SUGAR-CANE — CLIMATE, TILLAGE 421 



with hoes although there is an implement called the "scra- 

 per" especially designed for doing this work, which re- 

 moves the soil more economically than can be done with 

 hoes. This leaves the cane in a narrow, well-drained ridge 

 which warms up readily and causes the rapid germination 

 of the buds. When the cane has come to a stand the fer- 

 tilizer should be appHed. It is distributed along both 

 sides of the row in the off-bar furrows and also over the 

 row. The soil is then returned to the cane by means of 

 plows and the middles are opened with a double mold- 

 board plow. -The subsequent cultivation is effected usu- 

 ally by means of disk cultivators which straddle the rows, 

 ^nd are so adjusted as to throw the soil toward the cane 

 at each working. The middles are kept stirred by the use 

 of special implements called "middle cultivators." "Cul- 

 tivation should be continued until the cane has reached 

 such a height that the mules and implements can no long 

 pass through without causing material injury." ^ 



When a crop of stubble cane is grown the first tillage 

 in the spring consists in loosening the soil with a stubble 

 digger, after the dried tops, and leaves of the preceding 

 crop have been burned. Sometimes a "stubble shaver" 

 is used to cut off, below the surface of the soil, the 

 stubble on which the upper eyes have been injured. 

 Stubble cane is fertilized by applying the fertilizer in 

 a furrow near the line of stubble and by covering it with 

 soil. 



Throughout the greater part of the pine-belt, the culti- 

 vation of sugar-cane is similar to that of corn. The Flor- 

 ida Station recommends that fertilizers for sugar-cane in 

 that State be applied before planting. In this case, and 

 particularly when the cane is planted in the spring, the 

 > La. Sugar Exp. Sta., Bui. 129, p. 34. 



