CHAPTER XIII 



SUGAR-CANE 



SUGAR is obtained from many different plants, but two 

 alone, the sugar beet, which grows in the temperate zones, 

 and the sugar-cane, furnish all the sugar 

 that is used as an article of commerce. 



Description of the Cane. The cane is 

 a large grass, usually 2 or 3 meters, but 

 sometimes as much as 6 meters, in 

 height. The erect stems are 3 to 5 cm 

 in thickness. Like all stems they are 

 made of alternate nodes and internodes. 

 At each node is a leaf, and in the leaf's 

 axil is a bud, which is called an eye. 

 Roots also can spring from the nodes, 

 but do so only near the ground. 



The internodes vary in length in dif- 

 ferent varieties of cane, from 5 to 7 cm to 

 20 to 22 cm in length. Since it is in 

 the fleshy internodes, not in the hard 

 nodes, that the sugary sap is found, it is 

 well for the internodes to be long. The 

 internodes in the middle are longer than those near the 

 ends. 



Besides the erect stems, there are underground stems, 



FIG. 83. Stalk of cane 

 showing nodes and 

 internodes 



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