The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1850-08-17

s.nsI ,,a S ne TEE Wild CANS.
Under The head Singular Vegetable Phenome
non. we published some days ago from the Knox
vile Register an account Of the cane Of East Ten
nessee having lowered and borne seed, and men
toned that the phenomenon was perfectly familia
20 the inhabitants Of Louisiana, Perhaps no yea
has passed. since the settlement Of the country b.
Europeans, without the same phenomenon having
been observed in some portion or other 81 the State
The Grasses, Ito which family Of plants the can,
belongs,) generally fade, turn yellow, and die
out, upon bearing seed, tina, no particular interest
is excited by the fact Most of these plants are
ANIMALS, at least in their upright stems, and the
few hiennials among them, wheat and rye,
I observe the same law. The cane, likewise, no
Doubt has its natural limit Of existence, and mainly
differs from the rest of the tribe, in having this
much more extended. By several botanists the
age to which the cane attains before bearing Seed
has been estimated at or rather conjectured to be
twenty five years, and this is the idea adopted in
the brief and hasty notice above referred to, but
upon further reflection on facts of our own obser-
walton, and others derived from unquestionable
sources, we are now disposed to believe that period
by far too short perhaps not fourth an eighth, and
possibly not sixteenth part of the actual age Of
the cane. In particular district in which the cane
bore seed in patches of several hundred acres EACH
for succession Of years, about twenty years ago,
the young cropis now not more than from ten to ff
teen feetn height according toage. Adjoining these
/ patches Of young cane, are still standing extensive
cane-brakes, the individual canes composing which
are Of the largest size, and differ in no sensible
respect from the predecessors of the adjacent young
crop, nor was there any difference observable at the
time the latter bore seed nor has any sensible
change taken place since.
No one among the Oldest inhabitants, with whom
we have conversed, ever saw the cane on the same
tract of land bear seed more than once, while many
have seen the brakes adjacent to their planta
tons, stand for twenty and thirty years without
any sensible increase in the size of the cane
The eulm or upright stem of the cane, like that
of most Of the grasses, attains its growth in sin
gle season. A stem an inch and half in dame
ter springs up from the root in the month of April
and before autumn has attained the height Of thirty
feet. In the eouse OF the next season the leaf
sheaths fall off, and the panicle at the top is ex-
tended. The stem of the grasses, strictly speaking
exists in two different states or is composed of two
different parts, the rhzoma, or root, which is the
true stem, and the eulm, upright stem, which
may be considered branch or ramfcation Of it,
The root OF the cane, like that of the other grasses
grows slowly, the joints being extremely short
The stem, on the contrary, as we have seen. grows
with great rapidly. When the stem is Just begin
ming to be developed it is solid body like the root
from which il springs, but infinitely smaller but
the joints are extremely short and become success
sivey larger, till the size of the upright stem is
attained
The size OF the upright stem corresponds to that
''o ''Vii II 'iiose OF 'he second
80 s'e','n N'le no, sP,,is u''ec'iy from 'ne
os.s 80 L. y 'O"i inoneS III
ue'su'' ne Seeu so~h oeing ABUNDANT the young
-. ~ ~ - e"@le VI 'no s'ounN' "hu
- nus 'e 'io"'.eu 'V' an" st,heo oy
~ 80 plants u Suooeeung years Ahe size
~ plOD4Diy ~ humber % ue young stems is
- ~ sumo ueslee' ny 'He season
80, ~ ? i@'oian'e' 'iey are numerous ana
"a. Nu''Oe' =. oiu s'eLhS
''ll9 r Oeess "hioH nus 'he
~ 49,, s.eis IN al
III, ~ lats.;,- 'A''o II 50 uiiii'
WHEN Mo-, IL lan.a - .o.o. ..l.......
oa,a -,
.c..:.. - - no"ers III
u an" hP'll-
49,. ~, 'Ul'le' VI ~" CTS ano
80 '.'' eiii0'eS 'ia'
!. -, =. - oN'N ,"'e" gam
,,o,,, .., L...aa.I 'n's ci'S 'he
a,,,o1 l., = ~. gov
b,,robes - y i "e9'''' ~ 'ne
game time
T, e,.,,.,,r,. La.,. a.,
baen on, doa,n 80. "a, o,I- III,
,la ,,ouno, sboo,s Iii ~, ~ - y -
.,nhbIa ana 800 ,,,hioh i.;it u IN '-'
s;,Is,ah1. .la.. r. ~. :" oOi
gro,,,tb Ia, M N,,,,aI, ,7.,aaI
snecies and unon ,,,bob liz .,,ao;,a -
Ia was founded p''-'''-
The cans forrne,l,, =, f,o,, Az 81.
River on the Nor,6 conI;nas or Ko,,oI.,,
bigb ana mos, fsr,ila lands e ~, S,s,..,
both sides Of tho Ohio 10 IT,
M;ssiss;nn; and n a.. -, "a 'i-o
both sides of that river r,ono Kaslasti.a ~ 49,
f.,,lf - No. - :" 'ne
above the Ferdgris; on Red River to Leau Bleu
lNuttali J IN Texas to the Rio Grande; in the
Atlantic states to the confines of Virginia.
From the larger portion of this vast region the
cane mas nearly disappeared, only being met with
IN lie" Isolated spots In Florida, Louisiana and
Texas, the cane still abounds, though yielding to
the destructive agencies brought against it by Eu-
roPean settlements. In the Northern portion of
It's growth these agencies were much more efficient
than the Southern; in Kentucky a few years
suiliced, after the first settlement of the conntr