128 THE CHIEF SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL CROPS 



irrigation is applied in the water furrow. As a rule 

 only one or at most two crops of stubble cane are 

 harvested, after which the field is plowed up and again 

 replanted. The chief feature of the Hawaiian culti- 

 vation is the immense amount of commercial ferti- 

 lizer used. Practically no cane is planted without it, 

 even on virgin lands, the quantity applied running 

 from six hundred to as high as fifteen hundred pounds 

 per acre. Complete fertilizers are usually employed, 

 and two or even three applications are made during 

 the year. The exact formula used and the method of 

 application varies considerably on the different planta- 

 tions, but the tendency is to employ a large per cent 

 of potash. No such necessity exists here for forcing 

 early maturity as is found in Louisiana. The largest 

 yields of sugar known in any part of the world are 

 obtained on these highly fertilized, irrigated planta- 

 tions. They reach more than sixty tons of cane per 

 acre with a sugar production of over eight tons. 



Methods of Cultivation: Cuba. — At present Cuba 

 is passing through a transition period in regard to 

 methods of cane cultivation. Formerly cane was 

 planted exclusively on new lands. The forest was 

 cut down, fire was applied to the tangled mass of vege- 

 tation, and pieces of cane were planted among the 

 blackened logs and stumps by simply thrusting them 

 into holes made by crowbars. No preparation of the 

 land was attempted and no cultivation was given or 

 required. Sprouts and vines which sprung up were 

 cut down occasionally with the hoe or machete. The 

 soil was originally so fertile and the climate so con- 

 genial to cane production that even with this crude 



