SUGAR-CANE. Saccharum officinarum, Linn. Granyinecc. Figs. 826-836 ; also Fig. 517, page 367. [See, also, the articles on Porto Rico, Hawaii, and Philippines in Vol. I.] • Sugar-cane is a gigantic perennial grass grown for its stems, the juice of which is extracted for the making of sugar and molasses. The plant grows 8 to 15 feet tall, producing solid heavy maize-like jointed stalks. The flowers are perfect, very numerous in large silky terminal panicles ; stigmas 2, spreading ; stamens 3. The genus to which the plant belongs contains several species, and it is even a moot question whether the various varieties of sugar-cane do not include representatives of more than one of these. In an article of this nature it is impossible to consider the biology of the sugar cane further than is necessary graphically to por tray the main industrial fea tures of the subject. We must be content, therefore, with the statement that all of the dozen species belonging to the sugar cane genus are Old World plants. It is doubtful whether wild sugar-cane has been seen by any scientist. It is thought that its natural habitat was southeastern Asia or the adjacent large tropical islands. Several varieties of the species are enu merated by agrostologists.
Sugar-cane has been cultivated so long that its origin is lost in antiquity. Its parts are so perish able that it is extremely improbable that any fossil evidence will be discovered showing its connection with man in prehistoric times. The probabilities are that it was used by man ages before there is any record of such a fact, and that its culture was among the first undertaken by tropical peoples. In these early times, however, its use NN as confined almost exclusively to such varieties as could be eaten raw. Only with the art of extracting the juice and converting it into sugar and molasses, did the plant take on its modern high rank in agriculture. As a source of sugar it stood practi cally alone until the beginning of the last century, and, notwithstanding the immense increase in the culture of other sugar-yielding plants, it still maintains in most countries its preeminence in this respect.
The plant is grown under so many various con ditions. is handled by such a great variety of machines. and converted into sugar by such intri cate methods, that it is doubtful whether there is another crop plant whose various features are the subject of so much discussion from a practical point of view. The crop is grown where labor is cheap, and by hand methods, or, at least, with simple machinery adapted to cheap ignorant labor. It is also grown where labor is much more expensive, and where intricate and costly machinery has to take the place of the ordinary simple agricultural implements. Furthermore, the plant is usually con
verted into sugar,—even refined sugar, in some cases,—on the plantation where it is grown, and usually under the same management, by means of machinery of the very largest and most costly description, and by exceedingly intricate methods requiring expert knowledge of a high and varied order. The adaptation of the crop to these various methods involves the consideration of hundreds of features that are never, or at least rarely, con sidered in connection with any other plant. Most important among these features are the structure and physiology of the plant. It is only by a clear understanding of these matters that the rationale of the culture of cane and its conversion into sugar can be properly understood. From an industrial point of view, we need to consider the structure of the root, stalk, leaf and blossom. [For other botanical characters, see page 367.] Physiological considerations.
Root.—Among the numerous roots of the cane plant, there is no single prominent taproot. The dis tribution of the system under ground is for a short distance, at least, somewhat uniform in the space available, various individual roots, however, pene trating to a distance of several feet. The nodes of the stalk are supplied with incipient roots ; and the lower nodes are particularly active in rooting, so that it is very common for them to produce roots successively from the base up, that enter the ground and actively function in promoting the growth of the top. It is common for the older roots to perish, and be replaced by new roots derived in part, at least, in this way. As a rule, the roots of the cane branch but little. The root-cap presents no novel features, except that it is now known to be a vulnerable point in some varieties for the entrance of various fungous parasites. When the end of the root is thus infested and killed, it is not uncommon for buds to be produced higher up on the same root, the new root thus originated taking up the functions of the destroyed part. The structure of the roots of some varieties is such that they are in other ways susceptible to various pests inhabiting the soil. Though destruction of the roots is accom plished for the most part by fungous pests, in many cases an entrance is made for these pests by wounds caused by soil-inhabiting nematodes and insects. These facts have been brought to light by the most modern researches and emphasize the necessity of giving greater attention to methods of culture that will diminish losses of this nature.