Pomeroy: Bud Variations in Sugar Cane 



131 



produced both striped and green canes 

 from one and the same eye." 



A very similar observation was made 

 by Mehnoth Hall- a little later. He 

 wrote : "I have in one instance seen no 

 less than three distinct canes springing 

 from one stool of the ribbon variety, 

 one entirely yellow, one entirely green, 

 the other being the usual ribbon cane ; 

 while from other stools in the same 

 field I found canes either of a uniform 

 green, purple or purplish-brown ; all 

 the rest spring from the same ribbon 

 cane root, being striped in the usual 

 way. 



Mr. Deerr, writing in 1910, said that 

 for generations the Louzier (Otaheite) 

 cane, known under several names in 

 different sections, had produced a very 

 large proportion of the world's supply 

 of sugar cane combining the character- 

 istics of heavy tonnage, sweet and pure 

 juice, and low fiber content. M. Au- 

 guste Villele, of Mauritius, thus de- 

 scribed the origin of this variety in a 

 letter to Mr. Deerr: "In 1868 (jr 1869 

 M. Lavignac introduced into Mauritius 

 several varieties of cane from New Cal- 

 edonia, among which was the Mignonne, 

 a red and green striped variety. This 

 cane was noticed by M. Louzier to 

 throw sports and from a vellow sport 

 the Louzier was developed, being the 

 standard cane of Mauritius for many 

 years." 



The Louzier cane traveled from 

 Mauritius to other districts and is not 

 to be distinguished from the Yellow 

 Otaheite cane of Cuba and Java, or 

 from varieties grown under other names 

 in several sugar-cane districts. Mr. 

 Deerr states that, having seen the Bour- 

 bon, the Lahaina, and the Louzier 

 sM-owing on a large scale in Demerara, 

 Hawaii, and Mauritius, he has no hesi- 

 tation in saying that they are indistin- 

 guishable. .Stubbs^ and Harrison and 

 [enman'* also considered these varieties 

 identical. It is then reasonable to sup- 



pose that the Lahaina and Bourbon 

 canes, although introduced into Hawaii 

 and the West Indies as self-colored 

 canes, were originally in Otaheite sports 

 from the cane introduced into Mauri- 

 tius in 1868 or 1869 under the name 

 Mignonne, and that in Otaheite the 

 latter was cultivated as a separate cane. 



Assuming the identity of the Louzier 

 with the Otaheite and Lahaina canes 

 as described above, and remembering 

 the origin of the first mentioned, it is 

 also probable that the other two origi- 

 nated in the same way but, having been 

 introduced at early dates as self-colored 

 canes, no suspicion of their origin arose. 

 The Louzier cane also is known to 

 throw a striped sport indistinguishable 

 from the Mignonne from which the 

 Louzier arose, and this cane in turn 

 throws self-colored sports, thus com- 

 pleting the cycle through striped cane, 

 self-colored cane, to striped cane apain. 

 although it is impossible to state which 

 was the original type. 



In December, 1890, Mr. J. F. Home 

 wrote the Director of the Royal Gar- 

 dens at Kew as follows :^ "Of new vari- 

 eties originating as bud sports we have 

 eight or nine in Mauritius alone ; some 

 of them are very fine canes and they 

 are extensively planted. Most of them 

 are hardier than their parents and they 

 yield more sugar. They are mostly ob- 

 tained from new canes recently intro- 

 duced. The sudden change of climate, 

 soil, and other circumstances cause them 

 to be thrown off. More of them might 

 be obtained if the planters were more 

 observing than they are and closely fol- 

 lowed the cane cutters throughout their 

 fieMs. As thines ?ire, a new variety is 

 only observed should it chance to spring 

 up in an outside row." 



In the early nineties the Striped 

 Tanna canc^. ITn-ler th name of Yel- 

 color) was brought to Mauritius, and 

 it was frequently observed to throw 

 sports whence have come the White 



- The magazine Sugar Cane, No. 64. 

 "^ Dr. W. StubDs, Sugar Cane, 1897, p. 66. 

 * The magazine Sugar Cajic. No. 273. 

 '• Kew Bulletin, 1891. 



