738 THE TILLERING OF SORGHUM. 
already referred to, as to the effects of this process in the 
case of the sorghum, may not be easily reconciled, and a 
rational method of treatment arrived at, adapted to the 
requirements and true nature of the plant, and to the 
external conditions of growth to which it is necessarily 
subject. 
It is observed that cane does not tiller when planted 
very thickly in the drill, nor when it is put in thin land, 
shallowly plowed or badly tilled; nor generally when late 
planted. In the first case mentioned, root growth is checked 
by too thick planting in the drill;, the result is that not 
only tillering is prevented, but the stalks grow thin, soft, 
and fibrous, instead of strong, hard externally and succulent 
within. In the next case, where the condition of the soil 
is at fault on account of natural sterility, or bad tillage, 
the cane crop is still more a failure. When late planted 
also, tillering is checked, especially if the season which fol- 
lows planting is not unusually cool and wet. The cause 
is plainly due to the fact that the natural period, within 
which the roots are to be formed, is so much abbreviated 
that sustenance enough can be gathered only to support a 
single stem. Has not this system of impoverishment, then, 
a tendency to degradation? Is it from parentage origin- 
ally produced by such treatment that we should seek to 
perpetuate our stock for future use? Does not the con- 
currence of these facts lead inevitably to the conclusion 
that the noblest type of the plant, the healthiest, the rich- 
est, the most valuable in all respects, is to be sought in 
a form exhibiting the freest and fullest development of all 
its organs in the manner best adapted to its nature ? 
The mode by which such a result may be secured is al- 
ready indicated in alluding to those influences which con- 
duce to the opposite. Deep cultare in a light, mellow- 
well-drained soil, and early planting in hills or in drills, with 
