
close bin: when full, cover it with boards and old bagged stuff,
upon which place heavy weights. In this state it undergoes the
sweating process, which, in this colony, is little understood or not
properly attended to, and yet, upon the skill displayed thereon, the
quality of the tobacco greatly depends. I will therefore give some
general directions upon this portion of the planter's office. If the
tobacco happen to be too damp when put into the bin, it will attain
either an injurious or a destructive degree of heat; it must
therefore he watched for some days after it is packed. To an
experienced operator I would say, if the heat exceed 80 degrees of
temperature, immediately unpack and re-hang the whole, waiting its
condition as before explained, before it is again put into the
sweating bin. Should the degree of heat be below that stated, it may
remain for weeks or until the heat has subsided. I have generally
removed it from the sweating process in about fourteen or twenty
days, sometimes considerably longer, regulating that act by the odor
and color of the leaf. If, however, it appears to be attaining a
very dark brown color and its heat not subsided, it should be taken
out and closely pressed into large cases or casks, when it will
again attain a gentle heat called the "second sweating," as is
invariably the case with the hogsheads of the American leaf tobacco:
this again improves its quality. Here the grower's operations
terminate.
It may be necessary to remark, that how skilful and experienced
soever the grower may be, it is hardly possible for him to produce a
good article upon a small scale; for with a less quantity than one
ton to place in the sweating bin at a time, the requisite heat to
insure success will not be generated. I would further observe, that
the practice of the colonists in growing what they term a "second
crop" is most injurious to their interests, their lands, and the
quality and character of the colonial tobacco. The American planter
never attempts it. I would therefore strongly recommend its
discontinuance, and also never to crop one piece of land with
tobacco more than two or three years in succession. The Americans
rarely take more than two crops unless the land be new; after which
they sow it down with grasses, in which state it remains for two or
three years until it is again planted with tobacco. I would
recommend this plan to the growers.
The character of the American tobacco has been greatly advanced in
the mercantile world by an ordinance regulating that source of
national wealth. The planters are thereby obligated to deposit their
crops in warehouses, over which sworn inspectors preside, who
rigidly examine every hogshead, and if found to be of mercantile
quality, grant the owner a certificate, by which instrument only he
sells his produce. The purchaser is hereby safe in buying these
certificates. The tobacco to which they refer is delivered to the
holder on presentation to the inspector. I mention this not as
applicable here at present, but it most probably may hereafter.
When the colony is suffering severely for the want of labor, it may
by some be deemed inopportune in offering remarks upon this article
of commerce. To such dissentients I will remark, that a great
portion of the work can be performed by women and children. A moiety
of our anticipated increase of population will be available for this
hitherto mismanaged source of wealth. At present the quantity grown
in the colony is equal to three-fourths of its consumption, and
which production is of a very inferior quality to the imported.
These facts tend to show that my notice of the subject is not
inopportune, and particularly so when the object is to point out
those errors so generally adopted by the tobacco growers here. Years
of practical experience, of personal observation upon the
plantations of North America, and my having been, I believe, the
grower of the greatest quantity of tobacco in the colony, qualify me
to afford instructions thereon; whereby, if attended to, our tobacco
will become fully equal to the American, as was proved to be the
case by the crops I grew here (upwards of 40 tons),[56] which were
sold in Sydney by the Commissariat Department at public auction, at
an advance of twenty per cent. more than the imported leaf. As the
duty on tobacco is about to be reduced, the present production may
fall off, unless an immediate improvement in its quality take place.
Instead of being importers of tobacco, we should, if it was grown
here to perfection, be exporters of it to all our sister colonies;
and in its raw state, also to the European markets. At present, for
home consumption, there is a greater profit to be made by its
cultivation, if skilfully managed, than in any part of the world;
for the duty upon imported is a positive bonus to the grower.
In 1849-50 there were fifteen manufactories of tobacco on a small
scale in New South Wales, but these were reduced in 1851 to six.
Many samples of tobacco grown in the colony have been pronounced by
competent judges equal to Virginian, but a very considerable prejudice
exists against it. There is, however, no doubt that the dealers
dispose of a great deal as American tobacco, and get a best price for
it. The reduction of the import duties on foreign tobacco, recently
made by the Legislative Council, will probably retard the progress of
the colonial production and manufacture of this article; but with an
abundance of labor there is no question that this branch of industry
will be again profitably resorted to. The quantity of tobacco
manufactured in New South Wales, in 1847, was 1,321 cwt.; in 1848, 714
cwt.; in 1849, 2,758 cwt.; in 1850, 3,833 cwt.; in 1851, 4,841 cwt.
A correspondent of the _Adelaide Observer_ recommends its culture in
South Australia, and supplies the following useful information:--
Without entering into botanical details, I will simply state that
the plant is of a shrubby nature, about five feet high, and ought
not to be planted nearer than four feet from each other, in rows
five feet apart--thus allowing for each plant a space of ground four
feet by five, or 20 square feet. An acre will consequently furnish
sufficient room for 2,178 plants.
The tobacco plant will thrive in almost any climate, from the torrid
zone to the temperature of Great Britain. It luxuriates in rich
alluvial valleys, where the soil is either of a _loamy_ or a _peaty_
nature.
Maiden soil is not recommended. The ground should be trenched,
worked as fine as possible, and well manured. Tobacco will not
answer unless the subsoil is thoroughly broken. The best manure is
that obtained from the bullock-yard, and bark from the tan yard; and
by two or three ploughings the earth can be brought to a proper
consistency, and fit for the reception of the plants.
The usual method adopted in New South Wales, is to raise the plants
in a warm, sheltered bed, neither exposed to wind nor to the sun's
rays; but if the weather is dry, they should be well watered night
and morning. The time of sowing is the end of August or the
beginning of September in the latitude of Sydney, according to the
state of the weather; and they may be transplanted when they have
attained their sixth leaf, which is generally about a month or five
weeks after they are up.
The period is rather later in this colony, and care should be taken
that the plants have gained sufficient strength in the ground after
transplanting to withstand the effect of the hot winds, and, if
practicable, the aspect should be either N.E. or N.W., and the rows
should incline towards either of these points.
The most suitable spots in this colony for the cultivation of
tobacco, are Lyndoch Valley and the districts round the town of
Willunga and Morphett Vale.
The greatest care is required from the cultivator to prevent the
destruction of the plant from its greatest enemy, the black grub.
Daily search should be made for it, and not a plant should be left
unexamined; they make their appearance about the beginning of
November, when the plants have scarcely had time to take root. The
soil between the rows should be kept constantly stirred with a
three-pronged fork, that air and the sun's rays may be admitted,
which latter are as indispensable to the growing plant as injurious
to the seedling. The labor is great, and from first to last requires
the constant attention of one man throughout the year, with an
additional hand for about six weeks during the process of curing.
The profits even in bad seasons are considerable; but when the
season and soil are favorable, they average upwards of 100 per cent.
The consumption of tobacco is great in this colony, not only for
personal use, but for sheep-wash; and the profits may be
considerably greater for the lower leaves, which, owing to their
gritty nature, cannot be manufactured, but may be advantageously
cured for wash.
It is not my office to argue the point as to the advantages which
may accrue from a free trade in tobacco; but this I know, and
confidently assert it, from actual experiments made in this
province, that a more lucrative article cannot be grown.
The consumption in South America, in 1850, was 147,178 lbs.; and the
annual increase since 1840 has been a higher percentage than the
increase of population, chiefly owing to extension in sheep-farming.
The probable expense of cultivation per acre may be as under:--
£ s. d.
Rent 0 10 0
Labor, 12 months 52 0 0
Ditto, 2 months 8 10 0
Ploughing three times 2 2 0
Harrowing twice 1 0 0
Manure, say 2 10 0
Seed, say 0 10 0
----------
£67 2 0
The Sydney average quantity is said to be 11-1/3 cwt. per acre,
say 10 cwt.; and the cost price per lb. will be 14½d., or £6 15s.
4d. per cwt. The profit will at once be seen on this article of
consumption.
* * * * *
Miscellaneous Drugs.--The blood tree (_Croton gossypifolia_), an
evergreen shrub, native of the Trinidad mountains, is remarkable for
yielding, when wounded, a thick juice resembling blood in color, which
is one of the most powerful astringents I know of, and as such would
be valuable to medical science. The bark of _Croton Cascarilla_ is, as
we have seen in a former section, aromatic, and the seeds of _C.
Tiglium_, the physic nut, are purgative; so are those of the purging
nut (_Jatropha multifida_), and another species (_J. gossypifolia_).
The pods of cow-itch (_Mucuna pruriens_) act as a vermifuge; the roots
of the _Ruellia tuberosa_, or manyroot, and the bulbs of the white
lily (_Pancratium Carribæum_ and _maritimum_), are emetic. The Indian
root or bastard ipecacuan (_Asclepias curassavica_) has medicinal
properties. _A. tuberosa_ is used as a mild cathartic, and a remedy
for a variety of disorders. _Hydrastis canadensis_, or Canadian yellow
root, is a valuable bitter, and furnishes a useful yellow dye.
_Knowltonia vesicatoria_ is used commonly as a blister in the Cape
Colony. _Ranunculus saleratus_ (the _R. indicus_ of Roxburgh, and _B.
camosus_ of Wallich), common in India, is also used by the natives for
blistering purposes.
A kind of sedge rush, common in swampy places in the West India
islands, the _Adme cyperus_, enjoys a reputation for the cure of
yellow fever. It is also stated to be cordial, diuretic and cephalic,
serviceable in the first stages of the dropsy, good in vomitings,
fluxes, &c.
Dr. Impey, the residentiary surgeon of Malwa, has just confidence in
the indigenous drugs in use by the natives of the East, many of which
are quite unknown in European practice. He believes that, in the
Indian bazaars and the jungle, drugs having precisely the same effect
as those of Europe may be discovered, and has recently drawn up a list
of ninety substances, which are perfect substitutes for an equal
number of European medicines. The class of tonics, in particular, is
most amply supplied, and the Englishman is not the only animal who
suffers from disorders of the digestive organs.
My friend Dr. Hamilton, of Plymouth, recently brought under the notice
of the profession the medical properties of the prickly poppy or
Mexican thistle (_Argemone Mexicana_). It is indigenous to and grows
wild in the greatest profusion throughout the whole of the Caribbean
islands, and may be found at every season of the year covered with its
bright golden blossoms, and bearing its prickly capsules in all their
several stages of maturity. It is an annual plant, attaining a height
of about two feet, growing abundantly in low and hot uncultivated
spots. Its stem is round and prickly, furnished with alternate
branches and thorny leaves. The seeds possess an emetic quality. The
whole plant abounds in a yellow milky juice, resembling gamboge in
color, and not improbably possessing properties similar to the seeds.
In Nevis the oil is obtained from the bruised seeds by boiling, and
sold by the negroes in small phials, containing about an ounce each,
under the name of "thistle oil," at the price of a quarter of a dollar
each. The usual dose for dry bellyache is thirty drops upon a lump of
sugar, and its effect is perfectly magical, relieving the pain
instantaneously, throwing the patient into a profound and refreshing
sleep, and in a few hours relieving the bowels gently of the contents.
This oil seems fitted to compete in utility with the far more costly
and less agreeable oil of the croton.
The seeds of the sandbox (_Hura crepitans_) when bruised, operate
powerfully as emetico-cathartic. It is probable that an oil might be
obtained from them similar in its operation to the thistle oil.
A cucurbitaceous fruit, one of the Luffas (called by Von Martius
_Luffa purgans_), a tribe closely allied to the colocynth and
mornordicas, growing in South America, is a powerful purgative, and is
used in the province of Pernambuco, where it is called Cabacinha. The
fruit is about the size of a small pear and resembles the wild
cucumber. An infusion of a fourth part of one of these fruits is
administered chiefly in the form of an injection.
Another species (_Luffa drastica_, of Martius) is also employed for
the same purpose.
The _Luffa purgans_ grows spontaneously in the suburbs of Recieffe,
the capital of the province of Pernambuco, and flowers in November and
December. The fruit is a drastic purgative, and an infusion of it is
used either internally or in the form of clyster. The tincture is
prepared by macerating, for twenty-eight hours or more, four of the
fruit deprived of the seeds in a bottle of spirit 21 degrees. The dose
is three or four ounces daily, which occasions much sickness.
* * * * *
Poisons.--The vegetable kingdom (observes Mr. Simple), to which man is
largely indebted for the materials of food, clothing, and shelter,
produces also some of the most deadly poisons with which science,
experience, or accident, has made him acquainted. In examining the
poisonous productions of the vegetable kingdom, we find that their
properties are generally due to the presence of some acid or alkali
contained in the plant from which they are derived. Oil of bitter
almonds and cherry laurel water are poisonous in consequence of
containing prussic acid. Opium owes its activity to the alkaloid
morphia. The Upas-tiente derives its energetic powers from the
alkaloid strychnia; conia is the active principle of hemlock; veratria
of hellebore; aconita of monk's hood; and although there are several
poisonous plants in which the active principle has not yet been
detected, there can be little doubt that such a principle exists,
although it has hitherto eluded the researches of the
chemist.--("Pharmaceutical Journal," vol. 2, p. 17.)
The bark taken from the roots of the Jamaica dogwood (_Piscidia
erythrina_), which is extensively distributed throughout the
Archipelago of the Antilles, is used for stupefying fish. The pounded
root is mixed with slaked lime and the low wines or lees of the
distillery, and the mixture is put into small baskets or sacks, and so
suffered to wash out gradually, coloring the water to a reddish hue.
The fish rise to the surface in a few minutes, when they float as if
dead.
The expressed juice of the root of _Maranta Arundinacea_ is stated to
be a valuable antidote to some vegetable poisons, and also serviceable
in cases of bites or stings of venomous insects or reptiles. One of
the most popular remedies for the bites of snakes is a decoction of
the leaves of the Guaco, or snake plant, of South America, a species
of willow which flourishes along the banks of the streams in the
sultry regions shaded by other trees. It is said to be both a
preventive and cure.
Mr. Edward Otto, writing from Cuba to the "Gardener's Magazine" for
May, 1842, p. 286, describes the guaco as a tree growing from four to
eight feet in height, with beautiful dark green leaves, having a brown
tinge round the margin. The blossoms are small, of a bluish brown, and
hang like loose bunches of grapes at the points of the shoots, or even
on the stem itself, as it has seldom branches. The milky sap is said
to have poisonous effects. "I was told (he adds) that this plant is
used efficiently in cholera and yellow fever." This tree is said to be
the _Camæladia ilicifolia_ of Swartz, common in Antigua and Hayti,
being known in Antigua by the popular name of the holly-leaved maiden
plum.
* * * * *
ALOES.--The drug called aloes is the bitter, resinous, inspissated
juice of the leaves of various species of an arborescent plant of the
lily family, with a developed stem and large succulent leaves, growing
principally in tropical and sub-tropical regions, and having a wide
extent of range, being produced in Borneo and the East, Africa,
Arabia, and the West Indies; many are also natives of the Cape of Good
Hope. The plant will thrive in almost any soil, and, when once
established, it is extremely difficult to eradicate.
The cultivation and manufacture are of the most simple kind. The usual
mode of propagating the plants is by suckers; and all the care
required is to keep them free from weeds.
From the high price which the best Barbados aloes fetches in the
market, £7 per cwt., its culture might be profitably extended to many
of the other islands. The aloes plant is indigenous to the soil of
Jamaica, and although handled by thousands of the peasantry and
others, there is not perhaps one in five thousand who understands its
properties or the value of the plant. With the Jamaicans it is
commonly used in fever cases, by slicing the leaves, permitting the
juice to escape partially, and then applying them to the head with
bandages;--this is the only generally known property which it
possesses there.
A series of trials made recently in Paris proved that cordage
manufactured from the fibre of this plant grown in Algiers, was far
preferable in comparative strength to that manufactured from hemp.
Cables, of equal size, showed that that made of the aloe raised a
weight of one-fifth more than that of hemp.
The drug is imported into this country under the names of Socotrine,
East Indian or Hepatic, Barbados, Cape and Caballine aloes. It
contains a substance called Aloetine, which some regard as its active
principle. The various species now defined are--_Aloe spicata_,
_vulgaris_, _Socotrina_, _Indica_, _rubescens_, _Arabica_,
_linguæ-formis_ and _Commelina_. The average imports in 1841 and 1842
were only about 170,780 cwts.; it is now much larger, and a great
portion of the supply is drawn from the Cape colony.
The mode of preparing the drug, which I have myself seen in the West
Indies, is exceedingly simple. When the plant has arrived at proper
maturity, the laborers go into the field with tubs and knives, and cut
the largest and most succulent leaves close to the stalk; these are
placed upright in the tubs, side by side, so that the sap may flow out
of the wound. Sometimes a longitudinal incision is made from top to
bottom of the leaf, to facilitate the discharge. The crude juice thus
obtained is placed in shallow flat-bottomed receivers, and exposed to
the sun until it has acquired sufficient consistency to be packed in
gourds for exportation. In preparing the coarser kind, or horse aloes,
the leaves are cut into junks and thrown into the tubs, there to lie
till the juice is pretty well drained out; they are then squeezed by
the hand, and water, in the proportion of one quart to ten of juice,
is added, after which it is boiled to a due consistence and emptied
into large shallow coolers.
The following analysis by M. Edmond Robiquet of a specimen of
Socotrine aloes, obtained from M. Chevallier, is given in the sixth
volume of the "Pharmaceutical Journal," p. 277. The constituents in
100 parts were:--
Pure aloes (Aloetine) 85.00
Ulmate of potash 2.00
Sulphate of lime 2.00
Carbonate of potash }
-------------lime } traces.
Phosphate of lime }
Gallic acid .25
Albumen 8.
The true Socotrine aloes is the produce of _A. Socotrina_, which grows
abundantly in the island of Socotra in the Indian Ocean. Lieutenant
Wellstead says, the hills on the west side of the island are covered
for an extent of miles with aloe plants. The aloe grows spontaneously
on the limestone mountains of Socotra, from 500 to 3,000 feet above
the level of the sea. The produce is brought to Tamarida and
Colliseah, the principal town and harbor for exports. In 1833, the
best quality sold for 2s. a pound, while for the more indifferent the
price was 13d. The value is much impaired by the careless manner in
which the aloes is gathered and packed. Aloes once formed the staple
of its traffic, for which it was chiefly resorted to; but only small
quantities are now exported. It was formerly shipped by the way of
Smyrna and Alexandria, but is usually now brought by the way of
Bombay; Melinda, on the Zanzibar coast, and Maccula on the Arabian
shore, furnish the greater part of that sold in Europe as Socotrine
aloes. It comes home in chests or packages of 150 to 200 lbs. wrapt in
skins of the gazelle, sometimes in casks holding half a ton or more.
