Pekalongan 15 29,847 124,322
Samarang 12 22,490 97,462
Banjoemas 5 } 18,640 82,142
Kedoe 2 }
Djokjakarta 18 27,785 120,384
Soerakarta 16 24,122 97,706
Madioen 6 13,376 47,463
Kediri 20 48,005 195,232
Sourabaya 38 65,633 275,920
Pasoeroean 29 57,684 199,390
Bezoeki 11 16,763 58,493
--- ------- ---------
Total 184 346,691 1,384,242
While these figures show the acreage actually under cane, the total
amount of land used in the production of the crop is much greater. It
takes over twelve months for the cane to mature, and as some fields are
being cut others are being planted. The ground required for factory
buildings, dwellings, roads and other purposes connected with the
industry must also be taken into account, and it has been estimated that
altogether 1,200,000 acres are tributary to cane culture. The annual
plantings cover about 350,000 acres and the portion of the remainder that
is not devoted to roads, buildings and so forth is sown with other crops
or allowed to lie fallow for a time.
The general plan of crop rotation on an average is:
First year May-October, sugar-cane crop is cut.
” October-November, soya beans, maize, etc.
” November-April, rice.
Second year April-November, indigo, tobacco, beans, fallow.
” November-April, rice.
Third year April until May-October of the fourth year, sugar-cane
crop.
Sometimes tapioca is planted instead of rice immediately after the cane
crop is harvested, but cane invariably follows a rice crop. The European
planter confines his operations to sugar cane, and the other products are
raised by the native farmer exclusively by his own efforts and on his own
account.
The terms under which plantation land is held in Java differ widely from
those that govern in other cane-growing countries. Between 1830 and
1879, when the compulsory cultural plan was in effect, the government
determined what lands were to be planted in cane. It compelled the
natives to cultivate and harvest the crop, but allowed them compensation
for their labor and the use of their fields. The wages thus paid were
ultimately accounted for when the sugar was sold by the government.
Each district, or group of districts, delivered the cane product to the
mill agreed upon and the grinding was done under a contract with the
government.
When, at a later period, the sugar estates had to produce their own cane,
they gradually took over the land on a rental basis and grew cane upon it
by paid native labor. In 1879, when cultivation was free, the government
factories had 7531 acres leased from the natives, in addition to 64,470
acres of cane that they ground under contract with the government. At
this time the independent factories had 16,824 acres rented and were
growing cane upon it under their own management and for their own account.
During the gradual abolition of the cultural system, the fields first
given up by the government were those situated at a considerable distance
from the factories and those to which it was difficult to bring water
for irrigation. It came about naturally that when the factories had the
selecting of the lands they were to rent, they picked out the best in
their neighborhood for their purposes. In this way an exchange of the
tilled fields was effected. Subsequently, estates were extended and new
tracts of land occupied, but in increasing the acreage, each factory was
careful to confine its operations to its own district and thus avoid
competing with other factories in renting new ground. The old-established
factories already had their acreage, and when the compulsory cultivation
plan was abandoned, they mutually agreed upon the territory in which
each factory should rent land without interference on the part of any
of the others. Whenever a new plantation was established, its district
was clearly defined, so it will be seen that under this plan there could
be no competitive bidding on land rents. There have been instances of
newcomers having disregarded this convention, but in every case they have
sooner or later acknowledged their error, and today there is perfect
harmony among the factors as to the territory in which each interest
rents its land.
In Java, cane is almost always grown on lands irrigated by the same means
that are employed in irrigating rice, the privilege of using these works
being included in the rent of the land. Under the compulsory régime it
was the rule that in the dry season irrigation water should be utilized
for the cane fields during the day and for native agriculture during the
night, and this regulation remained effective after the withdrawal of
the government from the industry.
As the water supply was controlled by private enterprises, it frequently
happened that in a time of scarcity it was not impartially distributed.
After 1890, when the acreage of the cane plantations was being
constantly extended, the authorities found themselves obliged to prevent
encroachment by the cane growers on the land required to produce the
necessities of life for the natives, and also to see to it that the
new extensions of cane land should not be allowed to appropriate an
undue proportion of the available water to the detriment of both the
established plantations and the native agriculture. Accordingly, in 1894,
legislation touching the renting of land and the use of water was begun,
the principal features being as follows:
All new sugar enterprises, or any addition to an existing enterprise,
to apply to the director of the civil service for his sanction of the
undertaking, and the applicant to declare the maximum area of land to be
planted with cane each year, as well as the names of the districts in
which it is desired to rent cane lands.
The authorities investigate conditions in order to determine whether or
not the proposed increase will conform to the rules governing the “Lease
under contract with the native population.” They are also careful to
satisfy themselves that the granting of the request will not produce
unfair disparity between the amount of land and water used for cane
cultivation and that devoted to the raising of foods for the natives.
The permit to rent the necessary amount of ground provides that, while
the length of the lease may vary according to conditions, the land
cannot be held by the sugar factory any longer than is necessary to grow
and harvest one crop of cane. This takes between fifteen and seventeen
months, and the land must be in the hands of the native farmer directly
before and after that period. Leases to be valid must be drawn up before
a civil-service official and have his approval.
No permits for the establishment of new factories or the extension of
existing enterprises will be issued for the time being in districts where
important changes in the irrigating system, either new construction or
additions, are contemplated. As a rule, the period during which the
natives are prohibited from renting lands that have been opened up to
irrigation for the first time is fixed at five years. This is done in
order to afford the natives an opportunity to realize what the land is
worth before leasing it. The amount of water to be used in the growing of
rice and other crops as well as cane has also been clearly agreed upon
and great care is taken to see that full justice is done to all concerned.
As the water brought by canal is not sufficient to irrigate the entire
cane acreage, the government has allowed the factories to install a
number of large pumping plants by which water is raised from rivers. In
such cases, whenever the factories have pumped water enough for their own
requirements, they are generally willing to operate the pump free of cost
to supply water to the native farmer.
In the principalities or semi-independent states of Java, where the
native princes have made grants of land to their nobles as appanage,
another rental system prevails. Both princes and nobles lease large
tracts of land for long periods to European agriculturists, and such
leases include not only the fertile portion with the irrigation
facilities and the water, but the rocky, barren spaces as well. Here the
tenant has to make the most of the possibilities of the property and
determine what part of it is best suited for cane culture and what part
for other purposes.
Besides the two plans of tenure just described, certain lands are held
under absolute title or perpetual lease. Over a hundred years ago
large tracts were sold outright at times, the title carrying all the
seignioral rights, and consequently the owners are free to plant and
irrigate without restriction. In later years European farmers were
no longer permitted to purchase, but much jungle land was leased for
seventy-five-year periods. Such leases were made for the most part in
mountainous or sparsely settled territory, and as sugar culture thrives
best in the low plains where labor is plentiful, sugar has not been
benefited as much by the long-term leases as have tea and cinchona bark.
Still there are sugar plantations that hold land under perpetual lease
with unrestricted rights and water for irrigation.
Plantations situated in the thickly populated lowlands have no trouble
in securing labor, but it is another matter in districts that have been
newly opened up or on perpetual-lease holdings where the population
is small. In the last two cases labor must be brought in from other
districts, and sometimes there is difficulty in doing this, especially
during the rice harvest or when large public works are under construction.
However, such conditions are unusual, and, as compared with other
sugar-producing countries, Java is in a peculiarly fortunate position
with respect to a steady supply of good labor at low cost. All of the
arduous work is done by men, but women cut cane tops, plant seed and do
watering and weeding, while children are employed in destroying insects
and other light work.
In April or May, as soon as the rice crop has been cut, the field is
prepared for planting sugar cane. The soil is first drained of its
superfluous moisture, and, if the ground be loose, it is generally
ploughed several times. Heavy soils, instead of being ploughed, are
treated by the Reynoso method. This consists of digging deep ditches to
carry off the subsoil water and to supply irrigation water later on. The
plot is then divided by cross ditches into pieces about one-sixth of an
acre in size and finally the furrows for the seed are dug. These furrows
are generally thirty feet long, from twelve to eighteen inches wide,
twelve or fifteen inches deep and four or five feet apart. The earth
displaced in digging is piled up between the furrows. Thus prepared,
the field is left exposed to wind and sun for about six weeks and at
the end of this period the heavy wet clods have crumbled into a gray or
light-brown powder. During the drying-out process the grass has to be
removed repeatedly, and in case of rain, the soil that is washed down
into the furrows is thrown back upon the ridges to prevent the furrows
from silting up. The hard bottom of the furrow is loosened or square
holes are dug in it and filled with loose soil. Part of the earth on
the ridges is thrown into the furrow and the field is then ready for
planting.
[Illustration: SUGAR CANE AFFECTED BY THE SEREH, JAVA]
[Illustration: SEEDLING CANES, JAVA]
Before the outbreak of the sereh, seed for new plantations was obtained
exclusively from tops of ripe cane, but when the disease became
prevalent, it was found that cuttings taken from sereh-infected cane gave
diseased yields, while cuttings from cane grown in districts not affected
by the sereh produced cane that did not suffer so greatly from the
disease. At the beginning of the trouble, cuttings from outside healthy
districts were used, but as the disease spread, the demand for sound
cuttings increased while the sources of supply became fewer. Finally,
plantations were established in remote districts free from disease and
they were carefully quarantined. Here seedlings were grown from young
cane cut at full length, and in this way sound seed was obtainable at all
times. Formerly, seed was only to be had in the grinding season, which
frequently occasioned delays in planting. The new plan not only enabled
the cane growers to stamp out the sereh, but even after the disease had
been practically eradicated it was continued because of its manifest
advantages.
