6 BULLETIN 486, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



spring before April and where the first frosts, in the fall usually come 

 in October or early November, sugar-cane culture can not succeed 

 with anv variety yet known. Disappointments are frequently occa- 

 sioned upon introducing some high-yielding varieties from the Trop- 

 ics to find that they do not show like superior qualities in the United 

 States. As this bulletin is intended primarily for readers interested 

 in cane culture in the continental United States, the discussion of 

 varieties will be limited to those that have found favor in this 

 climate. 



OLD VARIETIES. 



The two varieties best known and most widely used in the South- 

 ern States are the Louisiana Purple and the Louisiana Striped. 

 These seem to be better adapted to a wide range of soil conditions 

 than any others of the old varieties introduced from time to time. 

 The Louisiana Purple is also commonly called the Home Purple. In 

 Georgia and Florida it is generally called " Red cane.' 1 It is either 

 identical with or closely related to the Cheribon or Black Cheribon 

 or Black Java cane of Java. The Louisiana Striped cane, also called 

 Home Striped, outside of Louisiana is more generally called Ribbon 

 or Red Ribbon cane. The stalks are striped with purple and green, 

 the purple varying from a light purple or maroon to a very dark 

 purple and. the green from a light yellowish green to a dirty pur- 

 plish green. This variety is presumably identical with the Striped 

 Cheribon of Java. The Ribbon cane is commonly reported as yield- 

 ing a somewhat higher tonnage than the Louisiana Purple cane 

 mentioned above, but with a lower percentage of sugar content. 



In a field of Ribbon cane, even if the seed cane was carefully 

 selected, one can usually find numerous stalks of solid green or green- 

 ish violet and occasionally of solid purple, resulting from bud varia- 

 tion. The purple stalks thus originated are apparently identical 

 with the Louisiana Purple variety just described. Conversely, cases 

 are also reported of plain Louisiana Purple cane throwing off sports 

 of striped cane identical with the Ribbon cane. 



The green stalks coming through bud variation from Ribbon cane 

 are commonly known in Georgia as " bastard " cane. By selecting 

 and propagating these green variants, a strain of cane with these 

 characteristics may be secured. Such is supposed by some to have 

 been the origin of a varietj^ of green cane called Crystallina in Cuba 

 and White Cheribon in Java. It seems to be this same variety that 

 was introduced into Louisiana from Java by P. M. La Pice in 1872, 

 which is now being extensively grown under the name La Pice cane 

 on some Louisiana plantations. The Ribbon cane described above 

 is presumably identical with the variety called Transparent in parts 

 of the West Indies, the Louisiana Purple with the Purple Trans- 

 parent, and the La Pice with the White Transparent. 



