SUGAR CANE 49 



shore the irrigation waters usually contain a certain amount 

 of salt. It has been found that water may be safely used for 

 irrigation if it contains no more than lOO grains of salt per 

 gallon. 



In plowing cane lands quite different practices prevail in 

 different countries. In Poona, India, the land is plowed with 

 mold-board plows drawn by ox teams and the depth of plow- 

 ing is lo to 12 inches. In Cuba, the cane soils are likewise 

 plowed with ox-drawn mold-board plows but usually not to 

 a depth exceeding 8 or lo inches. In Hawaii, steam power is 

 chiefly used in plowing cane soils and the depth of plowing 

 is from 12 to 24 inches, usually about 16 inches. It has been 

 definitely shown that deep plowing is beneficial. Moreover, 

 as it has recently been demonstrated to the satisfaction of 

 plantation managers that cane trash and green manuring crops 

 are necessary for a continued high yield of sugar cane, the 

 managers have adopted special plows for turning under the 

 cane trash and legumes and weeds. 



As is generally known, even to those who have never visited 

 cane plantations, cane seed means segments of the stalk of 

 the cane cut in lengths of 8 to 10 inches. These sticks of seed 

 cane are commonly cut from the top of the cane and are 

 planted in furrows or holes, mostly in furrows. They are 

 usually dropped in a continuous row at the bottom of the fur- 

 row or sometimes a double row, as, for example, in Louisiana. 

 These rows are from 3 to 7 feet apart. The amount of seed 

 required per acre varies from i^ to 4 tons, according to the 

 distance between the rows and whether or not two rows of 

 sticks are dropped in each furrow. In Louisiana, seed cane 

 has to be preserved over winter by burying in the ground. 



On irrigated plantations, weeding must be done by hand and 

 not by machines, for horse or power machines would spoil or 

 fill up the furrows and thus prevent irrigation. Various kinds 

 of cultivators, row straddlers, and other implements are used 

 on nonirrigated cane. Recently in Hawaii, particularly in the 



