, 1890-07-12

reached me under the designation, was to
me ample justification for its employment. |
did not accept, as Mr.. Morris coniectures,
MIR. Boon's conjecture for till I saw the let
tiers from Captain Berkeley and Mr.. Morris
in print IN the est Indian, | knew nothing
of Mr.. Boon's interest III the cane. nor of any
thing he had sad or written on the subject.
As TO the validity Of the name as applied TO
this cane d word may Os said. The name
seems to have been first used by Mr.. Prestoe,
late Government Botanist OF trinidad, and
applied by him professionally to a red OF pur.
pie cane that bad been received with two
other varieties, to which also he gave provi-
sional ntnes in chat island.-"Ag grand purple
''cane, obtained from the islands Of the South
Western Pacific the "Queen" cane, whose
"%joints ere / or . inches IN diameter" 1t is
further described asa pale or greenish.
''purple cane, close joiuted, and extremely
vigorous These and other references
which | have been able to find seem to show
that the cane Mr., Prestoe applied the name
Professionally to was q dark coloured cane,
and therefore not that to which it is now ap.
piled in St. Kits and in the colonies which
have derived it from there. Whatever the
cane was, however, 1t seems to have been
dropped from cultivation, and not to be
known now-at least under that name, so
far as I have been able to gather. Special
enquiries were made by MIR. Harrison two
years ago while on a visit to Trinidad for this
cane, but without discovering any trace Of it.
1t was not in the Botanic Gardens, nor did
any of the planters know anything of il.
This being the case, and that apparently the
name was only intended by Mr.. Prestoe for
provisional employment, and was in fact only
so used, so far as | can find, it seems to be-
1az.-.l1~- IL Il
be not resorted TO. that it should be allowed
to remain connected with the cane to which
it has become firmly attached, rather than to
attempt 10 displace it by another, and a new
name, as Mr.. Morris in his letter proposes.
| now come to the second name, 'Mamuri'
with whl@h, in my report in question, | asso.
clated the cane. After two years iurther ex
perience, and the intimate association Of daily
observation and comparison, | have no doubt
about the validity OF my identification of the
CatedOnian Queen with the cane grown here
under the name Mamuri. The Jamaica cane
distributed under the same name, however,
seems to be a different and very poor kind
one of the worst Of all canes in fact. / notice
by the reports of Messrs. Harrison and 30.
veil, on the experimental work at Dodds Boz
tanical Station, that 1t comes out in yield OF
cane and Juice near the bottom of the several
kinds. 1t has proved so poor in fact that Its
cultivation has been discontinued The
Mamuri sent by me to Barbadolf on the other
hand has come out III the same experiments
among the highest of all the kinds, and it is
a fair inference therefore for me to assume
las am una le to speak positively, not having
seen the cane) that 1t is a different variety
from that grown here. This is Mr.. Harrisoh'a
opinion too, a5Iin and again mentioned TO me
months before this corresponds; &c brought
public attention to the matter, and in analys-
ing my canes this year he confirmed th-}
opinion. With regard to the Rappoe,' as to-
which Mr.. Morris says possibly Mr.. Jenman's
Identification under this head may be cor
rect" ] need only say that my further ex,
perience has only confirmed my expressed
Judgment that it is Identical With She cane
from St. Kits, After thus disposing OF my
determinations, Mr.. Morris says-"1 have
little douot, however, that we shalfsoon be III
a position to identify the St. Kits cane, and
know mora about it," AS d m liter of fact we
are in this position already. All the informa
ton that [ have been able to gather leads to
the conviction that this variety now called
Ca ledonian Queen has been in the West In.
dies very many years, and my opinion id. that
when it's history has been more completely
calculated, it will be proved to have been
one of the earliest varieties introduced.
last year said in these columns that / felt
pretty nearly certain, Judging from two or
three stools that | had, and a single seasons
experience, that the white Transparent
which has been cultivated IN Barbados foI