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Sugar Cane Culture. 
 
 Published by 
 
 GERMAN KALI WORKS, 
 
 93 NASSAU STREET, 
 NEW YORK. 
 
NOTICE. 
 
 This pamphlet will be sent free to applicants. Other publications for 
 free distribution are : 
 
 "FERTILIZING SUGAR CANE," 
 (English and Spanish.) 
 
 "FERTILIZING OF SUGAR CANE IN THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS," 
 
 (English and Spanish.) 
 
 "FERTILIZING TOBACCO," 
 
 (English and Spanish.) 
 
 "TROPICAL PLANTING," 
 (English and Spanish.) 
 
 "PLANT FOOD," 
 
 "TRUCK FARMING." 
 
 Address, 
 
 GERMAN KALI WORKS, 
 
 93 Nassau Street, New York, U. S. A. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 # 
 
 History of the Sugar Cane 6 
 
 Botany 12 
 
 Anatomy 17 
 
 Climate for Cane 19 
 
 Drainage 21 
 
 Irrigation 25 
 
 Varieties of Cane 29 
 
 Seedlings 30 
 
 Soils for Sugar Culture ;^^ 
 
 Composition of Cane 39 
 
 Fertilizing Requirements of Cane 45 
 
 Stable Manures and Green Manuring 50 
 
 Fertilizer Requirements of Cane Soils 52 
 
 Quantity of Fertilizers per Acre, and how to apply 
 
 them 58 
 
 Value of Fertilizers 6 r 
 
 Tables giving composition of fertilizer materials and 
 
 farm manures 67 68 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 ALL thoughtful sugar planters realize the absolute 
 necessity of intelligent and progressive methods in 
 growing the cane in order to secure profit. The languishing 
 of this important industry has been caused by antiquated, 
 expensive, unscientific methods of cultivating, planting and 
 fertilizing the sugar crop. These points are brought out 
 clearly by comparison with the sugar beet, a plant naturally 
 containing but little sugar, and the cane plant, which is a 
 natural and far superior sugar producer. 
 
 By persistent effort and scientific methods, the sugar 
 beet has been wonderfully developed, so that five-eighths of 
 the world's supply of sugar is derived from it. While this 
 development of the beet has been in progress, the cane, in 
 many countries, has received little or no attention. Prices 
 of sugar have declined, but the cost of producing it, in the 
 old way, has remained the same. The natural result is, 
 that, in many sections, the sugar planter did not realize the 
 real conditions confronting him until he found his profits 
 gone, and his estates encumbered with debt. Fortunately 
 some countries and some planters were more wise, — have 
 been modern, progressive and abreast with the advance 
 thought of the age ; these are to-day leading the world in 
 the production of sugar. 
 
 It is for the purpose of helping all sugar planters, who 
 wish to better their condition, that this little pamphlet of 
 modern practices in cane culture is issued. 
 
HISTORY OF THE SUGAR CANE. 
 
 IT is claimed, and probably true, that sugar cane was first 
 cultivated in China, and sugar manufactured from 
 it over a thousand years before its introduction into 
 Europe. Undoubtedly the Chinese were early manufact- 
 urers of sugar, and claim that they were the first, but on 
 this point there is considerable doubt. They themselves 
 candidly confess that it came to them from the East. In 
 their most ancient works no allusion to it has been found. 
 In the second century B. C. its authors speak of it, and in 
 ^he fourth century A. D. it is described in a work which 
 calls it the " Kan-che," (Kan-sweet and che-bamboo). *' It 
 grows in Cochin China. It is many inches in diameter and 
 resembles bamboo. The stalk broken into fragments is 
 eatable and very sweet. The juice which is drawn from it 
 is dried in the sun. After some days it becomes sugar." 
 In the year 286 A. D. the Kingdom of Turran in India sent 
 sugar as a tribute to China. 
 
 De Condolle says, " it has been demonstrated by a crowd 
 of historical witnesses, that sugar cane was first cultivated 
 in meridional Asia, whence it has spread into Africa and 
 later into America." 
 
 Karl Ritter stated, that all the varieties of cane known 
 in a wild state and belonging to the genus "saccharum" 
 grew in India except one which was in Egypt. 
 
