Vol. VII. Xo. 156. 



THE AGllICULTUKAL NEWS. 



115 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Su?ar Industry in Java. 



A sugur expeif fVoin tliu Dutch East Indies lately 

 visiting Dutcli und British Gni.ma?, g.ivo the Deinerara 

 Daibj Chroviclt' some inteiestiiig i),utieulars in regard 

 to the siigiir industry of Java. 



Tlic great advantage posse-ssed liy Java a.s compared with 

 British GLuaiia lies in the fact lliat tliu 1 )utc]i colony posse.sses 

 a plentiful and cheap labour supply. A lal.ourcr's daily 

 wage in Ja-s'a was stated to be Gc. The jilanter is therefore 

 able to give his land all the cultivation needed, and gets 

 a high return of sugar per acre. This return was mentioned 

 as averaging 4 tons, compared with IT-') tons jicr acie 

 obtained in British Guiana. 



Of late years there has been consiilerable iinialganiation 

 of small estates in Java, and central factories with up-to-date 

 machinery have been largely established. The greater 

 extracting power of this machinery wouhl help to account for 

 the increased return of .sugar as compared with estates 

 employing the nuiscovado process. The average cost of 

 manufacturing sugar in Java is about £6 16.s'. per ton. 



The sugar lands of the Dutch colony are naturally well- 

 drained, and no extensive irrigation schemes have been 

 necessary to ensure a reliable water supply. On the clay 

 lands hand labour only is employed, but ploughs are utilized 

 on the lighter soils. 



Itatooning canes i.s not practi.sed on any estate in Java. 

 No doubt the successful results of the campaign against the 

 root di.sease of the sugar-cane in the ishmd are largely due to 

 this fact. This colony, it may be mentioned, was the place 

 from which the disease was first reported, in 1S95, but at 

 present it is .stated to be difficult to find a specimen of the 

 fungus MavKsinius sacc/iari in the island. Every crop of 

 sugar-cane is entirely replanted with fi-esh cuttings. 



Another feature of cane cultivation in Java is that the 

 crop is not cultivated continuously on the same land without 

 intermission. Two crop.s of rice are grown on the land alter 

 the removal of the sugar crop, before it is again planted with 

 canes. 



The sugar growers and owners of factories, it appears, 

 seldom own the land, but rent it from the native jiroprietors 

 at about 36.f. per acre per annum. TJiere is no cane-farming 

 industry, the planters growing all the canes worked up by 

 them at the factory. 



The aid of the chemist and botanist has been largely 

 called in to the assi-stance of the Java sugar industry, and an 

 extensive series of seedling and manurial experiments is in 

 progress at the three Experiment Stations of the island. The 

 cost of these station.s, it was mentioned, is entirely borne by 

 the planters themselves, no assistance being given by the 

 Government. Ilecognizing the influence of local conditions, 

 and the fact that I'esults obtained on one estate may be 

 considerably mcidified on another in the same neighbourhood, 

 owners of some of the larger estates have begun to carry out 

 experiments of their own. 



The cultivation of seedling canes in Java has progressed 

 so far that at iiresent about oO per cent, of the total area 

 under sugar cultivation is planted with these new varieties. 



Formerly the United States took the great bulk of the 

 sagar produced in Java, but the exports to New York have 

 latterly decreased, and now no more than one-third of the 

 output (1.011,546 tons in 1906-7) goes to America. A still 

 further decrease in the shipments is expected. The chief 

 markets now open to the Java sugar producer are those 



of Jajian and British India. Japan purchases a large 

 amount of raw sugar for refining imrposes, while British 

 India requires a pure white sugar which needs no refining. 

 The i)rospects of Java on the latter market are good. Some- 

 315,000 tons of raw sugar were also in 1905-6 exported to 

 Hong-Kong, where there exists a ver}- large sugar-refining 

 industry. 



Beet Sugar Industry of the United States. 



The i)articn]ars relating to the ];)ro(laetioi) of beet 

 sugar in the United States which were given in the 

 Liiaisiana Planter {Fchrnwry 21, 1908) would indicate 

 that if the present rate of development of this industry 

 is continued, the United States will in a comparatively 

 short iitinibor of years, be entirely independent of all 

 outside countries for its sugar supply. Referring to 

 this development, the Planter expresses the opinion 

 that in no other branch of arrriculture has the enconra2e- 

 ment and assistance of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture been attended with more strikingly 

 beneficial results than in connexion with the beet sugar 

 industry. 



The jjrospect thus indicated to the West Indian 

 sugar-producing colonies of a continuously declining 

 market for their product in the States should be an 

 additional incentive to them seriously to consider the 

 question of closer conmiercial intercourse with the 

 Dominion of Canada, the chief country in which the 

 West Indies and British Guiana are likely to find 

 customers for their cane jjroducts in the future. 



The a'verage annual jjroduction of beet sugar in the 

 rnited States up to 1887 was no more than 560 short tons 

 (of l\000 lb.). In 1891, the production had Hdvanced to 6,000 

 tons. In the following year, this quantity had more than 

 doubled, the output reaching 13,450 tons. The production 

 of beet sugar in 1893 was 22,344 tons, while by 1897, it had 

 reached 45,246 tons. Two years after this date, the crop 

 produced was 81,729 tons, while by 1901, the annual output 

 had again more than doubled, amounting tn 184,606 tons. 

 In 1903, the year's crop was 240,604 tons ; in 1906, it was 

 483,000 ton.s, while in 1907, the output of beet sugar totalled 

 500,000 .short tons. 



The total amount of sugar imported into the United 

 States in 1906 amounted to 1,989,665 short tons, so that it 

 \\ ill be seen that the present home production of beet sugar 

 now reaches rather more than one quarter of the total sugar 

 imports. 



The tendency of the United States market as regards 

 sugar from the West Indies and British Guiana may be 

 judged from a glance at the shipments of recent years. la 

 1898 the quantity of sugar exported from the.se colonies ta 

 the States was 185,274 tons (of 2,000 lb. each). Five years 

 later America received from the West Indies and British 

 Guiana, sugar to the quantity of 182,142 tons. In the 

 following year (1904), however, the same colonies were 

 miable to find a market in the States for more than 69,572 

 tons. A .slightly less (]uantity, 68,284 tons, was shipped in 

 1905, whilem 1906 the .shipments fell to 44,148 ton.s. 



In the face of the above figures, it is encouraging for 

 sugar producers in these colonies to note that whereas the 

 total exports of sugar to Canada from the West Indies and 

 British Guiana were, in 1900, no more than 6,496 short 

 tons, they had advanced to 125,776 tons in 1905. 



