Farm and Garden.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 429, 4 August 1904, Page 6

Farm and Garden.

ORIGINAL ARTICLES.

MOBE ABOUT SUGAR CANE.

plaats are usually the top l« parts of the plants consisting of four or six of the top joints; . the shorter the- joints the better j if the bads or eyes are rally developed or perfect. In some distant parts they use stubble cane, Bat any'part of the cane, with fonr to six perfect buds, will do for plant cane, The cuttings should be planted as soon as possible, as acid fermentation ia likely to. ensue and destroy the sap. An average catting is from ten to sixteen inohes long, with four or six of the top joints (the buds or eyes being perfect. In bedding out the plant canes the lower end, which will become the roots shonld come in contact with the moist earth to preserve them and prevent dry rot, The best time to plant cane is just after rain; cover the plant with about two inches of moist soil as fast aa the ane is planted in the holes or farrows; the plant canes should not be allowed to be exposed to sun and wind before covering over with earth; otherwise fermentation would destroy the sap and render the plant useless. When cultivating the weeder is run orossways over rows as soon as crust is formed and before the canes begin to come through, then lengthways after' it begins to come, and keep up the weeding until the cane is as high as one's knees. , Trashing case is stripping off the dead leaves, so that the air and sun may have greater acoesß to the barrels of the canes. Trashing is more particularly neoessary with a thick heavy growth, a backward season, and a desire to crash the canes early, but not so important where the canes are clears, not very thick, and ripan early, The natural formation of the cane fields has much to do wiGh trashing. In most cases it is usual to strip off the dead leaves and remove all rubbish from the canes two or three weeks before th6y are ' cut and removed to the mill. When the canes have become fit for the last trashing, the plants are thick in the rows, the leaves of the tall growing varieties meet overhead and at the sides the.canes form a wall throagh which an opening can scarcely be found, and the trash or dead leaves whioh have accumulated during the season is piled up to considerable height,, When canes are ripe the juice is sweet to the taste and should be a density not less than Eev.en degrees; from eight to ten degrees is considered fair density; more than ten is considered rich. Ripe canes are always topped, the green sappy part being cut off before going to the mill. The green tops abound in albuminous mafrer and interfere, causing loss and inconvenience in making sugar, as already explained; the lime liquifies albumen, a very desirable matter to growing plants, but very undesirable in manufacturing sugar. There are times and occasions when there is an excess of the acid from the canes having been cut for many hoars before being crushed and other causes, when it becomes necessary to ohesk such free acid and prevent loss of crystal sugar by using the alkali lime, but not to use it indiscriminately in manufacturing. The sugar cane is an exhaustive crop to grow uu tbolajyl, and it is found very profitable to vse foriillsasa. Some experimental trials were sometime since made; both lots were grown on good land; oae lot was fertilised, the other not, and it found that the portion fertilised yielded nearly four times more than that not fertilised; therefore manuring the land with a good fertiliser is neoessary; a fertiliser in which the phospb&fcic element abounds is desirable for the growth of the canes, Many varieties of cs.Ee? are grown, some localities favouring one kind and some another, and it is a safe course to profit by the experience of others and select those kinds which do best in that neighbourhood. The time for cutting canes in these- States usually commences about Jane and extends to the end of the year, and it is found not profitable to manufacture sugar after the end of the year; although sometimes it may be able to commenoe a little earlier than Jane, tut that matter can be easily determined by means of the Saccharometer, which is in general use on all the plantations. The density of the juice should not be less than 7 degrees. From 8 to 10 degrees is considered fair density, and beyond that is rich. Eipa canes -should have at lesst about four feet ia length for the mill, after cutting off the green top.