Sugar-cane, Cotton, and Tobacco 221 



ber, when men are needed to harvest the cane from other 

 fields. Any area not planted in the fall is planted in February 

 or March. The cane used for the later planting must have 

 been protected during the winter by a covering of soil. A 

 furrow shallower than the water-furrow is made in the top of 

 each bed with a double moldboard plow. In this furrow is 

 placed a double row of the stripped cane stalks, which are later 

 covered with soil by means of a disc cultivator. Cane planted 

 in the fall is covered rather deeply as a means of protection 

 from freezing and in the spring the top part of the bed is re- 

 moved with a hoe. 



The methods of planting in the pine-belt east of the Missis- 

 sippi differ somewhat from those in Louisiana. Beds five to 

 six feet wide are made and commercial fertilizer placed in the 

 water-furrow. The cane is later planted in this furrow, but 

 before this is done a plow is run through the furrow to mix 

 the fertilizer with the soil to prevent the eyes of the seed-cane 

 from being injured by the fertilizer. A single row of cane is 

 planted in the furrow and a bed formed above it. The canes 

 are covered deep and later a part of the soil is removed. Ex- 

 cept in parts of Florida, where fall-planting is sometimes prac- 

 ticed, most of the planting east of the Mississippi is done early 

 in March. 



Frequent cultivations and an occasional hoeing during the 

 growing season up to the time the cane shades the land enough 

 to keep down the weeds are necessary to insure a good growth. 

 In Louisiana the water-furrow must be kept open and the bed 

 kept at a good height to provide drainage. In the pine lands 

 of the Southeast it is not necessary to keep the beds so high. 



127. Harvesting. In the harvesting of cane to be used 

 for sugar or sirup, the leaves must be stripped from the stalk 

 and the top removed. Stripping and topping are usually done 

 when the plants are standing in the field, but in the more 

 northern regions, where sirup is the product, the expectation 

 of an early frost often causes the planters to have the stalks 



