' CULTIVATION OF SUGAR CANE. 7 



f ectly level with the water table close to the surface, is at times suscep- 

 tible to the free and rapid percolation of water. 



It is suggested to the prospective cane planter who is unfamiliar with 

 the physical character of the subsoil, that he dike a small experimental 

 plot of land, making his dikes as nearly waterproof as possible, and then 

 observe the behavior of the land subsequent to one or two torrential rains, 

 noting the tardiness or rapidity with which the water disappears. If, 

 after a two-inch rainfall upon soil previously wetted through, the water 

 remains standing for more than two or three hours, a complete and com- 

 prehensive system of cfrainage is essential before putting such lands into 

 cane. 



SOIL FERTILITY. 



Fertile soils can nearly always be assured in what are known as "virgin 

 soils," and such are at present in almost unlimited quantities in these 

 Islands. It may seem paradoxical to say that on a narrow sea zone, 

 densely peopled by a race who have been engaged in agriculture for 

 generations, virgin lands are more abundant than in what we call a new 

 country within temperate latitudes. Strictly speaking, such is not the 

 fact, but within the tropics, land that has once been cultivated and then 

 allowed to lapse, so quickly reverts to its primitive condition that in a 

 very few years it effects what would require a generation to accomplish 

 in a northern climate, and to all practical intents becomes once more 

 virgin land. Such lands are more valuable in some respects than the 

 undisturbed soil of the primeval forests. Their reclamation to cultiva- 

 tion is more cheaply effected, while the rapidity with which the processes 

 of growth and decay progress in the tropics, are assurance of a liberal 

 supply of the humus, the one fertilizing agent of all others most vital to 

 the highest perfection of the sugar cane. 



In some tropical forest regions the remains of decaying vegetation are 

 so great that they are sometimes present to an almost injurious excess. 



On such soils, as also occasionally upon truly virgin sedimentary river 

 bottoms, the cane develops to a size and with a luxuriance that is phe- 

 nomenal; yet in this abnormally excited growth it frequently becomes 

 gorged with unassimilated alkaline salts, prejudicial to sugar making, 

 difficult to eliminate and depreciative of the market value of the cane. 



But the quasi virgin land that has only the accumulated vegetable 

 detritus of a few years, offers a happy medium for the growth of a strong, 

 vigorous cane, rich in the precious saccharine matter that crystalizes 

 freely, and that always commands the highest price in the sugar mills of 

 the world. Under the question of soil fertility, it is pertinent to inquire 

 if some practical suggestion can not be made whereby the equilibrium of 

 the humus in the soil, in relation to its mineral elements may be con- 

 stantly maintained. 



A piece of land by the irrefutable logic of good money returns may 



