*298 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Ser. EL vol. iii. 1902, pp. 17 -80. Tab. 11).— This laborious and detailed 

 paper on " The Chemical Selection of the Sugar-cane " is worthy of close 

 study by every breeder of plants, for it gives an account of an attempt 

 to produce by cuttings a. race of Sugar-cane that should display an in- 

 creased vigour by an increased yield of sugar and by an increased power 

 of resisting (sereh-) disease. The conclusions drawn obviously have a 

 very important bearing upon cultivated herbs that are propagated 

 vegetatively rather than by seeds. 



The conclusions arrived at may be summarised as follows : 

 1. The amount of sugar in the individual haulms of one sugar plant 

 was apt to vary greatly. The author selected for propagation plants that 

 exhibited small variations, and he suggests that greater success might 

 attend analogous attempts at improvement in the Potato were more 

 attention paid to the amount of starch in the whole of the tubers rather 

 than in individual tubers. 



'1. The variability of the amount of sugar in the different varieties 

 was greatest in thick-stemmed varieties that had long been in cultivation, 

 and least in young ones more recently selected from seed. 



3. The amount of sugar in the cane varied directly with the weight of 

 the same. 



4. Heavy plants gave rise to heavy offspring. The same character 

 has been shown in reference to the Potato. 



5. The descendants of plants rich in sugar were richer in sugar and 

 heavier than unselected plants. 



6. But the simple selection of cuttings of heavy plants did not lead to 

 the production of forms markedly richer in sugar, though the resulting 

 plants were in general richer in sugar. Indeed, heavy plants poor in 

 sugar seemed to have a much worse effect on the amount of sugar in the 

 progeny than did light plants poor in sugar. 



7. Extreme care had to be exercised in the selection of the ground on 

 which the experiments were made ; for even on an apparently uniform 

 soil great differences were apt to appear in the individual plants merely 

 in consequence of local variations in the soil. 



8. A most important discovery was made, namely, that the increased 

 vigour as reflected in the larger yield of sugar was accompanied by 

 greater immunity from the sereh-disease. — P. G. 



Sugar-cane, Table Syrups from. By H. W. Wiley (U.S.A. 

 Dep. Bur, Agr. Ohem. f Bull No. 60, 1902; illustrated).— Sugar-cane 

 was introduced more than a hundred years ago into the United States, 

 and since then its use in manufacturing table syrups has become wide- 

 spread, and is now practised in Southern Texas, Louisiana, Southern 

 Ml 1 »jppij Alabama, Southern Georgia, South Carolina, and the whole 

 of Florida. 



The chief difficulties in connection with this manufacture are, lack of 

 uniformity in method, the tendency of the syrup to ferment in warm 

 \v«-uth<-r, and the presence on the market of artificial syrups sold under 

 misleading names. 



In (u> i the finished product often crystallises, which detracts from 

 |'l'«unmce. Cutting and piling the canes lor some time before use 



