16 SUGAR 



some favour a coat striped in orange and purple, others 

 prefer scarlet flecked with blue, an artistic mixture 

 of greens, barbaric splashes of indigo and vermilion, 

 or a patchwork of sunset hues. Another, and vital, 

 difference in the canes is the varying amount of juice 

 they contain, and the varying quantity and quality 

 of sugar which that juice will yield. 



Plant canes can be relied on to follow the habits of 

 their parent, but seedlings are perverse and self-willed. 

 The majority of seeds from one cane will more often 

 than not produce throw-backs, akin to remote an- 

 cestors, or a new variety. The self-willed seedlings 

 are aptly called " sports." Sports are great favourites 

 in the Experimental Nurseries. They shed much light 

 on the sugar-cane family as a whole, and offer many 

 valuable suggestions as to the most skilful, scientific, 

 and profitable ways of cultivating a sugar-cane plan- 

 tation. A specimen collection of bits of sport canes is 

 reminiscent of a gaily variegated bundle of Christmas 

 crackers. 



CHAPTER V 



A CHAT ABOUT BEET-SUGAR 



The sugar-beetroot grows in temperate regions. To- 

 day its chief centres of cultivation include almost 

 every European country and the United States. 

 England has recently shown a keen desire to produce 

 the plant on a large scale, and it is hoped that she will 

 soon be taking a prominent position not only as a 

 sugar-beet farmer, but as a beet-sugar manufacturer. 

 Up to now the part played by the British Isles in 



