iG4 
W. G. Freeman. 
injury. The visible annual sugar crop of the world, at the present 
time, is about 10,000,000 tons, of which the sugar cane yields about 
4,000,000 tons and the beet the remainder. Speaking generally 
the sugar cane is a tropical or sub-tropical plant, whilst the sugar- 
beet is a plant of temperate regions. America and the West Indies 
produce the greater portion of the world’s supply of cane sugar, 
whilst practically all the beet sugar is of European growth. 
The Sugar Cane. 
Before proceeding to the discussion of the methods of improving 
the yield of sugar from the sugar-cane, it will be well to refer 
briefly to a few features in the cultivation of the plant and the 
preparation of sugar. 
Saccliarum officinarum, in common with some other grasses, 
possesses the power of putting out adventitious roots from its 
stem. This constitutes a most important factor in the cultivation 
of a monocotyledon, and the sugar cane, from time immemorial, has 
been propagated by means of stem-cuttings, each internode of a 
sugar-cane stem having a lateral bud and a zone of adventitious roots 
ready to start into growth under suitable conditions. From cane 
cuttings, ripe plants are produced in twelve to fifteen months in the 
tropics, and this method of propagation is exclusively employed in 
cane cultivation. The fact that seedling canes have, of recent years, 
been raised in large numbers does not affect this generalization. 
The young seedling cane is a very delicate plant, and is of little value 
as a source of sugar in its first year. Accordingly canes, raised 
from seed, are grown until they are of sufficient size to yield a 
stock of cuttings from which a normal crop can be grown and 
tested, and if the variety prove a good one it is, like the older 
varieties, perpetuated by cuttings. It is important to bear in mind 
the fact that all crops of sugar canes are obtained from cuttings of 
previous crops in dealing with questions of heredity and trans¬ 
mission of disease. 
The lateral buds of the cuttings give rise to shoots which 
finally reach eight, ten, twelve and even sixteen or more feet in 
height, and by the development of secondary buds a clump of ten 
or more canes often arise from each cutting. Such a clump is 
often termed a “stool” of canes. With the advent of the dry 
season in the tropics, or cold weather in extra-tropical countries, 
the sugar cane receives a check in its vegetative growth and 
commonly flowers. It is about this period that it usually contains 
ts highest percentage of sucrose, and is ready for cutting. By 
