BRAZIL
Brazil is the largest political division of South America. Its area is 3,270,000 square miles, or slightly greater than that of the United States, excluding Alaska. From Cape Orange, in 4 degrees 21 minutes north latitude, it extends 2629 miles southward to the river Chuy, in 33 degrees 45 minutes south latitude, and from Olinda 2691 miles west to the Peruvian border, between 34 degrees 50 minutes and 73 degrees 50 minutes west longitude. According to the latest census returns at hand, the population numbers 20,515,000.
Speaking generally, Brazil is a tropical country with sub-tropical and temperate regions in the south and in a large part of the high central plateau. The sugar-producing states are Maranhão, Rio Grande do Norte, Parahyba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Sergipe, Bahia, Minas Geraes, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. The plantations themselves lie between 4 degrees and 21 degrees south latitude, and being swept by the moisture-laden eastern trade winds, they receive a fair amount of rain during the wet season, that is, from January to May.
Traces of a vanished civilization had already given rise to the belief that the history of Brazil, like that of Mexico and Peru, extended far into remote ages, when, in 1845, the discovery in the interior of the country of the ruins of a large and very ancient city, with magnificent buildings bearing inscriptions in unknown characters, confirmed this opinion.
Nevertheless, the known history of Brazil dates only from the end of the fifteenth century. It was discovered in February, 1499, by Vicente Yañez Pinzon, a companion of Columbus. The following year it was annexed to Portugal by Pedro AlvaresCabral, but the new territory received little attention from the Portuguese monarchs until 1531, when an attempt at colonization was made. Shortly afterward a sugar mill was erected in São Vicente Piratininga, now São Paulo, and as the soil and climate of that part of the country were well adapted to cane culture, the industry grew and other factories were built. In 1580 there were 120 mills, the greater number being in Bahia and Pernambuco. That same year Philip II of Spain usurped the crown of Portugal, and Brazil, with the rest of the Portuguese possessions, came under Spanish rule. Under the new régime she was exposed to attack by powerful foes. Dutch forces occupied Bahia in 1624, only to be expelled by the Spaniards a year later; in 1629, however, they obtained a foothold in Pernambuco. They took Olinda and its port, but were unable to extend their influence beyond the borders of the town until the arrival of the newly appointed governor, Count John Maurice of Nassau-Siegen, in 1636. This able executive carried the Dutch dominion along the coast from the mouth of the São Francisco to Maranhão, and an expedition sent out by him captured Angola and São Thomé on the west African coast, thus securing a supply of negro slaves, while depriving the enemy of them. He did much to build up the sugar industry, so severely crippled by the war, and when in 1644 he resigned his post, the importance of Brazil as a sugar-producing country had been re-established. The Portuguese threw off the yoke of Spain in 1640 and immediately set about to retake their former colony, Brazil. After years of fighting, the Dutch were finally overcome and in 1655 a government decree drove them from the country. This banishment deprived Brazil of the Dutch sugar planters, with their slaves, their capital, their practical knowledge and skill. From the time of their exodus the Brazilian sugar industry began to decline. The greater number of these refugees established themselves in the West Indies,where they again engaged in sugar planting with marked success.
Brazil became an independent power in 1825 as an empire, with Dom Pedro I, son of the Portuguese king, on the throne. This monarch abdicated in 1831 in favor of the five-year-old heir apparent, who took the name of Dom Pedro II and reigned until 1889, when the empire gave way to a republic. The wars carried on by Brazil against her neighbors between 1851 and 1870 brought her provinces into touch with each other, as well as with the outside world.
In 1826 she pledged herself to Great Britain that, beginning with 1830, she would suppress the traffic in African negro slaves. This promise, however, she failed to keep, so the British parliament passed an act directing the seizure of all slave ships found in Brazilian waters. In every instance the slaves were liberated and the slave dealers brought before British tribunals. Complete suppression of the importation of slaves was the result. In 1871 children born of slave parents were declared free by law, and the movement in favor of emancipation continued until 1888, when slavery was entirely abolished without any indemnity to the slave owners.