HISTORY OF THE SUGAR CANE. 7 
 
 Linguistic and historical facts support the claim of 
 Asiatic origin. All European languages of Aryan origin 
 have names for sugar, derived from the Sanskrit " Sakkara 
 or Sarkara," but those not of Aryan origin have a great 
 variety of names for both ''sugar" and "cane." This 
 similarity of names on the one hand, and the diversity on 
 the other, support the presumption of the great antiquity 
 of its culture in Asia, where botanical indications presumed 
 its origin. 
 
 Sugar cane was found growing in many of the Pacific 
 Islands at the time they were discovered by the white man, 
 and it was inferred that it was indigenous, but it has since 
 been indisputably proved that it, with many other useful 
 plants, was carried by the Maori race in all of its migrations, 
 and that they had obtained it from India. As far as modern 
 research has been able to ascertain, it came to China from 
 Cochin China, and had its origin either in that country or 
 Bengal. 
 
 The Greeks and the Romans were acquainted with the 
 propagation of sugar cane in the West of India, as is 
 shown by the writings of Paulus ^Egineta, Theophrastus, 
 Dioscorides, Pliny, Varro, Seneca and others. Sugar was 
 called " Indian salt," ''honey from bamboo," "a honey con- 
 cocted in India and Arabia," " a honey produced either by 
 the dew of heaven or by the sweet and thick sap of the 
 reed," "a concretion similar to our own salt, and which, 
 when subjected to the teeth, breaks up after the manner of 
 salt." 
 
8 HISTORY OF THE SUGAR CANE. 
 
 Hebrew writers do not mention sugar or sugar cane, and 
 it is inferred that the culture of cane did not exist in the 
 East of India at the time of the " Captivity of the Jews at 
 Babylon." 
 
 From what has been said, the deduction follows, that its 
 seemingly trustworthy history makes India the original 
 home or at least the first place where it had food, or com- 
 mercial value, and from there spread into China, where it 
 has been extensively cultivated for many centuries. Thence 
 it passed to Arabia, Nubia, Ethiopia and Egypt. 
 
 The Venetians (about 1500 A. D.) introduced sugar cane 
 into Syria, Cyprus and Sicily. Dom Henri, King of Portu- 
 gal, imported it into the Madeira and Canary Islands, where 
 for 300 years, all of the sugar consumed in Europe was 
 manufactured. It was next introduced into Southern 
 Spain, where its culture still prevails, though within a re- 
 stricted territory. At the beginning of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury it was carried from the Canaries to Brazil. Soon after 
 the discovery of the New World, Peter Etienza took its cul- 
 tivation to the Island of St. Domingo, whence it spread over 
 all the West India Islands and Central and South America. 
 
 In the United States it is now cultivated along the 
 entire Gulf coast. It was introduced into Louisiana in 
 1757, and became, in 1795, extensively cultivated, and has 
 since then been the chief crop of the State. In Florida it 
 had a checkered career from 1757 to 1825, when it became 
 permanently domesticated and has since been extensively 
 grown for syrup making. 
 
HISTORY OF THE SUGAR CANE. IT 
 
 In Georgia, Mr. Thomas Spalding began its cultivation 
 in 1805, and soon after large estates were devoted to it and 
 sugar houses were established. The discovery of the cotton 
 gin and the wonderful impetus, which it gave cotton culture, 
 caused an abandonment of cane growing by the large 
 planters on the alluvial coast lands, but the small farmers 
 of the interior took it up and grew it in patches and manu- 
 factured it, by the crudest machinery, into syrup for home 
 consumption. To-day sugar cane is grown in over fifty 
 counties of this State, and an enormous quantity of excellent 
 syrup and some sugar is annually made. Georgia syrup 
 finds its way to nearly every market in the United 
 States. 
 
 In the southern parts of South Carolina, Alabama and 
 Mississippi numerous small patches of sugar cane are culti- 
 vated and converted into syrup and sugar by the same 
 primitive methods as in Georgia. Only Texas and Louisiana 
 are deeply interested in the manufacture of sugar In the 
 former State there are twenty or more large sugar houses, 
 and in the latter over four hundred, yielding in the aggre- 
 gate annually nearly 400,000 tons of sugar. This does not 
 include the large number of scattering patches, in each 
 State, grown for the home manufacture of syrup for home 
 consumption. 
 
