CANE SUGAR. 



cultivator of the planet Jupiter type, or the narrow cultivator blades may be 

 removed from the regular cultivator, and eight -inch cutaway sweeps be bolted on 

 instead. These will have a wide enough cut to meet in the centre, and as thus 

 rigged the same implement makes a good middle cultivator. Cultivation should be 

 repeated throughout the winter as often ns is needed to keep down all weeds and 

 maintain a dust mulch. Before spring the growth of the cane will be so great that 

 the row can no longer be straddled, and the middles only can be cultivated. In 

 April or the first part of May sow cow peas broadcast in the middles, cover them 

 with the cultivator and the work is finished. Up to this point the plan does not 

 differ materially from the ordinary system except that the use of the riding corn 

 cultivator, which works so close to the row, makes it possible to almost dispense 

 with the expensive hoe. It is only the few weeds and bunches of grass that come 

 up directly in the row that have to be cut with the hoe, or better still be pulled by 

 hand. The line of cultivation thus outlined will leave the land practically level. 

 This is right for the red lands, since they have natural under-drainage, but in the 

 wetter black it should be modified by using disk cultivators which ridge up the 

 row as in Louisiana. 



"As soon as the cane is cut, take an ordinary horse rake and drive so as to 

 cross the cane rows, raking the trash from one middle and dumping it in the next 

 one. This quickly and cheaply clears half the ground so that it can be ploughed 

 and cultivated, and it provides a double mulch of trash for the other half which 

 makes it so thick and heavy that practically no grass or weeds can come through, 

 and these middles will require no further attention for the season. Now plough the 

 cleared middles with a two-horse turning plough, throwing the dirt away from the 

 cane. Run the last furrow up as close to the cane stubble as possible. You will 

 not hurt the roots. They all died when the cane was cut, and the new ones will 

 form as the new shoots of cane begin to grow. If fertilizer is needed, it can now 

 be applied in this open furrow next the cane. On most lands, however, it will only 

 be necessary to use fertilizer every third or fourth year. Do not leave the furrow 

 next the cane open any longer than is necessary, but work the dirt back with the 

 cultivator, using some implement that will throw a little dirt back over the stubble. 

 Keep these alternate middles well cultivated until the beginning of the rainy season 

 and then sow them down to cow peas. This will be found much cheaper than the 

 ordinary plan of going over all the surface of the ground two or three times with 

 hoes, and it leaves the stubble cane in even better cultural condition than the plant 

 cane, for one side of each row is thoroughly cultivated, while the other side is 

 protected by a heavy mulch of trash, which serves perfectly to retain moisture. 

 The next year, of course, the middles are reversed so that all the soil is thoroughly 

 aerated, and pulverized every two years. And yet only half of it is exposed to the 

 depleting influence of tillage while all the trash is retained on the land and is 

 ultimately incorporated with it to add to its supply of humus, a substance so 

 necessary for successful tropical agriculture." 



Fig. 42 shows a typical Cuban plough preparing land for planting ; this 

 photograph was taken in 1909, but the steam gang plough is fast superseding 

 the ox. 



Strait Settlements. The process of ' banking up ' which seems peculiar 

 to Eastern Asia is thus described by F. Campcn 6 : 



"Whenever the field gets grassy it is weeded and heavily moulded at the 

 same time, and then given time to grow, until the general stand of canes is from 

 about three to four feet high, when the time has arrived to give it the first banking, 

 which is done as follows : The men go to the field and each of them takes a row, 

 which he weeds and very particularly takes off all trash, especially all the small 

 leaves at the bottom of the cane stools. After this, with a dry cane blade, he ties 

 the bunches together in such a way that each cane stool is separate by itself, and 

 after having done this he takes the hoe and makes a drill between the cane rows, 



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