SUGAR. 



THE SUGAR-CANE IN INDIA. 



By C. A. BARBER, Sc. D.Cantab., F.L.S. 

 Government Sugar-cane Expert in India. 



THE indigenous canes of India differ so greatly from 

 those usually met with in the tropics that a competent 

 observer has suggested that they are of different descent, 

 and have arisen from separate species of wild Saccharum. 

 It is certainly a matter of small difficulty to distinguish 

 between the native canes and such introductions as are 

 occasionally met with throughout the country. Prac- 

 tically, the whole of the thicker canes of North India, 

 termed locally " Paunda," are foreign, being only grown 

 under special conditions near large towns, heavily 

 manured, carefully tended, and used only as a fruit, pieces 

 of them being sold in the bazaars at a small price for chew- 

 ing. Here and there records survive of their introduction 

 into the country by some enterprising officer, in other cases 

 the names by which they are known indicate a foreign 

 origin, while, in many, all traces of their importation have 

 disappeared, and we are dependent on their morphological 

 characters and obvious unsuitability for general culti- 

 vation as proofs of their foreign character. In the 

 present note I propose to leave out these introduced 

 canes altogether and deal exclusively with the native 

 canes of India, with the object of impressing their 

 characters upon those who have not had the opportunity 

 of seeing them. 



As regards the growth of the sugar-cane, India may 

 be divided roughly into two great regions : Peninsular 

 India and the sugar-cane tract of North India. Not that 

 sugar-cane cannot be grown in India wherever water and 



