Tons Of Sugar Research Articles

International Sugar Council

It was announced by the press in July that the 35-nation International Sugar Council, meeting in London, had decided unanimously to raise sugar quotas immediately from 85 to 100 percent of the basic export tonnages of member countries, and, as soon as the prevailing price came within the range of 3.25 and 3.45 cents a pound, to increase quotas automatically to 105 percent of basic tonnages. In its communique1 the Council was said to have stated that the action was based on a review of the current market situation, which revealed that, on the basis of an 85-pcrcent quota level, the deficit of sugar in the world market for the current year would have amounted to 1,250,000 tons. The effect of the Council's decision, the press pointed out, was to allow Cuba to dispose of the 700,000 tons of sugar that the United States had decided earlier in the year not to purchase.

Título en español.

Dentro de su programa de estudio de las variedades de caña de azúcar, la Estación Experimental Agrícola de la Universidad de Puerto Rico llevó a cabo, durante el período 1952-57, 24 experimentos de campo que comprendieron 51 cosechas. Tuvieron significación los siguientes resultados: 1. En cuanto a la producción de azúcar 96° por acre, la variedad P.R. 980 fué la mejor en las áreas del sur, oeste, noroeste e interior de la Isla. La variedad B. 37161 fué mejor en este aspecto en la parte oriental y en el Valle de Caguas. Estuvo a la par con la P.R. 980 en el área norte central y con la variedad B. 41227 en el área noroeste. 2. En cuanto a la producción en toneladas de caña por acre en los 24 experimentos, la P.R. 980 fué primera en 10 de éstos y la B. 37161 en 6. 3. Las variedades testigos, M. 336, P.O.J. 2878, P.R. 902, y 905 produjeron rendimientos bajos, tanto en toneladas de caña como de azúcar por acre, cuando se compararon con las mejores variedades. 4. En razón porciento de sacarosa por caña, las variedades M. 336, P.R. 1016, M. 975, y P.P.Q.K. fueron las mejores. 5. Finalmente, las variedades se evaluaron de acuerdo con su producción de toneladas de azúcar por acre por mes, y en cuyo caso la P.R. 980 y la P.R. 1013 resultaron mejores. 6. Se presenta en este trabajo una evaluación de las variedades mejores, tomando en consideración los siguientes factores: Germinación, número de cañas por cepa, habilidad para retoñar, grosor, crecimiento en forma erecta, florecida, cantidad de paja, y resistencia a enfermedades.

Título en español.

Las pruebas con variedades de caña de azúcar llevadas a cabo por la Estación Experimental Agrícola de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, P. R., durante el período de 1951-55, incluyeron 19 experimentos separados y 33 cosechas. Los siguientes resultados son significativos: 1. En la producción de azúcar 96° disponible por acre, la variedad B. 37161 fué la más sobresaliente en las áreas de caña del Este y del Norte de la Isla. La P.R. 980 fué la más sobresaliente en las áreas del Noroeste, Oeste, Sur, e Interior de Puerto Rico. 2. Las variedades B. 40105, B. 37172, B. 41227, H. 328560, y P.R. 975 figuraron entre las mejores productoras de toneladas de azúcar por acre. 3. Las variedades M. 336, P.O.J. 2878, y P.R. 902, usadas como testigo, hicieron una pobre demostración en las pruebas, comparadas con las variedades sobresalientes en la producción de toneladas de azúcar por acre. 4. En términos de toneladas de caña por acre, las variedades B. 37161 y P.R. 980 fueron las dos más sobresalientes en toda la Isla, siguiéndoles con altos tonelajes de caña las variedades H. 328560, B. 41227 y B. 37172. Todas las variedades usadas como testigo tuvieron rendimientos pobres de toneladas de caña por acre comparadas con las variedades sobresalientes. 5. Las variedades también fueron clasificadas de acuerdo a su producción de sacarosa en caña. P.R. 975 y B. 4362 ocuparon el primer y segundo lugar, respectivamente. Estas variedades también tuvieron mayores rendimientos en tonelaje de caña que la variedad comercial preferida M. 336, que figuró en tercer lugar. 6. Finalmente, las variedades fueron clasificadas según las toneladas de azúcar producidas por acre por mes y P.R. 980 ocupó el primer lugar. Las primeras ocho variedades sobresalientes produjeron por sobre 0.60 toneladas de azúcar por acre comparadas con todas las variedades comerciales (con excepción de la B. 37161) que produjeron por debajo de 0.50 toneladas de azúcar por acre por mes. 7. La renuencia de los agricultores puertorriqueños a adoptar las nuevas variedades de caña probadas y que han demostrado ser superiores a las viejas variedades comerciales, está resultando contraproducente. Según los datos sobre rendimientos lo demuestran, si la tierra que en la actualidad está sembrada de variedades viejas se sembrara con las nuevas variedades probadas experimentalmente que se presentan en esta publicación, la producción actual de azúcar en Puerto Rico podría lograrse en alrededor de dos terceras partes de la tierra que ahora está sembrada de caña. Esto permitiría que sobraran alrededor de 100,000 acres para otros usos agrícolas.

