112 STUDIES IX INDIAN SUGARCANE SEEDLlNGiS 



has been found convenient to designate the seedlings obtained during any 

 particular season by the years of sowing and of final chemical analysis and, 

 accordingly," the first year's seedlings are called those of 1911-13. Notes as 

 to the character of their juice will be found in a following section. 



2. Period 1912-14. 



The Cane-breeding Station was sanctioned in October 1912 and a full-time 

 officer placed in charge of it, witli a suitable establishment. Profiting by the 

 previous year's experience, it was found possible to raise a comparatively 

 large number of seedlings in the season then commencing, more in fact than 

 could be dealt with at maturity. Of the 10,000 to 20,000 seedlings obtained, 

 some 2,000 were selected, from as many different parents as possible, and grown 

 on. These were raised in the Botanic Garden, but they were planted out in 

 the newly acquired farm at Chettipalayam, a village about a mile and a half 

 from the College. Besides searching the neighbouring country for varieties 

 of flowering canes with open anthers, arrows were obtained from various parts 

 of the Madras Presidency, as well as, through the kindness of Dr. Coleman, 

 from Bangalore, as this place has also proved to be an excellent centre for 

 cane-flowering. 



A careful note has been taken of canes flowering in recent tours through 

 sugarcane tracts. Taking India as a whole, the flowering of the sugarcane 

 appears to decrease as we proceed north-west. In Madras and Mysore it is a 

 common occurrence, but in the former it is more abundant in the drier, western 

 than in the moister, eastern parts. Flowering is not uncommon among the 

 canes growing at Nagpur, Jubbuljiore and other parts of the Central Provinces, 

 and extends in a north easterly direction as far as Assam, but with a diminishing 

 intensity. In Bihar, certain kinds such as Khari (and the introduced Saretha) 

 flower habitually, and in certain years large stretches of canes liave been noted 

 as flowering in the eastern parts of the United Provinces. Passing thence to 

 the north west, however, cane flowering becomes rare or entirely ceases. The 

 following varieties have been noted by Mr. Woodhouse^ as flowering in 

 exceptional years at Sabour in Bihar : — Chynia, KheUa, Manerin. Pansahi and 

 IShakarchynia. A large number of the varieties of North Indian canes 

 collected on the Cane-breeding Station at Coimbatore have now flowered, often 

 without the anthers being open. 



Note. — It is of some interest to eoinparc, with this brief statement, the flowering of the 

 wild Saccharums observed during the last few years. Succharuin .$jmntaveuii) is widelj^ distri- 



' Woodhouse and Uasu. Tlie Distinguishing Cliaraeters of .Sugarcanes cultivated at 

 Sabour, Aleut. Dept- A<jr. J nd.. Botanical ISeries, VII, 2, Apl. 1915. 