It is somewhat transparent, of a garnet or yellowish red color. The
smell is not very unpleasant, approaching to myrrh. Socotrine aloes,
although long considered the best kind, is now below Barbados aloes in
commercial value.
About two tons were imported from Socotra in 1833, but a much larger
quantity could be obtained if required.
The price of Socotrine aloes in the Liverpool market, in the early
part of 1853, was 30s. to £6 the cwt.; of Cape, 30s. to 32s.
_East Indian_, or _Hepatic aloes_.-- The real hepatic aloes, so called
from its liver color, is believed to be the produce of _A. Arabica_,
or _perfoliala_, which grows in Yemen in Arabia, from whence it is
exported by the way of Bombay to Europe. According to Dr. Thomson and
the "Materia Medica," it is duller in its color than the other kinds,
is bitterer, and has a less pleasant aroma than the Socotrine aloes.
It should not be liquid, which deteriorates the quality.
_A. Indica_--a species with reddish flowers, common in dry situations,
in the north-west provinces of India, is that from which an inferior
sort of the drug is produced. It is obtained in Guzerat, Salem, and
Trichinopoly, and fetches a local price of 2d. to 3d. a pound. In the
Bombay market, Socotrine aloes fetches wholesale 16s. to 20s. the
Surat maund of 41 lbs., and Maccula aloes only 9s.
_Barbados aloes_, is the produce of _A. vulgaris_, or _A.
barbadensis_, a native of the Cape colony, and is often passed off for
the Hepatic. It is brought home in calabashes, or large gourd shells,
containing from 60 to 70 lbs. each, or more. It is duskier in hue than
the East Indian species, being a darkish brown or black, and the taste
is more nauseous and intensely bitter.
In 1786 one hogshead and 409 gourds of aloes were exported from
Barbados. In 1827, there were about 96,000 packages shipped from the
island. In 1844, there were 4,600 packages exported. The exports have
fallen off considerably, only about 850 gourds having been shipped in
the season of 1849-50; but in 1851 it increased to 2,505 gourds.
_Caballine_, or _Horse-aloes_, is the coarsest species or refuse of
the Barbados aloes, and from its rank fetid smell is only useful for
veterinary medicine. It is also obtained from Spain and Senegal.
A very good description of the mode of cultivating and preparing the
aloes in Barbados is given in the 8th vol. of the "London Medical
Journal":--
The lands in the vicinity of the sea, that is from two to three
miles, which are rather subject to drought than otherwise, and are
so strong and shallow as not to admit of the planting of sugar-canes
with any prospect of success, are generally found to answer best for
the aloe-plant. The stones, at least the larger ones, are first
picked up, and either packed in heaps upon the most shallow barren
spots, or laid round the field as a dry wall. The land is then
lightly ploughed and very carefully cleared of all noxious weeds,
lined at one foot distance from row to row, and the young plants set
like cabbages, at about five or six inches from each other. This
regular mode of lining and setting the plants is practised only by
the most exact planters, in order to facilitate the frequent weeding
by hand; because if the ground be not kept perfectly clean and free
from weeds, the produce will be very small. Aloes will bear being
planted in any season of the year, even in the dryest, as they will
live on the surface of the earth for many weeks without a drop of
rain. The most general time of planting them, however, is from April
to June.
In the March following, the laborers carry a parcel of tubs and jars
into the field, and each takes a slip or breadth of it, and begins
by laying hold of a bunch of the blades, as much as he can
conveniently grasp with one hand, whilst with the other he cuts it
just above the surface of the earth as quickly as possible (that the
juice may not be wasted), and then places the branches in the tub
bunch by bunch or handful by handful. When the first tub is thus
packed quite full, a second is begun (each laborer having two); and
by the time the second is filled, all the juice is generally drained
out of the blades in the first tub. The blades are then lightly
taken out and thrown over the land by way of manure, and the juice
is poured out into a jar. The tub is then filled again with blades,
and so alternately, till the laborer has produced his jar full, or
about four gallons and a half of juice, which is often done in six
or seven hours, and he has then the remainder of the day to himself,
it being his employer's interest to get each day's operation as
quickly done as possible. It may be observed that although aloes are
often cut in nine, ten, or twelve months after being planted, they
are not in perfection till the second or third year, and that they
will be productive for a length of time, say ten or twelve years, or
even for a longer time, if good dung or manure of any kind is
stirred over the field once in three or four years, or oftener if
convenient.
The aloe juice will keep for several weeks without injury. It is
therefore not boiled till a sufficient quantity is procured to make
it an object for the boiling house. In the large way, three boilers,
or coppers are placed to one fire, though some have but two, and the
small planters only one boiler. The boilers are filled with the
juice, and as it ripens or becomes more inspissated by a constant
but regular fire, it is ladled from boiler to boiler, and fresh
juice is added to that farthest from the fire, till the juice in
that nearest the fire (by much the smallest of the three) becomes of
a proper consistency, to be skipped or ladled out into gourds or
other small vessels used for its final reception. The proper time to
skip or ladle it out of the last boiler is when it has arrived at
what is termed a resin height, or when it cuts freely or in thin
flakes from the edges of a small wooden slice that is dipped from
time to time into the boiler for that purpose. A little lime water
is used by some aloe boilers during the process, when the ebullition
is too great.
CAPE ALOES is the produce chiefly of _A. spicata_, and _A. Commelini_,
which are found growing wild in great abundance in the interior of the
Cape Colony. It has not the dark opaque appearance of the other
species. About fifty miles from Cape Town is a mountainous tract,
almost entirely covered with numerous species and varieties of the
plant, and some of the extensive arid plains in the interior of the
colony are crowded with it. The settlers go forth and pitch their
waggous and campa on these spots to obtain the produce. The shipments
from Table Bay and the eastern port of Algoa Bay are very
considerable. The odor of the Cape aloes is stronger and more
disagreeable than that of the Socotrine or Barbados, and the color is
more like gamboge. It is brought over in chests and skins, the latter
being preferred.
Mr. George Dunsterville, surgeon of Algoa Bay, gives the following
description of the manufacture of Cape aloes:--
A shallow pit is dug, in which is spread a bullock's hide or sheep's
skin. The leaves of the aloe plants in the immediate vicinity of
this pit are stripped off and piled up on the skin to variable
heights. These are left for a few days. The juice exudes from the
leaves, and is received by the skin beneath. The Hottentot then
collects in a basket or other convenient article the produce of many
heaps, which is then put into an iron pot capable of holding
eighteen or twenty gallons. Fire is applied to effect evaporation,
during which the contents of the pot are constantly stirred to
prevent burning. The cooled liquor is then poured into wooden cases
of about three feet square by one foot deep, or into goat or sheep
skins, and thus is filled for the market. In the colony aloes
realises about 2¼ d. to 3½ d. per pound. The Hottentots and Dutch
boors employ indiscriminately different species of aloe in the
preparation of the drug.
The Cape aloes, which _is_ usually prized the highest in the English
market, is that made at the Missionary institution of Bethelsdorp (a
small village about nine miles from Algoa Bay, and chiefly inhabited
by Hottentots and their missionary teachers). Its superiority arises
not from the employment of a particular species of aloe, for all
species are used, but from the greater care and attention paid to
what is technically called the cooking of the aloes; that is, the
evaporation, and to the absence of all adulterating substances
(fragments of limestone, sand, earth, &c.), often introduced by
manufacturers.
Mr. Moodie, in his "Ten Years' Residence in Southern Africa," gives a
somewhat similar account.
Mr. Bunbury states that, about the neighbourhood of Graham's Town,
three large kinds of aloe are very abundant, which form striking and
characteristic features of the scenery; they grow irregularly
scattered over the parched and naked faces of the hills, but most
abundantly among the low broken ledges and knolls of sandstone rock,
and are often seen spiring up above the evergreen bushes in the
ravines, and crowning the cliffs. One kind grows to the height of a
man. They are plants of a strange, rigid, and ungraceful appearance,
but with very handsome flowers, which form tall and dense spikes, of a
fine coral-red color in two of the species _(A. arborescens_ and
_lineata?_), and of an orange scarlet in the third _(A.
glaucescens?_). When in blossom they are conspicuous at a great
distance, and might easily be mistaken, when seen from far off, for
soldiers in red uniforms.
The importance of this indigenous plant to the Cape Colony, may be
estimated from the following figures:--
AMOUNT OF ALOES, THE PRODUCE OF THE COLONY, AND VALUE THEREOF,
EXPORTED IN THE YEARS ENDING 5TH JANUARY 1841, 1842, AND 1846.
lbs £
1841 485,574 8,821
1842 602,620 11,877
1846 266,725 3,018
EXPORTS AND VALUE FROM THE EASTERN PROVINCE.
lbs. £
1835 68,042 474
1836 30,808 285
1837 13,400 115
1838 28,867 306
1839 75,500 918
1840 82,478 1,145
1841 220,214 4,271
1842 283,305 5,003
1844 318,035 3,225
EXPORTS AND VALUE FROM THE WESTERN PROVINCE.
lbs. £
1841 242,860 4,175
1842 379,315 6,874
1844 506,796 6,586
ASAFOETIDA.---This drug of commerce is procured from the milky juice
of _Ferula asafoetida_, a plant recently described by Dr. Falconer,
under the name of _Narthex asafoetida_. It is found in Persia, the
mountains of Chorasan, the central table land of Affghanistan, and
some seeds of it, sent to this country by Dr. Falconer, germinated in
the Botanical Garden at Edinburgh, and are now vigorous thriving
plants of six years growth. Its leaves have a resemblance to those of
a pæony; the fruit is distinguished by divided and interrupted vittae,
which form a network on the surface. The perennial roots grow to a
very large size, and are seldom of any use until after four or five
years' growth. The asafoetida is procured by taking successive slices
off the top of the root and collecting the milky juice., which is
allowed to concrete into masses of a fetid resinous gummy matter, with
a sulphur oil, similar to that of garlic, which is probably its active
ingredient.
An inferior sort is obtained from _F. persica_, another species with
very much divided leaves, growing chiefly in the southern provinces of
Persia. It comes over usually in casks and cases. The British
consumption of the drug is about 10,000 lbs. a year. A little is
procured from Scinde. In 1825 the quantity imported was 106,770 lbs.,
in 1839 only 24 cwts.
The wholesale price in the Liverpool market, in January 1853, was £1
to £3 10s. the cwt.
CAMPHOR.--The Camphor tree (_Camphora officinarum_, _Laurus Camphora_)
is a native of China, Japan, and Cochin China, of the laurel tribe,
with black and purple veins. Camphor is procured from all parts of the
tree, but it is obtained principally from the wood by distillation,
and subsequent sublimation.
Many plants, such as the cinnamon tree, supply a kind of camphor, but
the common camphor of the shops is the produce chiefly of _C.
officinarum._
Two kinds of unrefined camphor are known in commerce.--1. The Dutch,
which is brought from Batavia, and is said to be the produce of Japan.
This is imported in tubs covered by matting and each surrounded by a
second tub, secured on the outside by hoops of twisted cane. Each tub
contains about one cwt. Most of this goes to the continent. 2.
Ordinary crude camphor is imported from Singapore and Bombay, in
square chests lined with lead-foil, and containing 1¼ to 1½ cwts. It
is chiefly produced in the island of Formosa, and is brought by the
Chin Chew junks in very large quantities to Canton, whence foreign
markets get supplied.--("Pereira's Materia Medica.")
In the southern part of Japan the tree grows in such abundance that,
notwithstanding the great consumption of it in the country, large
quantities are exported. Koempfer says, that the Japanese camphor is
made by a simple decoction of the wood and roots, but bears no
proportion in value to that of Borneo. There is also an imitation of
camphor in Japan, but every body can distinguish it from the genuine.
The camphor of Sumatra is procured from the stem of a large tree,
_Dryobalanops Camphora_, Colebrook; _D. aromatica_, Graertner. It is
secreted in crystalline masses naturally into cavities of the wood. It
supplies this camphor only after attaining a considerable age. In its
young state it yields, however, by incision, a pale yellow liquid,
called the liquid camphor of Borneo and Sumatra, which consists of
resin and a volatile oil having a camphorated odor.
An account of this tree, and of the mode of procuring the peculiar and
high-priced camphor which it yields, is given by Dr. Junghuhn, who has
travelled lately in Sumatra, and Prof. De Vriese, of Leyden, in the
"Nederlandsch Kruidkundig Archief" for 1851. An abstract of the
memoir, translated into English by Miss De Vriese, is published in
"Hooker's Journal of Botany " for February and March 1852:--
The Dryobalanops is a gigantic tree, rising for fifty or even a
hundred feet above those which compose the chief mass of the forests
where they grow, just as the steeples of the churches appear above
the roofs of the houses in a town. The trunks of the full-grown
trees are from 7 to 10 feet in diameter at the very base, and from 5
to 8 feet higher up; they rise to the height of 100 or 130 feet, and
their ample crown is from 50 to 70 feet in diameter. The tree has a
limited range, being confined to the seaward slope of the mountains
of southwestern Sumatra, most abundant on the lower slopes and the
outlying hills of the alluvial plain, and extending in latitude from
1deg. 10m. to 2deg. 20m. N., and perhaps further to the north.
Camphor oil occurs in all the trees, and is most abundant in the
younger branches and leaves. The solid camphor is found only on the
trunks of older trees, especially in fissures of the wood, and in
smaller quantity than is generally supposed. Colebrooke, and authors
who have copied from him, assert that camphor is found in the heart
of the tree in such a quantity as to fill a cavity of the thickness
of a man's arm, and that a single tree yields about eleven pounds.
The price of this camphor, which at Padang sells for about 340
dollars per hundred weight, suffices to show that the account is
much exaggerated. The camphor occurs only in small fissures, from
which the natives, having felled the trees and split up the wood,
scrape it off with small splinters or with their nails. From the
oldest and richest trees they rarely collect more than two ounces.
After a long stay in the woods, frequently of three months, during
which they may fell a hundred trees, a party of thirty persons
rarely bring away more than 15 or 20 pounds of solid camphor, worth
from 200 to 250 dollars. The variety and price of this costly
substance are enhanced by a custom which has immemorially prevailed
among the Battas, of delaying the burial of every person who during
his life had a claim to the title of Rajah (of which each village
has one) until some rice, sown on the day of his death, has sprung
up, grown and borne fruit. The corpse, till then kept above ground
among the living, is now, with these ears of rice, committed to the
earth, like the grain six months before; and thus the hope is
emblematically expressed that, as a new life arises from the seed,
so another life shall begin for man after his death. During this
time the corpse is kept in the house, enclosed in a coffin made of
the hollowed trunk of a Durion, and the whole space between the
coffin and the body is filled with pounded camphor, for the purchase
of which the family of the deceased Rajah frequently impoverish
themselves. The camphor oil is collected by incisions at the base of
the trunk, from which the clear balsamic juice is very slowly
discharged.
In Sumatra the best camphor is obtained in a district called Barus,
and all good camphor bears that local name. It appears that the tree
is cut down to obtain the gum and that not in one tenth of the trees
is it found. Barus camphor is getting scarce, as the tree must be
destroyed before it is ascertained whether it is productive or not.
About 800 piculs are annually sent to China. The proportion between
Malay and Chinese camphor is as eighteen to one; the former is more
fragrant and not so pungent as the latter.
Nine hundred and eighty-three tubs of camphor were exported from Java
in 1843; 625 bales were imported in 1843, the produce of the Japanese
empire; and 559 piculs exported from Canton in 1844.
The price of unrefined camphor in the Liverpool market in July, 1853,
was £4 to £4 10s. the cwt. There have been no imports there direct in
the last two years.
Camphor (says Dr. Ure) is found in a great many plants and is
secreted in parity by several laurels; it occurs combined with the
essential oils of many of the _labiacæ_; but it is extracted for
manufacturing purposes only from the _Laurus Camphora_, which
abounds in China and Japan, as well as from a tree which grows in
Sumatra and Borneo, called in the country _kapur barus_, from the
name of the place where it is most common. The camphor exists, ready
formed, in these vegetables between the wood and the bark; but it
does not exude spontaneously. On cleaving the tree _Laurus
Sumatrensis (Qy. Dryobalanops Camphora)_, masses of camphor are
found in the pith. The wood of the Laurus is cut into small pieces
and put, with plenty of water, into large iron boilers, which are
covered with an earthen capital or dome, lined within with rice
straw. As the water boils, the camphor rises with the steam, and
attaches itself as a sublimate to the stalks, under the form of
granulations of a grey color. In this state it is picked off the
straw and packed up for exportation to Europe."--(" Dictionary of
Arts and Manufactures.")
The price of camphor at Canton in July, 1850, was from fourteen to
fifteen dollars per picul.
Cinchona.--Peruvian or Jesuit's Bark--One of the most valuable and
powerful astringents and tonics used in medicine, is the produce of
several species of cinchona, natives of the Andes, from 11 north
latitude to 20 south latitude, at elevations varying from 1,200 to
10,000 feet above the level of the sea, and in a dry rocky soil. There
are at least twelve trees which are supposed to furnish the barks of
commerce, and great obscurity prevails as to the species whence the
various kinds of cinchona bark are derived. The names of yellow, red,
and pale bark have been very vaguely applied, and are by no means well
defined. Dr. Lindley mentions twenty-six varieties; of which
twenty-one are well known. The barks are met with either in thick,
large, flat pieces, or in thinner pieces, which curl inwards during
drying, and are called quilled.
Quinine is one of the most important of the vegetable alkaline
bitters. It was first discovered by Vauquelin, in 1811, and its
preparation on a large scale pointed out by Pelletier and Caventon in
1820. It is obtained by boiling the yellow bark (_Cinchona_) in water
and sulphuric acid, and then treating it with lime and alcohol, when
the quinine is precipitated in the form of a white powder. Upwards of
120,000 ounces are made annually in Paris.
Cinchona, or the Peruvian bark, was gathered to the amount of two
million dollars in one year recently, and the demand is constantly
increasing.
