64 TILLERING IN INDIAN SUGARCANES 



canes vary in tillering capacity in different localities and under different condi- 

 tions. First in importance of these conditions is the rate of sets planted per 

 acre, but the general treatment, kind of soil, rainfall and irrigation also have 

 influence, and notes on these are appended in the table. Making every allow- 

 ance for these differing circumstances, we still see that the same cane differs 

 much in its tillering power in different parts of the country, and, to make this 

 more evident, a column has been inserted giving the numbers of canes per acre, 

 in eich case cxlculated from the number of sets sown per acre, and the average 

 number of canes per clump. The figures in this column are not to be taken as 

 an accurate estimate of canes per acre, in that they assume that every set 

 o-rew into a plant, and that the part of the plot where the canes were counted 

 was characteristic of the whole. The figures are of more use in comparing 

 the relative branching of the canes in the different farms, than of the crops 

 obtained. Taking this character of tillering as inherent in the variety, this 

 variation is not surprising, for we have found similar differences to occur in 

 almost every other character of the cane. The comparison of such other 

 characters has been prosecuted for several years, and it is hoped will form the 

 subject of another Memoir shortly. The length and thickness of the cane, 

 the number of joints, the relative length of cane and shoot, the width and length 

 of the leaf, the rate of maturing of the cane and the number of dead leaves 

 adhering to the stem at different periods of growth, all of these characters 

 have been found to vary profoundly, in the same cane, in different localities in 

 India, and we have noted that the locality impresses itself on the plant produced 

 to such an extent, that a survey of the series of measurements will generally 

 enable us to determine in what part of the country the cane has been grown. 

 A large number of deductions could be drawn from this table of tillering, but 

 it is felt that these are foreign to our present purpose and, also, that the figures, 

 having been obtained for one year only, require confirmation and extension, 

 and it is hoped that this will be done by those in charge of the various farms. 

 It may be noted in passing, however, that one of the most interesting results 

 obtained is the way in which certain varieties seem to be adapted to certain 

 localities, an aspect of the question which will be dealt with in the Memoir 

 proposed. 



The second table contains observations, also made at my request by Mr. 

 T. S. Venkataraman, at crop time on the Cane-breeding Station, in April 1918. 

 The cane plots on the farm are small, each consisting of one variety in three 

 rows about 20 feet long. A space separates each plot from the rest in the form 

 of a dropped row. ' For the tillering figures one row was selected in each plot, 

 where possible the central one, but, where this had been used for other purposes. 



