THE CANE INDUSTRY 99 



of Mauritius, and where it is gradually supplanting 

 the quantities of European beetroot " granulated " 

 which were for many years " dumped " in India. 



Dr. Prinsen Geerligs said seven years ago that the 

 increase in the Java crop would go on at the rate of 

 50,000 tons a year till it reached 1,600,000 tons. 1 At 

 one time the Government limited the production in order 

 that sufficient rice and other crops might be grown to 

 feed the people. But since then more land has come 

 under irrigation and continues to do so. This irrigation 

 is now almost universal, and the water from the rivers 

 deposits a fertilizing slime which furnishes sufficient 

 potash and phosphoric acid to the soil. As the cane 

 crop is alternated with rice or other food crops it gets 

 the full benefit of this fertilizing deposit. When the 

 " Sereh " disease threatened destruction to the canes 

 in 1902 cuttings were imported and the " Sereh " was 

 stamped out. Seedling canes were also raised and 

 selected varieties propagated and cross-fertilized, until 

 at last Java has arrived at the remarkable product of 

 42 tons of canes to the acre, as the average for the whole 

 island. 



The increase in the production of sugar per acre is 

 most remarkable. The accurate figures given by Dr. 

 Prinsen Geerligs show that in 1893-4 the average pro- 

 duction was 2-812 tons (of 2,240 Ib.) per acre, quite a 

 remarkable figure in those days. In 1897-8 it had 

 increased to 3-571 tons ; in 1903-4 to 4-058 tons ; 

 and in 1910-11 to 4-302 tons. The only country that 

 can beat that figure at present is Hawaii. Dr. Prinsen 

 Geerligs does not now put any limit to his anticipation 

 of the further progress of the industry. The produc- 

 tion per acre is still rising ; cultivation, the selection of 



1 In 1916-17 Java produced 1,596,174 tons, and the crop 

 1917-18 is estimated at 1,800,000 tons. 



