128 AGRONOMY [Bot. Absts., Vol. VI, 



884. Barber, C. A. Sugar cane seedling work in India. Part II. Internat. Sugar Jour. 

 22: 307-312. 2 pi., 4 fig. 1920. — The work on the crossing of sugar cane in developing canes 

 suited to North Indian conditions has been successful, due to the selection of fertile-styled, 

 pollen-sterile mothers. Many suitable mothers without pollen and with starch-filled styles 

 have been found, and a large number of undoubted crosses are now being obtained every year, 

 with thin indigenous Indian canes and thick tropical canes of good quality, among which there 

 no doubt will be many suited to North India. A detailed study of seedlings shows variations 

 among them in small particulars — such as size and shape, width of leaf and thickness of stem, 

 color marks in various parts, and general habit. An attempt was made to study correlations 

 between the external morphology of the cane plant and the richness of its juice. There ap- 

 pears to be a very definite negative correlation between (1) leaf width and leaf length and (2) 

 richness of juice; the module of the leaf (length divided by width) gave equally definite posi- 

 tive correlation with sugar content as did also length of cane; thickness of cane yielded no 

 definite correlation to richness of juice, but there were indications that thinner varieties have 

 a richer juice. The cages used in crossing the canes and the methods employed are described, 

 and a list of publications prepared by workers on the cane-breeding station at Coimbatore is 

 given. — E. Koch. 



885. Barber, C. A. The growth of the sugar cane. Internat. Sugar Jour. 22: 313-317. 

 1 fig. 1920. — The sixth article of a series. Shows how connected study of growth of stem 

 and leaves of cane plant has been rendered possible, and reviews Kammerling's work on the 

 relative growth of joint, sheath and blade, and the more recent and up-to-date work of 

 Knijper. — E. Koch. 



8SG. Barber, C. A. The growth of the sugar cane. VII. Internat. Sugar Jour. 22: 371-375. 

 1 pi., 1 fig. 1920. — Length of cane depends on length of individual joints and their number. 

 Height of field cane varies according to weather, soil, cultivation and amount of manure applied 

 the effect being seen in the length of the joints rather than in the number produced. Length 

 of joint is also affected by the period in which the cane is formed, the first formed canes having 

 shorter joints than those arising later, but earlier canes produce so many joints that these 

 canes are usually longer. In each individual cane the length of the joint varies in the differ- 

 ent parts of the cane, joints below the ground being extremely short and disc-like, the length 

 rapidly increasing above ground until after the period of active growth, when joints become 

 shorter. When flowering occurs the joints at the top become longer, leaf sheaths are longer, 

 blades shorter and joints decrease in thickness. The longest joints, on an average, are the 

 fifth and sixth joints above ground, each increasing until the maximum is reached, after which 

 a regular decrease takes place. A series of measurements made at crop tune may be relied 

 upon to reproduce the character of the cane growth throughout the season that has passed. 

 The length curve of the joints taken at harvest shows the nature of the past growing season 

 and any abnormality will make itself clearly noticeable. From a study of the joint and other 

 growth curves the suitability of a tract for cane growing in general may be judged. — E. Koch. 



887. Barber, C. A. Sugar cane seedling work in India. Part I. Internat. Sugar Jour. 

 22: 251-257. 1920. — Work in progress at Coimbatore Cane-breeding Station deals not merely 

 with the raising of cane from thick, tropical parents, but also aims to obtain definite crosses 

 between these and the many thin, indigenous Indian canes; it also aims to obtain sets of seed- 

 lings suited to the several different conditions of the Indian sugar tracts. Attempts were made 

 to raise seedlings, but these failed because arrowing is rare in North India, and it was found 

 that when it occurred the stamens were almost invariably completely closed and without 

 pollen. Arrowing in India is affected by latitude, by time of planting and by the character 

 of the soil and its treatment, while the usefulness of the arrows for the production of seedlings 

 depends, in the first instance, on their possession of abundance of open anthers. It appears 

 that the amount and character of the rainfall may be directly influential. Arrows vary as 

 much in female fertility as in the fertility of the male organs. If the stigma and style contain 

 starch it is probable that the flowers are capable of producing seed and seedlings. Each 



