c, a. barber 101 



(2) The general course of branching. 



The sprouting of the buds of the set and their rapid transformation into 

 cane shoots has been described in Part I of this paper (c/. pp. 46-50 and Plates 

 IV- VIII). The bush resulting from the planting of a set is termed a clmnp' 

 As there are several buds in each set (usually three in India), and each may 

 give rise to an entirely independent set of stems, leaves and roots, we shall 

 find it convenient to reserve the term plant for all that rises from the gro\Hh 

 of a single bud. Similarly, we use the term shoot for any single axis which deve- 

 lops successive leaves at its apex and, in course of time, forms a cane. This 

 distinction between clump and plant has been introduced in the preceding list 

 of dissections, for it is obvious that the development of each plant will depend 

 on the amount of space available, and this will be found expressed in the for- 

 mula and diagram of its branching system, later on. Theoretically, with 

 sufficient time and space, the development in any cane plant is practically 

 unlimited, but we find, in practice, that there are certain limits in each variety 

 beyond which the branching rarely goes, and that there are considerable differ- 

 ences in groups and varieties in this respect. The joints in the Mungo grcuiD are 

 very short, and, in cutting tha sets for planting, no care is taken to cut them so 

 that they have only three buds, but a portion of the plant is cut off about the 

 uuial length. In our dissections in this group we have accordingly frequently 

 met with a large number of plants in the clump. On Plate XVI the dissection 

 diagrams of two young Hemja clumps are shown, with six and eleven plants 

 respectively. Compare with these diagrams those on Plate XXX, in which an 

 older clump of Hemja with four plants, and one of Kuswar with only one plant 

 are shown. The numbers of living shoots in these clumps are as follows :— 

 Hemja four plants 33, six plants 31, eleven plants 31, Kuswar one plant 24. 

 The formulae for such plants cannot reasonably be compared with those of 

 other varieties where only three buds normally occur. It thus becomes a 

 question whether, in preparing our diagrams and formulae, the plant or clump 

 should be considered the unit. There are, in every form, weak plants in which 

 only a few canes are developed, and, taking a strongly branching form such as 

 Yiiba, we have the following formulae for the four plants dissected : la-t-36 + Ic 

 and la + lb + lQc + 8d + le from one clump, and la + 36 + 5c -j- 2d and la + 56 -j- 

 5c + ld from the other (PI. XXIII). Here we see a considerable difference 

 between the development of the plants in the first clump, and there are far 

 gi-eater differences in other cases, where some of the plants consist of only one or 

 two canes. On further considering the great number of individual plants in the 

 clump in the varieties of the Mmigo group, it thus becomes doubtful whether 



