QUALITY

 This characteristic of sugarcane as regards the producer is determined
largely on the amount of sucrose in the stalks. The mill is interested also
in percent fiber, percent trash, and acidity of the juice. Fiber is largely
determined by variety. Acidity is an important factor following a freeze.
Sugar cannot be made from trash.

 In Louisiana, producers may take samples for quality determination to the
factory that grinds their cane, where the samples are put through a small mill,
the efficiency of which has been correlated with the large mill.

 Many of the Florida factories do not have small mills yet, making it
impractical to obtain information, short of running a rather large amount of
cane through to obtain crusher juice. Therefore, growers must depend on hand
refractometers to estimate the quality of their cane.

 A few definitions seem pertinent to a discussion of quality. These
definitions are essentially those approved by the International Society of
Sugarcane Technologists' Special Committee on Uniformity in Reporting Factory
Data, 1955, numbered by them.

2. Field Trash. The leaves, tops, dead stalks, roots, soil, etc. delivered
 at the factory with the clean cane.

3. Fiber. The dry, water-insoluble matter in the cane.

5. Pol. The value determined by direct or single polarization of the normal
 weight solution in a saccharimeter.

6. Sucrose. The pure chemical compound of that name, also known as cane sugar.

7. Brix. The brix of a solution is the concentration of a solution of pure
 sucrose in water (expressed as parts by weight of sucrose per 100 parts by
 weight of solution) having the same density as the solution at the same
 temperature. For an impure solution the Brix represents the apparent per-
 centage of solid matter as determined by a densimetric method. If refrac-
 tive index (hand refractometer) be adopted instead of density (Brix hydro-
 meter) as a basis of comparison, the value derived is known as Refracto-
 meter Brix. Brix readings parallel but do not equal sucrose content of
 cane juice.

Rendement This is a term that growers will be exposed to, which needs some
comment upon. It is no longer in use or on the recommended list of calculated
figures drawn up by the Special Committee on Uniformity in Reporting Factory
Data of the International Society of Sugar cane Technologists, but its use
seems to be widespread and persistent. Phonetically, it is "Rand-van".
Generally, rendement denotes the number of pounds of sugar recoverable from
100 pounds of millable cane. It can also be thought of as "yield percent
cane". This is the only reason for putting it on a 100 pound basis.