Occasional Notes. 



By the Editor. 



The discovery of Seed and Seedlings of the Sugar- 

 cane in Barbados. — The case of the a6lual proof and 

 the general recognition of the fa6t: that the sugar-cane 

 produces fertile seed — a result brought about by the work 

 of Mr. J. B. Harrison, M.A., of Christ's College, Cam- 

 bridge (late Island Professor of Chemistry in Barbados 

 and now Government Chemist of British Guiana) and Mr. 

 BOVELL of the Dodd's Reformatory, Barbados — well 

 illustrates the uncertainties that often attend the scientific 

 worker in the public recognition of his work, as well as 

 the disadvantages under which such workers labour in the 

 smaller colonies, away from the great European centres of 

 learning, and the great Societies, at whose meetings 

 they might personally record the results of their work. 



More than two years ago by their experiments, Messrs 

 Harrison and Bovell were led to the opinion, pre- 

 viously stated by other observers, that the sugar-cane 

 not only produces seed, but fertile seed ; and it is 

 now eighteen months ago that the results of their 

 experiments, which had been carried out on a scale, 

 and in a manner, that placed the fa6t beyond doubt, were 

 made known. Since then, confirmatory of their work, 

 the seeds have been sown by other individuals and have 

 germinated, and the seedlings have even been planted out 

 and raised. Spikelets of fertile seeds, and germinating 

 seedsand seedlings preserved in glycerine, were distributed 

 by the investigators to various institutions and indi- 

 viduals — and canes grown from some seedlings for- 



