T 3 2 CHAPTER VIII 



down and used to supply seed for the plantation or is sold to cultivators. 

 The same method is in use in Java. 



Cultivation. By cultivation is here meant the working of the soil and the 

 keeping down of grass and weeds during the period between the planting of 

 the cane (or spring of the ratoons) and the harvest of the crop. 



British Guiana. In British Guiana and in other places dependent on 

 manual labour a typical routine is as follows : Shortly after a crop of cane 

 has been taken off, the soil in between the rows of cane is turned over with 

 agricultural forks ; this process is known as " forking banks " ; in about a 

 month the weeds and grass that have sprung up are cut down with the cutlass, 

 the machete, or the hoe, a process which will have to be repeated every one 

 or two months until the canes are of such a height as to keep down the growth 

 of weeds. Simultaneously with the weeding, earth is hoed over the cane row, 

 the process being known as " moulding " ; in some parts, especially in 

 Eastern Asia, this moulding is carried to an extreme pitch, the cane rows being 

 earthed up to a great extent. In some places, as in Cuba, the keeping down 

 of the weeds often forms the only cultivation that the cane receives. 



Louisiana. Stubbs 4 thus describes the routine followed at Audubon 

 Park in Louisiana : 



*' The land is broken flush with a large plough, pulverized with a harrow, and 

 bedded with two-horse ploughs. The rows are opened with a double mould-board 

 plough, cane planted and covered, and middles broken out with the double mould - 

 board plough. The quarter drains are opened six inches between the middle of 

 the rows and the ditches are cleaned. At the proper time the cane is off-barred 

 with the two-horse ploughs, scraped with hoes, and when large enough is fertilized 

 by scattering the mixture across the open furrows and narrow ridge of cane. The 

 dirt is returned as soon as fertilizer is applied, the middles broken out deep and 

 clean, and the turn ploughs sent to the barn to remain until the next season. The 

 disc cultivator, with the three small discs on either side, is used for throwing dirt 

 to the cane at the first working, and the middle or diamond cultivator for breaking 

 out the middles. In the second and third cultivations two middle discs replace the 

 three used in the first, and are set to such an angle as to throw the desired amount 

 of dirt to the cane, and are followed each time by the middle cultivator, thus 

 completing the work with the two implements . At " lay-by, ' ' the large or ' ' lay-by ' ' 

 discs are used, followed by the middle cultivator with its two front shovels removed. 

 By proper adjustment of the two instruments, ridges of any desired height can be 

 made and the cane properly laid by."* 



Hawaii. On the irrigated plantations mechanical cultivation is not 

 possible and weeds have to be kept down by hand ; on a rainfall plantation 

 the grass is mainly kept down by the use of disc cultivators run astraddle 

 the row and turning the soil away from the cane ; this leaves only a small 

 area to be hand hoed. After the first hoeing, fertilizer is scattered between 

 the rows and incorporated with a tine cultivator or other implement, the soil 

 being stirred as much as possible. On ratoon fields, the first operation after 

 taking off the crop is usually slicing the row ; manuring follows at once, 

 after which the soil is thrown back to the row by a disc cultivator run astraddle 

 the row. A stubble digger (an appliance consisting essentially of a series 

 of small tines revolving on an axle as the carriage is drawn alongf) is then 



*To those familiar with hand husbandry only, this description requires some amplification. In the Hawaiian 

 Islands off-barring is termed slicing the ratoon row, and this term conveys a better impression of the process ; the 

 instrument used is a disc plough of the type shown in Fig. 29 ; it is drawn alongside the ratoon row, cutting 

 through the old roots, throwing the dirt away from the row and leaving an open furrow alongside the cane ; after 

 the furrow has been exposed for two or three days fhe dirt is thrown back to the row by the aid of disc implements. 



It should be noticed that animal power cultivation does not altogether dispense with manual labour ; in all 

 cases the weeds and grass in the row itself have to be cut down by hand tools. 



tSee Fig. 38. 