Seedlings used for planting are cut into lengths, each having three
eyes. Unhealthy stalks and any showing the presence of insect pests or
fungi are culled, while the sound pieces are carefully disinfected. The
seed thus prepared is placed horizontally in the furrows end-to-end
and covered with earth. At first water is applied at four- or five-day
intervals, afterward less frequently, until the cane has attained a
considerable height. About this time the rainy monsoon sets in and
further irrigation is not needed. The stalks are banked several times
during the early period of growth and fertilizing accompanies the second
and third banking. Until comparatively recently the fertilizer consisted
of nitrogenous substances, while potash and phosphoric acid were
considered of no value. The first investigations concerning fertilizers
were made on rich lands that had been irrigated with river water when the
wet rice crop was being grown, and the water brought with it sufficient
potash and phosphates for the needs of the cane. In such cases it was
shown that adding these substances to the soil was unnecessary and that
nitrogen was the only element that could increase the yield of cane.
Hence groundnut cakes and sulphate of ammonia were used almost entirely.
It has been proved, however, by more thorough study that much ground is
low in phosphates, and this fertilizer has been added with excellent
results. As regards potash, the soil of Java seems to contain sufficient
for cane cultivation.
When the cane leaves become sufficiently thick to shade the ground the
weeds die. Borers, beetle larvae and termites are caught during the early
growing period, but all labor stops with the last banking and the advent
of the wet monsoon. When the wet season is over, the cane is trashed and
samples of the growing cane are taken from the fields and tested in the
laboratory of the factory to determine the degree of ripeness. As soon
as the roads become dry enough to admit of cane-laden carts passing over
them, the harvesting of the ripest cane begins. The cane is dug up by
the roots, care being taken to leave as little as possible of the roots
in the ground. The roots and the earth adhering to them are removed,
together with the leaves and tops, and the clean cane is loaded on cars
to be taken to the mill.
Formerly carts drawn by oxen and buffaloes were used to transport the
cane to the factory, but the crop has grown to such proportions that
cattle-drawn carts have had to give way to the rail. Today nearly every
plantation has its own railroad with permanent and portable tracks, over
which the cane moves in cars hauled by cattle or locomotives.
Having been unloaded at the mill, the cane is taken to the crushers on
carriers. Three sets of rolls are generally used and water is sprayed
on the cane before the last crushing, after which the bagasse is fed to
the furnaces as fuel. The juice is strained to free it from fragments
of cane and leaves, then milk of lime is added and heat applied. The
heavy impurities settle at the bottom, the clear juice is drawn off and
the remaining juice is separated from the foreign matter in the filter
presses. Another method is to treat the juice at a low temperature with
a large admixture of milk of lime, and afterward with carbonic acid or
sulphurous acid until all the lime is neutralized. Then all the juice
is clarified by filtration without the settling operation. Next follow
evaporation, refiltering, boiling to grain and separation of the crystals
from the mother liquor in centrifugal machines.
In 1903 the Java manufacturers began to make a bid for the British
Indian trade. After some experimenting they succeeded in producing an
almost-white raw sugar, which at once found favor in India, where sugar
refined by the bone-char process was objected to for religious reasons.
Statistics compiled for the year 1912 show that this so-called “Java
white” represented 39.2 per cent of the entire output; 26.2 per cent was
muscavado, 29.9 per cent European assortment and 4.7 per cent second
sugars.
Java, with her population of more than thirty millions, presents
altogether different conditions to the sugar grower than other
cane-producing countries. A large proportion of the agricultural area is
needed for crops of food to nourish the inhabitants. The land available
for sugar cane is rented at an equitable figure and, as has been said,
there is always an ample supply of cheap and readily obtainable labor.
The aim of the Javan planter is to produce cane carrying a high sugar
content and to get as great a yield as possible. To this end, unceasing
attention is paid to cultivation, fertilizing and the general well-being
of the crop; in other words, the soil is worked for all there is in it.
While the scientists of the country are absorbed in the task of producing
through cross-culture new species of cane that will give a heavier
yield per acre with a higher sugar content and greater purity, the
agriculturists are opening up extensive fresh tracts of rice and cane
land. New irrigation projects play an important part in this development
and everything points to a steady growth of the industry.
The following table shows the annual output since 1840 in tons of 2240
pounds:
1840 46,296
1841 45,176
1842 50,320
1843 55,544
1844 62,419
1845 89,526
1846 86,263
1847 81,431
1848 88,512
1849 103,445
1850 85,153
1851 118,443
1852 74,806
1853 109,961
1854 110,323
1855 102,321
1856 123,124
1857 104,479
1858 130,725
1859 131,571
1860 134,001
1861 134,726
1862 142,755
1863 129,716
1864 138,009
1865 135,714
1866 140,042
1867 130,947
1868 175,960
1869 179,579
1870 150,184
1871 187,851
1872 205,992
1873 195,924
1874 198,318
1875 190,576
1876 234,111
1877 241,930
1878 221,140
1879 229,616
1880 212,763
1881 274,796
1882 287,392
1883 319,574
1884 388,019
1885 374,041
1886 350,397
1887 369,847
1888 349,719
1889 327,735
1890 393,680
1891 400,372
1892 415,332
1893 472,082
1894 522,574
1895 572,381
1896 525,947
1897 577,036
1898 713,575
1899 750,400
1900 732,498
1901 791,046
1902 882,966
1903 929,880
1904 1,038,373
1905 1,022,759
1906 1,050,926
1907 1,191,007
1908 1,222,262
1909 1,227,553
1910 1,258,222
1911 1,443,397
1912 1,331,180
1913 1,345,230
1914 1,303,045
1915 1,264,000
1916 1,500,000[87]
AUSTRALIA
The island-continent of Australia lies south of Asia, between the Indian
and Pacific oceans, and it extends from 10 degrees 41 minutes to 39
degrees 8 minutes south latitude and from 113 degrees to 153 degrees
30 minutes east longitude. Its area is 2,974,581 square miles and the
population, not including aborigines, is 4,455,005, mainly of British
origin.
Dutch and Spanish explorers visited Australia in 1606. On April 19,
1770, its eastern coast was first sighted by Cook, who, nine days later,
dropped anchor in Botany bay. Sailing north, he touched at several
points, and after having completed a survey of the east coast, he took
possession of the territory between 38 degrees south and 10 degrees 30
minutes south. He reached Australia again in 1772 and in 1777 he landed
on the coasts of Tasmania and New Zealand. The first settlement was
established at Port Jackson in 1788 and gold was discovered in 1851. The
commonwealth of Australia comprises the following political divisions:
Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Northern
Territory, Western Australia and Tasmania.
As over 90 per cent of Australia’s sugar crop comes from Queensland, this
article will deal with the growth and condition of the industry in that
state only. Queensland has an area of 668,497 square miles, of which
920,010 acres were under cultivation in 1913; of this, 147,743 acres were
planted with sugar cane.
[Illustration: CUTTING CANE, MAROOCHY RIVER, SOUTH QUEENSLAND]
[Illustration: CARTING CANE TO MILL, INGHAM DISTRICT, NORTH QUEENSLAND]
About one-half of Queensland lies in the tropics and the remaining area
stretches southward to the twenty-ninth parallel. The temperature is
affected in a marked degree by the breezes that blow steadily from the
sea and moderate what otherwise would be excessive heat. It is warmer
along the coast than in the uplands of the interior, and in the northern
part the heat is very trying to people who have come from temperate
climes. At Rockhampton the winter temperature averages 65 degrees
Fahrenheit, and in summer the mean is nearly 85 degrees. The annual
rainfall on the seacoast is large, particularly in the north, where it
ranges between 60 and 70 inches. At Brisbane it is about 47 inches, while
a large part of the interior receives from 20 to 30 inches, but it falls
below 20 inches in the west and south. There are no active volcanoes in
Australia and no violent earthquakes have occurred in recent years.
The sugar plantations of Queensland are found in a strip of territory
running along the eastern coast between the sixteenth parallel and
the southern border. This stretch of land has been divided into three
districts, the southern, the central and the northern, the last being
the most important, as it furnishes over 60 per cent of the total sugar
production of the state.
The cane lands are of two kinds—scrub land and forest land. The scrub
lands may be divided into two classes, _true scrub_ and _bastard scrub_,
the former being characterized by a dense, almost impenetrable vine
growth and timber of soft wood. In the bastard scrub there are both hard
and soft woods, the former predominating, and very little vine growth
is met with. The soil of true scrub lands is of two kinds, alluvial
and volcanic. The alluvial soil is composed of clay, fine sand, gravel
and vegetable and mineral matter brought from the high levels by water
action. The soil of forest lands is diversified and, for sugar-cane
culture, “blady grassed” bloodwood country with a porous subsoil is
selected. Here the yield of cane per acre is not so heavy as on scrub
lands, but the sugar content of the juice is greater.
The growth of sugar cane and the manufacture of sugar in Australia
date back to 1823, but no substantial progress was made for a number
of years. The first cane to be raised in Queensland was grown in the
botanic gardens in Brisbane in 1847 and sugar was first manufactured in
that state in 1862. The following year Captain Louis Hope had twenty
acres in cane on a plantation near Brisbane and to him is due the credit
of establishing the sugar industry in Queensland. In 1867 there were
nearly 2000 acres in cane and six mills in operation, while the next year
saw 5000 acres planted, with twenty-eight mills at work. The industry
grew and throve until 1875, when the cane crop was almost completely
destroyed by a disease known as “rust,” which was really due to imperfect
cultivation, lack of proper drainage and the soft variety of the cane.
As over 60 per cent of the estates were being operated with borrowed
capital, the planters found themselves in serious financial trouble and
many mortgages were foreclosed. Up to this time Bourbon cane was the
variety generally grown, and when the disease wrought such havoc with the
crop, it was noticed that the Rappoe cane did not suffer from rust. The
hardiness of this variety encouraged the growers to substitute it and
other sturdy species of cane for the Bourbon. The change proved entirely
successful and the planters enjoyed good times once more.