The long reign of Dom Pedro II was marked by progress and prosperity. The emperor had the best interests of his people always at heart and concerned himself more with economic development than with political activities. Broad and liberal in his views, he made no attempt to prevent the spread of socialistic doctrines, which, about the year 1880, began to seriously affect the thought of the educated classes. The feeling of unrest and the desire for change engendered in this way culminated in the military conspiracy of 1889, and, as was only natural, the former slave owners, smarting under their losses, took sides against the emperor. The monarchy fell and was replaced by a republican form of government, which, despiteseveral attempts to restore the empire, has endured to the present day.
In the sugar-growing regions of the north and center methods of cultivation do not show much improvement over the practice of early times. Cane is planted in holes about nine inches deep and five feet apart, no fertilizer being used. Some five weeks later the soil is turned up and after fifteen months’ growth the cane matures. In São Paulo, however, the planters work on more scientific lines, and ploughing, furrowing, tilling, fertilizing and weeding are done in a thorough manner. The crop depends upon rainfall entirely, and in a normal season ripens in from fourteen to sixteen months. As soon as the cane is cut the dry cane leaves are burned and ploughing begins. The plough passes close enough to the cane roots to tear them more or less, thus helping the new growth. Shortly after the new cane shoots appear, the ground is spaded up or ploughed, just as in the case of plant cane. Ratoons ripen in twelve or fourteen months, and as a rule four to six ratoon crops are grown before replanting is done.
The yield of cane varies with the rainfall and the richness of the soil, and ranges from 20 to 30 tons per acre for first ratoons, diminishing with succeeding crops. The sugar content frequently reaches 18 per cent.
Cane is grown either by colonos or by indentured laborers. In the colono system a tract of land from 9 to 36 acres in size and planted to cane is assigned by the estate to a group of colonos according to their number. The colonos care for the cane during its period of growth and harvest it when ripe. For this they receive the equivalent of $12.50 American gold per acre. Assuming that the yield per acre is 20 tons, the cost to the owner of the estate of cultivating and harvesting a ton of cane is 62½ cents. The colono is given pasture land for his cattle, fuel and house rent free.
The indentured laborers are allotted a certain amount of untilled ground, which they prepare, plant and cultivate. Seed cane, houses and pasturage are furnished gratis, and when the cane is ripe they harvest it. The amount paid the indentured laborers for cane raised in this way fluctuates according to the market value of sugar. For example, in São Paulo when the price of sugar is $4.41 gold per hundredweight, the laborer gets $2.23 per ton for his cane; when the price exceeds $4.41 and is less than $5.90 per hundredweight, he receives $2.55 per ton; when sugar sells between $5.90 and $8.60 per hundredweight, his share is $3.18 per ton; should the price go over $8.60, he gets $3.82 per ton.
The practice in Bahia is somewhat different. Taking as a basis a price of $2.939 gold per hundredweight for sugar, the cane brings $1.646 per long ton, and for every .147 cent (⅐ cent) per pound fluctuation in the price of sugar, the value of cane changes 9.88 cents per ton up or down as the case may be.[75]
In the small factories the methods of manufacture are very old-fashioned. The cane is crushed between rolls of hard wood, and the juice, after being strained to remove the suspended impurities, is boiled to grain in copper kettles. The magma is then run into large wooden moulds having cone-shaped, perforated bottoms. The holes in the bottom of these moulds are closed when the hot massecuite is dumped in, but as soon as it cools the plugs are taken out and the molasses allowed to drain off. A layer of very wet clay is then spread over the top of the sugar, and as the water slowly drains from the clay it passes through the sugar crystals, carrying the mother liquor with it. After this washing process has gone on for some time, the sugar is removed from the moulds, and the upper portion is found to be white, or nearly so, while underneath the color deepens into yellow and from that to brown as the bottom is reached. The sugarsare carefully separated according to their color, then dried and packed in bags containing 60 kilograms or about 132 pounds each.
SUGAR PLANTATION BETWEEN RIO DE JANEIRO AND SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL
SUGAR PLANTATION BETWEEN RIO DE JANEIRO AND SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL
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:
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 rawsugar. 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, orterzira, 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.
Brazil’s sugar exports grow less and less. The United States no longer depends upon her for supplies, so that the outlook for the industry in Brazil is not bright at the present time. Modern refining methods are not regarded with favor by the people and any considerable extension in production seems remote.
PRODUCTION IN BRAZIL