 The manufacture of syrup upon a small scale, with horse 
 mills and small kettles or open pans, is an enormous indus- 
 try when considered in the aggregate. From Wilmington, 
 N. C, on down the Atlantic coast and across to the Gulf, 
 
12 HISTORY OF THE SUGAR CANE. 
 
 following its coast to the Rio Grande, is a section of 
 country well adapted to the growth of cane. 
 
 It varies in width from loo to 300 miles, and a traveller 
 through it, in the growing season, is rarely out of sight of a 
 cane patch. The methods of manufacture are extremely 
 primitive, almost criminally wasteful, yet the syrup made is 
 excellent in quality, and quantities of it find their way, at 
 profitable prices, to the North and West after the home 
 demand has been supplied. 
 
 Better methods of cultivating, fertilizing and harvesting 
 the cane, improved machinery for larger extraction of the 
 juice and more skillful and economical ways of clarification 
 and evaporation, would almost double the yield from the 
 present acreage, which itself can be very greatly increased. 
 In fact, the present consumption of sugar in the United 
 States could easily be met by this section, provided the 
 prices of sugar would justify the erection of factories by 
 those having the capital — the cane could easily be grown. 
 This section alone can grow sufficient cane to meet all 
 the present demands for sugar in the United States, and, 
 it is believed, will do so as soon as the price of sugar justi- 
 fies putting so much capital into its factories. 
 
 BOTANY. 
 
 Sugar Cane, of which the botanical name is "saccharum 
 officinarum," belongs to the large family of grasses. It is 
 believed that all the cultivated varieties belong to one 
 
BOTANY, 
 
 13 
 
 species. It has a gigantic stalk, ten to twenty feet long, 
 usually straight in early growth, but bent, reclined or pros- 
 trate by its own weight or by winds, at maturity. It has, in 
 common with all grasses, fibrous roots, which reach 
 laterally in every direction, but never penetrate any great 
 depths into soil. This penetration depends largely upon 
 the character of the soil. In open, porous, sandy soils the 
 roots go deeper than in loam, in which they penetrate 
 further than in heavy clay. 
 
 The root stalk is a prolongation of the stalk, terminating 
 in an attachment either to the mother cane (plant) or to the 
 mother stalk (stubble). The true roots 
 reach out laterally from this axis for food. 
 The cylindrical cane stalks vary in i>ize 
 according to variety, maturity and condi- 
 tions of growth, and are composed of nodes 
 and internodes (joints), which vary greatly 
 in number and in length. Canes grown 
 under adverse conditions have short joints, 
 but those favored by a good season and 
 fertile soil may produce joints six inches or 
 more in length. Different varieties have, 
 under similar conditions of growth, different 
 lengths of nodes, and usually other merits 
 being equal, the variety which has the 
 longest nodes or joints is preferred. 
 
 The coloring matter, found only in the 
 epidermis of the stalk, differs with the 
 
 B, Joints of cane. 
 A, Buds or Eyes. 
 D, Internodes. 
 
 C, No les. 
 
 X, Semi-transparent 
 dots in rows 
 
14 BOTANY. 
 
 varieties, so that the stalk-color shades through white, 
 yellow, green, red, brown, black, purple and even striped 
 in two or more of these colors. 
 
 A wax called cerosin, usually found on the parts of the 
 stalks adjoining the nodes, is mixed with the juice in the 
 process of crushing the cane, but is removed during the 
 clarification. 
 
 Large green leaves grow on alternate sides of the stalk- 
 clasping, but gradually ripen and fall off as the cane 
 matures. Each leaf has a mid-rib, whitish in most varieties, 
 highly colored in a few, with a channel-like depression on 
 its upper surface. Sometimes the lower or clasping part 
 of the leaf, the sheath part, is filled with minute prickers or 
 stickers. In gathering such canes, the workmen need to 
 protect their hands. 
 
 The joints mature, as previously stated, from the roots 
 upward, and as each matures it casts its leaf, until, when in 
 proper condition for harvest, the naked stalk has only a 
 few leaves at its top. 
 
