The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-03-01

From data which 1 was able TO gath
err the use of spent bagasse for filtering
the clarified juice has proved very sat-
isfactory The system is AT present
being introduced into number of fac
tories. Where / have seen it in use,
the juice was perfectly clear upon ieav-
ing the filter. The process and the ap-
planes are very simple and inexpen-
siye, and the drawbacks, which sug-
geSt themselves at first, do not seem To
in practice exist.
My time being very limited / did not
make a stay in the Central Queens
land sugar district (Mackay), but went
direct to North Queensland. There
had an opportunity of seeing HANDLE
don estate, where a large number or
very interesting experiments in cane
growing are being carried on under the
direction of the Colonial Sugar Rein
ing Company's local manager
AS these Islands had to do last year,
so will Queensland probably have to
solve a very serious labor problem
The planters have some reason
to fear that the Federal parlia-
ment will abolish contract labor and
exclude the South Sea Island labor
known in Queensland as kanakas. 1t is
more than probable. however. that the
commonwealth will impose a fairly
events partly neutralize the disadvan-
tages of being dependent upon free
white labor only.
A few remarks on the sugar industry
on the Island of Java, the land of
cheap labor, will probably be of inter
est, though conditions there are widely
different from conditions obtaining
here. In the first plan there is a large
difference in the tenure of land.
Only few plantations are carried
on on private freehold property, the
greatest part of the cane Is grown on
land rented from the natives for the
period of one year only at the time
AS each native, be his holding 10 acres
or leo acres, can let To the plantation
one-third of it only, the sugar planta-
lions are patchy. and the cultivation
is naturally more difficult and more ex-
pensive than on large plantations of
evenly planted cane More attention
seems to be paid to the cultivation in
Java than either here or in Queens
| land, the fields there are quite appro-
priately called gardens.
A crop of cane is never, or only very
seldom followed by another crop of
cane. When the cane is cut the land
reverts to the native, who lays it out
into rice fields (sawa- patches) for irri-
cation. The crop of paddy is followed
, first by crop of maize, beans or in
| digo, then rice again for one or two
crops, after which the land IS made
ready again for cane planting. AS
crops grown between every two crops
Of cane, the same piece of land will
produce sugar only once in every
three years. The age of the cane.
when cut is about twelve months. The
yields compare favorably with the
yields obtained here in districts Deepen
dent upon natural rainfall The aver
age yield for the whole of Java is
above five tons per acre; the highest
average for one whole plantation being
seven tons per acre.
Formerly the tops from the cane cut
for manufacture into sugar were used
for planting in the same manner as is
customary here, but the appearance OF
the sereh disease made an end TO the
continuance of this mode OF propaga-
ton. Experience has shown the Java
planters that canes grown at higher
attitudes are not liable TO the sereh
disease for at least one generation. In
consequence of this practically ali the
seed used is grown on the hill-Sides,
and the growing of seed cane has be-
come an industry of its own. Such
plantations are known as bi-bit gar
dens.
The appearance of sereh on Java has
given a strong impetus to efforts to-
warus producing new and harder va
rieties of cane by oss-fertilizing the
Cheriben and other cultivated varieties
with Chunnee cane, = primitive cane
of experiments have been made At the
East Java Experiment Station, and
hundreds of new varieties have been
produced. Most of them threw back
to the primitive father, great major
ity were canes inferior to the known
varieties; but some resulted which
were an undoubted Improvement on
the staple varieties. Such plants We're
and are selected for further propaga-
ton on fields specially chosen for the
purpose. and the seedlings from them
are now supplied to the planters.
/ consignment of such canes will reach
here in time for next planting season.
Results of these experiments are pc
riodically published in the "Archief
voor de -Suikerindustrie.
A very interesting feature or cane
culture in Java is the natural supply
of fertilizers. Sufficient quantities of
plant foods required for the cane lands
with the exception of anmonia-are
brought down in the streams in the
form of very fine shines (slib), which
have time to settle on the land during
the time of submerSion of the PADDY
fields Java. is thus no market for fer
tilizers, except ammonia. Besides this
we have to take into consideration the
fact that labor is cheap and plentiful
wages vary, ten cents United states
currency, would { about represent the
average-in order to understand now
the estates car pay OlNlOSuuS, having
to sell their sugar at about NJ per pi-
cul. or at a tritle above two cents per
pound, 81 polarization
The methods of cultivation in Java
are very different from ours. Although
the benefits to be derived from plowins
are generally recognized. the pillow is
not to be found every wnere on the
island; in fact the area cultivated by
the Reynoso system is larger than the
area plowed. With the Reynoso sys-
tenn of cultivation. which has been in
troduced in Java from Cuba, the land
undergoes the following treatment:
Square bitches about Is inches wide
and IS inches deep are dug at distances
from 31a TO feet. The soil taken out
is hilled up on the ridges between the
bitches A little loose surface soil is
sprinkled on the bottom of the ditch,
and the seedling-generally one with
three sound eyes placed thereon and
covered with very little soil.
At short intervals the ditch is grad
ually filed up by scraping down the
soil from the sides, and when the cane
nears maturity, some two feet of the
stalk are covered IN with soil. Where
the bitches were, there are ridges, and
vice versa. BY this method of planting
the stability of the stalks Is increased
The loss of water from the soil by
evaporation is less than on plowed
land On the other hand, the develop
ment and action of the nitrifyfng bac-