INDIANA CANE GROWERS. 477 



To throw away these scums, as we have often seen farmers do, is wasteful in the 

 extreme. • 



The fourtli and remaining by-product is the bagasse, and though generally con- 

 sidered the most unimportant — many manufacturers considering it a detriment 

 piling up in the way — yet, if properly utilized it is a valuable by-product. As a 

 stock feed we fear it is of doubtful utility, especially if run through a good mill, 

 but as a bedding for stock, especially hogs, it is found to be excellent, and, after 

 serving its time there, is valuable as a manure. Thrown into the compost pile it 

 admirably serves the same purpose. When fuel is scarce it can be dried and profit- 

 ably used for that purpose, serving to heat the boiler, and its ashes used as a fertil- 

 izer, returning to the ground much that has been extracted from it by the parent 

 plant. It also makes a paper stock of fair quality, and no doubt when its good 

 qualities become known will be largely used for that purpose. 



DISCUSSION. 



Dr. Furnas. Being an old horticulturist, I find bagas«e is good for manure. It 

 requires about two years to rot sufficiently to be Fuitable for spreading on the 

 gi-ound. If we don't put it in the garden we put it on the wheat land. I have put 

 some around my pie-plant, which I believe will be beneficial as a mulch. It is 

 also good for raspberries. It makes a clean bed through the strawberries and 

 raspberries. 1 propose to try tliis under my apple and pear trees. 



Mr. McQuisten. I have a small vineyard ; I scattered bagasse through that 

 about six inches deep. I have also experienced no bad results from its use on 

 potatoes. 



W. L. Anderson. I discover that bagasse gathers seed where it is not cultivated. 

 Iveave it four years, it will rot down and become a bed of smartweed. I have been 

 a little afraid to spread it among my raspberries on that account. I would make 

 that caution. For retaining moisture, I am satisfied there is no mulch better than 

 bagasse. I do not haul it away from the pile until three or four years old, as there 

 is not much in it earlier. By letting it lay three or four years, it is as good as sta- 

 ble manure. I find that as a manure it is very rich. There are some places on 

 my farm where I threw this four-year-old bagasse, and the spots are well defined. 

 I wish to ask if bagasse new from the mill is not poisonous? I am inclined to 

 think there is an acid that is injurious to our land. I would ask Mr. Deming if he 

 can not see the effect? 



E. W. Deming. As the bagasse comes from the mill, it is dropped on a wagon 

 and is hauled away and dumped about in the field, at convenient places, to burn. 

 I burn the second or third day after it is hauled out. We neglected to burn a part 

 of it, and last spring, in order to get rid of it, we plowed a little of it under, and 

 little cane grew on those spots. If there was no bagasse on the surface, it was plain 

 where it had been. The past season we have burned, with the exception of three 

 or four times, and anticipate little trouble. Our land is so arranged that we can 

 cultivate every foot of it. 



Dr. Furnas. Are the ashes worth as much as the decomposed bagasse? 



