SUGARCANE VARIETY P.O.J. 2878 IN PUERTO RICO 
27 
The difference in favor of P.O.J. 2878 is statistically significant, 
the odds being 728 to 1 that the difference in cane production was not 
due to chance. Owing to both a low sucrose and a lower purity, 
P.O.J. 2878 led B.H. 10(12) in sugar production by only 0.357 ton 
per acre. The soil was of a heavier type than that of the 1931 gran- 
cultura trial at Hacienda Trinidad, where B.H. 10(12) was definitely 
superior to P.O.J. 2878 in sugar production. P.O.J. 2878 had the 
advantage of being planted in pieces about 1 meter long. B.H. 10(12) 
was planted in short three-bud cuttings, one every 30 centimeters 
in the row, to prevent mosaic from spreading too rapidly. Since 
B.H. 10(12) is susceptible to mosaic, infection from one joint of a long 
cane is likely to spread throughout its length. 
Central Pagan gran-cultura variety trial at Hacienda Esperanza. — 
The data of a duplicate gran-cultura variety trial in which P.O.J. 2878 
w T as compared with B.H. 10(12) were gathered at Hacienda Esperanza 
of Central Pagan on irrigated clay. The crop was harvested in 
December 1931, when it was 19% months old. The results are shown 
in table 20. 
Table 20. — Results of gran-cultura sugarcane variety tests on irrigated clay at 
Central Pagan (field Pagan E-3), 1931 ■ 
Variety and plat 
Acre 
yield of 
cane 
Normal analyses of juice 
Brix 
Sucrose 
Purity 
Available 
96° sugar 
per acre 
Tons 
B.H. 10(12); plat 1 ! 55.60 
P.O.J. 2878; plat 2 ! 66.40 
B.H. 10(12); plat 3 58.80 
P.O.J. 2878; plat 4 57.20 
B.H. 10(12); plat 5 ! 57.20 
PO.J. 2878; plat 6 61.60 
B.H. 10(12); plat 7 61.60 
P.O.J. 2878; plat 8 ! 60.00 
B.H. 10(12) (averace of plats 1, 3, 5. and 7) * 58.30 
P.O.J. 2878 (average of plats 2, 4, 6, and 8) 2 ; 60.80 
Percent 
Percent 
15.8 
13.1 
13.5 
83.3 
80.6 
Tom 
5.617 
6.588 
5.941 
5.851 
5.780 
6.301 
6.224 
6.138 
5.891 
6.219 
1 These plantings and those at Altagracia were made and harvested through the cooperation of Waldemar 
Riff, of Russell & Co., Central Pagan. 
2 Averages of four H-acre plats cut in December when 19H months old. 
P.O.J. 2878 is well adapted to the stiff soils of the Anasco Valley and 
grew very rapidly, especially at first, as illustrated in figure 5. Fifty 
canes of P.O.J. 2878 averaged 2.03 meters to the highest leaf triangle, 
whereas a like number of B.H. 10(12) canes averaged only 1.9 meters. 
There was considerable variability, however, in cane production. 
P.O.J. 2878 outyielded B.H. 10(12) in only two plats, and the two 
varieties showed no significant differences. 
The canes in both trials of the 1932 crop season were 19^ months 
old at harvest. In each case planting was done May 20 and the 
harvest was completed in late December. Rotting of a considerable 
part of the cane at Hacienda Esperanza rendered cane tonnage data 
somewhat unreliable. May planting is apparently too early for 
best results in gran-cultura trials with P.O.J. 2878 at Anasco. 
Early gran cultura in the Anasco Valley on irrigated lowland showed 
no marked advantage of P.O.J. 2878 over B.H. 10(12) in cane pro- 
duction, and the sucrose content of B.H. 10(12) was the more depend- 
able. The early growth made by P.O.J. 2878 (fig. 5) was superior 
