26 METHOD OF CULTIVATION. 
some of the conditions essential to the perfection of the one 
as a grain-bearing plant, are inimical to the special function 
of the other as a sugar preducer ; that there are other con- 
stitutional peculiarities in which they differ, such as the 
adaptation of the cane to a lower temperature during the 
early period of its growth than corn, its greater capacity 
to endure drought after its growth has become well estab- 
lished, chiefly on account of its deriving its nourishment 
at that time from a lower stratum of the soil, its ability to 
endure more frost, both early and late, and its greater sen-. 
sitiveness to certain peculiarities of climate and soil,—it 
is obvious that conformity in the mode of culture to these 
distinctive properties at least is essential. 
» Strict adherence to a well-defined system is imperative 
/ throughout the whole progress of sugar production, and 
at no time more so than during that period when the subtle 
chemistry of soil and air is at work within the cells of the 
growing plant, elaborating and distributing the materials 
upon which the skill and labor of the manufacturer are 
afterward to be expended. It should never be forgotten 
that neglect at any period will inevitably be followed by a 
forfeiture of the best results. 
At the outset, great caution should be observed in the 
selection of the seed for planting, so that not only the 
richest and purest varieties of the cane, but those also best 
adapted to the climate of each district, may be secured. 
To a want of discrimination in this respect is to be attrib- 
uted much of the ill success which has occasionally at- 
tended the experiment with the sorghum in this country. 
The different varieties which were distributed over the 
country a few years ago have exhibited very different de- 
grees of acclimatization. Sufficient time has not yet elapsed 
to justify a definition of the climatic range of each of these. 
When fully naturalized, some of~ them will have acquired 
