December, 1909,1 



515 



Edible Products, 



and scored 10 per cent, more in sugar 

 and 20 per cent, more in weight. 



About three weeks after fructification 

 the seeds are ripe and the arrow is divid- 

 ed into small parts. The thin arrow 

 branches with the adhering glumaa con- 

 taining the seed are spread out on the 

 soil, pressed on it, and well watered. As 

 we have already mentioned, we prefer 

 for this a heavy fertile soil, and the 

 earthernware pots we use are placed in 

 the tropical sun without any covering, 

 except at night time, when heavy rains 

 come on— that might uproot the young 

 seedling canes. 



The seeds begin to germinate on the 

 third day and continue to do so for a 

 fortnight or more. In some sowings not 

 one seed germinates, in others after three 

 weeks the soil is quite covered with the 

 young cane seedlings, such that on a 

 square foot nearly 4,000 have been count- 

 ed and the pot resembled part of a lawn. 

 When the young plants are four to six 

 inches high they are planted individu- 

 ally in small pots with fertile soil, and 

 there they are left till they have grown 

 to the length of one foot or more, when 

 they are planted out in the cane fields. 

 After the young seedlings have been put 

 into the small pots no losses of any 

 extent have to be registered ; in fact, it 

 not infrequently happens that all the 

 transplanted seedlings will reach matu- 

 rity. 



In Java this takes place within one 

 year. Sometimes the seedlings grow so 

 luxuriously that they weigh over fitty 

 pounds, but, of course, these are excep- 

 tions, and moreover, such heavy plants 

 are generally poor in sugar. 



Notwithstanding that we have learn- 

 ed how to avoid many of the difficulties 

 met with in the breeding of cane seed- 

 lings, and every year new hints are 

 assimilated in the course of our experi- 

 ments, the breeding of a very superior 

 variety is a mere chance. To increase 

 this chance we cidtivate as many seed- 

 lings from parents with the desired 

 properties as possible ; the last five years 

 we have got each year between 16,000 

 and 32,000. Easily germinating seeds 

 from parents liable to disease are not 

 made use of ; at least, one of the parents 

 must be immune. 



Several crossings, that suggested 

 themselves as desirable, did not prove 

 a success. All those, for instance, of 

 the seedling variety No. 100, one of the 

 best cultivated in Java, rich in sugar, 

 poor in fibre, but rather delicate in re- 

 gard to the quality of the soil, crossed 

 with the other varieties, also rich in 

 sugar and not so sensible for soil 



qualities, have given till now bad re- 

 sults, though no lack of experiments 

 have been made. Because the properties 

 of the seedlings depended on those of 

 the parent canes, we have tried for a 

 few years to make crossings that united 

 in them the qualities of several varieties. 

 Seedlings from these will, we hope, show 

 such a wide range of variation that 

 there is a good chance of producing a 

 variety with still better qualifications 

 thau the ones now in cultivation. 



When the seedlings are one year old 

 all those plants that are deficient in 

 exterior qualities are rejected and only 

 those that - look well from a cultural 



f)oint of view are brought to the 

 aboratory. There every plant is ana- 

 lysed separately, and only the cuttings 

 of those that were rich in sugar are 

 planted. In 1897 we chose as a limit a 

 calculated production of four tons of 

 available sugar per acre ; since that 

 year the sugar production in Java has 

 so increased, chiefly from the introduc- 

 tion of the older seedling varieties and 

 a more rational culture, that we raised 

 our lowest limit to nearly seven tons 

 per acre. 



Ordinarily over 90 per cent, of the 

 seedlings are rejected in the field, and of 

 those analysed, as an average, only 0*25 

 percent, are rich enough in sugar to war- 

 rant replanting. After one year there, 

 two selections, one in the field and one in 

 the laboratory, are made again, Avhere- 

 by the surviving seedlings are reduced to 

 nearly two-thirds, and as we go on in 

 this way for four years selecting the 

 good varieties and rejecting the bad 

 ones, only very few seedlings are left 

 at the end of that period, and at the 

 same time multiplied in such a way 

 that we have got enough plants to make 

 it possible to try their value in our ex- 

 perimental fields against the older seclee- 

 tions. If they stand this trial their 

 cuttings are, a year afterward, put at 

 the disposal of the sugar factories. We 

 never analyse samples of our canes, since 

 it is impossible to make average samples 

 of a few cane plants ; therefore, we send 

 all our canes through the mill and 

 analyse the juice. 



The results of the breeding of cane 

 seedlings in Java are very good, and, 

 what is more, the seedlings were at the 

 disposal of the factories just when they 

 were the most needed. When first the 

 sereh disease attacked the sugar canes 

 in Java, the ruin of the sugar industry 

 was prevented by the import of cuttings 

 from those parts of the island where the 

 disease had not spread. This, however, 

 was only possible for a few years, since 

 as early as 1890 the whole island wag 



