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The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom by P. L. Simmonds

P >> P. L. Simmonds >> The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom




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 L3 L60 0 0
1 Plough 7 10 0
1 set Harrows 7 10 0
Yokes, Trektows, Reins, &c. 5 0 0
----------
L80 0 0

Then the expenses per month will be:--

Ploughman's wages L2 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
---------
L6 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. L28 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
----------
L239 10 0

or L12 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 L13 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 L6 10s.
per ton, and worth on the spot, according to advices received from
England and the Cape, L15 per ton, at the lowest estimate, or L600.

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 L30 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
L s. d. | L s. d.
|
LAND, per acre, L3 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, L6 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 | L3 each 36 0 0
lbs., L30 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, L3 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 |
|
L. s. d. | L. s. d.
PROVISIONS, &c. Beef, | PROVISIONS, &c. Beef,
per lb. 6d. to 0 0 8 | per lb., 11/2d. to 0 0 21/2
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 |L6 60 0 0 | |
Cattle Manure, 10 loads| | 1s. 0 10 0 |
Live Stock, 10 mules. |L30 300 0 0 |L15. 150 0 0 | 150 0 0
---- 10 oxen |L12 120 0 0 | L3. 30 0 0 | 90 0 0
Two drivers per mouth | L1 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 | L4 40 0 0 |L4. 40 0 0 |
Beef, 100 lbs. |at 6d. 2 10 0 |11/2d. 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 |
| | |
---------------------------------------------------------------------
| L897 8 4 | L288 0 3 | L554 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 L7 5s. per ton.
Calculating the yield of the root to be 71/2 lbs. to every 100 lbs., for
26 tons the yield would be nearly 2 tons of sugar, which would give
about L9 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 L16 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 L16 17s. to L19 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 41/2 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 41/2 per cent. of sugar, which has been extracted from the
juice, the rest being water.

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