128 CHAPTER VIII 



very often a centre cross tracker is also provided. The dam, called the back 

 dam, is not shown in the sketches. It is the last dam on the estate, and serves 

 to keep out savannah water. 



Approximate dimensions customary in Demerara are : — Navigation 

 trench : i6 feet to 20 feet top ; 12 feet to 16 feet bottom ; 4 feet to 5 feet 

 deep. Cross canals : 12 feet top, 9 feet bottom, 4 feet to 5 feet deep. Small 

 drains : 2 feet to 3 feet top ; li feet to 2 feet bottom ; 3 feet deep. Larger 

 drains (trackers) : 5 feet top, 3 feet bottom, 4 feet deep. 



No furrow is formed in the soil, but a seed bed three to four feet wide is 

 made with the shovel, into which the seed cane is pushed in a sloping direction. 

 Between the cane rows is a space about four feet mde called the hank ; 

 often on very stiff clayey soils a shallow drain known as a drill, running 

 parallel with the cane row, is made in this bank. 



Louisiana. — In Louisiana, where the sugar lands are flat and alluvial, 

 httle, if any, new land is now taken in for sugar-raising purposes. The pre- 

 paration of the old land is as foUows. The soil generally bears a plant and 

 ratoon crop of cane followed by corn ; at the last cultivation of the corn the 

 land is sown with cow peas at the rate of from one to three bushels per acre ; 

 an immense mass of vegetation is produced which is ploughed in with disc 

 ploughs as a green manure. When the vines have rotted sufficiently, the ridges 

 on which the cane is to be planted are formed with the turn plough ; drains 

 are made at right angles to the ridges, these quarter drains leading into 

 larger ditches, and these latter into the main drainage canals. 



Cuba. — The sugar lands of Cuba are divided into the older lands of the 

 western half, which have been in cultivation for many years, and the newer 

 lands of the eastern half, where quite recently plantations have been 

 carved out of the virgin forest. In putting new land into cultivation, 

 the larger trees are cut down, hauled off the land and sold for timber if a 

 market can be found. The stumps are left in situ. After a dry spell fire 

 is set to the undergrowth and the land thus cleared. No ploughing is at- 

 tempted, and indeed this would be quite impossible until the tree stumps 

 have rotted away. Cane is planted without any preparation of the soil, 

 holes being formed in the ground with a pick or crowbar. No attempt is 

 made to line out the rows, and the tops are planted as the stumps of the 

 trees best allow. Such land wiU often afford as many as twenty cuttings 

 from one planting, after which the tree stumps are sufficiently rotted to 

 allow of ploughing and of the ordinary agricultural processes. On the older 

 lands the ground is ploughed after the last crop of ratoons have been taken 

 off, and the cane is planted in furrows in the usual way. The ox-drawn 

 plough is being fast superseded by power-drawn implements. 



Hawaii. — Deep and thorough ploughing and good preparation of the soil 

 is a characteristic of this district. A typical routine is as follows : — After 

 the land has carried its last ratoon crop, a plough is run down the middle 

 of the row bursting out and shattering the ratoon rootstocks ; the land is 

 then harrowed, ploughed and, perhaps, cross-ploughed. Where the contour 

 of the land permits, steam ploughs, generally Fowler cable-operated balanced 

 ploughs, as shown on Plate XII are used ; after ploughing, a second harrowing 

 is done, following on which the furrows, and water-courses on irrigated plan- 

 tations, are made with a double mould-board plough. Fertilizer may then 

 be scattered on the bottom of the furrow and mixed with a subsoil tine 



