30 PHILIPPINE AGRICULTURAL REVIEW. 



reached before harvest begins. It may be seen from the above 

 analyses that this makes a most excellent feed for work animals. 

 Certainly greater advantage should be taken of this feeding 

 stuff than is usually done, since there is a scarcity of pasturage 

 near the end of the harvest season and the animals become 

 needlessly thin on account of lack of feed. At present very 

 little of this material is utilized, but instead is burned on the 

 field with the rest of the trash. If the tops are removed and 

 used as a stock feed, only the leaves and pieces of stalk remain, 

 and these make a good fertilizer for cane lands. 



It is the general custom in these Islands to burn all of this 

 material as soon as the crop is harvested. The object of this 

 burning is to destroy any insects that may be present, as well 

 as to facilitate subsequent cultivation. In the writer's opinion 

 neither of these reasons is sufficiently well based, since in this 

 country large numbers of troublesome cane insects are not 

 found. If they were present in sufficient quantities, the trouble 

 could be handled by placing the trash between the rows and 

 properly treating it before plowing it under. This should be 

 the method of disposing of the trash at all times. In this 

 manner the waste material could be utilized, and the organic 

 matter would be even more valuable than that contained in many 

 of the commercial fertilizers. The nitrogen contained, which 

 amounts to from 0.5 to 2 per cent, would be practically all 

 saved, while with the burning method this is completely lost. 



In Louisiana, cotton-seed meal forms one of the principal 

 nitrogenous fertilizers for cane lands. This material costs from 

 1*50 to 1*75 per ton and Dr. Stubbs, 1 in his research, found that 

 the trash burned from each ton of cane caused a loss of nitrogen 

 equal to that contained in 27 pounds of cotton-seed meal. Be- 

 sides this loss of nitrogen encountered in the burning of the 

 trash, the organic matter which would later form humus is 

 completely destroyed. Soils would retain moisture better during 

 the dry season and be more easily handled if the conservation 

 of organic matter were given greater attention. There is also 

 a great injury done to the remaining stumps and top roots 

 by this burning which is very detrimental when the field is to 

 be used for a ratoon crop. Where cane is badly infested with 

 destructive insects, it is quite another thing. This again brings 

 up the fact that the cane points should be treated with chemicals 

 before planting, in order to complete the work of destroying 

 these insects. 



'Cultivation of Sugar Cane, by Dr. Stubbs. 



