STUDIES IN INDIAN SUGARCANES, No. 5. 



ON TESTING THE SUITABILITY OF SUGARCANE VARIETIES 



FOR DIFFERENT LOCALITIES, BY A SYSTEM OF 



MEASUREMENTS. PERIODICITY IN THE 



GROWTH OF THE SUGARCANE. 



BY 



C. A. BARBER, CLE., Sc.D. (Cantab.), F.L.S., 



Government Sugarcane Expert, Madras. , -^ 



[Received for publication on 9th December, 1918] . ■ ' 



I. SUMMA.RY OP LITERATURE ON GROWTH IN LENGTH OF THE SUGARCANE. 



A WRITER in the Louisiana Planter of September, 1916, has drawn attention 

 to the great growth in length of the sugarcane in the Southern States during 

 the moist, forcing heat of July and August. He claims that, not infrequently, 

 two to three joints are added per week and that these are well formed and from 

 four to six inches in length, " and are apparently much finer canes than are 

 generally grown in the tropics." A further statement in the November number of 

 the same journal gives the data on which these figures are based and, incidentally, 

 throws light on the vegetative period in this tract. Careful measurements 

 made by a planting correspondent, extending over four years, show that the 

 cane is about a foot long at the beginning of July, increases by 30 inches both 

 in July and in August, 18 in September, 12 in October, and then practically 

 ceases to grow. The author draws attention to the economic importance of 

 this class of work, especially with regard to the decision as to which canes 

 are best suited to different tracts of country. He emphasizes the absence cf 

 exact data and suggests that such work should be taken up by the experi- 

 mental stations. The method employed by the planter was very simple, in 

 that stakes were driven into the ground and the canes laid along these at 

 successive periods and measured. 



Studies in the gro^\i,h in length of the different parts of the cane plant 

 liave occupied workers in Java at intervals for many years, although the 



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