The sugar industry of Queensland was carried on at the outset under the
plantation system, that is to say, the planter, besides growing the
cane, owned the mill and manufactured the sugar. This method worked very
well until 1884, when a period of extreme depression came in the wake of
the great boom that began in 1879. In 1885 the industry appeared to be
in danger of extinction, and, as a remedial measure, the legislative
assembly voted £50,000 for the establishing of central factories. Two
mills were operated on the new plan as an experiment with such marked
success that an act was passed in 1893 to foster the development of the
central-factory system. The act enabled a number of planters to form a
co-operative company for the purpose of building and equipping a central
mill. The necessary funds were obtained from the government, the cane
lands being pledged as security for the loan, and the mills erected by
this means became the property of the companies upon the payment of the
loan. The large estates were gradually cut up into tracts of from fifty
to one hundred acres each and were leased or sold on reasonable terms; in
this way the land was settled by a large number of farmers.
[Illustration: ISIS CENTRAL MILL, CHILDERS, SOUTH QUEENSLAND]
[Illustration: CANE UNLOADER, MULGRAVE CENTRAL SUGAR MILL, CAIRNS
DISTRICT, NORTH QUEENSLAND]
Nevertheless, there was grave danger that the benefit accomplished by
this new law would be more than offset by the “white labor” agitation. As
is well known, the labor party is very strong in Australia, and probably
no other branch of agriculture in that country has been so beset with
labor troubles as the sugar industry. For nearly thirty years the supply
of laborers for the cane fields was drawn from the South Sea islands and
India, principally the former. The white laborers were loud and insistent
in their protests against the employment of Kanakas, as the islanders
were called, and finally, after the formation of the commonwealth in
1900, an act excluding colored labor entirely and providing for the
deportation of the Kanakas to their homes was passed by the federal
government. To afford the planter relief for the hardship worked upon
him by this measure by reason of the high wages they had to pay in order
to secure white laborers, a duty was placed upon foreign sugar. A bounty
upon sugar produced by white labor was also provided for, but this,
together with the excise tax on sugar, was abolished in 1913. Today the
industry is protected by a customs tariff of one and three-tenth cents
per pound.
When cane is to be planted in new ground, the scrub, stumps and logs
are first cleared away and the field is then ready for the seed. Holes
are made with a mattock at regular intervals, the seed cane is placed
therein, covered with earth and left to grow. The ground is hoed from
time to time to keep the weeds under control, but the young cane does not
require much attention after the first five or six months. On cleared
land, ploughing is done two, three or four times, after which the surface
is harrowed, rolled and planted. Three or four weedings are necessary
during the growth of the crop.
From Mackay northward planting is done between February and October, but
in certain low-lying districts in the north May, June and July are not
considered good months for planting on account of the possibility of
frosts. The cane ripens in from twelve to eighteen months. In the region
south of the tropic line, planting is done early, although much cane is
set out in August and September. The cane when cut is transported to the
mills by narrow-gauge railroads, some of these lines being portable. In
the north crushing begins in June and ends in December, while in the
south the greater part of it is done from August to December. From two to
four crops of ratoons are raised, but usually not more than three, the
land lying fallow for one season. Fertilizing is not generally practiced,
although some growers make use of legumes or dry manures as enrichers.
The former consist of the Mauritius bean, the cow-pea and vetches, which
are ploughed into the land after they have attained a certain growth.
Under ordinary conditions the rainfall is so evenly distributed in the
sugar-growing districts that irrigation is not needed. Still, there
are places where it has been found necessary to irrigate freely, owing
to the amount of rain being insufficient for the crop needs. In such
cases, wherever practicable, water is obtained by damming rivers and
streams and is distributed over the cane fields through ditches by
gravity. Where, however, the topography of the country does not admit
of this being done, pumping is resorted to and large stations have been
established for this purpose. The yield of sugar per acre since 1894 has
been 1.688 tons and the amount of sugar extracted since 1904 averaged
10.95 per cent of the weight of the cane.
The federal government maintains an experiment station at Mackay and
experiment farms have been laid out in the important sugar centers. The
value of the work done at this station cannot be too highly estimated.
The scientists in charge are constantly on the lookout for new varieties
of cane and are on the alert to fight diseases and pests. The chief
enemies of the cane in Queensland are cane grub, fungus pest, frosts and
floods.
Today Queensland has forty-eight sugar mills and two refineries. Thirteen
of the mills are centrals and four of these are under state control.
Additional factories are under construction.
Most of these plants are equipped with three sets of rollers and modern
machinery, the capacity ranging from 70 to 960 tons of cane per day.
The annual production of sugar in Queensland since 1894 in long tons has
been as follows:
1894-95 91,712
1895-96 86,255
1896-97 109,774
1897-98 97,916
1898-99 163,734
1899-00 123,289
1900-01 92,554
1901-02 120,858
1902-03 77,835
1903-04 89,862
1904-05 145,020
1905-06 152,259
1906-07 182,188
1907-08 185,063
1908-09 150,400
1909-10 132,816
1910-11 207,340
1911-12 176,076
1912-13 113,060
1913-14 255,000
1914-15 246,408
1915-16 150,000
1916-17 200,000[88]
MAURITIUS
Great Britain’s island colony, Mauritius, lies in the Indian ocean
between 57 degrees 18 minutes east and 57 degrees 49 minutes east, and
19 degrees 58 minutes and 20 degrees 32 minutes south, 550 miles from
Madagascar. Irregular in shape, it extends 36 miles from north-northeast
to south-southwest, and its greatest width is 23 miles. Its area is 710
square miles.
Mauritius is of volcanic origin, although signs of volcanic activity no
longer exist. It is encircled by a coral reef which is submerged at high
tide. The central part of the island is a tableland that rises from 500
to 2700 feet above sea-level and occupies more than half of the total
surface. In the north and northeastern coast regions there are extensive
low plains, but the rest of the coast territory is more or less broken by
hills. The registrar-general’s report for 1908 gives the population as
374,450.
The climate is agreeable during the cool season, but oppressively hot
in summer, which begins in December and ends in March. The temperature
falls from April to June and rises again from June to December. In the
elevated inland plains of the interior the thermometer ranges from 70 to
80 degrees Fahrenheit in summer, and in Port Louis and the coast region
it runs from 90 to 96 degrees during that season. The average temperature
at Port Louis is 78.6 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the year.
The rainfall varies greatly in different parts, but an average of ten
years (1893-1902) gave 79 inches for the entire island. Cyclones are
frequent and generally occur between December and April.
The soil consists chiefly of a very light clay formation, easily
penetrated by water. In some localities the clay is deep and evenly
deposited, while in others many large pieces of lava are found in it, so
that ploughing is impossible.
Mauritius was discovered by the Portuguese in 1505. From 1598 to 1710 it
was in the hands of the Dutch, and in 1715 it was taken by France, from
whom it was wrested by the British in 1810.
The Dutch brought sugar cane from Java to Mauritius in 1650, but their
efforts at cultivation were not successful.
When in 1741 de la Bourdonnais was appointed administrator of Mauritius,
or, as it was then called, l’Ile de France, it was a crown colony under
the control of the French East India company. The island was without
agriculture or commerce and the inhabitants were sunk in indolence. The
genius of the new executive brought order out of chaos, and his example
and assistance aroused the people from their lethargy. Sugar cane was
again imported in 1747 and in 1750 a sugar estate was established at
Pamplemousses in the northern part of the island by de la Villebague, the
governor’s brother. The industry expanded and was carried on with profit.
In 1769 an experiment station was established with a view to furnishing
planters with the knowledge of which they were so sorely in need.
Agricultural development, however, was not carried forward to any great
extent while Mauritius remained under French rule. State interference
with the planters had an unfortunate effect, and besides this the greater
number of the inhabitants looked upon the colony not as a permanent home,
but as a means to acquire sufficient money to enable them to return to
France and live there in comfort. The authorities deemed it essential
that the colony should produce the greater part of its foodstuffs, while
the planter on his side was anxious to grow crops that he believed would
give him the best results in money; for example, sugar, cotton, coffee,
indigo and spices.
In 1776 there were three small sugar factories on the island, and in 1789
the production of sugar was 300 tons. Disaster overtook the industry,
owing to conditions that made the cost of the mills abnormally great and
the extravagance with which they were operated. In consequence many of
those who built factories were ruined.
Shortly after the British occupation there was a change for the better.
In 1816 the production of sugar was 4430 tons, and from that time forward
the industry made continuous and steady progress. The planters were
encouraged and, as far as could be, helped in their operations, while the
policy of the government developed the colony’s resources and established
for it trade relations on a firm basis with other countries.
The method of extraction of sugar from the cane employed at the beginning
of the last century was primitive indeed. The apparatus consisted of a
solid, heavy table made of thick planks carefully finished and having
a perfectly smooth top. It was made in the shape of a parallelogram,
with a groove or gutter on each of its four sides and an opening in the
middle of each end gutter. Upon this table was a huge, heavy cylinder of
hard wood, slightly longer than the width of the table. Three, four, or
five stalks of cane were placed lengthwise on the table and submitted to
pressure by rolling the cylinder over them from one end to the other and
back again. The juice thus expressed from the cane ran into the gutters
at the sides and ends and through the holes into two tubs placed to
receive it. The cane stalks were then removed, put in the sun to dry and
afterward used as fuel in the boiling of the sugar juice. This operation
was repeated until a sufficient quantity of juice was obtained.
