Plants, Helpful and Harmful 



529 



sweetening power to cane sugar, but its preparation is more 

 difficult and more expensive. Maple sugar, when purified by the 

 ordinary methods of refining sugar, is also very similar to cane 

 sugar. However, when maple sugar is used without refining, it 

 has a smoky taste quite pleas- 

 ant to most people. Millions 

 of pounds of maple sugar are 

 annually produced in the 

 United States and Canada. 



Forage Plants. Plants 

 which animals eat either in a 

 green or a dried state are 

 known as forage plants. The 

 principal plants included in 

 this class are the different 

 kinds of grass, some sedges, 

 clovers, alfalfa, soy beans, and 

 cow peas. The last four be- 

 long to a class known as the 

 pulse family, and are especially 

 valuable because of their abil- 

 ity to store the nitrogen of 

 the air with the help of the 

 bacteria that dwell on their 

 roots. Since these plants use the nitrogen in building tissues that 

 are to become the food of growing hogs and cattle, their im- 

 portance is apparent. 



Fiber-producing Plants. The most important fiber-produc- 

 ing plants those that yield material from which ropes, linen, 

 muslin, cambric, and other fabrics are made are hemp, flax, cot- 

 ton, and jute. Rope and twine are made of the fibers of hemp and 

 jute; linen from the fibers of flax; muslin and other cotton goods 

 from the fibers covering the seed of the cotton plant. Burlap, 

 carpets, and gunny cloth are also made from jute. A large pro- 

 portion of the world's cotton supply comes from the southern 

 states of our country. Flax is largely grown in the United States 

 and in Europe, and especially in Russia. The best flax for linen 



SUGAR CANE 



The greatest source of sugar. 



