8 FARMERS' BULLETIN. 



have demonstrated its superiority for growing cane; it may teem with 

 the elements of soil fertility, yet in a few years the humus is depleted, 

 and the cane and its value rapidly begin to deteriorate. There can be no 

 middle course the exhausted humus supply must in some way be 

 restored. 



Humus, as we know, serves a two-fold purpose one, purely mechani- 

 cal in its effects, rendering stiff soils pervious to the aeration and mois- 

 ture without which perfect root action can not be maintained ; the other, 

 the added fertility which it supplies. It is rich in available nitrogen, 

 without which, and notwithstanding a surfeit of "other fertilizing agents 

 in the soil, there can be no successful issue to a cane crop. 



The two materials known to common agricultural uses that most 

 nearly approximate humus in their action are stable or barn manures and 

 cotton seed meal. Both these substances are not only rich in nitrogen, 

 but both, while undergoing decomposition in the soil, exert mechanical 

 influence analogous to that of humus. 



In countries where cotton is grown and farm stock housed or corralled, 

 one or both of these invaluable .^nts are easily obtained, and no difficulty 

 is experienced in growing a succession of cane crops and in preserving 

 continuously normal soil conditions. In these Islands we are practically 

 excluded from the consideration of either, for cotton is not produced in 

 commercial quantities, and, outside of a few large cities, the stall feeding 

 of farm animals is unknown, and consequently the use of barnyard 

 manures is out of the question. In this extremity there is no alternative 

 for the cane grower but to lay down his cane fields every third year to, 

 say, cowpeas, vetches or some leguminous crop that will compensate for 

 the more direct fertilizers that he is unable to procure. As a result, one- 

 third of his sugar fields will be annually unproductive of sugar; never- 

 theless, there is little doubt that eventually the farmer will be enriched by 

 the operation. These renovating crops can first of all be partly cut and 

 cured for forage, and will afford assured maintenance for the stock that 

 is an indispensable condition to the profitable working of the farm. 

 Stock so fed, if not immune, will at least be far less susceptible to epi- 

 demic diseases than those allowed to roam at large over pastures where 

 the herds have previously been decimated by disease. 



In addition, the yard feeding of his cattle will necessarily result in the 

 accumulation of manures that, if properly protected from leaching by 

 rains, will place at his command one of the best means for maintaining 

 continued productivity. In the end, after the saving of the forage, there 

 still remains the stubble, which, when plowed under, acts as humus, while 

 the deep-rooting legumes have not only subsoiled his land, but have 

 stored up while he slept an abundant supply of the nitrogen in the cheap- 

 est available way. 



A practice in some places in the Islands is for planters to "rest" their 



