SUGAR-CANE 



*493 



a ton of stripped Red or Purple cane with the accompanying 

 waste parts : 



In Louisiana, the tops and leaves are usually burned on the 

 land, thus saving their quota of phosphoric acid and potash, but 

 losing all of the nitrogen. Under these conditions the loss of 

 plant-food represented by a crop of 25 tons per acre of stripped 

 cane would be 



Nitrogen 61 pounds 



Phosphoric acid 26 pounds 



Potash 30 pounds 



When the leaves and tops are burned, sugar-cane is an exhaust- 

 ing crop. It makes a demand for a large porportion of nitrogen 

 in the fertilizer, or else for much nitrogen supplied by growing 

 a preceding crop of cowpeas or velvet beans. Some analyses of 

 cane grown in Hawaii and in foreign countries show a larger 

 draft on the fertility of the soil than is indicated by the analyses 

 of American cane. 



SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 



475. Soils. The sugar-cane bears a large number 

 of broad leaves and presents a very extensive surface en- 

 gaged in transpiring water. Hence, the most important 

 requirement in a soil for sugar-cane is that it shall afford 

 a generous supply of moisture throughout the growing 