Peruvian bark is cut in the eastern Provinces of Bolivia, skirting the
river Paraguay, and now conveyed an immense distance by mules over a
mountainous region to El Puerto, the only port of Bolivia on the
Pacific. It is thence brought by Cape Horn to the cities of the United
States and Europe. Now that Government has been successful in opening
the South American rivers, this important article of commerce will be
furnished in market by the Paraguay and La Plata rivers, at a much
reduced price.
A species of bark from Colombia, known as Malambo or Matias bark, has
been frequently administered by Dr. Alexander Ure as a substitute for
cinchona with good effect. It offers the useful combination of a tonic
and aromatic. It is supposed to be the produce of a species of
_Drimys_. It is stated that in New Granada, and other districts of
Central America, where the tree is indigenous, incisions are made in
the bark, and there exudes an aromatic oil which sinks in water.
Cinchona bark contains two alkaloids, cinchonia and quina, to which
its active properties are due; the former is best obtained from gray
bark, the latter from yellow bark. In combination with these there
exists an acid called kinic acid.
The imports of cinchona bark to this country are from 225,000 to
556,000 lbs. annually, and about 120,000 lbs. are retained for home
consumption. It comes over in chests and serons, or ox-hides, varying
from 90 to 200 lbs. We imported from France, in 1850, 489 cwt. of
Peruvian bark, of the value of £6,840; and in 1851, 1,128 cwt., of the
value of £15,787; also the following quantities of sulphate of
quinine, on which there is a duty of 6d. and 3-10ths per ounce.
oz. £
1848 3,856 5,898
1849 1,114 1,560
1850 8,976 12,566
1851 7,605 10,647
The following is the arrangement of these barks adopted by Pereira,
who has gone very fully into the subject:--
A. True cinchonas, with a brown epidermis.
I. Pale barks 1. Crown or Loxa bark. _C. Condaminea_. 2. Gray or
silver or Huanuco bark. _C. micrantha_. 3. Ash or Jaen bark. _C.
ovata_. 4. Rusty or Huamalies bark. _C. pubescens_.
II. Yellow barks. 5. Royal, yellow or Calisaya bark. _C. sp ?_
III. Red barks. 6. Red bark. _C. sp ?_
B. True cinchonas, with a white epidermis.
I. Pale barks. 7. White Loxa bark.
II. Yellow barks. 8. Hard Carthagena bark. _C. cordifolia_. 9.
Fibrous ditto. Perhaps _C. cordifolia_. 10. Cuzco bark. _C. sp.?_
11. Orange bark of Santa Fe. _C. lancifolia_.
III. Red barks. 12. Bed bark of Santa Fe. _C. oblongifolia_.
The genus Exostemma yields various kinds of false cinchona bark, which
do not contain the cinchona alkalies. The following are some of the
kinds noticed by Pereira:--
1. St. Lucia or Piton bark. _Exostemma floribundum_.
2. Jamaica bark. _E. caribaeum_.
3. Pitaya bark. _E. sp?_
4. False Peruvian bark. _E. peruvianum_.
5. Brazilian bark. _E. souzianum_.
The mode adopted by the bark-peelers of obtaining cinchona varies
somewhat in different districts. The Indians (says Mr. Stevenson,
"Twenty Years' Residence in South America") discover from the
eminences where a cluster of trees grow in the woods, for they are
easily discernable by the rose-colored tinge of their leaves, which
appear at a distance like bunches of flowers amid the deep-green
foliage of other trees. They then hunt for the spot, and having found
it out, cut down all the trees, and take the bark from the branches,
and after they have stripped off the bark, they carry it in bundles
out of the wood, for the purpose of drying it. The peelers commence
their operation about May, when the dry season sets in. Some writers
state that the trees are barked without felling.
In a letter published in one of the Calcutta papers not long ago, from
the pen, I believe, of Mr. Piddington, he strongly urged the
introduction of the cinchona tree into British India:--
There is (he observes) one tree, the introduction and the copious
distribution of which within certain appropriate points of the
sub-Himalayan range, "would confer a greater blessing on the great
body of natives, than any effort the Government has made or can
make, and that is the cinchona bark tree.
Without any reference to the greater or less force of medical
theories as to the efficacy of cinchona bark, I now only take an
experienced and practical view, well knowing that the sufferings of
many millions of poor and rich natives, especially in the jungle
districts, are yearly very great, and the mortality quite enormous
from remittent and intermittent fevers, by far the greater part of
which would be immensely relieved, or wholly cured, by the free use
of cinchona bark.
If by abundance the price be once brought within the poor native's
reach, he will readily take to it, having no objection whatever on
account of caste to anything of the nature of the bark of a tree.
If the cinchona tree were once growing in abundance, quinine could
be easily prepared in India, from the facility of procuring, and
cheapness of spirits of wine used in the process of its elimination.
I take it that every hundred Sepahees sick of fevers remaining in
hospital off duty for thirty days, drawing an average pay of eight
rupees each, form a full monthly loss to Government of eight hundred
rupees; while a free use of quinine and bark would cure them in ten
days on the average, costing at present about forty rupees; thus by
the twenty days' services gained, Government would save nearly five
hundred rupees.
But the cinchona tree once glowing abundantly, quinine would of
course become infinitely cheaper.
Under a proper system of culture, quill bark only need be taken
without destroying the trees, and an earlier return be obtained.
There never yet has been a substitute found for cinchona bark and
its salts, as an antiperiodic and tonic.
It yet remains for some one to find an equally efficacious
substitute, and thus make a fortune. In the mean time the importance
of the cinchona is paramount.
The cinchona tree, like the pimento, deteriorates under cultivation,
and in moist, warm, rich valleys the bark becomes inert. The best
bark is from trees growing on mountain tops or steep declivities.
From the full accounts of Condamine, Mutis, and Humboldt, a soil and
climate like that of the north west sub-Himalayan range is admirably
adapted to the planting and prospering of cinchona trees.
In Lord W. Bentinck's time, before there were steamers in or to
India, seeing the immense benefit to be derived, I sent in a
proposition to procure young cinchona plants from Vera Cruz, begging
to be then permitted to proceed there on that account, and my
proposition was civilly and even favorably received; but these were
not the days to act on it.
Of about the twenty species of cinchona trees the following would of
course be the best to bring--the _Cinchona bineifolia_, the
_cinchona cordifolia_, the _cinchona oblongifolia_, the _cinchona
micrantha_, and the _cinchona condaminea_.
The Calumba plant (_Cocculus palmatus_, Decandolle, or _Minispermum
palmatum_) furnishes the medicinal Colombo root, which is one of the
most useful stomachics and tonics in cases of dyspepsia. It is
scarcely ever cultivated, the spontaneous produce of thick forests on
the shores of Oibo and Mozambique and many miles inland on the eastern
shores of Africa, Madagascar and Bombay, proving sufficient. The
supplies principally go to Ceylon. The roots are perennial, and
consist of several fasciculated, fusiform, branched, fleshy, curved
and descending tubers, from one to two inches thick, with a brown
warty epidermis; internally deep yellow, odorless, very bitter.
The main roots are dug up by the natives in March (the hot season).
The offsets are cut in slices and hung up on cords to dry in the
shade. It is deemed fit to ship when, on exposure to the sun, it
breaks short, and of a bad quality when it is soft and
black.--("Pereira's Materia Medica.")
It contains a bitter crystallizable principle called Calumbin.
The commercial parcels are often adulterated with the roots of _Costus
indicus, C. speciosus_, and _C. Arabicus_ (Kusmus, Putckuk, &c.). It
is imported into this country in bags and chests of from one to three
cwt., and ranges in price from £1 to £2 the cwt. The imports in 1846
to London were 82 packages, and in 1850, 214 packages, but the stock
held in London is always large, being nearly 2,500 packages.
Colocynth, furnished by _Cucumis colocynthis_ and _C.
pseudocolocynthis_, is the dried medullary part of a wild species of
gourd which is cultivated in Spain. It also grows wild in Japan, the
sandy lands of Coromandel, Cape of Good Hope, Syria, Nubia, Egypt,
Turkey, and the islands of the Grecian Archipelago. It may be obtained
in the jungles of India in cart loads. The fruit, which is about the
size of an orange, with a thin but solid rind, is gathered in autumn,
when ripe and yellow, and in most countries is peeled and dried either
in the sun or by stoves. It comes over from Cadiz, Trieste, Mogadore,
&c., in cases, casks, &c., and duty was paid on about 11,000 lbs. in
1839.
CUBEBS.--The dried unripe fruit of _P. Cubebi_, or _Cubeba
qfficinalia_, a climbing plant of the pepper tribe, native of Prince
of Wales' Island, Java, and the Indian islands furnishes the medicinal
cubebs, which is used extensively in arresting discharges from mucous
membranes. In appearance cubebs resemble black pepper, except that
they are higher colored and are each furnished with a stalk two or
three lines long. Dr. Blume says, that the cubebs of the shops are the
fruit of _P. caninum_. This species of pepper, when fresh and good,
contains nearly 10 per cent. of essential oil.
In 1842 the quantity entered for home consumption was 67,093 lbs. The
average imports are about 40 to 50 tons annually. 3 cases were
imported into Liverpool in 1851. The price in the Liverpool market, in
January 1853, was £3 10s. to £4 10s. the cwt.
GAMBOGE.--This resinous juice, which is a most important article of
commerce, is furnished by some of the plants of Gambogia, natives
principally of South America. It is a powerful irritant, and is
employed medicinally as a drastic and hydragogue cathartic. From its
bright yellow color it is also used as a pigment.
Gamboge fetches in the London market from £5 to £11 per cwt.
Some of the species of _Stalagmites_ (Murray), natives of Ceylon and
the East, yield a similar yellow viscid juice, hardly distinguishable
from gamboge, and used for the same purpose by painters. They are a
genus of fine ornamental trees, thriving well in soils partaking of a
mixture of loam and peat.
According to Koenig, the juice is collected by breaking off the leaves
or young branches. From the fracture the gamboge exudes in drops, and
is therefore called _gum gutta_. It is received on leaves, coco-nut
shells, earthen pots, or in bamboos; it gradually hardens by age, and
is then wrapped up in leaves prior to sale.
The common gamboge of Ceylon is produced by a plant which Dr. Graham
was led to view as a species of a new genus under the name of
_Hebradendron Gambogoides_. A very different species, the _Garcinia
Gambogia_, of Roxburgh, once supposed to produce gamboge, and indeed
actually confounded by Linnæus with the true gamboge tree of Ceylon,
he has proved not to produce gamboge at all.
This substance is also obtained from several other plants, as the
_Mangostana Gambogia_ (Gaertner), _Hypericwm bacciferum_ and
_Cayanense_, natives of the East Indies, Siam and Ceylon, whence it is
imported in small cakes and rolls or cylindrical twisted masses. Its
composition is as follows: number 1 being an analysis by Professor
Christison of a commercial specimen from Ceylon; number 2 of a fine
sample of common ditto:--
1 2
Resin, or fatty acid 78.84 74.8
Coloring matter 4.03 3.5
Gum 12.59 16.5
Residue 4.54 5.2
----- -----
100. 100.
The average imports of gamboge into the port of London, during the
past five or six years, have been from 400 to 500 chests of one to two
cwt. each.
Gentian.--The yellow gentian root (_Gentiana lutea_) is the officinal
species, and a native of the Alps of Austria and Switzerland.
The stems and roots of _G. amarella_ and _campestris_, British
species, and _G. cruciata, purpurea, punctata_, &c., are similar in
their effects, having tonic, stomachic, and febrifugal properties. So
has _G. kurroo_ of the Himalayas. The root is generally taken up in
autumn, when the plant is a year old. It is cut longitudinally into
pieces of a foot or a foot and a half long. They are imported into
this country in bales from Havre, Marseilles, &c., and a good deal
comes from Germany. In 1839, 470 cwts. were entered for home
consumption.
Chiretta is the herb and root of _Agathotes Chirayta_, Don; _Gentiana
Chirayta_, Fleming; or _Ophelia chirayta_, a herbaceous plant, growing
in the Himalaya mountains about Nepaul and the Morungs.
Ipecacuan.-- _Cephælis Ipecacuanhæ_, Richard, yields the ipecacuan of
the shops. The plant is met with in the woods of several Brazilian
provinces, as Pernambuco, Bahia and Rio Janeiro. It is found growing
in moist shady situations, from 8 to 20 degs. south latitude. The
roots, which are the officinal part, are contorted, knotty and
annulated, and about the thickness of a goose quill.
Besides this brown or gray annulated ipecacuan, there are spurious
kinds, such as the striated or black Peruvian, the produce of
_Pyschotria elliptica_, and other species; and white or amylaceous
ipecacuan, furnished by _Richardsonia scabra_, an herbaceous
perennial, native of the provinces of Rio Janeiro and Minas Geraes.
_Manettia glabra_ or _cordifolia_, also furnishes ipecacuan in Buenos
Ayres. It is imported into this country from Rio in bales, barrels,
bags, and serons, and the average annual imports in the eight years
ending in 1841 were 10,000 lbs. In 1840, the shipments from Rio were
as much as 20,000 lbs.
Castelnau states, that one expert hand can gather 15 lbs. of the
ipecacuan root in a day, which will fetch in Rio one dollar per pound.
He estimates that, from 1830 to 1837, not less than 800,000 lbs. of
this drug were exported from the province of Matto Grosso to Rio.
Jalap.--This drug is obtained from the dried tubers or root-stock of
_Ipomoea Jalapa_ or _Convolvulus Jalapa_, a perennial plant, native of
America. Some suppose it takes its specific name from Xalapa, in
Mexico, whence we chiefly import it. It grows in the woods near
Chicanquiaco, at an altitude of 6,000 feet above the level of the sea.
Large quantities might be gathered and exported in Jamaica. The root
is of a roundish tuberous form, black externally, and of a deep,
yellowish grey within, and varies in size from that of a walnut to
that of a moderate sized turnip. It contains a resin in which its
active properties reside. It is brought to this country in thin
transverse slices, and the amount entered for home consumption is
about 45,000 lbs. a year. It is imported in bales, from Vera Cruz
direct, or indirectly by way of New York, and other places.
Two sorts of jalap root occur in commerce. The one which was first
introduced into the market, and which is even at the present day most
frequently met with, is obtained from the _Ipomoea Schiedeana_ of
Zuccarini, a plant growing on the eastern declivity of the Mexican
Andes, and discovered by Von Schiedes. The root, as met with in
commerce, consists of pieces varying from the size of a nut to that of
the fist, sometimes whole, sometimes cut into disks, and at other
times divided into two or three portions. The external surface is of a
more or less dark gray brown color, corrugated and rough. It is very
hard, presents a shining resinous even surface when broken, and is
difficult to reduce to powder. The powder is of a brownish color, has
a faint peculiar odor and irritant taste.
The second quality, which was introduced into commerce is great
quantities a few years ago, by the name of stalk jalap, is now more
scarce, and obtained from the _Ipomoea orazabensis_ of Pelletan, a
plant growing without cultivation in the neighbourhood of the Mexican
town of Orizaba. The root, as met with in the trade, consists of
pieces varying from one to three inches in length, and 1½ to two
inches in diameter. They are of a higher color than the first-named
root, and of decidedly fibrous structure. The chief constituents of
both varieties is a peculiar resin, of which they contain about 10 per
cent.
Scammony.--The root of _Convolvulus Scammonia_, another plant of the
same family, affords, when cut, a gummy resinous exudation or milky
juice, which soon concretes and forms scammony. The plant grows
abundantly in Greece, the Grecian Islands, and various parts of the
Levant. It is imported from Aleppo in drums, weighing from 75 to 125
lbs. each, and from Smyrna in compact cakes like wax packed in chests.
In 1839, the quantity on which duty (2s. 6d. per lb.) was paid
amounted to 8,581 lbs. The duty received for scammony, in 1842, was
£607. A spurious kind is prepared from _Calystegia (Convolvulus)
sepium_, a native of Australia, and several plants of the Asclepiadacæ
order.
Dr. Russell ("Med. Obs. and Inqui.") thus describes the mode of
procuring scammony:--
Having cleared away the earth from the upper part of the root, the
peasants cut off the top in an oblique direction, about two inches
below where the stalks spring from it. Under the most depending part
of the slope they affix a shell, or some other convenient
receptacle, into which the milky juice flows. It is then left about
twelve hours, which time is sufficient for the drawing off of the
whole juice; this, however, is in small quantities, each root
affording but a few drachms. This milky juice from the several roots
is put together, often into the leg of an old boot, for want of some
more proper vessel, when in a little time it grows hard, and is the
genuine scammony. Various substances are often added to scammony
while yet soft. Those with which it is most usually adulterated are
wheat flour, ashes, or fine sand and chalk.
Liquorice.--The plant which yields the liquorice root of commerce is
_Glycirrhiza glabra_ or _Liquiritia officinalis_. It is a native of
Italy and the southern parts of Europe, but has been occasionally
cultivated with success in Britain, especially at Pontefract, in
Yorkshire, and at Mitcham, in Surrey. The plant is a perennial, with
pale blue flowers. It grows well in a deep, light, sandy loam, and is
readily increased by slips from the roots with eyes. The root, which
is the only valuable part, is long, slender, fibrous, of a yellow
color, and when grown in England is fit for use at the end of three
years. The sweet, subacid, mucilaginous juice is much esteemed as a
pectoral. It owes its sweetness to a peculiar principle called glycrin
or glycirrhiza, which appears also to be present in the root and
leaves of other papilionaceous plants, as _G. echinata_ and
_glandulifera, Trifoliwm alpinum_, and the wild liquorice of the West
Indies, _Abrus precatorius_, a pretty climber.
The greatest portion of our supplies of the extract, which amount to
7,000 or 8,000 cwts. a year, are obtained from Spain and Sicily. The
juice, obtained by crushing the roots in a mill, and subjecting them
to the press, is slowly boiled, till it becomes of a proper
consistency, when it is formed into rolls of a considerable thickness,
which are usually covered with bay leaves. It is afterwards usually
re-dissolved, purified, and, when formed into small quills, is known
as refined liquorice.
In 1839, 1,166 tons of liquorice paste were exported from Naples,
valued at £45 per ton. Mr. Poole, in his Statistics of Commerce,
states that the consumption of liquorice root and paste in this
country averages 500 tons per annum. 110 cwt. of the juice and 100
cwt. of the root are annually brought into Hull from the continent.
