WHEN TO PLANT. an 
19th of May. Within these limits we may locate the 
sixty days of the early growth of cane, in no case allowing 
them to terminate later than the early part of June. It 
should be borne in mind, that a period covering almost 
one-third of the whole life of the plant should have been 
passed at that time. 
By late planting, the season which is naturally devoted 
to the extension and ramification of the roots is improperly 
abbreviated at the expense of the vigor of the plant. Be- 
fore the root has prepared itself for the grand display of 
vegetative activity that naturally so suddenly succeeds this 
stage of slow external development, the warm sun of early 
summer forces the stem to a premature growth. Lacking 
the elaborated nourishment which it would otherwise have 
received, the stalk grows up weak and slender, and imper- 
fect iu its structure and functions. Plainly, then, we have 
been guilty of a great error in sanctioning a system of 
culture so much at variance with the nature and real wants 
of this plant. A good crop of oats could not reasonably 
be expected to follow early summer sowing, and it is a tes- 
timony rather to the remarkable hardihood of the plant 
than a compliment to our sagacity or skill, that a remuner- 
ative yield of cane ever follows similar treatment. Let us 
make it a rule to plant as near the beginning of April as 
the condition of the weather and the soil will permit; and 
to render it practicable ordinarily to do so, fall plowing 
and ridging are necessary. Frosts may cut down the 
young blades to the surface of the ground, but the vital 
parts will be uninjured, and when the proper season comes, 
the superstructure of stem, leaf, and flower will be carried 
up with a vigor that will evidence the value of the under- 
ground foundation from which it springs. No plant is 
more beautifully adapted than sorghum to the peculi- 
arities of our climate. 
4 
