SUGAR CANE AND ITS CULTIVATION. 
put in about 9 inches deep when. planting by hand, and covered with 
from 2 to 4 inches of soil—2 inches when conditions are very moist, 
and 4 inches when they are very dry. When planting by hand, the 
cane sets should be laid in the ground with the eyes at the sides, if 
possible. The cane-planting machine is now coming into great favour, 
and, while spacing cannot be carried out so evenly by its means, it puts 
the plant well down into the moist soil. It is a great labour-saver, 
and many types of machine are now upon the market. 
SUBSEQUENT OULTIVATION. 
As soon, as the cane is up about 6 inches, the subsequent shallow 
cultivation should commence, and this, if properly done, is a factor 
which materially contributes to the after success of the crop. 
Providing a number of deep ploughings have been given the ground 
before planting, the subsequent inter-row cultivation should be of a 
shallow nature, so that a thin layer of earth may be separated from 
the bulk of soil and laid as a mulch upon the surface. — 
Professor Hilgard (“Soils”) remarks:—“ The loose tilth of the 
surface, which is so conducive to the rapid absorption of the surface- 
water, is also, broadly speaking, the best means of reducing evapora- 
tion to the lowest possible point. . . . It is true that relatively 
coarse compound particles are incapable of withdrawing capillary mois- 
ture from the dense soil or subsoil underneath, just as a dry sponge 
is incapable of absorbing any moisture from a wet brick, while the 
dry brick will withdraw readily nearly all the water contained ih the 
relatively large pores of the sponge. A layer of loose, dry, surface 
soil is therefore an excellent preventative of evaporation, and to moderate ~ 
the access of excessive heat and dryness to the active roots.” 
While the use of a dise harrow may be permitted during the early 
stages of the crop, especially when some form of drill cleaner: is pulled 
behind, its use should be prohibited directly it is found that the ‘young 
cane roots—which subsequently begin to stretch out laterally—are being 
cut. ‘There are now many devices in use in the cane-fields to obviate 
the labour of “chipping” or weeding the drills by hand. In some of 
these, a form of bent harrow is pulled behind the dise harrow or a 
two-row cultivator. This bent harrow sits in the drill, and if the 
weeds are taken when they are small they can nearly all be removed 
in this way. Others use a light form of triangular harrow in the 
drill, such as a strawberry cultivator. Special forms of implements 
for cleaning the interspaces and the cane drills at one operation are 
also to be procured. The cultivator should be run regularly through 
the cane, whether there are weeds or not, so as to insure the crop getting 
all the benefits from the cultivator, and to conserve moisture during dry 
times. . . 
-Disposan or Trase. 
The trash is usually burned in Queensland, and there is a good 
deal to be said in fayour of this method, provided humus is restored 
at intervals by the growth and ploughing under of a good green manure 
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