18 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



at all in her Custom? tariff to tbe produce 

 ol the Allies. 



Louisiana, Hawaii and Porto Rico have 

 reached their limit, but the Phili-ppines 

 may be looked upon as likely to inciease 

 their output, and the same may be said of 

 Formosa. 



Theie is no indication of a change m 

 amount of production in the Argentine and 

 the Brazils. The Venezuelan industiy may 

 de-velop. 



Java, the great sugar-producing centre 

 of the East, is fast approacWng her maxi- 

 mmn of output, and is not likely to produce 

 more than 1% million tons at the most. 



India has large possibilities in the shape 

 of sugar production, but is a large importer 

 and does not seem, for some internal cause, 

 to be able to extend her sugar output. 



The future of sugar in China has also to 

 be reckoned in the calculation. There are 

 signs tiiat the Chinese are giving their 

 serious attention to its production, ard if 

 they only increase theii production to the 

 extent of their imports, the extra amount 

 will be an important item in the woild's 

 pre duct ion. 



The supply from the Bntish Empiie will 

 depend largely upon the treatment accorded 

 sugai m the Customs tariff ot the Empire. 

 To supply its wants, basing consumption 

 on the pre-war figure, 5^4 million tons are 

 required. It now produces SJo niillon, and 

 is capable of turning out 7 or 8 millions. 



Taking all things into consideration, it is 

 evident that theie will be a scarcity of sugar 

 for some time after t.he war. How long this 

 will continue aepends to a great extent on 

 the fiscal pohcy of the British Empire. 

 But no matter what tliis may be, the si.rvi\al 

 will be with those producers who can pro- 

 duce most cheaply. The inaustiial revival 

 alter the war will be stupendous, and those 

 estates proprietors w.ho look to continue 

 sugai production should at once place oiders 

 with our sugar engineers for machinery to 

 bring their factories up-to-date, so that there 

 may be no time lost when the sugar ma- 

 chinery-makers are released from their war 

 obhgations. It will not be the slightest 

 use depending upon a favorable tariff treat- 

 ment to make up for inefficient agricultural 

 or manuiacturrng methods. Preference or 

 no preference, only the fiitesi will survive, and 

 the fittest will be the producers who are oest 

 equipped fox survival rn the way of low cost 

 of output. — West India Committee Circular. 



SUBSTITUTE FOR PHOSPHATE 



Accoraing to the Australian Sugar Journal, 

 Cuban sugar planters are advised to use na- 

 tive bat guano as a substitute for phosphate. 

 Formerly very little was known regarding 

 the deposrts in the bat caves oi Cuba, but 

 considerable activity rs now being manifested 

 in the working of tiiem. These ca\es are rn 

 the liiuestone hiUs, and for centuries have 

 been the home of millions of bats whose ex- 

 crements and bodies have left deposits con- 

 sisting principally of phosphate of lime, some- 

 tiirres amountrng to as much as 40,000 to 

 50,000 tons, and probably more. 



NEW REFINING PROCESS 



By a new process sugar cane juice can be 

 decolore'd and granulated sugar ar;id clear 

 syrup produced in sugar mills. 



Henry N. Pharr, of Olivier, La., told the 

 American Cane Growers' Association, of 

 which he is president, that the inventor is 

 Rood A. Demme, a Swiss, now in New York. 

 The material used, he continued, was carbon 

 made of ground wood fibre, which can be 

 produced for $50 to $60 a ton. The carbon 

 can be used several times. An experiment in 

 Cuba showed sugar could be refined by the 

 process at a cost of about 25 cents a hundred 

 pounds. 



If as successful as anticipated the new in- 

 vention will eliminate the refinery and sugar 

 will pass directly from the mill to t}ie table. 



CANE SEEDS 



The Director of the Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station at Santiago de las Vegas, Cuba, 

 has announced that extensive experiments 

 will be carried on there in developing better 

 varieties of canes from seed, and in the event 

 of varieties appearing which are better than 

 those now planted in Cuba, these wdl be dis- 

 tributed among the planters much after the 

 system now in use at the Audubon Park Ex- 

 periment Station in New Orleans. 



CENTRALS FINISHED GRINDING 



"Dos Her-manos" finished grinding with 

 25,000 bags, which was the estimate made for 

 this Central. 



"San Agustin," of Havana Province, was 

 obliged to stop grinding for the remainder of 

 the season on account of fire in the boiler 

 house. About 71,000 Inigs were made, of 

 which some 2,000 bags were destroyed by the 

 fire. 



