The sugar cane, being originally a bog-plant requires a moist, nutritive soil, and a hot tropical or sub-tropical climate. It is propagated by slips or pieces of the stem, with buds on them, and about two feet long. It arrives at maturity in twelve or sixteen months, according to the temperature; the leaves fall off towards the following season, and the stem acquires a straw-yellow colour. The cane is cut by some planters before the flowering season, but it is more usual to cut it some weeks after. The plantations are so arranged that the various divisions of the fields may ripen in succession. The land should be supplied with manure rich in nitrogen, but not containing much saline matter. After the harvest the roots strike again, and produce a fresh crop of canes; but in about six years they require to be removed. The time for cutting the canes varies with the soil and season, and the different varieties of cane. In a state of maturity the canes are from six feet to fifteen feet in length, and from one and a half inch to two inches in diameter. The usual signs of maturity are a dry, smooth, brittle skin, a heavy cane, a grey pith, and sweet and glutinous juice. Canes should be cut in dry weather, or the juice will be found diluted with an excess of water. When cut they are tied up in bundles, and conveyed to the crushing mill, particular attention being paid that the supply should not exceed the demand, otherwise the cut canes would ferment and spoil. The sugar cane grows from pieces or slips of itself, containing germs, and these develop rootlets at the joints, which draw sustenance to the young shoot as it increases. In the course of time the buds in the radicle, or root-joints of the first cane, throw out roots, and form a radicle for a second stem; and in this way, under favourable circumstances, several canes are produced from the parent stock for a period of about six years, and sometimes for several more. They, however, diminish every year in length of joint and circumference, and are inferior in appearance to the original plant; but they yield richer juice, and produce finer sugar. [Illustration: Filtering Bag.]