THE HUSBANDRY OF THE CANE 



125 



countries for the purpose of hauling the heavy timber and large stones off 

 the land ; when new districts are opened up or when new land is continually 

 taken in, such a process is almost essential. 



FIG. 37 



The combustion of the vegetation on new land is from one point of view 

 entirely wrong, for the practice robs the soil of most of the nitrogen that has 



FIG. 



been accumulating for ages past ; but the expense of burying the vegetable 

 matter, the slowness of its decomposition, and the harbouring places it 

 affords for noxious insects are the reasons brought forward for maintaining this 