Matico--the Peruvian styptic, a powerful vegetable astringent, was
first made known to the medical profession of England by Dr. Jeffreys,
of Liverpool, in the _Lancet_, as far back as January 5th, 1839. A
paper on its history and power was published in May, 1843, in the
"Transactions of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association,"
vol. 10. It is stated to be the _Piper angustifolium_ of Ruiz and
Parsons. Dr. Martin believes it to be a species of _Phlomis_. The
leaves are covered with a fine hair.
The powdered leaves of the _Eupatorium glutinosum_, under the name of
Matico, are used about Quito for stanching blood and healing wounds. A
good article on the pharmaceutical and chemical character of matico,
by Dr. J.F. Hodges, appeared in the "Proceedings of the Chemical
Society of London," in 1845. It is stated, by Dr. Martin, that, like
the gunjah, which the East Indians prepare, from the _Cannabis
Indica_, the leaves and flowers of the matico have been long employed
by the sensual Indians of the interior of Peru to prepare a drink
which they administer to produce a state of aphrodisia. The leaves and
flowering tops of the plant are the parts imported and introduced to
notice as a styptic, which property seems to depend on their structure
and not on their chemical composition.
Quassia.--The quassia wood of the pharmacopoeia was originally the
product of _Quassia amara_, a tall shrub, never above fifteen feet
high, native of Guiana, but also inhabiting Surinam and Colombia. It
is a very ornamental plant, and has remarkable pinnate leaves with
winged petioles. This wood is well known as one of the most intense
bitters, and is considered an effectual remedy in any disorder where
pure bitters are required. Surinam quassia is not, however, to be met
with now. That sold in the shops is the tough, fibrous, bitter bark of
the root of _Simaruba (Quassia) excelsa_ and _officinalis_, very large
forest trees, growing in Cayenne, Jamaica, and other parts of the West
India Islands, where they bear the local name of bitter-wood. Its
infusion is used as a tonic. 23 tons of bitter-wood were shipped from
Montego Bay, Jamaica, in 1851. Quassia acts as a narcotic poison on
flies and other insects. Although prohibited by law, it is frequently
employed by brewers as a substitute for hops. The duty of £8 17s. 6d.
per cwt., levied on quassia, is intended to restrict its use for such
a purpose.
Rhubarb.--This most important plant belongs to the genus Rheum. The
officinal rhubarb is the root of an undetermined species. There are
about thirteen different kinds which are said to yield rhubarb.
Lindley enumerates fifteen. I however take Professor Balfour's
classification:--
1. _Rheum palmatum_, native of Bucharia, which has perhaps the best
title to be considered the true rhubarb-plant, grows spontaneously
in the Mongolian empire on the confines of China.
2. _R. undulatum_, native of China, which yields much of the French
rhubarb.
3. _R. compactum_, native of Tartary, another species yielding
French rhubarb, and often cultivated in Britain for its acid
petioles.
4. _R. Emodi_ (Wallich). This species yields a kind of Himalayan
rhubarb. Its petioles are much used for their acid properties.
5. _R. Rhaponticum_, native of Asia. Used in France and Britain in
the same way as the third species. It is much cultivated in the
department of Morbihan.
6. _R. hybridum_ (Murr). Much cultivated in Germany for its root and
in Britain for its stalks.
7. _R. Webbianum_ (Royle). 8. _R. Spiceformi_ (Royle). 9. _R.
Moorcroftianum_ (Royle). Himalayan species or varieties.
10. _R. crassinervium_ (Fisch), a Russian species.
11. _R. leucorhizum_ (Pall), a Siberian and Altai species, said to
yield imperial or white rhubarb. It has striped flowers, while all
others are whitish green.
12. _R. Caspicum_ (Fisch), a Russian and Altai species.
13. _R. Ribes_, native of the Levant, but some say an Afghanistan or
Persian species.
All these grow in the cold parts of the world, as on the Altai
mountains, in Siberia, Thibet, North of China, and on the Himalayan
range. The rhubarb procured from one or more of these species is known
in commerce under the names of Russian or Turkey, Chinese or East
Indian, and English rhubarb.
The plants all thrive well in a rich loamy soil, or light sandy soil,
and are increased by divisions of the roots or by seed.
The extent of country from which rhubarb of one kind or another is
actually collected, according to Christison, stretches from Ludall, in
77½ east longitude, to the Chinese province of Shen-si, 29 degrees
further east, and from the Sue-chan mountains, in north latitude 26
degrees, nearly to the frontiers of Siberia, 24 degrees northward. The
best rhubarb is said to come from the very heart of Thibet, within 95
degrees east longitude and 35 degrees north latitude, 500 or 600 miles
north of Assam.
The Chinese rhubarb is inferior to that of Russia and Turkey. The
price varies in China from 38 dollars per picul upwards, and about
1,500 piculs are annually exported, on an average at 50 dollars per
picul. In 1844, 2,077 piculs were shipped from Canton for Great
Britain; and of 95,701 lbs. imported in 1841, 43,640 lbs. were brought
from China, 8,349 lbs. from the Philippines, 7,290 lbs. from the East
Indies, and 33,710 lbs. from the United States; only 1,462 lbs. were
brought from Russia. The imports from the East Indies have decreased
more than 70 per cent. in the last twelve years, as compared with the
preceding. The wholesale prices are, for round rhubarb, 8d. to 3s. per
lb.; flat, 6d. to 3s. 3d. per lb.; Dutch trimmed, 6s. to 7s. per lb.;
Russian, 13s. to 13s. 6d. per lb.
In 1831, we imported 133,462 lbs. from the East India Company's
possessions, and 6,901 lbs. from Russia. In 1843, only 71,298 lbs.
came from the East. From China we received, in 1843, 172,882 lbs.
The quantities of rhubarb on which duty of 1s. per lb. was paid in the
six years ending 1840, were as follows;--
East Indian. Foreign.
lbs. lbs.
1835 32,515 10,647
1836 36,836 7,752
1837 44,669 5,946
1838 37,026 7,402
1839 22,575 12,525
1840 16,745 22,203
The imports and consumption of rhubarb are thus stated in the
_Pharmaceutical Journal_:--
Imports. Consumption.
lbs. lbs.
1826 102,624 32,936
1831 140,395 40,124
1836 122,142 44,468
1841 95,701 67,877
1846 427,694 --
1847 305,736 --
1848 116,005 --
1849 94,914 --
The rhubarb brought into Siberia grows wild in Chinese Tartary,
especially in the province Gansun, on hills, heaths, and meadows, and
is generally gathered in summer from plants of six years of age. "When
the root is dug up, it is washed to free it from earthy particles;
peeled, bored through the centre, strung on a thread, and dried in the
sun. In autumn all the dried rhubarb collected in the province is
brought in horsehair sacks, containing about 200 lbs., to Sinin (the
residence of the dealers), loaded on camels, and sent over Mongolia to
Kiachta, and the ports and capital of China.
Sarsaparilla.--The root of various species of _Smilax_ constitutes the
sarsaparilla of the shops. It is an evergreen climbing undershrub,
having whitish green flowers, and grows readily from suckers. It is a
native of the temperate and tropical regions of Asia and America. The
officinal part is the bark, which comes off from the rhizomes. They
are mucilaginous, bitter, and slightly acid. Sarsaparilla is used in
decoction and infusion as a tonic and alterative. The following are
enumerated as sources whence sarsaparilla of various kinds is derived.
_Smilax China_ and _sagittæfolia_, yielding the Chinese root, are said
to come from the province of Onansi in China.
_S. pseudo China, S. Sarsaparilla, S. rubens_, and _S. Watsoni,_
furnish the drug of North America.
The sarsaparilla distinguished in commerce as the Lisbon or Brazilian
is the root of _S. papyracea_ of Poiret. It is an undershrub, the stem
of which is compressed and angular below, and armed with prickles at
the angles. The leaves are elliptic, acuminate, and marked with three
longitudinal nerves. This species grows principally in the regions
bordering the river Amazon, and on the banks of most of its tributary
streams. It is generally brought from the provinces of Para and
Maranham. It is in large cylindrical bundles, long and straight, and
the flexible stem of the plant is bound round the bundles, so as to
entirely cover them. Its fibres are very long, cylindrical, wrinkled
longitudinally, and furnished with some lateral fibrils. Its color is
of a fawn brown, or sometimes of a dark grey, approaching to black.
The color internally is nearly white. Besides this species there are
others indigenous, such as _S. officinalis_, which grows in the
province of Mina; _S. syphilitica_, which grows in the northern
regions, and three new species, _S. japicanga, S. Brasiliensis_, and
_S_. _syringioides_. There is also met with in Brazil another plant,
_Herreria sarsaparilla_, belonging to the same natural order, which
abounds in the provinces of Rio, Bahia, and Mina, and the roots of
which receive the name of wild sarsaparilla.
From Mexico, Honduras, and Angostura very good qualities are imported.
_S. zeylanica, glabra_, and _perfoliata_ furnish sarsaparilla from
Asia, and _S. excelsa_ and _aspera_ are used as substitutes for the
officinal drug in Europe.
_Smilax officinalis_, found in woods near the Rio Magdalena in New
Granada, furnishes the best in the market, which is commonly known as
Jamaica Sarza. It differs from the other kinds in having a deep red
cuticle of a close texture, and the color is more generally diffused
through the ligneous part. It is shipped in bales, formed either of
the spirally formed roots, as in the Jamaica and Lima varieties, or of
unfolded parallel roots, as in the Brazilian varieties. The roots are
usually several feet long, about the thickness of a quill, more or
less wrinkled, and the whole quantity retained for home consumption,
in 1840, was 143,000 lbs. In 1844, 184,748 lbs., and in 1845 111,775
lbs. were shipped from Honduras.
The prices in the London market, at the close of 1853, were --Brazil,
1s. 3d. per lb.; Honduras, 1s. 3d. to 1s. 8d. per lb.; Vera Cruz, 6d.
to 11d. per lb.; Jamaica, 1s. 8d. to 3s. 4d. per lb. The duty received
on sarsaparilla in 1842 was £1,536.
The average annual quantity of sarsaparilla obtained from Mexico and
South America, exclusive of Brazil, and taken for home consumption, in
the twelve years ending with 1843 was 37,826 lbs.
IMPORTS OF BRAZILIAN SARSAPARILLA.
lbs.
1827 28,155
1828 49,280
1829 52,772
1830 19,842
1831 31,972
1832 91,238
1833 13,077
1834 28,803
1835 22,387
1836 1,718
1837 12,842
1838 --
1839 9,484
1840 4,141
1841 1,399
1842 5,572
The total imports in 1849 were 118,934 lbs.
Sarsaparilla has been found growing in the Port Phillip district of
Australia, and has been shipped thence in small quantities. It seems
to be indigenous to the Bahamas, and is to be found on many of the out
islands. Mr. Wm. Dalzell, of Abaco, collected some considerable
quantity at a place called Marsh Harbor, which was found to be of a
superior quality.
Some thousands of pounds of sarsaparilla were brought to Falmouth,
Jamaica, last year, and bought by merchants for export. It came from
the parish of St. Elizabeth, and there are whole forests covered with
this weed, for such in reality it is. It is too the real black Jamaica
sarsaparilla, that is so much valued in the European and American
markets. It is also found in other parts of the island.
In 1798 3,674 lbs. of sarsaparilla were shipped from La Guayra; 2,394
lbs. in 1801 from Puerto Cabella, and 400 quintals from Costa Rica, in
1845, valued at eight dollars a quintal.
SENNA.--Several varieties of Cassia, natives of the East, are grown
for the production of this drug. The dried leaves of C. _lanceolata_
or _orientalis_, grown in Egypt, Syria, and Arabia, the true Mecca
senna, are considered the best. In Egypt the leaves of _Cynanchum
Arghel_ are used for adulterating senna, _Cassia obovata_ or _C.
senna_, also a native of Egypt, cultivated in the East Indies, as well
as in Spain, Italy, and Jamaica. It is a perennial herb, one or two
feet high. In the East Indies there is a variety (_C. elongata_)
common about Tinnivelly, Coimbatore, Bombay, and Agra, &c. Several of
this species are common in the West India islands. The plants, which
are for the most part evergreens, grow from two to fifteen feet high;
they delight in a loamy soil, or mixture of loam or peat.
The seed is drilled in the ground, and the only attention required by
the plant is loosening the ground and weeding two or three times when
it is young.
The senna leaves imported from India are not generally so clean and
free from rubbish as those from Alexandria. They are worth from 20s.
to 27s. per cwt. in the Bombay market.
The prices are--Alexandria, l½d. to 6d. per lb.; East Indian, 2d. to
3d. per lb.; Tinnevelly, 7d. to 9½d. per lb.
Senna is collected in various parts of Africa by the Arabs, who make
two crops annually; one, the most productive, after the rains in
August and September, the other about the middle of March. It is
brought to Boulack, the port of Cairo, by the caravans, &c., from
Abyssinia, Nubia, and Sennaar, also by the way of Cossier, the Red
Sea, and Suez. The different leaves are mixed, and adulterated with
arghel leaves. The whole shipments from Boulack to Alexandria, whence
it finds it way to Europe, is 14,000 to 15,500 quintals.
The quantities imported for home consumption were--
From the East Indies. Other places. Total.
lbs. lbs. lbs.
1838 72,576 69,538 142,114
1839 110,409 63,766 174,175
In 1840, 211,400 lbs. paid duty, which is now only 1d. per lb.
In 1848, we imported 800,000 lbs. from India; in 1849, the total
imports were 541,143 lbs. The imports into the United Kingdom were, in
1847, 246 tons; 1848, 402 tons; 1849, 240 tons.
Alexandrian senna (_Cassia acutifolia_). This species is said by some
to constitute the bulk of the senna consumed for medical purposes in
Europe. It is much adulterated with the leaves of _Cynanchum Arghel,
Tiphrosia apollinea_, and _Coriaria myrtifolia_.
_C. lanceolata_ and _C. ethiopica_ furnish other species of the same
article, the greater part of the produce of which find its way to
India, through the Red Sea, Surat, Bombay and Calcutta, the imports
into Calcutta, in 1849, having been 79,212 lbs. _C. obovata_ furnishes
the Aleppo and Italian drug.
At least eight varieties of senna leaf are known in commerce in
Europe--1. the Senna palthe; 2. Senna of Sennaar or Alexandria; 3. of
Tripoli; 4. of Aleppo; 5. of Moka; 6. of Senegambia; 7. the false or
Arghel; 8. the Tinnevelly.
In Egypt the senna harvest takes place twice annually, in April and
September; the stalks are cut off with the leaves, dried before the
sun, and then packed with date leaves. At Boulka, the drug is sorted,
mixed, and adulterated, and passed into commerce through Alexandria.
Alexandrian senna, according to Mr. Jacob Bell ("Pharmaceutical
Journal," vol. 2, p. 63), contains a mixture of two or more species of
true senna. It consists principally of _Cassia obovata_ and _C.
obtusata_, and according to some authorities it occasionally contains
_C. acutifolia_. This mixture is unimportant, but the _Cynanchum
Arghel_, which generally constitutes a fifth of the weight on an
average, possesses properties differing in some respects from true
senna, and which render it particularly objectionable. The Tinnevelly
senna, that most esteemed by the profession, is known by the size of
the leaflets, which are much larger than those of any other variety;
they are also less brittle, thinner and larger, and are generally
found in a very perfect state, while the other varieties, especially
the Alexandrian, are more or less broken. The leaves of the Cynanchum
are similar in form to those of the lanceolate senna, but they are
thicker and stiffer, the veins are scarcely visible, they are not
oblique at the base, their surface is rugose, and the color grey or
greenish drab; their taste is bitter and disagreeable, and they are
often spotted with a yellow, intensely bitter gummo-resinous
incrustation. Being less fragile than the leaflets of the true senna,
they are more often found entire, and are very easily distinguishable
from the varieties which constitute true Alexandrian senna.
In their botanical character they are essentially different, being
distinct leaves, not leaflets, which is the case with true senna.
The SUMBUL root, which has recently been introduced into the French
market, is the root of an umbelliferous plant, which is characterised
by a strong odor of musk. The pilgrims, on their return from Mecca,
generally import to Salonika, Constantinople, &c., among other
articles of trade, various plants with a musk-like odor. The
preparation of these vegetable substances is said to be effected by
smearing them over with musk-balsam.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: Ure's Dictionary of Arts and Manufactures.]
[Footnote 2: Fractional parts are not necessary to include.]
[Footnote 3: Dr. Lindley is in error as to the discriminating
duties--British cacao pays 9s., and foreign 18s.]
[Footnote 4: According to Breen's History of St. Lucia up to 1844.]
[Footnote 5: Caffeine (the principle of coffee) and theobromine (the
principle of cacao) are the most highly nitrogenised products in
nature, as the following analysis will show:--
_Caffeine_, according to Pfaff and Liebig, contains--
Carbon 49.77
Hydrogen 5.33
_Nitrogen_ 28.78
Oxygen 16.12
_Theobromine_, according to Woskreseusky, contains--
Carbon 47.21
Hydrogen 4.53
_Nitrogen_ 35.38
Oxygen 12.80
Of the two, cacao contains the larger quantity of nitrogen; and this
chemical fact explains why cacao should be so much more nutritive than
tea, though the principle of tea (theine) is nearly identical with the
principle of cacoa--tea containing in 100 parts 29.009 of nitrogen. On
this subject Liebig has made an observation which I cannot avoid
noticing. He says, "We shall never certainly be able to discover how
men were led to the use of the hot infusion of the leaves of a certain
shrub (tea), or of a decoction of certain roasted seeds (coffee). Some
cause there must be, which would explain how the practice has become a
necessary of life to whole nations. But it is surely still more
remarkable that the beneficial effects of both plants on the health
must be ascribed to one and the same substance, the presence of which
in two vegetables, belonging to different natural families, and the
produce of different quarters of the globe, could hardly have
presented itself to the boldest imagination. Yet recent researches
have shown, in such a manner as to exclude all doubt, that caffeine,
the peculiar principle of coffee, and theine, that of tea, are in all
respects identical."--_(Anim. Chem.,_ pp. 178-9.) We really can see
nothing in all this but the manifestation of that instinct which,
implanted in us by the Almighty, led the untutored Indian (as we are
pleased to call him) to breathe into the nostril of the buffalo or the
wild horse, and by that single act to subdue his angry rage, or that
impelled the first discoverer of combustion to extract fire from the
attrition of two pieces of wood. The American Indian, living entirely
on flesh, "discovered for himself in tobacco smoke a means of
retarding the change of matter in the tissues of the body, and thereby
of making hunger more endurable."--(P. 179.) But the wonder ceases,
when we reflect that man was endued with certain properties by his
Maker which must have been at some remote period, of which we can form
no idea, active and manifest the moment he breathed the breath of
life. To inquire how he lost this property is not our business at
present, but it is only by supposing the _quondam_ existence of such a
property, active and manifest, that can in any way explain a first
knowledge of the therapeutic, or threptic, qualities of plants and
shrubs. With regard to the identity of theine, caffeine, theobromine,
&c., it would be as well that the reader should keep in mind that it
is so chemically _only_, for in appearance, taste, weight, odor, &c.,
no substances can differ more. Does the palate exert some peculiar
action on the ingesta, so as to give to each a distinct sapor? Or
_vice versa_?]
