36 



tops, and there is sufficient land uncultivated to allow each "field to 

 become fully ripe before cutting, even if it has to lie over the next year 

 without planting. Soils poorer than the average seem to exert an in- 

 fluence solely on the size of canes produced and the thickness of their 

 growth. Examples of this are numbers 22 and 31, grown in soils 

 numbers 15 and 27, respectively. In addition to being not much over 

 half the average weight of the majority, these canes are much fewer 

 in number to the hectare. 



The newer, richer soils of the upper Bago district tend to produce a cane of 

 wider variation in composition, as is shown by numbers 28 and 29, it being on 

 the whole rather poorer in sucrose, although the cane itself is considerably larger. 

 The reducing sugar content of the two samples analyzed, coming from the upper 

 district, was about twice that found lower down, this being in part due to the fact 

 that these larger canes might not have had time to ripen fully, although it was 

 stated that they were twelve months old, and, in a lesser degree, to bad roads and 

 poor means of transportation causing a delay of a day and a half between cutting 

 and analyzing the cane. For the latter reason it was not found practicable in 

 the limited time at my disposal to investigate more thoroughly the upper Bago 

 region. 



Taken on an average, canes from the district of Bago are character- 

 ized by a high percentage of sucrose, relatively much less fiber than are 

 those lower down, and an extremely high purity. Of course, the purity 

 is somewhat exaggerated by the fact that the juice was expressed by 

 a mill of comparatively little power. The residual juice left in the 

 cane might run from 3 to 4 per cent lower in purity. Such cane 

 as this would be considered almost ideal for a modern mill. The soft 

 fiber, small in amount, would allow the expression of the greater part 

 of the juice in the crusher and fu'st mill, while, because of the richness 

 and high purity of the juice itself, it would allow of dilution to such 

 an extent that enough maceration water could be used so that only 

 a trifling amount of sugar should be lost in the bagasse from the third 

 mill. In fact, I very much doubt if there are to be found, in any part 

 of the world, canes more admirably adapted for yielding good results 

 in milling. From a purely agricultural standpoint such canes are 

 somewhat less desirable. Grown under normal conditions they are 

 by no means large, and, when planted in new or extra fertile soil, have 

 a tendency, because of their low-fiber content, to fall down badly and 

 ripen slowly or not at all. They are also quite sensitive to drought, 

 lack of moisture affecting their size more than their composition. Be- 

 cause of their tenderness and extreme richness they might also, theo- 

 retically at least, fall an easy prey to diseases and to insect pests, 

 although of these, fortunately, we thus far have little record. 



The general characteristics of high sucrose, low fiber, and high purity 

 are by no means confined to canes growing in the Bago district, but, 

 as will be shown in subsequent analyses, hold good to a greater or 

 less extent over the entire island, those from Bago being somewhat 



