Edible Products. 



326 



[April, 1912. 



India to grow most of her cane in those 

 parts where the outturn per acre is 

 necessarily so much below that of com- 

 peting countries? The fact of it being 

 so at present is not a complete answer. 

 One might have hoped that with the 

 increased irrigated area in Madras, some 

 sign of an increased area under cane 

 would become evident, but apparently 

 her people find it pays better to grow 

 cholum (Andropogon Sorghum). East- 

 ern Bengal is again another Province 

 possessed of a climate more in accord- 

 ance with the requirements of the cane 

 crop, but here jute holds the field."* 



But if, for one reason or another, it 

 pays the Iudian cultivator better to 

 grow other crops than cane, why should 

 not Burma make an attempt to com- 

 plete with Java and Mauritius? The 

 climatic conditions are there more nearly 

 akin to what is required. The dry 



10 

 9 



8 

 7 

 6 

 5 

 4 

 3 







































































































































































































■ ■ 



i 



" hot- weather " as it is understood in 

 the Gangetic Valley is absent. In its 

 place is a heavy rainfall distributed 

 throughout the months of April to 

 November ; the temperature is consider- 

 ably more uniform and does not reach 

 the high figures so common to the United 

 Provinces ; at the same time the humid- 

 ity is considerably higher. 



These climatological features are much 

 more in accord with the requirements 

 of the sugarcane. The hot weather of 

 the United Provinces occasions an ex- 

 cessive transpiration of water. In some 

 recent work on this subject at Pasa, 

 we found that the curve representing 

 the water requirement of sugarcane 

 was as illustrated in the chart B, 

 whereas in a humid climate it would 

 have been more like that in chart A. 

 We may put the matter in figures 

 thus :— 

 10 



6 

 5 

 4 

 3 







A 







































- — 



— - 















































































t 















































































Mch Apl May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec 



Men Apl May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec 



Temperature 8 A.M. * F. 

 Kelative Humidity 8 A.M. 

 Calculated water transpired by 

 crop of 20 tons cane per acre ... 



Total 



March 

 (2nd half.) 



April. 



May. 



June. 



July. 



August 



September. 



October. 



1 



| November, 



December 

 (1st half). 



76 



79 



84 



85 



82 



83 



83 



77 



66 



56 



47 



50 



64 



79 



87 



86 



89 



83 



84 



85 



•3" 



4-0" 



10-0" 



6 '7" 



5-7" 



5-0" 



4-6" 



4-9" 



3 5" 



•8" 



















43 5" 



Thus, owing largely to the low humid- 

 ity and high temperature during April, 



* Since writing this article I hear from Mr. 

 Meggitt, Agricultural Chemist, Eastern Bengal 

 and Assam, that he can grow very heavy crops 

 of cane at Jorhat, and that there are largo areas 

 in Assam which are available and suitable, both 

 as regards soil and climate, for the crop. — J.W.L. 



May and June, especially in May, the 

 water requirement was considerably 

 greater than would have been the case 

 under more moderate conditions. The 

 water indicated in the statement is that 

 actually transpired by the plant, in 

 addition to which there will be a further 

 considerable quantity which is simply 

 evaporated from the soil. 



