Vol. XVII. No. 418. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



133 



The following were the results in kilograms per row of 

 100 metres of the crop reaped on August 15 of the following 

 year: — 



Selected 662 8 



Unselected 547-7 



Here again is shown the same increase of yield of the 

 selected over the unselected cane— just a little over 20 

 percent. This represems pure profit to the planter, as he 

 would have spent the same amount in cultivating an acre of 

 the unselected cane as of the selected. 



The results of these experiments appear very striking. 

 They seem to indicate that a more systematic selection of 

 cane cuttings is highly profitable, and it must always be 

 remembered that canes rejected for planting purposes do not 

 represent a total loss, as they can always be sent to the mill 

 for grinding. 



PALMS AS A COMMERCIAL SOURCE 

 OF SUGAR 



An interesting paper on the above subject, much of 

 which we reproduce below, by H. E. Annett, B.Sc, F.I.C., 

 F.C S-, Agricultural Chemist to the Government of Bengal, 

 is published in the Transactions of the Third International 

 Congress of Tropical Agriculture. 



It is not generally known that the world's production 

 of palm sugar is about 500,000 tons annually. Most of this 

 is produced in India, but a proportion is also produced in the 

 Philippine Islands and in the Dutch East Indies. 



It is known that a large number of palms produce 

 sugar. Among them the following have been recommended 

 for sugar production on a commercial scale: — 



The wild date palm (F/uriiix sylvestris), by far the 

 commonest sugar producer among the palms in India. 



The fan or toddy palm {Borassus flabelliformis), grown 

 for the production of sugar in Madras and Burma. 



The coco-nut palm (C^w.f «/^t7/tva), also fairly largely 

 used in INIadras for the same purpose. 



The Nipa palm {Nipa fruticaus), from which the palm 

 sugar of the Philippine Islands is chiefly obtained. This is 

 a swamp palm, growing almost up to its crown in water in 

 marshy places by the sea. 



Carxota uretn is also used for the production of sugar 

 to a small extent in Madras; it has been credited with 

 enormous sugar yields on the Malabar coast. 



Are-oga saccluiriftra appears to be commonly used for 

 sugar production in the Dutch East Indies. 



The sugary juice is obtained from the young inflores- 

 cence in the case of the above palms, with the exception of 

 the wild date palm, the stem of which is tapped just 

 below the crown of the leaves. 



The Nipa palm contains 16 to 17 grammes of cane sugar 

 per 100 c.c. of juice, while the wild date palm only contains 

 10 to 12 gramrnes of cane sugar in the same amount of juice. 

 The toddy palm juice contains about 14 to 16 grammes of cane 

 sugar per 100 c c. Investigations carried out during the palm 

 sugar season in Jessore district, P.engal, show that even 

 by the crude methods practised there, an average of about 

 221b. of raw sugar is obtained per tree during the season 

 in the case of the wild date palm. Pveckoning 350 trees 

 per acre, which is a fair estimate, this would yield 

 3-6 tons' of raw sugar per acre. The yield of sugar 

 from the toddy palm would probably considerably surpass 

 the yields from the wild date palm, while figures given 



from the Philippines seem to indicate very large yields- 

 of sugar from the Nipa palm. 



The following are the advantages which Mr. Annett 

 claims that palms offer as a source of sugar supply: — 



(1) The certainty of the yield year after year. There 

 need no fears be entertained of drought or of flood. Both 

 of these occurrences have practically no effect on the yield 

 of a palm plantation. 



(2) The small annual cost of the upkeep of a plantation. 



(3) No capital needs to be invested in crushing 

 machinery, which is such a large item in sut;ar-cane factories. 



(4) Owing to the tact that different palms yield sugar at 

 different seasons of the year, it might be possible by combining 

 the cultivation of the wild date palm with the toddy palm, 

 practically to produce sugar almost all the year round. 



(5) The juice of the palms is easily treated in a factory. 

 It would require much less defecation than cane or beet 

 juice. Owing to the alkaline reaction of the juice to 

 litmus, even liming would be unnecessary. 



(6) It would seem possible by better cultivation and 

 plant selection largely to increase the yield per acre, and 

 thus obtain more sugar per acre than even from sugarcane. 



On the other hand, the following are the disadvantages 

 of palms as a commercial source of sugar: — • 



(1) Lack of fuel. — In the cane sugar industry the 

 megass which is obtained after extracting the juice from the 

 cane supplies sufficient fuel for the needs of the factory. 

 There is no such fuel in the case of palm trees. 



(2) Time of establishment of plantation.— A period of 

 six years elapse.s from the time of seed planting until the trees^ 

 can be tapped for sugar. During this time, however, certain 

 crops such as peas may be grown on the land. And further, 

 when once established, the plantation needs very little annual 

 upkeep, and each tree, in the case of the wild date palm at 

 least, will go on yielding for twenty-five years. 



(3) Difficulty of collecting the juice.— At present this 

 would seem to be one of the chief drawbacks, but it 

 might be possible to develop a system of pipe lines from 

 the fields to the factory. 



(4) The concentration of the sugar in the juice. — In the 

 case of the wild date palm, with only 10 to 12 grammes of 

 sugar per 100 c.c. of juice, the work of evaporation would 

 be very much more tedious than in the case of cane juice. 

 The Nipa palm, and perhaps others, would be better than 

 the date palm in this respect. 



The writer of the paper referred to comes to the 

 conclusion that, since it is probable that much higher yields 

 of sugar per acre could be obtained from palms than from 

 sugar-cane, the advantages of palms as a source of sugar 

 seem to outweigh the disadvantages. 



He mentions that a small factory in the Jessore district, 

 working on palm juice, has produced some very high quality 

 white sugars from the juice. These sugars found a ready 

 sale locally. No special treatment of any kind was used 

 during the process of manufacture. After a small amount 

 of preliminary heating, the juice was concentrated in 

 a vacuum pan. 



He suggests that a factory dealing with palm juice 

 would be best run in conjunction with a distillery, so as not 

 to he dependent on a fluctuating market for the sale of its 

 molasses. 



We would add that under West Indian conditions there 

 appears to be another great disadvantage in palm plantations. 

 A hurricane, which damages the sugarcane fields consi^i- 

 erably, only destroy.s th;' growth of a year, whereas in the 

 case of palms it might completely destroy what it would 

 take six years to restore. 



