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by tlie plant breeeder, and its species are scattered all over the world. 

 Two species with refreshiug berries are growing wild ou tlie slopes of 

 tlie volcanoes of B^nwaUyV. penduUflorum Gawd,, and V. reticulatum 

 Smitb. According to Ferd. von Mueller (Select Extra-tropical Plants)^ 

 a species Y. arctostaphylos L., with very palatable berries, occurs from 

 Greece to tbe Caucasus. 'Y. grandiflorum Dom., Y. Mcolor F. v. Mueller, 

 and Y. alatum Dom. grow in the cold zones of the Peruvian Andes and 

 produce berries tbe size of a cherry, of an acidulous grateful taste. 

 Southern India could furnish a species, Y. LesclienauUii Wight, with 

 cranberry-like fruits J the mountains of Mexico an arborescent species, 

 Y. leucanthum Chamisso; Jamaica a small-berried species, Y. meri- 

 dionale Swartz; while Madeira and the Azores possess an arborescent 

 shrub, Y. padi folium Smith, and the mountains of Colombia a second 

 shrubby species, Y. mortinia Benth., the fruits of which are marketed 

 in Quito under the name of ^'Mortina." If such of these could bo 

 secured as were amenable to cultivation and acclimatization and gath- 

 ered together with the dozen or more North American species, oppor- 

 tunities for the i)lant breeder would be afforded which could scarcely 

 fail to result in the production of superlative blueberries, huckleberries, 

 and cranberries, for which markets would easily be created. 



A criticism that could be justly brought against the truly magnilicent 

 botanic gardens which the English, French, and Dutch Governments 

 have scattered throughout their colonies and liberally supported, is that 

 sufficient importance has not been attached to this work of the improve- 

 ment of cultivated plants. Extensive collections of economic plants are 

 to be found in many of these gardens, but apparently no attempt is made 

 to establish, for example, specimens of all the species of coffee, which is 

 the first step to be taken in the production of a better variety. Coffee 

 is still grown from seed. There remains yet to be established a plant- 

 breeding station in the Tropics, with which the work of systematic plant 

 introduction can cooperate and gather together those food plants which 

 it shall be the aim of plant breeders to utilize in producing superior 

 varieties. As a move in the right direction the excellent worl^ of Jenman 

 and Harrison in British Guiana maybe mentioned. Their results already 

 obtained in the breeding of a superior quality of sugar cane stimulated 

 the recommendation of a grant of $5,000 by the Eoyal West Indian 

 Commission.* These English experimenters gathered 120 varieties of 

 cane from various countries, and by crossing produced a cane with a 

 higher percentage of sugar than ordinary cane — 16.1 per cent as com- 

 pared with 13.2 x)er cent for Bourbon cane, the variety hitherto grown 

 in Guiana. 



The finely equipped gardens of the Dutch in Java are modeled upon 

 modern lines, and yet until recently no attempts have been made to 



*Kew Bull, of Miscellaneous Information. Additional Scries I, 1898. Report on 

 tlie economic resources of the West Indies, by D. Morris, assist ant director EoyaJ 

 Gardens, Kew, pi). 13 and 163. 

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