CHAPTER XXIX 

 SUGAR-CANE — Saccharum officinakum 



Sugar-cane is one of the family of the grasses. Like all 

 the grasses, sugar-cane has a jointed stem with a leaf origi- 

 nating at each node. The leaves are arranged in two 

 vertical ranks, and are borne alternately on two sides of 

 the stalk. The plant grows to a height of 8 to 12 feet, or, 

 in tropical countries, to a greater height. 



The stem is large and upright, except when bent or 

 reclined by wind or by its own weight. A number of 

 stalks usually grow together in a cluster, due to the fact 

 that this plant throws up additional stems from the buds 

 at its lower nodes below the surface of the ground. 



463. Duration. — Sugar-cane is perennial. In some 

 tropical countries a number of harvests are secured from 

 a single planting. In Louisiana usually only two or three 

 crops are grown before the stubble becomes too thin to 

 produce profitable yields. In the pine-belt east of Loui- 

 siana and north of the latitude of Florida, a planting of 

 sugar-cane usually affords but a single crop, annual plant- 

 ing being necessary. In this region the cane is usually 

 cut and made into sirup within eight months after the 

 date of planting. In tropical countries, the plants are 

 often permitted to grow for fourteen months or more 

 before being harvested. 



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