Recovery of the Sugar Industry in Indonesia

V yICISSITUDE and catastrophe have been of fairly frequent occurrence in the world sugar industry, whose history has seen many remarkable fluctuations of fortune. Indonesia, successor to the Netherlands Indies, has been a sugar producer of the first importance for a considerable time, a low cost producer whose efficiency made it a strong competitor in the contracting free market of the interwar period. But not even its efficiency could protect it from the Great Depression, the planted area of estate cane falling catastrophically from 200,000 hectares in 1931 to 27,600 in 1935. By 1939 the planted area had climbed again to 94,900 hectares; then in the Second World War, Indonesia, the second largest cane sugar exporter in the world, was eliminated, together with a large part of the European beet industry, and the way was open for the enormous expansion of cane sugar production in the western hemisphere, an expansion which continued in most producing countries of that part of the world until 1953. In this post-war phase of expansion Indonesia was denied a part, for what remained of the sugar industry after the Japanese occupation was largely destroyed in the struggle for independence in 1948 to 1949. Though the time is long distant when sugar provided almost a quarter of the export income, as it did before 1930, the destruction of the sugar industry would have been a heavy blow to the new Republic had it not been for the boom in rubber prices with the outbreak of the Korean War. In the period between the post Korean drop in prices and the great resurgence of American business activity in the latter half of 1954, a period during which rubber never rose above 22-24 cents a pound, the real nature of Indonesia's economic position became obvious. For a country with problems of development as great as those anywhere in Asia, and faced with chronic balance of payments difficulties, the resuscitation of the sugar industry, which had exported well over a million tons of sugar annually before the war and contributed almost 7 per cent of the export income, was an obvious and desirable course of action. Moreover, though cane is grown in almost every part of Indonesia, the sugar industry is confined to Java, an island which, while absorbing the greater part of the national income, earns only about one quarter of the foreign exchange; Java needs to expand its foreign earnings to help refute the charge which is frequently made in the other islands that it is a parasite which is appropriating the national resources for its own exclusive benefit. The Indonesian Government, however, has taken little positive action itself to assist the recovery of the sugar industry. The difficulties confronting the reestablishment of the industry after 1949

National Institute of Agricultural Botany

ONE of the ways in which the Government in Great Britain is aiding agriculture is through grants made to the National Institute of Agricultural Botany. This Institute is doing very important work for the farming community by testing seeds and by encouraging the use of better varieties of plants. The thirteenth annual report, which has just been published, states that the record number of 30,689 samples of seeds was tested in the year ended July 31, 1932, at the Official Seed-testing Station. Trials with oats showed that one variety, Golden Rain II, gave the best results, although it is not widely grown; and that in Wales the variety popularly believed to be the best (Record) was significantly inferior to the three other varieties tested. The outstanding problem in the home beet-sugar industry is to improve the yields of beet and of sugar per acre; whereas the average for Europe is about 1½ tons of sugar per acre, in Great Britain it is only slightly more than 1 ton. The Institute has been attacking this important problem and has demonstrated how much these yields depend upon the variety grown. Trials extending over three years have shown differences of nearly 20 per cent between varieties in use by farmers, and Kleinwanzleben E has in general been found to be by far the best; at one centre it gave no less than 3 tons of sugar per acre. As a result of this work, it is now possible to recommend twelve different strains for use in the British Isles. Other activities of the Institute include the provision of pure stocks of cereal seed, the improvement of varieties of potato in respect of yield, and, especially, of immunity from disease, and the prevention of the use of more than one name for the same variety.

The Froghopper Problem in Trinidad

THE sugar-cane froghopper, Monecphora (Tomaspis) saccharina Dist., is a serious enemy of the cane growers of Trinidad, and although there are records dating back to 1862, which may possibly refer to this insect, no severe outbreak occurred until 1906. Heavy intermittent attacks have followed ever since, the most disastrous year in this respect being 1917, when about 10,000 tons of sugar were lost through froghopper damage. From 1909 onwards investigations into froghopper eradication were conducted mainly by officers of the Trinidad Board of Agriculture and by certain specialists. Up to the end of 1917 this work was purely of an entomological character, but the studies of Williams and of Nowell showed the need of approaching the problem on a wider basjs. In 1924 a Committee was constituted to inquire further into, and to report upon, the froghopper pest with the view of its control and ultimate eradication. Among other proposals it led in October 1925 to the Governor appointing a Froghopper Investigation General Committee, and the deliberations of this body are published in the form of Minutes and Proceedings at frequent intervals.1 The first meeting of this Committee was held in November 1925, and three subcommittees were appointed to deal respectively with (1) agricultural relations; (2) entomological relations and (3) soil relations. Their personnel included planters, officers of the Department of Agriculture, and members of the staff of the Imperial College of Agriculture. The reports of these subcommittees are considered by a scientific committee which submits recommendations thereon to the general investigation committee alluded to above.

