CHAPTER VIII 

 The Husbandry of the Cane 



The cane is grown under so many diverse conditions that no general sketch 

 of its husbandrj' is possible. An attempt is made in this chapter to give 

 some short notice of the implements employed 

 and the routine of operation in the more im- 

 portant districts. Broadl3' speaking, the dis- 

 tricts where the cane forms a staple fall into 

 two classes : those where the cultivation is 

 chiefl}- manual, and those where animal or 

 power-operated implements are used. The 

 former methods are mainh^ employed in the 

 presence of a cheap supph' of labour of 

 Asiatic or African origin, but the physical 

 conditions of the district have also a large 

 influence. 



The manual implements used in the 

 cultivation of the cane are the hoe, the fork, 

 the shovel, and the cutlass. The cutlass, 

 two forms of which are shown in Fig. 23, 

 is used in the British West Indies as a 

 weeding tool. In other districts this work 

 is done ^\ith the hoe, two forms of which are 

 shown in Fig. 24 ; the short-handled hoe is 

 used in Mauritius, and the long-handled form 

 m Demerara. Besides being used to cut 

 down weeds, it is employed to hoe earth 

 over the rows of cane and to make the cane 

 furrow, while in Mauritius it is also emplo^'ed 

 in making the holes in which the cane is 

 planted. The native Javanese hoe ox patjol Fig. 2^ 



is a short-handled tool with long and 



narrow blade, intermediate between a pick and a hoe. The fork, Fig. 25, 

 is employed in Demerara in the cultivation of the cane when forking hanks, 

 i.e., turning over with the fork the soil between the rows of cane. The shovel, 

 Fig. 26, is used in Demerara in preparing ihe seed bed, and in digging drains. 



With few exceptions the same implements that are employed in the hus- 

 bandry' of other plants find use with the cane ; these include steam, gang 

 ploughs, turn or mould-board, shovel, and disc ploughs, harrows, tongue 

 and disc cultivators. In this connection it is of interest to note that so long 

 ago as 1848 Wray in the " Practical Sugar Planter " advocated the use of 

 steam ploughs and of cultivators ; he illustrated a turn plough opeiated by 



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