114 STUDIES IN INDIAN SUGARCANE SEEDLINGS. 



after which they are ready for sowing. Equal parts of the prepared horse 

 manure aud river sand are well mixed and placed in shallow pans, 12" across 

 and 3" deep. The fluflfy inflorescence of the cane is broken up and plastered 

 upon the surface of the mixture in the pan and thoroughly watered through 

 a rose watering can. After this it is found that the flowers and flower stalks 

 form a wefted mass disturbed neither by wind nor by heavy rain. It was 

 sought at first to protect the young seedlings from the torrential rains which 

 fall at this time of the year (October-November), but it was soon found that, 

 owing to the porous nature of the mixture of sand and horse dung, they suffered 

 not the slightest injury. It was found, however, essential to keep them fully 

 exposed so as to have as much sunlight as possible, as the least shade rendered 

 them liable to damping off or yellowing. In this manner, if there is any seed 

 in the arrows, it is usual to look with a lens for the first spot of green 

 in the germinating embryo within three or four days. But experience has 

 shown us that sometimes the seed does not germinate so quickly, the seed in 

 some pans continuing to germinate for a month after sowing. When the 

 seedlings grow thickl}', it is advisable to prick them out at greater distances 

 in similar pans in which a certain quantity of soil and leaf-mould is added, 

 and this is done when they are about two inches high. Where, however, 

 there is plentj of room, they are left in the pans until they are some three to 

 six inches high, as each transfer appears to check their growth. They are then 

 transferred to pots {cf. Pi. I\' ). The soil in these is carefully prepared as follows. 

 Fine red earth is brought from certain fields about seven miles aAvay, and this 

 is mixed with equal parts of ordinary earth, cattle maiuire and leaf-mould. 

 The pots are 9" across and a foot high and one seedling is placed in each. They 

 are left in these pots until they are planted out in the field. Watering in both 

 the pans and the pots is a considerable item of expense and needs constant 

 care. The pans are, in the absence of rain, watered with a can five times a day, 

 and the pots should be watered twice daily. Improvements are constantly 

 being made in this matter, but one of the latest is to dig broad trenches in 

 which half a dozen rows of pots may be sunk and where they may be irrigated 

 all together. The sides of the sunk pots are ])rotected from the air and, when 

 thus arranged, they need not be irrigated more than, say, twice a week, and 

 the cost of the operation is nominal. This, with five thousand pots, is a matter 

 of considerable saving of expense. But there arc (lra\\ backs in this nu'thod 

 which will be referred to when the further treatment of the seedling is 

 described (</. p. 149). 



One of the greatest obstacles in the raising of the sccdlii gs at Coimbatore 

 is the fact that the canes arrow (hiiing tlu- noith-east monsoon, at a time when 



