78 



The first five are varieties of canes grown in the small experimental plot at 

 the Bureau of Agriculture experiment station at La Gran j a. They are much 

 larger in size than is the rule in Negros, but are relatively poor in sucrose and 

 purity and contain a large amount of reducing sugar. That these are not inherent 

 qualities of the cane itself, but rather the effect of the soil in which they grow, 

 is shown by comparing a native cane from the same plot, number 6, quoted in the 

 table of canes from Pontevedra-La Carlota. It will be noted that even native 

 cane in this locality differs widely from that in other parts of the islands. So far 

 as I have been able to ascertain, none of these five varieties has been tried else- 

 where in Negros, although during the past year a few plants were set out by some 

 of the planters in the lower lands of the same district, more as a curiosity than 

 anything else. Number 8 is said to be a wild, mountain variety, somewhat 

 darker in color but otherwise differing only in a few minor points from the 

 ordinary purple cane. Analysis shows it to be of very good quality, although a 

 little hard and high in fiber. 



Numbers 9 and 11 are said to be the third ratoons from Hawaiian Rose 

 Bamboo. They are of much better quality than the original plant, and illustrate 

 the tendency of canes growing in an exceptionally fertile soil to become sweeter, 

 although often smaller, after several years of ratooning. 



Number 27 comes from a small field of very rich virgin soil, previously men- 

 tioned as number 21, of the district of Bago. Although it has ratooned one year, 

 it yields a juice so poor that only by mixing it in the mill with other better canes 

 could a fairly good sugar be produced. The manager of the hacienda where this 

 was grown states that from the first planting no sugar at all could be made, 

 only molasses. Such soils as this which are considered too fertile for sugar cane, 

 are occasionally met with iu Negros, and it is customary to "chastise" them 

 by planting closer together, allowing the cane to ratoon without turning over the 

 land, dispensing with all cultural operations so as to permit of a good growth 

 of weeds, and in general acting contrary to all rules of agriculture, with the 

 idea that in time the over luxuriant growth will become discouraged and yield a 

 smaller, sweeter crop. 



Theoretically, the remedy should lie in just the opposite course — by planting 

 farther apart, the cane roots would have an opportunity to spread out and form 

 a firmer support for a large cane, and, more space being allowed for the penetra- 

 tion of air and sunlight, more favorable conditions for ripening would be aflforded. 

 The principal reason that very fertile soils in this country often produce a poor 

 qiiality of cane would appear to be that, especially in the case of the purple 

 native variety, which is normally low in fiber, the roots at the start are not 

 sufiiciently developed to support a heavy stalk, which, as a consequence, falls over 

 on the ground, where it forms a tangled mass of vegetation into which light and 

 air can not very well penetrate, the result being that the cane never has a chance 

 to become fully ripe. 



Number 30 is a white cane similar to that grown extensively in Luzon. It is 

 not liked in Negros, as it is said to be harder and to yield a juice less rich than 

 the purple, therefore it is never planted intentionally, but is only to be found here 

 and there in isolated stools. 



Number 40 is a "freak" cane said to occur only in the San Carlos district, 

 where it is considered by some to be a natural hybrid between the true sugar 

 cane and a coarse species of wild grass called locally "tigbau" (Saccharum 



