THE SUGAR CANE. 



235 



mats, for, according to Thunberg, tliey are pre- 

 cisely of the same dimensions throughout all 

 parts of the kingdom, with the exception of those 

 in the imperial palace of Jeddo. The common 

 dimensions were two yards long and one broad, 

 with a narrow blue or black border. They make 

 a lighter sort of matting of the same materials, 

 which is used as window blinds, and to protect 

 the transparent paper which forma a substitute 

 for glass. Of some harder species of rush they 

 even make shoes for their horses, which come up 

 to the pastern joint, and cover the hoof. Rushes 

 and mats are extensively used in many eastern 

 countries. The sugar sent home from the Mauri- 

 tius is contained in bags made of matting, which 

 are thick, strong, and very durable. 



CHAP. XXVII. 



THE SUGAR CANE, BAMBOO, &0. 



Of the same natural family as the cerealia, 

 and possessing quaUties little less valuable than 

 the various kinds of grains constituting that 

 family, is the sugar cane. Sugar, as we have 

 already stated, is a substance found in the juices 

 of a great many vegetables, and in its chemical 

 composition is very nearly the same as the farina 

 of corn. It is a grateful and nutritious sub- 

 stance, and from having once been esteemed as 

 a luxury, is now almost from its universal use, 

 looked upon as a necessary of civilized life. 



The Sugar Cane ( saccliarum officinanim), 

 belongs to the class triandria and order digynia 



The Sugar Cane. 



of Linnseus. Its root is perennial, fibrous, and 

 the stem simple, knotted, or undivided, ijoihte^, 

 and smooth. It is two inches in diameter, and 

 from eight to eighteen and twenty feet in length; 



the number of joints varies from thirty to eighty. 

 The leaves are long, amplexial, and pointed. The 

 flowers are small, and produced in the form of a 

 terminal loose panicle. Calyx, a glume of two 

 valves, which are oblong or lance-shaped, pointed, 

 erect, concave, and equal ; the base being sur- 

 rounded by long woolly hairs. The corolla is 

 composed of two valves shorter than those of the 

 calyx, and of a fine delicate texture. The germ 

 is oblong, and supports two feathered styles ter- 

 minated by a plumous stigma; tl}e seed is oblong, 

 and is invested by the corolla. 



There are now several varieties cultivated in 

 the American colonies, which "were introduced 

 there about the end of the last century from the 

 islands of Bourbon, Java, and Otaheite. These 

 are so far superior to the old plant, that they 

 have almost siiperseded its culture. The new 

 varieties are larger in diameter, the joints are 

 farther separated from each other, and the plants 

 arrive several months sooner at maturity than the 

 old canes. Thus the old Brazilian cane takes 

 from twelve to twenty months to arrive at ma- 

 turity, while the new varieties are ready in about 

 ten months. 



The nature of the soil and mode of culture 

 have a considerable effect on the size of the 

 plants. In a favourable soil, and in new and 

 moist lands, it reaches to the height of twenty 

 feet, while in dry and light soils it does not ex- 

 ceed six or ten feet. It is always propagated 

 from cuttings, for although many attempts have 

 been made to raise plants from seed, these have 

 always proved unproductive. Bruce affirms 

 that he has seen it raised from seed in Nubia, 

 and there must certainly be some country where 

 the seeds prove productive, else nature would 

 not have been so lavish in bestowing tliem on 

 this as well as every other plant. Neither the 

 Greeks or Romans were acquainted with the 

 sugar cane, or at least cultivated the plant as an 

 article of luxury. It is supposed that Theo- 

 phrastis alludes to it when he mentions, that 

 besides being procured from bees, honey, or sweet 

 juice, is also the product of canes. The sugar 

 cane, however, seems to have been early culti- 

 vated in China and India, and from the latter 

 region it is probable it w^as introduced into 

 Europe. Before the discovery of the West 

 Indies by the Spaniards in 1492, or of the East 

 Indies by the Portuguese in 1497, sugar was 

 manufactured from the sugar cane in consider- 

 able abundance in the islands of Sicily, Crete, 

 Rhodes, and Cyprus. The plant is supposed to 

 have been brought to these islands originally by 

 the Saracens, and from thence transported into 

 some parts of Italy ; and to Spain from Afi-jca 

 by the Moors. In Spain the sugar cane was first 

 planted in Valencia, and afterwards in Granada 

 and Murcia. In these southern districts of the 

 kingdom, sugar was at one time produced in 



