46 
every cane of the clump must have it also, and the chance that its 
descendants are rich in sugar is greater than when some canes are 
very rich and others of the same clump are very poor, and the 
cuttings of these rich canes used for selection. After I had 
arrived at this conclusion, I analysed 5,000 cane-clumps belonging 
to five varieties, and selected 10 per cent of the highest and 10 per 
Since then I have reaped the canes grown from these cuttings, 
and found that the descendants of the rich canes contained 1} per 
cent. more available sugar than the descendants of the poor canes 
(average of 3,200 analyses). I was astonished to find that the 
rich canes’ descendants were heavier than the descendants of the 
poor canes. 
I continued the selection with canes from other varieties or 
other fields (5,700 analyses), and found as a general rule that the 
ich canes were the heaviest, and also that the heaviest canes were 
the richest in available sugar. I concluded from this that both a 
high content of available sugar and a heavy weight are inherited 
by the descendants. 
I selected 30,000 kgs. rich canes and 10,000 kgs. poor canes for 
cuttings, and these showed again the same properties. 
mention these investigations which, perhaps, escaped your 
attention, as the pamphlets are written in Dutch. But you would 
er them worth making known to sugar growers in the West 
ndies. 
I am, &c., 
; (Signed) J. D. KOBUS. 
The Director, 
oyal Gardens, Kew. 
DCXLVL—A BUDGET FROM YUNNAN—continued. 
The following letters are in continuation of those printed in the 
Kew Bulletin for 1898, pp. 289-297 :— 
EXTRACT from letter from Dr. A. Henry, F.L.S., to Royal 
Gardens, Kew, dated Szemao, par Laokay,  Tongking, 
November 29, 1898. 
| Collecting goes on apace; and I think the Szemao collection . | 
will fully equal that of Mengtze, and it will be considerably: 
different, wonderfully so when one considers that the two places 
many species are common). Here 
(6-10 species) Castanopsis (3 Spp.), 
