14& SUGAR 



bullock power iron mill is commonly used); the per- 

 centage of sugar in the juice was IT to 12, and the co- 

 efficient of purity was about 80. In January the purity 

 had risen to about 85, and the sucrose to 13 per cent. 

 Thus the quality of the local cane is rather low from the 

 manufacturing point of view, but the weight per acre 

 and the proportion of juice extractable are high. 



It is the practice in this Province to preserve cane from 

 November, the beginning of the harvesting season, until 

 the planting season in March, by placing the cane in 

 " clamps," in manner somewhat similar to the " clamp- 

 ing " of root crops in Great Britain. Here the whole 

 canes, with the leaf and the upper root, are laid on the 

 ground parallel to one another and formed into a heap, 

 which is then covered with earth. The cane remains 

 perfectly sound in these heaps so far as the vitality of 

 the buds is concerned. But it seemed of importance to 

 ascertain whether the cane remains sound from the 

 manufacturer's standpoint. The general experience in 

 cane-growing countries is that sugar-cane depreciates 

 very rapidly after it has been cut from the field; the 

 sucrose decreasing and the glucose increasing. The 

 temperature conditions in the Peshawar valley differ, 

 however, from those of most cane-producing countries; 

 the mean temperature in December is 51 F., in January 

 52 F., in February 53 F., and in March 63 F., and with 

 such low temperatures it was an open question whether 

 the usual depreciatory changes in the cane would occur. 



Experiments rt^ade in December, 1913, and in January, 

 1914, have shown that harvested sugar-cane keeps per- 

 fectly well here in clamps. Thus four lots of different 

 cane which were clamped in early December showed 

 practically no depreciation when examined three weeks 

 later. 



