CANE SUGAR. 



Cutting Back, The flowering season in the Hawaiian Islands is 

 during the months of November and December. Cane that has been cut 

 early in the year will flower that same year and will have to be harvested after 

 a twelve months' growth; such cane is termed short ratoons. By allowing 

 such cane to grow till June and then cutting it back, it can be carried over the 

 flowering season of that year and will flower in the November of the following 

 year, thus giving a 1 7 to 1 8 months' period of growth from the time it was cut 

 back till it flowers, and a total period of growth of not less than two years by 

 the time it is harvested. Such cane is called long ratoons. 



Period Of Harvest. The time of harvest in the more important 

 cane growing areas is as shown below : 



British Guiana. September to December. 

 Cuba. December to June. 

 Java. May to November. 

 Mauritius. August to December. 

 Louisiana. October to January. 

 Hawaiian Islands. December to September. 

 Peru. October to February. 

 Brazil. October to February. 

 Argentina. June to October. 

 Egypt. December to March. 

 Queensland. June to November. 

 Mexico. December to May. 

 Philippines. September to March. 

 West Indies. January to July. 



Influence of Arrowing on the Cane. Arrowing marks the 

 end of the vegetative period of the growing cane. It has been thought that 

 arrowing had an influence on the sugar content of the cane ; definite experi- 

 ments by Harrison 11 and by Prinsen Geerligs 12 have shown that this belief is 

 unfounded. After the cane has arrowed no further formation of sugar takes 

 place, but an elaboration of that already formed obtains with an increase in 

 the cane sugar content and in the purity ; eventually however the cane dies 

 down and then a breaking down of the cane sugar occurs. The time to which 

 cane can be left standing after arrowing is very variable and is dependent on 

 variety and climate. In the Hawaiian Islands cane may remain as long as six 

 months after arrowing, before deterioration sets in. 



Yield of Sugar per Acre. The yield of sugar per acre is deter- 

 mined by the fertility of the soil, by the action of fertilizers, by climate, by 

 variety, by the efficiency of the cultivation, and by the efficiency of the manu- 

 facturing processes. Without doubt the highest returns have been obtained on 

 the heavily fertilized, systematically irrigated, porous, volcanic, basaltic soils 

 of the Hawaiian Islands; as much as 30,000 Ibs. of sugar have been there 



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