From the tubs, or “bacs,” the juice was run through a series of kettles,
or open-fire caldrons, for concentration. The kettle next in position
to the bac into which the juice from the table fell was called _la
grande_, because it was really the largest of the set. It was farthest
from the fire and served as a defecator. As soon as the juice contained
in it became heated, a thick, creamy substance formed on the surface
and was immediately skimmed off. The liquor was then ladled into the
second kettle, where the boiling became more lively on account of closer
proximity to the furnace. The juice bubbled up in foam and at this point
the cleansing process began. A long, flat piece of wood was passed slowly
over the surface of the liquor, thus removing certain impurities. Here
the mixture of lime begun in _la grande_ was continued until the liquor
was found to be perfectly clear.
Passing to the third kettle, the liquor was reduced to syrup by the
increased heat. It was concentrated in the fourth and boiled to grain in
the fifth. Directly under the fifth and last kettle of the set was the
furnace, which was fed by bagasse and cane trash.
The boiling process finished, the sugar was removed from kettle number
five and placed on tables, where it remained until it had to be taken to
larger tables farther on to make room for a fresh batch. There it stood
with other boilings until the following morning. Then the crystallized
mass was shoveled into pots and carried to large bins constructed so that
the liquor, or syrup, could drain off. This usually took from fifteen to
twenty days, after which time the sugar was dug out by pick and shovel,
put into baskets and taken to be spread out in the sun to dry. After two
to three hours of this drying, according to the intensity of the sun’s
rays, the sugar was packed in a double sack containing about 135 pounds.
By such means little more than one-third of the sugar in the cane could
have been recovered, and the product obtained was heavy and dark in color.
From 1816 to 1845 a change was gradually made from the clumsy apparatus
just described to three-roller vertical mills, and from wind- and
water-driven mills to steam power, thus increasing the extraction. No
perceptible improvement was effected in field methods during this period.
In 1852 a number of vacuum pans and centrifugal machines were in use.
Some eight or ten years later the efforts made to combat the diseases of
the cane began to bear fruit and the planters of the coast and inland
estates started to exchange cane tops.
During the period of 1866 to 1875 single crushing was almost universal.
A few factories used double crushing with maceration, but the mills
were not powerful. Marked progress was made in the chemical treatment
of the juice. Shortly afterward the planters began to appreciate the
vital importance of chemical control in their factories and scientific
principles were applied to the culture of the cane.
Up to 1835 the labor in the fields had been done by African negro
slaves. The emancipation of these slaves was declared on February 1st
of that year, and their final liberation took place in March, 1839. In
anticipation of this, the authorities had arranged five years previously
for the bringing in of a number of immigrants from India, and from that
time down to the present virtually all the labor required in the cane
fields has been drawn from India. In 1834 the immigrants from India
numbered 75 and in 1908 the Hindu population was 263,419.
One of the most important events in connection with the growth of
the sugar industry of Mauritius was the formation of the Chamber
of Agriculture in 1853. This body fostered mutual co-operation and
interchange of ideas among the planters. It exercised its influence
in bringing about legislation affecting agricultural and industrial
questions and the development of the resources of the colony. The
Station Agronomique, instituted in 1893, and the Bacteriological Station
in 1908, came into being as a result of the efforts of the Chamber
of Agriculture, to which credit is also due for the extension of the
cane-raising area to its present proportions.
During the last hundred years the island of Mauritius has suffered from
a series of disasters—epidemics of cholera, smallpox and bubonic plague,
hurricanes and droughts.
In 1892 a hurricane of extraordinary violence sowed frightful
devastation, destroying cane, wrecking houses and killing numbers of
people. Ten years later nearly all the draft animals were carried off
by _surra_, a deadly cattle disease, which made its appearance just
as the largest crop on record was about to be harvested. In addition
to the direct loss of horses, mules and cattle, the difficulties of
transportation delayed the work of gathering and crushing the cane long
after its maximum richness had been reached. The yield for the 1903 crop
was thus appreciably reduced, and the growing period for the crop of the
following year greatly curtailed. The shortage in 1903 has been placed at
11,000 tons, while that for 1904 amounted to 23,000 tons. These losses
caused such distress that it became necessary to invoke state aid, which
was provided by the Mechanical Transport loan of 1903.
All agricultural centers are subject to crises more or less serious in
character, and, as has just been shown, Mauritius is no exception to
the rule. Depressions resulting from crop shortages, however, should
not be confounded with the general troubles that have seriously menaced
the cane-sugar industry during the last half century, almost all of
which are attributable to the competition of the beet. Over sixty years
ago the Mauritian planters began to feel apprehensive concerning the
future of their sugar trade, owing to the rivalry of beet-root sugars
in the markets of Europe, and between 1870 and 1880 the prospects were
indeed gloomy. What chance had the cane-sugar-growing dependencies of
Great Britain against bounty-fed beet sugars raised on the continent?
If the increased production had taken place in the cane industry, the
disturbance in trade conditions would have been gradually overcome by a
process of natural adjustment. But unfortunately for the cane planters,
the enormous extension of sugar-raising possibilities by new means in
territory not hitherto available found them totally unprepared to cope
successfully with this new competition.
In 1885 the Chamber of Agriculture instituted an inquiry into the causes
that had brought the cane trade to such a critical state. The attention
of the planters was called to the improved methods employed by the
beet-sugar manufacturers and to the rapidity with which their trade
was expanding. The cane growers were earnestly urged to take steps to
meet the conditions that confronted them. Manifestly the cost in field
and factory was too high. The task of working out the problem took
considerable time and involved the outlay of vast sums of money. It was
all the more difficult because of the necessity for finding new capital
in the face of decreasing revenue, but it was undertaken with courage and
perseverance, and the results have justified the efforts put forth and
the sacrifices made.
The growers of sugar cane in Mauritius have adjusted themselves to the
new conditions. They have reduced plantation and manufacturing costs,
and scientific methods have enabled them to grow cane profitably on land
which could not possibly have been cultivated in the old way without
severe loss. Crude processes have given way to the modern sugar factory
with its up-to-date roller mills, clarifiers, triple effects, vacuum pans
and centrifugal machines, and the chemical engineer has changed the dark
mixture of crystals and molasses into an almost pure white granulated
sugar.
The crop for the season of 1915-16 amounted to 215,528 tons.
A great deal in the way of improvement in cultivation still remains to
be done, but it may be truly said that the island has fought its way
into the front ranks of sugar-producing countries. With its natural
advantages of climate and soil, the enormous possibilities of irrigation
and development of water power, the accessibility of an unlimited supply
of Asiatic labor, and the markets of India, Africa and Australia at its
doors, there is ample justification of high hopes for the future.
Yearly output of sugar, exclusive of local consumption, since 1895:
1895 143,000 tons
1896 153,000 ”
1897 124,000 ”
1898 183,000 ”
1899 161,000 ”
1900 190,000 ”
1901 155,000 ”
1902 142,000 ”
1903 218,000 ”
1904 142,101 ”
1905 188,364 ”
1906 220,000 ”
1907 170,000 ”
1908 205,758 ”
1909 244,597 ”
1910 226,099 ”
1911 164,260 ”
1912 206,497 ”
1913 249,800 ”
1914 277,164 ”
1915 215,528 ”
1916 220,000 ”[89]
NATAL
On Christmas day, 1497, Vasco da Gama, then on a voyage to India, sighted
the entrance to what is now Durban harbor, and named the country Terra
Natalis.
This maritime province of the British Union of South Africa lies
approximately between 27 degrees and 31 degrees south latitude and 29
degrees and 33 degrees east longitude. On the southeast it is bounded by
the Indian ocean, on the southwest by the Cape province and Basutoland,
on the northwest by the Orange Free State and on the north and northeast
by the Transvaal and Portuguese East Africa. Its coast line is 376 miles
long and its area is 35,371 square miles. It is divided into two parts,
Natal proper and Zululand, the former comprising 24,910 square miles and
the latter 10,461 square miles. In 1908 the population, including that of
Zululand, was 1,206,386, of whom 91,443 were European, 998,264 natives
and 116,679 Asiatics.
The surface of the country is of terrace formation. The coast strip south
of Durban is quite narrow, but north of that point it becomes wider and
more level. Ranges of hills roll back to the first plateau, which is
about 2000 feet above the sea. The second plateau rises sharply between
4000 and 5000 feet and extends to the Drakensberg mountains, whose base
is from 6000 to 7000 feet in elevation, and in which all the rivers of
Natal, except the coast streams, have their source.
Natal’s sugar plantations are situated in the low, moist regions of
the coast zone, between 28 degrees and 30 degrees south latitude, _i.
e._, quite a distance below the tropic of Capricorn. The industry had
its beginning in 1850, when the first cane was brought from Mauritius.
Operations did not amount to much at the outset; a limited amount of cane
was ground in small mills and the juice was boiled into sugar. In 1878,
however, a factory with the newest equipment of that time was erected
at Mount Edgecombe by Mauritius people. Henceforward, the production
of sugar in the colony has shown a steady growth, and today there are
thirty-four factories in active operation with an output of about 100,000
tons of sugar per annum.
The climate of the valleys and the coast belt is hot and humid. Summer,
beginning in October and ending in March, is the wet season, while May,
June and July are the driest months. At Durban the temperature ranges
from 42 degrees Fahrenheit in winter to 98 degrees Fahrenheit in summer,
the mean being 70 degrees, and both the temperature and the humidity are
affected by the Mozambique current that flows southward from the equator.
The annual rainfall at Durban is about 40 inches and the average for the
province is placed at 30 inches.
The kind of cane most generally grown in Natal at the present time is
the _Uba_, a hard, yellow variety that was brought from Hindustan. For
fertilization, stable manure, cane ash and phosphates are employed.
