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There are not a few people whose idea of raising seedling canes 

 is that cane seeds are sown like peas or beans to produce a crop. It 

 is not so ; for this would be not only impracticable, but with canes 

 impossible. 



The operations are conducted as follows : — Seed is collected from 

 the cane arrow when it is fully ripe, and about to fall. It is of little 

 use to look for the seeds among the feathery part of the arrow, as it 

 is quite impossible to distinguish them with the naked eye on account 

 of their diminutive size — (they may of course be seen with assistance 

 of a lens or microscope) — so that it has to be taken on trust that the 

 seeds are really there. 



Boxes of soil are then prepared by burning or scorching it in an 

 iron pot, to destroy all grass seeds that it may contain, and then 

 when pressed firmly down, the seed is sown thickly upon the surface. 

 A sprinkling of earth will flatten this somewhat, and it should then 

 be pressed and watered. After this a pane of glass should be placed 

 over the box or pot to keep the soil humid, and it should 'be further 

 secured by standing it on pots or stands suriounded by water to keep 

 away seed-eating insects. 



In a few days the seedlings will appear like little grass plants. 

 They have been mistaken by myself and others for grass plants, and vice 

 versa — but this is not a great mistake after all, when we consider 

 that the sugar cane itself is a true grass ; so that the error of taking 

 the one for the other is simply that of not being able to recognize 

 different genera of grasses in their [at present] little studied 

 juvenile forms. To this common error is to be attributed the old 

 idea that the sugar cane could not be reproduced from seed ; and it is 

 fairly apparent that numerous yoi;ng sugar canes have been annually 

 hoed up as " grass." In Barbados in 1888 Messrs. Harrison and Bovell 

 proved that it was possible to grow canes in large quantities from 

 seed, and the Report issued by these gentlemen show how the circum- 

 stance was taken advantage of, by making it the first step towards 

 the improvement of the sugar cane by selection from the seedling 

 growths. In the seedling stage (i.e.) when the plant is from one to five 

 inches high the cane plant is very tender and susceptible to injury, 

 but once established it grows freely and rapidly into its mature form. 

 Those now in the Gardens planted out when six inches high on April 

 4th, are now (June 26th) three feet and a half high— a growth fully 

 equal to, if not better than, plants from tops. 



The seedling cane plant has a greater tendency to tiller or 



