NOVBMBBR, 1911.] 



425 



Miscellaneous Products. 



capital in the industry to any consider- 

 able extent. 



There has been some improvement 

 noticeable in the methods pursued by 

 planters since a better price was assured 

 them by reason of the availability ot 

 the United States markets. Also, there 

 has been one large enterprise started 

 that will add materially to the cultivated 

 area as well as introduce a new standard 

 of quality and grade of the sugar 

 produced. 



The methods employed here generally 

 in the cultivation, manufacture and 

 packing of sugar are extremely primitive 

 and will admit of very material im- 

 provement. In preparing the soil for 

 cultivation a plough is used that over- 

 turns the earth to a depth of only 4 to 6 

 inches, whereas modern methods require 

 at least 18 inches to 2 feet of ploughing. 

 Rows are planted very close together, 

 which do not permit of good cultiv- 

 ation, and the mills are as a rule of an 

 obsolete type, recovering from the 

 grinding of the cane an average of not 

 more than 65% of the juice content, and 

 it sometimes goes as low as 50 %. 

 Modern mills extract 94 to 99 % of the 

 juice contained in the cane. The residue 

 from the cane after crushing has to be 

 dried for some time in the sun before it 

 can be burned. In modern mills it is 

 practically dry as it leaves the rollers 

 and is conveyed automatically to the 

 furnaces where it furnishes all neces- 

 sary fuel, It can readily be seen that 

 an immense saving is possible with 

 modern methods substituted for those 



now in use, but modern sugar mills are 

 expen&ive affairs and are beyond the 

 reach of the average planter. The natur- 

 al solution of existing difficulties would 

 appear to be central that has develop- 

 ed so larg ely in the industry in Porto 

 Rico and Cuba. The shortness of the 

 cutting season in the Philippines, how- 

 ever, renders it difficult to obtain 

 capital for a large mill of this kind, for 

 the reason that it would be next to 

 impossible to obtain the co-operation of 

 enough planters in any one neighbour- 

 hood to insure a continuous supply of 

 cane during the 100 to 120 days that a 

 mill can be operated. 



The sugar industry in the Philippines 

 requires large capital, but the returns 

 that may be counted upon with assur- 

 ance are so great that it should invite 

 the attention of investors who are con- 

 versant with it. The cane will mature 

 here in from 12 to 15 months, while 20 

 months and upwards are necessary to 

 its growth in Hawaii. There is reason- 

 ably sure rainfall on which the Filipino 

 always depends, but irrigation would 

 doubtless increase the production and 

 improve the cane when grown. Scienti- 

 fic fertilization is practically unknown 

 in the islands, but the use of fertilizers 

 and more care given to the cultivation 

 of the cane would insure a much greater- 

 yield. The industry awaits the appli- 

 cation of proper methods, and that it 

 has not received from American capital 

 the attention that it merits would 

 appear to be a reflection on the far- 

 sightedness of those who control that 

 capital. 



MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTS. 



THE LAC INDUSTRY. 



(From the Indian Agriculturist, 

 Vol. XXXVL, No. 3, March 1, 1911.) 

 Part III, Vol. I, of the Indian Forest 

 Memoirs is devoted to a note on the lac 

 insect, its life historv, propagation, and 

 collection, by Mr. E. P. Stebbing, De- 

 puty Conservator of Forests, Bengal 

 Division, The present memoir is a revi- 

 sion and enlargement of a monograph on 

 the lac insect published in 1908, which is 

 now out of print. The necessity for 

 the new edition has arisen from the 

 great impetus which the cultivation has 

 received owing to the largely increased 

 demand for lac. This increased demand 

 is mainly attributable to export influ- 

 ence, as though lac enters very largely 

 54 



into the agricultural, commercial, artis- 

 tic, manufacturing and domestic affairs 

 ot the people of India, it was not till 

 shellac, which is the manufactured form 

 of lac, came to be largely used in elec- 

 trical work, the manufacture of gramo- 

 phone records, as a stiffening material 

 for hats, as an ingredient in lithogra- 

 phic ink, and as sealing wax, in Europe 

 and America, that the question of the 

 supply of lac assumed a position of 

 importance. Concurrently with this 

 enlargement of its use, the quantities 

 of lac exported by sea to foreign 

 countries enormously increased. Cal- 

 cutta is the principal exporting centre, 

 and the amount sent out from that port 

 increased from 82,038 cwts. in 1878-9 to 

 102,686 cwts. in 1888-9, to 178,722 cwts. in 

 1898-9, and to 377,317 cwts. iu 1908-9. 



