Vol. XVI. No. 400. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



259 



JAPANESE SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



A considerable development his taken place in the 

 sugar industry of .Japan. In Formosa, too, the expinsion 

 has been striking. In Japan itself, as a result of Government 

 assistance, there has been an increase in sugar production, 

 llie average output for the past few years having been 

 1,2.50,000 piculs. With sufficient protection and State aid 

 the Japanese output may eventually rise to 2,000,000 piculs. 

 <;f the present output, 80 per cent, is black sugar, and 20 

 per cent, is a very low grade brown sugar, but the authorities 

 are taking steps to secure the production of centrifugal 

 sugar. [A picul= 133^8).] 



The chief part played by Japan proper in the sugar 

 industry is in refining. The first refinery was established in 

 1S96, and according to a report from the British Embassy at 

 Tokyo, there are now eight refineries with a capacity of 1,300 

 tons per day. Exports from Japan consist almost wholly of 

 refined sugar, the average annual export of which in 1912, 

 to 1913 and 19U amounted to 1,300 000 piculs, valued at 

 12,000,000 yen. The principal market for Japanese refined 

 sugar is China, where it is said to be gradually supplanting 

 Hong Kong sugar. [A yen = 2s. O^d.] 



All Recoeds Broken. 



The development of the sugar industry in Formosa was 

 taken in hand by the Government in 1902, and regulations 

 were promulgated for its encouragement. As a result of 

 generous Government assistance which took the form of the 

 employment of experts, the establishment of an experimental 

 station, subsidies, and the loan of machin' ly, the production 

 of sugar in Formosa increa.sed rapidly. Production prior to 

 1902 had never reached 1,000,000 piculs; but by 1906 it 

 bad risen to 1,280,000 piciils, and by 1910 to 3,77.5,000 

 piculs. 



In 1916 all records were broken, the estimated output 

 being 6,200,000 piculs of centrifugal sugar, and 700,000 

 piculs of brown sugar. 



The first charter for the erection of a modern sugar mill 

 in Formosa was granted in 1901, and there are at present 

 fourteen companies owning thirty-seven crushing factories, 

 with an aggregate crushing capacity of 27,240 tons per day of 

 twenty- four hours. The total paid up capital of these com- 

 panies amounts to 56,175,000 yen. Although the export of 

 sugar from the island to foreign countries was considered to 

 be a matter of secondary importance, attention is now beinc 

 turned to the export trac|e. the supply having overtaken the 

 home demand. (The Pall Mall Gazette, May 29, 1917 ) 



GREEN DRESSING AND FALLOW. 



It has been nbserved that the productive power of arid 

 and semi-arid soils is more often limited becau.se of an 

 insufficient supply of moisture, or because of improper 

 physical and biological conditions than because of a lack 

 iif certain fertilizing elements. In more humid districts 

 these defects may generally be corrected by the u.se of 

 systems of crop rotation, but under arid conditions rotation 

 is difficult owing to the limited number of crops adapted to 

 those circumstances. 



To overcome this deficiency of crops, a year of fallow, 

 and the addition of organic matter to the soil by cover crops 

 have been advocated. The year of fallow is recommended 

 primarily as a raoistn re-conserving measure to make possible 

 an adequate supply of moisture in the soil for a maximum 

 4:rop at all times, while the cover crop is recommended as 



a means of miintaining the supply of humus la onL^r to 

 secure information as to the value of these treatments, a 

 series of experiments, rep )rted in Bulletin No. 270 of the 

 Agricultural Experiment Station in California, has beea 

 conducted on the University Farm at Denis, and the 

 results ob-ained in the^e i..v.>stigations, especially as to 

 green dressings, should be of interest to West Indian 

 planters It has been shown thic the marked decline in 

 what production in California has been ciused by the 

 deleterious efifects of continuous one-siled cropping, together 

 with inadei]uate cultivation. The year of fallow is one of 

 the most efi'ective means of retaining the productive power of 

 semi arid soils, and although the use of green manure crop* 

 increases the productivity, it does not do so to the same 

 extent as the bare fallow, and the organic matter added to 

 the soil by these crops appears to be practically lost by 

 oxidation in the following year \toreover, as the use of 

 cover crops, even if they be legumes, does not seem to 

 increase the content of humus or of humus nitrogen to any 

 appreciable extent, their favourable eflfeus so°fre(iiieutly 

 observed must be attributed to other causes than to aa 

 inciease of humus in the soil. 



WASTAGE IN MANURE. 



One of the chief uses for keeping cattle on an estate i* 

 to obtain manure, and there is great loss if the manure is- 

 wasted. On many estates, for want of sufficient labour or 

 for other reasons, the manure i.s allowed to remain in the 

 pen until most of its richest properties are lost, but a certaia 

 percentage of was'.e is avoided if the manure is luix-d with 

 the litter of cattle or with earth. Some interesting experi- 

 ments, reported by the late Dr. N, H. J. Miller in the- 

 Annual Keport of the Chemical Society, for 1916. on the- 

 effect of straw in farmyard manure, showed that, whilst 

 a mixture of cow and horse manure without straw lost more 

 than 5 per cent, of its nitrogen in four weeks, the addition 

 of 8 per cent, of wheat straw resulted in gains of nitrojen 

 amounting to 3 7 to 48 per cent. In each case there was 

 a great increase in the number of bacteria especially when' 

 straw was added. Azotobacter was not identified: i^. was 

 however, found that the activity of the nitrogen-fixin" 

 organisms was greatest in the manure with straw. 



In another series of experiments, made to a.scertain the 

 effect of different kinds of litter, it was found that all the 

 manures, with or without litter, gained nitrogen in the first 

 four weeks. From the fourth to the eighth there was a fairly 

 rapid loss of nitrogen, so that in the end all the manures 

 contained lesi nitrogen than at the commencement. 



The amount of nitrogen as amtmnia, which varied from 

 07 to 1-7 per cent, of the total, showei a tendency to 

 increase in the second week, after which there wjs a fall, b'lt 

 the proportion of ammonia was never very large. The nitro- 

 gen soluble in water, representing 41 to 48 per cent, of the 

 total, decreased rapidly during the first four weeks, and the 

 total losses amounted to 70 to 90 per cent, of the initial 

 quantity. 



Cacao planters in the West Indies are having to face 

 stiong competition in this article from the Gold Coa.-.t. 

 According to late Market Reports from Messrs. Gillespie 

 Bros i^- Co. the prices of c icao continue to decline ortinc 

 to the very large importations from Sanchez and Accra. 



