74 



Its slender branches are not hollow like the main reed-like 

 stem, but are solid and bear narrow leaflets about six inches 

 long. It is only to be seen in plantations, and is not very 

 common The lower joints of large bamboos attain the thick- 

 ness of a man's leg. The cane or tree terminates in a large, 

 tawny plume. 



Arundo Donax. Ivinn. (cane.) Is closely allied to the 

 above, but the stems from ten to fifteen feet, crowned with a 

 plume. It is generally to be seen near country cottages. 

 When young it is cut as fodder for cattle. Neither of these 

 seem to have escaped. 



Saccharum Officinatum Linn, (sugar cane.) This is 

 planted occasionally, not for sugar manufacture but for sale in 

 sticks. In growth it resembles Indian corn. Lefroy says in 

 I675 a law was passed to prevent the destruction of cedar for 

 sugar boiling, but there are no records to show to what extent 

 that industry was carried on. It is not common, and little 

 attention is paid to its cultivation. 



Zea Mays. Ivinn. (Indian corn, or maize.) This plant has 

 been cultivated since the early settlement of the islands, being 

 mentioned in the laws of 1622. It is only found in cultivation, 

 and is either ploughed under as manure, cut green for fodder, 

 the ears used in a green state as a vegetable, or, when ripe 

 pulled for various household uses. It is not nearly as much 

 cultivated as formerly. 



Gynerium Argenteum. Nees. (pampas grass.) A large, 

 coarse, shrubby grass three to four feet high, in clumps, grown 

 only for ornament; adorns a few gardens or edges of shrubberies 

 and lawns. It throws up a stem some four or five feet high, 

 crowned with a dense feathery, fluffy head. 



Sorghum Saccharatum. Moench. (Guinea corn. ) This is 

 not unlike sugar cane but is not so woody. It is only grown 

 for cattle. 



The ordinary grains of the adjoining continent are not 

 grown here, their importation being cheaper than the land 

 they would occupy for other produce is worth, and the absence 

 of silica in the soil militates against straw growth when ripe. 



