136 



TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



CHAP. 



sprouts above the ground and become rooted in from ten to 

 fourteen days. These sprouts or shoots become the mother- 



Cut out the plant, and they send up other shoots in time. The mother- 



plant^ plant should be cut out as soon as it begins to joint ; for, in 

 this way, all the strength will be sent into the surrounding 

 shoots and cause them soon to develop into canes. When, 

 owing to dry weather, or to other causes, some of the cut- 



Supplies. tings do not take root, it is necessary to supply the vacant 

 holes, and, in order that the supplies may not produce canes 

 backward in growth, as compared with the rest of the 

 cultivation, growing plants are dug from the roots or stoles 



Nurseries of o f canes thrown out of cultivation. An infinitely better 

 plan would be to establish nurseries of plants raised from 

 selected cuttings ; for, in this way, the returns from the 

 supplies would be greatly increased, as the weight of canes 

 obtained from each hole governs the quantity of sugar made. 

 fr m A Barba dos planter has calculated that " a bunch of canes 

 grown in one hole weighs 54lbs. on an average, which 

 yields 4 gallons of juice, from which 4lbs. of muscovado 

 sugar are got." At this rate over three tons of sugar would 

 be got from an acre of cane land, but on many estates in 

 the West Indies, owing to bad cultivation and other causes, 

 barely half this quantity is obtained. 



plant. 



CULTIVATION. Tillage is one of the most important 

 greater the operations in cane cultivation, for the better the tilth the 

 greater the returns. Before planting, the land should be 

 well hoed and ploughed, and the weeds ought to be buried 

 so as to form a green crop manure. Except in heavy clay 

 land it is a bad system to burn the weeds and rubbish, for 

 the fire dissipates the nitrogenous substances, and thus 

 prevents their retention in the soil as plant food. If the land 

 be ploughed a subsoil plough should be run in the furrows 

 where practicable, as the turning up of the deeper layers 

 of the land greatly increases the soluble constituents avail- 

 able for assimilation by the roots of the cane. 



After planting, the fields must be kept clear of weeds 



ploughing, 



