92 SUGAR 



in Java. The cultivation is mostly carried on with 

 irrigation and, no doubt, the thing is done in first-class 

 style. They are now millionaires in that happy land. 

 In 1857 the islands produced 313 tons of sugar, and had 

 increased, in 1876, to 11,640 tons. The reciprocity 

 treaty of 1876 admitted " Sandwich Islands sugars " 

 into the United States free of duty. But it was the 

 annexation to the United States, in 1898, that gave the 

 finishing touch to the feeling of confidence in the future. 

 That year the crop was 229,414 tons ; since then it has 

 more than doubled. Perfection in machinery, cultiva- 

 tion and irrigation have done the rest. In 1907 two of 

 the four islands produced an average of 5' 6 tons of sugar 

 to the acre. A third got an average yield of about 

 four tons. Hawaii, the largest, was content with the 

 excellent yield of 2-7 tons to the acre. Dr. Prinsen 

 Geerligs tells us that the quality of the cane surpasses 

 that of any other cane-growing country. The juice is 

 the richest and the purest. The cane contains fre- 

 quently from 16 to 17 per cent, of sugar. The cane 

 mills, as well as the rest of the machinery, are the best 

 that can be had, and they succeed in obtaining 95 per 

 cent, of the sugar in the cane. The sugar yield on 100 

 of cane is extremely high. Yields of 12J, 13, even 

 14 per cent, are quoted, the average being over 12J. 

 These figures are unsurpassed elsewhere. This is 

 another and still more striking example of what can 

 be done when capital is attracted to an industry by 

 preferential treatment. Its progress since 1910 shows 

 further large expansion. In 1910 the crop was 

 463,000 tons ; in 1916-17 it was 579,302 tons. The 

 only trouble is scarcity of labour. 



Cuba is the place on which the eyes of the sugar world 

 are now constantly fixed. The preference enjoyed by 

 Cuba in the* markets of the United States is only 