 At the base of each node, under the leaf, is a hard, shiny 
 bud or eye, about the size of a cow pea. These eyes are 
 the germs of future canes, used for the propagation of 
 succeeding crops, and are surrounded by rows of dots, 
 which produce roots when they are planted in moist soils. 
 These roots are developed simultaneously with the bud, 
 and furnish moisture and food to it. 
 
 In tropical countries, at maturity, the sugar cane some- 
 times flowers, or "tassels," that is, it sends out long pedun- 
 
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BOTANY. 17 
 
 cles, each bearing a panicle of silken spikes. Each floriet 
 in the spike has three stamens inserted in the ovary, but 
 many seeds are infertile, possibly because cane has so long 
 been propagated by cutting, that its flowers have lost 
 vigor. 
 
 ANATOMY* 
 
 A cross section of cane under a powerful microscope 
 reveals pith cells, usually six-sided, which contain nearly 
 all its sugar. These cells are somewhat longer than thick, 
 and constitute the greater part of the interior of the stalk. 
 Distributed through them are groups of (fibro-vascular) 
 bundles of tissue, which are composed of (i) vessels, through 
 which water from the root, loaded with food, reaches the 
 leaf, and (2) sieve-tubes, through which food from the leaf 
 is distributed throughout the plant, and (3) bast tissues for 
 strengthening the stalk. These bundles are much more 
 abundant near the outer part of the stem, where the vessels 
 and sieve-tubes are smaller in size and the bast tissues 
 greatly increased to give additional strength and protection. 
 
 The upper part of each node and internode, or joint, is 
 divided into two parts, the inner one forming the rind of 
 the next joint above, and the outer one, uniting with the 
 cells from within, forming the leaf. Just above the rows of 
 root-dots around the stalk at the bud, is a light colored 
 transparent narrow band, which clearly divides the lower 
 from the upper joint. 
 
 The pith cells, which are so abundant in the internodes, 
 
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ANATOMY. 19 
 
 almost disappear at the nodes, and are replaced by fibro- 
 vascular bundles. 
 
 The bundles of the stem pass into the leaf, and there 
 meet thick short starch cells, surrounded by chlorophyll 
 cells, which are not found in the stem. In these the food 
 of the plant is elaborated. There are also wedge-shaped 
 cells on the upper side of the leaf, which unroll the leaf 
 as it comes out, and curl it during excessive evaporation, 
 as in a drought. 
 
 CLIMATE FOR CANE. 
 
 It was once supposed that only tropical islands and 
 peninsulas could successfully grow sugar cane, because they 
 alone had the sea breezes laden with the particular salts 
 required by the plant. It is now known that the accessi- 
 bility of coast localities and their climatic conditions, 
 caused them to be selected for growing cane ; the heavy 
 machinery needed in the manufacture of sugar could be 
 easily and cheaply delivered there, and the cane products 
 transported to other countries. Now, with cheap inland 
 freights and abundant water by irrigation, the acreage of 
 sugar growing may be many times multiplied, and countries 
 which have only entered experimentally upon sugar 
 culture, may develop into large producers. 
 
 Mexico, Central and South America have large areas 
 capable of growing cane and might rapidly develop this 
 industry, were the price of sugar satisfactory and their 
 governments stable, Cuba has over twenty-five million 
 
20 CLIMATE FOR CANE. 
 
 acres, of which scarcely one million is under cultivation, 
 and that devoted chiefly to sugar cane. There will be at 
 least ten million acres of first class sugar land available 
 when the system of railroads, now begun, is completed over 
 the Island, but scarcity of labor, insecurity of capital, and 
 the low price of sugar may prevent a rapid occupation of 
 these lands as sugar estates. Louisiana and the Coast 
 sections of Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi 
 and Texas are capable of producing vastly more cane than 
 they do, for they have millions of acres, which, with little 
 expense, can be brought under cultivation. Many of the 
 West India Islands are languishing on account of the de- 
 preciated values of sugar estates, due to the low price of 
 sugar combined with wasteful methods and mismanagement. 
 A healthy rise in values would quickly bring capital -to 
 these Islands, and it, coupled with modern, scientific 
 methods of growing cane and manufacturing sugar, would 
 restore these steadily declining sugar countries to the 
 conditions and positions of wealth which they once held. 
 In a broad and liberal discussion of the climate and 
 countries adapted to cane growing and sugar manufactur- 
 ing, one must admit that anywhere between 30° to 35° 
 north and south of the equator it may be grown success- 
 fully, provided the water-supply (by rainfall or irrigation) 
 and soil be satisfactory. Sugar cane is at present grown in 
 the following countries: — Abyssinia^ Argentina^ Queensland^ 
 New South Wales, Borneo^ Bourdon and Reunion, Brazil, Cape 
 Colony^ Guiana^ Central America^ Chili, China, Colombiay 
 
