214 Improvement In Indian Sngarcanes 



economically by replacing them with better kinds. There are four 

 ways in which this may be attempted :— 



(1) The introduction of exotic canes which have proved of valve 

 elsewhere. This method has been the main line followed for many 

 years all over India, from Madras to Peshawar. Thick, tropical canes, 

 the relics of successive importations, are everywhere met with. But it 

 is generally found that these thick canes have not time to mature in 

 the north during the short, hot, moist period. They sometimes grow 

 surprisingly well and are full of juice, but the ripening process by which 

 the glucose is changed to crystallisable sucrose is arrested and, although 

 extensively used as fruit and eaten raw, these thick exotic canes are 

 generally useless for the manufacture of sugar. It is possible that 

 certain early maturing varieties may still be met with, or that changes 

 in treatment may lead to improvement along this line, and this is not 

 being lost sight of, but we have the advantage of actual demonstration 

 of their behaviour all over the country and the prospect of success is 

 not encouraging. 



(2) The transfer of canes from one part of India to another. This 

 method of improvement is well known to the cultivator. He is not 

 only accustomed to the trial of new varieties valued elsewhere, but is 

 acquainted with the advantage of occasional change of seed in the same 

 variety. Exchanges of varieties are being actively carried on by the 

 Agricultural departments of the various Provinces and occasional 

 advantage accrues from this. Collections of different varieties of sugar- 

 cane growing together are a constant feature on local farms. The fine 

 new canes introduced into Madras through the Samalkota farm are now 

 to be met with in every part of India, even extending to the North- West 

 Frontier Province. But success along this line is limited and, in the 

 main, the introduced kinds cannot hold their own against the best 

 local kinds, the latter themselves being the outcome of centuries of 

 selection by the cultivators. 



(3) The improvement of local canes by selection and the observation 

 of sports. This method has perhaps hardly received the attention 

 during recent years that it undoubtedly deserves, but there are special 

 difficulties in the way with a crop that can only be finally judged after 

 it has passed through the mill and been chemically analysed. The 

 sugarcane has, from time immemorial, been propagated by cuttings, 

 and it is difficult to determine whether chance variations in growth are 

 or are not due to better local treatment or feeding. 



(4) The production of seedlings. This has been tried many times 



