1 Jury, 1901.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAU. 101 
» As a general rule, the cane plants are not put in nearly deep enough, and, 
especially as regards spring planting, not covered deep enough either.. Many planters 
like to see cane shoots above the ground in four or six He T do not, and when 
planting in spring, of which I do as little as possible, I always cover deep. To be 
more particular, I give the land always four, generally five, ploughings. I instruct 
the ploughman to mark out 14 inches deep. This generally means 12 inches. The 
islanders then take cutlasses, put them well into the bottom of furrow, raise them a 
little, and puts the plants under. I then have from 6 to 7 inches more soil put on 
them. Ido this to encourage root growth. The plants are some time before they 
appear above the ground, but they are strong and robust when they do so, and T know 
that there are plenty of roots then to support them. 
Until infinitely more care is taken in the selection of plants, our canes must 
deteriorate, and as a consequence, become less reliable. As to the varieties of cane, 
soil, situation and, period of planting must all be taken into consideration. Canes 
which arrow freely should, as much as possible, be avoided for spring planting, for, as 
a rule, when there is a dry spring there follows a very wet summer. <A probable 
lack of proper care also while young, owing to an insufficiency of labour, will tend 
to early arrowing, say by the end of April, leaving a nine months’ cane whose whole 
existence has been a struggle with adverse conditions. 
The farmer wants reliable money, reliable labour, and reliable advice; a reliable 
cane is of equal importance to him. In Mackay, fat, healthy cattle can any day be 
seen ere with ticks which do not seem to take any effect on them. Not so with 
the poor half-starved milker. Just so with canes; we find some varieties healthy 
and robust that nothing affects. Others, enfeebled by using plants which are quite 
unfit for propagating purposes, are prone to disease which the healthy canes would 
throw off. lt is not the season which causes so many misses in April and May 
plantings. The misses and origin, deterioration and disease, are, to my mind, all 
to be sought and found here. Plants are often used which a planter would reject by 
the touch if blindfolded. The most casual observer must have noticed that few of 
our present varieties have either the bloom on the stalk or the health in the leaf that 
they had when first introduced. 
I should advise, if it is not deemed impertinent, great caution in the matter of 
seedling canes. About all we really know of them is, that they are rich in saccharine 
matter. We know nothing of the soil in which they grew, or the conditions under 
which they were grown. We do, however, know this much—that the best of them are 
the offspring of the good old Bourbon which collapsed so suddenly in 1875. Even if 
these seedlings can be called new varieties, you will find that they resemble in many 
respects and to all appearance are closely related to old varieties long since almost 
abandoned, and you will find that, whatever excellence they may possess, . they 
generally haye all the characteristics of the variety they most resemble. I doubt very 
much if they exceed such varieties as the Malabar (not the variety now known by 
that name), Gingham (not the Mauritius variety), or the old Black Java in sugar 
content ; yet these are now almost unknown to many canegrowers. 
Some months ago a suggestion was made to the P.R.F.A. to try and induce the 
Government to send someone to other sugar-growing countries with a view to the 
introduction of new varieties of canes. At the time I opposed it. At the present 
time, were I the owner of a mill growing my own cane, I should not think of going 
outside the canes I already possess and have grown continuously for twenty-five years. 
But, were I interested in a central mill depending on farmers for its supply, I should 
suggest that that mill send a competent person to the West Indies and Guiana to 
thoroughly investigate the cane seedlings. Barbados planters abandoned the Bourbon 
for what is termed “the hasty and ill-considered substitution in that island of a hetero- 
geneous mixture of untried varieties,” and I think they have had deep cause to regret it. 
It would perhaps be well worth the while of the Government to undertake this work, 
coupling with it a tour through the United States to observe machinery, methods of 
cultivation of ordinary farm crops, harvesting of same and returns. 
Early trashing tends greatly to the health and vigour of the crop, as leaves are 
removed which would otherwise become a harbour for and breeding places of pests 
and parasites. The removal of the dead leaves would also, by admitting light and 
heat, cause canes to come to maturity which otherwise would never do so. If trash, 
when removed, instead of being allowed to remain where it falls, were all placed on one 
bank, leaving every alternate bank or space between the cane rows quite clear, it 
would enable the cutters to do their work much better and much quicker, and would 
also have a very beneficial effect on heavy crops when they go down, by keeping them 
from coming in contact with the soil, which causes them to grow at the eyes, This has 