[Footnote 6: In the West Indies, from my own experience, I have found
this to be one of the worst descriptions of soil. _P.L.S._]
[Footnote 7: Correspondent of the Singapore _Free Press_, December,
1852.]
[Footnote 8: It is important, in considering what tea may be had from
China, to consider the manner of its production. It is grown over an
immense district, in small farms, or rather gardens, no farm producing
more that 600 chests. "The tea merchant goes himself, or sends his
agents to all the small towns, villages, and temples in the district,
to purchase tea from the priests and small farmers; the large
merchant, into whose hands the tea thus comes, _has to refire it and
pack it for the foreign market."--(Fortune's Tea Districts.)_ This
refiring is the only additional process of manufacture for our market.
Mr. Fortune elsewhere, in his valuable work, giving an account of the
cost of tea from the farmers, the conveyance to market, and the
merchant's profit, states that " the small farmer and manipulator is
not overpaid, but that the great profits are received by the
middlemen." No doubt these men do their utmost to keep the farmers in
complete ignorance of the state of the tea-market, that they may
monopolise the advantages, but it is pretty certain that the news of a
bold reduction of duty, and the promise of an immensely increased
consumption, would reach even the Chinese farmers, and make them pick
their trees more closely--a little of which amongst so many would make
a vast difference in the total supply.]
[Footnote 9: See article Thea, by Dr. Royle, in "Penny Cyclopædia,"
vol xxiv., p. 286.]
[Footnote 10: Hooker's "Bot. Mag.," 1.3148. It is the Assam tea
plant.]
[Footnote 11: Report on Tea Cultivation submitted to House of Commons.
See Blue Book, 1839, p. 1-3.]
[Footnote 12: In a short time rain gauges will be established at
Bheemtal, Huwalbaugh, Paoree, and Kaolagir, in order to measure the
quantity of rain that falls annually, for the purpose of ascertaining
how much the quantity and quality of the produce of tea is affected by
the weather.]
[Footnote 13: In China this process, according to the statement of tea
manufacturers, is carried on to a great extent.]
[Footnote 14: Dr. Jameson, in a late communication, remarks--"From the
accounts I have received of that place (Darjeeling), I doubt not but
that the plants there grown will yield tea of a superior
description."]
[Footnote 15: The crops of this district, such as rice, mundooa, and
other grains, are so plentiful and cheap as scarcely to pay the
carriage to the nearest market town, much less to the plains. In
Almorah a maund of rice or mundooa sells for something less than a
rupee; barley for eight annas; and wheat for a rupee.]
[Footnote 16: There is frequently a discrepancy in the figures in the
Parliamentary papers, which will account for a want of agreement in
some of these returns.]
[Footnote 17: See the "Pharmaceutical Journal" for June, 1849, p. 15,
et seq.]
[Footnote 18: Reports of Dr. Roxburgh, Mr. Touchet of Radanagore, and
Mr. Cardin of Mirzapore, Cutna. Papers on East India Sugar, page 258.]
[Footnote 19: Many are of opinion, that although the juice of this
cane is larger in quantity, yet that it contains less sugar. There is
some sense in the reason they assign, which is, that in the Mauritius
and elsewhere it has the full time of twelve or fourteen months
allowed for its coming to maturity--whereas the agriculture of India,
and especially in Bengal, only allows it eight or nine months, which,
though ample to mature the smaller country canes, is not sufficient
for the Otaheite.]
[Footnote 20: Roxburgh on the Culture of Sugar and Jaggary in the
Rajahmundry Circar; Third Ap. to Report on East India Sugar, p. 2.]
[Footnote 21: L'Exploitation de Sucreries. Porter on the Sugar Cane,
53,321.]
[Footnote 22: That the above application would be beneficial, is
rendered still more worthy of credit from the following
experience:--In the Dhoon, the white ant is a most formidable enemy to
the sugar planter, owing to the destruction it causes to the sets when
first planted. Mr. G.H. Smith says, that there is a wood very common
there, called by the natives _Butch_, through, which, they say, if the
irrigating waters are passed in its progress to the beds, the white
ants are driven away. (Trans. Agri-Hort. Soc. of India, v. 65.)]
[Footnote 23: Fitzmaurice on the Culture of the Sugar Cane.]
[Footnote 24: The kilogramme is equal to 2 lb, 3 oz. avoirdupois.]
[Footnote 25: A lecture on the nutritive value of different articles
of food, by C. Daubeny, M.D., "Gardener's Chronicle" (London), January
20th, 1849, p. 37.]
[Footnote 26: Transactions of the New York State Agricultural Society,
1849, p. 646.]
[Footnote 27: A lecture "On the Geographical Distribution of Corn
Plants," by the Rev. E. Sidney--Proceedings of the Royal Institution
(London), May 18th, 1849.]
[Footnote 28: Boussingault's Rural Economy, American edition, pp. 85
and 86.]
[Footnote 29: Zenas Coffin, one of the oldest whalemen in Nantucket,
states that corn meal in tight rum puncheons when sent to the Went
Indies will keep sweet, while in common flour barrels it will spoil.
Report of the Commissioner of Patents for 1847, p. 133.]
[Footnote 30: From remarks of Col. Skinner, and others, at a meeting
of the American Institute, held in April 1846. Transactions of
American Institute, 1846, p. 509 _et seq._]
[Footnote 31: Comptes Rendus des Séances de L'Academie des Sciences,
February 5th, 1819.]
[Footnote 32: A Treatise on Diet and Regimen, by Wm. Henry Robertson,
M.D., vol. i. p. 153.]
[Footnote 33: The Plant: a Biography; by M.H. Schleiden, M.D.,
Professor of Botany in the University of Jena. English translation, p.
54.]
[Footnote 34: Transactions of the New York State Agricultural Society
for 1847, p. 190. In this communication, Mr. Bentz does not describe
the process which he adopts, but enumerates some of its supposed
advantages.]
[Footnote 35: Quoted by Boussingault, Rural Economy, Amer. edition, p.
410.]
[Footnote 36: A Treatise on Diet and Regimen, by Wm. Henry Robertson,
M.D., Vol. i. p. 140.]
[Footnote 37: Experimental Researches on the Food of Animals, &c., by
R.D. Thomson, M.D., p. 156.]
[Footnote 38: Chemistry of Vegetable and Animal Physiology, translated
by Prof. J.F.W. Johnston, p. 684.]
[Footnote 39: See Dr. R.D. Thomson's Experimental Researches on the
Food of Animals, &c.]
[Footnote 40: Mulder's Chemistry of Vegetable and Animal Physiology;
English Translation, p. 816.]
[Footnote 41: I have had no opportunity of analysing samples of flour
from the South-Western States, and therefore cannot extend this
comparison to them.]
[Footnote 42: Transactions of "Agri.-Hort. Society, of Calcutta," vol.
iv. p. 125.]
[Footnote 43: Dict. of Arts and Manufacture.]
[Footnote 44: Pharmaceutical Journal, vol. 3, p. 138.]
[Footnote 45: The glasses used were all of the sort described in
Griffin's catalogue under the name of Clark's test-glasses. They were
all, as nearly as possible, of the same size and shape.]
[Footnote 46: I have determined the amount of nitrogen contained in
the meal made from the whole maize, the growth of the colony, as also
from plantain meal; I have also ascertained its amount in cassava
meal, prepared in the manner mentioned in the text, and in meal
prepared from the cassava sliced, dried, and ground without expressing
the juice. Assuming Liebig's formula of Proteine, namely, C-48 N-6
H-36 0-4 the results stand thus:--
Nitrogen. Proteine compounds.
Per cent. Per cent.
Maize meal (unhusked) 1.73 10.72
Plantain meal .88 5.45
Cassava meal (juice expressed) .36 2.23
Ditto from the sliced and dried roots .78 4.83
]
[Footnote 47: Les Moyens de prévenir la Maladie des Pommes de Terre.
Expériences et Conclusions de A.N.C. Bollman, Conseiller d'état,
Professeur, &c. 8vo, St. Petersburg, 1853.]
[Footnote 48: If cinnamon seeds after washing be exposed to the sun,
even for twenty minutes, the shells will crack in two, and this
prevents the seeds from growing.]
[Footnote 49: No export duties exist in the Straits Settlements.]
[Footnote 50: Since these remarks were written, the duty has been
wholly abolished.]
[Footnote 51: Although this was the amount of produce for 1842, it
must be remarked that that crop was a complete failure, and the
average crop for some years past has been 46,666 pounds.]
[Footnote 52: Ure's Dictionary of Arts and Manufactures.]
[Footnote 53: The vernacular name for stale or putrid urine.]
[Footnote 54: "Lit" was the name applied to the plant, from which the
dye was to be prepared, and "pig" is the Scotch synonym for any kind
of earthenware vessel---in which the maceration was generally carried
on.]
[Footnote 55: Pitkins' Statistics of the United States.]
[Footnote 56: A great portion of the crop I grew had leaves measuring
two feet nine inches in length and eighteen inches wide, being larger
than I ever knew to have been grown in America. The average weight I
obtained per acre, was 25 cwt.; whereas I see by the public returns,
the average of what is grown here is only 17 1-7th cwt.]
INDEX.
_Albrus precatorius_, 643
Acacia bark, 493
_Catechu_, 495, 577
_dealbata_, 505
_Acer saccharinum_, 205
Acre, coffee trees to the, 69
Achira plant, 355
Achote, a name for arnotto, 447
_Acrocomia fusiformis_, 519
_Adeps Myristica_, 402
_Adme cyperus_, 626
_Adenanthera Pavonina_, 378
_Adansonia digitata_, 378
African arrowroot, 353
lard, 525
purple millet, 307
Africa, pepper grown in, 422
tobacco culture in, 615
Agar-Agar moss, 378, 379
Agi or Guinea pepper, 429
Agave Americana--a substitute for soap, 574
Agaiti oil, 520
Agricultural wealth of tropical regions, 2
Aipi, 376
Akyab, exports of rice from, 297
_Aleurites triloba_, 521, 538
Alexandrian senna, 648
Algaroba beans, 313
bark, 503
Algiers, tobacco culture in, 615
Alizaine, 478
Alkanet root, 442
Allspice, the common name for pimento, 430
Almond oil, 510, 533
Aloes, statistics of exports from the Cape, 632
varieties of, 628
_Alpinia Galanga_, 419
_Cardamomum_, 419
_racemosa_, 414
_Alstræmeria pallida_, 330
_Althea rosea_, 442
_Amaranthus gangiticus_, 434
American arrowroot, 352
flour, countries to which, shipped, 223
Americans consume most coffee, 40
Amboyna wood, 439
_Amomum_, species of, 419
_Zingiber_, 414
_Anacardium occidentale_, 495, 521
Analyses, various, of tobacco, 592-93
Analysis of the coffee plant, 49
ashes of the coffee tree, 43
of catechu, 579
of Havana tobacco, 591, 615
of other varieties, 615
of oil cake, 546
of soils, 617
of soils, not so requisite abroad, 7
of the sugar cane, by Dr. Evans, 154
of sugar soils in the East, 172
_Anethum graveolens_, 376
_Sowa_, seeds of, 434
Angola weed, 486
Aniseed, 437
Antigua arrowroot, statistics of, 353
cost of cultivating sugar, 189
Ants, remedy for, 181
_Anchusa tinctoria_, 442
Andropogon, species of, 572
_Anileria_, a manufactory for indigo, 460
Apricot oil, 511, 536
Apios, 355, 371
Aquilaria, species of, 439
Arghel leaves, 647
_Arachis hypogoea_, 513
_Arenga saccharifera_, the _gomutus saccharifera_ of Rumphius, 136, 314
Areometer, an instrument for testing oil, 532
_Arbor alba_, 566
Areca nuts, value of the exports from Ceylon, 579
palm, 577
_Argemone Mexicana_, 511, 521, 626
Arnotto, 447
Arpent, a French land measure, about one-seventh less than an acre, 251
Arracan, exports of rice from, 297
_Arracacha esculenta_, 355, 375
Arrack, 556
used to flavor tobacco, 621
Arroba, a Spanish weight of 25 lbs., the fourth part of a quintal.
Arrowroot, Benzon's analysis of, 348
culture and commerce of, 345
made from the Palmyra shoots, 376
starch of, 331, 334-35, 337
Arsenic for steeping grain, poisonous effects from, 233
_Artocarpus incisa_, 318, 330
_Arum colocasia_, 364
_esculentum_, 364
_Rumphii_, 365
Asafoetida, 633
_Asclepias curassavica_, 625
_gigantea_, 494
_tingens_, 442
Assamee, an Indian name for the ryot or cultivator, 467
Assam, introduction of tea culture, 94
tea sales, 98
Company, origin of, 98
manufacture of tea in, 126
Assaroo, rain sowing, 468
_Astoria theiformis_, used as tea at Santa Fe, 80
Attap leaf for thatching, 405, 559
Attar of roses, 570
Aucklandia, 438
_Auracaria Bidwillii_, 377
Australia, consumption of tea in, 87, 88
sugar cultivation recommended, 139
Austria production of beet-root sugar in, 197, 200
_Avicenna tomentosa_, 444
Avocado seed yields a dye stuff, 444
Awl tree, 443
Babool wood, 493
Bahu, a land measure in Java, equal to 71 acres.
