11 



1. Bud variations occur in the sugar cane. 



2. They have been recorded from widely-separated countries, Mauritius, 



Louisiana, West Indies, and Queensland. 



3. The difference between sport and mother-plant are often as considerable 



as those between recognized distinct varieties of the sugar cane. 



4. Bud variation may give rise to : 



(a) Differently colored side shoots on one cane. 



(b) Differently colored canes in one stool springing from the same 



mother plant. 



(c) A cane with some joints striped and some unstriped. 



5. Plants grown from cuttings of the sports tend to come true to color. 



6. The cane giving rise to sports, whenever recorded, has been a striped or 



ribbon cane. 



The observations of other writers have disproven this last conclusion, as is 

 shown by Deerr's account of the Home variety mentioned below. Some bud 

 varieties of cane also show differences in hardiness and in sugar content. 



Deerr (16) states that the Lahaina and Bourbon varieties originated as bud 

 mutations from the Mignonne variety. He records that the yellow-violet 

 Cheribon and purple-violet Cheribon varieties originated as bud mutations of the 

 ribbon cheribon variety and that the white and black cheribon are bud varieties 

 of the ribbon cane. Also that the White Tanna and Black Tanna varieties origi- 

 nated as bud sports of the Striped Tanna. The Rose Bamboo and Purple Bam- 

 boo varieties arose from mutations of the Striped Bamboo, and the Yellow Tip 

 variety originated as a bud mutation of the Striped Tip. Deerr says that the 

 Home variety is of particular interest because it is one of the earliest, if not the 

 earliest, recorded instance of a striped cane originating from a self-colored cane 

 as a bud mutation. He also cites the Green Rose Ribbon variety originating as 

 a bud sport of the Otaheite variety. In the striped cane known as the Tsimbec, 

 a variety called the Iscambine rouge arose from a bud mutation. He says that 

 the Branchu blanche is a self-colored sport from the Branchu rayee. Further, 

 he records the case of green and yellow ribbon cane springing from the Yellow 

 Caledonia. 



In December, 1890, Mr. John Home (35), then Director of Forests and 

 Botanical Gardens, Mauritius, in a letter to the Director of the Royal Gardens, 

 Kew, published in the Kew Bulletin for 1891, wrote: "Of new varieties orig- 

 inating as bud sports we have eight or nine in Mauritius alone ; some of them 

 very fine canes and they are extensively planted. Most of them are hardier than 

 their parents and they yield more sugar. They are mostly obtained from new 

 canes recently introduced. The sudden change of climate, soil, and other circum- 

 stances cause them to be thrown off. More of them might be obtained if the 

 planters were more observing than they are and closely followed the cane cutters 

 throughout their fields. As things are, a new variety is only observed should it 

 chance to spring up in an outside row." 



The Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experiment Station has collected 

 a large amount of information showing the frequent occurrence of bud mutations 

 in sugar-cane varieties grown in the Hawaiian Islands. 



