As long as the manufacturers are far-seeing enough to pay the grower a fair figure for his cane, the supply will be forthcoming. Conversely, if too low a price is offered, the farmer will be driven to raise other crops, and, as the factory cannot purchase cane outside of its own district, lack of material will prevent it from running at full capacity, which means a heavy loss. So there is an excellent reason for maintaining the price of cane at a point which enables the grower to make a profit. Another potent factor, too, is that the price must receive the approval of the government. It is significant that the factories built between 1907 and 1911 have all been put up without government aid. [Illustration: KOHEKIRIN MILL, FORMOSA] Irrigation in Formosa has not been developed to any extent and the crop depends upon the rainfall. In the southern part of the island the monsoons are fairly regular and plentiful rains can be counted upon between June and September, with a dry period from November to April. In the north climatic conditions are not so good, and consequently all of the large sugar enterprises are to be found in the south. Ploughing by the natives is poorly done with wooden ploughs, but the modern plantations use steam ploughs with excellent results. Cane is planted every year and there are no ratoon crops. Grinding usually takes 150 days, beginning in November and ending in May. The old-fashioned mills turn out a soft brown or yellowish white, open-pan sugar. The modern plants make centrifugal sugar only, practically all of which goes to Japan, although shipments have been made to China, Korea, Hong Kong and even Canada. The molasses is consumed at home. Just how much of the open-pan brown sugar is used in Formosa itself it is impossible to determine, but Willett & Gray’s figures for the crops, by years, since 1901 clearly show what strides the industry has made: 1901-02 48,381 long tons 1902-03 34,769 ” 1903-04 60,650 ” 1904-05 50,276 ” 1905-06 64,190 ” 1906-07 81,448 ” 1907-08 68,450 ” 1908-09 122,000 ” 1909-10 205,000 ” 1910-11 267,000 ” 1911-12 173,224 ” 1912-13 113,100 ” 1913-14 190,000 ” 1914-15 186,000 ” 1915-16 290,953 ” 1916-17 338,997 ”[82] The crop of 1911-12 suffered severely from prolonged drought at planting time, and the typhoons of August, 1911, devastated the cane fields. The effect of this disaster was to deter the natives from planting cane the following year, and in consequence the production for that season was cut down more than fifty per cent.