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



testing of seedlings, using seed matured in the Tropics and sprouting 

 it in the greenhouse under carefully controlled conditions as to heat 

 and moisture. Several varieties of much promise have already been 

 produced and multiplied in sufficient abundance for trial under field 

 conditions. Among those favorably reported are L 511, L 218, L 219, 

 L 231, and L 226, samples from all of which have been supplied 

 through the kindness of Mr. W. G. Taggart, in charge of the Sugar 

 Experiment Station at New Orleans, and are now being propagated 

 by the United States Department of Agriculture at Apalachicola, 

 Fla., and at Cairo. Ga. The tests in Georgia are in comparison with 

 a number of the older varieties and some new seedlings from foreign 

 countries. 



Because of the great diversity Of characteristics among sugar-cane 

 seedlings, seedling production and testing is the most hopeful method 

 of attacking many of the problems in sugar-cane production, such as 

 the increase of sugar content, earliness of maturity, disease resistance, 

 and adaptation to soil conditions. Since the soil and climatic charac- 

 teristics in different cane-growing localities vary greatly, and since 

 the success of cane varieties depends so much upon these character- 

 istics, it is highly desirable to carry on the testing of seedling vari- 

 eties m many different typical localities. 



SOIL REQUIREMENTS. 



Since all varieties of cane make heavy demands upon the soil for 

 plant-food constituents and water, the soil must be suitable to pro- 

 vide these under the conditions otherwise prevailing. If the rains 

 are not well distributed and if periods of drought are to be expected 

 without provision for irrigation, it is essential that the soil be a 

 medium-heavy loam or a clay with an abundance of humus. If the soil 

 is very sandy and lacks humus, it is practically impossible to supply 

 the necessary plant-food constituents economically just when the 

 plants need them, even if rains are abundant and well distributed. 

 Such soils do not retain well the commercial fertilizers and therefore 

 make necessary frequent applications and occasion much wastage. 



"While such sandy flats as those that occur so extensively near the 

 southern Atlantic and eastern Gulf coasts can be made to produce big 

 • lops of sugar cane, this can not be done continuously without involv- 

 ing ho much expense as to make it unprofitable. Frequently such land 

 produces a fairly good crop while it is new ground and while the 

 vegetable mold from the native forest growth supplies an abundance 

 of humus. In succeeding years, after this is exhausted, it is only by 

 the liberal application of mineral plant foods and of organic matter 

 in the form of green-manuring crops and barnyard manure or their 

 equivalent that good yields can be secured. It is otherwise with the 



