Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/775

* SUGAR BEET. 673 SUGAR-CANE. SUGAR BEET {Beta viilguris). A vegetahlu of the natural order Chenopotliaceoe, botanically the same species as the garden heet, iiuporlanl commercially as the source of a very large part of the world's supply of sugar. (See St'o. , sectiou ou Beet iSuyar.) The sugar beet nourishes upon a rich, deep, loamy soil in a elimate having a temperature of about 70° during the growing season. The seed is planted and the crop culti- vated and harvested by the tinest machinery. The rotation of the crop with others is carefully planned and the proper fertilization of the lields has been a subject of much study by the experi- ment stations. Since the sugar content and yield are inlluenced bj- many factors, the sugar companies emploj' field experts to instruct the farmers how to grow beets in the proper way. Being a product of intensive cultivation, the sugar beet is especially suited to a thickly settled population. The average cost of growing an acre of sugar beets in the United States is about $.30. The average yield in the best districts is about 12 tons, with an average sugar content of 14.5 per cent. This represents a yield of about 3900 povuids of sugar per acre, though higher yields luTve been reported up to 4800 pounds. SUGAR-BEET INSECTS. The recent intro- duction and rapid spread of the sugar beet have resulted in the attacks of several insects not be- fore known as injurious and have given a new food toothers. A leaf-miner (Pegomyia vicina), 30 or 40 larvse of which may be found in a single leaf, has produced serious damage in California. Many leaf-hoppers (q.v.) feed upon the leaves; also several plant and leaf bugs, and plant-lice, notably the common melon aphis [Aphis gos- sipii). Various cutworms (q.v.) are trouble- some while the beets are young. Considerable damage has been done by the greenhouse leaf- roller {I'hlyetwnia ferrugalis). The so-called garden webworms, however, especially in the West, have done the greatest damage of all. Cer- tain leaf-beetles injure the leaves, and the larvse of some of them feed upon the roots. Much damage has been done by grasshoppers, non-mi- gratory locusts, and blister beetles (q.v.), the imbricated snout beetle, and the army worm ( q.v. ). Toward the close of the last century the so-called beet arm.y worm (Laphygma flai-imaciilata) defoliated thousands of acres of sugar beets in Colorado. The purslane cater- pillar (Copidryas Gloveri), the purslane sphinx (Deilephila lineata), and several of the woolly- bear caterpillars also feed upon the leaves. Great damage has been done in the State of Washing- ton by a root-louse known as the beet aphis (Pemphiiius hetee), and a root mealj'-bug has been found on the crown of the plant in Colo- rado. Several of the wireworms (q.v.) and white grubs (q.v.) also damage the roots. Consult: Forbes, Tirenty-first Annunl Report State Entomologist of Illinois (Chicago. 1900) ; Forbes and Hart, Bulletin No. 60 Illinoiti Agri- cuUurcil Experiment Station (Urbana, 1900). SUGAR-CANE {Saccharum officinariim) . A tropical and subtropical grass, originally a na- tive of the East Indies. It was brought to Europe by the Crusaders, and in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries found its way into all the European colonies in the tropics. Tn Europe the cultivation of the sugar-cane has always been limited almost whollv to Sicily and Andalusia. In Cliina it extends to latitude 30° N., and in Xiirlh . ierica to 32°; in the Southern Ileini- spliere only to latitude 22° S. The plant is a perennial with a creei)ing root, sending up a number of many -jointed diversely colored stems, generally S to 12 feet liigh, 1 to 2 inches thick, and filled for about two-thirds of their length with a loose, sweet, juicy pith. The leaves are ribbon-shaped, 4 to 5 feet long, with a strong midrib. The llowers are in great difiuse pyram- idal panicles a yard long. Sugar-cane requires a deep rich soil and abun- dant moisture during the growing season. Low alluvial soils near the sea are preferable. The land is prepared with very large plows. The plants are propagated by cuttings. For this purpose the top joints are planted in rows 5 to 7 feet apart. Usually two continuous lines of canes arc planted in the row. The largest varieties, in rich, moist soils, attain a height of twenty feet; but in dry, poor soils the height is sometimes scarcely more than six feet. The plant tillers like wheat, but not to the same degree. The cane ground is kept clean by shallow cultivation. The best varieties are ready for cutting in about eight or ten months from the time of planting, but other varieties require from twelve to twenty months. When the canes are fully ripe they are cut a little above the ground, stripped of their leaves, srGAB-CASE. and tied in bundles. Fresh canes, called rattoona, spring from the root, so that the plantation does not require to be renewed for several years; but the canes of the first crop are the largest, and a gradual decrease of size takes place. The ordinary practice on sugar estates is to renew a part of the plantation every year. The sugar content of the cane ordinarily grown has for some time averaged about 10 per cent. Sugar- cane production is usually carried on by large platitations. It is a business of great risks, but large profits. It requires a large and sure source