MISCELLANEOUS CROPS. 211 



can secure two cuttings of cane from once planting; and if so, 

 this must certainly be a very important item for any thoughtful 

 business man or company to consider before embarking in the 

 business, unless they are already tied to some particular location. 

 The warm soil of the Southern States will, no doubt, excel the 

 Northern States in its production and manufacture, because all 

 sugar mills or refineries need and must have heat. Hot rooms 

 for granulation of sugar are indispensable. Nothing can be 

 done without them but make molasses. 



Warm, sandy soils, that are free from weeds, are good for 

 sorghum, and should be well fertilized to produce the best 

 results. The open or porous soils may not be benefited as 

 much with commercial fertilizers as with clover sod or stable 

 manure; but every farmer should find out by careful experiment 

 what kind of manure will produce the best crops on his own 

 land. On our clay soils we can get the best growth on sod 

 ground ; but if the land is old or poor, we add superphosphates, 

 about one ounce to the hill, or from one hundred and fifty to 

 two hundred and fifty pounds to the acre. 



The best plan for its cultivation that has come to my notice 

 is to plant in check-rows, three feet apart each way, leaving 

 six to eight stalks in the hill. The entire cultivation can then 

 be done with single-horse cultivators, the same as used for corn, 

 or with the expansive two-horse sulky cultivators that are made 

 by some of our manufacturing companies, that will cultivate 

 crops equally well from three to four feet apart, as they expand 

 or contract one foot or any fraction thereof. These machines, 

 when kept moving through the canes every few days, will keep 

 the ground light and loose, and free it from grass or weeds, and 

 the hills, when this distance apart, will be almost entirely free 

 from suckers. But if you plant in drills, or leave but few 

 stalks in hill, the suckers will grow profusely and rob the 

 soil of your crop, because they are not good for any thing but 

 fodder or food for animals. There is no sugar or valuable sweet 

 in them. 



Most farmers who plant but very little of it usually desire 

 it to be made into molasses, and if so, it is very important it be 



