SUGAR. 



163 



ground so well, which is a disadvantage in a climate subject to high 

 winds and hurricanes. It yields well both in respect of the number 

 of canes and the quantity of juice, which is superior in quality to that 

 of most of the other species. 



The Pinang cane is a very fine species, producing, after the 

 Otaheite, the longest and thickest canes, but it does not, like the 

 Diard and some other species, give so many stems. It is a tender 

 plant, somewhat impatient of and requires a great deal of care. 



There are two species of Bellouguet, the one white, the other I'ed. 

 Both species, like the Diard, give a great many stools and require 

 a great deal of room to allow for spreading, without which the stems 

 grow meagre; but planted wide apart and carefully tended this 

 species will produce well. The white is preferred to the red, on 

 account of the superior quality of the sugar made from it. The 

 red gives a sap strongly coloured. It is very difficult to remove 

 this colouring matter, which injures the quality of the sugar. Both 

 species require sheltered situations to come to perfection. Their 

 roots growing laterally and horizontally they have no hold in the 

 ground. The great quantity of stems they produce offers a larger 

 surface to the action of a high wind than the roots are calculated 

 to bear ; they are therefore easily uprooted, and considerable loss 

 is the consequence. 



The Bamboo cane is the hardiest of all the species ; but it is 

 not much admired, owing to its partaking partly of the nature of 

 the reed from which it derives its name. The stem is hard and 

 dry ; but in exposed situations and in marshy ground it grows 

 well and produces a fair return. It requires less attention and 

 stands drought very well. The quality of the sugar made from 

 the juice of this cane is inferior. 



There are many other species cultivated ; but none are of suf- 

 ficient importance to require separate mention. In good soil, canes 

 may, with attention and good manure, be cut for six or seven seasons 

 running without its being requisite to replant. This is considered 

 the longest time canes will yield a profitable return in the best soils, 

 in the lower portion of the district. In the higher parts, the cane 

 plant is never expected to last more than three seasons, and only 

 two on poor soils, or where stones are common. 



Mr. J. Horne, the sub-director of the Eoyal Botanical Gardens, 

 Mauritius, in his valuable Report for 1875, states that the intro- 

 duction and propagation of new varieties of the sugar-cane have 

 been given up, for the present at least. It has been of good 

 service to the colony, and, instead of the sugar crops depending 

 upon the health of three or four varieties of the sugar-cane, the 

 planters have now a choice of nearly one hundred. These are not 

 all good canes, and some of them are better adapted .to certain 

 localities than others. At the propagating grounds, where they 

 were well watered, manured, and attended to, nine or ten of the 

 varieties proved to be positively bad. These were either very 

 subject to disease of various forms, or deficient in saccharine, or 

 they did not ratoon freely after being cut once or oftener, or 

 they produced few (five or six) canes to the plant. Two of 



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