. Cyclopedia of farm crops. Farm produce; Agriculture. Fig. 830. Harvesting tlie cane crop. Hawaii. it has now begun in Hawaii and elsewhere. The following facts have been slowly developed : The number of fertile seeds produced in a panicle of cane is relatively small, as is the case with many other grasses. The germinating power is very transient, being at a maximum a few days after ripening and rapidly decreasing thereafter so that at the end of a few weeks it is often wholly lost. An examination of the seeds of cane discloses the fact that a large proportion of them are shrunken, and this s
. Cyclopedia of farm crops. Farm produce; Agriculture. Fig. 830. Harvesting tlie cane crop. Hawaii. it has now begun in Hawaii and elsewhere. The following facts have been slowly developed : The number of fertile seeds produced in a panicle of cane is relatively small, as is the case with many other grasses. The germinating power is very transient, being at a maximum a few days after ripening and rapidly decreasing thereafter so that at the end of a few weeks it is often wholly lost. An examination of the seeds of cane discloses the fact that a large proportion of them are shrunken, and this seems to indicate that a large proportion of them are not fertilized. Nearly all the plump seeds germinate when they are a few days old if they are soaked in water for 12 hours and placed in a saturated air of 100° Fahr. These are probably the properly fertilized seeds. It is rare for certain vari- eties to produce fertile seed ; in fact, a large num- ber of varieties are not yet known to produce them, though this may be due to insufficient observa- tion. On the other hand, it has been established by observation that the pollen of certain varieties is incapable of germination and therefore of prop- erly fertilizing the ovaries. This fact is deter- mined by the structure of the pollen, and by the fact that it will fail to develop when given the proper conditions. In some instances the anthers appear never to ripen properly, as they are thin, off color, and never open at all. On other occasions they appear to contain pollen mother-cells only, the growth appearing to be arrested at that stage. Attempts to secure fertile seed with such anthers end in failure. It is possible that the method of propagating cane solely by means of cuttings has ended in a deterioration of the seed-producing powers, and that perseverance in the effort to secure successive generations of seedlings may resuscitate this power. It is to be hoped that this is the case, as it is some of the very best varietie
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