4 BULLETIN" 486, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
ing to seed, at the time it is usually harvested. (Fig. 2.) Unlike 
most of the grasses the seed is very small and either infertile or ger- 
minates very poorly; in fact, some of the best -known varieties do 
not produce fertile seed. The time required for a plant starting 
from a cutting to mature seed is usually from 14 to 18 months. It 
is very rare, therefore, in any portions of the continental United 
States that the cane goes to seed. Occasionally, in southern Florida 
and near the Gulf coast of Louisiana, after exceptionally mild win- 
ters the cane if not harvested will * ; arrow " and produce a flower 
panicle. For the foregoing reasons, and for the additional reason 
that seedling canes are usually of a quality very inferior to the culti- 
vated varieties of cane, it is not practicable to propagate sugar cane 
commerciallv from seed. 
Fig. 2.— A 
or sugar cane. 
The number of inquiries which come to the Department of Agri- 
culture concerning sugar-cane ;i seed " indicates that an erroneous 
impression is very common or that confusion exists in the minds of 
many persons not acquainted with the sugar cane. The confusion 
comes largely through a loose use of the term " cane *' or even the 
term " sugar cane " to designate sweet sorghums used in making 
sirup. Some sorghum-seed and sorghum-sirup producers give their 
crops names suggesting sugar cane. Thus a sorghum variety is 
sometimes advertised as " seeded Ribbon cane,'' the Eibbon cane 
being one of the best-known varieties of sugar cane. Another sor- 
ghum variety is listed in some seed catalogues as " Japanese Honey 
cane.*' There is a Japanese cane (see under " Varieties of sugar 
