SECTION LX SUGAR CANE 

 BY W. C. STUBBS 



Director of Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station 



Sugar cane was introduced into Louisiana by the Jesuits 

 in 1757, began to be extensively cultivated in 1795, and 

 since that time it has been the chief crop of south Louisi- 

 ana. It is cultivated along the entire Gulf and South 

 Atlantic coasts. In Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, 

 South Carolina, north Louisiana, and north Texas it is 

 manufactured into syrup, while in south Louisiana and 

 south Texas it is converted into sugar and molasses. 



Description of Sugar Cane. Sugar cane is a gigantic 

 grass with fibrous roots which reach laterally in every direc- 

 tion. The stalk is a cylinder, varying in diameter from 

 one to two inches, with nodes and internodes (joints), the 

 latter varying in length from two to even six inches. 

 These stalks vary greatly in color, running through white, 

 yellow, green, red, purple, black, and even striped with two 

 or more of these colors. The leaves, grown on alternate 

 sides of the stalk, are clasping at first, but gradually ripen 

 and fall off as the cane matures. In some varieties the 

 lower part of the leaves (sheaths) is covered with minute 

 prickles, which sometimes painfully wound the hands of 

 the cane cutters. The joints mature from the roots up, and 

 as each ripens it casts its leaf ; the stalk when ready for 



