THE SUGAR-CANE MOTH BORER. 6 
plants per acre may be destroyed, but so many plants remain in the 
field that this loss is not great. It should be prevented, however, 
because it is on these young plants that the borers multiply in suffi- 
cient numbers to become a serious menace to larger canes. 
Under calculable losses the injury to mature cane alone will be 
considered. The full amount of injury is shown only by chemical 
analysis. Infested and uninfested cane from Texas, not affected by 
red rot, a disease which often follows borer damage, was analyzed, 
with the following results : 
Uninfested. 
Per cent. 
Brix 19. 5 
Sucrose—! 17. 45 
Purity 89. 5 
Infested. 
Per cent. 
Brix 17. 55 
Sucrose 15. 1 
Purity 86. 
Dr. William E. Cross, at that time of the Sugar Experiment Sta- 
tion, New Orleans, La., who made the analyses, stated that the loss 
due to the moth borer was about 20 per cent of the sugar — a greater 
loss than might be expected from the figures. Mr. John Allbright, 
chief of the laboratory at Central Chaparra, Cuba, analyzed infested 
and uninfested cane from a field at that central factory. The results 
follow : 
Uninfested. . 
Per cent. 
Brix 21.3 
Sucrose 19. 9 
Purity 93. 4 
Extraction 47. 2 
Infested. 
Per cent. 
Brix 18. 8 
Sucrose 16. 85 
Purity 89. 6 
Extraction 36. 4 
Loss in sucrose, 3.3 per cent in cane. 
Loss in sucrose, 15.3 per cent in juice. 
Messrs. D. L. Van Dine (169) x and T. C. Barber (14) have in- 
vestigated the losses due to the moth borer in considerable detail. 
Mr. Barber sums up the effect on sugar content in Table I. 
Table I. — Analysis of sugar cane (D. 74) to determine effect on sugar con- 
tent of the borer injury to cane. 
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P.tf. 
1 
Borer-free 
9,990 
6,108 
61.1 
17.1 
1.6 
1.1 
11.1 
14.4 
84.2 
2 
Medium infested 
11,081 
6,735 
60.8 
0.3 
16.1 
1.0 
1.7 
1.2 
12.9 
13.2 
1.2 
82.0 
2.2 
3 
Heavily infested 
8,824 
5,190 
58.8 
2.3 
13.7 
3.4 
2.1 
1.8 
21.4 
9.8 
4.6 
71.5 
12.7 
Note. — Each sample consisted of 10 canes. Each of the medium-infested canes contained from one to 
three infested joints, and each of the heavily infested canes five or more infested joints. Analysis made 
Nov. 12, 1910. 
1 Figures in parentheses refer to entries in the bibliography, pages G3-74. 
