Vol. VIII. Xo. 185. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



h;.{ 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Sugar-cane Cultivation in Natal. 

 Cane cultivation is prospering in many parts of 

 Natal, and there appears to be little doubt that sugar 

 production will soon develop into an important addition 

 to Soiiih African industries. While in 1905-6, the 

 (Uitput of cane sugar in Natal was 26.003 tons, it 

 increased to ."U.OOO tons in l!)06-7, and in 1907-.S 

 reached 40,000 tons. The entire coast district of the 

 colony is stated to be suited to cane culture, as the soil is 

 fertile, and the rainfall sufKcient. An article on the 

 subject of cane cultivation appeared in the Abated Agrl- 

 cultural Journal of Deceiiiber last It should be 

 stated that the ' Uba ' cane to which reference is made 

 below, has been e.Ktensively tried in some of the West 

 Indian islands, and found to be undesirable. 



Many varieties of cane liave at ditt'erent times been 

 grown in Natal. These include the Bourbon cane, and 

 -several kinds from Mauritius, and Queensland. At present, 

 however, a variety known as the ' Uba, ' which is su[ppose(l 

 to have originally come from India, is grown alinnst exchi- 

 sively. 



The ' Uba ' has been described as a deep-rooted, green, 

 woody cane of great vitality. From ;i milling point ot" view 

 tliis cane is undesirable ; it is thin, tough, wiry, and fibrous. 

 Mill managers say that from 10 to 30 per cent, more power 

 is required in crushing this cane than for any other variety. 

 But planters like it, .since it is hardy, bears drought well, 

 and ratoons readily. 



Some years ago a few seedling varieties of cane were 

 introduced into Natal from the West Indies and British 

 Guiana. These included canes B.109, D.9.5, and B.15. 

 From the comparative results of analysis quoted, liowever, 

 the seedlings do not appear to give so satisfactory a percentage 

 of saccharo.se as the standard 'Uba.' While the latter 

 showed an average percentage of .saccharose equal to IS-OI, 

 the percentage shown by the seedlings ranged only from 12-68 

 to 15-83. The ' Uba ' contained a greatei- i)roportiou of fibre, 

 however, and it is further added that the seedling canes 

 were gathered .somewhat unseasonably. Trials are'stOl in 

 progress, and it is possible that West Indian seedling canes 

 may yet come to be extensively cultivated in Natal. 



Sugar-cane appears to be grown on a variety of sods, 

 ranging from light sand to clay, the chief kind being a red, 

 .sandy loam, light in te.xture, and easy to work when broken 

 up. When first cleared of bush this class of land is very 

 fertile, and has been known in good seasons to give yields of 

 \ to 5 tons of sugar crystals jier acre fi-om plant'canes. 



The cultivation given on cane lands in Natal is very 

 thorough. Disc ploughs are more commonly used than 

 moulddioard ploughs. The land is ploughed, cto.ss ploughed, 

 and then harrowed. Very little manure — apart from mill 

 refuse — appears to be used on the cane estates. 



The cane rows are . planted from .5 to 6 feet apart. 

 Frequently a ' drill plough ' working 9 or 10 inches deep, is 

 used for opening a furrow in which to plant the cuttincs or 

 tops. Sometimes whole canes are [il an ted ; in other cases 

 long cuttings arc u.sed, and placed two, three, or four together 



m the drills or holes. AVlien first set out, only 1 or 2 inches 

 ot sod are placed over the planted cuttinsjs, but as the 

 young shoots grow up, the covering of soil is" increased until 

 the hole is filled. The general time for plantin-- is in Ausjust 

 or September, but it may be done so late a.s Decembe'r or 

 January. Weeding operations are regularly performed until 

 the canes have grown sufficiently to cover the gri>und. At 

 a later period the crops are frequently trashed, although many 

 planters neglect this practice. 



The cane crop in Natal take.s so long as from twenty to 

 twenty-four months from planting before it arrives at maturity. 

 This not only applies to plant canes, but to ratoons (of which 

 several crops are frequently grown) as well. Cutting generally 

 begins in August, and continues on until -January. The 

 (luestion of shortening tlie period which elapses between 

 planting and harvesting is an important one from the economic 

 point of view, and with increased settlement, and higher 

 land values, this question will demand consideration. It is 

 po.ssible th3t .something might be done by the introduction of 

 more early rii>ening varieties. 



An average cane crop in Natal is about 20 tons to the 

 acre ; 30 tons are considered a first-class crop. Trash is so)"e- 

 times burned in order to destroy grubs. It is not regarded 

 as being of so much value as in the West Indies, .since an 

 abundance of bush can be obtained to replenish the stores of 

 humus in the land. In other cases the trash is raked on to 

 alternate rows, leaving the remaining alternate rows clear ; 

 the.se latter are then left free for the cultivation of some quick- 

 growing crop. In the ne.xt season the treatment is reversed : 

 the crops that were previously cultivated are now trashed, 

 and kiice ivrsn. 



The Natal sugar estates are usually large in area, and 

 prat'tically all the cane lands are under Eurojiean manage- 

 ment. There are no small native plantings of any conse- 

 quence. Many large and up-to-date central factories have 

 been erected, although the capacity of these plants has been 

 _ta.\ed in recent years as the result of the rate at which the 

 industry is developing. Practically all the work on the 

 sugar plantations is done by indentured Indians. 



From the particulars given, it would apj)ear that the 

 biggest central sugar factories are capal)Ie of handling 260 tons 

 of cane per diem of twelve houi-s. The cane is bought from 

 outside estates at a fixed price ]ier ton, but if the expressed 

 juice falls below an arl>itrarily fixed Beaumc standard, 

 a reduction in the price is made. The larger factories are 

 usually up-to-date, so far as the machinery and processes are 

 concerned, and in most cases the mills are double, consisting 

 of the first three rollers, an intermediate carrier for macenv 

 tion, and the second three rollers. It is calculated that 

 6o per cent, of juice is obtained from the ' Uba " cane, and 

 from 70 to 7.5 per cent, from softer cane. 



It is stated that it takes variously from 12 to 20 tons 

 of Uba cane to yield 1 ton of crystals. A first-class factory 

 has been known to obtain 1 ton of crystals from 12 J, tons of 

 Uba cane as a season's average, that is to .say, every lOO 

 tons of cane yielded 8 tons of crystals. It will be" seen 

 from these figures that a good deal'of sugar is lost, and it is 

 estimated that foi every 100 tons of canes milled, over 3 

 tons of sugar pass a\\ay in the megass and are burnt. This is 

 a serious loss of jirofit to the industry, and the writer of the 

 article in the Siitul A;/ricuf(ii.r(tl Journal points out that the 

 best means of pre\enting this loss is by the introduction and 

 adoption of the ditt'usion process of extracting the cane juice. 

 The above particulars are interesting, as applying 

 to a country with a developing cane sugar industry, but 

 It will be noted that some of the findings are not in 

 agreement with West Indian experience. 



