MANUAL FOR SUGAR GROWERS. 41 



the bottom of the furrows. If farm -yard or pen 

 manure is used, — and either this or green dressing is 

 generally very necessary, — it should be well ploughed 

 in during the preparation of the land for planting, 

 preferably before the holeing or banking process. 

 It is not an uncommon practice to defer the appli- 

 cation of manure of this kind until the preparation 

 of the land is completed, and often until after the 

 cane has been planted. This is a mistake, as the 

 function of pen manure is a double one : first, to sup- 

 ply vegetable matter to form humus, the importance 

 of which has been fully dwelt upon and its action in 

 loosening the soil explained ; and it is as a mechani- 

 cal manure, as a means of improving condition or 

 heart, that pen manure is most useful ; its second 

 property, that of a fertilizer, is not to be overlooked, 

 but is secondary to the one already alluded to ; and it 

 is to secure the full benefit of the first of these prop- 

 erties that complete covering and mixing with the 

 soil is desirable. 



Another method of preparing the land for plant- 

 ing, which has some good features, consists in cross- 

 holeing ; this differs from the plain holeing or bank- 

 ing in having a cross-bar raised at right angles to 

 the furrow, thus forming a number of square holes, 

 and in the bottom of each a cane-plant is placed. 

 The use of cross -holeing aj^pears to be twofold : in 

 the first place it restrains the flow of surface water 

 and prevents loss of mould by washing in heavy rain ; 

 if the land be sufficiently porous the water retained in 

 the holes will soak through the soil and drain away 

 without injury to the plant ; on stiff land or in a wet 



