THE SUGAR-CANE PLANT 



Yield. 



Standards. 



Unirrigated. 



Planting 



SACCHARUM 



OFFICINARUM 



Central Provinces 



acres in the Central Provinces (19,601 irrigated, 1,788 unirrigated), and 

 2,076 acres in Berar. The districts with largest areas are usually as 

 follows : Central Provinces : Chhattisgarh (Sambalpur and Bilaspur), 

 8,730 acres ; Nerbudda (Betul) 5,324 acres ; Nagpur (Bhandara and 

 Balaghat) 4,910 acres ; Jabbalpur 2,425 acres ; and Berar : Buldana, 

 922 acres ; Wun, 350 acres ; Basim, 342 acres, etc. Particulars are not 

 available regarding the yield of gur from these provinces collectively, but 

 the Revenue Settlement Report on the district of Betul (published in 1901) 

 affords many useful particulars that may be here mentioned. The 

 average yield of cane would appear to be 18 tons and the yield of gur 

 about 2 tons (9 tons of cane yielding 1 of gur). The gur produced is, 

 moreover, of excellent quality and fetches locally about 30 per cent, more 

 than the average article imported from other parts of India. These 

 results are no doubt higher than those obtained in the Central Provinces- 

 generally, and even in Betul the yield of gur ranges from 1,500 to 5,000 Ib. 

 Sir J. B. Fuller proposed that the standards accepted for the yield of gur 

 should range from 1,500 Ib. to 4,000 Ib. 



Cane is grown under two quite different systems, according as irrigation is or 

 is not used. The only soil on which it is possible to grow cane without artificial 

 watering is that known as black cotton soil, and there is a certain amount of unirri- 

 gated cane in all districts in which this soil occurs. Unirrigated cane is planted in 

 November, December and January, on land which has, as a rule, enjoyed a year's 

 fallow and has been ploughed again and again for the previous nine months. 

 The field is manured with cow-dung at the rate of 50 to 200 maunds to the acre, 

 it being often applied as a top dressing when the young shoots have appeared 

 above-ground. Pulverised oil-cake is also used in Bilaspur, being placed round the 

 roots of the plants at the commencement of the rains. An important feature 

 in this method of cultivating cane is the covering of the ground with leaves as 

 soon as the young shoots have come up. This checks evaporation and renders 

 the lack of irrigation less harmful than it would otherwise be. The field is hoed 

 and weeded between the rows of cane three or four times during the rains, and 

 the crop is ready for cutting in November. This system is known as palwar 

 or nagarwa. 



But by far the largest and most productive portion of the cane area is irrigated. 

 With water and manure, cane can be grown on almost any description of soil, 

 but the kinds most preferred are clayey loams. The reddish loam of Chhindwara 

 is one of the best suited to sugar-cane in these provinces. Montgomerie (Land 

 Rev. SettL, 1901-5, app. i.) takes a less favourable view, and says that th imports 

 of cheaper sugars are curtailing production. He gives the cost of production as 

 Rs. 164-10-10 and the average annual profit as Bs. 38. The following account 

 of cultivation in Betul (abstracted from the Rept. on the Land Rev. SettL, 1901, 

 32-40) will illustrate the method by irrigation. The field in which the crop is 

 grown is divided into several plots, three or four in number, and the sugar-cane 

 is grown in each in turn. It is generally irrigated from a well, but occasionally 

 from a hole beside a river-bed. Before the rains, manure is laid down in the plot 

 selected, and during the rains and the first months of the cold weather it is 

 thoroughly ploughed. At the end of December or beginning of January the field 

 is divided into numerous plots with main irrigation channels between and smaller 

 ones across them. The furrows are made by a plough with a triangular board 

 fastened above and at the back of the share. The " seed," which consists of pieces 

 of cane each with three or four eyes, is then sown. The sower lays them in the 

 water- channels, which have been previously well watered, and partly buries them 

 by pressure with his foot. As soon as the plot is sown a watering is given, and if 

 well -rotted manure is obtainable, it is now spread on the land. The crop is then 

 fenced to keep out cattle and jackals. For the first fifteen days it receives no moro 

 water, but afterwards must be regularly watered. During the cold weather no 

 part of the crop should be without water longer than eight days, and in the warm 

 weather longer than four days. Throughout the monsoons there is nothing to 

 do but keep down weeds, ward off animals and bind the canes together so that they 

 may not be broken by wind. At the end of September watering must begin 

 again, and great importance is attached to the watering given at this time. In 



Manure. 



Mulched 

 Surface. 



Harvest. 



Irrigated 

 Soils. 



Cost. 



Situation. 

 Manure. 



Irrigation 

 Channels. 



Propagation. 



Watering. 



Autumn 

 Watering. 



946 



