C. A. BARBER 145 



Thick Cane Group. 



This group, as represented in the varieties dissected, is a heterogeneous 

 lot, taken more or less at haphazard. Java is a cane received from Mysore 

 and said to have been sent there from »Samalkota, but the record is lost. Red 

 Mauritius is a somewhat hardy, freely tillering form, extensively growTi all 

 over the Peninsula. It was first isolated as a good variety at Samalkota and 

 came to that place from Bombay. Judging by specimens collected in various 

 places in North India, it has probably been in the country for a considerable 

 time, having, as its name implies, its origin in Mauritius. The Louisiana canes 

 were received direct from America. Vendamul:hi and Yerra are apparently 

 thick canes which have been in Bengal and Madras respectively for a long time, 

 probably for centuries, and belong to the doubtful forms elsewhere classed as 

 " half-thick " canes (c/. p. 62) ; there is some doubt as to their ultimate origin 

 and affinities. As pointed out on a previous page, we have not as yet a satis- 

 factory classification of the thick canes. With this varied character in the 

 components of the Thick cane class dissected, it is not surprising that Red 

 Mauritius and the Louisiana canes have a somewhat more extended formula 

 than the others, but it is worth noting how little the difference really is. The 

 average formula of canes at harvest is shorter than in any class of Indian 

 canes. 



The gro^vth of the thick canes at the Cane-breeding Station is not very 

 satisfactory, as this class of canes requires a much better soil, with more manure 

 and water than the native canes. Cane formation is comparatively early, 

 most likely partly because of the few canes developed per plant. There are a 

 great number of bursting buds as well as of deaths, both in these and in older 

 shoots. In spite of the small number of canes per clump, there is distinct 

 curvature in the latter canes, probably due to the thickness of the canes, but 

 this curvature is not so great as in the Pansahi and other groups. Dissections 

 of Red Mauritius canes groAMi at Nellikuppam have been added separately, 

 and show the possibilities of branching in this cane in well manured, free soil. 

 The group formula at Coimbatore is l« + 26 + lf, and that at Nellikuppam. 

 for Red Mauritius alone la-\-2>h-\-2>c-\-\d. The basal part of the cane is longest 

 in the c(&, and decreases somewhat regularly in the branches of higher orders, 

 not being apparently interfered with by the curvature of the latter. The length 

 of joint in the first two feet falls into line with that of the indigenous canes 

 studied, being lowest in the a^s and increasing in .successive orders of branches, 

 and a similar increase is noticeable in the thickness of the canes at two feet from 

 the base. 



