132 



THE AGRICULTURAL i^EWS. 



M.\y 4, 1918. 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



SELECTION OF CANE CUTTINGS BEFORE 

 PLANTING. 



An instructive article on this subject by Mr. Arthur II. 

 liosenfeld, late Director of the Tiicumiin Experiment Station, 

 Argentina, appears in the Jntcrmitional S/fx'-ir foin-nal for 

 February 191S. His conclusions are based upon rlenionstra- 

 tive experiments undertaken at the Tucunuin Station. Now- 

 adays the principle of tlie value of selection for the mainte- 

 nance or improvement of the characters of any plant or 

 animal would seem to be such a settled iiuestion as to render 

 experiments in this line unnecessary. Nevertheless it is often 

 the cuse that the most common facts are those which are 

 ignored in our daily agricultural routine, and it frequently 

 happens that experiments along the most common lines of 

 investigation, if conducted on sound scientific principles, 

 result in calling the attention of agriculturists to facts not 

 unknown but forgotten. Recognizing, as accepted by every 

 intelligent planter, the value of selection in general, two 

 Series of experiments were conducted at the Tucuni:in Experi- 

 ment Station in selecting cane before plantint;. 



The selection was made principally svitli the object of 

 planting cane as free as possible from tlie common moth 

 cane borer {J^intracn soccharahs), but the results obtained 

 are a further indication of tlie value in general of selection 

 of cane cuttings. Selecting cuttings free of borer attack 

 and the diseases introduced through the perforation-; really 

 means a selection of sound, healthy cane, and this is the 

 basis of all seed selection. Mr. Piosenfeld states that the 

 selection of borer-free canes did not represent a careful 

 selection of other characteristics than freedom from borer 

 attack; in fact the selected cane was inferior as regards size, 

 development, etc., to the ordinary cane used for planting in 

 the control plot. This was undoubtedly due to the fact that 

 the larger, thicker canes, offering a larger surface to the 

 attacks of the borer, were infested very heavily, a larger 

 proportion of thin canes being found free of the borer than 

 of the better developed specimens. 



In conducting these experiments, apart from the actual 

 selection of cuttings as free as possible from borer attacks and 

 the fungus diseases which gain entrance to the cane through 

 the perforation of the borer, there was no difference made in 

 the cultivation of the selected and non-selected plots of can(', 

 the latter having been jjlanted with the type of cane usually 

 planted in the neighbourhood — cane of good appearance in 

 general, but without any attention being paid as tfj whether 

 it was infested with borers, or whether a large proportion of 

 the eyes had been destroyed by this insect, or from other 

 causes. 



The first experiment was begun in August 1!)10, and 

 careful counU were made at frequent intervals of the number 

 of sprouts above ground in the two plots. The difference 

 in appearance between the plots planted with selected and 

 unselected cane was most noticeable from the beginning of 

 the germination. The following table gives the results of 

 these germination counts at various dates in number of 

 sprouts above ground jier row of luO metres: — 

 Plot Oct. 1". I>ec. 1. l>ec. 12-1 1".. Crop. 



Selected 15.3 GO*i 1.203 1,111 



Unselected 44 464 874 I) 12 



It will be observe 1 that in every count the selected cane 

 showed much better germination than the unselecteil — so 

 much so, in fact, tha^ all the canes which existed in the 

 selected plots on 1 )ecember 16 could not mature, the number 

 of matured stalks however still being far greater at crop 

 time in the selected plot than in the unselected. It is 

 interesting to note also that the average weight of .sialks 

 from the selected plot was just 40 grammes more than that 

 of the stalks harvested from the unselected plot. 



The next table makes clear how this difference in 

 germinative power beArs upon yield. It must be borne in 

 mind also, that the same money will be spent on producing 

 inferior cane per acre as on producing good cane, hence the 

 cost of cultivation per ton of superior cane is always less. 

 This table would al.^o appear to demonstrate that if 

 unselected cane is planted, it is (jnly putting into the ground 

 a great amount of eane which cannot germinate with full 

 efficiency, and which would have been much better sent to 

 the mill, replacing it with selected cane of high gerniinalins; 

 power. 



The following table shows the result of the experiment 

 in yield of cane in kilograms per row of 100 metres, both for 

 plant canes and for ratoons: — 



Plot. Plants. Ratoons. 



Selected 9.")4 .582-3 



Unselected 776 481-3 



From thii table it appears that the .selected canes, both 

 as plants and as ratoons, gave over 20 per cent, more yield 

 in each case than those of the unselected. This increase in 

 production, with probably the same cost of cultivation per 

 acre, certainly repays many times the small cost of selection. 



An interesting part of this e.vperiment was the determi- 

 nation, by careful examination -jf several hundred individual 

 canes from each plot,' of the percentage of cane containing 

 eane borers when cut at crop time. The results of the cmnt 

 sliowed that 37 per cent, of the selected plot contained live 

 specimens of cane borer, and that 60 per cent, of the cane 

 from the unseleetid lot harboured this pest. That is to say, 

 that even in small plots a careful selection of the cane as free 

 as possible from boic rs at the time of planting gives direct 

 results in the diminution of the consequent infestation by 

 the insect. As Diatraea is not a strong flier, it would appear 

 that the results should be still more pronounced by the 

 selection of cane plants over large areas. 



The experiments desciibed above were made under 

 irrigation conditions. But in order to continue the demon- 

 stration of the benefit of selection, another experiment was 

 made with canes planted in unirrigated land. In both series 

 the cane waa [ilantod in rows •") feet apart, employing two 

 complete running rows of cane for planting, and in both 

 series the cane for planting was hand stri[)ped, the seed 

 cane being covered in the rows with a small share plough. 

 The following taV)le .shows the results of the germination 

 counts on the cane grown in unirrigated land: — 



Plot. Oat. 18. Oct. 26. Nov. 14. Con. 



Selected 140 356 6;!6 r.tJO 



Cnselceted 120 , 292 464 .524- 



As in the previoiis experiment, the counts were per row 

 of I no metres. ■ , 



.\lthough the diflerence between the number of sprouts 

 above ground in the two plots is not so .striking as in the 

 first series ol experiment?, it nevertheless plainly shows again 

 the advantages of selection. 



