6 FARMERS' BULLETIN. 



land, when the rainfall is sufficient and the other climatic conditions are 

 favorable. 



It is also conceded by the many authorities responsible for this conten- 

 tion that there are many requisites necessary to bring unsuitable lands 

 to a state of productivity; and that, except in regions where the needed 

 supplies are cheap and plentiful, it is inexpedient to attempt their recla- 

 mation to sugar growing. In the Philippines, lands exceptionally well 

 fitted for the growing of sugar cane are so abundant that there seems to 

 be no valid reason for the selection of those that can only be reclaimed to 

 this use by tedious and costly processes. 



In determining the suitability of the soil, we have, as a matter of first 

 consideration, its physical or mechanical condition. 



SOIL CONDITIONS. 



With a possible exception of tobacco, there is no staple agricultural 

 crop where the physical condition of the soil plays so important a part as 

 it does in the growing of sugar cane. It is a plant that, by virtue of its 

 great size and rapid growth, not only draws heavily upon the fertility of 

 the soil, but its shallow root system and restricted area for each plant 

 demands that the mechanical condition of the soil be such as to facilitate 

 in every way the full exercise of the root's functions. In all regions and 

 in all sugar-producing countries, a strong, deq), nrgilaceons, or slightly 

 calcareous soil has always been found best fitted to meet these require- 

 ments. 



In the sandy, sedimentary, alluvial soils along the sea coast, or in rich 

 mountain valleys, heavily charged with the humus in which the cane 

 rejoices, phenomenal crops are often taken, but for long-continued crop- 

 ping and with a minimum of restoratives the soils first mentioned are 

 those which have longest stood the crucial test of time. 



Such lands as these abound in the Archipelago and often extend for 

 miles along the lower and easily cultivated foothills, and these today 

 offer more inviting fields of operation than many of the apparently more 

 alluring valley lands along the coast. 



The land chosen must not be less than one foot in depth, but that will 

 be sufficient, provided the substratum on which it rests is permeable to 

 water. The perfect permeability of the subsoil is a sine qua non for the 

 perfecting of the cane, for stagnant water at the roots is a more danger- 

 ous menace to success than long-continued drought. It is this peculiarity 

 that clearly differentiates valley lands suited to cane growing from those 

 adapted to rice, an aquatic grass, whose roots thrive in the same soil as 

 the cane, but which must be underlaid by an impervious subsoil that will 

 retain water throughout the growing season. 



Nevertheless, the planter need not be discouraged who finds his shallow 

 top soil underlaid by a formidable bed of clay. In most cases it will be 

 found full of stones, bits of tufa or volcanic scoria, and, unless it lies per- 



