146 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



AucL'sT 30, 10O2. 



low wage : secondly, the extreme rarity of skilled 

 scientific direction.' It is insisted upon that 'the 

 abundance of labour has stunted the desire tor, and 

 the adoption of, labour-saving apj)liances, both in the 

 field and the factory.' and in regard to the absence of 

 scientific direction, the West Indian planters are 

 described as 'having endeavoured to continue the fight 

 against the scientists and specialists of Continental 

 Europe and the United States with a class of men 

 whose technical knowledge is hopelessly inadecpiate.' 



Mr. Lamont deprecates the idea of introducing 

 skilled men from other countries to revive the sugar 

 industry of the West Indies. He asks, 'why is it 

 that among young men, born and bred in the West 

 Indies, and therefore acclimatized, we seeno competition 

 for positions of trust on the sngar plantations or in 

 the sugar factories ? We see battalions of them pouring 

 into the legal and medical professions . . . all this is 

 utterly wrong . . . the youth of the West Indies must 

 be given facilities for a wider range of choice of 

 occupation. . . I have said that you cannot success- 

 fully conduct the sugar (or any othei') industry of 

 the West Indies without trained inti'lligcnce ; I will 

 say more, you cannot conduct it without trained West 

 Indian intelligence.' 



Coming to the means or the 'way' of sa\ing the 

 West Indian sugar industry, Mr. Lamont expresses the 

 opinion that 'the crying need of the West Indian 

 Colonies is a University of Tropical Agriculture. It 

 is an iuijterative necessity that their young men should 

 be trained to take part in building up the future of 

 their countiy upon the only substantial foimdation, 

 and in making their agricidture an cxanqile instead of 

 a by-word; for in agriculture alone lit's tiie jiroiiiise of 

 any permanent prosperity for these "British Dominions 

 beyond the Seas." ' 



After describing in detail proposals for establishing 

 a University of Agi'iculture, Mr. Lamont concludes: — 

 'For the solution of these vital West Indian pnjblems 

 1 appeal to the business instinct of t-he people of this 

 <-o\;nti'y, and to the ever-watchful alertness of the 

 distinguished statesman who presides over the destinies 

 of our Colonies. Mr. Ciiamberlain has won for himself 

 in the hearts and minds of the West Indian people 

 a place occupied by none of his predece.s.sors at the 

 Colonial Office ; and I predict with confidence tiiat if 

 out of the germ of his "Imperial Department of 

 Agriculture," he evolves an agricultural, mechanical, 

 and commercial university, he will not only restore 

 a large measure of })rosperity to the West Indies but 

 immeasurably strengthen the bonds that unite them to 

 the mother country.' 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Note on Cross fertilization of the Sugar-Cane 

 in Java. 



Since the independent establishment by Dr. 

 Soltwedel in Java and by Messrs. Harri.son and 

 J. R. Bovell in B.iibados that the sugar-cane bears 

 fertile seed, investigations in Java have centred 

 around two other important discoveries. 



In LS94 Dr. J. H. Wakker, then Director of the 

 East Java Sugar Experiment Station, found out that 

 the Cheribon cane bears infertile pollen while the 

 ovary is normal. Consequently any fertile seeds formed 

 by this cane are the result of cross fertilization, by the 

 pollen of another variet}' of cane, and give rise to hybrid 

 plants. About this time the new seedling canes 

 raised were only those of well known mother 

 canes, e.g., of the Cheribon. The Cheribon in Java, 

 like the Bourbon in the West Indies, is a cane 

 with rich and abundant juice and is therefore valuable 

 as a sugar producer. Unfortunately, like the Bourbon, 

 it is liable to disease. 



Soon after Wakker's discovery, Dr. Kobus, the 

 present Director of East Java Sugar Experiment 

 Station, suggested the crossing of the Cheribon with 

 certain of the East Indian canes imported by the Java 

 Government from British India so as to raise seedlings 

 fVom the former cane crossed by the latter, some of 

 which would ]irol)ably combine the good cpialities of 

 the Cheribon with the disease-resisting power of the 

 East Indian canes. Experiments at this Station were 

 set on foot to cross the Cheribon with the Chunnee 

 variety from India, a very vigorous and disease-resisting 

 cane. Dr. Kobus has })ublished four reports on the 

 results of the seedlings obtained from the Cheribon- 

 Chunnee cross. In raising the seeds the parent plants 

 were planted alternately in rows: — 



Cher. Chan. Cher. Chun. 



X X X X 



X X X X 



The reports are entitled De zaml iihintcn der 

 kriUJiin<j van Chcribonriet int-t de E lujU.-icIi- 1 ndUche 

 viirietelt Chunnee, and were published a.s the Proceed- 

 ings of the East Java St.itiou No.s. I, I'i, 21, :V.i of the 

 Third Series. 



The seedlings raised are ob.served for four years at 

 the Station and compart'd with the Cheribon. The best 

 are then distributed to the estates. The anticipation of 

 Dr. Kobus have been realizi'il as cranes condiining both 

 high sugar content and <iisea.se-resisting power have 

 been obtained by this cross. The yield of sugar 

 of .some of the canes varies from 6 to <S tons per acre. 

 In some oi.ses the fecundating power of the pollen 

 of the Chunnee is so strong that more than 9.5 i^er 

 cent, of the hybrids resemble the male parent. 



