SUGAR 121 



India, the crop being stunted and grass-like in comparison 

 with those of Java, the West Indies, and Mauritius. It 

 is, in fact, extremely unlikely that our traveller would 

 recognize the crop at all. The canes are thin, short, or 

 moderately tall, but never equalling the tropical luxuri- 

 ance; they are hardy against drought or waterlogging, 

 and are consequently often grown in unsuitable places; 

 the juice is fairly rich and contains little glucose at 

 ripeness, but it is scanty, and much of it is absorbed at 

 the mill by the mass of fibre which the stalks contain; 

 the rind is hard and the leaves are narrow, often being 

 less than an inch across at the widest place. 



The limiting factor in cane-growing in South India is 

 water; in North India warmth. The latter is insufficient 

 for tropical canes to ripen, and those that are grown, 

 being merely used for chewing, cannot hold their own 

 in purity with the local cane. The latter have for 

 centuries been adapting themselves to the local conditions 

 and make the most of their opportunities, as will be seen 

 from the following : While the growing period in South 

 India is twelve months of the year, provided canal, well, 

 or river water is available, that in North India is strictly 

 limited. Irrigation or a large quantity of rain or water 

 in the soil is necessary for sugar-cane growing in India, 

 for, in place of the rains which give showers every month 

 in the West Indies, there are four or five months during 

 which no rain falls, and without artificial watering the 

 cane would inevitably die. 



In North India there is often a considerable period of 

 time between reaping and sowing, and various methods 

 are adopted to keep the seed. In the Punjab it is stored 

 in great mounds of earth, very like the similar mounds 

 used in Europe for storing mangolds. Rain is usually 

 absent from India during the first half of the year, so that, 

 although the canes are sown as soon as there is warmth 

 enough for germination, growth during the earlier period 

 is very slow. The temperature, however, rises rapidly until 

 it far exceeds anything experienced in South India or any 

 other part of the inhabited tropics. For weeks it is above 

 100 F. in the shade, and, towards the end of this period, 

 may reach anything up to the maximum of 125 F. The 



