46 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



22941— Continued. 



distances of 15 to 18 feet ; the planting holes have to be 2 to 3 feet in breadth 

 and in depth. At an altitude of 3,000 feet above sea level the tree is fit to be 

 tapped at an age of about 16 years. It yields more at an altitude of 1.800 feet, 

 where it fruits after 12 or 13 years. In the lowlands, too, it will succeed, but 

 I can not say when it fruits there. 



"The area id jo (green arenga) is considered to be the most productive va- 

 riety of our country. In the high regions it produces during about four years, in 

 lower parts during three years; the quantity of juice and sugar continue getting 

 less as the tree grows older. At the first tapping — this means when the first 

 male peduncle is tapped — the tree produces about 7 liters of juice per twenty- 

 four hours during about two and one-half months. Of some trees a second 

 peduncle may be -tapped immediately after the first one; of others, only after 

 some time (three months). An ai'enga tree may be tapped from three to ten 

 times, with an average of six times. At the second and following tappings the 

 arenga produces at every tapping for a period of about forty-five days about 5$ 

 liters of juice (per twenty-four hours) of a declining sugar content; about 34 

 liters of juice of the first tapping give about 0.f>17 kilo of sugar; the following 

 tappings give the same quantity of sugar to a production of 5i liters of juice. 

 The production of sugar of one tree during its whole lease of life may be stated 

 at about 225 kilos, with a local value of 13 cents (about 5 American cents) per 

 kilo, or in total about 30 Dutch guilders (12 American dollars). 



" The sugar is prepared by boiling the juice. This boiling takes much fuel, 

 which fact gives no trouble in the interior of Java ; however, if wood had to be 

 bought for the purpose — as it would be in towns of Java — the value of the 

 sugar would not make good the expenses for fuel. Sugar, therefore, is not 

 manufactured in and near the towns. 



"As to the method of tapping, I beg to refer to the work of A. Tschirch, 

 Indische Heil und Nutzpflansen, Berlin, 1892, page 160. This book does not 

 mention that the male peduncle has to be swung to and fro during some days, 

 and afterwards beaten effectively before the inflorescence is cut off; further, 

 that every day during the tapping a slice of the peduncle has to be cut off. 

 Experiments made here some years ago by Professor Molisch have shown that 

 without any doubt stimuli have a great effect on the flow of sugar-containing 

 juice. 



" Taking the figures given above as a basis for calculation, an acre can be 

 planted with 160 trees of A. saccharifera (S. pinnatus), which, producing 500 

 pounds of sugar per tree, will theoretically give a total production of 80,000 

 pounds, equal to 35 tons per acre, at the end of from fifteen to twenty years, or 

 an average of from 2 to 2| tons per year. 



" Personally, I am inclined to think the actual production will be consider- 

 ably below these figures, one reason for this being that with such close planting 

 the trees will not be able to develop fully ; probably an average of about 100 

 fully developed producing trees will be nearer the mark, but even then a pro- 

 duction of over 1 ton per year will be obtained. 



" The great drawback is that, from the nature of the sugar palm, it will 

 probably not be possible to grow catch crops after the third or fourth year; 

 during the first twelve to sixteen years no profits are obtained; then comes a 

 big harvest during three or four years, after which the plantation is valueless, 

 and it will entail considerable expense to again clear the land for other crops. 

 Moreover, taking into consideration that most people, and especially tropical 

 people, are not inclined to wait a dozen years or longer before they get any 

 142 



