CHAPTER VIII. 



THE HUSBANDRY OF THE CANE. 



The cane is grown under so many diverse conditions that no general 

 sketch of its husbandry is possible. An attempt is made in this chapter to 

 give some short notice of the implements employed and the routine of 

 operation in the more important districts. Broadly speaking, the districts 

 where the cane forms a staple fall into two classes ; those where the culti- 

 vation is chiefly manual and those where animal or power operated implements 

 .are used. The former methods are chiefly employed in the presence of a 

 cheap supply of labour of Asiatic or African origin, but the physical con- 

 ditions of the district have also a large influence. 



i 



FIG. 24. 



FIG. 25. 



Manual Implements. The manual implements used in the 

 cultivation of the cane are the hoe, the fork, the shovel and the cutlass. The 

 cutlass, two forms of which are shown in Fig. 24 t is used in the British West 

 Indies as a weeding tool. In other districts this work is done with the hoe, 

 two forms of which are shown in Fig. 25 ; the short handled hoe is used in 

 Mauritius, and the long handled form in Dernerara ; besides being used to cut 

 down weeds, it is employed to hoe earth over the rows of cane and to make the 

 cane furrow ; in Mauritius this tool is also employed in making the holes in 

 which the cane is planted. The fork, Fig. 26, is employed in Demerara in the 



102 



