118 



and then cultivation would simply be a maintenance of tilth. Unfor- 

 tunately such a happy condition does not always prevail. From haste, 

 overcropping, bad weather, carelessness, and sometimes from ignorance, 

 furrows are hastily thrown together, seed planted in cloddy soil, ditches 

 shallow and foul. The poor stands thus obtained are cultivated more 

 with a view of getting land in good tilth than to benefit the plant. 

 Again, the crop, after it has reached the age when rapid and shvillow 

 culture should be practised, is, from causes given above, lelt to contest 

 with grasses and weeds the soil designed solely for it ; or pethaps unfa- 

 vourable seasons may keep away ploughs until weeds and grass have taken 

 possession of the land Then come the turn ploughs and hoes, and by 

 heroic efforts they are buried or removed. In either event, the results 

 are the same, the crop has not been improved by such treatment. 



Plan Pursued by Our Planters. 



The plan usually pursued by our best sugar planters is as follows ; 

 Corn planted early and laid by early, and at lay-by sown in cow peas 

 at the rate of one to three bushels per acre. The corn is gathered early 

 and the vines turned under in August or September, with four to eight 

 mule ploughs. The lands are thrown into beds or rows from 5 to 7 feet 

 wide, the middles are broken out with double mould-board ploughs, 

 the quarter-drains are cleaned to a depth of six inches below middles 

 of the rows, the ditches are maintained at the proper depth. The 

 rows are opened, the cane is planted and covered. 



If every detail has been properly attended to, the soil in the rows will 

 be maintained throughout our winters in a condition favourable to nitri- 

 fication and grcwth. Ko water should at any time cover the rows even 

 for a short while, and the drainage should be such that none should 

 €ver accumulate either in the middle or quarter drains. 



The above plan, if rigidly followed, leaves but little room for im- 

 provemcDt in the preparati^'n of our soils for cane. (*) If the subse- 

 quent cultivation of thecrop was as skilfully and scientifically performed, 

 our acie yields would be greater and our money returns more satisfac- 

 tory. The fundamental principles underlying successful agriculture 

 everywhere may be expressed in the following : A thorough preparation 

 of the soil, proper fertilisation and shallow aLd rapid cultivation. 



Varieties of Cane. 



Chapter X of I)r. Stubbs^ T reatise deals with the subject of varieties* 

 After alluding to the sources from which the various canes have b« en- 

 collected the writer says : — 



These importations, together with collections of those varieties import- 

 ed prior to J 685, make up the " garden of sugar cane varieties,'"' which 

 has been cultivated for several years with the hope that some variety 

 would be found which would be better adapted to our wants thbu those 

 now cultivated in our State. Up to date our results have not been 

 satisfactory. Cane is a plant which yields slowly to its environments. 

 It requires a long time and considerable patience to accHmate it. The 

 inherited characteristics cf tropical tendencies so unsuitable to our short 

 seasons, are but slowly modified by cultivation in our climate. There is, 



(4.) The introduction ot systematic rotation of crops, and the regular use of 

 green dressirgs with leguminous crops appears very desirable in Jamaica, and. 

 throughout the West Indies. F. W.. 



