196 AMERICAN AGEICULTUKE. 



when it will benefit all descriptions of stock. By adding an 

 equal quantity of corn and boiling them together it will fat- 

 ten swine rapidly. It is also useful to land as a manure. 



THE SUGAR CANE (Saccharum officinarum.) 



The cultivation of the cane is an important branch of South- 

 ern agriculture. Its first introduction into this country, is 

 said to have been in 1751, by some French Jesuits, who plan, 

 fed it on the present site of New-Orleans. But it was not 

 until between 1794 and 1800, when the revolution in St, 

 Domingo sent hundreds of their planters into that state, that 

 the growth of the cane became an object of decided impor- 

 tance. They brought with them the small yellow Creole, 

 the only kind then cultivated in the French West India islands, 

 From these limited and comparatively recent beginnings, the 

 product has rapidly increased, until it has now become nex! 

 to cotton, the great agricultural export from the Southern 

 States. Over 160,000,000 Ibs., with 9,000,000 gallons mo- 

 lasses, was the estimated crop for 1845. In Louisiana, the 

 great sugar producing ytate, it has been cultivated almost ex- 

 clusively on the low or rich level lands ; but recently, the more 

 elevated country has been used for it, and the experiments 

 have been such as to justify the expectation that large quan- 

 tities will hereafter be raised on the uplands. The cane was 

 brought to Georgia in 1805 from the island of Otaheite. Its 

 extension in some parts of that state and Florida was rapid, 

 and while sugar commanded 10 cents per pound, it was a re- 

 munerating crop. Since its decline to five and six cents, the. 

 cultivation has diminished, but it is still largely 'raised for 

 domestic consumption among the planters, and to some ex- 

 tent for exportation to the northern states. 



CULTIVATION. The first operation is to drain the land 

 effectually with large open ditches, by which all the surface 

 water is removed. The ground is then thoroughly prepared 

 with the plough, and well harrowed if rough. ' In Georgia,'' 

 says Mr. Spalding, " the cane was cultivated differently from 

 what it was elsewhere. It naturally took the course of our 

 cotton culture of the seacoast ; to wit, ridges at five feet apart ; 

 a trench was opened on the top of the ridge, three inches 

 deep, in which a double row of cane-plants were placed, cut 

 about two feet long, and placed so as the eyes which are al- 

 ternate, should be on the sides, and then covered with two 

 inches of earth. This you may suppose in a good season 

 gives a continued line of stalks, not more than three inches 



