Something about sugar

by George M. Rolph

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.