Owing to the geographical position of the country, it takes longer than
usual for the cane to ripen. Plant cane matures in two years and first
and second ratoons in eighteen months for each crop. So five years’
time is necessary to produce three crops, and at the end of this period
replanting is done. After the cane is cut, it is loaded on railway cars
for transportation to the mill. All of the raw sugar produced in Natal
is refined there, except what is consumed in a raw state. In addition to
the sugar made in the province, quite a little is imported from foreign
countries, as Natal distributes a good deal of the commodity in adjoining
states. The home industry is protected by a duty of $1.215 per 112 pounds
on foreign sugar, while no duty is assessed on sugar going from one
province to another throughout the British Union of South Africa.
Formerly the most desirable laborers came from India, but recently the
Indian government has stopped the exportation of natives of that country
as plantation laborers, so Natal, like many other sugar-growing sections,
has its labor problems.
The production in long tons since 1894 has been as follows:
1894 19,369
1895 20,508
1896 20,651
1897 20,245
1898 29,186
1899 Boer war
1900 16,689
1901 36,662
1902 21,095
1903 33,944
1904 19,238
1905 26,158
1906 21,479
1907 24,223
1908 31,999
1909 77,491
1910 84,437
1911 92,000
1912 82,589
1913 85,714
1914 91,619
1915 100,000
1916 125,000[90]
EGYPT
Egypt, the northeastern corner of the African continent, is bounded on
the north by the Mediterranean sea, on the northeast by Palestine, on
the east by the Red sea and on the west by Tripoli and the Sahara. The
22nd parallel of north latitude is the dividing line between it and the
Sudan on the south. Its area is about 400,000 square miles, of which by
far the greater part is desert; it has been truly said that the principal
features of Egypt are the desert and the Nile.
In 1907 the entire population was 11,189,978, exclusive of nomadic
Bedouin tribes, who numbered about 97,000. Of these 10,366,046 were
Egyptians, 735,012 settled Bedouins, 65,162 Nubians and 221,139
foreigners—British, Italians, Turks and Greeks.
The wonderful fertility of the soil of the valley of the Nile is due to
the annual inundation caused by the melting of the snows and the spring
rains in the region in which the Blue Nile has its source. The turbulent
waters of the swollen stream rush down the Nubian valley laden with rich
loam from the mountains of Abyssinia, and this is deposited upon the flat
plains on either side when the river overflows its banks. The period of
high water begins in June and lasts until the end of September.
The rainfall is slight and there are years when there is none whatever.
Crops, therefore, depend upon irrigation, and powerful pumping plants
supply the needs of the large estates, while the small native holdings
depend upon water-wheels worked by buffaloes or by the natives
themselves. The irrigation possibilities of the country were greatly
extended by the huge dam constructed by the government at Assuan in
1902. In the cane-raising country, the average temperature in summer
ranges between 82 degrees and 110 degrees Fahrenheit, and between
50 degrees and 86 degrees in winter. Cool nights are the rule and
occasionally there is a killing frost.
Sugar was introduced in Egypt by the Moslems when they conquered the
country, 640-646 A. D., and the Egyptians were quick to apply their
knowledge of chemistry to its preparation. By remelting the first
crystals, then treating the liquor with lime and albumen, removing the
suspended impurities by filtration, boiling to grain once more and
purging the crystals of their syrup by washing, they succeeded in making
a sugar far superior to that produced elsewhere. The cultivation of cane
prospered and the excellence of the sugar manufactured in Egypt was
maintained throughout the Middle Ages, until the conquest by the Turks
in 1517. Ottoman dominion ruined Egypt industrially. A little sugar cane
continued to be raised and some sugar was made, but on so unimportant a
scale as to be hardly deserving of mention. This state of affairs lasted
until 1850, when Ismail Pasha (afterward khedive, 1863-79,) caused sugar
cane to be brought from Jamaica and five years later the government
took steps to foster sugar manufacture. In 1877 a change came about,
through which the control of the factories passed from the hands of the
khedive to a government committee, under whose auspices several new mills
were constructed. In 1896 the output of sugar reached 75,000 tons. The
factories operated by the government body were sold in 1903 to a French
corporation, known as the “Société Générale des Sucreries d’Egypte,”
which some years previous had built three factories of its own. By this
purchase the French company practically obtained a monopoly of the
sugar business of the country. The financial crisis of 1905 proved a
setback, but after the trouble arising from this had passed, the company
formulated plans for enlarging its plantations and grinding an increased
amount of cane.
Sugar cane is grown along the Nile banks from a short distance above
Cairo up to Assuan, or between 24 degrees and 30 degrees north
latitude, a stretch of more than four hundred miles. In width, however,
this territory is confined to the valley of the Nile, which is only
twelve miles wide at the extreme and narrowing to very much less. The
agricultural possibilities of the eastern or right bank are not so great
as those of the left, owing to the fact that it is mountainous in many
places. Consequently most of the cane and all of the sugar factories are
to be found on the left (western) bank.
Ploughing is done in autumn and the ground is further prepared during the
following February; the furrows are then made; shortly afterward the cane
is planted, covered with earth and the water is turned in. Irrigation
is kept up until the end of October, when it is discontinued for two or
three weeks to allow the cane to ripen. Harvesting begins in December
and lasts until April. The cane when cut is transported by camels to the
railway and thence to the mill. The customary procedure is to raise one
crop of plant cane, one crop of ratoons and one crop of cotton or beans
in succession, allowing the land to lie fallow the fourth year, and so on
every four years.
The yield of cane per acre depends upon the soil, the adequacy of the
water supply and the temperature ruling during the period of growth; the
average from plant cane is twenty-four tons and from ratoons sixteen tons.
The factories depend upon cane furnished by the growers, either large
plantation owners or small farmers who cultivate a few acres of rented
land, and one of the serious problems which they have to face is the
difficulty of obtaining an adequate supply. The capacity of the factories
is large, the machinery is modern and they could easily take care of
a much larger cane tonnage than they have been able to secure. An
improvement is looked for as a result of more liberal terms recently
offered to growers. The bulk of the output is raw centrifugal sugar,
famous under the name of “Egyptian crystals,” and much sought after for
flavoring chewing tobacco. The vineyardists of the Champagne district in
France get from Egypt the sugar used in making their sparkling wines, as
they hold that cane sugar is the only kind that will not hurt the flavor
of the champagne.
According to Willett & Gray the yearly crops in long tons since 1903 were:
1903-04 60,000
1904-05 60,000
1905-06 65,000
1906-07 42,195
1907-08 55,648
1908-09 34,835
1909-10 52,525
1910-11 49,394
1911-12 57,879
1912-13 75,420
1913-14 69,368
1914-15 75,738
1915-16 110,000[91]
SPAIN
Spain lies in the extreme southwest of Europe and it embraces about
eleven-thirteenths of the Iberian peninsula. Its total area is 194,700
square miles, and in 1914 the population numbered 19,712,585.
It is said that Phoenician traders reached there as early as the eleventh
century before the Christian era. In 238 B. C., or three years after the
close of the first Punic war, Hamilcar Barca, the famous Carthaginian
general, crossed from Africa into Spain, taking with him his son-in-law,
Hasdrubal, and his son Hannibal, both of whom were destined to play
great parts in the coming struggle between Carthage and Rome. From a
few trading posts, Hamilcar extended the Carthaginian dominion in Spain
to that of a great province, that not only proved a source of immense
revenue, but that also furnished a never-failing supply of warlike troops
for the armies of Carthage. The second Punic war ended the sway of the
Carthaginians in Spain, and from 201 B. C. until 406 A. D. the country
was under Roman rule. Then came the barbarian invasion and the Visigothic
kings, whose power was shattered in turn when the Berber Tarik defeated
King Roderic in 711. For centuries afterward the struggle of reconquest
went on until Granada, the only remaining Mohammedan stronghold,
surrendered to Ferdinand and Isabella on January 2, 1492. That same year,
under the auspices of these sovereigns, Columbus set out on his first
journey westward, and with his discovery of America came a revolution in
the sugar industry of the world.
Spain is the only cane-sugar-producing country in Europe. Sugar cane
was brought there by the Arabs when they conquered Granada, and its
cultivation had assumed important proportions in that kingdom at the
time of the expulsion of the Moors. The introduction of the plant in
America had a serious effect upon sugar production in Spain and other
countries of the Old world, and over three hundred years later the
Spanish growers of cane had to meet the competition of the beet sugar
of central Europe. Finally the loss of her colonies in 1898 stimulated
the industry in the mother country by relieving the Spanish planter
from protected competition in his home market. In 1903 Spain had fifty
beet-sugar factories, thirty-two cane-sugar mills, fifteen syrup mills,
eleven refineries and two factories that turned out sorghum sugar and
glucose. Shortly afterward, however, prices in Spain dropped below
the cost of production, so that a period of profit was followed by a
period of heavy loss. As a result of this state of affairs, the Sociedad
General Azucarera de España was formed. This organization comprised
forty-three beet factories, thirteen cane factories and thirteen other
mills, and its object was to limit the number of mills in operation and
to introduce greater efficiency into cultivation methods. The plan did
not prove successful, and finally, after lengthy discussions between the
Sociedad General, the independent producers and the government, it was
decided to fix the excise tax on sugar at thirty-five pesetas per 220.4
pounds, and it was agreed that no new factory should be built within a
fifty-mile radius of any factory in operation. The output of each mill
was fixed every year between the owner and the government, and if this
amount should be exceeded the surplus was debited to the factory for the
following year.
Early in 1916 a royal decree authorized a reduction in the import duty on
sugar from 60 to 25 pesetas per 100 kilograms. Since then there has been
a heavy increase in imports, and the government is now being importuned
to restore the tariff protection, lest the home industry be destroyed
altogether.
