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CHAPTER II.THE COMPOSITION OF THE CANE.The cane is not by any means of even approximately uniform composition,but differs with variety and conditions of growth. The limits of compositionof single canes may he estimated as:—Water, 69 per cent, to 75 per cent.;Saccharose, 7 per cent, to 20 per cent.; reducing sugars, 0 to 2 per cent.;fibre, 8 per cent. to 16 per cent.; ash, .3 per cent, to .8 per cent. ; organic nonsugar,.5 per cent. to 1 per cent.*The percentage of sugar in the cane, though to some extent dependent onvariety, is by no means entirely so; conditions of soil and climate have a greatinfluence. In Demerara, where up to 1900 practically the whole crop wasBourbon cane, canes grown on virgin soil gave heavy crops, with generally lessthan 11 per cent. of sugar, the sugar percentage of canes grown on older landoften rising to 14 per cent. or more. As an instance of variety affectingcomposition the difference between Lahaina and Yellow Caledonia cane grownunder the same conditions in Hawaii may he cited, the former almost invariablyaffording a sweeter purer juice, and also containing less fibre; amongst othercanes that by comparison with the Lahaina (Bourbon, Otaheite, &c.) afford apoor juice may be cited the Elephant cane, the Cavengerie (Po-a-ole, Altamattie,Giant Claret, &c.) and the Salangore.When seedling canes were first grown, evidence was obtained on thesmall scale that high sugar content was an inherent property of certainvarieties, of which D. 74 may be quoted; on the estate seale, however, theresults were very disappointing. Latterly, however, much evidence hasaccumulated that the cane B. 208 is one of high saccharine content andsimilar results have been obtained in Java; in addition it has been shown byKobus that it is possible to obtain a strain of canes of high sugar content by aprocess of chemical selection.