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 Xovember. sugar-cane culture can not succeed 
with any 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 " Eed cane." 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 Eibbon 
or Red Eibbon 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 Eibbon 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 Eibbon 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 Eibbon cane. 
The green stalks coming through bud variation from Eibbon 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 variety 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 Eibbon 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. 
