286 Agricultur, Horticultur, Forstbotanik. 



Haastert, J. A. van, Vergelijkende cultuurproeven met 

 verschillende zaadrietvarieteiten; oogstjaar 1 304/05. (Mede- 

 deelingen van het Proefstation Oost-Java. Vierde Serie. N^. 27. 1906.) 



Ces essais de culture de Cannes ä sucre ont porte sur 96 Va- 

 rietes disposees dans 384 compartiments. L'auteur fournit des ren- 

 seignements detailles sur la pratique culturale et des tableaux 

 statistiques sur les resultats des recoltes. Henri Micheels. 



Morris, D. and F. A. Stockdale. The Improvement of the 

 sugar-cane by selection and Hybridisation. (West Indian 

 Bull. VIT. NO. 4. p. 345—372. 1906.) 



An account of experiments carried on in the West Indies 

 in the production of new varieties of Canes by selection and hybri- 

 disation. Seedlings thus produced are more resistant to certain 

 classes of disease through their increased vigour and growth, and 

 they give a larger j'ield of sugar per acre. 



Climate and soil are the chief influences which control the 

 sugar yielding capacity of diiferent varieties, therefore the seedlings 

 are widely distributed under different conditions. 



The increasing fertility of the newer seedlings removes some 

 of the difificulties which have previously kept this work in check, 

 and it is hoped that it may become increasingly practicable to raise 

 canes of definitely known parentage, from carefully selected plants, 

 possessing to the greatest degree the characteristics of disease re- 

 sistance, high sucrose yield, heavy tonnage of cane, and other pro- 

 perties which mark a sugar cane of high economic value. 



Summaries of results of experiments carried on in India, 

 Queensland, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mauritius, Java and Cuba, 

 are also given. W. G. Freeman. 



Officers of the Imperial Department of Agriculture for the 

 West Indies. Lectures to Sugar Planters. 1906. (Dulan & Co. 

 London. 1 s.) 



A series of seven lectures delivered at Barbados by officers of 

 the Imperial Department ol Agriculture about three years ago. 



The first lecture by Sir Daniel Morris on "The Natural History 

 of the Sugar Cane" gives a short sketch of the history of the sugar- 

 cane, showing that, although there is still a certain amount of doubt, 

 the evidence seems to point to India or some of the Islands of the 

 Pacific at its original home. It seems to have reached Barbados 

 about 1640, as sugar was first recorded as having been made there 

 in, or about that year. A general description of the sugar-cane is 

 given, including some anatomy and physiology. 



The importance of the new seedling varieties of Cane is briefly 

 discussed. Previously to 1887 and 1888 it was generally thought that 

 the sugar-cane was seedless. In 1888 it was proved by Mrs. Har- 

 ri so n and Bovell that seedling varieties could be successfully 

 raised in the West Indies. A similar announcement was made in 

 Java in 1887 by Dr. Soltwedel. 



The importance of this discovery is explained with regard to 

 the possibilities of raising new varieties with greater vigour of 

 growth and therefore greater disease resisting power. 



Lectures II, III, and IV by J. P. d'Albuquerque, deal with 

 "Soils and Manures in relation to the cultivation of the Sugar cane". 



