, 1890-01-15

lings floating in the glycerine, with the
seed-leaveS ~sprlnging from betwGen the
glumes of the cane spikelets, the latter,
to complete their identity, having the
circlet of hairs, which distinguishes
the inforescence of the sugar cant
around the base, could doubt the fact
a moment longer. Further, to remove the
last shade of suspicion or doubt that any
mind could harbour, ! have diSsected
several freshly. terminated seedlings pro
duced in the nursery here, removing the
empty glumes, laying bare the actual
vea etating seed. There cannot therefore
longer be entertained the slightest qneS-
tiOn of the reliableness and good faith OF
all that has been said or written during
the last tw enty or thirty years, chiefly IN
Barbados, but occasionally also elsewhere,
on the subject nor of the sound practical
knowledge, and bona tides of the planters
and others who have from time to time
made, and repeated by actual experiment,
the discovery.
Mr.. Harrison, who with Mr.. Bowel, his
coadiutor in the work in Barbados, his in
vestigated and written the history "f the
discovery in that island, tells me that he
has heard an instance of the discovery an
far back as 1848, in one of the French
Islands, where the pursuit OF seeding
was abandoned, when it was demon
strated that this method of propd@a-
ton could not be used in field work
as a substitute for the practice Of
propagation by cuttings (Ops), or division
of the rOot.stOck (Stumps) which planters
everywhere have always had recourse to.
This expectation, owing to the exceeding
delicacy of the seedlings, was an absurd
and impossible expectation to realise IN
the rough conditions of systematic outdoor
or field propagation. There is no other
agricu ltural subject of culture III which
the seeds are so minute, or the seedlings
Of so tender and delicate q nature, ana
consequently it is only under conditions
unusually favourable that the seed could
be made to grow at all in the fields and
the infant plants progress to a size when
they could be used for field cultivation.
II is from the need of such favourable con.
ditions of growth, and the liability to
perish without protection il their infancy,
that natural reproduction in the field,
which with certain varieties of cane, If not
with all, probably takes place ever,
towering season, has been so rarely 0bser'
we'd. AS a proof of how small the chance
is of such minute and delicate plants sur
yiving in a state of nature, | recently
looked carefully through q large plot ct
field canes in which the plumes of the
arrows had fallen to the ground in large
quantities. and some in considerable
masses, for any parts of them, or possibly
terminating seed, that might be found
but the heavy rain, though only a fort
night had elapsed since they dropped, had
washed way or into the ground, and
completely obliterated every vestiGe and
trace of them. In a previous paper have
pointed out that this method OF propaga-
ton cannot be employed i'll field work on
estates it must be done in the nursery
with the greatest care to raise and pre-
cautions to preserve the growing plants;
nor even if it could be made a substitute
for the present method of field propagation
by tops or stumps would 1t be a desirable
one for planters to adopt, owing to the
large proportion of the stock produced
from seed that is inferior and not worth
cdltiyating. It's service must be confined
to the advantage which it affordS-and
this if methodicalIy and persistently pur'
sued can hardly be observation-disclosures
" the selection of improved stock for
subsequent field use. 1t is not desirable
there should be any change in the existing
method OF field propagation, which enables
planters - Ow only, and in a much short
er time it takes from the seed, 1t
very best kinds, and rigidly exclude all
that s.are inferior. If canes were grown
from seed in the fields, instead of the sing
le variety we have 20 throughout an
4 o4no1