7S:i 



vii. No. 4, 1906, pp. 345-373; Harrison, Stockdale & Ward, 

 xiii. No. 2, 1912, p. 188J; but in fxcld practice the plants are 

 always propagated by cuttings, tops of selected cane or, sozne- 

 times, whole canes, being cut up and planted somewhat after the 

 manner of potatoes, or carefully laid in, properly spaced and 



regulated by hand. In Cuba the prevailin 



4i-5 



soil is prepared, and cultivated the first season, but no further 

 tillage is given (Agric. News, Barbados, May 12th, 1906, p. 146); 

 in this island the variety known as " Crystalina "—one of the 

 estabhshed commercial varieties, is the one most generally 

 grown ; it is said to succeed with a minimum of care and under 



West 



White 



variety in the Museum at Kew] are chiefly used in the West 

 Indies (Agric. News, Barbados, April 24th, 1915, p. 131), carefully 

 selected from sound ripe canes ; the leaves are cut off low enough 

 to include the terminal bud, leaving a piece of the cane about 

 10 in. long, having two or three healthy lateral buds or eyes. 

 It is recommended to soak the cuttings for an hour or two in 

 slaked hme and w^ater (2 lb. of hnie to a gallon of water) in 

 order to destroy as many animal and vegetable parasites as 

 possible. The cuttings are planted 4| by 5 ft. or 5 by 5 ft., 

 dibbled in with an iron bar or drill, deep enough to take the 

 head of the piece planted just below the level of the ground; 

 the eyes burst into leaf in about 7-14 days (Watts, Manual for 

 Sugar Growers, p. 43). Tops are recommended in the Godaveri 

 Delta, some varieties such as •*' Seema " will only grow from 



sufficient 



an acre 



m 



Agric. Journ. India, ii. Jan. 1907, ** Sugar Cane Cultivation in 

 the Irrigated Lands of the Godaveri Delta,'* pp. 33*-41). The 

 canes are harvested when growth is complete and they begin 

 to change colour, wliich may be in about 12 months from the 

 time of planting — the " Bourbon " as a plant cane is said to 

 arrive at maturity in 15-16 months and as a ratoon in 12 montlis 

 (Inter, Sugar Journ., Aug. 1909, p. 390), and the " Uba " in 

 Natal is stated to require 22 months from plant canes to reach 

 full maturity and 20 from ratoons (I.e. Jan. 1920, pp. 14, 16) or 

 18-24 months, and in Portuguese East Africa ratoons are cut 

 after about 12 months {see Morris, *' Cane Growing in the 

 Zambesi,'* seq,) ; they are cut as close to the ground as possible 

 and conveyed without undue delay to the crushing mills. It is 

 recommended that the cane should be received at the factory 

 at the latest 24-36 hours after cutting, and that care must be 

 taken not to have more cane in stock than can be worked off 

 by the mills in 24 hours (Weinberg, " The Deterioration of Cut 

 Sugar Cane," in Agric. Ledger, No. 6, 1903, pp. 139-146). It 

 has been concluded from an extensive survey of experiments 



V 



planted in 



B a 



