VARIATION IN THE CANE AND CANE VARIETIES 51 



late Mr. D. D. Baldwin, in a letter appearing in the Hawaiian Planters' 

 Gazette, May, 1882, states that Capt. Edwards brought two varieties, which 

 became known as Cuban and Lahaina ; to the former the names Oudinot 

 and Keni-Keni (Haw. Kini-Kini, numerous, in allusion to its prolific nature) 

 being also applied. 



He distinguishes them : — 



Lahaina. — Long straight leaves of light colour heavily aculeated or 

 covered with prickles at the base, with small round prominent buds. 



Cuban. — Leaves of darker green bending down in graceful curves, with 

 no prickles and large triangular buds located in little cavities on the side 

 of the cane stalk. 



The following irregularities in nomenclature may be noted : — 



1. In Reunion a purple cane (the Black Cheribon) is called Otaheite. 



2. The Bourbon, described by Stubbs as so called at .A.udubon Park, 

 is the White Cheribon, Crystalina, etc., but previously and at an early date 

 the term Bourbon had been attached in Louisiana to a purple cane, probably 

 that imported indirectly from Java. 



3. Following Cousins,^^ the Otaheite in Jamaica is the White Transparent 

 or White Cheribon. 



4. The name Portii first appears as Teboe Portii imported to Mauritius 

 from Java, 1869, and described as a chalky white cane of high reputation 

 in the Straits, and hence was not originally the Otaheite cane, but probably 

 the Salangore {q.v.). 



5. Owing to the confusion in transport, the name Louzier has been 

 applied to the Cavengerie (q.v.) in the Argentine. 



6. A similar confusion is responsible for the naming of a certain variety 

 Loethers in Java under the impression that the Louzier of Mauritius was 

 being dealt with. The cane of this name figured by SoltwedeP^ and Kriiger^^ 

 is a brown cane, quite distinct from the Louzier and not dissimilar from a 

 cane known in Mauritius as " Tamarind." 



7. A purple cane was introduced in i8go into Java from the Straits 

 under the name of Bourbon, and is stated by Geerligs to be very similar 

 to the Cheribon. Van Deventer, however, describes the Bourbon of Java 

 as very similar to the Striped Preanger. 



This cane is shown in the Frontispiece ; the illustration was prepared from 

 a ripe Louzier cane in Mauritius. It combines the characteristics of heavy 

 tonnage, long ratoonage, sweet and pure juice, and fibre content of 11 -5-12 -5 

 per cent, when grown under normal conditions. It mills easily and the 

 bagasse steams well. In the Hawaiian Islands, under irrigation and with 

 20 months' period of growth, it has frequently in individual fields given over 

 100 tons of cane and over r? tons of sugar per acre, with a purity in the 

 mixed juice of over go. On occasion large areas have produced a crop with 

 over 18 per cent, of sugar in cane ; and with individual canes containing 

 over 20 per cent., the average over the whole of the Hawaiian Islands is 

 rather over 15 per cent. It is, however, a shallow rooter, and hence sus- 

 ceptible to drought ; it responds very quickly to untoward soil conditions 

 and possesses a very low degree of immunity to various fungus diseases. In 

 fact most of the historic epidemics [cf. Chapter IX) have been connected 

 with this variety. 



From 1800 to iqoo it was the standard cane of the British West Indies, 

 but never succeeded in establishing itself in Cuba in competition with the 

 Crystalina. From 1760 to 1848 as the Jaune de Otaheite, and again from 



