The air is heavy with a smell like molasses

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The air is heavy with a smell like molasses.

Every year my brother-in-law sets fire to field after field of sugar cane on his farm in Natal, South Africa. It may look chaotic, fun even, but there’s a good reason for doing so. The fire destroys all the dried leaves and other unwanted vegetation which grows up around the cane while leaving the cane itself unharmed. To do it by hand would require a day or more. The fire barely takes 45 minutes.
Did I mention how much fun it was to watch?