IMPROVEMENT OF THE SUGAR CANE. 89 
(a) Varieties obtained from other countries. 
This line of research is doubtless the earliest one which | 
was followed, for we find that as far back as the time of the 
mutiny of the Bounty, the West Indian Planters were 
on the outlook for better varieties, and imported into the 
West Indies, the Bourbon, the Purple Transparent, the 
White Transparent, the Red Ribbon, the Green Ribbon 
and probably the Violet Ribbon varieties from the islands 
of the Pacific and Indian Oceans to replace the old Brazi- 
lian cane, a few of which latter still linger in our cane- 
fields and are knownas Creole or as Native canes. We 
find it recorded that from time to time interest in these 
and other varieties increased and decreased in the West 
Indies, but that more interest in this matter was appa- 
rently always taken in Java, in Mauritius and in Queens- 
land than in these western colonies. In Java for instance, 
in 1860, M, J. KRAJENBRINK made a careful series of ex- 
periments with nine varieties of canes, a report of which 
is to be found on P. 193 of Vol. ii. of the Sugar Cane. 
In the British West Indies, Jamaica set the example of 
systematic cultivation of varieties of canes in the Govern- 
ment Botanic Gardens, followed by Trinidad, then by 
this colony and later by Barbados. But, as I have already 
mentioned, in the first two of these colonies the interest 
taken in the varieties by the Government Botanists 
merely extended to their morphological charaéters and 
occasionally to the yield of juice; an excellent example 
of which system may be found in Dr. MORRIS’ report on 
his Department in Jamaica for 1884. The planter was 
left to ascertain by experiment on a large and costly 
scale as to whether or not some variety would give as 
good results with his former staple kind and necessarily 
M 
