CULTIVATION OF SUGAR CANE. 13 



equilibrium. Aside from the humus and the means of providing for it 

 that has already been discussed, there are two essential ingredients of soil 

 fertility that exist in all rich lands, but upon which the sugar cane makes 

 extraordinary drains, and the application of these in the most available 

 forms not only meets with an assured response in a marked increase of 

 crop, but is a guarantee of a continued state of soil fertility that leaves 

 the farm capital always unimpaired. These ingredients are phosphoric 

 acid and potash, and there are apparently no insuperable obstacles in the 

 way of obtaining either. The former is probably to be had from the 

 many deposits of bat guano that exist in the Archipelago, and wherever 

 these deposits are found in caves, or have been protected from rain they 

 are almost certain to be rich in this valuable element. If the planter is 

 remote from any such source or from any known phosphate deposits, 

 there seems to be no alternative than its purchase and importation from 

 the Sandwich Islands or the United States. 



These salts are more useful in the form of acid phosphates, and are 

 commercially known as "superphosphates" and carry from 10 to 20 per 

 cent of soluble phosphoric acid, and their cost is always based wholly 

 upon the prcentage of the acid they carry. In any event, the amount 

 required is small (200 to 400 pounds per acre) and at any reasonable cost 

 it should be obtained. 



The supply of potash does not appear to be of such pressing concern 

 with the cane planter. Not only, if his land has been cleared and burned 

 over, there has been returned a considerable supply of this element, but 

 the indications are that most of the sugar lands of the Islands are already 

 rich in potash. Without recourse to a chemical analysis, there is a simple, 

 practical test whereby the farmer can determine this question for him- 

 self. Let him select two, or three, or more small plats typical of as many 

 different soils as the farm shows, and lay them down for two or three 

 years to different kinds of lucerns and clovers, giving them no manuring 

 whatsoever. If the growth from these plats is luxuriant, and they only 

 suffer from causes directly attributable to long-continued drought, he 

 may reasonably conclude that his land is provided with enough potash to 

 meet all the requirements of cane growing for many years. 



In the use of acid phosphates or of bat guano, there is a process that is 

 both effective and economical for its application. It may be scattered 

 lightly in the furrow at the time of cane planting ; or, if it is used in the 

 form of bat guano, and where it is probably in combination with valu- 

 able nitrates, a furrow may be opened close to the cane, and the fertilizer 

 scattered lightly and evenly along both furrow and furrow slice, and then 

 all harrowed down smoothly with a disc harrow. There are drills now in 

 common use that are adjusted to deliver commercial fertilizers directly 

 where required and in precise quantities; but careful hand sowing can 

 be made equally effective. 



