20 CHAPTER III 



In Africa— Madeira (33° N.), Egypt (4°-30° N.), Natal and Zululand 

 (28°-30° S.), Portuguese East Africa (io°-28° S.), and Mauritius and Reunion 

 (i9°-2i° S.). 



In America — Louisiana, with isolated instances in Arizona, Texas and 

 Georgia (30°-32° N.), the whole of the West Indian Islands (8°-22° N.), 

 including therein Cuba, Porto Rico, Santo Domingo and Hayti, Jamaica, 

 Martinique and Guadeloupe, St. Vincent, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Thomas, 

 Virgin Islands, Barbados, Antigua and Trinidad ; British and Dutch 

 Guiana (6°-8° N.), Mexico and the Central American republics (8°-25° N.), 

 Brazil (o°-23° S.), Argentina (22°-28° S.), Paraguay (20°-22° S.), Venezuela 

 . (o°-8° N.), and Peru (3°-! 8° S.). 



In Australasia — New South Wales and Queensland (i6°-30° S.), Fiji 

 {i5°-2i° S.), and the Hawaiian Islands (i8°-2i° N.). 



In Europe — Spain, in the extreme south-east (36°-37° N.). 



Apart from these commercial centres the cane may be found growing 

 as a garden plant in the Bahamas, Bermuda, Cape Colony, Mesopotamia, 

 Persia and Arabia. 



In the middle ages Sicily, Malta, Cyprus and the Levant were the centres 

 of a considerable industry, and the seventeenth century saw an attempt 

 to grow the cane in the south of France. It still survives in these localities. 

 As a matter of curiosity it may be recorded that at the Great Exhibition 

 of 1851, Dr. Evans showed sugar made from. canes grown in Surrey, England, 

 by Mr. H. Perkins.^ 



The Temperature of Cane-growing Districts. — As the cane is grown in 

 countries widely differentiated, both as regards latitude and altitude, there 

 is a wide variation in the conditions under which it is produced. The hottest 

 localities are not those which lie at or near to the equator ; such have 

 a temperature distinctly lower than many a munber of degrees remote 

 therefrom. Actually the heat equator at 0° longitude lies close to 20° N. 

 latitude. Passing east it leaves Africa at its most easterly point, 13° N., 

 and then runs parallel to the equator, crossing southern India, whence it 

 turns south and crosses the equator at 80° E. It remains south of the line 

 to 120° W., when it rises abruptly to meet the American continent at 25° N. 

 Crossing the continent it runs S.E. closely following the east coast of Central 

 and South America, and leaves the most westerly point of the continent 

 at 2° S. It then runs in a north-easterly direction till it again meets the 

 parallel of Greenwich at 20° N. 



The mean annual temperature in degrees Fahrenheit and that of the hot- 

 test and coldest months for each five degrees of latitude are thus given by 

 Spitaler.* 



North Latitude. South Latitude. 



30° 25° 20° 15° lo-^ 5° 0° 5° 10° 15° 20° 25° 30° 



January 58-3 65-1 71-1 74-9 78-3 79-2 79-2 79-0 78-6 78-3 77-4 76-5 73'0 



July ,. 8i'i 82-4 82-6 82-2 79'5 79*0 77-9 76'8 75'2 72*7 68'9 64'6 58-3 



Year .. 68-5 74-7 78-3 79-3 79-5 79-1 78-6 77-9 77-0 75-6 72-9 69*6 65-3 



These figures refer to the parallel as a whole, and generally continental 

 areas exhibit greater extremes than do the maritime regions. The hottest 

 localities occur in Africa, India, Central America and Northern Australia, 

 where mean annual temperatures of 85° F. are recorded. 



•These temperatures refer to sea level. The U.S. Dept. of Agric, Weather Bureau, assumes a fall of i* Ffor 

 each 325 feet rise m altitude. 



