



A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 





IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. ^^^^"^ 



Vol XL No. 255. 



BARBADOS, FEBRUARY 3, 1912. 



Pkiie Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Aiiiiiultuiiil riissibilitics in I Gleanings 



Pagf. 



40 



43 



Houduiiis 



Auiioultnral Pupils itt tlie 

 Dniiiinic.i Botanic Sta- 

 tion 



Aaricultute in Bolivia ... 



Aivicultuifin S<iuthern Ni- 

 geria. I'.UO 



Agiicultuie, Third Interna- 

 tional Congress of Tropi- 

 cal 



.\ntiiiiia; A H.iniUiook of 

 (ieneral Information ... 40 



Cotton Notes : — 



Cotton Plant, Aniinge- 



nient i>f parts in 38 



West Indian Cotton ... 38 



Department News 45 



Doiiiinica Lime in England 36 



Eucalyptus. I'ses of 35 



Fat, Absorption in Rel:ition 

 to Water-Drinking ... 41 



Fungus Notes : — 



Soft Rot of Ginger in 

 Bengal 46 



44 



Horses, .Jiljliiiig in 37 



Insect Notes : — 



The Melon or Cotton 



Apliis 42 



Tile Nature of the Light 

 Emitted by Fire-Flies 42 

 Legumes, Benefit to Crops 



from Growing with ... 39 



.Market Reports 48 



' Jlendelism in Relation to 



! Seedling Sugar-Canes 3.3 



' Mule, .Some Notes on tlie 37 



Notes and Comments ... 4fl 



Oil from Tobacco Seed ... 41 



< hanges. Sugar Content of ;16 



Rat Destruction 47 



[ RubberPlantingin Fonnos.i .S5 



Spraying to Kill Weeds ... 41 

 Students' Corner: — 



Agricultural Kxaniinations 45 

 Suljjhur ill Soils, Quantity 



of ?.9 



Trade of Sierre Leone. liU" 43 



Mendelism in Relation to Seedling 

 Sugar-Canes. 



UKINc; the eleven years which this present 

 century has now run, methods of producing 

 i new and improved varieties of plants and 

 animals have undergone an almost complete transform- 

 ation, owing to the precision and purpose introduced 

 into them by the application of principles first enun- 

 ciated by the Abbot Mendel. The success attending the 



work that has been carried out in the case of many 

 other species of plants and animals has led of late to 

 the somewhat casual suggestion that the same principle 

 should be applied to the formation of synthesized sugar- 

 cane seedlings, produced by crossing parents, each of 

 which contains one desirable character that i-i nbsent 

 in the other. The characters that have been sug- 

 gested for combination in this manner in one 

 f-train or group of individuals are: high sucrose con- 

 tent, heavy tonnage of cane per acre, disease resistance, 

 low fibre content, and the like attributes of economic 

 importance. The adjective casual has been aj)p]ied to 

 this suggestion, because there is reason to think that, 

 in some instances, it has been made without an ade- 

 ([uate undei^tanding of the nature of the characters to 

 which Mendel's jirincijjics are applicable, and of the 

 many peculiar difficulties erperienccd in the case of 

 the sugar-cane as ojiposed to that of other jilants. 



In order to arrive at a reasonable estimate of the 

 possibility of applying the methods under discussion to 

 the case of the sugar-cane, some understanding of the 

 nature of variation, and (>fits inheritance, is necessary; 

 this renders possible a clear comprehension of the class 

 of characters that is likely to show segregation or inher- 

 itance, and disabuses the mind of misconceptions aris- 

 inc through incomplete aoi^uaintance with definitions 

 of some of the terms employed, particularly such 

 phrases as ' a pure line 'and 'breeding true'. Light 

 may also be shed on this question by a consideration of 

 the evidence as to the nature of variation in seedling 

 sugar-canes that is available from previous records; 

 while even more illuminating is a true comprehension 

 of the real nature of the very characters with which it 

 has been proposed to work. 



