THE SUGAR CROP 



237 



produce over three fourths of the beet sugar of the world. The 

 United States ranks fifth in acreage of sugar beets and pro- 

 duces about 5 per cent of the world's beet sugar. The most 

 important centers of the industry in the United States are in 

 Michigan, eastern Colorado, southern California, northern Utah, 

 and northwestern Ohio. 



311. The sugar cane. Sugar cane is a highly efficient plant 

 for gathering human food from the earth and air (Fig. 113). 



FIG. 113. Harvesting sugar cane in the Hawaiian Islands 



Temporary railways are laid through the fields, over which the stripped cane is 

 transported to the sugar mill 



The principal cane-sugar-producing countries are British India, 

 Cuba, Java, Hawaiian Islands, Philippine Islands, United States, 

 and South America. The yearly cane-sugar crop of the United 

 States and its possessions is approximately 1,250,000 tons. 

 Until comparatively recently it was believed that sugar cane 

 could not be grown except in the tropics, but it is now suc- 

 cessfully cultivated almost anywhere between the latitudes of 

 33 degrees north and south of the equator. 



Sugar cane was introduced into Louisiana by the Jesuits in 

 1751. With the exception of southern Louisiana and southern 

 Texas, sugar cane is grown in this region chiefly for sirup. It 



