134 



TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



CHAP. 



The soil of 

 Barbados. 



The soil of 

 Antigua. 



A hot moist 

 climate the 

 best. 



A lowland 

 plant. 



Marine 

 climate. 



not refer to soil where lime is found in quantity, as in the 

 marls and calcareous soils. In Barbados, where the soil is 

 peculiarly adapted to the sugar cane, lime exists in consider- 

 able quantity, for nearly the whole island is of coral forma- 

 tion ; and, in parts of Antigua, some of the rich cane lands 

 have been formed by the decomposition of a kind of lime- 

 stone. 



Climate. — The sugar-cane is essentially a tropical plant ; 

 it will grow well in sub-tropical climates, but it does not there 

 give anything like the return that it does in the tropical zone. 

 A hot, moist atmosphere, alternating with periods of dry 

 weather, such as is found on the plains and in the valleys of 

 the West Indian colonies, is the typical climate for the cane. 

 It does not do nearly so well in the hills as it does in the low- 

 lands, and when planted in the mountains it takes a long 

 time to mature and ceases to give remunerative crops. 

 Moderate sea-breezes are not inimical to its growth, and for 

 this reason alone cane cultivation is eminently suited to the 

 West Indian islands where the climate is a marine one. In- 

 deed, on the windward coast of the islands, where the land 

 is exposed to sea-breezes bringing in air laden with saline par- 

 ticles, scarcely any cultivated plant but the cane can be 

 scrown. 



Cane plants. 



Ciood seed. 



Improve- 

 ment of 

 crops. 



Propagation.— The cane is propagated entirely by cut- 

 tings, for, although the plant flowers, it rarely bears seed. 

 These cuttings are called //^«/j, and they consist of the two 

 or three upper joints of the cane. Each joint contains an 

 eye, or bud, from which shoots run up to find air and light, 

 and roots descend into the ground, in much the same way as 

 occurs in the case of the germinating seed. It has been 

 shown, in the first part of this book, that a good planter, in 

 order to obtain the best and largest crop possible, where pro- 

 pagation from seed is concerned, should select the finest 

 fruit, and the largest seed from that fruit. By a close obser- 

 vance of this rule, European and American agriculturists have 

 improved grain, root crops and fruits immensely. One would 