Bajree, the Indian name for _Holcus Spicatus_, 306
Bales of Cuba tobacco, size of, 613
Balfour (Prof.) on the starch in potatoes, 330
on species of rhubarb, 647
Ball's account of the cultivation, &c., of tea, 103
Banana, starch in, 331
used as a shade for the cacao, 15
_Baptista tinctoria_, 453
Barbacue, a platform for coffee drying, 69
_Baphia nitida_, 447
Barbados arrowroot, 337, 353
culture of aloes in, 630
cost of cultivating sugar, 189
ginger, 415
sugar crops of, 149
yam, 334, 335, 337, 338, 362
Barcelona, exports of cacao from, 13
Bark of the larch, its utility, 376
Barks for tanning, 492
Barley, history and consumption of, 255
imported, 218
meal imported, 218
produce of in England and Wales, 248, 256
average prices of, 256
Barrel of rice weighs 600 lbs. net, 291
Barus camphor, 634
Barwood, 445, 447
Basket of rice, a measure equal to 55½ lbs., English,
_Bassia butyracea_, 136, 512
_longifolia_, 511
oil seeds of, 537
_Batatas edulis_, 330, 331, 357
_Bauhinia variegata_, 492
Bayley (Mr.), on consumption of tea in the manufacturing districts
Bay rush or tapioca, 376
Beans, analysis of, 264
and peas, quantities imported, 313
imported, 218
Bearing time of different plants, 9
Beck (Prof.) on various wheats, 222
on the American breadstuffs, 226
Beet root sugar produced on the Continent, 144
cost of producing, 189, 204
Beet, varieties of the root, 191
Belgians, large consumers of coffee, 40
Belgium, production of beet root sugar in, 200
Benares, production of indigo in, 475
Ben, oil of, 523
Bencoolen, pepper grown in, 423
spice culture in, 412
Bengal, cost of cultivating sugar in, 189
indigo, 464
introduction of the coffee tree into, 40
production of indigo in, 475
production of opium in, 580
rice, 296
Bennet on Ceylon, 316
Bennett (Dr.), description of gambier, 500
Berar, edible root of, 377
Berberry, a dye stuff, 442
Berbice, exports of coffee from, 73
Bergamot, essence of, 566
Berger's process of making rice starch, 344
Bermuda arrowroot, statistics of, 353
mode of cultivating arrowroot, 346
Berry wax, 540
Betel leaf, 577
Bhoe Moong, the Indian name for the ground nut, 515
Bhull rice lands, 293
Biggah, distinction between this land measure, 471
_Bignonia Chica_, 444
Bihai, 320
Bitter cassava, 331
_Bixa orellana_, 447
Black ginger, 415
pepper, statistics of, 428
tea, imports of the last fifteen years, 82
mode of manufacturing, 112
Blood tree, 625
Bollman (Prof.), on the potato rot, 359
Bolitus used as food, 377
Bonynge (Mr. F.) promotes tea culture in America, 97
_Borassus gomutus_, 315
Borneo, pepper produced in, 422
Bourbon, cacao grown in, 36
produce of rice in, 293
Bousa, an African beer, 308
Boussingault's analysis of wheat, 244
Boyams, food plant, 377
Bran, analysis of, 231
_Brassica oleracea_, oil from the seed, 539
Brazilian arrowroot, 330, 367, 369
Brazil, exports of coffee to America, 63
cost of producing sugar in, 189
culture of ginger, 418
production of coffee in, 40, 41, 63
introduction of the tea plant, 128
statistics of sugar production, 182
tobacco export from, 594
wood, 485
Bread fruit, 318, 330
made from millet, 306
nut of Jamaica, 319
stuffs of commerce, 217
Brick tea of Thibet, 92
British Guiana, coffee produced in, 73
West Indies, decline of coffee culture in, 40, 63, 67
exports of coffee from, 73
Brood-boon, 319
Bromelia Pinguin, fruit of, used for soap, 574
Broom corn, 307, 308
sedge, 308
_Brosimum Alicastrum_, edible nuts of, 319
_Broussonitia tinctoria_, 485
Brown bread, its wholesomeness, 230
Bruce, (Mr. C.A.) on the manufacture of tea in Assam, 126
_Buchanania latifolia_, 494, 521
Buckwheat, average weight of crop in New Brunswick, 253
oil from, 510
culture of, 259
analysis of, 260
Buck yam, 333, 335, 362
Bullhoof, yields a narcotic, 589
Bunbury (Mr.) on Cape aloes, 632
Butch wood, used to keep off ants, 181
_Butea frondosa_, 507
varieties of, 442
tannin from, 494
Butter of cacao, 11, 12
obtained from the dolichos bean, 313
_Cabacinha_, the Portuguese name for a purgative plant, 626
Caballine aloes, 630
Cacao beans or seeds, analysis of, 12
age at which may be transplanted, 6
expenses of a plantation, 33
information respecting, 9
plantation, enormous returns formerly obtained from, 34
quantity consumed in the United Kingdom, 11
total imports into the United Kingdom, 35
total imports from America and the West Indies, 35
trees, where indigenous, 33
oppressive duties levied on, 34
Cacomite, a species of Tigridia, 374
Cacoon, oil from, 511
Cadet's analysis of barks, 495
_Cæsalpinia_, species of, 446
_Brasiliensis_, 485
_Cæsalpinia Coriari_, 493
_oleospermum_, 511
Caffeine, analysis of, 80
Cajeput oil, 566
_Caladium costatium_, 377
_esculentum_, 331
_sagittifolium_, 334
Calambak wood, 439
_Calandra oryza_, 279
Calcutta, exports of castor oil, 545
Calidad, the best kind of Cuba tobacco, 613
California, tea proposed to be cultivated in, 97
_Callistemon ellipticum_, 505
_Calophyllum Inophyllum_, 513
Calumba plant, 638
Calumbin, 638
_Calystegia sepium_, 642
_Camassia esculenta_, 376
Camata, a variety of valonia, 508
_Camelina sativa_, 509, 511, 564
Camotes, a Spanish name for the sweet potato, 375
_Camæladia ilicifolia_, 628
Campbell (Dr. A.), on the tea culture at Darjeeling, 116
Camphor, on the collection of, 633
obtained from the roots of the cinnamon, 389
_Cannabis indica_, 643
Camwood, 447
Canada, production of maple sugar in, 206
West, grain exports of, 251
Canadian yellow root, 626
Canary Isles, millet exported from, 306
moss, 486
seed, 311
Candleberry myrtle, 540
Candlewood, 539
Candles made of cinnamon suet, 390
Candle tree, 521, 538
Cane sugar, composition of, 136, 155, 157
_Canella alba_, 396
Canna, species of, 355
_Canothus Americanus_, used as tea, 80
Caoutchouc, 539
Capa, a term in Cuba for good tobacco, 614
Cape aloes, manufacture of, 631
weed, 486
Capsicum, 428
_Carapa_, species yielding oil, 518
oil, 441, 519
_guianensis_, 512
Caracas, large produce of cacao in, 13
Caraveru, a red pigment, 444
Carraway seed oil, 437, 566
Cardomoms, bastard, 419
plants furnishing, 419
_Carduus Virginianus_, 376
Carob bean, 312, 313
Carolina rice, shipments of, 285
Carrageen, 379
Carrots, average weight per bushel in New Brunswick, 253
_Carthamus tinctoria_, 450
oil from, 512
Caruto, a name for the Lana dye, 444
Carver's treatise on tobacco culture, 607
_Carum carui_, 566
_Caryophyllus aromaticus_, 397
_Caryota urens_, 314
Cascarilla bark, 396
Cashew bark, 495
nut oil, 512
Cassareep, an antiseptic, 339, 343, 369
Cassava cakes, 342
culture of, 367
fecula of, 330
flour exports from St. Lucia, 369
meal, 341
roots, information respecting, 9
starch, yield per acre, 370
Cassia, a rival to cinnamon, 391
_auriculata_, 494
bark of China, superiority of, 393, 394
buds, 396
_lignea_, 394, 396
statistics of imports and consumption of, 394
Castor oil, 510, 511, 527, 536, 542, 563
Catechu or Cutch, 579
tannin in, 495
Cattle, consumption of Indian corn by, 271
Catty, a Chinese weight, 400
Cayenne, nutmeg introduced, 412
pepper grown in, 427
pepper, 429
pottage, 429
_Celastrus paniculatus_, 521
Celebes, coffee grown in, 62
production of coffee in, 41
rice culture in, 302
tobacco, 621
Centrifugal machine for sugar, 140
_Cephælis Ipecacuanhæ_, 641
_Ceratonia siliqua_, 312, 313
Cereal grasses, 216
_Ceroxyion andicola_, 541
_Cersium virginianum_, 376
_Cetraria islandica_, 343, 379
Ceylon arrowroot, 353
cardamoms, 419, 421
coco-nut culture in, 556
culture of rice in, 295
Ceylon, exports of castor oil from, 545
adapted for indigo culture, 475
gamboge, 639
the great seat of cinnamon culture, 383
pepper exported from, 426
imports of _Terra Japonica_, 502
moss, 379
produce of tobacco in, 619
production of coffee in, 41
tea plant introduced, 95
Value of the betel nuts exported, 579
Chay-root, 449, 478
_Chamarops Palmetto_, 495
Chandu, the prepared extract of the opium, 585
_Chenopodium quinon_, 310
Cherrots, Manilla, 619
Chesnuts, consumed in France, 361
Chest of opium, about 140 lbs., 58
Chick pea, 312
the inspissated juice of the poppy, 582
Chicory, extensive consumption of, 37
Chillies, growth of, 428
Chimo, powdered potatoes, 361
China, population of, 86
shipments of tea from, 84
Chinese arrowroot, 352
_Chironia sapinda_, 521
_Chloranthus_, flowers used to flavor tea, 85
Chocolate nuts, 11
imported, 35
paste, as prepared by the Marienna, 18
Christison (Prof.), analysis of gamboge, 640
Chiretta, 641
Chrysoptranic acid, 488
_Cibotium Billardieri_, 380
Cigars, consumption of, 596
duty received on, 597
large consumption of in New York, 599
profit on manufacture of, 612
number exported from Cuba, 614
exported from Siam, 619
Cinchona bark, 635
Cinnamon, 382
export duty on, 391
oil, 565
properties of good, 387
statistics of export from Ceylon, 390, 391
suet, 522
varieties of the tree, 386
Citronella oil, 565, 573
Clagett and Co.'s (Messrs.) tobacco circulars, 601
Clarifying cane juice, 155
Clark, (Mr.) on a new variety of tobacco, 613
Classification and arrangement adopted in the work, 5
_Claytonia acutiflora_, 371
Clerihew's coffee apparatus, 52
Climate suited for various plants, 9
Clove bark, 383
Cloves, 397
oil, 390, 398
statistics of, 411
varieties of the tree, 398
where grown, 402
Cobres a first quality of indigo, 456
Coca plant, 576
_Cocculus indicus_, 576
_palmatus_, 638
Cochin China, coco nut oil exported from, 556
culture of rice, 298
exports of cinnamon, 393
tea considered inferior, 94
Cochineal, value of the dye stuff, 440
Cocoa, see Cacao, 9
fat, 519
nut butter, 560
information respecting, 9
oil, 527
palm, 547
_Cocos nucifera_, 547
_fusiformis_, 519
or eddoes, 364
Cocum oil, 521
Coffee, adulteration of, and substitutes for, 37
consumption of, 39, 596
cultivation in Ceylon, 46
in Africa, 77
in India, 44
information respecting, 9
manures suited for, 50
tree, description of, 43
production in various countries, 41
produce per tree and per acre, 69, 481
leaf, suited for making a beverage by infusion, 78
Dr. Hooker's opinion thereon, 79
plantation, beauty of, 67
prices of, in London, 47
signs of its being properly cured, 71
trade, progress of, 36
Coimbatore, culture of tobacco in, 618.
Coir, Coco nut, 551, 552, 555, 556.
Colman (Mr.), on grain production, 219
on sugar, 204
_Colocasia_, varieties of cultivated, 364
_Colocynth_, 638
oil, 511
Colombo root, 638
shipments of coffee from, 48
Coloring principles of the lichens, 487
teas in China, 104
Colza oil, 510, 513, 539
_Conium Arracacha_, 375
Connecticut, culture of tobacco in, 606
Consumption of rhubarb, 645
_Convolvulus Jalapa_, 641
_Scammonia_, 642
Conquin tay, plantain meal, 324
Constantinople opium, 585
Consumption of arrowroot, 354
of arnotto, 449
cacoa in the United Kingdom, 36
cassia bark, 394
castor oil, 544
coco nut oil, 562
coffee, 36, 64, 596
coffee in various countries, 41
cinnamon, 391
cloves, 401
ginger, 418
indigo, 477
mace, 414
nutmegs, 414
opium, 580
palm oil, 527
pepper, 428
pimento, 431
sago in the United Kingdom, 318
sugar in India, 140
Great Britain, 139
tea, statistics of, 82, 596
tobacco, 596, 595
_Convolvulus batatas_, 333, 334, 356
Coolies employed in Mauritius, 150
Copey, a Cuba dye wood, 485
Copperah, 536, 549, 556, 560, 661
Corakan flour, 304
Coriander seed, 437
_Coriaria myrtifolia_, 493
Cork tree bark, 504
Corn, the common name for maize in America, 270
Cortes, a description of indigo, 456
_Corypha umbraculifera_, 316
_Costus Arabicus_, 438
_indicus_, &c., 638
Costa Rica, production of coffee in, 41, 64
Cotton, information respecting, 9
seed oil, 564
cake, 564
Courida bark, 495
Cow-itch, 625
Crane potato, 372
Crawfurd (Mr. J.), estimate of pepper produce, 422
_Croix lachryma_, 304
Crop hogshead of tobacco, weight of, 605
_Croton Cascarilla_, 396
_Eleuteria_, 397
_gossypifolia_, 625
oil, 522
_Tiglium_, 522
Cuba, coffee plantations in, 77
culture of tobacco in, 613
exports of coffee to America, 63
cost of producing sugar in, 147, 189
exports of coffee from, 73
progress of sugar cultivation in, 148
production of coffee in, 41
rice grown in, 292
statistics of coffee exported, 76
tobacco plantations in, 614
Cubebs, medicinal, 639
Cucumber seed oil, 512
_Cucumis Colocynthus_, 638
Cudbear, imports of, 486
452
Culilaban bark, 383
_Curcuma longa_, 419
species of, 434
varieties of, yielding E.I. arrowroot, 351
Curry stuff, imports into Ceylon, 434
Cush, an Indian name for millet, 306
Cutch, the Indian name for catechu, or gambier, 600
exported from Pinang, 503
imports of, 502
Cuyupa, an Indian tuber, 374
_Cycas circinalis_, 314
_Cynamchum_ leaves, 649
_Cynosurus corocanus_, 306
_Cytisus Cajan_, 304
_Dacrydium cupressinum_, 505
Dadap, a prop for the pepper, 425, 42
a name given in Java to the _Erythrina_, 55, 58
_Datisca cannabina_, 442
Davis' (Dr.), analysis of maize, 265
Day's analysis of barks, 495
Demerara, exports of coffee from, 73
rice grown in, 292
Dholl, the Indian name for varieties of _Cajanus_, 312
Dhak tree, bark of, 507
Dhurra, the Egyptian name for millet, 306
_Dicypellium caryophyllatum_, 384
_Didynamia gymosperma_, 520
Dietetic articles used for the preparation of popular beverages, 11
Dillock, a preparation with cayenne, 429
_Dioscorea aculeata_, 334, 362
_Diospyros glutinosa_, 494
_Dipterix odorata_, 434
_Dipterocarpus_, oil from, 511
Divi-divi, 503
Division of seasons in the tropics, 6
Dodder cake, 564
Dogwood, bark of, 627
_Dolichos biflorus_, varieties of, 312
_bulbosus_, roots used as food, 377
oil, 521
Domba oil, 513
Dominica, exports of coffee from, 73
introduction of the clove tree, 399
_Dracæna terminalis_, 355
Drimys bark, 636
Dryobalanops, species furnishing camphor, 634
Dubranfaut's process of sugar making, 197, 201
Dunsterville (Mr.), on Cape aloes, 631
Duquesne (M.), process of making sugar from beet, 202
Duration of various plants, 9
Dutch pound, lighter than the English avoirdupoise pound; 100 Dutch pounds equal to 101 and 1-5th lbs.
Dutch West Indies, production of coffee in, 41
Duty, large, levied on tobacco, 598
Dye stuffs, various, 440
from British plants, 452
furnished by the cacao bean, 12
Dye woods, 445, 447
Eagle wood, 439
Earth mouse, 374
Earth-nut oil, 513
East India ginger, 416, 418
sugar, 139
cultivation in, 152
East Indies, imports of indigo from, 477
rhubarb, 645
Eddoes or cocos, 364
Edward's preserved potatoes, 361
Egyptian corn, 307
opium, 585
Elais, species furnishing palm oil, 524
_Elate sylvestris_ fruit, a masticatory, 579
_Elettaria Cardomomum_, 421
_Eleusine corocana_, 304
_Encephalartos cafer_, 319
English opium, 586
Eno bark, a black dye, 444
_Epidendrum_, species of, 431
_Ervum lens_, 312
Erythric acid, 489
Erythrina, a shade tree for the cacao, 15
_Erysimum perfoliatum_, oil from, 512
Essences, 565
Essential oils, 565
Ethiopian pepper, 421
_Eucalyptus_, bark of, for tanning, 494
_resinifera_, 506
_Eugenia caryophyllata_, 397
_Pimento_, 430
_Eulophia virens_, 354
_Eupatorium glutinosum_, 643
_Euphorbia Lathyris_, 510
_Euterpe montana_, 549
Evans' (Dr.) Sugar Planter's Manual, 140
_Evernia vulpina_, 488
_Evodia triphylla_, used as a perfume, 550
Factory maund, about 70 pounds, 471
_Fagara piperita_, 421
Fanega, a Spanish measure, the fifth part of an English quarter, equal to 12 quarrees, or 62 and 2-5ths acres, 13, 327
Fanegada, a Spanish land measure, 9
Farinaceous plants, 216
Fennel flower, 421
_Ferula asafoetida_, 633
Fern roots as food, 377, 380
_Fevillea scandens_, 511
Finlayson's description of gambier manufacture, 500
Fish oils consumed, 509
poison, 627
Fitzmaurice on the sugar cane, 180
Fixed oils, 510
Flax seed oil, 509, 501
Flores, a commercial classification of indigo, 456
Florida, tobacco culture in, 609
Flour, damaged, shipped from America, 227
and meal, our imports of, 218
obtained from spurry seed, 377
Flowering of the sugar cane, 182
Food plants of commerce, 217
nutritious properties of various kinds, 232
Foo-foo, the dough of the plantain, 324
Fortune (Mr. R.) on the tea districts, 89
engaged by the East India Company, 100
report on the Indian tea plantations, 106, 117
Fortune's (Mr. R.) wanderings in China, 103
Fownes (Mr.) on clarifying cane juice, 164
France, production of beet sugar in, 194, 200
rice cultivated in, 292
Frazla, the Arabian name for a bale of variable weight, in Mocha about 16 lbs. avoirdupoise,
Free trade policy, effects of, 2
French berries for dyeing, 443
Slave Colonies, cost of producing sugar in, 189
West Indies, production of coffee in, 41
_Fucus amylaceus_, 380
_tenax_, furnishes glue, 378
as food for cattle, 379
Fundi or Fundungi, an African grain, 310
Fustic, 445, 447, 485
Gallipoli oil, 531
Gallo tannic acid, 492
_Galidupa arborea_, 521
Garancine, quantity and value of, 483, 484
Gambier plant, 496
Gamboge, 451
plants furnishing, 639
_Garcinea elliptica_, 451
Garbelled, a term for sorted or picked
Gabilla, a finger or hank of tobacco, 613