CLIMATE FOR CANE. 21 
 
 Egypt, India, Japan, Java, Madeira, Mauritius, Mexico, New 
 Zealand, Natal, Fiji, Hawaii, Peru, Philipines, Siam, Spain, 
 Straits Settlement, United States, Venezuela and West Indies. 
 The cultivation extends from Spain 37*^ north to New 
 Zealand 37° south on both sides of the equator. 
 
 Cane is a gigantic grass, requiring an enormous amount 
 of moisture for its best development. An abundance of 
 rainfall, distributed throughout the growing seasons, or its 
 equivalent in irrigation, is one of the essential conditions, 
 for sixty inches of rainfall, properly distributed, are con- 
 sidered necessary to produce a good crop. Of course 
 irrigation answers the same purpose, and, as practised in 
 Hawaii, produces the enormous average yield of over eleven 
 tons of sugar per acre on one estate. 
 
 DRAINAGE. 
 
 While it is true that sugar cane requires a large 
 amount of water for its best development, it is also 
 true that a well drained soil is absolutely essential to vigor- 
 ous growth and large matured canes. These require large 
 quantities of nitrogen for perfect growth, and it is largely 
 furnished to them by nitrification. This is due primarily 
 to microbes, but an abundance of air, a moderate amount 
 of moisture, the presence of a little alkali and organic 
 matter containing nitrogen, are necessary to promote this 
 action. Only well drained soils are thoroughly aerated, 
 retentive of capillary moisture, and free from organic acids. 
 
22 DRAINAGE. 
 
 Nitrification, or feeding on nitrogen of the air by soil- 
 dwelling microbes, is so intimately dependent upon good 
 drainage, that without such drainage it is all but impossible 
 and a cane crop is a certain failure if planted upon 
 undrained lands. 
 
 Drainage is accomplished either by open ditches or 
 tiles. Open ditches should be sufficiently deep, wide and 
 numerous to carry off the heaviest rainfalls and retain the 
 bottom or ground water at a constant depth of 3 to 4 feet 
 below the soil. Excellent results are obtained by a system 
 of ridged rows with numerous quarter-drains, emptying 
 into open ditches, but many objections can be raised 
 against them, among which are the large annual expenses 
 of keeping them cleaned out and their banks free from 
 weeds and bushes, and the loss of land, amounting in some 
 countries to one-tenth and one-twelfth of the area cultivated. 
 The difficulty of cross-plowing the lands when breaking, 
 and the imperfect work on the ditch bank rows during 
 cultivation, are minor but real and substantial objections. 
 
 Tile drainage is far superior to open ditches, where such 
 a fall can be obtained that the water will keep them clean. 
 The great objection to tiles is their first cost, but this has 
 to be incurred but once. Experience has shown the great 
 superiority of tiles over open ditches, from the flushing of 
 the land to the harvesting of the crop. Plowing is more 
 easily performed, the soil in the spring heats more quickly, 
 moisture is better conserved in a drought, cultivation is 
 easier and leaves the soil in better condition and the yield 
 
DRAINAGE. 25 
 
 of the crop is much larger. All of these are practical benefits, 
 in addition to the increased area of the land, and the saving 
 of the numerous and continuous expenses and annoyances 
 incident to open ditches and quarter-drains. Tile drainage, 
 wherever the soils permit it, not only repays a handsome 
 interest upon the investment, but also each year gives a 
 surplus for a sinking fund, which, in a short, time will 
 liquidate the principal, if it were borrowed for the con- 
 struction. The tiles should be laid only by experienced 
 engineers, well acquainted with the soils and climate of the 
 country. 
 
 It is impossible too strongly to emphasize the importance 
 of good drainage of all sugar lands. 
 
