1894. ^^^ CROSS-FERTILISATION OF FOOD-PLANTS. 273 



The recent discovery of seedling sugar-canes may exercise an 

 important influence on the prosperity of our West Indian colonies. 

 As with the potato so with the sugar-cane, vegetative propagation 

 has been exclusively followed : new individuals have been produced, 

 not from seeds, but from cuttings of the joints of older plants. 

 Indeed, so long has the sugar-cane been cultivated that, like the 

 wheat, its native country is to-day a matter of dispute, and it is a 

 question if it is now ever found in the wild state. In consequence, 

 perhaps, of the many centuries of cultivation, the plant has almost 

 lost the habit of producing seeds, and we may search the " arrows," 

 as the long, feathery flower-heads are called, and find not a single 

 fertile flower. It is obvious, that if the ovary has become permanently 

 sterile, or the pollen lost the power of fertilisation, the benefits of 

 cross-fertilisation in the form of invigorated offspring or new varieties, 

 are precluded. Until about three years ago there was a very general 

 opinion, and one, too, of long standing, that the sugar-cane did not 

 seed. In 1889, however, as the result of observations in Java, Dr. 

 Benecke published a description and drawings of the ripe fruit and 

 the germination of the seed ; while, almost at the same time, Messrs. 

 Harrison and Bovell, working at the Botanical Station at Barbados, 

 proved that some varieties on the island also produced seed. From 

 them seedling plants were raised, while some seed sent to England was 

 successfully germinated at Kew, and also by Messrs. Veitch at Chelsea. 

 Fertile flowers on the "arrow" are few and far between, and the size 

 is very small ; but in spite of these difficulties the discovery opens 

 up the prospect of seminal reproduction, and the advantages of cross- 

 fertilisation. 



The object of the cross-breeder is to secure in one variety the 

 valuable characteristics of two or more ; to get, in fact, the largest 

 possible crop of the best quality, and ripening at the proper season. 

 In no case is this of more importance than with wheat and other 

 cereals, the cultivation of which in Great Britain is now at so great a 

 discount. In 1839, according to a statement in the Journal of the 

 Royal Agricultural Society, the annual growth of wheat in England 

 and Wales was estimated at 12,350,000 qrs., worth, at 50s. per qr., 

 nearly 31 million pounds sterling. Fifty years later, in the same 

 journal, we read : " The present annual growth in the United 

 Kingdom does not exceed 9 million quarters." As the crop is still 

 held to be indispensable in the corn-growing districts, the introduction 

 of improved varieties for the sake of adding to the yield is of great 

 importance. An account by Mr. Carruthers of some experiments on 

 the cross-fertilisation of cereals, published in the latest volume of 

 the same journal, is consequently of great interest, and no apology 

 need be made for a brief re-description in Natural Science. 



In the great majority of grasses the male and female organs, 

 stamens and pistil, are contained in the same flower, not surrounded 

 by an attractive corolla of petals but more or less enclosed in 



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