136 



SUGAR. 



whicli is an essential condition, and manured at tlie right times, the 

 Salangore cane grows with such vigour, and in such thick tufts, that in 

 five or six months it forms so thick a green covering that weeds cease 

 to grow about it. The weedings are thus notably reduced. The cane 

 goes through the period of flowering without injury. The tufts yield 

 from twenty-five to forty canes. In consequence of the enormous 

 quantity of canes produced by each tuft, the weight to the acre is 

 much above that of an ordinary acre of canes. In one case sixteen 

 tufts of canes, which were far from being the finest in the field, were cut 

 in a square space of 38 * 45 metres, and they weighed 367 kilogrammes 

 net, from which, in proportion, we should find, in round numbers, 100,600 

 kilogrammes to the hectare. To ascertain the weight produced from 

 a hectare of ordinary canes, the minutes of a meeting of the Sugar 

 Society of Point-a-Pitre, of December, 1869, were consulted, and an 

 authoritative declaration was made as follows : In Guadaloupe, an 

 average of 40,000 kilogrammes of cane to the hectare is obtained, 

 whilst at Grande Pare 30,000 only are obtained. The average at 

 Beauport has been only 27,000 kilogrammes to the hectare. The 

 hagasse of the Salangore cane gives so much fuel that only a small 

 addition of straw is required, and this quantity leaves as much upon 

 the ground for the use of the plantation as other kinds of canes. The 

 juice of the Salangore cane is abundant. The sugar is easily made, 

 without any other ingredients than those used in the manufacture of 

 sugar from other kinds of cane. The yield per acre is considerably 

 superior to that of other canes. 



Mr. H. Prestoe, the colonial botanist of Trinidad, has recently pub- 

 lished an of&cial report, describing the fourteen best varieties of 

 sugar-cane, among thii'ty-two surviving kinds of a larger number sent 

 from the Mauritius. Eighteen of the thirty-two seem to be distinct 

 varieties, and deserving of care and cultivation, as possessing characters 

 that give them, in one way or other, a superiority over the two or 

 three sorts at present in cultivation, and among which the yellow 

 Otaheite takes by far the largest place. Some of the new varieties are 

 peculiar for length of joint (properly internode, or 'tween joints), and 

 some for length of joint united with stoutness. One is remarkable for 

 both, joined with a very soft tissue. This sort is of a fine dark-claret 

 colour, and is numbered 10 in the list. In common with many of the 

 others, it also bears drought well, and is prolific. Two (Nos. 13 and 

 14) being extremely hardy and prolific, are recommended as fodder 

 canes, to plant on poor, dry soils, unsuited for the better canes. 

 They are much hardier than Guinea grass, and will yield a manifold 

 greater weight per acre of surpassingly nutritious fodder. They are 

 purple- striped. No. 8 resembles the best yellow Otaheite. No. 11, a 

 dark-purple cane, perhaps a less luxurious offshoot of same parent as 

 No. 10, is also soft in tissue. All to No. 12 are described as stouter, 

 more promising canes than the common Otaheite, planted in the same 

 soil and under the same conditions, and which were rarely 1^ inch in 

 diameter. Only No. 4 was so small, Nos. 2, 6, 9, 11, and 12 being If 

 inch, Nos. 1, 3, 5, and 7 being 2 inches, while the joints of the very 

 handsome, clean cane. No. 10, averaged 2i inches in diameter by 6^ 

 inches long. No. 6 has B-inch joints. No. 9, 5^ inches, and Nos. 4, 6, 



