426 FIELD CROPS FOR THE COTTON-BELT 



33 degrees Baume, or an average yield of about 300 gallons 

 to the acre. 



Certain Hawaiian plantations are said to yield more than 

 100 tons of sugar-cane and 12 tons of sugar to the acre. 



526. Uses. In all countries where the warm seasons 

 are long, sugar-cane is used almost exclusively for making 

 sugar. In regions where the climate is sufficiently warm to 

 grow sugar-cane, but where frosts occur in the fall before 

 the cane is fully mature the crop is used for making sirup. 



Molasses is a by-product in the manufacture of sugar 

 from sugar-cane. 



Blackstrap, also made from sugar-cane, is a very inferior 

 grade of molasses used principally as a food for live-stock. 



INSECT PESTS 



527. The sugar-cane borer (Diatrcea saccharalis) is 

 unquestionably the most serious insect enemy of sugar- 

 cane with which the Louisiana planter has to deal. It is 

 not generally distributed over the coastal pine-belt. The 

 sugar-cane borer is the caterpillar of a yellowish moth. 

 The eggs are deposited on the foliage and subsequently 

 hatch into small caterpillars which feed on the tender 

 foliage for a few days, finally entering the stalks through 

 the buds or eyes. The remainder of the larval stage is 

 spent in the stalks. These larvae tunnel up and down the 

 stalks, stunting their growth, weakening them so that they 

 are easily blown over by wind, reducing the sugar content, 

 and making easy the entrance of fungous diseases. 



Remedial measures are largely preventive. In regions 

 where this insect is found all tops and leaves of sugar-cane 

 should be burned as soon as sufficiently dry. All shoots 

 that start from the stubble of early cut cane should be 

 destroyed. Fall planting is recommended and only sound 