Notes on the small Moth-borers of Sugar-cane in British Guiana

Sugar-cane is the principal crop of British Guiana, and during the year 1921 there were 65,870 acres under cultivation. This area yielded 110,985 tons of sugar and 2,228,164 gallons of rum, the value of the crop being about $10,355,000 (£2,157,200).

British Food Journal Volume 16 Issue 8 1914

In the present European crisis every intelligent individual of British birth must feel that a tremendous debt of gratitude is due to the British Navy, which, by keeping open the lines of traffic across the seas, has ensured the supply of daily food to the country. Although this journal does not concern itself with political matters, it does concern itself with the question of the maintenance of an efficient food supply in this country at all times, and the one question is indissolubly bound up with the other. Few people probably have any idea of the enormous extent to which they are dependent for the very food which nourishes them upon the ships that enter London and other ports of the English coast. Every day in the year nearly three‐quarters of a million pounds' worth of provisions are imported into this country, in addition to what we actually produce ourselves, and last year no less than two and a quarter million tons of grain, 360,000 tons of chilled and frozen beef and mutton, 170,000 tons of tea, 250,000 tons of sugar, and many other foods in proportion, were landed in the port of London alone. These figures, in view of the present crisis, completely shatter the absurd position of the “Little Navy” nincompoops.

The Growth of Beet-Sugar in England

LORD DENBIGFI'S motion in the House of Lords on Monday night, asking for a rebate on the present excise duty on any sugar made in this country from beets during a certain limited period, raises two interesting questions. On one of them—the desirability of the State incurring expenditure in order to establish a new industry in the country—we have little to say in these columns; we may be content to point out that it is possible for a Government department to teach the community businesses previously unappreciated. This very beet-sugar manufacture has been introduced into the United States by the action of their Department of Agriculture, with the result that the production has grown to 210,000 tons of sugar in 1904–5 as compared with 20,000 tons ten years earlier.

Sugar-Cane Experiments

IN the fourth number of the West Indian Bulletin, recently noticed in these columns, many pages were devoted to communications to Dr. Morris, the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture, from Prof, d'Albuquerque, the Island professor of chemistry, and Mr. Bovell, the agricultural superintendent, in which an elaborate plan was laid down for undertaking an exhaustive investigation into the merits of several varieties of sugar-canes. The very full details therein given should be consulted by any one desirous of mastering the significance of the facts contained in the pamphlet now issued by the Commissioner, giving a “summary of the results of the cultivation of seedling and other canes at the experiment stations in Barbados in 1900.” Prof. d'Albuquerque and Mr. Bovell have read a paper on the subject before the Barbados Agricultural Society on the results of the cultivation and yield of selected seedling and other canes, and the pamphlet summarises the essential facts. It is important to remember that the experiments were throughout conducted on the ordinary system of natural cultivation, the planters themselves undertaking to set apart plots of their own plantations, so that the known and the unknown grew side by side, no exceptional treatment being recognised. In this way fairly typical results are obtained, and the results for subsequent years will, therefore, be watched with more than usual interest to see how the character of the season, as well as the quality of the soil, may affect the various canes. For the experiments seven stations were selected, representing the typical soils and climatic conditions of Barbados. Five of the stations were black soil, the other two red soil. At nearly every station there were duplicate plots of each variety, serving to show the variation to be expected with each variety from one part of the field to another. The lowest station was at an elevation of 100 feet above sea-level, the highest 910 feet, the rainfall in the growth period ranging from 56 inches to 89 inches. Fifteen selected varieties of canes were tested on the black soil estates, and ten of them on the red soil estates. For each variety the highest and the lowest yield in tons per acre in the black and the red soils respectively are given, and separate tables for black and red soils show for each cane the number of plots used for the investigation, the yield in tons per acre of canes and also of tops; the juice per cent, by mill; pounds per gallon of saccharose, of glucose and of solids not sugar; the quotient of purity of the normal juice; the juice in gallons per acre; saccharose in pounds per acre; and the sugar in tons per acre, calculated according to a formula supplied by Mr. Douglas, of the Diamond plantations, British Guiana. In the black soil B. 147 heads the list with 3.1 tons of sugar per acre, followed by B. 347 wilh 2.90 tons, and B. 208 with 2.83 tons, while at the bottom of the list stand D. 145 with 1.82 tons, the Burke with 1.73 tons, and the Bourbon with only 0.47 ton per acre. The White Transparent cane, which is cultivated in Barbados on a larger scale than any other cane, and may therefore be regarded as the standard for comparison, occupies a middle place with a yield of 2.41 tons per acre. In the red soil B. 208 takes first place with 3.34 tons per acre, followed closely by B. 156 with 3.32 tons and B. 147 with 3.31 tons, the lowest being B. 347 with 2.17 tons and B. 254 with 2.14 tons.