A YOUNG NATURALIST. 



31 



" That's true, except that maize has only one stem. 

 Look, there's an Indian about to cut down the very plant I 

 was showing you ; he has severed it through obliquely ' 

 at a single blow, as near the ground as possible. Now he 

 is stripping off the leaves, and with another blow of his 

 weapon lops away the green top, which is used for fod- 

 der. Next, he cuts it in lengths, taking care to sever it 

 between the knots, as they are required for planting new 

 ground." 



" Planting !" repeated Lucien ; " the knots are not seed ?" 



" No, Master 6 Sunbeam the seed of the sugar - cane 

 comes to maturity too slowly. It takes four years to pro- 

 duce a plant from it which is profitable. Now, as young 

 fellows of your kind are rather numerous, and consume a 

 good many preserves and sugar-plums, it is highly necessary 

 to devise some rapid method of supplying the sugar you 

 devour. This method has been found out. Each of these 

 pieces of cane will be stuck into the earth, and the knot, 

 from which in the open air the leaves spring, will send 

 down roots into the soil. Small as it is, it will grow vigor- 

 ously; and in a year, or eighteen months at most, it will 

 have produced a dozen stalks quite as fine as the one you 

 have been looking at." 



During this long explanation l'Encuerado, who, on ac- 

 count of his load, disliked standing still, had kept moving, 

 so we had to increase our pace to catch him up. As we 

 were passing on, Lucien saw the Indian planting the very 

 pieces of cane he had just observed cut up. Ere long we 

 came upon a fresh plantation, in which the tender shoots, 

 almost like grass, appeared over the ground. Sumichrast 

 dug a little hole round one of the plants, and showed to his 

 wondering pupil that the fragment of the stem was already 

 provided with small rootlets. 



Suddenly, at the turn of a path, I was saluted by a man 



I 



