Fertilizers for Various Special Crops 347 



SUGAR-CANE 



Another special crop, confined largely to one state, 

 Louisiana, is sugar-cane, and perhaps no other one crop 

 has in this country received such careful study in refer- 

 ence to its needs for plant-food. The Sugar Experiment 

 Station of that state has for twelve years conducted a 

 series of systematic experiments designed to answer the 

 questions as to what the needs are for nitrogen, phos- 

 phoric acid and potash ; and the results of this work thus 

 far secured furnish suggestions in reference to fertiliza- 

 tion, which will, if carefully followed, undoubtedly result 

 in the production of better crops than are grown under 

 present systems. Fertilizers are clearly needed, and their 

 right use is a profitable practice, though, as stated by 

 Doctor Stubbs, "many ascribe the failure from their use 

 to the worthlessness of the fertilizer, when it should be 

 ascribed to some defection of the soil, rendering it incapable 

 of appropriating the applied fertilizer." 



The chief conclusions in reference to fertilizers for 

 sugar-cane in Louisiana, so clearly set forth by Doctor 

 Stubbs in this report, 1 are here summarized, as it is be- 

 lieved that the underlying principles are applicable else- 

 where, though naturally their use must be modified to 

 suit individual cases. 



The needs of the plant as indicated by the Louisiana experi- 

 ments. 



"An examination of the cane plant shows that a crop 

 of 30 tons will remove, in round numbers, 102 pounds of 

 nitrogen, 45 of phosphoric acid and 65 of potash. It is, 

 therefore, a relatively exhaustive crop, and unless the 



1 " Sugar-cane," Vol. I, Sugar Experiment Station, Audubon 

 Park, New Orleans, La. 



