and the premium on state plantations was cut down one-half between 1887 and 1891, with the proviso that the payment of the other half should be deferred until 1892-96. Unfortunately for the producers in Java, there was a disastrous slump in sugar prices just about the time these new measures were formulated. The tremendous output of beet sugar sent the price below cost in 1882-84, and besides this a strange disease, called _sereh_, worked havoc with the cane in the fields and caused serious loss. This disease made its appearance in western Java in 1884 and spread rapidly, affecting the production everywhere. After carrying on a hard but losing fight for some years, the sugar men summoned science to their aid in this difficulty. H. C. Prinsen Geerligs was called to Java in 1891 and three experimental stations were established to fight the sereh. Through the efforts of the officials in charge of the experiment stations, specimens of cane were brought from all parts of the cane-producing world, the object being to find a cane that would be as rich in sugar as the Black Cheribon (the most popular variety then grown in Java) and yet able to withstand the sereh. Fresh healthy cane was planted for seed purposes in the mountains, far from the disease-infected region, and much care was taken in the way of disinfection and quarantine precaution to prevent the sereh from spreading into the sections that were free from it. These measures were accompanied by exhaustive scientific experiment work to find out the cause and the nature of the disease and how it could be overcome. These stations not only accomplished the purpose for which they were built, but they were of great benefit to the industry in all of its branches. As a result, planting, growing and manufacturing methods have been vastly improved, chemical control of factories has been introduced and economic scientific methods govern every department of the work. By these means, supported by the addition of fresh capital, the sugar industry of Java was not only saved from extinction, but was lifted into a very prominent world’s place, and for years past Java has furnished an example of remarkable efficiency and low cost of production. Java’s sugar plantations are situated in the eastern and central part of the island. The surface of much of the western end is broken and mountainous, lacking uninterrupted stretches of level land suitable for agriculture, and presenting obstacles to transportation. The great drawback, however, even in the vast plain of Krawang, is climatic. As has been said, the ideal climate for sugar cane is one that combines abundant rain during the period of growth with an uninterrupted dry season to ripen the cane and admit of its being readily harvested and transported to the mill. In west Java these conditions do not obtain, as the wet and dry seasons are not sharply defined.