CHAPTER XXIII 

 SUGAR PLANTS 



582. Introduction. The two leading sugar plants of the 

 world are the sugar beet and sugar cane. Sugar cane has 

 been cultivated for many centuries. The development of the 

 sugar-beet industry dates back little more than a hundred 

 years. The cultivation of sugar cane is confined to the 

 tropical and semitropical portions of the world. The sugar 

 beet is a plant which normally succeeds best in temperate 

 climates. The production of both cane and beet sugar has 

 increased enonnously in the past twenty years, reaching its 

 maximum in 1913-14, when the estimated sugar production of 

 the world was 20,704,000 short tons. Of this, 11,270,000 

 was cane sugar, and 9,434,000 tons was beet sugar. The 

 production of cane sugar usually considerably exceeds the 

 production of beet sugar. 



THE SUGAR BEET 



583. History and Description. Reference has already 

 been made to the sugar beet in the chapter on root forage 

 crops. It is one of the several forms of Beta vulgaris, of which 

 the mangel is another. The sugar beet is a broad-leaved 

 plant with a long taproot. The upper part of this root and 

 the base of the stem are thickened. The root is broadest a 

 little below the crown and tapers very gTadually, as shown 

 in Figure 143. The flesh and sldn of the sugar-beet root are 

 white, and the root grows ahnost entirely below the surface. 

 A good root weighs from 1 to IJ^ pounds, and contains about 

 20 per cent of soKds, of which about four fifths is sugar. The 

 plant is a biennial; seed is produced by storing the roots over 

 winter and setting them out the following spring. 



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