The Roots of the Sugar Cane. 51 
ally they are pointed at the tip, at other times they are 
blunt. The surface is rough, and adhering grains of sand 
are distinctly visible without the aid of a lens. 
When these fleshy roots are found deep in the ground, 
that is to say when they belong to old canes, the tips 
only are succulent, the connecting portion being more or 
less shrivelled, and lateral smaller fleshy roots are thrown 
out at right angles at the tips. For its successful growth 
the cane requires a large amount of moisture, and it is 
very probable that these roots are thrown out at a period 
of its growth when the moisture contained in the parent 
plant is becoming exhausted. When plant-cane is put 
into moist soil it appears to swell, probably on account 
of the moisture it absorbs, and it does not shrink until 
the period of its function as a reservoir has ceased and 
decomposition sets in. On the other hand when plant- 
cane is put into dry soil the cause of the slowness of its 
growth (or rather the long dormant state) is due to the 
absorption of the moisture in the plant by the soil. Un- 
der ordinarily favourable conditions the functions of the 
fleshy roots would probably be to supply the plant with 
moisture. 
Since my return to England I have hunted through 
many botanical works and sugar-planters' handbooks, but 
have not been able to discover any reference to these 
fleshy roots or even to cane-roots in general. Mr. MAR- 
SHALL Ward, of Owen's College, Manchester, very 
kindly examined these roots for me and says — "These 
roots present no special difference from the other roots, 
being anatomically and histologically similar, but of 
course the thicker and older roots have greater quanti- 
ties of tissue. Being so similar in structure, the proba- 
G 2 
