146 STUDIES IN INDIAN SUGARCANE SEEDLINGS 



There are one or two interesting and unexpected features brought out 

 in this table. In the first place, the colour of the parent has some little 

 influence, although comparatively little, on the colours to be found in the 

 seedlings derived from it. This influence is seen in the comparatively larger 

 proportion of clarets in the Karun seedlings, vinous in Kuludai Boothan and 

 Poovan, browns or reds in Saretha and greens in Cheni. But it is a rather curious 

 fact that the proportion of the greens is fairly uniform in most of the groups. 

 With the exception of the last two classes in the table, in which few seedlings 

 were available, this proportion is more or less 50% of the total number of seed- 

 lings in each case. Of the total 1,034 seedlings in the list, 49% are greens. 



The question of Striping, again, is always of interest. One would expect 

 that, in the seedlings of Chittan, a striped cane, there would be a larger pro- 

 portion of cases with striping in the stem. But this does not appear to be the 

 case. The striping breaks down completely in the seedlings, and, when it 

 occurs, it is connected with striping of some of the younger leaves. It appears 

 that this coloration arises as a sport in one-colour canes. The following 

 instances of this have been noted in recent years in Madras, and there are 

 doubtless others which have escaped the rather perfunctory attention given 

 to the subject. Red Mauritius (a dull or dark claret cane) has been ol)served 

 to sport in two directions. A variety of common appearance has full and 

 dark red stripes, and another less common one has an element of green alternat- 

 ing with the red. A set of Maneria (a greyish green cane) plants received 

 from Sabour has shown several striped sports. B. 376 shows occasional 

 striped sports, and a striped s]:)ort is recorded of B. 1529. Most of these have 

 been subsequently lost, from one cause or another, and in a good many cases 

 the striping was not very pronounced. Once, however, a striped cane has 

 arisen, it frequently sj^lits into its two com])onenl colours. Thus, in every 

 field of Striped Mauritius and Striped Tanna, green sports are found, in the 

 latter case the green or yellow easily blushing bright red in the sun, as this 

 colour does in the ])arent stem. Striped Singapore (possibly a local variation 

 of Chittan) has been observed also to produce greens. Red sports are less 

 common, but a well authenticated case has been met with in Striped Mauritius, 

 the cane thus arising being of considerable agricultural value. ^ 



Thickness of Canes. 



This was measured at crop time in the 1912-14 seedlings. As seen iii the 

 accompanying table, the thicker canes produced the thicker seedlings, and the 



' Note In rocciit cxaminatiuns of indigenous Indian canes, a faint strii)ini^ of one or two 

 ioints haa been not infrequently noted, April 1915. 



