THE COMPOSITION OF THE SUGAR CANE 13 



that these results have been copied from book to book right down to the 

 immediate present as general averages. In respect to single canes, the 

 composition will be found to he within the limits : — Water, 69 to 75 per 

 cent. ; Cane sugar, 7 to 20 per cent. ; Reducing sugars, o to 2 per 

 cent. ; Fibre, 8 to 17 per cent. ; Ash, 0-3 to o-8 per cent. ; Organic non- 

 sugar, 0-5 to I per cent. The upper limit of 20 per cent, for cane sugar 

 is only reached in exceptional cases, and has but once been found by the 

 writer in the analysis of stalks selected for special purposes. 



Taking crop averages, very great differences between different districts 

 are to be observed.^ In the Hawaiian Islands for the years 1908 to 1915 

 the average sugar content of the whole crop was 14-18 per cent. On the 

 island of Maui, where the crop is almost exclusively irrigated Lahaina cane, 

 the sugar content over the same period was 15*49 P^^ cent., the extremes 

 being 14-94 per cent, and 16-00 per cent. The highest plantation crop 

 average was 16-61 per cent., and the highest weekly average on a plantation 

 was 18-24 psr cent. On the island of Hawaii, where the crop is almost 

 entirely Yellow Caledonia cane grown under natural conditions, the average 

 for the stated period was 13-26 per cent., with extremes of 13 '92 per cent, 

 and 12-72 per cent. 



Statistics from Java are very complete. The figures for the years 1906 

 to 1912 gave 12-50 per cent, as the crop average over the whole of Java, 

 with extremes of 12 • 16 per cent, and 13 " 11 per cent. Individual plantations 

 show extremes var\ing from under 10 per cent, to over 15 per cent. For 

 the year 19 14- 15 the average sugar content of the cane hars^ested at 151 

 mills in Cuba was 12 • 98 per cent., the extremes recorded being 10 • per cent, 

 and 15-3 per cent., both occurring on ver\' small plantations. Statistics 

 from 34 Mauritius factories for the year 1914 gave an average of 13-36 per 

 cent., with extremes of 12-73 per cent, and 14-07 per cent. 



Of the other large cane-growing districts, the occasional records that 

 appear from Peru indicate that the cane grown there under irrigation equals 

 that in the most favoinred parts of the Hawaiian Islands. Australia is another 

 coimtry where cane of high sugar content is foimd. At the other extreme 

 may be placed the widely separated districts of Argentina, Louisiana, and 

 Demerara, where a sugar content of 11-5 per cent, is probably above the 

 crop average. 



The percentage of sugar in the cane though to a great extent dependent 

 on variety is also affected by conditions of soil and cUmate. Accepting the 

 identity of the varieties known as Bourbon, Lahaina, etc. {cf. Chapter IV), 

 attention may be directed to the ver\' great differences in composition 

 observed between these canes as grown in Hawaii and Mamitius, and in 

 Demerara. As varietal differences when conditions of growth are constant, 

 the case of the Lahaina and Yellow Caledonia canes in Hawaii may be cited, 

 the former containing at least a percentage more of sugar than the latter. 

 Among older canes of repute as of high sugar content may be quoted the 

 Otaheite and the light and dark coloured varieties of the Java or Cheribon 

 canes. To these may be added the recently introduced Badilla cane grown 

 to some extent in Australasia. At the other extreme come such canes as 

 the Cavengerie, the Salangore and the Elephant cane. Of the seedlings, 

 many have been selected on a sugar-rich basis, and of these there are D 74 ; 

 P,0.'j.ioo ; B 208 ; H 10. Others, such as D625, D 1135 and Bouricius 274, 

 though not of high sugar content, remain in cultivation because of other 

 desirable characteristics. 



