CULTIVATION OF THE SUGAR CANE. 



spirited persons who introduced it, it was still thought 

 indispensable to go through the form of digging cane- 

 holes, and cross-holing afterwards, which was afterwards 

 modified by ploughing banks and trenches at the required 

 distances, and then forming cane-holes in the trenches by 

 the operation of cross-holing. No one thought it possible 

 that canes could grow in any other way than in the cane- 

 hole which they had been accustomed to; and various 

 reasons were brought forward in support of the cane-hole 

 system. 



The first, and most important, was, that unless the 

 earth was disposed in that form, it would be washed 

 away by the heavy rains, particularly on slopes. This is 

 an erroneous idea, as the earth is washed away just as 

 readily when reduced to that form, as if left flat, and, 

 indeed much more so, than if deeply ploughed and with a 

 plain surface. The hill-sides of England are not dug 

 into holes, yet the plough is used unsparingly on them, 

 and we hear no complaints of their washing away. But 

 the banks of the cane-holes are continually giving way, 

 from the weight of water in the holes in heavy rains, and 

 the finest portions of the mould and manure are carried 

 away in rivulets in ail directions. 



Another reason given is, that the roots of the cane have 

 a tendency to grow upwards to the surface, and that it is 

 necessary to plant it at the bottom of a deep hole, to 

 allow it to follow its bent, by throwing its roots upwards 

 to the top of the bank; and this is attempted to be 



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