C. A. BARBER 119 



(tank-irrigated) land on the Central Farm near by. The villages around were 

 again ransacked, arrows were forwarded by post from the Madras Farms at 

 Samalkota and Taliparamba, and, as in the previous season, a large number 

 were obtained from Bangalore. Over 20,000 seedlings were raised and, from 

 these, some 2,400 were selected and planted out. A considerable number of 

 varieties of canes had meantime been collected from various parts of India and 

 these formed the '• varietal plots " in the Cane-breeding Station. But their 

 growth was at first extremely poor, and few if any of them showed any 

 tendency to form arrows. This led to a study of the reasons for their failure, as 

 it appeared to be almost as difficult to grow North Indian canes at Coimbatore 

 as to reverse the process and grow thick canes in the fields in North India. 



The piece of land selected for the Cane-breeding Station was a block of 

 "garden land" (well irrigated), within easy reach of the College laboratory. 

 The more usual cane land, black clay, irrigated by water from tanks and termed 

 " wet-land," was avoided, as it was considered unsuitable for the growth of 

 seedlings intended for North India. Upon examination, the soil on the farm 

 was found to be slightly saline, and it was recognised before purchase that it 

 would need a certain amount of treatment before sugarcanes would grow there 

 normally. Isolated plots of canes were seen growing near, and the ryots 

 agreed that it was suitable land, but pointed out, in their homely language, 

 that " it was not yet accustomed " to sugarcane. This of course did not 

 interfere with the excellent growth of the seedlings, for these were planted in 

 pits with specially prepared earth and manure. An analysis of the wells on 

 the station showed that five of them had brackish water and irrigation had 

 therefore to be confined to the one sweet-water well, on which a pump and oil 

 engine were erected capable of dealing with the four or five acres intended for 

 sugarcane cultivation each year. The cause of the poor growth of the varieties 

 planted during the first year was not far to seek, in that they were planted out 

 of season and, of necessity, on land which had been irrigated for years by 

 brackish water, and which there was no time to prepare (cf. Pi. XXVII for a 

 photograph of canes growing in this land ; these were thick canes), and a 

 series of tests were instituted to note the effect of this water on the different 

 varieties of cane introduced. The results of this experiment are extremely 

 interesting, showing that different canes vary enormously in their capacity 

 of resistance to saline soil and water, some growing strongly and rapidly while 

 others die out completely (Pi. VII). The experiment is being continued yearly, 

 as an alkaline or " saline plot," on untreated land irrigated by brackish water, 

 into which the varieties are introduced in turn. The land intended for cane 

 growing in each season is heavily covered with tank silt and a crop of juar 



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