STJGAE. 



173 



In the TVest Indies, when tlie cane is affected hj what is called 

 there the blast, which is a withering or drying up of the plants, 

 an unfailing remedy is found to be watering them with an infu- 

 sion of dung in salt water.* 



Preparation of soil. — In the E-ajahmundry district, during the 

 months of April and May, the ground is frequently ploughed, 

 until brought into a very fine tilth. About the end of jMay, or 

 beginning of June, the rains usually commence, and the canes are 

 then to be planted. If the rains do not set in so early, the land 

 is flooded artificially, and when converted into a soft mud, whether 

 by the rain or by flooding, the canes are planted. 



In Mysore the ground is watered for thi'ee days, and then, after 

 drying for the same period, ploughing commences, this operation 

 being repeated five times during the following eight days. The 

 clods during this time are broken small by an instrument called 

 colJcudali. The field is then manured and ploughed a sixth time. 

 After fifteen days it is ploughed again, twice in the course of one 

 or two days. After a lapse of eight days it is ploughed a ninth 

 time. Altogether these operations occupy about fort^y-four days. 



For planting, which is done six days, an implement called 7/ella 

 kuclali is employed. 



In Dinajpoor, "the field, from about the middle of October 

 until about the 10th of January, receives ten or twelve double 

 ploughing^, and after each is smoothed with the moi/i. During the 

 last three months of this time it is manured with cow-dung and 

 mud from ponds and ditches. On this account, the land fit for 

 sugar cane is generally divided into fields by wide ditches, into 

 which much mud is washed by the rain, and is again thrown on 

 the fields when the country dries, and leaves it enriched by iiniu- 

 merable aquatic vegetables and animals that have died as the water 

 left them. AYhen the ploughing has been completed, the field is 

 manured with ashes and oilcake." 



About Malda, " the land is first ploughed in the month of Car- 

 tick, length and breadth ways, and harrowed in like manner ; four 

 or five days after it is again ploughed and harrowed, as before, 

 twice. In the month of Aghun, the whole land is covered with 

 fresh earth, again t^ice ploughed, and harrowed in different di- 

 rections, and then manured with dung. Fifteen or twenty days 

 afterwards it is to be twice ploughed, as before ; eight or ten days 

 after which, it is to be slightly manured with dung, and the refuse 

 of oil, mixed together ; then twice ploughed and harrowed in dif- 

 ferent directions, so that the clods of earth brought be well mixed 

 together with the land. This preparation continues until the 20th 

 or 25th of the month Pows." 



In the vicinity of Dacca, during " Cautic or Augun (October, 

 November) the Eyots begin to prepare their ground. They first 

 dig a trench round their fields, and raise a mound of about three 

 feet in height. If the ground to be cultivated is waste, about nine 



* L' Exploitation do Sucreries. Porter on the Sugar Cane, 53, 321. 



