138 TILLERING IN INDIAN SUGARCANES 



Nargori Group. 



The Nargori group is a very distinct one, being readily separated, among 

 other things, by its curious palm-like habit, a bundle of erect, knotted canes 

 surmounted by a thick bunch of short, broadish leaves, often with a brownish 

 or copper Coloured tinge in North India. The group appears to be a primitive 

 one. Its distribution along the foot of the Himalayas is apparently less wide 

 than that of the Pansahi group, as specimens have only been received from 

 Bihar and the United Provinces, but varieties belonging to it have also been 

 received from the south of the Central Provinces, and thus it enters the Penin- 

 sula. The varieties collected grow fairly well on the Cane-breeding Station. 

 The canes curve very sharply at the base and quickly assume a vertical direc- 

 tion, and the clump thus takes up little room. The branching is not extended, 

 as can be seen from the formula, and there is a marked absence of runners or 

 irregularities of any kind. The canes are very straight, mostly thin, with well 

 marked bloom bands and always strongly noded. The varieties mature early 

 and there are few shoots or bursting buds at nine months from planting, making 

 the preparation of the cane formula easy. The basal portion of the stem is 

 long, especially in the as, where there are a large number of short joints under 

 1" in length. The average length of joints increases at first slowly and then 

 rapidly with successive branchings, but there is little difference in thickness 

 between the as, and the hs. This makes it an easy matter to separate the early 

 and late formed canes at harvest, as represented by as + 6s and cs + (?s respec- 

 tively. In two varieties measured, it would seem that the as are actually thicker 

 than the ha and the figures are equal in a third variety. (Pis. XXIV and XXV.) 



