Sugar has been known in the island for a great many years. There is a record of a shipment having been made from there to the Netherlands as far back as 1622, from which time the trade was carried on until the competition of the West Indies closed the European markets to Formosan sugars. Nevertheless, the industry prospered and the production grew until during the last years of Chinese rule it amounted to something between 60,000 and 80,000 tons annually. Nearly all of this was soft brown sugar of fine grain, the remainder being a so-called white sugar, made by purging the brown sugar crystals of their syrup. The island was seized by Japan in 1895, but the Formosans made a stubborn resistance to the invaders, and it was not until 1898 that they were finally subdued and a stable government established by the Japanese. An insurrection broke out in 1902, but was quickly put down, and since then there has been no further trouble. In 1895 Formosa had something near one thousand small mills, all driven by buffaloes. The product was a brown clayed sugar, similar to that made in the Philippines, and one-half of it was consumed locally, the other half going to China and Japan. After the subjugation of Formosa in 1898, the Japanese were not immediately able to set about repairing the damage caused by the war. Two years later, however, they took up the task with characteristic energy and thoroughness, and the sugar industry soon felt the effects of the movement. In 1902 measures were passed providing for the establishment of a sugar station at Tainan and for the investigation of all questions relating to the industry. Young Japanese students were sent to Java, Hawaii and Europe to look into methods employed in the cultivation and manufacture of sugar in those countries and to determine by careful observation and study what would be best suited to Formosan conditions. Seed cane was brought in from other countries and comparisons of results obtained from the different plantings were made at an experiment station built by the government at Daimokko. Striped Tanna and Lahaina canes throve well, but they were rejected because they required an extraordinary amount of irrigation and constant care. The Rose Bamboo, on the other hand, was hardier and did not need so much water, consequently the experts at the sugar station did everything they possibly could to encourage its use.