f March.

The entire crop is all ready for export by the end of April, although
the market is seldom cleared of it till the January of the ensuing
year, when the sugar clayers being anxious to close their accounts
of the past crop, and wind up all that remains in their camarines,
in order to be ready for the new season's operations, are sometimes
willing to make a reduction in the nominal price of the day, in order
to effect that purpose. But as the grain of sugar does not improve
by keeping, especially when it has to stand the moistness of the
atmosphere during the preceding wet season, such sugar, if bought at
that time, is seldom equal in grain to the produce of the new crop,
although its colour may be preferable.

Pangasinan sugar is of a beautiful white colour, but with a very
inferior grain: it loses much in the sun-dryings, and is generally,
I believe, mixed with the clayed Pampanga sugar, to give the latter
a colour, although all the dealers deny doing it themselves, but are
ready enough to believe, if told that their neighbours are in the
habit of mixing both Cebu and it, in their pilones,--the first for
the sake of cheapness, and the other for a colour. Pampanga sugar is
of a brownish tinge, and when of good quality, of a strong grain. It
possesses a very much greater quantity of saccharine matter than any
other description of sugar I am acquainted with, and is consequently
a favourite of the refiners at home and in Sweden. Taal and Cebu
descriptions are never clayed separately, although, as before
mentioned, the latter, on account of its cheapness, is occasionally
mixed with Pampanga for claying.

They are principally in demand for the Australian colonies, where Taal
is generally preferred to Cebu (or Zebu), from its possessing more
saccharine matter than the latter. Taal is generally so moist that
it always loses considerably in weight, sometimes to the extent of
about 10 per cent., and even more;--it is a strong sweet sugar. Cebu
seldom loses so much as Taal, generally not more than 3 per cent. on
a voyage of about two months' duration.

All sugar is sold to the export merchants by the pecul of 140
lbs. English, and it is either paid for at the time of its delivery,
or if a contract is made for a large quantity with a clayer, or other
dealer, it is often necessary to advance a portion of the price to
enable him to execute the order, and the merchants often do this long
before a pecul of sugar is receiv