220 THE AFRICAN SUGAR CANE. 
This is a question of suflicient interest to engage the 
attention of every scientific and inquiring mind, asit com- 
prehends that which is interesting, and that which may 
be of great practical utility to the world at large. 
When the seeds of the imphee are ripe or perfectly 
full, it is the custom of the Zulu-Kaffirs to string them up 
in the sun and air for a few days, then to hang them up 
in their huts, so that they may have the full benefit of 
the smoke, which serves to keep them entirely dry, and 
likewise preserves the seed from the attacks of insects, so 
that they may be thus kept perfectly good for a series of 
years, if necessary. I like this plan so much that I 
adopted it in all its integrity, and can honestly recom- 
mend it to others.* 
THE PLANT: ITS PRODUCTION AND ITS VALUE. 
It will seem, from what I have already said, that the 
canes of the imphee are much smaller and much lighter 
than the stalks of the real sugar cane; but at the same 
time, it must be remembered that the foliage is not nearly 
so large nor so dense as that of the sugar cane; conse- 
quently, the plants can stand very much closer together 
on the land, and thus make up in number for their 
smaller weight individually. 
Thus, on an acre, if we have only 14,000 roots or 
stools, each stool will produce from five to twenty canes, 
varying in weight from a quarter of a pound to 1} 
* Itis worthy of remark that the natives of Upper Egypt call the 
sorghums Baalee or Doura; whereas, the Zulu-Kaffir name for the 
same plant is Mabaalee, the ma being simply a prefix which they give 
to a great number of their proper names. 
