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The World's Commercial Products 



PENANG. BARGES LOADED WITH CUT SUGAR-CANES 



up, and a chemical change begins to operate, other substances being formed at the cost of the 

 pure sugar. 



That the quantity and the quality of the sap remains stationary for some time is especially 

 fortunate for this reason, that as a rule the circumstances do not allow of cutting the whole 

 crop at once. This must be done according to the capacity of the factory ; cut canes rapidly 

 deteriorate, and only an amount should be reaped which can be dealt with immediately. 



Under favourable climatic conditions the cane thrives without artificial watering. In 

 some countries irrigation is extensively practised, either because it is necessary or because 

 greatly increased yields result and render it profitable. Hawaii affords, perhaps, the most 

 conspicuous example of the wise expenditure of money on costly irrigation works. The soil 

 is fertile and this fact, combined with judicious irrigation, has resulted in yields of over 100 tons 

 of canes per acre being obtained, which is perhaps four times as much as the average yield in 

 most cane-growing countries. In Java, Egypt, Cuba, Mauritius, and British Guiana irrigation is 

 practised to a greater' or less extent, and in Peru it allows canes to be cultivated successfully 

 in regions where the rainfall is nil. 



Reaping. None of the nations which still keep true to their primitive religion, and that is 

 especially the case with the people of the Eastern tropics, will ever reap a harvest of any impor- 

 tance without some preliminary solemn offering to the goddess of fruitfulness. In the case of 

 very important products, prayers and offerings are also sent up to the goddess before the planting 

 is begun, and at the same time the evil spirits which may harm the growth or the crop are often 

 exorcised or propitiated. A simple prayer and a meeting suffice for the planting of the sugar- 

 cane. But people make up for these scanty solemnities at the harvest-feast, when the first canes 

 are taken to the factory. Even in Europe harvest festivals are not unknown, and it is not so 

 long ago that these bore a strongly religious character. In Java these feasts are celebrated 

 with considerable ceremony, especially on the principal sugar estates where a large number 

 of people are employed. 



A Tew days after the harvest-feast the real harvest begins. The canes which were planted 

 first the year before are also cut first, a little above the ground, with a long knife or cutlass — 

 rather heavy work in the tropical heat. Many attempts have been made to substitute 



