SUGAR-CANE 501 



cotton seed per acre. Cotton seed is usually so high in 

 price that other nitrogenous fertihzers may be profitably 

 substituted for it. When cotton seed is used, it should 

 be supplemented by acid phosphate, or phosphate and 

 potash, mixed in the furrow with the seed. Where much 

 fertilizer is used, a furrow should be made through it, so 

 as to mix it with the soil, thus preventing the eyes of the 

 cane from coming into immediate contact with the ferti- 

 lizer ; this is because the eyes or buds may be killed by con- 

 tact with certain fertihzers. A single line of cane, the 

 ends of the stalks slightly overlapping, is then planted 

 in the water-furrow. The cane is covered and a hst or 

 bed formed above it. This covers the cane so deeply that 

 it is desirable to remove a part of the soil before the young 

 plants come up. This is best done by running a spike- 

 tooth harrow on the rows and parallel with them. This 

 removes the excess of soil, kills sprouting weeds, and, by 

 retaining moisture below the layer of loosened soil, causes 

 an increased number of eyes on the planted cane to grow. 



Planting is done chiefly in the first half of March, but 

 in parts of Florida, fall planting is sometimes practiced. 



486. Tillage. — In Louisiana in the spring, a part of the 

 soil is removed with the hoe from above the fall-planted 

 cane and the row " barred off " and fertihzed. Then 

 the soil is thrown toward the rows. Subsequent tillage 

 is effected chiefly by the use of a disk cultivator, supple- 

 mented by the use of some other suitable implement in 

 the middles, or water-furrows, which must be kept open 

 continuously to afford drainage. 



In the sandy lands, the more common implements of 

 tillage are the scrape or sweep and various styles of one- 



