SUGAS. 



177 



When the canes are planted in the spring, the trenches must 

 be filled Tvith water, and some poured into every hole. At the 

 other season of planting the trenches are full, it being rainy 

 weather ; but even then the sets must be watered for the first 

 month. 



Mr. Haines says that in Mirzapore and the neighbouring dis- 

 tricts, " in planting the cane they commence a fiu^row round the 

 field, in which they drop the cuttings. The second furrow is left 

 empty ; cuttings again in the third ; so they continue dropping 

 cuttings in every second furrow till the whole field is completed, 

 finishing in the centre of the field. The field remains in this 

 state tni the second or third day, when for two or three days in 

 succession it is made even and hard upon the surface with the 

 heugah, as before stated." — (Trans. Agri-Hort. Soc. vi. 5.) 



Mr. Vaupell, in describing the most successful mode of culti- 

 vating the Mauritius sugar cane in Bombay, says, that " after the 

 ground is levelled with the small plough, called ' paur,' in the 

 manner of the cultivators, pits of two feet in diameter, and two 

 feet in depth, should be dug throughout the field at the distance 

 of five feet apart, and filled with manure and soil to about three 

 inches of the surface. Set in these pits your canes, cut in pieces 

 about a foot and a half long, laying them down in a triangular 

 form, thus ^. Keep as much of the eyes or shoots of the cane 

 uppermost as you can ; then cover them with manure and soil ; 

 beds should next be formed to retain water, having four pits in 

 each bed, leaving passages for watering them. The cutting should 

 be watered every third day during hot weather, and the field 

 should always be kept in a moist state." — (Ibid. iii. 43.) 



About Benares, the sets require, after planting, from four to 

 six waterings, until the rains commence, and as many hoeings to 

 loosen the surface, which becomes caked after every watering. 

 The moister nature of the soil renders these operations generally 

 unnecessary in Bengal. 



After-culture. — In Mysore, the surface of the earth in the 

 hollows in which the sets are planted is stirred with a stick as 

 soon as the shoots appear, and a little dung is added. Next month 

 the daily watering is continued, and then the whole field dug over 

 with the hoe, a cavity being made round each stool, and a little 

 dung added. In the third month water is given every second 

 day : at its close, if the canes are luxuriant, the ground is again 

 dug ; but if weakly, the watering is continued during the fourth 

 month, before the digging is given. At this time the earth is 

 drawn up about the canes, so as to leave the hollows between the 

 rows at right angles with the trenches. No more water is given 

 to the plants, but the trenches between the beds are kept full for 

 three days. It is then left ofi" for a week, and if rain occurs, no 

 further water is requisite ; but if the weather is dry, water is 

 admitted once a week during the next month. The digging is 

 then repeated, and the earth levelled with the hand about the 

 stools. 



