46 



CHAPTER IV 



round eye with central growing point ; 17 is the inner surface of a leaf sheath, 

 18 being the outer surface of the same. 



Without in the smallest degree deprecating the very great value of these 

 studies, familiarity with the cane growing in the field in combination with 

 coloured drawings made by a skilled artist under the direction of a com- 

 petent botanist, will not fail to have its uses. 



The History, Introduction, Nomenclature and Identity 

 OF the Traditional Varieties. 



a study of the sugar cane literature of a generation back would have led 

 to the idea that hundreds of varieties were in cultivation ; actually the older 

 varieties reduce to two of major importance, to one of importance, and to a 



few of interest. The confusion has been due 

 to the decentralized position of, and lack of 

 co-ordination between, different cane-growing 

 districts. In this way the same variety was 

 repeatedly introduced and exchanged, each 

 time acquiring a new name, and forming a 

 new local variety. In addition, great con- 

 fusion has often arisen from misplaced or 

 misread labels. The absence of system has 

 included the following methods of naming : — 

 I. Country of origin. 2. Country v/hence 

 obtained. 3. Plantation where first grown. 

 4. Name of introducer or of prominent local 

 individual. 5. Some pronounced character- 

 istic of the cane. 6. Native name. 7. Con- 

 fusion of names in exchange. 



The great state of uncertainty has been 

 ended through the detailed descriptions of 

 collections published by Fawcett,^^ Harrison 

 and Jenman,^^ Stubbs,^*DahlandArendrup,-''5 

 Bouton,^^ SoltwedeP^ and others. To ap- 

 preciate the matter thoroughly, it is necessary 

 to give a resume of the history of the intro- 

 duction of varieties. 

 In the old-world tropics the cane had been growing from ancient times, 

 especially in southern China and in India. It was seen in the PhiHppines 

 by Magellan in 1570, and the use of sugar is recorded as common in Java 

 in Pretty's account of Drake's circumnavigation. The cane was found 

 estabhshed in the islands of the South Pacific by all the early voyagers, and 

 is also recorded in Hawaii by Captain Cook. 



The cane travelled westwards from India (and north to China). It was 

 established in 600 a.d. at Gondeshapur at the mouth of the Euphrates, 

 where Christian monks were the first to make white sugar. Arabic civiliza- 

 tion carried the cane to the Levant, through the Mediterranean and to 

 Spain, where well before 1,000 a.d. a flourishing industry was established. 

 The Crusades served to develop the western appetite for sugar, and to still 

 further secure the Mediterranean and Levantine industry. In 1420, Henry 

 the Navigator sent the cane to Madeira, and later it reached the Azores, 

 the Canaries, and the Portuguese West African settlements. From this 



