A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL 



frosts are common; but these do not occur on the uplands, which 

 are warmed by the sun all day. 



While Central Brazil yields coffee, sugar is grown in the North. 

 It has always seemed to me that cane-sugar is not only sweeter, but 

 also more palatable than beet-sugar; moreover, sugar-cane yields 

 more than 2| times as much sugar per acre, so that the advantage 

 over beet-sugar which was won by cane-sugar during the war is not 

 likely to be recovered by the former. 



Brazil is a sugar-producing country of the first rank, and since in 

 the State of Pernambuco the estates or engenhos are planted wholly 

 or chiefly with sugar-cane, I was already familiar with this crop. 

 Between the estates, at considerable intervals, are factories, and to 

 these tramways or railways run from the sugar-fields. In September 

 and October the cut cane is carried thither. During the crushing 

 process it gives off an unpleasant odour. The sap is then boiled 

 down in great metal cylinders; the syrup which trickles from it is 

 run off through pipes; alcohol too is distilled. The Brazilian factories 

 enjoy this advantage, that they have no walls, which gives them a 

 pleasant and airy appearance. The cane is crushed also in special 

 shops in the towns, and the milky sap is sold as caldo de carina; a 

 tasty beverage, in which the green of the plant seems to enhance 

 the refreshing flavour. I did not myself drink the rum or cachaga 

 prepared from the molasses ; it was too strong for me ; but old cachaga 

 is said to be equal to the best cognac. 



A cane-field is planted by burying segments of cane in the moist 

 soil, where they send up young green shoots. Two black beetles, 

 not unlike our dung-beetles, make themselves unpleasantly con- 

 spicuous in the cane-fields, boring through the growing shoot in the 

 segment of stem and hollowing it out. None the less, a new shoot 

 commonly grows, but now the eggs laid by the beetle hatch into 

 grubs — which the Brazilians call pao de gallinha or "hen-bread," 

 because hens eat them — and these destroy the whole plant. As a 

 defence against this pest, the ground is soaked with carbon disulphide, 

 and the beetles are trapped at night by lanterns placed over basins 

 of water. Here again the best means of preventing the beetle from 

 multiplying would be to ensure the presence of its natural enemies. 

 The cane-fields are among the loveliest of plantations. They look 

 like endless forests of reeds, and since reeds too grow to a uniform 

 height they have a perfectly natural appearance (Plate 23). 

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