MISCELLANEOUS ECOXOMIC PRODUCTS 531 



Sugar Palm of Java. Gomuti-palm. (Amiga sacchar if era.) A 



large erect palm, with a stout trunk and very large stiftish pinnate 

 leaves, indigenous to Malaya. It is cultivated in Java for the 

 production of sugar, which is obtained by evaporation of the sap, 

 the latter being obtained from incisions made in the young in- 

 Horescence, similar to the manner in which the Coconut and 

 Kitul palms are tapped for toddy in Ceylon. The palm flourishes 

 in the moist low-country up to about 1,600 ft. In Java it is said to 

 thrive best at an altitude of about 1,000 ft. A sugar yield cannot 

 be obtained until the tree has reached its flowering stage, viz., 

 about its twelfth year, and the productive period extends to four 

 or live years, i.e., so long as the palm continues to Hower, after 

 which it dies. A single tree is considered to yield in this time 

 "as much as 450 Ib. of sugar. Thus an acre bearing 100 trees, 

 would yield about 20 tons, which works out at rather more than 

 one ton of sugar per acre per annum." Catch-crops may be 

 grown beneath the palms for at least the first few years. Like many 

 other palms, the heart of the stem contains a large quantity of 

 excellent sago, hence it is sometimes known as the "sago-palm." 



Sugar Palm of India, or Wild Date. (Phoenix sylvestris). A 

 tall palm with stiff feathery leaves, allied to the Date palm, native 

 of India, where it is sometimes extensively cultivated for the 

 production of sugar or jaggery. It is estimated that in the Madras 

 Presidency alone there are 22,000 acres under the cultivation of 

 this palm. The method of obtaining the sugar is similar to that 

 adopted with the Coconut and other palms, viz., tapping the 

 Hower-stalk for the juice, which exudes copiously and is afterwards 

 boiled and evaporated; on cooling, a solid mass of brown 

 toffee-like sugar remains. Jaggery or palm-sugar is extracted in 

 large quantities in Ceylon from the Kitul-palm (Caryota nrens), the 

 Coconut palm and the Palmyra palm, the mode of procedure being 

 the same as that described above. In 1890, jaggery was exported 

 from Ceylon to the extent of 6,428 cwt., valued at 2,259, but the 

 figures have declined to 1,207 cwt. and -380 respectively in 1908. 



Sugar-sorghum ; Imphee. (Sorghum saccharattiin). A tall- 

 growing grass similar to Guinea corn, sometimes cultivated for the 

 sugar obtained from its stems, which is chierly used in the 

 preparation of sugar-candy. Being somewhat hardier than the 

 sugar-cane, it may be profitably grown in climates where the latter 

 would not succeed. The plant has long been cultivated in India 

 Mid more recently in the Southern United States, for the production 



