STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 151 



sixth of all the species in the vegetable world. Its botanical 

 denomination is Saccharum Officinarum. 



Classification. — a. In the artificial system of Linnaeus it is 

 found in the third class (Triandria,) and second order (Dyginia.) 

 In this class and order it ranks with such useful plants as red- 

 top, reed, timothy grass, broom corn, orchard grass, wheat, rye, 

 barley and oats. 



b. In the natural system of modern writers it is included under 

 the order Gramineae, or grasses. This, in the system of Lind- 

 ley, is the twenty-ninth order. It includes, besides the useful 

 plants just named in the artificial system, also the sedges, palms, 

 bamboos and Indian corn of tropical regions. 



Remarks. — 1. This family is diffused as widely as vegetation 

 itself. Its plants constitute, at the north, our pastures and hay 

 mostly, and include nearly all our grain. At the south they 

 include the tall reed, the strong bamboo and the rich sugar 

 cane. 



2. At the north they are hardy, while at the south they are 

 tender. 



3. Sugar is a general product of this family. The grasses of 

 our pastures and hay are sweet. Sugar cane, Chinese sugar cane 

 and Indian corn especially abound in sweetness. Reeds of 

 tropical climates are often a rich source of grateful cooling 

 drinks, drawn from them by tapping them below the joints. 



Jl comparative view of the Sugar Cane and Indian Corn. — 1. Both 

 grow up jointed, with a leaf at each joint, but dropping the 

 lower leaves in the progress of the summer. 



2. Both head out with a flower stalk, when cultivated in natu- 

 ral circumstances. The arrow or head of the Indian corn is 

 jointed through its whole length, — that of the sugar cane is with- 

 out joints, from the points where it emerges from the main plant. 



3. In the same soil and climate both make, it is probable? 

 about the same height, when headed out. This sometimes 

 amounts to twenty feet in the tropics, while further north it is 

 much less; with Indian corn at least, which, on the line of 43©, 

 rarely exceeds eight feet. 



