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CHAPTER III.RANGE AND CLIMATE.The sugar cane is essentially a tropical plant, but under certain favourableconditions is successfully cultivated in sub-tropical districts.The extreme limits of its cultivation are the South of Spain (36°-37° N.),Japan (30°-35°N.), and Georgia, TT.S.A. (32° ST.), on the one side, and CapeColony (29°-30° S.), and New Zealand (35°-37° S.) on the other. The othercountries where the cane forms a staple product are Madeira (33° N.), Java(6°-8° N.), the Hawaiian Islands (18°-22° NT.), British India (10°-30° N.), theWest Indies (8°-22° N.), including Cuba, Porto Rico, Jamaica, Martinique,Guadeloupe, St. Kitts, St. Thomas, Antigua, St. Croix, Barbados, Trinidad;British and Dutch Guiana (6°-8° N.), Brazil (0°-20° S.), Louisiana (30° ST.),Egypt (22°-30° N.), Central America (8°-20°N.), the Philippines (5°-18° N.),Queensland and New South Wales (10°-35° S.), Mauritius and Bourbon(20°-22° S.), Natal (30° S.), Fiji (22° S.), Formosa (22°N.), Southern China(10°-30°N.), the Straits Settlements (0°-10°N.), Peru (5°-22°S.), Argentina(22°-25° S.).Humidity.—Starting with Wray (1848) a warm and moist climatehas been stated to be specific to the successful growth of the cane, and proximityto the sea often has been given as a favourable factor. Thus Wray 1writes: "The climate most congenial to the cane is of a warm and moistcharacter, with moderate intervals of hot, dry weather, attempered by therefreshing sea breezes. It has always been found to grow most luxuriantlyon islands, and along the sea coasts of the mainland; which leads us to concludethat the saline particles borne on the sea breeze exercise a powerful effect onthe growth of the plant."Delteil 2 expresses himself in terms similar to Wray. "The sugar cane,originating from India and Eastern Asia, demands a warm, moderately moistclimate, with intervals of dry heat; it loves sea breezes because of theparticles of salt which are carried to the fields and increase their fertility."According to Boname, 3 "a warm and moist climate is the most favourableto the growth of the cane, and it is in islands and on the sea coast that themost luxuriant plantations are seen, for it is there that are found togetherthe conditions of heat and moisture demanded for its greatest development."18