 IRRIGATION* 
 
 While drainage is imperatively needed in many places, 
 irrigation is as important in others where the rainfall is 
 deficient. There are few places where the rainfall is ample 
 and so well distributed throughout the season as to produce 
 maximum crops. The history of nearly every country 
 which depends upon rainfall for its water supply, shows 
 that maximum crops are rarely obtained, and that an over- 
 whelming majority of crop failures follow droughts prevail- 
 ing at some time during the growing period, all of which 
 indicates that even in places which have a large annual rain- 
 fall, irrigation may be used with enormous profits. 
 
 Water is esssential to all crops, and is needed for their 
 
26 IRRIGATION. 
 
 growth and to transport the other chemical ingredients 
 through the plant. For every pound of dry matter produced 
 in the cane 400 to 500 pounds of water pass through the 
 plant and evaporate by its foliage. A crop of 45 tons of 
 cane per acre (cane and its accompanying tops and leaves) 
 contains at least 16 tons of dry matter, and, using the mini- 
 mum amount per ton given above, evaporates during its 
 growth, from the foliage alone, the enormous quantity of 
 6,400 tons of water ; this takes no account of the large 
 amount evaporated from the soil. To supply this evapora- 
 tion through the foliage, requires a rainfall of over 56 
 inches, distributed through the growing season; such fall 
 and distribution are rare in any country. 
 
 In Hawaii, where irrigation is highly successful, many 
 interesting results have been obtained at the Experiment 
 Station under the direction of Dr. Walter Maxwell and his 
 successor Mr. R. E. Blouin. These results show that it 
 requires from 75 to loi gallons of water to produce i pound 
 of sugar. In one instance, where by irrigation the equiva- 
 lent of two inches of rainfall was given weekly through the 
 season to a plot previously fertilized by 138.6 pounds 
 nitrogen from nitrate of soda and 157.5 pounds of potash 
 as sulphate of potash, the yield was the enormous amount 
 of 54,605 pounds of sugar per acre. The quantity of water 
 required was 5,515,453 gallons, or an average of loi gallons 
 for each pound of sugar, but it is especially to be observed 
 that an abundance of water enables cane to attain a 
 maximum growth and yield of sugar only when supplied 
 
IRRIGATION. 29 
 
 with sufficient plant food,-potash, phosphoric acid and 
 nitrogen. It is by the liberal use of fertilizers, in connect- 
 tion with irrigation, that the enormous yields of Ewa 
 Plantation in Hawaii have been obtained. 
 
 VARIETIES OF CANE* 
 
 There are many varieties of cane, so that the whole 
 range takes in almost every conceivable characteristic, 
 and each country has its favorite variety, which is generally 
 planted, as : — 
 
 In Cuba and many of the other West India Islands, 
 Mexico, and Central and South America, the Bourdon or 
 Otaheite (Tahiti) ; in Hawaii, the Lahaina, though the 
 Rose Bamboo is also found in its sugar fields ; in Louisiana, 
 the purple striped and its offspring, the purple, though a 
 few estates use exclusively the light Java, locally known as 
 '• La Pice ;" in Mauritius and Reunion, the Loucier, similar 
 if not identical with the Otaheite, is a favorite ; in Java, 
 the Cheribon or Purple and the light Java ; in Queens- 
 land a light green variety known locally as the light 
 Caledonian. 
 
 These may be considered the staple varieties of these 
 respective localities, but it is not to be inferred that no 
 others are grown ; nearly everywhere others are on trial by 
 the Botanical Gardens, Experiment Stations or progressive 
 planters. 
 
SEEDLINGS* 
 
 Until recently new varieties were produced by nature 
 only at rare intervals, through what are usually termed 
 ''bud variations," — a few of decided merit have thus had 
 their origin. 
 
