, 1877-07-21

lules dIQ ClI1CI Ou OlA0O oOOOOH(S VI "
reason ofthe great Importance OF the sub
iect, his Excellency Viscount Bonn Retro,
President of the Board of Directors, deemed
it advisable that acommittee should be NAM
ed for the purpose of proceeding to the Boz
~tanical Gardens to verify the facts of graft
inc, said to exist there" The names of
the members of this committee are taen
given.
"From the minute examination at the
Botanical Gardens, in the presence of Dr..
Glasl, the conclusion was arrived at, and
the committee became convinced that
grating, as defined by botanists and horti-
culturists, in accordance with vegetable
physiology, had not been effected, and the
proofs brought from the Botanical Gardens,
and laid before the meeting of the institute,
confirmed completely the opinion offered
by those able judges. In the grating
above the soil, the extreme ends OF the
two canes, placed and held in contact by
means of strips Of glued paper, had not
united and showed indications of decompo-
sition at those extremities. In the case OF
the grated pieces that had been planted,
after the earth had been withdrawn and
the cane cleaned by repeated washings, it
was ascertained that each of the halves OF
the pieces of cane, which had been held
together by being tied, were completely
detached, that no adherence whatever had
been contracted between them, the two
qualities negotiating separately in relation
to the elements absorbed by The roots OF
each isolated body. Upon this result The
question appeared decided, more particu-
larIy as Commandeur Ribeiro de Castro
evidently never obtained prOficuous results
from grating on the eye or bud, or from
the union of two longitudinal half pieces
Of different canes.
Meanwhile, letters being received in
sisting on the fact of successful grating
in the cane fields of Campos and Macahe,
the Agricultural Institute was induced, at
the recommendation of the President, Wis
count Bonn Retro, to appoint a committee,
and tie said Viscount, DR.. Glasl, and DIR.
Nicolao Moreira were sent off on the Oath
of October, 1874, on the steamer Bezerra
de Menezes, and arriving at Macahe the
following'' morning, they left tor the PLAN
tation of Dr.. Ioao Qoze Carneiro de Silva,
son of the ViscOu ntess Araruama, and, q
lew Gays PIoCecu0u " N"nPO'
to Baron Itabapoana.
1.-The trip demonstrated, in relation to the
object of their mission, that the principles
established by science were mistaken. that
the facts did not controvert them,--that
the real graft had not been effective with
cane.
1.-The evidence presented to US in Macahe,
bv Baron Villa Franco, did not afford the
means OF a serious and minute amir
ton, in consequence of the inextricable
interlacing of the roots of the Numerous
stalks of cane, comprising the stubble'
making it impossible to ascertain whether
the scion adhered to the stalk"
s'In Campos the committee were more
fortunate, as they there found, on the
Queimada plantation, belonging to the
Commander Julian, two gratis practiced
by the "splice'' system on planted cane'
but under ground.
"The new canes, which had grown 40
centimetres above the surface, were we'll
formed, but on scraping away the earth'
detaching the grated stubble and cleaning
it bv repeated washings, it was found that
the scion did not adhere TO the stalk, that
the ends in. contact were ~decomposed. and
that the fact of the new cane. having lite
was due to the roots furnished by the small