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the cane is harvested, leaves the cane rows clear of vegetable matter an4 

 enables them to shed freely the water falling upon them, and if proper 

 drainage has been established, the entire field will remain practically 

 dry during our wettest winters and the stubble will rarely be injured 

 even by excessive cold. Experiments in burning the trash off imme- 

 diately after harvest have so conclusively demonstrated the wisdom of 

 the act, that almost every plant*^r in the States seizes the first dry spell 

 after his cane is cut to fire ail his fields. If the trash be left on the 

 ground it will absorb and retain a larga amount of moisture in the 

 spring and thus retard the sprouting of the stubbles. Burnt fields 

 always give earlier stubble etands. 



Leaving the trash on the field is also h great obstacle to the proper 

 cultivation of the ensuing stubble crop. A crop of thirty tons of cane 

 will leave ten tons of a light porous trash, which during the winter and 

 spring will absorb large quantities of water, and which, decomposing 

 very slowly, will prevent the successful running of ploughs and cultivators. 

 It is claimed by observant managers that the increase in the stubble 

 crop, due to a more excellent cultivation rendered possible by burning 

 the trash, will alone more than compensate for the fertilising ingredients 

 lost in burning. Ihese are the main reasons for burning, and an expe- 

 rience of twelve years enables the writer to pronounce them sound 

 and valid The loss of vegetable matter by burning, is willingly, 

 knowingly, but rigidly sustained to prevent subsequent losses of a far 

 more serious nature. (^') 



Yariation in composition of different parts of the Stalk 



Canes vary in composition, not only with age, in different countries 

 and on different soils, and under different climatic conditions on the 

 same soils in the same country, but also among themselves Indi- 

 vidual stalks rarely ever give exactly the same composition. This 

 vill be more fully discussed under the chapter on " suckers," when it 

 will be shown that in harvesting a clump of canes, no two will be found 



(6) Burning the TRA.aH— The qaeBtion \rhether trash should be burned or no hft« 

 been most keenly debated. Dr. Stubbs gives excellent reasons for pursuing this 

 practice under the conditions prerailing in ouisiana where it would appear the 

 gains far outweigh the losses. It seems quite open to question whether under 

 the conditions prevailing in Jamaica the gains would equal the losses. Some 

 observers maintain that comparatively little check is givento the ordinary moth 

 borer (Diaircea sacchtiralis J by burning the trash tops. In Louisiana with its winter 

 it is highly desirable to prevent the chilling which would result from leaving a 

 water soaked layer of trash covering a field during a winter, when the temperature 

 for brief intervals may fiill as low a^ freezing point. This diflBculty does not 

 confront the Jamaica planter, who fur the most part will find his trash of value 

 as a covering To his fields, a corering which will conserve moisture and pre 

 vent the injurious action of the direct heat of the tropical sun upon his soil or 

 his young plants. 



Again not only does burning involve the loss of the Nitrogen contained in the 

 trabh, but it involves also the Iv&b of the organic matter which by decay forms 

 humus, a substance of great value in soils, beneficiently modifying the relation of 

 the soil towards water, rendering stiff close soils more easily drained and worked 

 and causing light sandy soils to retain moisture more efficiently. From this 

 point of view, under tropical conditions, burning probably entails considerable 

 loss, particularly if carried on systematically year after year. It is admittedly 

 true that a heavy covering of trash is in some degree troublesome when ploughing 

 the fields, but this difficulty has been overcome by the methods in vogue amongst 

 West Indian planters.- F. W. 



