SUGAR CANE AND ITS CULTIVATION. 
CULTIVATION OF SUGAR CANE. 
Sorts. 
The land in Queensland used for growing sugar is included in a 
long, narrow coastal belt, which is not continuous. “Those parts which 
are suitable are separated from each other, often by considerable tracts 
of non-sugar producing country. The latter, owing to deficient rain- 
fall or poorness of soil, are not utilized for cane. The sugar belt in 
Queensland is included between latitudes 16 degs. and 28 degs. South, 
but the bulk of the output is produced from Mackay North. 4 
Cane soils vary considerably in character and composition. Cane 
as a plant demands an abundant supply of moisture, and so requires 
retentive soils. The open red porous soils of volcanic origin require 
frequent falls of rain to produce good crops of cane, and this, unfor- 
tunately, does not always take place in the rich soils of the Wongarra 
and Isis scrubs in the Bundaberg and Childers districts. The follow- 
ing classification of Queensland cane soils was made by Maxwell, 
formerly ‘Director of Sugar Experiment Stations :— . 
District. Soils. 
Cairns .. .. | Partly shaley sterile soils, but in the main deep alluvial sandy 
loams, also rich red voleanic soils 
Mackay .. | Shaley in parts, with better alluvial over the lower levels ; mixed 
voleanic and rich siliceous alluvial 
Bundaberg .. | Rich alluvial delta soils, interspersed with sterile soils and fen rich 
: red volcanic soils 
The bulk of the sugar soils can be stated to be from good to rich 
“alluvial, such as river flats; and the deep-red volcanic Raise of con- 
siderable depth. The nature of the country is generally designated 
“scrub” and “forest.” The: North Queensland scrubs are really 
jungles, carrying a thick growth of what is known as scrub timber, such 
as silky oak, bean, pender, kauri, milkwood, Johnstone River hardwood, 
interlaced with law yer vine and other creeping plants, while the stinging 
tree is also conspicuous. Forest country usually consists of ironbark, 
bloodwood, Moreton Bay ash, bluegum, poplar-gum, and acacia. 
' The following are average analyses of a number of soils from each 
of the three sugar districts mentioned :— 
Total Plant Foods. Available Plant Foods.* 
District. - 
Lime. Potash | Phosphoric | Nitrogen. Lime. | Potash- Phosphoric 
Acid. * | Acid. 
5 ; 
I Cairns . . Ae 292 “310 “141 *122 0654 0132, +0010 
Mackay se *829 223 “165 “122 “1119 0222 | 0020 
~ Bundaberg Ae “6386 | +144 . 404 -} +120 2755 | +0083 “0018 
* Aspartic acid analyses. 
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