104 



CHAPTER VI 





DAY 



*D c/^ 





nitrogen, in this case in part provided by the root residues of the clover ; 

 the cane, too, demands, as is shown in the manorial trials quoted above, 

 for its successful growth a supply of readily available nitrogen, and in certain 

 districts a leguminous crop precedes the cane crop. 



Cane-growing districts may be divided into those where the cane forms 

 the sole output of the soil, and those where it is alternated with other crops. 

 Into the first category fall the districts of Cuba, the Hawaiian Islands, 

 British Guiana, Trinidad, Fiji and Peru. In Java, Egypt and British 

 India, a complete rotation is practised, and in Louisiana and Mauritius the 

 n ^ cane fields are rotated with leguminous 



crops which are ploughed in. 



In Egypt, on the lands controlled 

 by the Daria Sanieh Co., cane was 

 grown for two years, preceded by a 

 year's fallow ; following on the cane 

 crop, corn and clover were grown ; 

 the cane itself was not manured, with 

 the object of obtaining a sweet cane. 

 Private owners follow a rotation of 

 clover, wheat, cane (no ratoonage), 

 and manure the cane heavily. 



In Louisiana the general rotation 

 is plant cane, ratoons, and cow peas 

 (Vigna ungniculata) ploughed in as a 

 green manure. 



In Mauritius it is general to grow 

 cane up to third ratoons, after which 

 a green leguminous crop occupies the 

 land for from one to four years. 



In Java the system of land tenure 

 enforces a rotation. Land suitable for 

 rice cultivation (sawah) is leased by 

 the native Javanese in perpetuity, 

 and may not be rented by Europeans 

 for a period exceeding eighteen months, 

 after which the native is obliged to 

 cultivate it for an equal period. Dur- 

 ing this period the native takes off 

 two rice and two dry land crops ; the 

 rice crops occupy the land for six 

 months each, the dry land crops only 



taking three months apiece. Almost always a dry land crop follows a cane 

 crop, and cane follows rice, the commonest rotation being : Cane, ground 

 provisions (dry crop), rice (wet crop), ground provisions, rice, cane. In ground 

 provisions are included ground nuts, beans, maize, cassava and yams, 

 so that not infrequently legumes enter into the rotation. The diagram 

 in Fig. 19 indicates the sequence of crops and the way an area of land is 

 subdivided at any period.* Lands not suited to rice cultivation may be 

 alienated to Europeans, and on them a continuous crop of cane may be 

 grown. These lands, however, form only a small part of the cane fields of 

 Java. 



*For this diagram, and for other information concerning Java methods, I am indebted to Dr. H. L. Lyon. 



Dec 





DRY 







FIG. 19 



