March, 1910,1 



253 



Miscellaneous. 



In the seed bed cane is planted 3 feet 

 apart, but in the field 5 feet apart. The 

 soil is well trenched by hand labour. 

 Long ditches, both for drainage and 

 irrigation, extend in parallel rows from 

 the higher to the lower side of the fields. 

 These ditches are about 25 feet apart 

 and 3 feet deep. During the rainy 

 season the drainage ditches are cleaned 

 after every rain. Rows of sugar cane 

 extend from one drainage ditch to 

 another. Trenches are dug in which 

 the cane is planted. These trenches are 

 about 2 feet deep and 2h feet wide. The 

 trenches are left open for a month or 

 more, so that the soil is thoroughly 

 aerated, and the weeds are all carefully 

 pulled. A small amount of peanut meal 

 is first scattered in the bottom of the 

 trench and is covered with about a 6-inch 

 layer of loose soil. The sugar cane is 

 planted end to end, aud pressed in the 

 soil, the buds being at the side. A little 

 soil is then thrown ou top of the 

 cane and sprinkled with water from the 

 trench ditches. An extra joint of 

 cane is planted at the end of each row to 

 replace any that fails to grow. As the 

 shoots appear the trench is carefully 

 filled until it is higher than the ground 

 between the rows. The stem is thus 

 started more than one foot below the 

 surface of the soil. As the shoots 

 multiply the soil is crowded between 

 them. If there is no rain for a day all of 

 these short rows are hand sprinkled. At 

 the time of harvest the soil is dug and 

 each stem is pulled, no cane being left in 

 the field. Harvesting is done by gangs 

 of labourers, each gang being paid accord- 

 ing to the amount of work done. 



The cane is carried by hand a short 

 distance and placed on cars. Portable 

 tracks are placed wherever harvesting 

 is being done- Two carabaos hitched 

 together with a yoke pull the loaded 

 cars to the mill. The cane is hauled to 

 the mill the same day that it is cut, and 

 it is ground the following night and next 

 day. The harvesting season lasts for 

 about seven months, beginning in May, 

 and during this time the work at the 

 sugar mill is carried on night and day, 

 the men working in eight-hour shifts. 



The cane contains a maximum amount 

 of sugar at a certain age and should be 

 harvested at that time. In order that 

 the cane may be maturing as the 

 harvesting progresses, planting con- 

 tinues throughout the harvesting season. 

 Some varieties of cane mature in twelve 

 months, others in fifteen months. 



All labour on the plantation, except 

 in the sugar mills, is paid for by the 

 piece. The prices are so arranged that 

 men cannot earn much over 25 cents and 



women over 12 cents per day. The head 

 boss of each gang receives money daily 

 to pay his men. The men know how 

 much money should be paid for doing a 

 certain piece of work, and how much 

 their portion should be. The labourers 

 are paid each evening ; this pay system 

 seems to be very satisfactory. 



Since only one-third of the lands 

 adjoining are planted with sugar, two- 

 thirds of the total are left for the 

 Javanese. The plantations rent for the 

 period of twenty-three months, which is 

 just sufficient time to plant and harvest 

 a sugar crop. At other times the 

 Javanese plant such crops as best fit the 

 land for a future crop. On the planta- 

 tion 1 visited 24,000 acres are planted 

 annually. A refining machine has 

 recently been added to the equipment of 

 this plantation, an.i a fair grade of 

 granulated sugar is now produced. 

 During nine months of 1906 Java ex- 

 ported 1,500,000,000 pounds of sugar, and 

 during the same period the exports of 

 sugar from the Philippine Islands were 

 about 150,000,000 pounds. 



At Klatten I visited a large sugar and 

 tobacco estate. The manager of this 

 estate is an expert chemist, having 

 studied two years at Columbia Univer- 

 sity, New York. This estate includes 

 200,000 acres of land and 60,000 Javanese 

 live on it. On certain fields tobacco was 

 planted, followed by crops of rice. 

 Tobacco and -sugar cane were never 

 grown on the same field. A large pump- 

 ing station was just beintg installed to 

 supply water for irrigation during the 

 rainy season. 



Peanut meal and sodium nitrate are 

 used as fertilisers for the sugar crop. 



At the time of my visit, which was 

 about May 2, the sugar was not ready 

 for harvest, and it was too early for 

 planting tobacco. 



The people were all gathering rice, 

 after which the soil was broken for 

 tobacco. 



Ten Javanese boys are being instructed 

 in the chemistry of sugar. After the 

 ten months ' course the more apt ones 

 are to be given employment as sugar 

 testers in the mills. 



There are several sugar mills in the 

 estate, the largest one producing 100 

 tons daily. It requires 36 hours to 

 obtain granulated sugar from the cane. 



I asked the manager what he consider- 

 ed the most difficult problem. He replied 

 that the growing of the cane was the 

 only great question. Mills can be 

 erected in a few mouths, and there is no 

 difficulty in securing plenty of sugar 

 makers. 



