4 * 
it is far better to bury the weeds than to burn them 
on the land, as by the latter plan a considerable por¬ 
tion of the plant food is carried off into the atmos¬ 
phere. 
If the land be sodden with moisture, it should 
be drained by deep trenches being dug so as to 
carry off the ground water to a lower level. When 
the soil is dry, and water is available for irrigation, 
the cultivation will be immensely improved by car¬ 
rying irrigation canals through the land in such a 
way as to distribute the water as equably as possi¬ 
ble. The water must not be allowed, however, 
to run continuously throughout the year, so as to 
convert the land into a marsh. When most of the 
plants are fruiting it will be advisable to turn off 
the water, as too much moisture at this time is a 
disadvantage. 
Planting out .—The suckers should be set at 
distances of not less that eighteen feet from each 
other. A good system is to plant in rows twenty 
feet apart, the suckers in the rows being at distances 
of eighteen feet. Between each third or fourth row 
a drainage, or an irrigation trench may be dug, all 
such trenches being made before the plants are put 
out. The sucker must be planted a foot deep in a 
specially prepared hole; and, when the land is poor, 
a little manure can be put at the bottom of the hole. 
When planted, the earth should be firmly press¬ 
ed dov n by the feet all round the sucker, so as to 
prevent the entry of too much air to dry up the roots 
when they shoot forth. By some planters it is ad¬ 
vised to place the suckers in a slanting direction in 
the ground, but this is a bad system, and has 
nothing whatever to recommend it. The so-called 
stem of the banana grows up perfectly straight, and 
when the .young plant is out of the perpendicular, 
a portion of the energy of growth is expended in the 
effort to straighten the stem. 
