232 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



SUGAR CANE.— SACCHARUM. 



Natural order, Gramina. A genus of the 

 Triandria Digynia class. 



To trace the history of a plant that is be- 

 come of such immense importance to society 

 as sugar, to learn by whom it was discovered 

 and brought from the remotest corners of 

 the globe, and by what channels its luxurious 

 sweets have floated to all civilized countries, 

 is an arduous undertaking. 



Whilst most other tastes are acquired by 



early habit, long custom, and often originate 



in necessity or the caprice of fashion, the 



love of sweets is natural, not only to man, 



but to animals that are not carnivorous. 



Fowls, reptiles, and insects, seek greedily for 



the saccharine particles of vegetables ; the 



American perroquet taps with its beak the 



maple-tree, to obtain its sugar; the fly pierces 



for the same purpose the turkey fig ; the bee 



hunts for the nectar of flowers ; and our oxen 



fatten in sweet pastures. Sweets were among 



