42 CHAPTER IV 



Other Localities. 



Seedlings have also been raised in Louisiana, L 511 being of promise, in 

 Porto Rico at the Insular Station, at Guanica Central, and at Fajardo Central. 

 Seedlings have been put out from these stations identified by the initials P.R., 

 G.C., and F.C. Of these, G.C. 493 and G.C. 701 have reached the plantation 

 scale. The Argentine station at Tucuman under the direction of Cross has 

 also recently entered this field of research. 



Asexual Variation. — In addition to sexual variation the cane is sub- 

 ject to pey saltuni variation or sporting, whereb}^ varieties are obtained 

 asexually. The first definitely recorded observation of this phenomenon 

 is as follows* : — 



In 1868 or i86q a M. Lavignac^^ caused canes to be brought to Mauritius 

 from New Caledonia. Amongst these was a striped cane which was named 

 Mignonne. A few years later M. Louzier observed a self-coloured yellow 

 cane in a stool of this striped cane. He segregated this cane, which he 

 succeeded in establishing into a variety — the Louzier — which for a genera- 

 tion formed the bulk of the cultivation in Mauritius. A few years later Mr. 

 J. F. Horne^^ in the same island noticed that the Louzier cane threw a 

 striped sport, which has also been cultivated separately under the name of 

 Home cane or Louzier rayee. Another, or possibly the same sport from the 

 Louzier, has been cultivated in Australia under the names of Green Rose 

 Ribbon, Brisbane, Malay, and White Striped Bombon. 



Simultaneously Melmoth Hall-^ in Australia observed the same phe-' 

 nomenon to occur with the " Ribbon" cane, an observation repeated by J. F. 

 Clarke^'"^ in Queensland with the Striped Singapore. In this case he records 

 that the sports thrown were apparently identical with the Rappoe: as will 

 be shown later, this is the cane described under the name of " Cheribon." 



A third instance of importance is the sporting habit of the Tanna canes, 

 from the striped variety of which the White and Black Tannas were segre- 

 gated in Mauritius. As other instances, may be cited that of the Yellow Tip 

 which was obtained in Hawaii from the Striped Tip ; and the Port Mackay 

 Noir, from the Port Mackay in Mauritius. 



In this habit of sporting a complete cycle obtains : striped cane — self- 

 coloured cane — striped cane ; but it is impossible to say which was the 

 original type. Possibly the habit reflects a hybrid sexual origin between 

 a coloured and a white cane. 



When sporting occurs from a cane striped in a dark and a light colour, 

 a dark-coloured sport and a light-coloured sport may be obtained. In the 

 Tanna and Cheribon canes the two sports have many characters in common, 

 an observation which would tend to discredit the hypothetical white and 

 coloured parents. 



It is a matter of very considerable interest to note that almost all the 

 light-coloured sports are indistinguishable, as are also the dark-coloured 

 sports ; thus nearly every sport from a striped Tanna is either a White 

 or a Black Tanna, and only two varieties thus arise. An exception to this 

 rule was found by Mr. E. W. Broadbent in the Hawaiian Islands, who ob- 

 served a green and yellow-striped cane, quite distinct from the striped 



*A report on the sugar industry of Louisiana appearing in the Report of the U.S. Commissioner of Patents for 

 1848 shows that the phenomenon was well known to Louisiana planters at that time. 



