, 1889-05-01

cause, they arrowed very teebly. | shall
bring over for you OH NY return some
seeds IL different stages of termination,
and the young plant mentioned above.
Think it must be admitted, as a settled
fact, that canes do seed, aud Can be grown
from the seed. What a grand future this
opens out p
Mr.. Scard returned by last mail, and
brought the plant and seeds mentioned
in his letter. AS he says, from the pvi.
dence adduced, there can be no doubt
now that, at least, certain kinds of sugar
cane, under favourable conditions, do pro.
duce fertile seed. BY gathering the spike
let's from the panicle (arrOw), sowing and
rearing plants therrfrnn, Mr.. BnvelI has
demonstrated this beyond question, and
removed the doubts, which l iwelt on i'll
the issue Of these columns of January
29tl last, left on the subject after PROBES
sor HarriSon'S initial communication.
What variety of cane the seed was gath
cred from, beyond the fact thar il WAS a
cOlOured cane, and whether more than one
kind seeded, Mr.. Scard did not ascertain.
Now | come to the remarkable fact that
though the seminal fertility of the sugar
cane has all along during the commercial
history Of the plant, been denied or dis.
credited by the great and overwhelming
majority of those most in a position to be
informed AZ to The fact, it has nevertheless
existed all through, manlfrSting itself at
rare intervals to observers, who from time
10 time recorded the flCt. 1t is easy to
he wise after the event, but We are able
now to look al the question from the i'm
partially critical point OF view, and see
where the great body Of observers went
wrong. Their argument was founded on
- - t,l rD,n,,f, thnN. hAl I,n, .,.~hr,
in came cultivation tor II lifetime, perhaps,
or many years the cane had been under
their notice daily for the time, and thy
hid never seen seed or seedlings; heuor
their conclusion that those who asserted
that the cane did seed had been mistaken
and this view bad come to be the tradi
.ti0nal belief Of mankind They were
hardly TO be blamed either, for the mega.
tive evidence, unreliable aS we now see it
WAS III character, was vast beyond ptnpOr-
ton To the meagIe and scattered atfirma.
tive evidence, which reached most conn
tries as a rule, at vile intervals of years,
only as a faint echo from "A distant land.
Yet. the matter has not lain Silrut from
time to time it has been discussed, more
often however i'll an academlcal rather
than a practical way, in almost every cane
sugar producing country. Many Years
ago the. now defiance, Royal Society of
Jamaica took up the subject, and inStitu.
ted a series Of more or less careful aud
comprehensive inquiries with a view to
settle the doubtful point. The result of
the enquiry waS-"that no variety ut
sugar cane was known to perfect its seed
Tor indeed to produce anything like Secd)
either in the West Indies, China, the
straits OF Malacca, Egyp', or even i'll the
South Sea islands, us in all these COM
tries the cane is entirely propagatrd from
cuttings
But whenever a subject gains sufficient
prominence to occupy "A more or less gem
eTal public attention, 1t is almost imme.
diately found that much more is known
regarding il than WAS at first supposed.
This question of the sugar cane breeding
ia no exception to that rule, and now that
the matter has been Carefully looked Into
abundant record is found that both seed
and seedlings he latter both spOntane.
Gus and raised and grown to maturity by
~hand-have been repeatedly seen, over a
period extending back many years, and
through many generations of the plant,
chiefly in Barbados, but occasionally
also in other parts of the world. Looking
back.at the records of the subject now,
We see that the evidence iu regard to Bar.
badOs seeds and plants has throughout
been of a character to command uDques-
toned acceptance from every impartial
person, Il why it was overlooked or