t 400 ] 



608. Planting. Sugar-cane harvesting and sugar-cane 

 planting can proceed for eight months in the year, viz., from 

 September to April ; but the best time for harvesting sugar-cane 

 are December to February, and the best month for planting the 

 cuttings is February. Harvesting and planting in September 

 and October, one gets very high price for the canes during 

 the Pujahs, and sprouting of the cuttings also takes place 

 freely at this season, as the heat and moisture are both suffi- 

 cient to help the growth of the young plant. But the cold 

 weather that follows retards the growth, and makes the nodes 

 of the canes very short. From November to May as many as 

 twelve irrigations may have to be given to keep the plants 

 in proper condition. From February the growth is again 

 normal and there are no short nodes formed, but, on the 

 whole, the time and expense from September to February are 

 wasted, and the only advantage in doing the planting in 

 September or October is the obtaining of a crop of chewing 

 canes during the Pujahs when they fetch a very high price 

 in a town like Calcutta. Planting in November to January, 

 the sprouting is most tardy, and most of the cuttings perish 

 before they have time to sprout through the attack of white- 

 ants or from the caking of the soil preventing the sprouts 

 from forcing their way upwards. Cuttings planted from 

 November to January do not make any more progress than 

 those planted in February. If harvesting is done in Decem 

 ber and January which months are as well suited as February 

 for making high class gur, the seed-cane may be topped and 

 left to sprout on the fields, or they may be made into cuttings 

 and stored in pits, in the manner described before. The actual 

 planting should be put off till February. By planting in March 

 6ne saves one irrigation, but the growth from cuttings plant- 

 ed in February is better. Of course, the conditions as to 

 temperature prevailing in the delta of the Ganges are not the 

 same as those prevailing in the hills/or in^the rOcky vve'stern 

 districts of this Province. But the principle of planting tn 



