72 A TEXT-BOOK OF GRASSES 
stock at the base. It is from these nodes that the roots 
spring. The planting is best done on a cloudy day. A 
hole is made by thrusting a spade or other sharp imple- 
ment into the sand, the plant is placed in the opening 
and the sand pressed around it with the foot. If beach- 
grass does not grow in the vicinity, it may be necessary 
to establish a preliminary plantation. It is useless to 
attempt to grow beach-grass in interior arid regions. - 
In America, notable fixation work has been done near 
Provincetown, Massachusetts, at Manatee and other 
points along the east shore of Lake Michigan, and at 
Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. The latter place was 
once a sandy waste but is now a beautiful park. The pre- 
liminary steps here were the planting of beach-grass. 
(See Bur. Pl. Ind. Bulletins Nos. 57, 65.) 
SUGAR-PRODUCING GRASSES 
95. The sugar of commerce is obtained from four 
sources, sugar-cane, sugar beet, sorghum, and sugar maple. 
The amount from the last two is comparatively insignificant. 
Chemically, commercial sugar is cane-sugar or sucrose. 
96. The sugar-cane is a large perennial grass grown 
in all tropical countries. In the United States its growth 
is chiefly confined to the lowlands of Louisiana. This 
state in 1900 produced 132,000 tons of sugar. The same 
year the two largest sugar-producing countries yielded, 
Java 650,000 tons, and Cuba 440,000 tons. These figures 
refer to sugar from sugar-cane.* It is interesting to note 
that Europe produced the same year over 4,000,000 tons 
of beet-sugar, or a third more than the total world produc- 
tion of sugar from the cane. The thirteenth census report 
*Sadtler, Industrial Organic Chemistry, ed. 3, pp. 166, 167. 
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