208 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



adapted to it ; and with the immense area, capable of being 

 reclaimed from the swamps of the Gulf coast and elsewhere, 

 devoted to this object, there is no improbability that the 

 energies of American planters, will soon carry % our produc- 

 tion beyond the total of the world, in 1844, which was be- 

 low 780,000 tons, or about 1,500,000 hogsheads. 



Varieties. The kind most cultivated in the United 

 States, is the striped Ribbon or Java, which is by far the 

 hardiest and most enduring cane. It grows rapidly, is of 

 large size, and resists the effects of early and late frosts, 

 and the excess of rains or drought and disease, better than 

 any other. It has, however, a hard, coarse rind, and yields 

 juice of only a medium quality. The outer coating is beau- 

 tifully striped with alternate blue and yellow, of varying 

 widths, and changing in every successive joint. The red 

 ribbon, or violet, from Java, is much like the foregoing, ex- 

 cept in having a uniform color, and by many it is preferred 

 for new land. 



The Creole, crystaline or Malabar, was the first introdu- 

 ced, and though of diminutive size, is a cane of great rich- 

 ness and value. Several varieties of the Otaheite, the pur- 

 ple, the yellow, and the purple-banded, are more or less cul- 

 tivated. Some of these were brought into Georgia at an 

 early day, and thence transferred to Louisiana. Those I 

 have seen have a large stalk of great succulency, but yield- 

 ing a juice decidedly inferior to the Creole. Some additional 

 varieties, such as the grey canes, intermixed with the ribbon, 

 and occasionally others have been introduced, but they are 

 not of superior quality, or of general cultivation. 



Soil. The cane will flourish in a great variety of soils, 

 varying between the extremes of a stiff clay and a light 

 sandy loam, provided the former be well drained and fertile. 

 The soil best suited to it is a fertile loam, well supplied with 

 lime, and such as will yield the best crops of Indian corn. 

 Some of the best and most enduring soils in the West In- 

 dies and elsewhere, contain large quantities of lime and 

 the phosphates. The most profitable sugar plantation in 

 Louisiana, has a profusion of shells scattered over it, in every 

 stage of decomposition. 



Seed Cane. This plant is always propagated by cuttings. 

 These ought to be provided from the best cane of the pre- 

 ceding season. From the use of the unripe tops and close, 

 negligent planting, it is supposed the Creole cane has degen- 

 erated to its present diminutive size. There is less vigor 



