IMPROVEMENT OF THE SUGAR CANE. 115 
— ———$$ $$$ — 
showing an average increase of 5°35 tons of canes per 
acre per annum due to a dressing of lime costing $30.00 
per acre when applied before the canes were planted, 
On manured land we obtained: - 
Tons of canes per acre, Increase due to lime: tons. 
Crop of 1892 not limed 47°85 
Limed 54°93 7°06 
1893 not limed 31°35 
Limed 39°9 775 
1894 not limed 24°15 
Limed 278 3°65 
1895 not limed 20°15 p 
Limed 22'9 2°85 
which shows an average increase of 5'08 tons of canes 
per acre per annum on the manured land as due to the 
liming. | 
On both not manured and manured land the dressings 
with lime, after paying the cost of the application, re- 
sulted in a profit of, in round numbers, $18.00 per 
acre per annum. Hence we may safely conclude that 
on certain soils of this colony the application of lime 
results in largely increased yields of sugar cane. But 
it is not safe pecuniarily for a planter to at once proceed 
to lime his fields on a large scale. He should first experi- 
ment by liming alternate beds of one or more fields repre- 
senting the general character of his land, and if he does 
not get a marked improvement, visible to the eye, of the 
limed as compared with the not limed breadths, he may 
conclude that liming will not pay on his land. 
But my experience, and I believe that of other agricul- 
tural chemists in the colony, is that during years of low 
prices it is, on the whole, more economical to produce 
increased yields of canes by the action of manures rather 
than by that of lime; although circumstances may from 
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