Galangale root, 351, 418
_Garcinea Gambogia_, 640
Garnett (Mr. A.) on the culture of the plantain, 320
Galam butter, 538
_Gastrodia sesamoides_, 375
Gesner (Dr.), plants recommended by, for cultivation, 371
_Genipa Americana_, 444
_Genista tinctorea_, 453
_tomentosa_, 486
Gentian, plants furnishing it, 640
Ghee, 538
Ginger, culture of, 414
Gin, made from rye in Holland, 258
_Gigartina Iichenoides_, 379
Gingelie seed oil, 511, 533
oil, used to adulterate almond oil, 534
Ginseng, 436
Glen (Mr. J.), his experiments on Cassava starch, 370
Gloves made from bark, 376
Gluten contained in various grain crops, 264
definition of, 234
Gluten, composition of, 221
Glycirrhiza, 643
_Glyrine Apios_, 371
_subterranea_, 371
Glycerine, 643
_Glycirrhiza glabra_, 642
_Gnizotia oleifera_, 535
Gohyan, an Indian name for upland rice, 282
Gold of pleasure oil, 509
cake of, 564
Gomuti palm sugar, 136
315
_Gomatus saccharifer_, 314
Goor, the Indian name for half-made sugar, 308
Gorham's (Prof.) analysis of maize, 264
Gourds used for packing aloes, 630
_Gracelaria lichenoides_, 379
Graham (Dr.), on gamboge, 639
Gram, the Indian name for the _Ervum lens_, and _Cicer arietinum_, 312
Grain crops, 217
produce per acre in England, 219
of Paradise, 419, 420
average prices of in New Brunswick, 254
Grape sugar, properties of, 136
sugar, analysis of, 155
Grater for rasping arrowroot, 338
Grenada, cost of cultivating sugar in, 189
Great Exhibition, results of, 2
Green tea, mode of manufacturing, 113
tea, imports of the last 15 years, 82
Griffith (Dr.) on tea plants in Assam, 111
Groundnut oil, 511
Guano, not much required in tropical countries, 7
Guayaquil, large exports of cocoa from, 13
_Guazuma ulmifolia_, 164
Guillemen's (M.) report on the tea plantations of Brazil, 128
Guiana, cost of cultivating sugar in, 189
Guinea pepper, 429
grains, 420
yam, 331, 334, 335, 337, 362
corn, 306
Gums used by the dyers, 453
Gum tree of Australia, 494
Gun stock tree, 164
_Gunnera scabra_, 495
Gunny bags, rough canvas bags, 392
Guntang, an Indian dry measure of rather more than 15 pounds, 297
Guaco, or snake plant, 627
as a fertilizer, 278
_Gynerium saccharoides_, 136
_Gyrophora murina_, 486
_Hamatoxylon campechianum_, 484
Hamilton (Dr.), on oil of ben, 523
notices by, 617
Havana tobacco, classification of, 613
exports of tobacco from, 614
shipments of sugar from, 147
Hayti, exports of tobacco, 615
exports of ginger, 418
coffee from, 67
indigo from, 460
Hazel nut, oil from, 510
_Hebradendron Cambogoides_, 451, 639
Heather, dye from, 453
Hectare, a French land measure, equal to about 2½ acres, 204
Hectolitre, a French measure 192¼ bushel's
Helot's lichen test, 452
Herreria sarsaparilla, 646
_Heliconia humilis_, 320
Hemlock tree, bark of, 494
Hemp seed oil, 509
Henna, a dye stuff, 486
Hepatic aloes, 630
Herring's palm kernel oil, 525
Hernandez (Mr.) on Cuba tobacco, 608
_Heuchera Americana_, 494
_Hibiscus rosa sinensis_, 494
Hingalee, the best Bengal tobacco, 617
Hino bark, 606
Hogs, large consumption of maize by, 271
Holcomb (Mr.) on the wheat crop of America, 245
_Holcus avenaceus_, 307
_spicatus_, 366
_saccharatum_, 306
Holland, tea sent to, 86
Honduras, export of indigo from, 460
Hooker (Dr.) on brick tea, 92
Hops, cascarilla bark used to adulterate, 397
Horse gram, 312
Hungary, production of beet sugar in, 197
_Hura crepitans_, 512, 626
Husking rice, 290
Hydraulic press for coco nut oil, 557
press, 329
_Hydrastica canadensis_, 625
_Hymenoea Courbaril_, 313
_Hyperanthera Moringa_, 523
Hypericum, species of, furnishes gamboge, 454, 640
Iceland moss, 343, 379
Illepe oil, 537, 511
_Ilex Paraguayensis_, indigenous to Brazil, 130
description of, 133
_Illicum anisatum_, 438
Impey (Dr.) on Malwa opium, 587
on Indian drugs, 626
Implements of colonial agriculture few and simple, 6
requisite for manufacturing tea, 115
Imports of arrowroot, 351, 354
arnotto, 449
cacao, from America and the West Indies, 35
cloves, 401
cinchona bark, 636
tea into Great Britain, 82
tobacco, 597
coco-nut oil, 562
palm oil, 525, 527
pimento, 431
opium, 580
nutmegs, 414
pepper, 428
castor oil, 544
sago, 318
indigo, 477
coffee, 37
Import commerce, our principal, articles furnished by the Vegetable Kingdom, 4
Incense wood, 439
Indigo, details of, 453
plants yielding, 442
information respecting, 10
mode of manufacturing, 457
production of in India, 474
in Natal, 463
_Indigofera_, species of, 453
India, tea culture in, 98
culture of indigo in, 463
Indiana, tobacco culture in, 607
Indian aloes, 630
berries, 576
corn, imports of, 263
information respecting, 9
analysis of, 264
sources of supply, 262, 263
starch, 343
meal imported, 218
yield per acre, 356
compared with Guinea corn, 307
meal, composition of, 307
opium, 586
root, 625
shot, 345
Indian corn, weight of, 280
madder, 484
Intoxicating liquors made from Cassava, 369
Iodine, 378
Ipecacuan, bastard, 653
641
_Ipomoea batatas_, 365
_brachypodo_, 522
_Jalapa_, 641
Ireland, tobacco consumed in, 596
cost of producing beet root sugar in, 193
Irish rock moss, 379
Iron, quantity of, in tobacco, 617
bark tree, 506
Irrigation for the tea plant never practised in China, 122
_Isatis Indigotica_,104
_tinctoria_, 452
Jaggery sugar, 555
Japanese camphor, 633
tobacco, 620
Japan, tea culture, 94
_Jatropha curcas_, oil from, 512
Jacobson's (Mr.) work on tea culture in Java, 102
Jalap, 641
Jamaica, cost of cultivating sugar in, 189
culture of coffee in, 67
culture of Guinea corn, 306
decline of sugar production, 148, 149
exports of coffee from, 73
ginger, 415, 417
sarsa, 646, 47
Jameson (Dr.) on the culture of tea in India, 106
Java, cinnamon cultivated in, 383, 392
clove does not succeed there, 399
coffee exported to the United States, 63
coco-nut oil exported from, 556
cost of producing sugar in, 189
culture of coffee in, 53
culture of rice in, 299
cultivation of indigo in, 476
gambier grown in, 502
nutmegs exported from, 413
pepper grown in, 422-23
production of coffee in, 41
statistics of, 300
statistics of indigo exported, 476
statistics of tea culture in, 102
sugar culture in, 152
tea plantations, 94
tobacco, 621
Jack fruit tree, 319
Janipha, starch in, 331
_Manihot_, 315
Jasmine oil, 570, 574
_Jatropha gossypyfolia_, 625
_cureas_, oil from, 523
Jellies, clearness of, 337
Jesuit's bark, 635
Joar, the Indian name of the _Sorghum vulgare_ or millet, 304, 306
Job's tears, 304
Johnson (Dr.) on manufacture of rose water, 570
(Mr.) on indigo culture, 466
(Prof.) analyses of grain crops, 264
(Prof.) on grain crops of New Brunswick, 253
Jones's process for making rice starch, 344
Jumowah, irrigated sowings, 468
Juniperus, oil of, 565
Kafir bread, 319
Kamas root, an edible, 376
Kanari kernels made into cakes, 547
oil, 546
Katjang oil, produce of the ground nut, 515, 299
Kawan, the Java tallow tree, 511
Kashmir, culture of rice in, 295
Kemmayes, an Arabian truffle, 381
Kew Gardens, tea plant grows in, 101
Kekune oil, 539
Kentucky tobacco, statistics of, 598, 600
Keora oil, 565
Khoonte, the Indian name for a second cutting, 471
Kiln-drying madder, 481
of bread stuffs, 221, 229
Kilogramme, a French weight, equal to 21bs. 3oz. avoird., 194
Kino, Australian, 506
East India, 507
_Knowltonia vessicatoria_, 626
Koster's Travels in Brazil, 186
Kous-kous, 311
Kooyah plant, 376
Kukui oil, 539
Kumaon, tea plantations in, 117
Laudanum, 584
_Lawsonia inermis_, 486
_Laminaria saccharina_, 379
_Lathyrus tuberosus_,374
Larch bark edible, 376
_Laurus camphora_, 633, 35
La Guayra, cacao from, 13
production of coffee in, 41
exports of coffee from, 62
Lana dye, 444
_Lecythis Tabucajo_, 512
Lemon grass oil, 672
Legumes, varieties of, 312
Lecanora, species of, 432
Lentils, 312
Leaf tobacco shipped from the Havana, 614
Liberia, suitability for coffee culture, 77
Lichen tribe as food, 378
Lichens, 486
Lichenin, 343
_Licospermun racemosum_, 605
Lindley (Dr.) on the cinchonas, 635
Litmus, 452
Lignum aloes, 439
Litre, a French measure, equal to 1¾ English pint nearly, 202
Lime, its influence on cane juice, 161
Lindley (Prof.) on the wheat of South Australia, 221
Lindley's classification of the plantain tribe, 322
Liptospermum, oil of, 565
_Lilium Pomponium_, 356
Lindley (Dr.) on the lichens, 486
Linseed, 535
oil, 509, 537
imported, 563
cake imported, 564
Little (Mr.) on opium, 587
Libra, a Spanish kind of tobacco, 613
Liquorice, 642
paste, 643
Logwood, 445, 447, 484
Lotus seeds, used as food, 356
Locust tree, 313
pods, 503
Louisiana, cost of producing sugar in, 189
production of sugar in, 146
Loxa bark, 636
Luffas, properties of, 626
Luggie, a measuring rod, 471
Lucca oil, 531
Macfarlane (Mr. A.) on the tea plant,117
Madder, culture of, 478
Indian, 484
statistics of imports, 484
_Madia sativa_ oil, 520
_sativa_, 444
Mahowa oil, 537
_Maclura tinctoria_, 485
Mauritius weed, 486
Mangrove bark, for tanning, 493
Mac Micking (Mr.) on making cigars, 620
Margose oil, 537
Macaw tree, 519
Maxwell (Dr.) on Neem oil, 537
Marc of olives, 531
Mango, kernel of, for bread, 378
Marmala water, 574
Malabar cardamoms, 419
Manila, exports of indigo from, 476
exports of sugar from, 153
cigar making, 620
hemp, whence obtained, 321
Mattrasses, stuffed with blades of Indian corn, 281
Macculloch's (Mr.) estimate of indigo, 478
Maize, number of varieties cultivated, 278
analysis of, 264
imported, 218
meal, imported, 218
on the culture of, 260
sugar, 215
information respecting, 9
Dr. Phillip's analysis of, 307
starch of, 334, 335, 337, 343
system of culture in America, 273
culture in the East Indies, 282
immense produce per acre, 281
varieties grown in, Peru, 281
statistics of production in America, 269
statistics of exports from the United States, 272
Malphigia bark, for tanning, 495
Maslin, quantity grown in France, 250
Mace, imports of, 414
false color of, 409
proportion of, to nutmegs, 408
Malt, quantity made, 255
Mahoe, furnishes a dye stuff, 444
Mauritius, exports of pepper, 426
nutmeg introduced in, 412
pepper grown in, 422
cost of sugar cultivation in, 187, 189
tea culture in, 94
progress of sugar culture in, 150
clove culture of, 398, 401
black beans, 304
Mangrove bark, 450, 506
Madagascar cardamoms, 419
_Mangostana Gambogia_, 451, 640
Maple sugar, 205
_Manettia glabra_, 641
Madeira, introduction of the tea plant, 94
Madras, tea culture suitable for, 101
exports of indigo from, 464
cost of producing sugar in, 189
Marah (Mr.) prize essay on coffee culture, 69
Malambo bark, 636
Machinery for sugar, 140
for coffee, 51
for arrowrot, 350, 348
required for the plantain, 324
required for sago, 318
Magdalena river, cacao indigenous on its shores, 14
_Magnolia fuseata_, used to flavor tea, 85
Majoon, an opium confection, 585
Malabar, production of coffee in, 41
cassia, 394
ginger, 415
pepper produced in, 422
Malwa opium, 580
Manure, a special for tobacco, 592
Manures, suited to the coffee tree, 50
for the nutmeg, 406
suited for arrowroot, 347
scarcely required in tropical countries, 6
suited for the sugar cane, 172
suited to maize 278
Manioc, see Cassava
Manihot, species of, 367
_utilissima_, 315
Mansana, a land measure of 100 square yards, or nearly two British statute acres, 455
Manyroot, 625
_Maranta arundinacea_, juice of an antidote to poisons, 627
_Marattia alata_, 380
Maryland tobacco, statistics of, 598, 600
Mate, a name for the Paraguay tea, 133
Matico, 643
Matias bark, 636
Maund of Surat, 39¼ lbs.
an Indian weight of varable quantity
_Melaleuca minor_, 566
_Metrosideros tomentosa_, 505
_Mesembryanthemum nodiflorum_, 494
_Menispermum coceulus_, 576
_palmatum_, 638
Megass, a name given to the dried cane stems, or trash used for fuel, 168
Meleguetta pepper, 420
Melsen's process of sugar boiling, 203
_Mespilus Bengalensis_, 443
Mendo, a wild sweet potato of North America, 372
Menomine, an Indian edible root, 372
Mexican thistle, 626
Mexico, imports of indigo from, 477
_Metroxylon sagus_, 314
Millet, varieties of, cultivated, 304
the great Indian, 306
Miller on tobacco culture, 608
Mill, rude one, used in Siam for hulling paddy, 302
for crushing plantain stems, 327
Mills for cleaning rice, 286, 288
Minot, a Canadian grain measure about one-eighth less than a bushel, 251
Milloco, a tuberous plant, 374
Mint, culture of, 567
Mimosa bark, 504
Mico or mijo, a vegetable butter made in Java, 313, 512
Monkey bread, 378
pot seed oil, 512
Morinda, species of, 443, 449
Morewood (Mr. E.), his exertions in Natal, 140
experiments in sugar culture, 187
Mocha, production of coffee in, 41
cultivation of coffee in,' 43
Mother cloves, definition of, 397
Moussache, the fecula of the manioc, 315
Mountain rice, 285, 290, 296
Morphia, proportion in opium, 584, 585
_Mora excelsa_, 495
_Morinda citrifolia_, 478
Moringa oil, 523
species of, 523
Musa, species of, 319
Musquash root of the Micmacs, 371
Mustard seed, 437
Muscovado sugar, cost of producing, 189
_Mucuna pruriens_, 625
_utilis_, 304
_Muchowa_ oil, 511
_Musa textilis_, 321
Mustard oil, 510, 511
seed, 509, 535
Munjeet, 449
_Munjestha_, 484
_Muracuja ocellata_, a narcotic, 489
_Myrica cerifera_, 494, 540
_macrocarpa_, 542
_Myrtus carophyllata_, 284
_Pimenta_, 430
_Myristica_, varieties of the tree, 401
_sebifera_, 512
Myrobolans, 506
Myrtle wax, 540
Mysore, production of coffee in, 41
_Napoota_ oil, 620
_Nauclea Gambir_, 496
Namur oil, 572
Natal Agricultural Society, its endeavours to promote sugar cultivation, 139
indigo culture in, 463
sugar culture in, 186
_Narthex asafoetida_, 633
_Nelumbium_, seed of, as food, 378
_speciosum_, the source of Chinese arrowroot, 352
New South Wales, suited for madder, 482
tobacco culture in, 621
Negrohead tobacco, 601
New Orleans, capabilities for rice culture, 287
exports of castor oil from, 545
_Nerium_, 453
_oleander_, 495
Neem tree oil, 511, 537
Nicaragua wood, 445, 447
_Nipa fruticana_, 136
Nipah, leaf for thatching, 559
Nicotine, 590
_Nicotium_, species of the plant, 590
Nitrogen, in grain, 307
in the starch plants, 342
234, 310
in the plantain, 323
Nigella, species of, 421
North West Provinces, tea culture in, 117
_Nostoe edulis_, 378
Northern Australia, directions for growing tobacco, 623
Nut oil, price of, 517
Nutgall, tannin in, 492, 495
Nut pine, 377
Nutmeg tree, 401
curing of, 409
wild, 412
_Nux vomica_, 577
_Nyctanthes arbortristes_, 494
_Nymphæa lotus_, starch obtained from, 352
Oats, proportion of oil in, 564
production of in the United Kingdom, 257
imported, 218
Oatmeal, imported 218
Oats and beans, produce of in England, 248
Oak bark, tannin in, 492
Ocas, a tuberous plant, 374
Ocoes or taniers, 331
_Ocymum tuberosum_, 356, 367
Ohio tobacco, statistics of, 598, 600
Oil of aniseed, 438
Oil, proportions of in various crops, 264
obtained from the Cacao seeds 11, 12
Oil of cubebs, 639
of camphor, 634
of cassia, 396
Oil of cloves, 398
of mace, 402
of cinnamon, 389, 390
spikenard, 565
of Ben, 523
cake, 513, 531
mills of India, 535
cakes of the castor seed, 545
cake from coco-nut, 552, 563
coco-nut, 551, 556, 561, 562
from maize, 564
of sandal wood, 565
cake imported, 564
cake, American, 565
Oilcake as a manure, 50
used in China, 313
Oil palm, 525
Oils, burning properties of various, 508
_Oldenlandia umbellata_, 449
Oleaginous plants, 509
_Olea fragrans_, 528
_Europea_, 527
Olives, mode of preserving the fruit, 530
Olive oil, prices of, 531
509, 527
sources of supply, 563
Omen-e-chah, the Indian name for a wild bean, 372
Onions, planted with arrow root, 347
_Ophelia chitrata_, 641
Opium, history and trade of, 580
Orceine, 488
Orchilla weed, 452
weed, imports of, 486
Orchids furnishing salep, 354
an edible species of, 375
roots of some used as food, 377
Orituco cacao, superior quality of, 14
Oryza, varieties of, 284
Orlong, a land measure in the East, equal to 1-1/3 acre, 297
O'Shaughnessy's analysis of Ceylon moss, 380
on opium, 584
Oswego starch factory, 343
Otto of khuskhus, 573
Otaheite cane, 153
Oude, production of indigo in, 464, 475
Oxalic acid, used for vinegar, 312
Oxley (Dr.) on nutmeg culture, 402
Paddy, a name for rice in the husk, 297
Patchouly, 537
Pannam kilingoes, 376
Parchment coffee, 60
_Pao Crava_, one of the spice barks, 384
_Pachyrrhizus angulatus_, 377
Palm oil, imports of, 527
sources of supply, 563
Palm oil, 509, 524
wine, 314
sugar, 136
Palma Christi, 542
Palmetto palm, 495
Palmyra nut, first shoot of, edible, 376
Pan, a masticatory, 577
Pancratium, species of, 625
Pandanus, fruit of eaten as food, 377
_odoratissimus_, 565
Panicum, various species of, 304
_spicatum_, of Roxburgh, 308
_Panax quinquefolium_, 436
_Palos de Velas_, 521
Paper made from plantain fibre, 335
_Papsalum exile_, 310
_Papaver somniferum_, 580
Paraguay tea plant common in Brazil. 130
description of, 133
extent of the trade, 133
Parietinic acid, 488
_Parmenteira cerifera_, 521
Parmelia, species of lichens, 486
a dye-stuff, 488
