Sacchariim. triandria digynia. 247 



" these are the common size; I am however told they are sometimes 

 ^' much larger." 



To point out the benefit that may accrue to the cultivators of 

 this sugar cane, I need only add the follo\\ing copy of a letter from 

 'blv. KicharcJ Cardeii, superiuteudant of the HonouraLtle Compa- 

 ny's Rum and Sugar works at Mirzapore Culna ui Beiigal, to me, 

 dated I3i\\ August, IbOl, soon after the iutroductiou of liiti cane. 



*' VVitli r^:spect to ilie produce ot the common Bengal sugar caues, 

 " I have never been able to collect an account that can be depended 

 " upon ; the natives generally manufacture the juice into Jaggery in 

 " my neighbourhood, which yields them nearly 14 cutcha maunds, 

 " ot 60 Sicca weight, per b^gha on an average ; and a profit of about 

 *' 1 1 or 12 rupees per bigha. Neither the white ants nor jackalls, 

 *' liave connniit. d any depredations on the China canes that 1 have 

 *' planted, although the latter have often been seen among them, 

 " which certainly gives these canes a decided preference to the Ben- 

 **gal sugar canes. I do not think the China ones degenerate in the 

 " least, nor do they improve ; they appear to me to remain nearly 

 " in the same state. If planted at the same time the natives put 

 " their canes into the ground, they will not make such good return,^ 

 " as the Bengal sort, but planted in the West India mode, in the 

 " month of September or October, and suffered to remain on the 

 " ground till the December or January twelve months, they will then 

 *' yield double the returns of what the Bengal canes do, which is 

 *' owing ni part to the length of time they are in the ground, and 

 "principally to the ants and jackalls not destroying them, whereas 

 ** if the Bengal cane was to remain so long on the ground, the na- 

 "tives would have g-eat difficulty to prevent the greatest part of 

 " them from being destroyed, and the young shoots would suffer very 

 "much from the hot winds, and ants, which I witnessed the second 

 "year I came to Mirzapore; but the shoots from the China canes 

 " I cut last January, stood the last hot season uncommonly weill, 

 " and will next January, I have reason to believe, from the present 

 *' appearance, make half, or nearly three-fourths the quantity of 



