84 



HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE. 



Fig. 1. Portions of flowering panicle of sugar-cane, showing arrangement of spikelets. 

 Fig. 2. A single spikelet enlarged (after Hooker) ; a = upper glume, b = pale, c = 



lower glume, d = anther, e = lodicules, f = ovary, g = stigma. 

 Fig. 3. Ovary and stigma. 



Fig. 4. Caryopsis removed from glumes, with longitudinal and cross sections. 

 Fig. 5. Caryopsis, showing first stage of germination. 

 Fig. 6. Later stage of germination. 



Figs. 7, 8 and 9. Germination observed when the caryopsis is still enclosed in its glumes. 

 Fig. 10. A seedling sugar-cane, natural size, three months old. 



The experiments with seedling canes in the West Indies have hitherto 

 depended, for the most part, on chance fertilization in the field, consequently 

 only the seed-bearing parent is usually known. In further experiments it is 

 proposed to secure cross-fertilization of selected canes as follows: (1) By 

 planting in adjoining plots two varieties that arrow at the same time, while 

 other canes are not arrowing in the same district; (2) by growing side by 

 side, in rows, canes of different varieties that arrow about the same time, and 

 afterwards bending over the arrow-stalks and bagging them before the flowers 

 are open; (3) by bagging each arrow to be experimented upon some time 

 before it expands and when the arrows in the bags are ripe to shake the con- 

 tents of the bags o'f a staminate variety into the bags covering the arrows 

 of the pistillate variety. 



The majority of the best canes hitherto raised are of the first generation 

 only. Seedling sugar canes, varying in number from two to twenty thousand, 

 and even more, are now regularly raised in connection with the Experiment 

 Stations in the West Indies. The first selection is made entirely from the 

 field characters, but all subsequent selections are on the results of chemical 

 examination. The number of selected canes that survive the tests up to the 

 third or fourth year is probably not more than one in ten thousand. 



It is impossible in this brief sketch to summarize the results of experi- 

 ments carried on in all parts of the West Indies. Important features in these 

 experiments are the hearty co-operation and the valuable assistance received 

 from the planters. In all cases appreciable areas are established with new 

 canes, and these are subjected to severe tests before they are recommended 

 to be planted on a large scale. 



The following is a description of one of the most promising seedling 

 canes so far raised at the Barbados Experiment Station. 1 The results here 

 given were obtained in the season 1890-1901 by d' Albuquerque and Bovell : 



BARBADOS CANE NO. 208. 



Germinates readily; from 10 to 15 canes to the clump; internodes from 

 3 to 5 inches long, somewhat cylindrical ; color greenish yellow ; habit upright ; 

 medium number of arrows ; the dry leaves have a tendency to adhere ; drought 

 resisting. 



Chief mean results per acre: Canes 26-24 tons, saccharose 2 7,330 pounds 

 (stands first in order of yield), juice very rich and pure, suitable for musco- 

 vado manufacture. Number of rotten canes below the average. Red soils 



a Seedling and other canes at Barbados in 1901, pp. 23-25, 



2 Saccharose and sucrose are interchangeable terms for chemically pure sugar. 



