C. A. BARBER 159 



did not give the accurate figures required for this. He fully endorsed the 

 selection of the uppermost visible leaf joint for measurement in stem growth, 

 safeguarding it, as was done by Kamerling, at the beginning and end of the 

 season. We are indebted to him for the first clear demonstration of what 

 goes on inside the growing portion of the cane shoot. 



An interesting piece of work on the growth of the cane was done by 

 Taluqdar at Sabour Government Farm in 1914.1 Here iron stakes were driven 

 into tha ground to a great depth, at the commencement of the season, and 

 marks made to indicate the original ground-level. Measurements were taken 

 from this point to the leaf joint, at intervals of a fortnight, in a series of cane 

 bushes belonging to three different varieties, Khari, Sliaharchynia, and 

 Buxaria. Taluqdar followed the Java practice in selecting the leaf joint, but 

 used a coloured mark which occurs across the base of the lamina at this point. 

 This he calls the " ligular band," and in previous Memoirs we have termed it 

 the " transverse mark " on the leaf sheath ; it is usually quite easy to see and is 

 often brightly coloured, forming one of the most striking features in the 

 growing shoot (Fig. on p. 157). There appear to us to be two points in which 

 the accuracy of Taluqdar's measurements may be criticized. In the first place 

 his observations commence very early in the life of the plant and continue 

 to the end of the growing period, and he does not appear to have noted that 

 the lengths of the leaf sheaths diminish at these periods. He assumes a 

 steady uniformity in length of leaf sheath throughout the growing period. 

 Secondly, the work of the Java men was done on thick tropical canes, such as 

 Oheribon, Loethers, P. 0. J. 100, and these differ a good deal in many respects 

 from the indigenous Indian canes used by Taluqdar. It is by no means certain 

 that the ends of the leaf sheaths are a safe point on which to base the measure- 

 ments of stem growth in Indian canes. In fact, the leaf sheaths appear to differ 

 in length very much more in the latter class of canes. Some measurements, 

 made by the author, of successive leaf sheaths in Khari growing at Sabour, 

 are appended. The average curve of the length of leaf sheath in the whole twenty 

 canes measured has been plotted out and the curves of the longest and shortest 

 canes have been added, i.e., those with the greatest and smallest number of 

 joints (Plate I). It will be seen that the leaf sheaths vary very greatly in the 

 general curve during the course of growth, whereas, in the individuals, there 

 are often differences in successive joints of over an inch. An analysis of these 

 curves may make our m-aning clearer. Leaving out the first five, until the 

 leaf sheath has attained to its full length, and the last eight, when the leaf 



1 Taluqdar, J. M. Notes on the growth of Sugarcano. Bihar and Orissa Agricultural 

 Journal, Vol. Ill, No. 1, April, 1915. 



