490 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 



cane. This develops a stalk, with buds at each node. 

 The growth of clusters of stalks results from the 

 growth of several of the buds on the base of the young 

 plant, usually from those nodes located below the surface 

 of the ground. Thus, a cluster or stool consists of stalks 

 of various sizes and ages, only one of which grew from 

 the planted bud, but all indirectly tracing back to that 

 bud. The percentage of the eyes of planted cane capable 

 of growth varies greatly with different varieties, and is not 

 the same for the buds growing on the upper and lower 

 part of the stalk. Care in planting results in an increase 

 in the number of buds that grow, thus affording a thicker 

 stand. The young sucker draws its nourishment from 

 the mother stalk (planted cane or older growing plant) 

 until its own roots have sufiicientl)' developed to supply it 

 with the necessary food and moisture. 



470. Propagation of sugar-cane from seed. — In trop- 

 ical countries, some varieties of sugar-cane " arrow," 

 or produce from the top of the stem, when a little more 

 than a year old, a fiov/er stalk, on the top of which is borne 

 a silkj' head consisting of innumerable very small flowers. 

 Each flower when mature resemlDles a small, chaffy grass 

 seed. Until the latter part of the nineteenth century it 

 was thought that no seed reached such a degree of develop- 

 ment as to be capable of germination and growth. How- 

 ever, scientists have now learned methods by which a very 

 small proportion of the seeds of sugar-cane produced in 

 tropical countries may be made to grow. The plants pro- 

 duced by seed grow very slowly, requiring several years 

 to attain the size that is ordinarily reached in a few months 

 by cane propagated from buds. 



