C. A. BARBER 195 



manure (cleared of its weed seeds by germination) and river sand. Thi.'- i^ 

 placed in shallow pans, and watered frequently through the rose of a watering 

 can and kept in the full >uii. The seedlings begin to appear on the fourth 

 day, but have been known to germinate only after a full month. They are 

 pricked out if growing densely but, otherwise, are left in the pans for about 

 three moiiths, when they are separately potted out into a mixture of sand, 

 red earth, leaf mould and loam. At six months, they are planted in pits, 

 arranged in 10>rlO squares for convenience of study. At first, these pits 

 were verv large but, owing to the extremely luxuriant growth of the seedlings, 

 coupled with the suspicion that this lowered their sucrose content, the pits 

 have been gradually reduced in size and the general treatment of the seedlings 

 made less generous. On the other hand, it has been found difficult to grow 

 the seedlings in the second year from cuttings, as the land on the farm is not 

 yet fully fitted for sugarcane cultivation ; and the trenches in which they are 

 planted have been gradually made deeper and the land better treated. The 

 land on the farm is slightly saline, from having been irrigated for thirty years 

 by brackish water, and is only gradually being got into order. Advantage 

 has been taken of this to test varieties of sugarcane and seedling canes 

 for capacity to resist salinity and a ■' saline '" plot is put down each year. The 

 usual treatment in the farm of this saline land is to give a heavy dressing of 

 tank silt, followed by a crop of chokim {Andropogmi sorghum) or ragi {Ekusine 

 coracana) and, lastly, a green manuring crop of field bean {DoUchos lahlah) 

 which has been found to grow excellently in the slightly saline soil. Prac- 

 tically the whole of the sugarcane land on the farm has now been treated in 

 this manner, and the improvement in the growth of the canes is very marked. 

 Still, soil difficulties have not been the least experienced on the new farm. 

 The early and late canes of the clump, referred to in the Memoir on Punjab 

 Canes, have been studied in a number of varieties with the idea of reducing 

 errors in sampling, and a series of analyses of young canes '' up to dead leaf " 

 (i.e., the lower part of the cane where all the leaves have died) have been 

 made with the object of early separating the more valuable seedlings 

 from the worthless ones. 



It takes 18 months for the seedlings to mature. Owing to the restricted 

 period of flowering and of obtaining seed, this brings them to harvest in June- — 

 a time which is at variance with the proper reaping and planting season on 

 the farm laiid. The seedlings selected on their chemical analysis are cut up 

 and planted out but thev have again to be cut up and planted whf'n six months 

 old to bring them into line with the local custom, which is to plant in January 

 to March. This is also the proper time for distributing selected seedlings 



