I2O 



PHILIPPINE AGRICULTURE 



Plan of Plantation. When two ratoons are used, a 

 plantation should be divided into at least three parts. 

 One of these 'is replanted each year, and the stem-tops 

 of the preceding year's planting are available as seed. A 



still better arrangement is to 

 divide the plantation into four 

 parts, and let one part rest, or 

 raise a different crop on it 

 each year. 



Sugar Making. The cut 

 cane, stripped of its leaves, is 

 carried to the mill and 

 crushed, and the sap is evapo- 

 rated. The crushed stems 

 are treated with water, and 

 crushed again ; and some- 

 times this is done a third 

 time, and all the water 

 squeezed out is evaporated. 

 The sugar obtained in this 

 way is crude, or coarse and 

 brown, and must be refined 

 to make the fine white granu- 

 lated sugar in common use. 

 Waste. Some sugar is always left in the stems of cane, 

 and with poor machinery a great deal of sugar is lost 

 in this way. The waste from the mill, left after the 

 stems are crushed as dry as possible, is called bagasse. 

 Bagasse is a good fertilizer, usually needing also only a 



FIG. 86. Clump of cane in flower 



