124 THE CHIEF SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL CROPS 



known as windrowing. The cane cut from two rows 

 is carefully piled in the water furrow between them 

 in such a way that the stalks of one armful are 

 completely covered by the tops of the next. When 

 the windrow is completed, only a continuous row of 

 tops and leaves is visible. Furrows are now thrown 

 from either side with large plows and the work of 

 completely covering with dirt is finished with hoes. 

 In severe winters the windrowed cane is sometimes 

 damaged so that a larger quantity of seed will be 

 required to secure a stand. With the first warm 

 days of spring the dirt is thrown from the sides of 

 the beds with the plow and the greater part of the 

 earth which covers the cane is scraped off with 

 hoes. This lets in the warmth of the sun and pro- 

 motes early germination. Fertilizer is now scat- 

 tered in the side furrows and as soon as germination 

 is completed the dirt is thrown back with a turning 

 plow and the water furrows are cleaned out with the 

 double moldboard plow. The subsequent cultiva- 

 tion is all done with disk cultivators, which throw 

 still more dirt to the rows, and with the Magnolia or 

 some other similar form of cultivator for the water 

 furrows. No hoeing is needed after the first scrap- 

 ing of the dirt from the seed canes. In fact even 

 this is sometimes done with a special implement de- 

 vised for the purpose. When the cane tops begin to 

 meet between the rows, it is " laid by," by again 

 cleaning the water furrows with the double mold- 

 board and opening up the quarter drains, which 

 should be six inches deeper than the bottom of the 

 water furrows. After the harvest the land is left 



