Feb. 1908.J 



128 



Edible Products. 



The area planted in sugar cane in Java 

 reaches about 283,000 acres. There has 

 been a slight increase during the last 

 two or three years, bat no increase of 

 any great moment, all of which indicate 

 that the present production of sugar in 

 Java of about a million tons, is about the 

 limit of its successful production under 

 the competitive conditions environing 

 that colony. It is a fact that the 

 Javanese had the example of the 

 Hawaiians in modern came sugar manu- 

 facture, and they have worked up to it 

 most admirably. It is stated now that 

 the production of cane sugar per acre in 

 Java is about double the average beet 

 sugar production per acre in Germany. 

 Our readers are doubtless familiar with 

 the fact that, under the control of the 

 Dutch Government, the sugar lands of 

 Java are retained, so far as their title is 

 concerned, either in the Dutch Govern- 

 ment, or in the native landholders, and 

 much of the land bears but one cane 

 crop, and the following year goes into 

 rice culture, which is the mainstay in 

 the way of food supply of the native 

 Javanese. To whatever extent this is 

 done, and as we understand it the greater 

 part of the land is thus cultivated, the 

 Dutch sugar planters in Java lose the 

 advantage of ratooning. On the other 

 hand, they get larger crops by having 

 constant plant cane crops, and by shif tin g 

 the land annually they get some advant- 

 age in the way of greater fertility, and 

 the cost of labour is probably as low, or 

 lower there than anywhere else in the 

 cane sugar-producing world. 



The yield in sugar in Java on the 

 weight of the cane during the last ten 

 years has averaged about 10J per cent of 

 the weight of the cane, or about 210 

 pounds per short ton. This is consider- 

 ably below the yield of sugar from beets, 

 which in Germany in the season of 1905-00 

 was 15'28 per cent, that of Austria- 

 Hungary 15 27 per cent ; that of France 

 13'19 per cent ; that of Holland 14'47 per 

 cent; and that of Sweden 15D2 per cent. 

 Cuba is reported to have realized in sugar 

 slightly under 10 per cent, of the weight 

 of the cane. — The Louisiana Planter and 

 Sugar Manufacturer. Nov. 2. 1907, 



YIELD OF CACAO IN TRINIDAD. 



A brief paper on the yield of cacao in 

 Trinidad has been prepared by the Hon. 

 Carl De Verteuil for the purpose of dis- 

 cussion at the Conference : — 



It has often been stated that the yield 

 per acre of cacao in Trinidad compares 

 somewhat unfavorably with the yield of 

 other cacao-producing countries. The 

 object of this paper is to bring forward 

 the few reliable details with reference to 

 this subject. 



In Trinidad, estates are bought and 

 sold on the number of trees. The 

 value of a property depends on the 

 number of full-bearing trees. The area 

 is rarely, if ever, taken into account, 

 and the yield of cacao per tree or per 

 acre is never considered. 



Distances at which cacao trees are 

 planted vary from 10 to 10 feet. Twelve 

 feet may be taken as the average, 

 although there is now a tendency to 

 plant ac distances of 14 feet, for ex- 

 perience has shown that in good cacao 

 land the yield per tree is better when the 

 plants are farther apart, 



The yield of 10 bags per 1,000 trees on 

 a well-cultivated estate is considered to 

 be poor, whereas 13 to 15 bags per 1,000 

 trees are considered to be a fair yield, 

 and several properties have been known 

 to yield from 20 to 22 bags. (A bag of 

 cacao is taken to be 1J cwt.) 



Ten bags to the 1,000 trees mean but a 

 yield of about 2i to 3 bags to the acre, 

 varying with the distances at which the 

 trees are planted apart. In 1906, a Com- 

 mittee was appointed by His Excellency 

 the Governor to inquire into the labour 

 conditions at Trinidad, and in their ex- 

 haustive report it is stated (Clause 50) 

 that the acreage under cacao is unknown. 

 In Clause 62, attention is drawn to the 

 practically entire absence of statistics 

 relating to agriculture. 



In the Blue-book of 1904-5, the acreage 

 under cacao is given as 190,000 acres. 



The acreage alienated in the seven 

 years 1898-1904, practically the whole of 

 which was for cacao cultivation, is stated 

 to have been 91,251 acres. As it takes 

 from eight to teu years, at the very 

 least, to bring land from forest into full- 

 bearing cacao cultivation, it is quite 

 clear that the total acreage given above 

 cannot be taken into account when com- 

 puting the yield of cacao per acre. From 

 personal observation, it may be stated 

 that a very large acreage of land alienat- 

 ed from the Crown twenty years ago is 

 still uneultiavted. 



The Labour Committee (Appendix U) 

 estimate the acreage in bearing cacao at 

 77,000 acres, and the export for 1904-5 (a 

 good year), and 1905-6 (a very poor year), 

 is calculated at 271,260 bags and 226,237 

 bags respectively. Assuming that the 

 figures arrived at by the Labour Com- 

 mittee after a careful inquiry are correct, 

 it will thus be seen that the average 

 yield per acre for these two years is 

 equal to 3£ bags per acre. This, I think, 

 compares favourably with the yield of 

 every cacao-producing country, when it 

 is taken into consideration that a large 

 quantity of the cacao is planted in 

 unsuitable soil, and that very small 



