136 THE CHIEF SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL CROPS 



by the results on those plantations where it has been 

 most faithfully and intelligently tried, and nothing 

 is more certain than that those countries where the 

 owners fail to teach their laborers this added effi- 

 ciency will be inevitably forced out of the sugar busi- 

 ness by the irresistible competition of those who 

 succeed in so teaching them. 



Botanical Features and Varieties. — The flowers 

 of sugar cane are produced in a long showy terminal 

 panicle, somewhat as in the various sorghums. The 

 flowers are perfect, and yet but few seeds are ordi- 

 narily produced. In subtropical regions cane seldom 

 flowers, and never produces seeds. It is propagated 

 entirely from the buds which are produced at every 

 joint on the stalk. The stalks are either laid down 

 and covered with earth, or the tops are cut off and 

 stuck in the ground as cuttings. In recent years, 

 however, especially in some of the British West In- 

 dian colonies, much attention has been given to 

 planting the seed of sugar cane for the purpose of 

 originating new varieties, hoping in this way to find 

 some with a greater sugar content, or a greater 

 resistance to disease than those now in general 

 cultivation. Many thousands of seedling canes have 

 been produced in Barbados and Demerara, and 

 among them a few have been selected that seem 

 quite superior, and are being planted on a consider- 

 able scale. The great majority of the seedlings are, 

 however, inferior to the parent varieties. 



Many quite distinct varieties exist in different 

 parts of the world, and the problem of collecting 

 them and testing them under local conditions is 



