October, 1910.1 



309 



Edible Products. 



formerly, It occurs to us. however, that 

 this somewhat curious circumstance 

 may be due to the fact that the sugar 

 produced has been greatly improved in 

 its quality, being richer and lighter in 

 color, so that there would naturally be a 

 greater waste in manufacture. The 

 sugar produced in Java is divided into 

 two categories, that is into first and 

 second boilings, the latter being syrup 

 sugar from late products — locally called 

 " bag " sugar. In 1894 the second boiling 

 formed 1014 per cent, of the product of 

 the boiling but In 1908 the proportion 

 they formed was only 3 "55 per cent. 

 The efforts of the manufacturers of 

 late years to obtain the maximum of 

 sugar from the first boiling, have thus 

 been crowned with success. The pro- 

 gress is due in a great measure to the 

 use of crystallization iu movement, the 

 re-introduction of syrups during svork- 

 ing, &c. This explanation is corrobor- 

 ated by the fact that the considerable 

 reduction in the quantity of second 

 boiling obtained dates from the year 

 1898, when numbers of factories intro- 

 duced modern processes. 



As regards the quantity of sugar 

 obtained per hectare, it rose from 

 68,054 kg, in 1894 to 105,568 kg. in 1908, an 

 iucrease of no less than 49 per cent. The 

 highest yield was obtained by theDjoeja 

 factory which was 112,792 kg. per hectare 

 (or five tons per acre). The production of 

 white crystal sugar is increasing con- 

 siderably. The total Java crop of all 

 kinds was as follows :— 



Year. Production tons. 



1894 ... ... 530,963 



1895 ... ... 581,569 



1896 ... ... 534,390 



1897 ... ... 586,299 



1898 ... ... 725,030 



1899 ... ... 762,447 



1900 ... ... 744,257 



1901 ... ... 803,735 



1902 ... ... 897,130 



1903 ... ... 952,307 



1904 ... ... 1,055,043 



1905 ... ... 1,039,178 



1906 ... ... 1,067,798 



1907 ... ... 1,210,197 



1908 ... ... 1,241,885 



A very large proportion of Java Sugar 

 is exported to other Asiatic countries, 



aud in 1906 British India, China and 

 Japan imported about 760,000 tons of the 

 production of the Island. It may be 

 added that while the Java crop in 1908 

 amounted to 1,242,000 tons, the area 

 planted in 1910 showed an increase of 

 5,000 hectares the yield of which is not 

 at present, of course, known. A con- 

 siderable amount of irrigation is being 

 carried out in Java, and the works when 

 finished will have tUe effect of increasing 

 the area under cane, so that a total yield 

 in the course of a few years of 1,500,000 

 or 1,600,000 tons may be expected especi- 

 ally as the planters have profited 

 enormously by the rise iu sugar'. The 

 whole of the 1909 crop was sold at an 

 average price of of 6 1-2 florins per picul 

 of sugar No. 12, whereas the average 

 cost of production iu most of the fac- 

 tories is less than 4 1-2 and even 4 florins 

 per picul. These remarkable profits 

 will, of course, be largely raised if the 

 present price of sugar continues. 



We recommend these facts to the care- 

 ful study of our West Indian readers. 

 They have nothing to look for from the 

 mother country in the shape of protec- 

 tive duties, and the arrangement with 

 Canada can never help them to any 

 important degree, particularly as it is 

 found iu practice that the preferential 

 duty is annexed by the Canadian re- 

 finers. The progress of Java with 

 absolutely no bounty, preference, or 

 extraneous benefit of any sort whatever, 

 shows what can be done in sugar plant- 

 ing if the growers would only act accor- 

 ding to the dictates of science or even of 

 common sense. During the past 50 years 

 to our personal knowledge our West 

 Indian Planters have done nothing to 

 speak of except cry for the moon, where- 

 as if they had re-constructed their 

 industry they would now have been in a 

 state of remarkable prosperity instead 

 of being the reverse. It will be noted 

 while the seeding of the cane was first 

 discovered in Barbados, that more 

 practicable steps have been taken to 

 apply this great discovery in Java than 

 in the West Indies. The Dutch planters 

 look to science for aid — our colonists 

 look to the mother country or to some 

 juggling with tariffs in Canada or 

 America. 



