1 May, 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 399 
THE DIVI-DIVI. 
Tire following additional reports on the sample of Divi-divi sent to England 
by the Department of Agriculture, last year, have been received through the 
Acting Agent-General in London :— 
Messrs. Anning and Cobb :—“ We have received the sample of Divi-divi, 
which we report on as follows: Rather dark in colour, sound, and well grown. 
Value, from £9 to £10 per ton. ‘This is as near as we can get to its value 
without testing.” 2 
Messrs, Samuel Barrow and Brother, Limited :—“ Referring to your inquiry: 
of the 29th January, the value in London of the Divi-divi is about £7 per ton, 
but-it is very little used for tanning purposes, however, ou account of its 
liability to ferment. Atmospheric influences do not agree with it.” 
Tn our remarks on the Divi-divi tree last month, we stated that ‘a net 
rofit of 18s. per ton has been derived from 25-year-old trees.’ (Vol. IL, 
Part 4, p. 305.) This is an obvious misprint. It should have read “ 18s. per 
tree.” 
THE. WORLD’S CANE SUGAR INDUSTRY. 
ComMUNICATED BY J. C, BRUNNICH, 
Agricultural Chemist, Queensland Agricultural College. 
Ture director of the Sugar Experiment Station in West Java, Mr. H. C. 
Prinsen Geerligs, has just published a very interesting account of the sugar- 
cane industry in the various countries of the world.* This account is of the | 
greatest interest to our colony in particular, although we produce only about 
‘02 per cent. of the total cane sugar produced in the world. At the end of the 
pamphlet Mr. Prinsen Geerligs gives tables showing the production of sugar 
in the various countries, and also the cost of this production; and for the 
benefit of our readers I give these tables, and also translate some of these figures 
into values more familiar to us. 
From these figures we can see that in point of manufacture very little is 
to be learned in our colony, and that we occupy the fourth place with regard to 
the cost of sugar turned out in spite of our smaller mills. Still our yield of 
sugar per acre of cane cultivated (16 tons) is very small in comparison with 
the yield of some of the other countries. 
Although we can never hope to reach the phenomenai maximum yields of - 
Java and the Sandwich Islands with 6 and 8 tons of sugar per acre respectively, 
still we should try to improve the yield of our own canes. Bothin Java and 
in the Sandwich Islands, celebrated Sugar Experiment Stations exist, and I have 
no doubt that their great success is due to better cultivation and to the results 
of the researches and experiments carried out at these stations. mat 
As long as experimenting is confined in this colony to a few individuals 
showing a keener interest in the industry than the rest, but still working with* 
out organisation, we cannot hope for great results. Only the establishing of 
Sugar Experiment Stations in the principal sugar districts will be of value, and 
then the co-operation of the few workers and the use of their results will 
become doubly useful and beneficial to this important industry of our colony, 
and the men who necd help most, the cane-farmers, will be the chief gainers. 
* De toestand der rietsuiker industrie in tle ipa ne productielanden, door H. C. Prinsen 
Geerligs. 
