176 



SUGAR. 



from fhem, and they are cat into pieces, not liaynig less than two 

 nor more than four joints each* These sets are kept for ten or 

 fifteen days in a bed prepared for them, from whence thev are 

 ta-ken and planted in rows two or three together, eighteen inches 

 -Or two feet intervening between each stooL 



■ Planting. — The time and mode of planting vary. In theEajah-- 

 mnndry Circar, Dr. Eoxbui^gh says, that " during the months of 

 April and May the land is repeatedly ploughed with the common 

 Hindoo plongh, which soon brings the loose rich soil (speakino- of 

 the Delta of the Grodavery) into very excellent order. About the 

 end of May and beginning of June, the rains generally set in, in 

 frequent heavy showers. Xow is the time to plant the cane ; but 

 should the rains hold back, the prepared field is watered or flooded 

 from the river, and, while perfectly wet, like soft mud, the cane 

 is planted. 



" The method is most simple. Laborers with baskets of the 

 cuttings, of one or two joints each, arrange themselves along one 

 side of the field. They walk side by side, in as straight a line as 

 their eye and judgment enable them, dropping the sets at the 

 distance of about eighteen inches asunder in rows, and about four 

 feet from row to row. Other laborers follow, and Avith the foot 

 press the set about two inches into the soft, mud-like soil, which, 

 with a sweep or two with the sole of the foot, they most easily 

 and readily cover." — (Soxburgh on the Culture of Sugar.) 



About Malda, in the month of Maug (January, February), the 

 land is to be twice ploughed, and harrowed repeatedly, length and 

 breadth ways : after which it is furrowed, the foiTows half a cubit 

 apart, in which the plants are to be set at about four fingers' dis- 

 tance from each other, when the furrows are filled up with the 

 land that lay upon its ridges. The plants being thus set, the land 

 is harrowed twice in difterent directions ; fifteen or twenty 

 days afterwards the cane begins to grow, when the weeds vdiich 

 appear vrith it must be taken up ; ten or twelve days after this 

 the weeds will again appear. They must again be taken up, and 

 the earth at the roots of the canes be removed, when all the 

 plants which have grown will appear. 



At Ghazepore the rains set in at the beo:iuniu2: of March, and 

 planting then commences. Near Calcutta the planting takes place 

 in May and June. In Dinajpoor and Eungpore tlie planting time 

 is February. 



About Commercolly it is performed in January. The field is 

 divided into beds six cubits broad, separated from each other by 

 small trenches fourteen inches wide and eight inches deep. In 

 every second trench are small wells, about two feet deep. The 

 ii-rigating water flowing along the trenches fills the weUs, and is 

 taken thence and applied to the canes by hand. 



Each bed has five rows of canes. The sets are planted in holes 

 about six inches in diameter, and three deep ; two sets, each 

 having three joints, are laid horizontally in every hole, covered 

 slightlv with earth, and over this is a little dung. 



