Evening star., 1925-02-08
BY HENRY l.. SWEINHART

ri TOW many Jumps, please?'
AS the waiter gently
whispers that query into
Il i your ear, it has never oc-
CURED to you, perhaps, that
the mosaic disease" or the leaf hop
per- or the root mealy bug" which
are attacking the sweet green sugar
cane in many of the Cuban fields may
some day force a reduction in the
number of Jumps Of sugar which you
Will be allowed per cup, or at any rate
make the sweetening a trifle more eX-
pensive.
That is, unless science, which is now
out with it's microscope and its seal
pei to waylay and wallop the unwary
leaf hopper" and root mealy bug"
ct al.-meaning and their allies
overtakes and overcomes the afore
said enemies before their ravages eX-
tend very far.
Science is already on the way. 1t has
started out to save the worlds sugar
crop, which now totals almost 20,000,-
900 tons year. OF this amount Cuba
supplied last year little more than
100000 tons. How much damage al
ready has been done by the diseases
and insect pests which had entered
many of the Cuban cane fields is not
known, but the plantation and mill
owners were beginning to be alarmed
and they realized that enormous loss
es caused by decreased yields would
have run into the millions if the de-
vouring enemies were not checked.
Wealth of Sugar Industry.
On account of the rapid growth
which has been made by the sugar in
dustry in recent years and the i'm
4, t.,1, In
vested in the business, not only in
this country, but in Cuba and else
where, it was essential that a prompt
and vigorous effort be made to pre-
vent great losses, economically and
financially, in this field. In addition to
the Cuban capital invested, it is esti-
mated that something like S,50,000,-
600 of American money is invested
in sugar properties in the island re-
public.
1t is a far cry from the day when
sugar was a curiosity and as such pre-
sented to royalty; and from the later
era of the worlds history when it was
used by Arabian doctors in the medi-
cines they prescribed, and the still
later date when it was luxury, to the
present day when please pass the
sugar. is daily phrase in the humblest
workers home. Sugar is one of the
luxuries of a bygone day which have
become necessities of the present.
Something of the immensity of the
industry also is gathered from the fact
that one of the larger sugar companies
not the largest-in Cuba owns or
controls nearly 100000 acres of land:
owns and operates IA miles of narrow
gauge and ] miles of standard gauge
railroad connecting the factory with
the companys dock, and that the
equipment of the railroad includes
among other things % locomotives, 60C
cane cars, 163 fiat cars and 25 tank cars;
and that this one factory alone can
turn out nearly 10000 short tons OF
cane daily.
United states Scientist in Charge.
AS a result of the work being under
taken by the scientists to save the
Cuban sugar crop, and perhaps the
future cane crops also in some other
parts of the world, it is expected that
many millions of pounds will be added
annually to the sugar supply of the
world and that millions of dollars will
he saved to the plantation and mill
owners. AS results, at least some OF
the results of these investigations will
probably be published, sugar growers in
other parts of the world whose crops
may De threatened Dy the iIlOSdlC VI
by any of the other diseases and insect
and root pests which will be studied in
Cuba, will be in position to benefit
therefrom.
Study of the Cuban cane production
and disease question will be in charge
ct DIR. William A. Orton, a former
official of the United States Depart
-rent of Agriculture, and now scien-
.;fic director of the Tropical Plant
Research Foundation, recently organ
lied under the auspices of the Ma
tional Research Council. DR.. Ortor
is now in Cuba, where he will remain
until about March / to establish a
central office in the island and to
confer with field workers already
there in regard to various phases OF
the problem. In connection with the
study of cane diseases and of the
bugs and insects which attack the
plant, there viii be soil surveys, test
ing stations for the study of cane
varieties and of disease-free stocks