384 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



the Canary Islands ; and shortly after the discovery 

 of the New World by Columbus, (his plant was con- 

 veyed to Hayti and Brazil, from which latter country 

 it gradually spread through the islands of the West 

 Indies. 



The canes have knotty stalks, and at each joint or 

 knot a leaf is produced. The number of joints varies 

 in different specimens, some having as many as 

 eighty, and others not half that number. There are 

 now several varieties cultivated in the American 

 colonies, which were conveyed to that quarter, about 

 the end of the last century, from the islands of 

 Bourbon, Java, and Otaheite. These are so far 

 superior to the old plant, that its cultivation has 

 nearly ceased. The new varieties are larger in dia- 

 meter, have a much greater distance between the 

 joints, and come sooner to maturity than the old 

 Brazil cane. This occupies, from the time of its 

 being planted until it is fit for being cut, a period of 

 from twelve to twenty months ; while the larger 

 varieties, by which it has been superseded, are fully 

 ripe in ten months. 



The sugar-cane varies exceedingly in its growth, 

 depending upon the nature of the soil. In new and 

 moist land it sometimes attains the height of twenty 

 feet ; while in ground that is arid and calcareous, its 

 length does not exceed from six to ten feet. It is 

 always propagated from cuttings. W T hen sown in 

 the colonies of America, the seeds have never been 

 known to vegetate ; and although there must, doubt- 

 less, be some country where the course of nature 

 could be followed in this respect, we are not ac- 

 quainted with any place in which the cultivators re- 

 sort to the sawing of seed, in order to the propaga- 

 tion of the plant. The top joints are always taken 

 for planting, because they are less rich in saccharine 

 juice than the lower parts of the cane, while their 



