20 THE CUBA REVIEW 



the establishment of large Canadian refineries. Formerly much of the refined product was 

 imported from Great Britain and other refining countries, but the development of the home 

 industry has reduced this importation very materially, while at the .same time increasing the 

 importation of raws from i>roducing countries. 



Higher Prices Looked For. 



To just what extent the war will affect this trade is uncertain, except as it may relate 

 to prices, for domestic refiners look forward to high quotations for theu" raw sugar. Imports 

 from the British West Indies an<l Santo Domingo are likely to be increased, for it is pointed 

 out that no supplies can now be obtained from the continent, and it i.s believed that impor- 

 tations from Cul)a will be smaller on account of an augmented American demand, due to the 

 same cause. It is also probable that importations from the Pacific Islands and the East Indies 

 will be greatly increased. 



Canadian refiners base their domestic quotations for gi-anulated sugar on the New York 

 market for raws, taking into consideration freight, dutj-, and refining costs. The present price 

 per 100 poimds for standard-grade gi-anulated sugar at Toronto, a central market, is $6.76, and 

 for cut-loaf sugar in 100-pound packages, .$7.26. — Cormnerce Reports. 



USING CANE TOPS FOR PLANTING 



EXPERIMENTS CARRIED OUT FOR TWO YEARS IN THE EXPERIMENT 



STATION, TUCUMAN. WITH THE OBJECT OF DECIDING 



THIS IMPORTANT QUESTION 



By Arthur H. Rosenfeld 



It has already been proved at various times that the higher part of the sugar cane germi- 

 nates better than the lower part, while it is also common knowledge amongst those interested 

 in the making of sugar that this higher part of the cane contains a juice of lesser purity. In 

 other words, one may say that, generally, on cutting any cane into pieces of two or three 

 nodes each, extracting and analysing the juice of each piece under equal conditions, one will 

 find that the purity of the juice diminishes the nearer one approaches the top of the cane. The 

 custom, therefore, practised in many sugar countries — notably in Hawaii and Java — of only 

 planting the tops of canes appears very logical. 



By this method a juice is secured in the factory which on account of its high purity renders 

 the work of the defecation, clarification, and evaporation processes comparatively easy, while 

 planting is done with cane that is usually flung aside as worthless. 



In Tucuman, as in Louisiana, it is practice to plant whole canes, and it has frequently 

 occurred to the author of this article that this practice might very beneficially be replaced by 

 the custom employed in other countries of using for planting purposes the parts of the cane 

 which are usually discarded as useless. The old method entails the planting of 10 tons of .sound 

 cane, cut at the fii'st white joint, per hectare (or 4 tons per acre). This represents an outlay of 

 $25, gold, (£) per acre, according to the average price of cane in the Province. This method 

 also conduces to the degeneration of the cane fields, in that the planter is induced to sell his 

 best cane and use inferior and diseased canes for seed in place of sound ones. 



We resolved, therefore, in the winter of 1911 to make a thorough investigation of the 

 matter. A piece of land chosen in June and ploughed with an ordinary share plough, followed 

 by a sub-soil plough. The plot was then haiTowed with a tooth-harrow, reploughed with a 

 26-in. disc plough, and harrowed again. About the middle of July the rows were marked out 

 with a small share plough and deepened with a cleaning plough. Half of the lot was then 

 planted with ordinary native cane, and the other half with cane tops taken irom a consignment 

 of leaves and tops used for feeding animals, which had been received from one of the factories. 

 The rows were afterwards covered with small share plough. 



The idea of selecting the tops from the consignment for use as food for animals was not 

 adopted as the most practical method, but merely because an exti-emely drastic comparison 

 would be furnished, in the fact that the tops planted were undoubtedly those usually considered 

 useless. The cane was u-rigated on the following dates: — loth July, 5th and 30th November. 



On the 6th November the cane was cultivated with a large four-share cultivator (shares 

 pointing inwards) passing twice in each row. In the middle of the same month the rows were 

 weeded and dirt thrown to the cane. On 21st October the cultivation of the 6th was repeated, 

 and the rows were weeded by spades. At the end of December the weeding was repeated, and 

 the cane was fertihzed with a mixture composed of 50 per cent, dried blood, 40 per cent, super- 

 phosphate of hme, and 10 per cent, sulphate of potash, applied in the proportion of 600 kg. per 



