434 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



leaves are extensively used for plat ; the sweet pulp of the fruit is 

 edible. At Hyeres this palm withstood a temperature of 22 P. 

 [Bonnet]. Another equally tall Antillan palm is S. glaucescens 

 (Loddiges). All bear seeds freely. 



Sabbat ia angular is, Fursh. 



North-Eastern America. This pretty biennial herb is lauded as 

 a substitute for gentian by American physicians, and might with 

 its congeners be grown in medicinal gardens, though its naturaliza- 

 tion would not be desirable, as pastoral animals avoid the bitter 

 gentianaceous plants. 



Saccharum officinarum, Linne.* 



The Sugar-Cane. Most Southern Asia and South- Sea Islands, 

 seemingly spontaneous ; probably derived from one of the native 

 species there ; according to Loureiro indigenous in Cochin-China, 

 an observation confirmed by Dr. Bretschneider. Sugar-cane 

 having been cultivated in Spain and other countries on the Medi- 

 terranean Sea, it will be worthy of further trial, at what distance 

 from the equator and at what elevations in tropical parts of the 

 globe sugar from cane can be produced to advantage. In the 

 United States the profitable culture of cane ceases at 32 north 

 latitude ; in Japan it is carried on with advantage to 36 north 

 latitude and even further northward [General Capron] ; the 

 average-yield of raw sugar even there is 3,300 Ibs. per acre ; in 

 China this crop extends only to 30 north latitude ; in East- Aus- 

 tralia to the northern part of New South Wales, lat. 29|. 

 Moderate proximity to the sea is favorable for the growth of canes. 

 The multiplication of all sorts of sugar-cane is usually effected 

 from top cuttings ; but this cannot be carried on from the same 

 original stock for an indefinite period without deterioration ; and 

 as seeds fit to germinate do not ripen on cultivated canes, new 

 plants must from time to time be brought from a distance. Thus, 

 New Caledonia and Fiji have latterly supplied their almost wild- 

 growing splendid varieties for replanting many sugar-fields in 

 Mauritius and some other places. Lately however Harrison and 

 Bell have raised plants from seeds in. Barbadoes, Dyer and Morris 

 at Kew, and earlier still Benecke in Java. Thus new varieties may 

 be realised. The Bourbon- variety is praised as one of the richest 

 for sugar ; the Batavian variety, S. violaceum (Tussac), is content 

 with less fertile soil. Prom China we have a particular kind (S. 

 Sinense, Roxburgh), which is hardier and bears the drought better 

 than the ordinary cane ; this kind needs renewal only every third 

 year, and ripens in seven months, if planted early in spring ; but 

 if planted in autumn and left standing for fully a year the return 

 of sugar is larger. A species of Saccharum, distinct from the 

 wild and cultivated form of S. ofncinarum, is indigenous on the 

 north-coast of New Guinea ; the stem is thin and hard, but sweet 

 (M. de M. Maclay). The Hawaian variety of cultivated cane, by 



