Sugar Producing Plants. 465 
What has been said concerning the effect of soil and 
manure on the sugar beet applies, in a general way, to the 
cane. Plenty of phosphoric acid and as little nitrogen and 
potash as possible is the general law to be guided by, although 
the number of empirical rules about the best manures for 
canes, is large and confusing. The kind of climate isa more 
important consideration with the cane than the beet. It is 
not a hardy plant and needs great heat and considerable 
moisture. Thus it is that canes grow best on tropical 
islands or on the coast. Warm inland countries, even where 
irrigation can be practiced, are not nearly so well suited, 
As in the beet, the development of the sugar in the cane is. 
greatly helped by warmth towards the end of its period of 
growth, and altogether it may be said that the cane Wants 
just what the bect does, to manufacture its sugar, but wants 
the conditions intensified. The fight between the cane and 
‘the beet is now a bitter one. It will probably continue for 
all time, but the beet will get the upper hand gradually, in- 
asmuch as it is of great benefit to the country at large, in- 
directly, that is to say, otherwise than as a sugar producing 
plant. The refuse of a beet factory ranks among the finest 
cattle foods in the world, while that from the cane is good 
only as fuel. The culture of the beet raises the general 
state of agriculture to the highest pitch of perfection, while 
that of the cane excludes other crops. 
Let us now see what becomes of the ripe cane and beet 
after it arrives at the factory. These are very large build- 
ings nowadays, filled with expensive machinery and not in- 
significant little places as many people suppose. ‘To be sure 
there are still a few which are not extensive, and the most 
primitive and curious one is probably that now working on 
| 
the banks of the Ganges. It consists of the stump of a tree 
with a hole in it, in which is a conical crusher driven by an 
ox at the end of a long beam. Two or three canes are 
squeezed in it at a time and the resulting liquor boiled in an 
iron pot alongside. 
Then in China and Manilla the cane is grown in small 
patches and by poor people, and the canes crushed anyhow 
