43 



the stalks have very little sugar-producing value and actually : injure 

 the juice from the other portions of the stalk by increasing the amount 

 of invert sugar which it contains. Their removal does not materially 

 decrease the total amount of sugar which can be harvested from a field. 



When plantings are made during the dry season and the points placed 

 vertically, the lower ends extend down deep enough to absorb the scant 

 moisture as soon as the fibrous roots begin developing. 



Time of planting. — The points are generally cut during the milling 

 season just after the cane has been stripped and before it is cut down. 

 They are then thrown into piles and carted away, usually to a stream 

 or other place where water and shade are found. The leaf sheaths are 

 removed by hand, generally by women and children, after which the 

 points are tied into bundles of about one hundred each and these are 

 thrown into the water where they are left until germination begins. 

 They are then removed and taken to the field, which has been previously 

 prepared and are planted as rapidly as possible before drying out occurs. 



The time of planting in most parts of the Islands is simultaneous 

 with milling and extends generally from December until April. How- 

 ever, in sections like Negros with a good soil and a well-distributed 

 rainfall, planting can be made at almost any season except, possibly, 

 during the period of heaviest rain which occurs from July to October. 



Method of planting. — The laying off and furrowing out of the rows 

 should be done just ahead of actual planting. This can be done with 

 a turn plow run twice in the same furrow but is more commonly accom- 

 panied by the use of the middle breaker. 



The width of the rows is a question on which there is a great difference 

 of opinion, but cane is generally planted in tropical countries in rows 

 from 1 to 1.70 meters apart. The tendency in the Philippines, where 

 the small rapidly maturing varieties of sugar cane are grown and where 

 no fertilizers or irrigation are used, is to plant in narrow rows. A 

 great deal of the cane in Pampanga Province, where the stalks rarely 

 mature much more than 1.5 meters in height, is planted but little 

 more than a meter between the rows. In heavier types of land, par- 

 ticularly in Negrofi, the rows are often 1.2 to 1.6 meters apart. The 

 rows on level land may be laid off in straight lines between the planta- 

 tion roads used for transporting the cane, but where the land is hilly 

 enough to wash, the rows should be nin horizontally around the hill- 

 sides. Where irrigation is used the rows can be so placed as to have 

 a slight fall, which will greatly facilitate the running of the irrigation 

 water along them. 



The furrowing out of the rows should not be done until everything 

 is in readiness for planting as the land readily dries out and the per- 

 centage of germination is decreased. After the points have been cut 



