SUGAR-CANE 499 



six-, or eight-horse plows in August or September. Since 

 the cane fields are flat and wet, drainage is here a most 

 important matter. To improve the drainage, the land 

 is thrown into high beds early in the fall, and about a 

 month after the land was first plowed. These beds are 

 usually 5 to 7 feet wide. Plowing is deep. Water-fur- 

 rows are opened with a double moldboard plow, as an 

 additional step in draining the land. 



Throughout the season these beds are kept high and the 

 water-furrows kept open. To better facilitate drainage, 

 " quarter drains " are run across the rows at suitable 

 intervals at a depth of about six inches below the level 

 of the water-furrows. These " quarter drains " empty 

 into narrow, deep ditches, which are about 100 or 125 

 feet apart and parallel to the rows of cane. Tile drains 

 are in many respects preferable to open ditches, but in 

 the sugar-belt they are liable to become stopped by sedi- 

 ment, deposited when water is backed up in them. . 



484. Planting in Louisiana. In the top of each bed 

 a furrow is opened with a double moldboard plow, the 

 bottom of which should not be as deep as the water-furrow. 

 In this newly opened trench is planted a double row of 

 cane. The amount of " seed" required by this method of 

 planting is about four tons per acre. The cane is then 

 covered by the use of a disk cultivator. Fall-planted cane 

 is covered with a considerable depth of earth as a protec- 

 tion from cold in winter. 



In Louisiana, planting begins as early in the fall as the 

 cane reaches sufficient maturity for the buds to germinate. 

 It continues at least until the grinding season begins in 

 November, when the laborers and teams are needed for 