Peas, analysis of, 264
Peeling coffee, 51, 60
cinnamon, 316
Peligot (Mr.) on the composition of wheat, 230
Pepper, black, 421
pot, a West Indian dish, 369
prices of, 413
duty on, 424
Peppermint oil, 566
Peon, the Spanish term for a laborer, 135
_Persea gratissima_, 444
Perfumed oils, 569
Persian berries, 443
Peas imported, 218
Pessaloo, an Indian name for the _Phaseolus mungo_
Pereira's classification of the cinchonas, 636
Peruvian bark, 635
Pearl sago, 318
of Persia, 316
_Piper angustifolium_, 643
Petty rice, 310
_Pekea_, species of, yielding oil, 512
Pea-nut, 516
Persian tobacco, 615
Phaseolus, varieties of, 312
_Phaseolus Mungo max_, 171
_Phalaris caniesis_, 314
Phlomis, 643
Philippines, cassia brought from, 394
Philippine Islands, sugar cultivation in, 153
production of coffee in, 41
varieties of rice grown in, 302
Philippines, export of indigo from, 476
cigars made in, 620
Phillip's (Dr.) analyses of Guinea corn, 307
_Phyllodadus trichomanoides_, 505
Physic nut, 512, 625
Picul, a Dutch weight of 133-1/3 English pounds, 36
Piddington's (Mr.) analyses of tobacco, 617
Pigeon-pea, 304
Pignons, use of as food, 377
_Pimpinella Anisitm_, 437
Pimento, 430
Pinang, nutmegs in, 412
tea culture attempted, 95
clove culture in, 399, 400
pepper culture in, 425
Piper Betel, 577
_Cubebi_, 639
species of, 421
_Pinus Pinea_, seeds of the cones used for food, 377
Piney tallow, 512
Plantation sugar, imports, 139
Plantado passado, 323
Plantain, dye stuffs obtained from, 444
juice recommended for clarifying sugar, 162
information respecting, 9
starch in, 331
blight, 321
319
leaves, bags made of, 316
meal, 324, 341
Planche, his memoir on the sagos, 315
_Plumeria_, essences of, 524
_Plectranthus graveolens_, 573
Plough used in Brazil, 184
_Polygonum fagopyrum_, 260
_Poa Abyssinica_, 308
Pomegranates, for dyeing, 440
Potash an important element in maize, 267
large quantity in maize, 264
Potatoes, mode of keeping in Peru, 361
average weight per bushel in New Brunswick, 253
composition of, 227
imported, 218
composition of, 264
analysis of varieties, 362
yield per acre, 356
Potato, information respecting, 10
meal, syrup made from, 197
the wild, of North America, 372
starch in, 330
starch, used to adulterate arrowroot, 349
test for detecting, 349
starch, 334, 335, 337, 362
crop of the United States, 361
disease, 358
proposed cure for, 359, 60
crop in Ireland, 358
varieties of, 358
imports of, 359
crop in France, 361
Poisons, 627
_Pomme des Prairies_, of the Canadians, 373
Pounding coffee, 61
Population of Great Britain, &c., 87
of China, 86, 91, 298
Porto Rico, exports of coffee, 77
cost of producing sugar in, 189
production of coffee in, 41
exports of tobacco, 615
Poonac, as manure, 50
549, 552, 561
Pomegranate bark, 493, 495
Poonay oil, 511-13
_Polygonum tinctorium_, 453
_Pongamia glabra_, 521
_Pogostemon patchouly_, 573
Poppy, culture of, 581
oil, used to adulterate olive, 532
509-10-11-18
_Polypodium crassifolium_, used as a perfume, 550
Preserved Plantains, 323
Prices, average of sugar, 145
Prickly poppy, 626
Princeza snuff, 594
Prince of Wales Island, clove culture in, 399
_Prosopis pallida_, 313
Protein compounds, 307, 310, 342
Produce of various plants, 9
Production, average of various plants, 9
Provence oil, 531
Province Wellesley, clove culture in, 400
Prussia, tobacco consumed by, 596
production of beet sugar in, 197-98
Pruning coffee tree, 69
Psoralia, varieties of, 372
_Pteris esculenta_, 380
_Pterocarpus marsupium_, 493
_santalinus_, 445
species of, 507
Pulping mill for coffee, 51
Purging nut, 625
Pulse, culture of, 312
Putchuk or Costus, 438
638
Punjaub, proposed culture of tea in, 101
_Pustulatus_ moss, 486
Qually, an iron vessel for drying sago, 317
Quarree, a Spanish land measure, about 5¾ English acres, 326
Quassia wood, 643
Quas, a fermented Russian beverage, 308
Quercitron, 443
485
_Quercus tinctoria_, 443, 485
_suber_, 504
Quintal, the Spanish cwt., equal to 101¾ lbs. English,
Quinine, imports of, 636
manufacture of, 635
Quillai, bark of, used for soap, 574
Quinoa, 310
species of, 507
Railways, large consumption of oil for, 513
Ramos (Mr.) his dessicating agent for sugar, 140, 162
_Ramalina fufuracea_, 486
Ram-til, 535
Ramsay (Mr. C. J.) on beet sugar manufacture, 200
Ranunculus, properties of, 626
Rape oil, 609
Rape seed, quantity imported, 563
oil, 513
cake, 564
_Raphis fabelliformis_, 314
Red pepper, 429
Sanders wood, 445
Sandal wood, 378
_Reseda lutea_, 452
Revenue from sugar, 143
Rhamnus, varieties of, 442
leaves of, used for tea in China, 105
_Rhizaphora mangle_, 493, 506
Rhubarb, 644
Rhus, species of, 450
_Ricinus communis_, 542
Rial, a Spanish coin worth 6d., 135
Rice starch, 344
imports of, 303
produce per acre, 356
meal for feeding pigs, 383
Rice imported, 218
starch, Jones's process, 303
consumption per head in the East 297
price of in China, 298
time it may be kept, 292
threshing mill for, 288
grown in Demerara, 292
history of, 283
American crop of, 285
returns of produce in Carolina, 291
weight per bushel, 290
_Richardsonia scabra_, 641
Rimu, or red pine, 505
Robertson (Mr.) on the collection of Paraguay tea, 133
Robiquet (E.) analysis of aloes, 629
Rocella dye, 452
species of lichens, 486
Room, an Indian dye stuff, 443
Roucou, a name for arnotto, 447
Rotation of crops, 243
Root crops, 355
prices of in New Brunswick, 254
Rollers, proportionate advantages of those with 3 & 4, 168
Roxburgh on the sugar cane, 179
Roses, cultivation of, 570
_Rottlera tinctoria_, 442
Royle's (Prof.) productive resources of India, 103
_Rubia cordifolia_, 484
_tinctorium_, 478
_Ruellia tuberosa_, 625
Ruellia, a dye stuff, 443
Rupee, an Indian coin worth about, 2s
Russia, production of beet sugar in, 199
consumption of tea in, 92
tea sent to, 87
Rye, analysis of, 258
imported, 218
meal, imported, 218
Sappan wood, 445, 446, 447
Salisbury (Dr.), analysis of maize, 265
Saxony, beet sugar manufacture in, 199
Salt, recommended as a fertiliser, 172
_Santalum album_, 565
Saa-ga-ban root of the Indians, 371
Saga, the Java name for bread, 314
imported, 218
flour, exports of, 318
palms, 314
millet used for, 306
_Saccharum sinensis_ of Roxburgh, 136, 169
_violacum_, 136
Safflower, 450
Salangore sugar cane, an excellent variety, 154
Sandwich Islands, arrowroot made in, 352
Sandbox, seeds of, emetic, 626
tree, 512
Saul tree, wood useful for tea boxes, 114
Sarsaparilla, 645
_Saguerus Rumphii_, 314, 316
_inermis_, 314
_lævis_, 314
_farinifera_, 316
Salep, 354
Samshing, a refuse produce of opium, 585
Sandoway in Arracan produces superior tobacco, 616
Saponaceous plants, 674
Sapindus, varieties of, 574
_Salvadora persica_, 521
_Sapindus marginatus_, 521
Saouari oil, 512
_Sanguinaria canadensis_, 511
Scammony, 642
Scharling's (Dr.) test for adulterated arrowroot, 349
Schomburgk (Sir R.), arrowroot forwarded by, 352
discovers a new tuberous plant, 374
discovers wild plantains, 320
Scotland, produce of grain in, 249
Seed leaf tobacco, 606
wheat in France, 219
Senna, varieties of, 647
Sesame oil, 511, 533
_Setaria italica_, 305
_germanica_, 304
Shanghae oil, 511
Sheet lead, manufacture of for tea cases, 114
_Shorea robusta_, 114, 521
Shier (Dr.), his opinion on cassava starch, 370
analysis of the plantain, 323
on the starch producing plants, 331
Shea butter, 538
Shiraz tobacco, 613
Sicily oil, 531
Siam gamboge, 639
pepper produced in, 422
indigo found wild in, 476
exports of cardamoms, 419
_Sidu lanceolata_, 574
Sugar, obtained from the palm tree, 314
made from millet, 306
_Simaruba amara_, 643
Singapore, produce of gambier in, 501
exports of sago, 318
nutmeg trade of, 413
pepper grown in, 423, 424, 427
nutmeg trees in, 400
produce of mace, 414
extent of clove culture in, 399
Sinapis, species of, yielding oil, 512
Silica, essential for wheat soils, 240
Singhara nuts, 378
Sinde, culture of rice in, 293
Smith (Dr.), his experiments in tea culture in America, 95
Snuff, duty received on, 597
_Sorghum officinarum_, 136
_saccharatum_, 136
_avenaceum_, 307
_vulgare_, 304, 306
Soap, made from coco-nut oil, 559, 562
worts, 575
Soil suited to coffee, 68
for the nutmeg, 403
for cinnamon, analysis of, 384
best suited for wheat, 247
a due consideration and knowledge of, requisite to the planter, 7
suited for tobacco, 586, 587, 607
suited for indigo, 468
Solly (Prof.) on the want of a hand-hook for the cultivator, 1
on barks for tanning, 493
Society of Arts, premiums offered by, 2
Soconusco, the finest cacao, 13
Socotrine aloes, analysis of, 629
_Soja hispida_, 313
Soy, mode of making, 313
Sohrinjee oil, 478, 523
South Australia, tobacco culture in, 624
South Carolina, exports of rice from, 285
Sooranjee, 478, 523
_Spergula sativa_, flour from the seed, 377
_Sphoeroccus crispus_, 379
Spanish moss, 380
tobacco, on the mannagement of, 612
oil, 531
Spices, plants which furnish, 382
Spikenard oil, 572
_Spondius lutea_, 495
_Spergula sativa_, 512
_Stalagmites cambogoides_, 451
_gambogoides_, 63
Star anise, 438
Starch producing plants, 329
Starch contained in various grain crops, 264
made from maize, 265
plants, comparative yield per acre, 339
process of manufacture, 342
large proportion of in rice, 303
proportion of in potatoes, 362
_Statice coriaria_, 444
_Caroliniana_, 494
Stenhouse (Dr.) on the lichens, 490
_Stillingia sebifera_, 512
St. John's bread, 312-13
St. Lucia, cost of cultivating sugar, in, 189
exports of coffee from, 73
shipment of cassava flour, 369
St. Kitt's, cost of cultivating sugar in, 189
St. Domingo, exports of coffee to the United States, 63
St. Vincent, introduction of the clove to, 399
production of arrowroot in, 347
production of coffee in, 41
cost of cultivating sugar in, 189
arrowroot shipped from, 351
Straits settlements, nutmeg culture in, 407
cinnamon culture recommended, 387
Sumbul root, 649
Surat maund, 39¼ lbs., 401
Sumach, 450
tannin in, 495
Sunflower oil, 509-10-36
Sullivan (Mr.) on cost of beet root sugar, 191
Sugar, cost of producing in different countries, 189
Sugar cane, varieties of, 137, 153, 168
mills, relative advantages of different ones, 168
supply, demand and production, 141
plants from which it is obtained, 136, 216
Sugar, information respecting, 10
Sugar maple, 205
Sumatra, production of coffee in, 41
Sumatra, production of pepper in, 422
Sweet cassava, 331
Sweet potato, 330-31-37-65
Swift (Mr.) on the culture of madder, 480
Swamp potato, 373
_Sxygium carophyllæum_, 384
_Sylvanus surinamensis_, 279
Symplocos, varieties of, 442
Tacca plant, species of, 354
Tahiti arrowroot, 354
Talipot palm, furnishes sago, 316
Tallicoonah oil, 518
Tallow tree of China, 512
tree of Java, 511
burning properties of, 509
Tanping, a Chinese oil cake, 312
Tannin of nutgalls, 492
Tannia, 334-35-36-37
Tanahaka bark, 505
Tapioca sago, 315
369
_Tasmannia aromatica_, 421
Taro, 364
Tartareous moss, 486
Taniers, or ocoes, 331
Taurine, Leibig on, 80
Tea, total outlay for by the British public, 86
extent to which the consumption might be pushed, 89
local consumption of in China, 86, 91
tannin in, 495
consumption of, 596
oil, 518
range of prices, 83
consumption of in the British empire, 84
in all other countries, 84
Mr. Montgomery Martin's statistics of, 84
quantity that might be used free of duty, 84
value of the exports from China,
high priced, used in the China market, 85
various Chinese names for, 105
immense trade in, 80
names of the green, 81
black, 81
original cost in China, 85
duty received on, 83
Teel or Til oil, 511, 533
Teff, an African bread, 308
Teinsing, a Chinese vegetable dye, 104
Temperature requisite for various plants, 8, 9
Tempering cane juice, 158
Tenacity of starches, 336
_Terminalia angustifolia_, 494
species of, 506
Terra Japonica, a misnomer, 490
statistics of imports, 502
Teuss, a Chinese legume, 312
oil, 215
Texas, production of sugar in, 147
_Thespesia populnea_, 444
_Thea viridis_, 103, 110
Bohea, 103, 110
Theine, analysis of, 80
Thistle oil, 511, 103, 110, 626
roots as food, 376
Theobromine, 11
_Theobroma_, description of the tree, 11
Tikoor, a local name for Indian arrowroot, 351
Til oil, 511
Tip-sin-ah, a wild prairie turnip of North America, 372
Tinnevelly senna, 648
Ti plant, 355
Tirhoot, production of indigo in, 475
Tobacco, memorial of American Chamber of Commerce, 595
culture of in the East, 615
duty paid on, 594
leaf, Prof. Johnston's analysis, 592
plant, 589
sources of supply, 601
fly, cure for, 607
statistics of American exports, 600
prohibited to be grown in England, 598
method of curing, 605
manufacture increasing in the United States, 599
number of persons engaged in the culture in America, 599
worm, 610
stems, trade in, 598
information respecting, 9
seed oil, 510-18
prices in London, 602
root, a wild edible plant, 376
cost of cultivating sugar in, 189
Tonquin beans, 434
Tous-les-mois, starch of, 330-33-35-37-40
Topinam bar, 365-76
Topping the coffee tree, 68
Towai bark, 505
Toddy, 555
Travers (Mr. J.I.) on consumption of tea, 87
Trinidad, exports of coffee from, 73
indigo in, 460
culture of coffee in, 72
cost of cultivating sugar, 189
_Tropæolum tuberosum_, 536
Tripa, a name for damaged tobacco leaves, 611
_Tripolium alpinum_, 643
Truffle, 381
Tuberous plants, new, recommended, 370
_Tuber cibarium_, 381
Turkey berries, 442
opium, 585
Turmeric, 419, 434, 442
used for coloring tea, 436
Turnips, average weight of crop in New Brunswick, 253
Turpentine, spirits of, 565
Typha bread, 380
Tye, a preparation of opium, 585
_Unearia Gambier_, 496
United States, production of sugar in, 145
supplies of coffee to, 63
imports of tea and value, 92
value of its agricultural produce, 222
former culture of indigo, 461
production of maple sugar in, 215
tea plant introduced, 95
Upland rice, 302
grown in Texas, 285
Ure (Dr.), on arrowroot manufacture, 347
on manioc starch, 368
on tannin in barks, 495
on indigo manufacture, 472
_Urania guianensis_, 444
_Valenaria edulis_, 376
Valonia, 507
Van Diemen's Land, culture of oats in, 258
Vanilla, 431
plant, grows in Brazil, 130
Vara, a Spanish land measure, 9
_Variolaris_, species of lichens, 486
Varzeas, a Portuguese name for low and marshy ground, 183
_Vateria indica_, 512
Vegetable butter, 538
wax, 540
soap, 574
Velvet moss, 486
Venezuela, coffee culture in, 62
_Verbesena sativa_, 535
_Vernonia anthelmentica_, 521
Vinegar, made from millet, 306
Virginian tobacco, statistics of, 598, 600
method of culture, 604
_Virola sebifera_, 401, 512
Voandzou, 371
Voelcker (Dr.), analysis of quinoa, 310
Volatile or essential oils, 565
_Vuelta abajo_, the best class of Cuba tobacco, 613
_arribo_, the inferior kind of ditto, 613
Vulpinic acid, 488
Wabessepin, a wild American potato, 372
Wages paid in the Mauritius, 150
Walnut, oil from, 510
Wangle, oil seed, 533
Watappinee, an Indian edible root, 372
Water, proportion of in different kinds of wheat, 221
quantity in potatoes, 227
for making starch, 341
Wax berries, 546
palm, 541
_Weinmaunia_, bark of, 499
_racemosa_, 505
Weight per bushel of crops in New Brunswick, 253
of coffee per bushel, 47
Wellstead (Lt.) on Socotro aloes, 629
Westring (Dr.) on the Swedish lichens, 489-90
West India ginger, 418
Wheat, weight of, as an index of value, 236
imported, 218
flour do., 218
culture, statistics of, 220
annual produce of, 219
analysis of, by Boussingault, 244
average price of, 249
best soil for, 247
consumption of in England, 248
produce of in England and Wales, 248
information respecting, 10
starch of, 331-35-36-37, 343
composition of the ash of, 241
yield per acre, 240
flour, various analyses of, 237
White pepper, statistics of, 428
Whisky, quantity of maize used for, 271
Wilcockes on Paraguay tea trade, 135
Williams's Middle Kingdom, extract from, 105
_Willoughbeia edulis_, 378
Wilson (Mr. T.) on the cost of producing sugar, 189
Wilson's rice-cleaning machine, 290
Winnowing coffee, 51
machine for tea, 116
Woad, 452
Wood dyes, 449
oil, 511
(Mr.) on indigo culture, Wool manufacture, oil consumed in, 510
Wray's practical sugar planter, 140
_Wrightia tinctoria_, 463
_Xanthoxylum piperitum_, 421
_ochroxylon_, 460
_Xiguilite_, the indigo shrub, 460
_Xylocarpus granatum_, 519
_Xylopia aromatica_, 421
Yam, back, 333, 335, 337-38-39, 362
Yams, varieties of cultivated, 362
Yampah root, 376
Yellow berries, 443
Yerba, Spanish and native name for the Paraguay tea tree, 133
_Yucca amarga_, 331
Yucca, the Peruvian name for cassava, 367, 375
Zamia, arrowroot obtained from, 319, 352
_pumila_, 330
Zanzibar, clove plantations in, 400
_Zea Mays_, description of, 260
_Zingiber officinale_, 414
_Zizania aquatica_, 284
Zones, Meyen's division of, 25
Zollverein, production of beet root sugar in, 198
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom - Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c." ***
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