4 BULLETIN 4S(i, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ing to seed, at the time it is usually harvested. (Fig. 2.) Unlike 

 most of the grasses the seed is very small and either infertile or ger- 

 minates very poorly; in fact, some of the best-known varieties do 

 not produce fertile seed. The time required for a plant starting 

 from a cutting to mature seed is usually from 14 to 18 months. It 

 i< very rare, therefore, in any portions of the continental United 

 States that the cane goes to seed. Occasionally, in southern Florida 

 and near the Gulf coast of Louisiana, after exceptionally mild win- 

 ters the cane if not harvested will " arrow " and produce a flower 

 panicle. For the foregoing reasons, and for the additional reason 

 that seedling canes are usually of a quality very inferior to the culti- 

 vated varieties of cane, it is not practicable to propagate sugar cane 

 commercial!}^ from seed. 



Fig. 2. — A good stand of sugar cane. 



The number of inquiries which come to the Department of Agri- 

 culture concerning sugar-cane "seed" indicates that an erroneous 

 impression is very common or that confusion exists in the minds of 

 many persons not acquainted with the sugar cane. The confusion 

 comes largely through a loose use of the term " cane " or even the 

 term " sugar cane " to designate sweet sorghums used in making 

 sirup. Some sorghum-seed and sorghum-sirup producers give their 

 crops names suggesting sugar cane. Thus a sorghum variety is 

 sometimes advertised as " seeded Ribbon cane," the Ribbon cane 

 being one of the best-known varieties of sugar cane. Another sor- 

 ghum variety is listed in some seed catalogues as "Japanese Honey 

 cane." There is a Japanese cane (see under "Varieties of sugar 



