THE DISEASES OF THE SUGAR-CANE. 477 



way. Attention is drawn to it in this place because of 

 recurring statements as to the value of this method in 

 certain sugar-growing countries. In the absence of the 

 means of determining their truth, it is useful to inquire 

 how far grafting will succeed in Monocotyledons, where 

 there is no cambium, and especially whether the sugar- 

 cane is amenable to this treatment.^ 



17. The main lines along which selection must be 

 followed are, however, by the production of seedlings. It is 

 a noteworthy fact that many varieties of plants, especially 

 cultivated ones, cannot reproduce true from seed. Of 

 ordinary fruit trees, for example, small, sour, and uneatable 

 fruit are borne by 90 per cent, of seedling peaches, 93 per 

 cent, of plums and 97 per cent, of pears and apples.^ 

 New varieties are therefore certainly and readily obtained 

 by crossing ; it is also patent that such varieties are in the 

 great majority of cases useless reversions to an uncultivated 

 or natural condition of the plant. 



The variability of the sugar-cane has been amply de- 

 monstrated among the collections of spontaneous seedlings 

 as well as those raised by artificial crossing. 



For many years the cane was held to be incapable of 

 producing fertile seed. This is the more remarkable be- 

 cause many eminent botanists have paid special attention to 

 the subject both in India and the East and West Indies. 

 In all probability multitudes of seedlings have been pro- 

 duced year by year in favourable localities ; but from some 

 cause, perhaps their similarity to grasses, no one succeeded 

 in detecting them. 



The arrowing or flowering of the cane is a very well- 

 known feature in tropical scenery, yet in parts of India, 

 where the sugar-cane is grown, the flowering is of very rare 

 occurrence. It is mentioned by Dr. Kobus in his account 

 of his journey to Saharanpur to obtain new varieties for 

 cultivation in Java, that he met with people who had never 

 seen the arrows, and did not know in what part of the plant 



^ Barber (5) ; see also Darwin, Sorauer, and Louisiana Planter^ April 

 17, 1897. 



^* Went and Geerligs. 



