CHAPTER VII. 
MANURES (CONTINUED). . 
The Begasse or Cane Trash—How it may be disposed of—Uses— 
Its Composition—How to convert it intoa most Valuable Ma- 
nure—Rationale of the decomposition of the Trash—Waste 
Products—Their Use as Manures—Mineral Manures, from Arti- 
ficial Sources, how supplied—Gypsum as a Special Fertilizer— 
Harris’s Experiments—Analogies and Conclusions—Mode of ac- 
tion of Gypsum as applied to Cane—Why most Energetic when 
applied to Early-planted Cane—Importance of Potash as a Fer- 
tilizer. 
Most persons, who have worked up large crops of cane, 
have experienced considerable difficulty in converting the 
trash into such a condition as that it may be returned to 
the soil in the form of manure. ‘The trash, as it comes 
from the mill, has generally been allowed to accumulate in 
a loose pile, in which condition, in fair weather, it soon 
dries, and it is almost completely indestructible by the ordi- 
nary action of the air. This property of the dried begasse 
suggests the propriety of using it for thatching. As a 
covering for sheds, in which the canes are stored, in places 
where lumber is scarce, it would no doubt be a valuable 
material. In some places, it has been disposed of to the 
paper manufacturers. It may be used in the production 
of a valuable red dye; or it may be employed for fuel, in 
the fresh state, by means of a suitable arrangement of the 
furnace for evaporating the juice; or the greater part of 
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