40 



means to that end, indeed a plant so treated, will gain several 

 years on one placed in a one-foot hole. 



Sugar Cane — The sugar cane has no main root, but like all 

 grasses possess a great number of fine rootlets, these spread to a 

 great distance, and to a considerable depth in suitable soil. The 

 results would be of considerable interest and value if planters 

 would make a series of observations on the range of the roots of 

 the sugar cane. In good soil the majority of the rootlets reach 

 a depth of about 2 feet ; a smaller number extending even to 4 or 

 5 feet ; in moderately well tilled soil the roots grow downwards 

 until they reach the layer of soil but little disturbed by cultivation, 

 and then spread laterally, so that the depth to which the roots 

 descend in stiff soil depends on the depth of the tillage. 



Soil. — The question of the suitability or unsuitability of a soil 

 for producing a certain crop resolves itself into two distinct heads, 

 one being the physical character of the soil, the other its chemical 

 composition. It is not too much to say that the first essential in a 

 fertile soil is the capacity for absorbing an abundance of air ; at 

 the same time, the friability or porosity of the soil must not be 

 so excessive that no moisture is retained. The sugar cane will 

 grow upon almost any soil ; clays, loams, marls, and calcareous 

 soils, as well as vegetable ones, are suitable, more or less, to cane 

 cultivation. Indeed, considering that canes are grown in all the 

 principal West Indian Islands, with their wide diversity of soils, one 

 might feel inclined to come to the conclusion that the nature of 

 the soil was of no account in the cultivation. Rich, porous clays, 

 and alluvial soils on low lands, are the most favourable for cane 

 cultivation, with the exception, perhaps, of loams formed by the 

 decomposition of volcanic rocks, these being well fertilized by a 

 proportion of decayed vegetable matter. Deep black moulds are 

 less suitable for cane culture, tending to produce exuberant growths, 

 rather than a rich and plentiful juice ; some of the very best sugar 

 is produced on lime-stone soils, though they do not promise great 

 fertility. 



Coffee — Coffee trees delight in the cool climate of the moun- 

 tains, up to 4,500 feet, where the rain is abundant all the year 

 round, alternating with bright sunshine ; on the lower mountains, 

 especially where they are subject to dry sea breezes, the berries will 

 often be empty, mildewed, or scorched, and the trees short-lived. 



Soil. — The best soil is a free, open virgin soil, 3 or 4 feet deep ; 

 on steep slopes the soil should be firm, but not clayey, mixed with 

 a proportion of sand, gravel, or small stones through which water 

 may easily pass. Even on white limestone, if the climate is rainy, 

 coffee will flourish where the rocks are mixed with deep soil. 



To obtain large returns from each tree, the following should be 

 carefully attended to : 



(a) Choose a good and fertile soil, containing a tolerable 

 quantity of decayed vegetable matter, and having 

 a generous subsoil, which is naturally well drained. 



