42 
Triandria. 
This valuable vegetable is a native of India, South 
America, and the South-sea islands ; was introduced 
into Europe, it is supposed, during the crusades in the 
12th century; and was planted in Spain, Madeira, the 
Canary, and Cape de Verd islands, soon after their dis- 
covery in the 15th century; and from some of these 
islands found its way to the West Indies, where it is 
now so extensively cultivated. Several varieties of this 
plant are known ; and in the year 1796, a new variety, 
called the Bourbon, or Otaheite cane, of a larger size, 
and more productive, was introduced into Jamaica. 
A rich, deep, and open soil, is the most suitable for 
the culture of the sugar-cane. Trenches, six or eight 
inches deep, and at the distance of three feet and a 
half, are formed ; and the cuttings of the canes, having 
five or six joints, are placed horizontally at the bottom 
of the trench, and covered with mould to the depth of 
two inches. The sprouts appear in twelve or fourteen, 
days ; and, as they shoot up, the soil is gradually drawn 
about them, till, in the course of a few months, the 
ridges of earth are all level. 
The cane-plant, including its leaves and flower stem, 
rises to the height of twelve or fourteen feet ; and when 
it arrives at maturity, which requires the period of a year 
or fourteen months, the canes are cut down, and the 
leaves and top being separated, the solid stems are tied 
up in bundles and carried to the mill, where they are 
passed through iron-plated rollers, and the juice is re- 
ceived in a proper vessel, from which it is conveyed to 
boilers, where it - is boiled down and concentrated ; a 
quantity of quicklime is added, to separate some acid, 
which would prevent the crystallization, and some 