 About twelve years ago, and nearly at the same time, 
 Messrs. Harrison & Bovell in Barbados and De Soltwedel 
 of Java discovered that cane seed, hitherto looked upon as 
 imperfect and barren, were, some of them, capable of plant- 
 producing. This discovery led to others, and among them 
 that some varieties arrow with great regularity, and, by 
 cross-fertilization, produce a good quantity of fertile seed, 
 and that the product from each seed has its own peculiar 
 properties, and affords opportunity for " seed selection." 
 Many such promising seedlings have been developed and 
 are now on trial in nearly every sugar country. Dr. Kobus, 
 Director of the Oost Java Sugar Experiment Station, reports 
 that over 15,000 acres of selected seedlings are now under 
 cultivation in Java, and they are also being tested in many 
 other countries ; but it is by no means to be understood 
 that cane seed is used for general planting. They are too 
 small and too many of them infertile and their plant varia- 
 tion too great to permit of this practice. Now and then a 
 seed-produced cane is valuable as against large numbers of 
 worthless ones, so a harvest from such a general planting 
 would contain no end of varieties, mostly without merit or 
 
SEEDLINGS. 33 
 
 profit. In the practical, scientific search for valuable varie- 
 ties, the seeds are planted in a nursery, the young plant 
 transplanted to the field, and each one carefully studied by 
 a trained chemist. When one is found to combine desirable 
 qualities, it is propagated by cuttings (boutures), and if its 
 merits seem sufficient to justify such action, it is then 
 distributed to planters for trial. In this way different varie- 
 ties of known worth are crossed for the purpose of obtain- 
 ing canes which possess vigor, sugar rich in quantity and 
 quality, and disease-resisting vitality. 
 
 SOILS FOR SUGAR CULTURE. 
 
 Cane-growing soils in the different countries vary in 
 chemical composition and physical properties, but, as a 
 rule, those rich in plant food, with a large water holding 
 capacity, are best. Where irrigation is not practised, clay 
 or heavy loam, capable of carrying a large amount of 
 moisture, is to be selected, and even with irrigation, the 
 soil must be sufficiently retentive to prevent rapid percolation 
 and consequent financial loss, because of many expensive 
 irrigations and washing away of soluble plant food. 
 
 Fertile soils have always an abundance of humus or 
 vegetable matter. Tropical soils, subject to heavy rainfalls 
 which stimulate luxuriant vegetation, are almost universally 
 adapted to the growth of sugar cane The vegetation, in 
 its transformation into humus, furnishes organic acids 
 
34 
 
 SOILS FOR SUGAR CULTURE. 
 
 which decompose the soil particles into very fine earth. 
 Such soils, in course of time, become rich in organic 
 matter, which supplies nitrogenous food, as well as in very 
 finely divided earth, with its mineral supply. Both, but 
 especially the humus, retain the excessive moisture essen- 
 tial to healthy, profitable cane-growing. 
 
 Hav^aiian Soils. As before stated, the heaviest acre 
 yields of sugar in the world are in the irrigated districts of 
 Hawaii. Dr. Maxwell has shown, that the average soil of 
 these Islands contains from .3 to .4 per cent, lime, .3 to .35 
 percent, potash, .18 to .51 per cent, phosphoric acid, and 
 .17 to .54 per cent, nitrogen. Such fertility, under correct, 
 systematic irrigation and fertilization, yields from six to 
 fifteen tons of sugar per acre. It is of volcanic origin, and 
 derived from basaltic lava, emitted within recent geological 
 epochs, ** primitive in character," and chemically closely 
 resembling the rocks whence it came. Dr. Maxwell makes 
 three classes : — 
 
 1. Dark red, derived from the normal lavas by weather- 
 ing in a climate of great heat and dryness. 
 
 2. Yellow and light red (inferior to the dark red), derived 
 from a class of lavas which suffered great alteration through 
 the action of steam and sulphurous vapors at the time of 
 emission. 
 
 3. Most fertile of the three, sedimentary deposits 
 washed down upon the coral reefs which begirt the 
 Islands. 
 
 These soils in texture resemble pulverized brick, have 
 
SOILS FOR SUGAR CULTURE. 35 
 
 very little silica, and are without the plasticity generally 
 characteristic of sugar soils, but they are easily worked and 
 yield enormously when properly fertilized and irrigated. 
 
 Queensland. The Mackay district is deficient in lime, 
 and the Isis soils in potash. 
 
