C. A. BAfeBEH 161 



to the varieties grown. This method was not adopted because there was any- 

 special fault to be found with those described above, but simply because it 

 was the only possible one in the circumstances and for the purpose in view. 

 In plac3 of psriodic obssrvations made on a few selected plants during their 

 growth at one place, a large series of plants grown at widely different stations 

 are compared. Early in the life of the Cane-breeding Station it was noted 

 that, as one passed from the frost-visited region of the Punjab, in a south- 

 easterly direction along the Himalayas and in a southerly direction down the 

 Peninsula, one constantly met \vith larger varieties of canes, even when these 

 belonged to the same natural groups. It was easy to suggest that this was, 

 in the main, due to the forcing effect of the warmer, moister climate. And 

 seven North Indian canes of those collected at Coimbatore were distributed 

 to Taliparamba, on the Malabar coast, and Samalkota on the Coromandel, 

 in order to note the effect on these varieties of the soil and climate. A scheme 

 of accurate measurements was instituted towards crop time, and these soon 

 showed that there were marked differences in the growth of the plants in 

 these two localities and at Coimbatore itself. Later on, these measurements 

 were introducsd for the study of the varieties in different parts of the country, 

 including places in North India, and there are now ten localities from which 

 we have a series of such measurements recorded. With this mass of material 

 available, it was thought worth while to see if some expression could be evolved 

 by which the influence of each locality on the growth of the cane could be 

 distinguished. 



That, from the study of the various parts of such a completed plant, 

 some insight may be obtained into its vicissitudes during gro^\i;h, is not alto- 

 gether unreasonable. Any one accustomed to the study of growth rings in 

 dicotyledons is aware that they differ according to variations in the year's 

 season and those of successive years. At certain places in the Madras Presi- 

 dency, all the palmyra palms may be seen suddenly to narrow at about the 

 same distance from the ground, or to show a marked bend in the same direc- 

 tion, indicating surely that, at that period of growth, the young plantation 

 encountered some storm or period of stress^ (Plate II), In the cane itself it has 



' Since writuig the above, Mr. W. McRae, the Madras Goveruuiout Mycologist, lias 

 very kiudly placed at my disposal a photograph taken by him of a palmyra to2)e, showmg 

 the effect of a storm ; and he has given me the following note concerning it : " The 

 photograph of tlic palmyra palms with bent trunks was taken in ()ctt)ber 1911 ia the 

 villiige of Mallavaram, in CocaJiada taluk of the Godavari District. The tope was situated 

 near the sea-shore. The palms were said by the village .Munsiff to have been bent over in a 

 storm that occurred 28 years ago, and he was able to fix the date because il happened in tiie 

 sime year as an important domestic occurrence." 



