404 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



ing, or "grain culture" as it is called, takes place in October and the 

 canes are harvested fifteen months later. Plantings are also made in 

 February, March, April, and May, the canes being cut a year later. 

 The harvesting and grinding season continues from January to June, 

 a period of about five months. The seed cane planted for the " small 

 culture" in February to May consists of the top two or three joints cut 

 from the cane that is being harvested for sugar. The cane at this 

 season of the year is said to be so ripe and dry that only these top 

 joints are capable of producing new plants. The seed for the "grain 

 culture" is obtained from the early plantings of the year, and in this 

 case the whole cane is used for seed, it being so green that all joints 

 will produce new plants. 



No efforts are made toward improving the quality of cane by selec- 

 tion. Presumably, there are as great possibilities in improving cane 

 as has been realized in the case of sugar beets during the past ten or 

 fifteen years. 



Two systems of planting are in vogue. On the north side of the 

 island, where the jainfall is abundant, irrigation is not practiced and 

 drainage is essential. There the land is plowed into ridges about 8 

 feet wide with deep furrows between. On each ridge two rows of 

 cane are planted. Large, shallow holes, about 6 inches deep and 15 

 inches square, are made at intervals of about 2i feet, and the pieces of 

 seed cane placed in the bottom of them and covered with soil to the 

 depth of about 1 inch. Usually the lower end of the cane is covered 

 deeper and the upper end frequently not covered at all. After 

 planting all further cultivation is done with the hoe. The weeds are 

 cut from between the rows and hills and pulled from among the young 

 plants. The soil is gradually worked around the } 7 oung plants at each 

 hoeing until the holes are filled nearly level with the remainder of the 

 ridges. The number of hoeings required to keep the field free from 

 weeds varies somewhat, but is seldom less than four. The canes stool 

 out, and in about five months so completely shade the ground that 

 weeds will no longer grow and no further attention is required until 

 harvest time. 



On the south side of the island, where the rainfall is scanty and 

 where irrigation is imperative for the successful growing of cane, the 

 land is plowed level. Furrows about 6 inches deep are run at inter- 

 vals of about 4 feet, in which the cane is planted. The covering of 

 the cane is shallow, the same as in the former method, and the cultiva- 

 tion largely done by hand. In irrigating the water is passed down 

 these furrows, thus coming first in contact with the plants. This sys- 

 tem of planting seems superior to the one practiced on the north side 

 of the island. The furrows in which the canes are planted are more 

 cheaply made than are the holes used for the same purpose, which are 

 made by hand. The absence of surface ditches and the level surface of 



