Miscellaneous 



252 



[March, 1910. 



Volcanic sandy soil seems best suited 

 for cassava, and with such soil, planting 

 and harvesting can be carried on at all 

 seasons of the year 



On this plantation a stick can easily 

 be pushed 3 feet in the soil. At one 

 place where a man was digging a hole, 

 I noticed that the sub-soil at a depth 

 below 4 feet contained considerable 

 gravel- The soil was being ploughed 12 

 inches deep with light English steel 

 ploughs. Native wooden ploughs with 

 wooden beams and steel points were 

 also being used. 



Cassava is planted in rows 4 feet by 

 3g feet apart, and is cultivated the same 

 as corn in the United States. The soil 

 contains so much sand that it is very 

 easy to cultivate, and can be tilled 

 during both the dry and rainy seasons. 



A red spider and root larvae seem to be 

 the greatest enemies. To stop planting 

 in the infected regions is the only suc- 

 cessful remedy known for this trouble. 

 Para rubber is being introduced and 

 planted in the cassava fields. This, how- 

 ever, is only an experiment. 



Cassava is propagated by cuttings 

 from the stem, each of which is about 

 8 inches long. It takes fourteen months 

 to produce a crop. A new variety of 

 cassava is now being experimented upon 

 which is expected to mature in about 

 nine months, or five months earlier than 

 the original variety. 



The roots are pulled and loaded upon 

 large bull carts, weighed near the fields, 

 and hauled to the mills where they are 

 weighed again. On the plantation visit- 

 ed it is intended to put in 20 miles of 

 track in the near future, which will be 

 used both for transportation of the 

 roots to the mill, aud of the pulp waste 

 from the mill to the fields, where it will 

 be used as a fertiliser. 



In the manufacture of cassava starch 

 the outer skin is first cut off with a 

 bolo. The washed root is then ground 

 fine and run through a sifting machine 

 where the starch is separated from 

 the cellular matter. The milky fluid 

 is conducted through a long trough, 

 from which it is distributed to the 

 settling boxes. In these boxes the 

 starch settles and the water is run 

 off, after which the starch is taken out 

 and dried either in the sun or by wood 

 fires. When thoroughly dried it is 

 reground in a roller mill to a fine flour. 

 It is then sacked and shipped. 



The cellulose, containing possibly 5 per 

 cent, of starch, is ground fine and used 

 as one ingredient in a new horse feed. 



A cassava mill must always have a 

 good supply of water, and cheap fire- 

 wood is also necessary, for on damp days 

 the starch must be dried by wood fires. 



Sugar and Tobacco. 

 The sugar estate I visited at Tymol is 

 said to be the largest and most modern 

 one in Java. 



The only land owned by this sugar 

 company is the building site for the mill 

 and that occupied by the houses of the 

 Dutch employees. The other land b?- 

 longs to the Javanese. Each man who 

 belongs to the community owns one or 

 more rice fields. When a company 

 desires to start a sugar plantation in a 

 certain locality it must first get per- 

 mission from the Dutch Government. 

 Permission must then be secured from 

 the native chief or headman of the 

 immediate district, and finally the land 

 is rented from the individual Javanese. 

 I inquired what was done if the 

 individual landowner refused to rent 

 his land, and was told that a deep 

 ditch was dug around his paddy so 

 that he could get no water for ii l igation. 

 It is probable that this labourer and his 

 family would also be refused employ- 

 ment on the sugar estate. These con- 

 ditions are, however, very rare, as all 

 desire the rent money and an oppor- 

 tunity to work on the estate. 



Only one-third of the total area of 

 land in any given community can be 

 planted to sugar at one time, the remain- 

 ing two-thirds being planted in rice, 

 peanuts, soy beans, sweet potatoes, or 

 corn. In many fields the rice is har- 

 vested, the land irrigated to make it 

 soft, and the peanut seeds are dropped 

 into a hole made by a blunt stick, with- 

 out reploughiug the soil. The sugar 

 planter prefers a rice crop to precede 

 sugar, as the soil is then free from weeds. 



Sugar cane is grown for seed on a small 

 plantation located in the highlands. 

 This arrangement is very necessary to 

 prevent the stock from deteriorating. 

 Seed from this highland plantation is 

 taken to the lowland estate and planted 

 3 feet apart in rows in a nursery bed, 

 where it grows from January until May, 

 when planting begins. The young plants 

 are then pulled. The lower ends of the 

 stems are cut with a slanting stroke and 

 search made for a certain disease, the 

 presence of which is sown by many red 

 specks located especially at the joints. 

 If several joints are affected the stock is 

 discarded, but if one joint is slightly 

 affected it is used. This disease causes 

 considerable reduction in the percentage 

 of sugar in the cane. 



