606 THE farmers' handbook. 



THE CULTIVATION OF THE CROP. 



Deep and thorough working of the soil is an essential preliminary to the 

 planting of sugar cane. Not alone is this necessary because the plant is of 

 deep-rooting habit, but a plant with such a strong vegetative growth and a 

 capacity for producing in a few years two or three crops, often totalling 

 over 100 tons, must in the very nature of things be provided with ample 

 soil in friable, cultivated condition, in which the roots can forage for plant 

 food. The first ploughing should therefore be not less than 8 or 10 inches 

 deep, and if the subsoil is stiff, subsoiling should be effected with a plough 

 designed for the purpose, or with a plough of ordinary construction, from 

 which the mouldboard has been removed. If the land is not too well drained, 

 care must be taken not to bring sour soil to the surface. 



This initial ploughing is best done late in the autumn or early enough in 

 the winter to allow a fallow period of some four or five months before 

 planting in September. The effect is twofold. It exposes the soil to 

 atmospheric action, allowing sun, frost, and rain to ameliorate the physical 

 condition, and affords the soil bacteria opportunity to elaborate plenty of 

 plant-food in readiness to maintain vigorous plant life later on. 



. A second ploughing in the spring is necessary further to pulverise the 

 soil and insure a loose, friable condition, and this must be followed by 

 work with surface-working implements that will prepare a suitable seed- 

 bed. A third ploughing is preferred by some farmers, and no doubt is 

 necessary in stiffer soils. The cane plant is a particularly delicate one in 

 its early stages, and if it is to earn the maximum of profit for the farmer, it 

 must have thoroughly favourable soil conditions. No amount of after 

 cultivation will overcome careless preparation of the seed-bed, and when it 

 is considered that the plant is to last for four to six years, and to carry two 

 or three heavy crops of top-growth, it is apparent that thoroughness is quite 

 worth while. It can be added with justice that for the most part the New 

 South Wales grower understands and appreciates this, and lays a good 

 foundation in this respect. 



Planting the Sets. 



The methods of planting the sugar cane crop necessarily differ with the 

 conditions. A great many growers in this State prefer to plant on the square, 

 so that intercultivation can be carried out both ways, and two conditions 

 favour them in doing so — -the nature of the soil and the varieties they 

 grow. On the stony ridges of the Cudgen, drill-planting is the only thing 

 to be thought of. Of varieties, one like Innes 131 — erect in habit and a 

 poor stooler — requires comparatively little room. Usually the seed is planted 

 18 to 24 inches apart in running drills that are 5 feet from one another. 



Square planting is, however, much the better system. It affords the 

 roots more space and permits of thorough cultivation both ways while 

 the crop is growing, and that by medium of horse implements at a minimum 

 of expense throughout the life of the crop. It is one of the reasons advanced 

 by advocates of the square system that the ratoon crops are heavier by 

 reason of the interc-ultivation that it makes possible. 



Some variation is found, of course, in respect to the distances between 

 the plants, from 4 feet 3 inches square to 5 feet being variously used. As 

 before, this depends somewhat upon the soil and the variety, but 4 feet 

 6 inches may be accepted as a useful medium for average conditions. 



