C. A. BARBER 107 



Agricultural Chemist, two of whose assistants have been lent each year 

 during the time of greatest pressure. 



It will be seen, from the ensuing tables, that, although an increasing 

 number of seedlings are dealt with during each season, a very large number 

 have to be rejected owing to the impossibility of analysing them. This 

 is a great handicap for, other things being equal, the larger the number of 

 seedlings tested, the greater is the number likely to be of ultimate value. The 

 abbreviation of the chemical work has therefore received very careful attention, 

 and it is hoped that considerable progress is being made in this direction, 

 without impairing the efficiency of the selection work. It has been found that 

 the analysis at crop time does not always give a fair account of the richness 

 of the juice in any seedling, and a series of preliminary or petty analyses have 

 been introduced, as is shown in the section dealing with the chemical character 

 of the juice. Owing to the pressure during the past season, a rule has been 

 instituted that, in petty analysis, seedlings with less than a certain propor- 

 tion of total solids for each batch are not proceeded with further until the 

 harvest, when all are analysed (bulk analysis). This saves considerable time, 

 and the petty analysis can be much more rapidly pushed through. Secondly, 

 greater eare is being taken in the selection of canes for analysis. It has been 

 shown, in a Memoir on the Punjab Canes^, that in the varieties grown there, 

 two classes of canes are often distinguishable in the field at crop time, termed 

 " early " and " late." A study of the varieties and seedlings grown on the 

 Cane-breeding Station shows that this character of the cane is present here also 

 in many cane varieties, and care is taken to choose early canes in all cases of 

 petty analysis. This tends to rule out the extraordinary variations met witli in 

 successive analyses of the same seedling, thereby obviating the need for con- 

 firmatory tests. Thirdly, considering the cane plant as theoretically made up 

 of a series of more or less independent phytomers (each consisting of a joint 

 and the leaf attached to it), a progressive ripening of the cane from below 

 upwards has been assumed, and it has been postulated that those parts of the 

 cane where the leaves have died are, to all intents and purposes, ripe. If 

 this is the case, we have a means of early detecting the character of the juice 

 of any cane, and analyses " up to dead leaf " have been made in a considerable 

 number of cases, with fairly confirmatory results. By this means it is hoped 

 that an early estimate may be formed, at any i-ate as to the ultimate character 

 of the juice, easily the most important feature in any cane intended for 

 cultivation. 



' Barber, C. A. Studies in Indian Sugarcanes, No. 1, Punjab Canes. Mem. Dept. Ayr. Ind. 

 Hot. Ser. VII, 1, May, 1915, 



