40 Afiriculiural Research and Productivity 



ternational transmission. This became even more evident as the 

 stage 3 varieties were developed, since many more potentially 

 superior varieties now existed. The experiment station offered a 

 means of systematically testing different varieties and provided 

 information to growers. 



The South African case is instructive in this regard. The sugar 

 industry in South Africa was established in 1849. Prior to 1880 

 several wild varieties imported from Java, Mauritius, and India 

 were cultivated. A wild variety, Uba, was introduced in 1883 and 

 proved to be more disease-resistant than the other varieties. For a 

 period of fifty years it was the only important variety grown 

 (Alvord and Van de Wall 1954, DeKock 1924). 



During this fifty-year period some experimentation was carried 

 on by planters to find new varieties. A number of potentially im- 

 portant stage 2 and 3 varieties actually existed and were widely 

 planted in many countries. However, it was not until an experi- 

 ment station, financed by the growers, was established at Mt. 

 Edgecumbe in 1925 that stage 2 and 3 varieties from Java and In- 

 dia were introduced to the South African growers. The ac- 

 complishments of this station from 1925 until 1945 were confined 

 to the introduction of new disease-resistant stage 3 varieties, 

 mostly from Java and India. 



The percentage of the South African crop consisting of these 

 new varieties rose from 3.3 percent in 1933-34 to 95.5 percent in 

 1942-43. An analysis of yield increases based on a direct com- 

 parison of Uba and non-Uba yields indicated that by 1945 the 

 new varieties outyielded the old Uba variety by 27 percent. The 

 South African station released the first variety from its own 

 breeding program in 1947 (N: Co: 3 10). These first South African 

 varieties were essentially stage 4 varieties. It should also be noted 

 that they were the result of cooperative effort with the Indian Ex- 

 periment Station at Coimbatore. The actual crossing of fertiliza- 

 tion was completed in the Indian station. The South African sta- 

 tion conducted the growing and selection processes. 



The experiment stations in Queensland (Australia), Puerto 

 Rico, Taiwan, Mauritius, and several other countries were also in- 

 strumental in the testing and introduction of stage 2 and stage 3 

 varieties from other countries into their local economies 



