SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
sometimes longer, especially in ratoon cane. Habit erect; foliage also 
somewhat erect and very green. Eyes generally full and prominent. 
Trashes easily. Sparse arrower. The foliage of very young cane has 
a slight reddish tinge. Flesh white and highly saccharine. <A 
remarkably heavy cane, weighing 1 lb. per foot. Greatly appreciated 
by labourers as it is so easily cut, trashed, and loaded. - 
Demerara 1135. ; 
A brownish-red cane, of moderate stoutness, and a strong ratooner. 
Erect in ‘habit, so that it is eminently suited for close planting. Joints 
about 4 inches long, parallel-sided. Foliage rather light in’ colour, 
sparse, and upright. Arrows freely in the north. 
From the beginning of the cultivation of the cane in Queensland, 
it is estimated that quite 1,000 different varieties of cane have been 
introduced, while several thousand seedlings have also been raised. 
The number of varieties in commercial use to-day, however, may be 
stated to be about 45; but by far the greatest amount of cane grown. 
consists of the two varieties Badila and D. 1135 mentioned above. 
The former is the favorite on northern cane areas, the latter in the 
south. 
The chemical analyses of these two varieties from a milling point 
of view may now be given. 
% Commercial 
NET IAS opay Sucrose in | Purity of | ee 
Vea | veh Tice! Juice, % Fibre. Cane Sugar. 
| a = es ae 
* | 
Badila mtb RO 21.96 95.47 | 9.62 | 18.20 
1 | 1 | 
D.1135 eh Sis § Siglo) © 952270 |} 11.00 | 14.50 
Sugar cane grows as high as 10 to 15 feet, and stalks as long as 
27 feet have heat measured. Some varieties are érect in habit, as are 
the two just mentioned, while others incline to “lodge” or assume a 
recumbent position when heavy, or they may be blown over by high 
winds. The roots are fibrous and lateral, and the majority of varieties 
are comparatively shallow. rooters; but some are known as “ deep- 
rooting canes.” 
The stalk is cylindrical, and is composed of what are known as 
“nodes” and “internodes.” The nodes carry what are termed the 
“eyes” of the cane placed on alternate sides, and it is from these “ eyes ” 
that the cane is generally propagated. The leaves are alternate and 
opposite, and vary in length and width. The Badila cane has large, 
semi-drooping foliage, while the foliage of D. 1185 is narrow and erect. 
The leaves clasp the stalk for some inches and then recede, and when 
mature fall off, forming what is known in the cane-fields as “ trash.” 
When the cane plant is mature, it throws up what is termed an 
“arrow,” which develops a panicle of flowers.» Within recent years; 
the true seed of the cane plant has been discovered in the panicle; and” 
the canes that have been grown from this seed are termed “ seedlings.” ’ 
Cane does not arrow universally in Queensland; it does so far more 
frequently in the north than in the south, and there appears no doubt 
that climatic influences play a large part in the matter. : 
592 
