VARIATION IX THE CANE AND CAXE VARIETIES 39 



tc-rtilized. The most prolific parents have been Lahaina, WTiite Mexican, 

 D 116, D 117, D 1135, and a variety called locally YeUow Bamboo. No 

 inheritance of the colour of the parent was noted by Eckart. So far onlv 

 two canes of Eckart's breeding have become prominent — H loq. a descendant 

 of Lahaina, and H 146. The former is a yellow upright cane of the Otaheite 

 type, of early maturity and high suga.r content. 



Seedling Canes in Java. 



Very soon after the recognition of the fertihty of the cane, and stimulated 

 by the appearance of the sereh disease in Java, extensive breeding experi- 

 ments were made in Java. The earher work, dating from the early 'nineties, 

 seems to have been mainly carried out b}- Kobus and Wakker at the Oost 

 Java Proefstation, and by Bouricius and Moquette at the Kelegan estate. 

 After an hiatus new work appears to have been undertaken by indi\dduals 

 and interested firms. The Java seedlings appear classified imder the letters 

 P.O.J. (Proefstation, Oost Java), B (Bouricius), E.K. (E. Karthaus), 

 S.W. (Sempal Wadak), D.I. (Demak Idjo), and Fabri, the name of a mUl. 



The earher breeding work at the Oost Java Station was conducted 

 with the Indian cane Chimnee (one of the Ukh class) as male parent, and with 

 the Black Cheribon and Striped Preanger as female parent. This selection 

 was made with the object of estabhshing as a hybrid a cane with the sereh- 

 resistant quahties of Chimnee and desirable cultural properties of the female 

 parent. The man\' canes thus produced mainly show the foUo\\"ing features : 

 I. Narrow leaves ; 2. Long, thin joints ; 3. Hard rind ; 4. A modified central 

 fistula : 5. Sereh resistance. These characters are to be attributed to in- 

 heritance from the male parent. 



Bouricius made his crossings mainly \\ith the Red Fiji or Canne Morte 

 as father, and the Cheribon cane as mother. The E.K. series results from 

 crossing \\-ith the Black Borneo or Bandjermassim Hitam as mother and 

 Red Fiji as father. The S.W. series results from the Batjan cane as father 

 and the Cheribon cane as mother. 



Of aU the numerous canes bred in Java, two stand out pre-eminent. 

 P.O.J. 100 and B 247, and for a number of years about 90*^0 of the Java crop 

 has come from these canes. Of the other earher seedhngs P.O.J. ^2>' P-OJ- 36, 

 P.O.J. 213, P.O.J. 22S, 36 }il{oquette) and 66 B have been grown. Of the 

 later ones E.K. 2 seems to be under most extensive cultivation. The Black 

 Cheribon in 191 7 was reported as covering S per cent, of the acreage in 

 Java, and in that year as many as 56 varieties, mostly in very small quan- 

 tities, were reported as being tmder cultivation. A number of Java seedlings, 

 especially the earlier ones of Chunnee blood, have travelled to other districts, 

 and in doing so have repeated the earher confusions of misplaced labels, etc. ; 

 and to this confusion the writer has contributed by misdescribing P.O.J. 36 

 in the earher issue of this book, whereby' it became confounded with P.O.J. 234. 

 In addition, in Porto Rico, P.O.J. 36 hcis mutated itself to P.O.J. 56, and in 

 Argentina P.O.J. 22S in parts has become known as P.O.J. 139. 



Short descriptions of these canes based on those of Jes\Wet and of Fawcett 

 are given with the view of preventing future confusion. For those canes 

 yet confined to Java see Jeswiet in the Java Archief for the years 1916 and 

 1917. 



The colours mentioned below refer to the mature cane, and the male 

 parent is given first. 



