C. A. Hahbkr 213 



cane is much more thickly planted in the former, so that vastly the 

 greater part of the crop is grown in this northern region, constituting 

 an aggregate of something like 4000 square miles. This is entirely 

 outside the tropics. Moisture is adequate, by rain near the hills and a 

 complete network of canals farther south where, however, paddy is 

 no longer a serious rival. The soil is easily permeable, deep and rich, 

 but the total amount of warmth and especially the length of the growing 

 period are insufficient. The continuance of suitable high temperature 

 is the limiting factor here. 



This difference in climate between the northern or continental 

 portion and the southern or peninsular has a marked influence on the 

 character of canes grown in the two regions. While the field canes in 

 Southern India are often comparable with those of tropical islands in 

 thickness and vigour, those of North India are much thinner, more 

 fibrous and much less productive of sugar in the crop. The canefields 

 look very different in the two tracts, as may be gathered from the photo- 

 graphs, those in Bengal standing intermediate between the extremes of 

 Madras and the Panjab. And, when the canes are carefully examined, 

 they are generally so unlike in morphological characters and habit that 

 it is worth while considering whether they have been derived from the 

 same ancestral species of Saccharum. These differences in climate and 

 character of the canes have a pronounced effect upon the whole course 

 of cultivation in the field and, while the cultivation of sugarcane in the 

 south is intensive and costly, the crop in the Gangetic plain has little 

 attention paid to it. 



Judging by the periodic returns issued by Government, the area 

 under sugarcane remains more or less stationary, but, on the other hand, 

 the population is rapidly increasing. It is still doubtful whether the 

 diminution in poppy-growing will bring much more land under sugar- 

 cane, and although there are indications of extension in some localities, 

 there is no immediate prospect of any great increase in the area under 

 this crop. Improvement in production must therefore take the line of 

 increasing the yield per acre. With this object in view, a small depart- 

 ment has recently been opened by the Indian Government for the 

 general study of the sugarcanes of the country. There are, of course, 

 various ways in which the problem may be approached. Leaving 

 aside the whole question of improvement in agricultural practice, which 

 is now receiving a good deal of attention, the canes are seen to be 

 obviously inferior in character in North India, and it is natural to 

 consider whether success may not be obtained most rapidly and 



15—2 



