PREPARATION OP THE LAND FOR PLANTING. 37 



evidence of the superiority of the cane-hole, that plants 

 would grow in them after a light shower, in general dry 

 weather, when there was not sufficient moisture to pro- 

 duce vegetation in land prepared in any other way. This 

 in itself, however, implies an improper mode of culture, for 

 this superiority only exists when the land has not been 

 tilled at the proper period, but has been recently broken 

 up ; for when land, that has been thoroughly ploughed and 

 pulverised, has been once perfectly moistened, which, if 

 attended to at the proper season, it is sure to be, it will 

 retain moisture sufficient to promote the vegetation of the 

 cane plant for a very long period. 



The cane requires no cane-hole, nor trench, nor any 

 peculiar formation of the surface of the soil ; it is devel- 

 oped in the greatest perfection in deeply ploughed and 

 thoroughly pulverised land, the surface being left in the 

 shape it assumes naturally, and which is not only best 

 adapted for the growth of the plant, but for preventing 

 the removal of the soil by heavy rains. Land, in this 

 state, is also best adapted for the use of those agricultural 

 implements, which are calculated both to improve the 

 texture and fertility of the soil, and to enable the Planter 

 to dispense with much unnecessary and expensive human 

 labour. 



When the cultivation is carried on entirely with imple- 

 ments, employing only such hands as are necessary to 

 direct them, there will be an abundant supply of labour at 

 command for all the other wants of the estate ; and even 



