14 FARMERS' BULLETIN. 



It should be remembered in the application of manures of this class 

 that they are exceedingly soluble., and the greatest benefit from their use 

 occurs at the time when light showers are prevalent. If applied at the 

 time when the heaviest and long-continued rains are anticipated, a very 

 large proportion of the valuable elements will be leached out of the land 

 and carried away in the middles and drains. For the rest, all the subse- 

 quent cultivation to be given until the rows are crowded with suckers, 

 and the cane ready to lay by and ripen, is a constant but superficial stir- 

 ring of the surface with either hoe or cultivator. 



After every rain, or so soon thereafter as the soil will admit of working, 

 this cultivation should never cease. It is the keynote of the successful 

 issue of the crop, and all the careful soil preparation and soil amend- 

 ments that have been bestowed in previous months are largely nullified, 

 if a hard, compact crust is permitted to form and remain upon the sur- 

 face. When the rows are completely crowded with cane, and the ground 

 well shaded, this surface induration will no longer occur, and the planter 

 can await the ripening of his crop with the assurance that every hour of 

 toil expended upon cultivation wiii oe many times repaid. 



(HARVESTING THE CROP. 



When the cane is ripe, and this is easily determined by the cessation of 

 growth and a general deepening in color, it is ready for harvesting. It 

 should be cut very close, or even with the ground in this climate, and the 

 tops and leaves trimmed off, when it is ready for delivery to the mill. 

 The tops are then gathered and buried in trenches of moderately dry soil 

 until required for planting. The leaves and trash are gathered and 

 burned, or else covered deeply in a furrow made by a double-mold-board 

 plow and allowed to decay. Both processes have strong advocates among 

 expert sugar growers ; but the process to be most commended will depend 

 on circumstances. If there be the slightest evidence of fungus growth, 

 or the presence indicated of any sap-sucking or cane-boring insect what- 

 soever, there is no option. Every vestige of refuse should be burned. If 

 such is not the case and there is, on the other hand, difficulty in obtain- 

 ing stable manures or other humus-making ingredients, burying the trash 

 will goi a long way toward the maintenance of soil fertility, and is the 

 best solution of the question of its disposition. 



MANAGEMENT OP STUBBLE. 



At one time three-fourths of all the cane grown on these Islands was 

 from stubble crops. Now, by long-continued depletion of the land, in 

 many districts it has become necessary to lay down the land to new seed 

 cane every year, and this system, despite its wastefulness, seems to be the 

 only one that affords planters any assurance of even a half crop. 



Where the lands are not hopelessly exhausted, or facilities are at hand 

 for their renovation, there is no excuse for this wasteful policy ; and vir- 



