IMPROVEMENT OF THE SUGAR CANE. Io! 
well founded base, to quote the conclusion arrived at by 
the Committee of the Imperial Agricultural Institute of 
Brazil appointed to enquire into the matter, of which 
Committee Dr. GLASL was the most prominent member, 
and which may be found on p. 417 of the Sugar Cane 
Vol. IX. :— 
* 1. The real grafting of sugar'cane does not exist. 
2. Theory does not explain it, and fa&s do not 
confirm it. \ 
3. All fa€ts presented up to our time, as to grafts, 
appertain perfectly to the great field of | 
morphological phenomena.” 
_ These conclusions were arrived at after consideration 
of the alleged results of gratting by at least four methods, 
and aétual examinations of the so-called grafted canes, 
and | think that under the circumstances you will agree 
that Mr. JENMAN and myself are not deserving of any 
great degree of censure for not attempting to graft a 
monocotyiedonous plant. The produé€tion of improved 
varieties by graft-hybrids of the sugar cane, in my opinion, 
may, with all due deference to Professor BARBER, be 
dismissed as beyond the bounds of probability. 
(a) By the selection of tops for planting from canes 
of high saccharine contents. 
Many refleétions have been cast at sugar cane planters 
from time to time by those whose knowledge of the 
plant has been almost entirely theoretical, for not seleét- 
ing the tops for planting on account of their apparent 
vigour or of the high saccharine strength of the cane 
from which they are cut. Among others the Dire€tor of 
Kew Gardens has frequently called attention to this 
matter. But neither among practical planters nor among 
