150 WALL'S MANUAL 



the rows should never be nearer than six feet, and 

 might, with advantage, extend to nine. It was 

 formerly the practice to plant a single line of cane, 

 in rows from two and a half to four feet apart ; but 

 this system has been abandoned, as it was found 

 troublesome in cultivating, slow r er in ripening, and it 

 is believed to have lessened the size of the cane. 



Some planters make their cane beds every sixteen 

 feet, planting in each, two rows of cane at a distance 

 of four feet, and leaving a space between every 

 alternate row of eleven feet. There is a great 

 advantage in these wide spaces, as the trash (top, 

 leaves, and vegetable matter), together with the 

 bagasse (the residium of the cane after expressing the 

 juice), can all be buried in the wide spaces, and remain 

 undisturbed till decomposed, without injuring the 

 growing crop. On light, sandy lands, these materials 

 may be burned, and the ashes applied to the soil ; but in 

 adhesive, or clay soils, good husbandry requires that 

 all should be buried, as the vegetable decay, the 

 humus or mold, not only contains every element for 

 the reproduction of the future crop, but it effects a 

 mechanical division in the soil, of great value to its 

 porosity and productiveness. If oyster shell lime, 

 or any other lime, be added to the "bagasse" 

 (refuse from the sugar mills), it will hasten the 

 decomposition, and at the same time correct, or 

 neutralize, the acetic acid, or vinegar, formed by the 

 fermentation of the " bagasse " in the soil. 



The land should be deeply broken up, with a tw r o 

 or .four horse plow. If light and sandy, it may be 

 plowed flat ; but if stiff or wet, it should be thrown 

 up in beds. Great advantage has generally followed 



