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much interest of which but little is yet known and one which 

 invites the attention of the investigator of the ecological relations 

 of plants, and no less that of the agriculturalist, on account of 

 the value of the canes as pasture plants. Arundinaria tccta 

 ( switch cane) rarely exceeds the height of 12 to 15 feet, and the 

 slender culm branched from the base is seldom half an inch in 

 thickness. Early in spring, apparently every three or four years, 

 the paniculate flowers are produced on naked radial shoots 

 scarcely exceeding 18 inches in height, while the tall flowerless 

 canes are sent up every season from the long creeping rhizomes. 

 Arundinaria macro sperma (large cane), from 15 to 30 feet high 

 and frequently an inch and over in diameter, produces the panicles 

 of its flowers in the axils of the branches at long and indefinite 

 intervals of time. It is evident, therefore, that generations may 

 pass by before the spectacle of such a canebrake in bloom is ever 

 w itnessed. For example, in the beginning of the summer of 1896, 

 the inhabitants of Russell County were astonished suddenly to 

 find the large canebrakes bending under the burden of their 

 heavy nutritious grains, which attracted large numbers of birds 

 and beasts. The farmers regarded this as an entirely new plant, 

 and, finding their stock grow fat upon the seed, stored away quan- 

 tities oi it, not only for future feeding, but under the delusion 

 that if sown it would constitute a crop of small grain equal in 

 value to any previously grown. But in the light of experience 

 it is to be presumed that a period of not less than forty to fifty 

 years has to pass before the propagation of this plant by sexual 

 reproduction takes place : with the maturity of the seed the vitality 

 of the plant is exhausted and the cane decays. In the succeed- 

 ing season, from the spontaneous stocking of the ground with an 

 abundance of seed, a new crop springs up. The seedlings pro- 

 duce no branches during the first year. These simple sprouts, 

 which are known as "mutton cane," are tender and sweet and af- 

 ford the best of pasturage. They are particularly sought after by 

 bears, which find the impenetrable density of the canebrake their 

 securest retreats." 



