OTHER USEFUL PLANTS 75 



industry has risen to such proportions that it 

 more than rivals the cane industry. 



Stimulated by this unexpected competition, 

 which threatened to annihilate the cane sugar 

 industry, somewhat as the work of the synthetic 

 chemist has practically annihilated indigo grow- 

 ing and madder growing, the planters have in 

 recent years given serious attention to the ques- 

 tion of the possible improvement of the sugar- 

 producing qualities of the cane. 



Many experimenters from different parts of 

 the world have written me concerning this matter 

 within the past twenty years. And a number of 

 my friends and acquaintances are now raising 

 sugar cane from seed in Mexico, the Hawaiian 

 Islands, and Cuba, with an eye to the production 

 of improved varieties. Their efforts should be 

 successful. 



Crossbreeding the sugar cane will give it new 

 vitality, and careful selection from among the 

 new varieties that will appear in the second gen- 

 eration should enable the cultivators to develop 

 new strains of the sugar-bearing cane that will 

 be far richer in their sugar content than any of 

 the old varieties. The cane is at best handi- 

 capped in competition with the beet by the fact 

 that it can be grown only in tropical and sub- 

 tropical climates. 



