SUGARCANE VARIETY P.O.J. 2878 IN PUERTO RICO 39 
surface. Very little difference between normal and uprooted stools, 
either in the total number of canes or in the proportion of rotten 
canes, was found. 
Examination of 303 stools on a 4-acre field at Filial Amor, where 
spacing aud planting were the same as in the Luisa field, showed that 
39, or 12.8 percent, had half uprooted, and that 27, or 8.9 percent, 
exposed one fourth or less of their roots. Fifty uprooted stools had a 
total of 541 canes, of which 14.6 percent were rotten, and 50 normal 
stools had a total of 511 canes, of which 15.4 percent were rotten, an 
insignificant difference. Apparently, a large proportion of the canes 
of uprooted stools recover and mature. The development of many 
water suckers from the overturned stools of P.O.J. 2878 causes a 
lowered purity and sucrose, and for this reason is much more serious 
than is loss from rotten canes resulting from a windstorm. 
Aristides Gonzalez, of Central Carmen, reports that P.O.J. 2878 
suffered very little from uprooting during the violent windstorm of 
September 10, 1931. The storm area extended 5 to 6 miles inland and 
included most of the cane lands of the north coast. The wind, as 
recorded by the United States Weather Bureau in San Juan, blew 
for 1 hour at the rate of 60 miles an hour. 
Manuel del Valle, of Central Constancia, where 400 acres of P.O.J. 
2878 were under cultivation, reported as follows on the effect of this 
storm on P.O.J. 2878: 
During the hurricane of September 1931 a violent wind began blowing from the 
north, at first causing much damage to the canes of B.H. 10(12) and S.C. 12/4, 
many of them being thrown over and broken. Contrary to expectations, the 
canes of P.O.J. 2878 withstood the wind, merely waving back and forth. As the 
storm progressed, the wind veered around to the opposite direction, blowing over 
more of the B.H. 10(12) and S.C. 12/4 canes, causing them to become entangled 
and preventing recovery. The canes of P.O.J. 2878 also withstood the effect of 
the wind from the reverse direction and only a negligible amount of cane was 
blown down and uprooted. 
Alberto Roig, of Humacao, reports that the canes of P.O.J. 2878 
first ra toons were laid fiat by the violent hurricane of September 1932 
and escaped with little damage whereas the canes of B.H. 10(12) 
remained partly erect and most of the tops were either broken off or 
defoliated. 
Apparentlv closer spacing of the 1932 crop reduced the storm risk 
with P.O.J. 2878. Much of the uprooting of P.O.J. 2878 in 1931 was 
due to wide spacing to accelerate its extension. 
Observations, made in 1931 on 50 acres of P.O.J. 2878 in gran 
cultura in the Isabela district of Central Coloso, showed no cases of 
uprooting, regardless of the kind of spacing used. The wind in this 
district is continuous and mainly from one direction and causes the 
canes to lean over gradually as they grow. By the time they are 8 to 
10 feet long they are in a reclining position and are rarely uprooted by 
strong winds. 
Data on 9 fields of the 1931 crop are given in table 28. 
