PART II 



THE CHIEF SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL 



CROPS 



Sugar Cane {Saccliarum officinarum L.) 



This giant among the grasses is supposed to be a 

 native of southern Asia, but it is now one of the 

 most important economic crops of tropical and sub- 

 tropical countries in all parts of the world. Formerly 

 it was practically the only source for the world's 

 sugar supply since the amounts made from maple sap, 

 from sorghum, and the sugar palm have always been 

 so small as to be negligible. Of recent years, however, 

 the sugar beet has been so improved by seed selection 

 and better methods of cultivation that it has become 

 a formidable competitor, and to-day it furnishes fully 

 half the sugar that finds its way to the world's markets. 

 The history of the beet-sugar industry is very instruc- 

 tive, since it illustrates so forcibly the immense im- 

 provement that may be made in agricultural methods as 

 the result of persistent scientific study. A hundred 

 years ago beets contained about five per cent of sugar. 

 To-day the best strains of seed yield fifteen per cent 

 to twenty per cent, and the tonnage obtained per 

 acre has also been considerably increased. This is 

 no chance result, but it has come from steady and per- 

 sistent effort in plant breeding and in methods of 



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