Multiplication of Extremes 755 



shortly afterwards in Java and in other sugar- 

 producing countries. In the year 1885, Solt- 

 wedel, the director of one of the experiment sta- 

 tions for the culture of sugar-cane in Java, 

 conceived the idea of making use of seedlings 

 for the production of improved races. This 

 idea is a very practical one, precisely because of 

 the possibility of vegetative propagation. If 

 individuals would show the same range as that 

 of partial fluctuability, then the choice of the 

 extremes would at once bring the average up 

 to the richness of the best stocks. Once at- 

 tained, this average would be fixed, without fur- 

 ther efforts. 



Unfortunately there is one great drawback. 

 This is the infertility of the best variety, that 

 of the '^ Cheribon '* cane. It flowers abun- 

 dantly in some years, but it has never been 

 known to produce ripe seeds. For this reason 

 Soltwedel had to start from the second best sort, 

 and chose the ^^ Hawaii " cane. This variety 

 usually yields about 14^ sugar, and Soltwedel 

 found among his seedlings one that showed 

 15,'^. This fact was quite unexpected at that 

 time, and excited widespread interest in the 

 new method, and since then it has been ap- 

 plied to numerous varieties, and many thou- 

 sands of seedlings have been raised and 

 tested as to their sugar-production. 



