C. A. liAJlUKR 221 



stereotyped deHcription of cultivated cane« (Sacchnrurn offu-iruirum) to 

 the wild Sacduiruin Hjxjnluneuin, for this species is regularly propagated 

 by seed all over India, and the seedlings appear to vary so much among 

 themselves in certain characters that individuals may he placed in 

 almost all the groups already marked out among the cultivat*?^] forms. 

 This, however, is a fact not without its significance in our efTort« U) trace 

 these cultivated forms from Hocfthirum Hponlari/ium itself. 



The attempt to determine the parentage of seedlings by their 

 morphological characters of their vegetative part* is thus beset with 

 difficulties, and these are not decreased by the possibility of many 

 characters being intermediate or recessive in the offspring. 



Taking these uncertainties into con.sideration -and there are, 

 naturally, many chemical and agricultural ones not yet fully grasped — 

 the main line of work in the cane-breeding station for the present lies 

 in the direction of selecting suitable parents, preserving the healthy 

 offspring of the best of these, analysing the juice after the first year's 

 growth and observing the relative vigour of growth and choosing the 

 best for further observation — a narrowing circle in which ultimately 

 a few of the best all-round will remain to be sent to the chain of agri- 

 cultural stations in the north for a renewed series of tests there before 

 dissemination among the cultivators. In all cases it will be our aim to 

 cross good North Indian canes with good South Indian or Exotics, and 

 in the case of the former the importance is recognised of choosing one 

 parent which is largely grown and valued in the particular part of 

 India to which it is intended to send the resulting seedling for trial. 



EXPLANATION OF FIGURES. 



Fig. 1. ilap of India indicating roughly th*; northern and southern tnctn over which 

 .sugarcane in grown. The acreage under cane i^ ten time« as great in the nortiiem 

 region a3 in the southern. 



Fig. 2. A modem canefield in iladras. 



Fig. 3. A good canefield in Behar. 



Fig. 4. A good canefield in the Panjab. 



Fig. 5. Cane seedlings at the Cane-breeding Station at Coimbatore. 



Fig. 6. Cane arrow.=i, in left of Vellai, in right of Ashy ilauritius. In the middle, the 

 arrow of Sacchamm n/irtruja. 



Fig. 7. Arrows protected from ca-sual pollination ''^it a vljlar/^- t^-n miles from the cane- 

 breeding .station). 



Fig. 8. A typical sugarcane bud. 



Fig. 9. Various forms of sugarcane buds. 



Fig. 10. Saretha cane in the field — a moderately thick North Indian variety — with 

 very characteristic, erect and ascending shoots. 



Fig. 11. Selfed seedlings of Saretha cane. These vary from strict, erect to absolutely 

 prostrate seedlings. The latter are seen in the foreground (left) and the prostrate 

 habit Ls fixed in all descendants produced veg«tatively from them. 



