162 STUDIES IN INDIAN SUGARCANES 



impossible to obtain fair averages of successive joints, but tlie results of the 

 method here employed have this that is satisfactory, that the curves 

 ultimately obtained exhibit considerable uniformity in each variety grown in 

 the same place, and that there are well marked differences in the curves of 

 differeirt varieties, a study of which has added yet another character by which 

 the Sunnabile and Saretha groups may be distinguished. 



The organs measured are the joints (internodes), leaf sheaths and laminas. 

 The twenty canes are cut at ground level and laid out on a table and the 

 laminas are first measured in succession from the lowest joint upwards towards 

 the apex, until a leaf is reached only 1 ft. in length. The sheaths of these 

 leaves are next measured in the same way and the cane is then stripped, and 

 the joints are measured until those are reached which are only one-tenth of an 

 inch in length. In each separate joint the measurement is thus recorded of 

 its own length and that of its leaf sheath and lamina, commencing with the 

 lowest above ground and co]\tinuing mitil the youngest joints at the apex are 

 reached. There are always three or four leaf organs measured in excess of 

 joints, in that some joints less than one-tenth of an inch in length already have 

 fairly long leaves, but the exact position of any leaf on the stem can be readily 

 fixed by counting from the base upwards. All measurements are made with a 

 foot rule divided into tenths of an inch. 



In each variety we thus get detailed length measurements of the organs in 

 twenty canes. The measurements of individual canes are then written in lines 

 across the page, those of different canes being placed one above the other in 

 vertical columns, all commencing "wdth the joint immediately above the ground. 

 They are thus arranged in a table, and in this table the cane 'W'ith the longest 

 basal joint is placed first, that with the next longest basal joint next and so 

 on, a space being dropped between the first and last ten canes. The upper 

 ten have longer basal jomts and the lower shorter basal joints, and, if there is 

 a marked difference in the number of joints in the upper and lower series, we 

 have an indication that the variety is characterized by early and late canes.* 

 The lengths of leaf sheath and lamina are treated in the same manner, the cane 

 with the longest basal joint being again placed first, so that we have the twenty 

 canes arranged in the same order in each series and can, at any moment, pick 

 out from the tables the length of any jomt and of its leaf sheath and lamina. 

 We thus have ample material for the study of any correlations existing between 

 the length of the joint and the organs belonging to it. (It may be pointed out, 



* See previous section p. 26. 



