CANE, kin, or KEN, a river in Bundel cund (qv.), British India, a tributary of the Jumna River. It follows a northeast course and is about 250 miles long.
a term applied to the ex tensive growths of Arundinaria macrosperma, the most gigantic of United States grasses, which occur in the southern portions of the United States, often covering vast extents of country. The plant's stalks are much used for fishing-rods. Cane-brakes are indicative of rich land, as they are only to be found in per fection in the most inexhaustible soils, where, having obtained a foothold, by their more rapid growth they usurp the place of the timber. In the southern portions of the United States the plant often reaches the height of 15 to 25 feet, with a base one to one and a half inches diameter. It grows as straight as an arrow from the root, tapering off finally in a beauti ful, thread-like, feathery top. The leaves com mence at about two-thirds of the height of the plant, and seem to be attached directly to the stalk, as the branches on which they grow, save the very top ones, are not perceptible to ordi nary observation. To the hunter, progress
through a cane-brake is one of the most toil some journeys that can be undertaken. Each step is disputed by the dense vegetation, which rises before the intruder like a wall. In places the cane is sometimes pressed down and inter laced, and then it becomes quite impenetrable. Under the most favorable circumstances the knife has to be freely used. Cane-brakes are often many miles in extent, always lessening in density as they reach high ground. They are favorite haunts for all kinds of game, which seek their solitudes either for protection or for the leaves for food. The deer are particularly fond of the young green leaves, and upon them often become exceedingly fat. Cane-stalks being hollow, having no pith, and being divided inside every few inches into sections, are very combustible when dried in the sun; and the air confined within the hollow sections, warming by the external heat, explodes with very con siderable force, so that a cane-brake on fire gives the idea of a continued roar of distant musketry.