164 AGRICULTURE 



vigorous plants. By careful field selection of seed every year, 

 a farmer can grade up and improve the quality and yield of a 

 variety. 



EXERCISE 



1. Raise several plants of tobacco, trying to give them as favorable 

 conditions as possible. Leave one or two of the best plants to mature 

 seed. 



2. Top the other plants at different heights, leaving from eight to 

 fourteen leaves. What difference does this make in the leaves? 



3. Pull and dry the leaves. Take an equal weight of tobacco leaves 

 and of dry fodder and burn both. What difference is there in the way 

 they burn ? It is the large amount of potash in the tobacco which 

 causes it to burn so readily. Compare the amount of ash left by 

 the tobacco leaves and by the fodder. Can you account for the 

 difference ? 



SUGAR-PRODUCING PLANTS 



There are two great sugar-producing crops that are raised in 

 the United States, sugar cane in the South and sugar beets in 

 the North. 



Sugar Cane. Sugar cane is a tropical member of the grass 

 family. It is cultivated for the sweet juice laid up in the cells of 

 its stalk. Sirup, molasses, and sugar are made from this juice. 

 Sugar cane is extensively grown in the South, especially in the 

 Gulf States. 



It is a perennial, reproduced by cuttings, which are pieces of the 

 stalk containing ' eyes,' or buds. Generally, two or three crops 

 are grown from a planting. In spring or fall the stalk cuttings are 

 buried in furrows. They soon begin to send up sprouts. The 

 crop is cultivated like corn. Like corn, it requires a fertile soil 



