SUGAR-CANE. 117 



time at which the setting of the slips takes place cannot be defini- 

 tively indicated ; it depends entirely npon the epoch at which the 

 periodical rains are anticipated. But in places where irrigation is 

 possible, the setting goes on through all the months of the year. 

 The holes for the reception of the slips are usually dug with a hoe, 

 and a negro will make from sixty to eighty holes in the course of a 

 day. When the ground has been previously ploughed, as it is in 

 some of the West India islands, he will make twice as many. Loose 

 rich soils, when they have a certain moisture, are the best adapted 

 to the sugar-cane ; it does not thrive in an argillaceous soil, which 

 drains with difficulty. In these moist soils the slips are not laid 

 horizontally and covered, but with one end projecting a little way 

 out of the ground. When the young shoots are covered with nar- 

 row and opposed leaves, watering is particularly advantageous, and 

 the plants are repeatedly hoed until they have acquired sufficient 

 vigor to choke noxious weeds. About the 9tii month after the plan- 

 tation of the slips, the shaft of the sugar-Ca"ie begins to lose its 

 leaves, the most inferior falling first, the othcis in succession, so 

 that when arrived at maturity, it only presents a tuft of terminal 

 leaves. The flowering generally takes place with the conclusion 

 of the year; and the cane is held sufficiently ripe in from two to 

 three months after this epoch, when the stem has acquired a yellow 

 or straw color. The planters, however, are by no means agreed as 

 to the proper period of the sugar-cane harvest, — some even insist 

 upon cutting before the flowering, believing that the quantity of su- 

 gar diminishes on the appearance of the flower. It is unquestiona- 

 ble, however, that the period that elapses between the planting and 

 the harvest, must vary with the nature of the soil, and especially 

 with that of the climate ; while in some places the cane may be cut 

 when it is a year old, doubtless there are others where it requires to 

 stand from fifteen to sixteen months. In A^enezuela, where the Ota- 

 heite cane is grown at the level of the sea, and where the mean tem- 

 perature of the year is between 81" and 82" Fahr., the cane ripens, 

 according t^ I^olonel Codazzi, in eleven months. In districts at 

 greater elevations under the same parallels of latitude, where the 

 climate is of course not so hot, the cane requires a longer time to 

 come to maturity ; where the mean temperature is about 7S" Fahr., 

 twelve months are required ; where it is about 74" Fahr., fourteen 

 months become necessary ; and where it is no more than about 67" 

 Fahr., sixteen months are requisite.* The Otaheite cane grows to 

 very difl?erent heights ; in very favorable circumstances it will reach 

 a height of 16 feet and upwards, but its general height may be stated 

 at from 9V to IO.7 feet. Great cane plantations are divided into 

 squares of from 100 to 120 yards on the side, each of which coming 

 to maturity in succession, the labor is easily performed, both in re- 

 gard to field-work and the manufacture of the sugar. 



The cane is cut close to the root, and before being carried to the 

 mill, the terminal tuft of leaves is struck oflf. These heads in the 



* Codazzi, Geography of Venezuela, p. 141. 



