SUGAR PLANTATION BETWEEN RIO DE JANEIRO AND SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL
It will readily be seen that the loss in extraction by such means is very great. In fact, from cane having a sugar content of 15 per cent, sometimes not more than between 5 per cent and 6 per cent of sugar is recovered. The best results are naturally obtained in the large factories, or usines, but even there, owing to poor crushing, 9 per cent of the weight of the cane in sugar is considered satisfactory.
In the usines the juices are treated with sulphur and neutralized with lime. They are then allowed to settle, after which they are boiled to grain and the crystals separated from the mother liquor in centrifugal machines. The sugar is dried and the remaining liquor is returned to the pans for reboiling.
The various grades produced are:
| Cristaes blancos | (white washed sugar) |
| Cristaes amarellos | (first yellow, termed Demerara) |
| Mascavinhos | (second yellow, fine grain) |
| Mascavos | (dark brown sugar, final product) |
The greater portion of the sugars made in Brazil is refined, but a certain amount goes directly into consumption in its raw state. Refining on a large scale according to European methods has been tried at various times, but, owing to the high cost of labor, fuel and transportation, all these attempts have proved unsuccessful. Then again, the demand for sugar prepared in the European way is not great, the Brazilians preferring the moist fine-grained sugar made in the small refineries. This sugar has a molasses taste, polarizes about 91 degrees and carries about 2 per cent of glucose. In manufacturing the white grade, a liquor of 31 degrees Baumé[76] is first made from raw sugar. This is clarified with ox-blood and filtered through bone-char, after which the clear liquor is boiled at a temperature of 266 degrees Fahrenheit over an open fire until only about 4 per cent of water remains. It is then removed from the fire, a small quantity of dry granulated sugar is added and the mass is stirred with a wooden paddle. Cool, dry, fine-grained sugar is the result. The yellow grade, or terzira, as it is called, is made in exactly the same manner, except that no clarifying or filtering is done. The rich molasses odor and taste of this sugar please the popular palate to such an extent that it commands a higher price than white granulated sugar refined by the most modern processes. In fact nearly 75 per cent of the sugar consumed in Rio de Janeiro is terzira. Its manufacture does not require expensive equipment or any great amount of technical skill, hence it appeals to the native merchants and confectioners.
Recently the government has put forth some effort to encourage and improve the sugar industry, but so far without much success. A law was passed in 1875 guaranteeing a return of 7 per cent upon the money expended in constructing central factories, a given number being allowed each state. This act was modified some years later and the rate of interest reduced to 6 per cent, but as the refunding period was longer it met with more favor than the first and a number of concessions were granted. In 1889 the state of Pernambuco appropriated a sum equal to $135,000.00 gold to be divided among forty factories, with the understanding that repayment was to be begun after the harvesting of the third crop and extended over a period of twenty years. All this legislation had no definite result.
A few years ago, a combination of the producers was formed for the purpose of maintaining a high price for domestic sugar by setting aside a certain fixed amount for export. At first this was 20 per cent, but it was afterward increased to 40 per cent. The plan, however, was ineffectual. A heavy import duty (about 5.86 cents per pound) prohibits the bringing in of foreign sugars, so that Brazil must provide for her requirements within her own borders.
Accurate information concerning production, distribution and prices is hard to obtain. Bad transportation facilities, diversity of customs regulations between the states, and the vast number of small producers who sell to the consumer direct, make the compilation of dependable data almost an impossibility. The statistics that are submitted, therefore, are approximative.