CHAPTER XXII 

 SUGAR CANE 



UNTIL comparatively recent years the sugar produced in the 

 United States was made entirely from sugar cane, but now more 

 is made from beets than from cane. The proportion of sugar from 

 beets is increasing. The world's supply of sugar is made about 

 equally from the two crops. 



Chemically the sugar from these two sources is exactly the 

 same. Bakers and other users are unable to detect any difference 

 in it, except that confectioners claim that sugar from beets will 

 not crystallize or harden into candy after melting so readily as 

 sugar from cane. They are both spoken of as "cane sugar" 

 because the name is older. The name distinguishes them from 

 fruit sugar, glucose, milk sugar and other kinds. 



Sugar cane has been grown for many centuries in tropical and 

 other warm climates. It is profitably grown for sugar in the gulf 

 states. The plant is a perennial of the grass family, but the stems 

 instead of being hollow, as in common grasses, are filled with pith 

 and ducts and fibres, with an abundance of sap saturated with 

 sugar. Sugar and syrup are made from the juice. The stems are 

 ten to twenty feet high, usually upright and clustered several 

 from one root system. 



Methods of Propagation. In the sugar belt the cane is propa- 

 gated by planting the stalks, or sections of stalks (Fig. 208) con- 

 taining the eyes or buds, which are borne at the nodes or joints. 

 The buds are a little smaller than garden peas at the time of 

 planting and are well protected by several coats and by the bases 

 of the leaves around them. 



Stalks which are intended to be used for propagation of the 

 next crop should be cut before frost and protected from freezing 

 until time for planting. They are sometimes buried in trenches 

 and covered with earth or with litter to prevent freezing. If the 

 soil is not well drained there is danger of the canes rotting in 

 trenches. Another method of storage is to strip off the leaves, 

 lay the stalks, or the parts of stalks which are desired for propa- 

 gation, in piles and cover them with the leaves. Some soil may 

 be used to hold the leaves from blowing. Sheltered places are 

 desirable for the storing of seed-canes. 

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