The cultivation of sugar cane in Spain is decreasing year by year on
account of competition from the beet. The area devoted to cane culture
in 1913 was 9900 acres, while in 1915 it had dwindled to 4069 acres.
The plantations are situated in the provinces that border on the
Mediterranean coast between Gibraltar and Almeria, or, roughly speaking,
between 36 and 38 degrees north latitude, a long way outside of the
tropics, but where the climate is warm and free from frost nevertheless.
Three varieties of cane are grown: the white, the red and the striped,
and the kind selected is determined by the nature of the soil. White
cane requires a good soil with plenty of fertilization; red cane needs a
deep soil carrying a large amount of moisture and also well manured. The
striped cane calls for the same conditions as the red and gives about
the same weight of cane per acre. The method of planting is similar with
all three. A cane crop is raised every fourth year on land that has
previously been planted in wheat, maize, barley or sweet potatoes. The
fields are ploughed deeply in January and February and the ground is well
fertilized. During March the furrows are made three and one-half feet
apart, one foot deep and eight inches wide, and more manure is added
when it is thought to be necessary. Sulphate of ammonia, nitrates, basic
slag, fish guano and phosphates, as well as stable manure, are used for
fertilizing.
Two rows of seed cane are placed in each furrow, so that the amount of
seed required is large, being about 9800 pounds to the acre. The reason
for this is that in the moderate climate of Malaga, Granada and Almeria
the formation of secondary stalks is not certain, consequently there must
be ample provision for a sufficient number of primary stalks. As soon
as the seed is planted it is covered with a layer of earth and enough
water to moisten the ground effectually is turned into the furrows. These
waterings are continued as often as necessary while the crop is growing,
and the cane is banked from time to time. Finally the land is leveled and
the last banking done. The furrows now appear raised above the surface
instead of being below it as at first. Water is turned on at the proper
point and allowed to run over the entire field, and this operation is
repeated every ten or fifteen days during the summer.
The crop is ready to be cut one year after planting, so that harvesting
and grinding begin in March and are finished in May. As soon as the cane
is cut it is stripped of its leaves and taken to the mill. Part of the
leaves is utilized as straw for the cattle and the remainder is burnt.
If it should be decided to follow this crop by one of ratoon cane, the
spaces between the rows are then ploughed, fertilizer is added and the
process of irrigation and banking is kept up until the ratoons reach
maturity.
In 1910 there were thirty-four cane mills in Spain, divided into two
classes: first, the _trapiche_, a small affair where the juice obtained
from the little cane that is ground is made into table syrup, and,
second, the _fabrica_, where white and yellow sugars and molasses are
manufactured. The average fabrica is well equipped and managed. The
diffusion method of extracting the juice from the cane is employed to
a large extent. At the beginning of the refining process the juice is
treated with sulphur and lime, after which it is clarified in the usual
way. The heavy impurities are removed by bag filters and the clear juice
is decolorized by filtration through bone-char. The first liquor is
boiled to a fine-grained massecuite, which is purged of its mother liquor
in centrifugal machines and dried in large cones[92] of white sugar,
which are broken up into small pieces and used in that form. A fine white
granulated sugar is boiled from the second liquor, while from the third
and fourth liquors soft yellow sugars are made. The final molasses is
distilled into alcohol.
That the outlook for the cane-sugar industry is far from promising is
evidenced by the fact that the output has fallen off from 34,548 tons
in 1900 to 6,359 tons in 1915. The area available for cane culture
is limited and too far from the tropics to give satisfactory crop
results. Then again, a high surtax has had the effect of restricting the
consumption, which at the present time is somewhere in the neighborhood
of 150,000 tons per annum, all told.
As the foregoing figures show, nearly all the country’s requirements are
served by beet sugar, concerning which a word or two may be timely at
this point.
In 1899, the year following the conclusion of the Spanish-American war,
which cost Spain her colonies, the duty upon foreign sugar brought into
that country was increased from fifty pesetas to eighty-five pesetas per
220.4 pounds, and the excise tax was fixed at twenty-five pesetas. This
legislation effectually barred out the foreign article and at the same
time stimulated the home industry. Much capital that was withdrawn from
the lost colonies was invested in the culture of sugar beets and the
manufacture of beet sugar. The profits realized from these operations
were very large at first, which naturally led to expansion and finally
overproduction.
During the year ending July 1, 1913, the total amount of beet sugar
turned out was 156,892 tons. In 1914 the production amounted to 140,394
tons, representing the output of thirty-three factories. The latest
information obtainable gives the number of factories as thirty-eight, and
two-thirds of these are said to be controlled by the so-called “Sugar
Trust of Spain.”
PRODUCTION OF CANE SUGAR[93] CONSUMPTION
1904 22,175 tons 98,043 tons
1905 28,819 ” 107,191 ”
1906 15,722 ” 117,749 ”
1907 16,092 ” 113,968 ”
1908 14,057 ” 117,190 ”
1909 21,669 ” 104,740 ”
1910 20,301 ” 133,608 ”
1911 20,295 ” 130,769 ”
1912 16,176 ” 143,664 ”
1913 13,231 ” 143,826 ”
1914 7,376 ” 126,425 ”
1915 6,359 ” 156,618 ”
INDIA
To all intents and purposes, India is a continent rather than a country.
It is triangular in shape, with its base resting upon the Himalayas
and its apex running far out into the ocean. To the east is the bay of
Bengal and to the west the Arabian sea. Its length from north to south
and its greatest width from east to west are both about 1900 miles.
The Indian empire, including Burma, comprises 1,766,000 square miles,
with 294,000,000 inhabitants. It extends from 8 degrees to 37 degrees
north latitude, which means from the hottest tropical regions to a point
well within the temperate zone, so that it would be idle to attempt to
describe here the variety of formation and climate.
In this, the birthplace of sugar cane, accurate information regarding the
state of the industry is extremely hard to obtain, for various reasons,
among which may be mentioned—
First: In certain portions of the empire very indifferent attention is
paid to the compilation of reliable statistics concerning production.
Second: The raising of sugar cane is not carried on by large interests,
but is divided among a vast number of small farmers, so that it is doubly
difficult to secure dependable data concerning the yield and manufacture.
Third: By no means all of the cane that is grown goes to the sugar
mills to be ground. Much of it is chewed or eaten in the stalk, and the
manufacturing process itself is, in most instances, very primitive. So it
is clear that even where the acreage planted to cane is accurately known,
it would be a difficult matter to determine the result in sugar.
[Illustration: SUGAR MILL, NAHAN FACTORY, INDIA]
[Illustration: CENTRIFUGAL WORKED BY HAND, INDIA]
The area devoted to cane varies year by year and runs between 2,500,000
and 3,000,000 acres, chiefly in the United Provinces, Bengal and the
Punjab, although the northwest provinces, Madras, Bombay, central
provinces, the Rajput states, and Burma contribute. As the cane-sugar
crop of India is estimated to be between 2,225,000 and 2,500,000 tons,
it would appear that the sugar realized per acre is something near one
ton on an average, as against five and one-half tons in Hawaii. However,
there is a good deal of uncertainty regarding the figures, and some
authorities consider the total crop very much larger than the amount just
mentioned.
The general practice in India is to plant the cane each year, and
ratooning is seldom met with outside of the Poonah district. For
fertilization, stable manure, town refuse and crushed oil cake are used.
The cane is planted from February to April and harvested from the middle
of January to the middle of March of the year following. Water for
irrigation purposes is taken from rivers and wells. Climatic conditions
are frequently unfavorable. There are long dry spells, the low-lying
lands are subject to floods in the rainy season, and in certain sections
frost plays havoc with the cane.
Not only was India the original home of sugar cane, but, according to
recognized authorities, the secret of preparing sugar from cane juice,
which dates from the seventh century, also came from there. Today modern
methods are employed to a certain extent, but the original processes
predominate, and a word or two concerning the latter will no doubt prove
interesting.
The cane is cut into short lengths, placed in a kind of mortar and
crushed with a large pestle, worked by oxen. The juice runs through a
hole in the side of the mortar into a vessel placed to receive it. The
practice in former days was to saw off a good-sized tamarind tree about
three feet above the ground and then scoop out the stump. Later, logs
were sunk deep in the ground and hollowed out in the same manner. Stone
mortars followed, meeting with great favor, so that the advent of iron
roller mills was delayed for many years.
In the mortar-and-pestle operation of cane grinding, the pestle consists
of a lever with two arms. The crushing end of the principal arm rests on
the side of the mortar and the cane is ground between the pestle and the
mortar wall. The apparatus is driven by oxen.
[Illustration: WOODEN MILL FROM GORAKHPUR, INDIA]
This method was improved upon by the introduction of the mill with
two-geared wooden rolls set vertically, the core of the taller one
projecting upward through a frame and attached to a horizontal lever
to which the oxen are harnessed. When the mill is started the cane is
fed between the wooden gears and the juice expressed in this manner. A
further development brought in geared iron cylinders or drums, in sets of
two and three. The extraction by these means is extremely poor, ranging
from 50 per cent to 62 per cent.
[Illustration: BOILING BY OLD METHOD, INDIA]
[Illustration: FURNACE AND PANS FOR MAKING RAB, INDIA]
Indian sugar makers treat the cane juice in many ways, but all the
various grades or kinds produced come under one of two general heads,
_gur_ or _rab_.
[Illustration: STONE MILL, AGRA, INDIA]
When making gur the juice is first freed from floating particles of cane
by straining. It is then run into a large earthen vessel sunk in the
ground. From there it is ladled into smaller pans placed above a furnace,
which is a very primitive affair, generally with three pans and having
side walls of tiles or brick. Cane trash and bagasse are used as fuel.
