269 
HISTORY AND CULTURE OF THE SUGAR CANE, 
(SACCHARUM OFFICINARUM.) 
This grass or reed, though unknown to the ancients, has become of immense 
importance in modern times. There are many varieties or species, both wild and 
uncultivated, natives of the banks of rivers and. meadows in both the Indies, China, 
Africa, the South Sea islands, and South America. 
• It is cultivated in a zone extending from 35 to 40 degrees on each side of the 
equator. Where it was first cultivated is unknown : in all probability, in India; for the 
Venetians imported it from thence by the Red Sea, prior to 1 148. It is supposed 
to have been introduced into the islands of 
Sicily, Crete, Rhodes, and Cyprus by the 
Saracens, as abundance of sugar was made 
in these islands previously to the discovery 
of the West Indies in 1492 by the Spaniards ; 
and to Madeira by the Portuguese, and 
hence to the West India islands, and the 
Brazils. 
The Dutch began to make sugar in the 
island of St. Thomas, under the line, in 
1610 ; and the English in Barbadoes, in 
1643, and in Jamaica in 1644. The cul- 
ture of the cane has since become general 
in warm climates, and the use of sugar be- 
ing universal, it forms one of the first articles 
of commerce throughout the world. It was 
in use in England in 1466, but chiefly in 
feasts and as a medicine, till it was brought 
from the Brazils about 1580 to Portugal, 
and imported from thence. 
The cane, as a stove plant, is of easy culture, in a rich loamy soil, in a good 
heat and kept rather moist. It was grown in abundance in the stoves of the Paris 
Gardens, and a small sugar-loaf was made from the canes, and presented to the 
Empress Josephine. In the botanic gardens of Toulon and Naples it stands the 
winter in the open air. 
The cane in the West Indies is propagated by cuttings from the root end, 
planted in hills or trenches in spring or autumn, something in the manner of hops. 
The cuttings root at the joints under ground, and from those above send up shoots, 
which in eight, twelve, or fourteen months, are from six to ten feet long, and fit to 
cut down for the mill. A plantation lasts from six to ten years. 
Sugar mills are merely iron rollers placed vertically or horizontally, between 
which the canes are passed and repassed. The juice thus squeezed out, is collected 
VOL. II. — no. xxiv. • M M 
