CHAP TE R< xX. 
MEANS BY WHICH THE MATURITY OF CANE MAY BE 
HASTENED. 
Special Means by which Early Ripening may be secured—Inatten- 
tion of Planters to this Subject—The Period of Growth may be 
abbreviated to advantage by the practice of the System of 
Planting and Culture previously recommended—Selection of the 
Earliest ripened Seeds from the most Highly- developed Plants— 
Early Planting—Sprouting of Seed—Drainage of Land—Use of 
Lime—Upland Soil and Southern Exposure of the Surface— 
Direction of the Cane Rows—Importance of attention to these 
Particulars. 
To secure for the cane, in whatever latitude it may be 
grown, the full benefit that it is capable of deriving from the 
climate and soil, it is important that every part of the work 
of its cultivation should be done just at the right time, and 
especially should every means be used by which its maturity 
may be hastened without injury to its growth, or to the 
saccharine matter in the juice. It has already been men- 
tioned (in Ch. [V.) that the mode of cultivation there rec- 
ommended for general adoption, is not only such as seems 
demanded by the constitution of the plant, but also that 
it conduces, in a marked degree, to its early maturity. In 
latitudes north of Washington City and St. Louis, at least, 
it is an important consideration to secure the ripening of 
the cane sufficiently early to enable it to escape all danger 
from frost, and to prevent the annoyance and loss of time 
resulting from an undue haste in gathering and working up 
the crop. But for the astonishing neglect of the means con- 
(71) 
