150 TILLERING IN INDIAN SUGARCANES 



however, bending outwards from the weight of their leafy tufts. There is com- 

 paratively little curvature, but the later shoots show this at their very base. 

 The basal curved portion of later formed branches is characterized by its 

 immense thickness, and by being covered by a shaggy coat made up of leaf 

 bases, flat, scale-like buds and dense masses of brown silky hairs. This 

 thickened part of the cane is distinctively dorsi-ventral, and the two rows 

 of buds are thrown on to the outer portion of the curve. There are no runners. 

 The average length of the basal part in the five plants dissected is 2"9" in a, 

 2-1" in b and 2-4", 2"9", 3"2", in c, d, e, respectively, the small basal curvature 

 thus ha vino- its full effect. The average length of the joint in the lowest two 

 feet, and the thickness at two feet from the base, show continuous increases 

 from a to the branches of higher orders (c/. PI. I and Table appended). 



(2) Saccharum spotitaneimi. Three forms of this species, among those grown 

 at the Cane-breeding Station, have been selected for dissection, namely, the 

 ordinary thin, grass-like form found in waste places in all parts of India, the 

 Dacca pond form, and the Javanese variety called GlagaJi. The latter appears 

 to be more or less intermediate between the two others, and it may be surmised 

 therefrom that the general climate in Java is moister than that of India. There 

 were oreat variations in the growbh of these forms in the dissection plots, but 

 they were all three disappointing, especially at first. This may be caused by 

 a slow early development of the species, but is more likely due to their being 

 unaccustomed to being grown from sets. They are capable, later on, of taking 

 o-ood hold of the cultivated ground, and the Dacca spontaneum plants, being 

 very poor at first, formed dense masses of stalks at nine months, when grown 

 from sets, as parents in the seedling plots. This can be readily imagined 

 after an inspection of the diagrams on Plate XXXVI. 



In habit, Saccharum spontaneum plants grown from seed vary a great 

 deal {see Plate XXI, Mem. II), the young seedlings sometimes Ipng flat on 

 the ground, and at others growing erect and branching sparsely. The general 

 differences in appearance of the Indian varieties here discussed can be seen 

 from an examination of Plates I and II of Mem. III. Differences in thickness 

 are seen to be marked in these Plates. Kunners are present in all the forms^ 

 those in the Dacca variety extending long distances in the mud, and, in 

 the ordinary land form, appearing above ground at intervals somewhat 

 widely separately from the parent stock. In the plots of seedlings raised from 

 the difierent forms during the past year on the farm, there were great varia- 

 tions in the width of the leaves, and an analysis showed an equal difference 

 in the sucrose content of the juice, Selections have been made in both these 



