238 



THE ESSENTIALS OF AGRICULTURE 



requires for its highest development a very fertile, well-drained 

 soil and an abundance of moisture. For the best results as 

 much as two inches of water per week are required during the 

 growing season. Sugar cane produces seed very sparingly and 

 only a few of the seeds will germinate. At each joint of the 

 stalk there is a bud, or eye, and the stalks, or canes, are planted 



FIG. 114. Planting sugar cane 



New plants sprout and grow from the joints of the old stems which have been 

 covered with soil 



(Fig. 114) from April to October in rows about five or six feet 

 apart, with a continuous line of stalks in the rows. The young 

 plants spring from the buds. In tropical countries one planting 

 may yield several yearly crops, but in the United States one 

 planting seldom yields more than three crops, and usually only 

 one crop is produced. In Hawaii the sugar land is sometimes 

 plowed to a depth of two feet by means of steam plows, and the 

 stalks are planted at a depth of six inches or more. 



