72 TILLKItlXn IX INDIAN SUGAHCANES 



lie, howevor. HiisSP^ts tliat coiitiiuied workinj;' l)o,twooii the rows without 

 injuiin^ tlio. roots 7iii<j;lit act as a restraiinn<>' influoiice on too late ])ranchin^'. 



The carthiH<2; up of the cane rows is a well-known practice, both for the 

 purpose of drainage and the provision of suitably prepared nutriment, and for 

 giving the plants a firm hold on the ground when they are tall and stormy 

 weather prevails. It is customary in Java for this operation to be performed 

 at stated intervals, and there appear to be four successive earthings up, during 

 the first four or five months of the plants' growth. This practice, as with all 

 the agricultural operations on the cane field, is do-ubtless the result of numerous 

 careful experiments during past years. From what we have stated regarding 

 the different phases of growth in grasses, w^e should naturally assume that the 

 heaping of earth over the base of the ^ane plant would, by lengthening the 

 period of underground branching, tend to increase the tillering. But it seems 

 to be held by many in Java that earthing up tends rather to restrain tillering. 

 As, however, the opinions expressed from time to time have been very conflict- 

 ing, Striiben^ and others have conducted experiments to see if tillering 

 was affected by delaying the earthing up. Striiben's general conclusion is 

 that the time of earthing up has little or no effect on the general crop result. 

 In another paper he deals with other matters, such as manuring and spacing, 

 and comes to the same general negative result, and it is worth while drawing 

 attention to the fact that he would almost seem to hold a brief for the non- 

 effect of these various operations, whereas it occurs to us as cjuite possible 

 that another worker might have come to a somewhat different conclusion on 

 the facta quoted by him. We shall refer to this in more detail later on. 



(5) On the factors influencing tillering. 



Of all the factors influencing tillering, perhaps the most important is 

 light, but the provision of other needs of the growing plant, such as warmth, 

 moisture, soil constituents and manuring must also be considered. Lastly, 

 the space available is of immediate effect, because of the interference of the 

 shoots with one another and the varying amount of light and food in all its 

 forms which may be obtainable. It should be obvious that tillering, being an 

 essential characteristic of the grow^th of the plant, will be assisted by anything 

 that induces a better physical condition. 



The influence of Light. We have seen that deeply planted grass seedlings 

 at once set about an attempt at reaching the proper place for tillering, near the 



1 Striiben, W. Vroege of late aanaarding ? Archief v. d. Suikerind. in Ned. Ind., 

 Bijblad, 1909, p. 592. 



