123 



raw sugar made throughout the island contains 82 per cent sucrose, 1 

 ton of cane will yield almost exactly 0.1 ton of raw sugar. 



This ratio of 10 to 1 will hold good with comparatively little varia- 

 tion throughout Negros, since, in the process of manufacture which is 

 employed, the kind of cane ground affects the quality rather than the 

 quantity of sugar produced. The extreme limits of variation may be 

 set at approximately 11.5 per cent and 9 per cent, respectively, on 

 the weight of the cane. 



CALCULATION OF THE AVERAGE COST OF PRODUCING SUGAR IN" NEGROS 

 BY THE METHODS NOW EMPLOYED. 



With the description of. each step in the production of sugar in 

 ISTegros, from the first cultivation of the soil to the marketing of the 

 finished product in Iloilo, there has been included as careful an estimate 

 as it was possible to secure of the average cost for labor in each 

 operation, reducing the same to the unit bases of the picul ^® and the 

 metric ton ^' of sugar produced; the picul because it is still the best 

 known unit of weight among those locally interested in sugar pro- 

 duction, and the metric ton as having the most widespread significance 

 throughout the world in general. All prices are figured in Philippine 

 currency.^^ 



Summary of the cost of producing sugar in Negros, as calculated in the previous 



portion of this paper. 



The above represents the bare cost of production and placing upon 

 the market, and it is not surprising that those who stop at this point 

 in their calculations should marvel at the fact that all ISTegros planters 

 are not millionaires, when they can lay down sugar in Iloilo for about 

 2 pesos a picul. 



A sugar plantation, however, like any other farm, represents a 



^ 1 picul equals 63.25 kilos, or 139.44 avoirdupois pounds. 



" 1 metric ton equals 2,204.6 avoirdupois pounds, or 0.9842 "long" ton. 



^ 1 peso Philippine currency equals 50 cents United States currency. 



