The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1865-09-23
PREAMBLE.
By Dr. f.. / q cry.

HAVING Sought UUElIE the last TWO years 10
render an exact account of the different mOdInca-
tiJns that cane juice undergoes in the process Of
extraction. such a. Is prLcticed IN this colony, We
have been insensibly led 70 extend our studies to
the plant itself, and have little by little touched
all the questions belonging 70 is history. We
propose in a rapid expose to reproduce at first,
the notes we have collected upon points worthy
20 fix more particularly the attention of the
planter but, before making known the results
of our observations, some words relating 10 the
first development OF the sugar Industry here, will
nos, perhaps, be out Of place.
Originally from that region now designated
under the name OF indC-China, the sugar cane
was derived and wac there exclusively cultivated
from the remOtest antiquity up 70 the middle Of
TIE 18th century. at which epoch, merchants car
ryins on commerce with Asia, penetrated the
countries beyond the Ganges, from whence they
obtained this precious plant, and since then, they
were not tardy In p~ropagating 1t in Arabia,
Syria and Egypt. 1t was introduced at Cyprus
q. and Sicily at tie close Of the following century,
from there it spread soon to Madeira and the
CsnaTies. and became later in Spain and the
south Of France, a EavOrite object Of culture.
Imported 10 St. Thomas and st. Domingo since
the commencement Of the 10th century, it devel-
oped itself there rapidly and produced such
results that a considerable number of sugar mills
were established in these colonies in a few years.
II was nearly two and half centuries after
these first successful attempts, that Is to say to-
wards the year 1850, that il was for the first
tAhAC lbNO 4Ah 1AC tALoA VI
the plant, az first limited 10 few estates, under
taken upon i mall scale. made but little progress
and remained a long time nearly stationary.
But sixty years later, this culture, better under
stood, made great progress, and was substituted
little by little for those industries previously
praeticed. 1t now constitutes the most sure and
effective resource of all the great estates, where
alone its culture is followed.
Ii is generally believed that the first cane plant
ed in this colony is that commonly known as
grHyfe md which IL iudipeunuS 70 all the islands
Of the Pacific Ocean. This cane, one of the
most juicy and rich in saccharine matter that Is
known. formed for n long period, the greater part
used on the plantations ut different locates on
AIauritius, but the disease of which it was smit-
ten for twenty years necessitated Il considerable
restriction in its use.
Numerous varieties of cane were afterwards
introduced into this island, they have been Guilt
vated and Prorasated with care, but they have
not all equally succeeded. The most productive
having been renewed without interruption, are
now those threatened with deterioration by which
certain plantations have already so largely suffer-
ed Among the dozen varieties of canes which
were introduced at different epOchs and entered
more or less into the culture of the country, we
snail speak here only of six, because they are
now most widely spread, and because they are
exclusively the object of our researches. They
are
1st. The white cane of Tahiti;
I'd. The BambOu or Batayian cane;
Sd. The Guinghan or Ribbon Violet;
4th. The BellOuguet or Java Violet:
5th. The Penang;
9th. The Diard, with which the white Bellou-
guet is generally cOnfsunded-
Before the culture of this plant took the extent
1t mas reached in late years, and before II had be-
come the principal, if not unique. source of pro-
duct Of this colony. it developed itself with mar
velOus rapidity and without the aid of manure.
formed on the surface of n rich virgin soil, into
which the roots deeply penetrated, a tangled
bed or mass from five 70 six feet in thickness.
But the imperfect means employed TO manufac-
ture 1t did not extract from those luxuriant crops
a. much profit as they seemed 20 offer the plant
ers. 1t is proper TO ascribe it To the method
then in practice, Il method borrowed from the
Arabs, and scarcely modified up TO the end of the
last century, and underwent no real ameliOra-
tiOns until latent steam and cooperating appara-
tus enabled them TO obtain nearly the same quail
iy of sugar, whatever be the climate or soil that
produced the canes. TO speak only of what
took place in this colony, we Go know, for exam
pie, that the planters, placed upon the sea-shOre,
had for a long time, thanks 20 the nature of the
land and cliInGcteric conditions of that locality,
the privilege to manufacture easily a sugar of
beautiful appearance. whilst those situated in tire
more elevated and moist parts of the island, not
withsrtnding .hcir more intelligent efforts and
more Oft repeated attempts, never succeeded in
extracting from their canes, the same quantity or
quality Of sugar. We shall see as we proceed
the causes which presided in a manner so deeply
disturbing and even yet remain insuticieDtly ex-
planned.
The advantages we have derived from a manu-
facture better understood and directed have been
however diminished by the inconvenience in
separable from n too great extension given upon
the same soil and with the anne process of Gull
tCre. L do not desire TO agitate that question
here whose importance is too great TO be treated
In an Incidental manner, L simply wish to call
attention 10 L fact that ought not TO be left out
IN considering certain notifications attributed to
cane juice. Indeed, | must seek further to ascer-
tain whether the changes and diseases alluded to
as belonging especially TO cane, developing in
this plant and in modifying more or less its
organization and appearance, act equally upon
the nature and proportions of the different sub
stances of which the juice is formed.
The sugar industry of the colonies have suffer
ed, and still do suffer reproach (given with a sort
of delight.) because it Is left To the guidance OF
blind practice, and disdains the improvements
that science would not be slow TO introduce in
the various processes of extraction, and because
the planters. who are -uled by an old routine of
pTecOnceIyed ideas, might acquire n more perfect
knowledge of the first principles of the business
they carry on, were they TO profit by the example
offered them by a rival industry in Europe, whose
intelligent efforts are crowned with the complet-
ct success. In Il general manner these reproaches
are unjust and can proceed only from an inexact
appreciation of the practice IN the colonies. If
10 was said with reason, that for nearly thirty
years more than two-thirds of the sugar con-
tanned IN the cane escaped ON account of the i'm
perfect methods then employed, can we not reply
now with as much certainty that six-tenths Of
the sugar is easily obtained by mills now in use,
thanks To progress realized and of which the ini-
tiative has not always been a stranger to colonial
industry. This progress however resides only in
the perfection and radical notifications the
svaporating dPpdratuSes have undergone. which
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