Current Investigations in Economic Botany. 105 
passing the canes through mills the juice is expressed, and the 
crushed cane left is known as “megass” or “bagasse”; and 
although apparently refuse material is of importance to the planter, 
being his principal fuel for evaporating the juice, and a cane 
extremely rich in sucrose, but yielding little megass, might not 
be so profitable to a planter as a cane poorer in sugar, but fur¬ 
nishing him with a more plentiful supply of fuel. The manufacture 
of the various grades of sugar from the raw juice presents chemical 
questions concerning purification and crystallization which are out¬ 
side our province. It may, however, be mentioned that after the 
crystallizable sucrose has fieen obtained, there is left the uncrystal- 
lizable glucose in the form of molasses, which, by suitable fermen¬ 
tation, yields the second by-product of sugar, namely rum. Recently 
a third by-product has been prepared from the finest portions of the 
megass and molasses and under the name of “Molascuit” has 
become recognized as a valuable cattle food. 
The minor problems in sugar cane cultivation naturally vary 
in different parts of the world, but everywhere the principal objects 
of the planter and scientific worker are to produce : 
(i) . Canes of high sugar content, and of good 
working qualities. 
(ii) . Canes resistant to disease, drought, etc. 
It is not only desirable that the canes should have a high 
percentage of sucrose in their juice, but that they should be heavy 
croppers and so give a large return per acre. By the term good 
working qualities, it is understood that the canes are easily crushed, 
yield a fair proportion of megass, and present no special difficulties 
of cultivation. 
The magnitude of the interests involved has caused an 
enormous amount of time and labour to be spent on the 
improvement of the sugar cane. The principal means adopted in 
attempting to attain this object are :— 
(i) . Bud Variations or Sports. 
(ii) . Chemical Selection. 
(iii). Seminal Selection. 
There occur throughout the sugar-producing countries a very 
large number of different varieties of sugar-cane, differing in colour 
of stem, habit, yield of sugar, resistance to disease etc. These 
varieties are usually locally known by names, often descriptive, 
fanciful, or indicative of their place of origin, e.g. White Transparent, 
Purple Transparent, White Tanna, Bourbon, Queensland Creole, 
