156 



-cotyledons (Ganja), in the Nupe Country is worth about 100 cowries 

 whilst the oiher (Fatak), averages about 8 > only. The value of cowrie, 

 at Rabba was 2,500 for the d llir of 4s. 4d. 



SEEDLING CANES. 



By T. J. Harris, Asst. Superintendent, Hope Gardens. 



The raising of seedling sugar canes has of late excited a good deal 

 of interest throughout the West Indies, due perhaps, to the possibility 

 of a varietj^ being produced that would yield a sufficiently large average 

 per acre as would solve the difficulty that over-hangs the industry at 

 the present time. 



Although Barbados and Trinidad have been eminently successful in 

 raising large numbers of seedling plants, yet it has fallen to the lot of 

 Demerara to give to the sugar planter a variety far superior to any 

 that existed before. 



This variety, No. 95, yields under fair conditions, two tons of sugar 

 per acr , and one instance is recorded of its having produced four tons 

 per acre. 



It, however, has one draw-back ; and that is, the top is so light 

 that the estate cattle, depending as they do on the tops for their food, 

 have to go short, or be fed on Guinea ;?r,is3. At Roupe G irdens. No. 

 95 is being propagated as fast as possible for distribution among the 

 planters in Jamaica, and large numbers of tops have already been sent 

 out. 



To raise canes from seed is apparently no easy matter ; repeated at- 

 tempts were made at Hope during the last four or five years, and not 

 until this yea- has success been attained; the erstwhile failure being 

 due probably to the difficulty of obtaining definite information on the 

 subject. 



It is with a view to supplying this deficiency that I am tempted 

 to place on record the following notes and observations taken while 

 the seedling canes were being raised at Hope 



In the first place the seeds must be perfectly ripe before the fl^g" is 

 cut from the cane ; the best way to test them, I fi id, is to bend down 

 a flag" cind blow upon it; if a f^w of the seeds, with their woolly 

 pappus-like covering are blown SLwaj, or if it is seen that some have 

 already been blown away b}^ the wind, then the " flag" may be cut. 



The ripe flags are then packed in paper and taken to a closed shed 

 away from the wind, where the s -eds are picked off the branches of 

 the flag ; tliese are sown at once in well drained and shallow boxes con- 

 taining fine sand and a little ordinary soil mixed with it ; the surface 

 of the sand is made as level as possible before the seeds are sown, the 

 latter being covered to the depth of -Jth of an inch ; the boxes are then 

 placed under a glass roof, out of the reach of heavy rains and intense 

 sunlight, and watered carefully. 



Fig. 1. indicates the appearance of the seed when sown. 



Fig 2. s ows the first stage of germination l4 days after sowing ; 

 the first leaf appears about a week later ; and, as will be seen in tig. 3^ 

 emerges from a whitish sheath ; this leaf is almost tubular in form and 

 differs in this respect from the surrounding grass weeds. A fairly 

 strong lens is required to distinguish them, and the weeds are, of 

 icourse, removed as soon as possible. 



