JAMAICA. 



BULLETIN 



OF THE 



BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT. 



New Series.] OCTOBER, 1898. — ^ — - — . 



^ Part 10, 



AGRICULTURE OF THE SUGAR CANE.— IV. 



Extracts from "Sugar Cane, YoL 1.'' by Dr. William Stubbs, 

 Director of the Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station. 



Edited by Francis Watts, Government Chemist Jamaica. 



CULTIVATION OF CANE. 



In previous chapters, detailed instructions have been gi^en for the 

 preparation of the soil, and the planting of the cane. If every operation 

 has been performed carefully, the early spring will fiad the planter 

 working hard to secure a stand. If his cane has been planted in the 

 fall of winter, the early spring will find the young shoots struggling to 

 penetrate the three or more inches of dirt with which the cane was 

 covered in the fall to protect it against the winter's cold. The earliest 

 work is to remove this excessive dirt, and permit an early and rapid 

 germination of the cane. To this end, two furrows on each side of the 

 row are reversed, and the extra dirt on the top of the cane removed 

 with hoes. In practice, the hoes " find" the embedded cane and leave 

 only a thin layer of dirt, well pulverised above them. By this treatment 

 the canes, if good, are soon warmed into a vigorous germination, and 

 continuous stands are soon visible on every row. Some planters scrape" 

 their canes before off-barring with the plough, preferring to maintain 

 the established winter drainage through high ridges and quarter drains, 

 until the approach of the usually dry weather of spring. Cane planted 

 in the spring is not so deeply covered, and frequently gives a stand 

 Without the aid of off-barring and scraping. However, the efforts of 

 the planter are mainly directed in early spring to the securement of a 

 stand of cane, and his judgment, disciplined by experience, will fre- 

 quently suggest the best methods to be pursued to attain this important 

 end. 



Having secured a stand of cane, many planters concentrate their next 

 -efforts to the encouragement of suckers, which develop with great rapidity 



