SACCHARUM 



OFFICINARUM 



Yield 



THE SUGAR-CANE PLANT 



Yield in 

 Foreign 

 Countries 



Cane. 



Sugar. 



Methods of 

 Manufacture. 



Cost of 

 Production. 



Beet versus 

 Cane. 



Anglo-Indian Review, April 1903 ; Leather, Effect of Change of Climate 

 on Juice of Sugar-cane, in Agri. Journ. Ind., 1906, i., pt. iv., 412-3.] 



Return in Foreign Countries. With regard to the yield in other 

 countries, H. C. Prinsen Geerdings. Director of the Sugar Experimental 

 Station of West Java, gave the following yields of cane to the acre : in 

 Java, 36 tons ; in Sandwich Islands, 33*4 ; in Egypt, 22 ; in Queensland, 

 16 ; and in Japan, 15'2. Yield of sugar in tons to the acre : in Japan, 

 I'l ; in Queensland, T6 ; in Egypt, 2*2 ; in Java, 3'6 ; and in Sandwich 

 Islands, 8. These results showed the further fact, namely, tons of cane 

 to the ton of sugar : in Java, 7'1 ; in Sandwich, Egypt, and Queensland, 

 each 10 ; and in Japan, 14'3. 



Thus there would seem a wide range both in yield of cane to the 

 acre and in the amount of sugar afforded by the canes produced. By 

 high cultivation the yield of cane has been immensely increased in the 

 Sandwich Islands, but it would seem as if the lower returns in Queens- 

 land were compensated for by the superior methods and appliances used 

 in manufacture, since the cost of sugar-production is in Java 8 12s. 6d., 

 and in Queensland only 8 15s., and this in the face of the startling state- 

 ment of the yield being 36 tons in Java and only 16 tons in Queensland. 

 Queensland is thus able to produce sugar at approximately the same price 

 per ton as Java. But this question of cost of production manifests a wide 

 range. Thus it is 8 4s. 4d. in the Sandwich Islands ; Egypt, 9 10s. 1 It?. ; 

 Barbados, 9 15s. ; Trinidad, 10 19s. lid. ; Demerara, 12 18s. lOd. ; 

 French Antilles, 14 6s. 9d. ; and the United States, 18 18s. 6d. These 

 were sums worked out a few years ago for the countries with a gold standard 

 in currency, but it may be useful to add similar figures for the chief silver- 

 standard countries : Mauritius, 6 2s. 5d. ; Philippines, 6 16s. lid. ; 

 Japan, from 13 5s. 8d. to 16 16s. lOd. ; Argentine, 17 14s. lid. ; and 

 Brazil, 22 6s. lid. 



The Manchester Chamber of Commerce (Monthly Record for Oct. 31, 

 1899) discussed the yield of beet-sugar as compared with cane-sugar to 

 the acre, with the following results : 



Beet-sugar. Cane-sugar. 



Manures. 



Germany 



Belgium 



Holland 



France 



Austria 



Russia 



T71 tons. 



1-55 



1-29 



1-24 



1-09 



0-80 



Hawaii 



Java 



Barbados 



British Guiana 



Queensland 



St. Lucia 



Trinidad 



3-6 tons. 

 3-2 



1-89 

 1-82 

 1-8 



1-75 

 1-54 



Martineau gives an average of 2 tons per acre as fair for all sugar-cane 

 production, a result which, considering the improvements already effected 

 in the stocks and methods of manufacture and in the possibilities of the 

 future, by no means justifies gloomy forebodings for the sugar-cane 

 planter. 



[Cf. Board of Trade Journ., 1901, xxxiii., 69 ; Queensland Agri. Journ., 1901, 

 viii., 125 ; 1901, ix., 6 ; West Ind. Bull., 1902, iii., No. 1, 46-65 ; Agri. Dept. 

 Natal Kept., 1902, 17 ; U.S. Dept. Agri. Exper. Stat. Bee., 1901, xii., 742 ; 

 The American Garden (discusses the Hawaiian yield of 10 tons of sugar to the 

 acre).] 



MANURES AND MANURING OF SUQAR-CANE. Leather (Agri. Journ. Ind., 

 L, pt. i., 13-24) deals with the subject under the following among other headings: 

 history, the demands of the plant from the soil, and the manures best suited 

 to meet this strain. He suggests a division of the manures into first, farm- 

 yard, poudrette, and fish manures ; second, oil-cakes ; and third, bones and 



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