When the juice in the first pan begins to boil, a thick scum forms on the
top and is skimmed off, and this operation is kept up until the liquor
becomes clear. It is then taken to the third pan for further boiling and
finally concentrated in the second. In many instances purification is
limited to skimming, but sometimes this is supplemented by adding milk
of lime or crude soda ash to the liquor. The scum is set aside to be fed
to cattle or very poor people.
When the yellowish-brown mass is boiled to a certain density it is
constantly kept in motion by stirring and its consistency is tested at
frequent intervals. As soon as it is found that it can be rolled into
a ball that upon cooling will remain fairly soft, it is considered
sufficiently cooked and the boiling operation comes to an end. Sometimes
the hot gur is put into earthen moulds to cool and harden, sometimes it
is worked with batons in an earthen vessel and after cooling is made into
balls by hand, or flattened out and cut into triangles. The balls and
triangles are placed in baskets to dry, after which they are supposed to
be ready for consumption. Gur that is soft and of good grain lends itself
admirably to the process of refining. Gur that has become solid and hard
has to be eaten without further treatment and burnt gur is totally unfit
for refining.
Rab is made in nearly the same manner, but with more attention paid to
cleanliness. There are five iron pans, which are thoroughly cleansed
daily; the skimming and clarifying operations are conducted with
more care and the clear juice is filtered through cloth before being
concentrated. When the mass of crystals and liquor is found to be of
the proper consistency, it is poured into earthen pots to cool and well
stirred to help crystallization. This process being finally complete,
the moist and somewhat soft sugar can only be removed by breaking the
pots containing it. Owing to its almost liquid condition, rab cannot
conveniently be transported any distance, so that it is generally used
near the place where it is made, chiefly for refining purposes. Gur, on
the other hand, being harder, can readily be carried any distance.
[Illustration: SMALL LOCOMOTIVE USED TO DRAW CANE CARS, 2-FOOT GAUGE,
INDIA]
[Illustration: LOADING CANE CARRIER, MARHOURAH FACTORY, INDIA]
Men are sometimes set to work tramping upon sacks filled with rab, in
order to separate the syrup from the sugar; again sacks of rab are piled
upon a floor with holes for drainage and a well for the syrup that
runs off. Weights are often placed upon the bags in order to hasten
the process. After the drainage is fairly complete, the rab is dumped
into vessels having openings at the bottom and covered at the top by a
layer of wet water plants. The water as it passes through the mass of
sugar washes the syrup from the crystals and the liquor runs off through
the apertures in the bottom. Several days afterward the operation is
repeated, and so on until all the syrup has been removed by washing. The
resulting sugar is either used in that form, or dried in the sun and
worked by human feet in order to lighten its color.
Saiyid Muhammad Hadi, assistant director of the Land Records and
Agriculture at Allahabad, has worked out an improved method for making
rab which is now widely adopted. Under his plan the furnace heat can
be readily controlled, so that the danger of burning the juices during
boiling is considerably lessened; neither is there so much risk of
decomposition (souring). Besides, the cooled rab is purged of its syrup
in a centrifugal machine worked by hand instead of by drainage from wet
vegetation. At best, however, the production of sugar by the natives of
Hindustan is still at a very elementary stage, and in that country new
ideas gain ground very slowly, so that it will be some time before modern
machinery and equipment are generally in use.
It would seem that in view of the small production of sugar per acre and
the enormous losses in manufacture, a modern plant, with machinery of the
latest and best type and large financial resources, should be remarkably
successful, but such is not the case. It appears to be impossible to get
a steady supply of cane. In India, plantations like those found in other
countries do not exist. Instead, there are a great number of extremely
small pieces of land all under different ownership. The cane has to be
brought to the mill from considerable distances in small quantities, and
owing to lack of intelligence or initiative on the part of the farmer it
is of indifferent quality. Transportation facilities are far from good
and the manufacturers have to make up the shortage in the supply of cane
by using rab and gur. If the latter should contain an excessive amount of
glucose or be caramelized, it does not lose its value as an article for
direct consumption; on the other hand, either of these conditions unfit
it for the purposes of refining, and as there is but a slight difference
in price between gur and the white sugar into which it is made, the
disadvantage to the refiner is readily apparent. Another drawback is
that the Hindus do not take kindly to sugar manufactured by the European
process, consequently chini, or sugar made from rab by the native method,
commands a better price than, sugar made in a modern refinery. Religious
and caste prejudices exert a strong influence also. In modern sugar
refining, animal charcoal is the principal purifying and decolorizing
agent, and this, together with the fact that ox-blood has been used for
clarification, causes the Hindus to reject sugar prepared by such means.
Finally, there is the apprehension on the part of the high-caste natives
that the sugar may have been produced by low-caste labor and that to eat
it would bring defilement.
The refiners of India have begun to recognize the advantage to them in
using raw European beet-root sugars and raw cane from Java and Mauritius
instead of the more costly preparations of rab and gur. As a result,
there is a considerable quantity of foreign sugar imported into India
which is consumed ultimately by the high-caste native without his being
aware of its origin.
The imports during the period from 1908 to 1916 were as follows:
1908-09 535,664 tons of 2240 lbs.
1909-10 556,840 ” ” ”
1910-11 608,785 ” ” ”
1911-12 508,591 ” ” ”
1912-13 675,017 ” ” ”
1913-14 802,978 ” ” ”
1914-15 428,595 ” ” ”
1915-16 515,909 ” ” ”
Of this tonnage, Austria supplied the greater amount of the beet, Germany
the remainder, while the cane came from Java and Mauritius. In 1913 and
1914 the raw beet from Austria and Germany was almost entirely displaced
by washed Java raws, the trade name for which is “Java white.” Some sugar
is exported, but the quantity is insignificant.
[Illustration: WATER-DRIVEN CENTRIFUGALS, MARHOURAH FACTORY, INDIA]
[Illustration: CHAMPARAN SUGAR COMPANY, LTD., BARRAH CHAKIA, CHAMPARAN,
INDIA]
As to the future of the industry in India, the theory is held by
many that with modern scientific methods governing cultivation and
manufacture, that country would be able not only to provide for its own
requirements, but would be a competitor for export trade in the markets
of the world. If such a condition is to be brought about, it will not
be by improvement in the cane fields and the manufacturing plants
alone. There are other problems to be overcome before there can be any
great change for the better,—the stubborn opposition of the natives to
innovations, the extreme smallness of individual holdings, poverty, lack
of initiative and co-operation,—these are the main obstacles in the way
of a material increase in the present enormous production, and they will
not be easily surmounted.
CONCLUSION
The sugar crops of the world for the year 1915-16 aggregated 16,558,863
long tons, of which 10,571,079 tons were cane. The following table shows
the production of the various countries:
TONS
NORTH AMERICA
United States
Hawaii 545,000
Louisiana 122,768
Texas 1,000
Porto Rico 400,000
Cuba 3,000,000
British West Indies
Trinidad 55,000
Barbados 50,000
Jamaica 15,000
Other British West Indies 30,000
French West Indies
Martinique 40,000
Guadeloupe 40,000
Danish West Indies
St. Croix 11,000
Santo Domingo 120,000
Mexico 75,000
Central America 30,000
SOUTH AMERICA
British Guiana 110,000
Surinam 13,000
Venezuela 10,000
Peru 200,000
Argentina 155,000
Brazil 194,000
TOTAL IN AMERICA 5,216,768
ASIA
British India 2,636,875
Java 1,264,000
Formosa 391,549
Philippine islands 300,000
TOTAL IN ASIA 4,592,424
AUSTRALIA AND POLYNESIA
Queensland } 150,000
New South Wales }
Fiji 90,000
TOTAL IN AUSTRALIA AND POLYNESIA 240,000
AFRICA
Egypt 110,000
Mauritius 215,528
Réunion 40,000
Natal 100,000
Mozambique 50,000
TOTAL IN AFRICA 515,528
EUROPE
Spain 6,359
TOTAL CANE SUGAR 10,571,079
BEET SUGAR
Europe 5,190,387
United States 779,756
Canada 17,641
TOTAL BEET SUGAR 5,987,784
GRAND TOTAL CANE AND BEET SUGAR 16,558,863
From the time when the soldiers of Alexander of Macedon found sugar cane
in India, over three hundred years before the Christian era, knowledge of
sugar and its cultivation has accompanied great political movements.
In the sweep of the Saracen conquest from Persia to Egypt and on through
northern Africa into Spain, sugar followed the footsteps of the invading
armies. The Crusaders brought it with them when they returned home from
Palestine. Daring Portuguese adventurers carried it to the Madeiras, the
Azores, the Cape Verde and other islands of the east Atlantic ocean when
they captured and colonized them in the fifteenth century. The New world
received sugar cane at the hands of Christopher Columbus, who planted it
in Santo Domingo in 1493. Shortly after Pizarro’s first landing it was
brought to Peru by the Spanish conquerors. Cortés himself introduced it
in Mexico, erecting the first mill there in 1520; and when, during the
struggle between Great Britain and France, sugar was excluded from Europe
by the blockading British fleet, it was Napoleon Bonaparte who called
beet-sugar manufacture into being.
Before the outbreak of the great war in 1914, the world’s crops of sugar
were pretty evenly divided between cane and beet, with a preponderance in
favor of the former. How this titanic conflict has affected the European
production is clearly seen by the returns for 1915-16. During that season
the world’s output was 16,558,863 long tons, made up of 10,571,079 tons
of cane and 5,987,784 tons of beet, and Europe was short 2,392,828 tons
as compared with the previous year. The conclusion is inevitable that
after the war shall be brought to an end a period of poverty and distress
will ensue and restriction of sugar consumption in Europe will be one of
the results of this condition.
