148 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[July 1, 1895. 



The rainfall is very carefully studied iu tbe drier sugar- 

 growing islands. Certain stages of the plant's growth 

 require a much greater rainfall than others, while near 

 crop-time it is preferable to have dry weather for the 

 ripening of the canes. The absence of rain during the 

 growing season appears also to be a direct encouragement 

 to nearly all the pests which attack the cane-plant, and 

 this has been markedly so during the last few years in the 

 West Indian plantations. 



We have thus traced the cane-plant in its growth from 

 the dormant bud to the full-grown " bunch," with its 

 knotted root-stock and mass of solid upright canes. In 

 very few islands is the growth of the cane confined to one 

 season. Where the soil is not too light, and a fair amount 

 of rain is obtainable, it is usual to allow the plants, after 

 being cut down, to shoot out again or " ratoon." The 



expenses of cultivation 

 which, in the northern 

 West Indian Islands at 

 any rate, is largely per- 

 formed by hand, are so 

 great that the economy 

 of ratooning is at once 

 evident. Unless the 

 conditions are very 

 favourable, however, 

 this system of ratooning 

 cannot be employed for 

 more than two or three 

 years. As remarkable 

 exceptions, fields may 

 be seen in Nevis of 

 ratoons of ten to fifteen 

 years' standing. In 

 Dominica again, where 

 the cultivation is in 

 a very backward con- 

 dition, on one estate, 

 whose fields are occa- 

 sionally swept by the 

 fertilizing waters of a 

 turbulent river, it is 

 imj)ossible to determine 

 when the fields were 

 last planted — probably 

 twenty-eight or thirty 

 years ago. Such is the 

 fertility of the soil, kept up by the alluvial deposits of the 

 overfiowing river, that year after year the cane may be 

 leaped at a profit, and shows no tendency towards dying 

 out. In the neighbouring island of St. Kitts, which is 

 diy and possesses an exceedingly light soil, by way of 

 contrast, only certain fields can he successfully ratooned 

 at all, and second ratoons are a rarity. 



The reaping of "ratoons" and -'plant canes" is 

 identical. A gang of negro labourers is turned into the 

 field, armed with cutlasses— heavy iron blades a couple of 

 feet long and broad in proportion, fastened to a short 

 wooden handle, to give a firm grip. \ single blow severs the 

 caoe low down, and a second cuts oft' the top. The cut 

 canes are rapidly collected into bundles and tied together 

 with wisps made of the strong green leaves. 



The bundles are hurled up and stacked into the lumber- 

 ing ox- or mule-drays, which crash along the lanes to the 

 mill-yard, amid the shouts of the drivers and the cracking 

 of whips. The negro is nothing if not noisy. I'.ach load 

 i? thrown in a heap on the ground near the mill, and when 

 thirty or forty have been deposited tlip " mill-tjana; ' start 

 the''' work. 



i"lG. 4. — A Youug Caue Shoot still 

 attached to the planted piece. (After- 

 l.ock.) 



The canes are placed end-wise between massive iron 

 rollers, made to revolve by powerful machinery. The 

 canes are thoroughly crushed, a mere residue of fibre 

 emerging from the rollers and streams of dirty juice 

 escaping below. The cane-fibre, or " megass," is quickly 

 carried away in baskets and spread in the hot mill-yard 

 to dry. When quite dry — a matter of three or four hours 

 in the burning sun — it is collected into heaps for future 

 use. It supplies the fuel for the boiling-house, and it is 

 difticult to imderstand how it could be replaced in the 

 absence of all trees and the costliness of imported coal. 



It would occupy too much space to follow all the details 

 of the "boiling-house." Many are the processes through 

 which the juice of the cane passes before it is changed to 

 the beautiful brown crystals or white cubes which we 

 purchase at the stores, or the rum bearing the 

 •Jamaica brand. The processes, indeed, are many and 

 complicated, but the principle is the same as that by which 

 the Persians many centuries ago produced their " axe- 

 hewn" product. After "tempering" with lime and 

 boiling down, the crude juice is run into flat wooden 

 troughs to cool. Here it sets into a dark- brown mass of 

 wet crystals. By rapidly rotating these in "centrifugals'' 

 the molasses present is driven out, and a refined product 

 obtained which is fit for the table. 



The West Indian plantations, with which the present 

 article has mainly dealt, are at present in a very depressed 

 condition. The energetic competition of the beet-growing 

 European countries, rendered more formidable by enormous 

 bounties, has reduced the margin of profit to the narrowest 

 limit. Add to this the fact that diseases of a new and 

 severe type have recently made their appearance in the 

 cane fields, and the outlook becomes one of gloom. It is, 

 indeed, at the present moment questionable whether the 

 cultivation of tbe cane iu these beautiful and smiling 

 islands can be continued. It depends to a large extent 

 upon the beet bounties. If the people of France and 

 Germany can support the heavy taxation which has been 



Fig. o. — Fertile Seed of the .Sugiu- 

 (.ifter Morris.) 



Cane genuiuatiug 



recently suggested, the whole cultivation of the cane and 

 manufacture of its product will need revision. 



The (]uestion of cane diseases has engrossed much atten- 

 tion of late years. Added to the depredations of insects, 

 wliii^b hnv been known fnv cpiitnrip«. fnntjon'! po'^ts of n, 