Apart from countries where sugar production is fostered by protecting
tariffs, it seems certain that future development and progress will
take place in lands where favorable climate, rich soil and adequate,
cheap labor are found together. The natural economic law will cause the
industry to thrive best where such conditions obtain in the fullest
degree, and to fall off correspondingly as they diminish.
FOOTNOTES
[1] _This and seventeen illustrations immediately following are
reproduced by permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq., Secretary of the
United States Beet Sugar Industry, Washington, D. C._
[2] _This and the three illustrations immediately following are after
photographs by A. Moscioni, Esq._
[3] _This and the five illustrations immediately following are after
photographs by the American Photo Co., Habana._
[4] Spain.
[5] Ed. Yule, II, 208-212.
[6] _Geschichte des Zuckers_, p. 89.
[7] Kazwini, I, 262.
[8] 610-641 A. D.
[9] See _Greece under the Romans_, by George Finlay, LL.D., page 338;
“The sixth campaign opened with the Roman army in the plains of Assyria,
and after laying waste some of the largest provinces of the Persian
empire, Heraclius marched through the country to the east of the Tigris
and captured the palace of Dastargerd, where the Persian monarchs had
accumulated the greater part of their enormous treasure in a position
always regarded as secure from any foreign enemy.”
[10] In Morocco.
[11] Important village of the province of Kūzistān.
[12] Latāif, page 107.
[13] B. 571-D. 632 A. D.
[14] Amr-ibn-el-Ass.
[15] _Marchpane_, a sweetmeat made of sweet almonds and pounded sugar.
[16] _Encyclopædia Britannica_, Vol. XII, p. 826, gives 1506 as date of
introduction of sugar in Santo Domingo. _Encyclopædia Britannica_, Vol.
XXVI, p. 44, says sugar carried to Santo Domingo in 1494.
[17] _Encyclopædia Britannica_, XXII, p. 658.
[18] O. S.
[19] _Quar. Jour. of Economics_, Vol. XVII, p. 1.
[20] The excess of import duty over the domestic revenue tax.
[21] When exported, of course.
[22] Roy G. Blakey, Ph. D. _The United States Beet Sugar Industry and the
Tariff_, Columbia University, 1912.
[23] Actual production in sugar.
[24] Mark = 23.8 cents U. S. coin.
[25] Ruble = 51 cents.
[26] Pood = 36.07 pounds.
[27] Six francs and five and one-half francs, respectively, per 100
kilograms.
[28] Surface, G. T., _Story of Sugar_, p. 115.
[29] _Hardwick Committee Hearings_, 62nd Congress, 1st Session, p. 767.
[30] Truman G. Palmer.
[31] Blakey.
[32] Professor George W. Shaw says, 1877: _The California Industry_,
Sacramento, 1903, page 11.
[33] Secretary of Agriculture, 61st Congress, 1st Session, Sen. Doc. 22,
p. 8.
[34] Closed.
[35] Height of these mountains taken from U. S. Geodetic Survey, March,
1915.
[36] Geerligs, _World’s Cane Sugar Industry_, p. 345.
[37] Cleveland, Richard J., _Narrative of Voyages and Commercial
Enterprises_, Cambridge, 1843.
[38] Anderson, Rufus, _The Hawaiian Islands_, Boston, 1864.
[39] Jarves, James Jackson, _History of the Sandwich Islands_, Honolulu,
1872.
[40] _Overland Monthly_, June, 1895, p. 620.
[41] From what Mr. Noël Deerr, the sugar technologist at the Honolulu
experiment station, writes on the subject, it would appear that Yellow
Caledonia cane is identical with White Tanna. The three varieties of
Tanna cane, the Striped, the White and the Black, are called after
the island of that name, one of the Loyalty group, of which the most
important is New Caledonia. All of the Tanna canes are cultivated
extensively in Australia, and the White Tanna or Yellow Caledonia was
brought to Hawaii from Queensland.
Mr. W. P. Naquin, agriculturist of the H. S. P. A. experiment station,
Honolulu, says: “Yellow Caledonia cane was first grown in the Kau
district by manager George C. Hewitt of the Hutchinson Sugar company. The
cane first came into prominence in the early nineties when Rose Bamboo,
which had replaced Lahaina cane, began to show signs of deterioration.
Yellow Caledonia, being a hardier cane than any of the varieties then
grown, and therefore less susceptible to attack of leaf-hoppers and to
prevalent diseases, soon gained favor in Kau, from which district it
spread to Olaa and the Honokaa district. The introduction of Yellow
Caledonia cane was, no doubt, a great help, if not the salvation
of the Onomea Sugar company and the rest of the plantations in the
island of Hawaii, which suffered so severely from leaf-hoppers and the
deterioration of the Lahaina cane.”
[42] Written in 1851.
[43] Elected emperor of the Roman empire as Charles V.
[44] U. S. War Department. Bureau of Insular Affairs, Washington,
12-16-14.
[45] A survey under the Cadastral survey act, passed by the Philippine
legislature in 1913, _i. e._, a survey of the land and assessment of its
value as a basis for taxation would support a Torrens title.
[46] Harold M. Pitt in his treatise, _Reciprocity and the Philippine
Islands_, Manila, 1911, says that it is estimated that from 40,000 to
50,000 tons of sugar are consumed in the islands.
[47] Walker, H. S. _The Sugar Industry in the Island of Negros_. Manila,
1910.
[48] Prescott, in his _Conquest of Mexico_, (Vol. I, pp. 220 _et seq._),
gives the following in connection with the discovery of the new world by
Columbus:
“Of the islands, Cuba was the second discovered; but no attempt had been
made to plant a colony there during the life of Columbus, who, indeed,
after skirting the whole extent of its southern coast, died in the
conviction that it was part of the continent. At length, in 1511, Diego,
the son and successor of the ‘Admiral,’ who still maintained the seat
of government in Hispaniola, finding the mines much exhausted there,
proposed to occupy the neighboring island of Cuba, or Fernandina, as it
was called in compliment to the Spanish monarch. He prepared a small
force for the conquest, which he placed under the command of Don Diego
Velasquez. The conquest was effected without much bloodshed. After the
conquest, Velasquez, now appointed governor, diligently occupied himself
with measures for promoting the prosperity of the island. He formed a
number of settlements and invited settlers by liberal grants of land and
slaves. He encouraged them to cultivate the soil and gave particular
attention to the sugar cane.”
[49] 25.317 lbs. = 1 _arroba_.
[50] A _caballería_ is generally taken to mean 33⅓ acres.
[51] See Report of E. E. Paxton, Honolulu, T. H., 1905.
[52] Extremely high prices are paid only in districts where the number of
sugar mills is unusually large and the competition for cane consequently
very keen. For example, if a central needed 200,000 tons of cane in order
to grind at full capacity during the season, and if its own cane and that
which it had already purchased amounted to 175,000 tons, it might pay an
excessive price for the remaining 25,000 tons. There is, however, no such
thing as uniformity in the contracts made with colonos, except that the
price is based on weight and not on sugar content.
[53] A well-known authority on sugar culture states that ratoons
constitute about 90 per cent of the Cuban crop, and that it takes twelve
months for ratoons to ripen. _Primavera_, or cane planted in the spring,
is cut when twelve months old, and _caña fria_, or cane planted in the
fall, is cut when it is between fourteen and eighteen months old. The
industry has been greatly extended during 1915 and 1916, and consequently
much new planting has been done. These plantings will be ratooned after
the first crop is taken off.
[54] Geerligs, p. 177.
[55] On December 16, 1914, Willett & Gray gave the average as between
2,250,000 and 2,500,000, to which the recent new plantings must be added.
[56] Journal, Society of Chemical Industry, Vol. XXV, pp. 161 _et seq._
[57] Prinsen Geerligs says that the average yield is 50,000 arrobas per
caballería, or 16.82 long tons per acre, but that a good crop gives
80,000 arrobas (26.92 long tons per acre) and sometimes 100,000 arrobas
per caballería (33.65 long tons per acre) or even more are obtained.
[58] _The United States Beet Sugar Industry and the Tariff._ Blakey, p.
179.
[59] This is not true of the years 1915 and 1916, when on account of
the war Great Britain, France and other European countries have been
compelled to draw large quantities of sugar from Cuba and the United
States.
[60] Ten years’ war.
[61] Hurricane.
[62] Internal disturbances.
[63] Rebellion against Spain. Spanish-American war.
[64] Great drought.
[65] Particularly favorable weather.
[66] Great drought.
[67] Estimated.
[68] Estimated.
[69] Estimated.
[70] Estimated.
[71] _Britannica_ says 1860.
[72] Vol. III, pp. 356-318 (Dana Estes & Co.’s edition).
[73] Portuguese settlement at the mouth of the Canton river.
[74] _Chancaca_ is made by boiling the cane juice in open pans to the
consistency of massecuite, then running it into moulds about six inches
in diameter and allowing it to cool.
[75] These figures based upon Brazilian milreis, paper, being worth 1s.
4d. stg.
[76] A sugar solution of 31 degrees Baumé contains 56.2 per cent sucrose.
[77] Trashing is the stripping of dried leaves from the cane.
[78] Estimated.
[79] _Century Atlas_—A recent private report (1915) gives 1,856,254 sq.
miles.
[80] All figures given in dollars and cents are United States money.
[81] 16 centavos, paper, per kilogram, or 7¼ cents per pound.
[82] Estimated.
[83] Since the foregoing was written Formosa’s production has passed the
300,000-ton mark, as will be seen by the table on page 281.
[84] Asiatic trade wind.
[85] Geerligs.
[86] Formed by France out of the Netherlands in 1795. It existed until
1806.
[87] Estimated.
[88] Estimated.
[89] Estimated.
[90] Estimated.
[91] Estimated.
[92] From 10 to 15 pounds in weight.
[93] Willett & Gray, January 13, 1916.