 Demerara. The cultivated parts of British Guiana are 
 the heavy clay alluvial coast lands. During very protracted 
 droughts they sometimes shrink or harden by contracting 
 into expanses of intersecting cracks, often to the great 
 injury, or even destruction, for the time being, of all plant 
 life. Their analyses by Prof. Harrison show less than 20 
 per cent, of sand, which is in the form of an impalpable 
 powder, .084 per cent, to .113 per cent, nitrogen, .074 per 
 cent, to .155 per cent, phosphoric acid, .382 per cent, to .575 
 percent, potash and .184 per cent, to .566 per cent, lime, 
 and the natural conclusion is that physical improvement by 
 proper drainage and cultivation is their great need. 
 
 Trinidad and Jamaica sugar lands are somewhat 
 similar to those of Demerara, being stiff clay or reddish clay, 
 overlying limestone, which contains over .5 ~^er cent, 
 potash and nearly .2 per cent, phosphoric acid. 
 
 Antigua ranges from heavy clay, from compact volcanic 
 ashes, to the various decomposed products or tertiary rocks; 
 analysis of the former shows agricultural clay (fine silt and 
 clay) present to the extent of two-thirds of the soil, — lime 
 is abundant, over .9 per cent, to 3.18 per cent., potash 
 rather low, .092 per cent, to .32 per cent., nitrogen fair, 
 
^6 SOILS FOR SUGAR CULTURE. 
 
 ,086 per cent, to .114 per cent., phosphoric acid low, .061 
 per cent, to .1 per cent. 
 
 St. Kittsis sandier, poorer in lime, .54 percent., slightly- 
 richer in potash, .127 per cent., and lower in nitrogen, .064 
 per cent. 
 
 Cuba and Java contain every s'hade of soil from the rich 
 alluvium of the coast, through the tertiary and secondary 
 geological formations, to the volcanic or primary rocks, of 
 the extreme mountain ranges. As a rule, the alluvium of 
 the coast furnishes their largest and best sugar areas, and 
 the two islands together are the largest cane sugar produc- 
 ers in the world. 
 
 Cuba has long been known as the "Gem of the Antilles," 
 the island "par excellence" for sugar cane. The small part 
 of it under cultivation has produced over a million long 
 tons of sugar in a single year, but on a per acre basis that 
 has been an extremely small amount when compared with 
 the enormous returns in Hawaii. This relative discrepancy 
 is especially impressing when account is taken of product- 
 iveness of the soil, the excellence of the climate, and the all 
 but perfect conditions for growing sugar cane in Cuba. To 
 state the case in another way, Cuba's soil and climate are 
 vastly superior, but Hawaii's yield per acre is far in the 
 lead. A study of the methods of the two countries discloses 
 the reason. Both have modern, scientific sugar houses, and 
 skilled mechanics and sugar makers, and obtain about the 
 same amount of sugar from each ton of cane ground, so 
 the difference is not in manufacturing, but in growing. 
 
SOILS FOR SUGAR CULTURE. 37 
 
 Hawaii uses fertilizers in large quantities and of approved 
 composition, steam-plows and present-day agricultural im- 
 plements, and cultivates thoroughly and intelligently. Over 
 two-thirds of the entire area devoted to cane in Hawaii is 
 plant cane, less than one-third is rattoon, and of this third 
 but little is carried beyond one year. A stubble crop with a 
 yield of less than thirty tons of cane per acre is considered 
 unprofitable. The secret of success in Hawaii is the ap- 
 plication of business methods, the use of fertilizers and the 
 frequent replanting of the fields in cane. In Cuba, the de- 
 plorable conditions which now prevail must give way to 
 improvement caused by example and competition, and it is 
 a safe prediction that the progressive methods of fertilization 
 and cultivation of Hawaii will be introduced and make this 
 island what it deserves to be — "the sugar-bowl of the world." 
 Sugar cane will then, as it did until recently, furnish the 
 world's sugar, much of which, comes now from the sugar 
 beet. 
 
 Louisiana, which grows more sugar cane than any other 
 one of the United States, owes its superiority, in this respect, 
 to the surpassing fertility of the delta of the Mississipi and 
 its out-lying bayous. The alluvium of this section is of re- 
 cent origin, formed from the best soils of over a score of 
 states which extend from the extreme heights of the Ap- 
 palachians on the east to the Rockies on the west. This 
 soil detritus, mixed and commingled by running water, de- 
 posited under sunny skies, forms an area of perhaps the 
 richest soil in the world. It is silty or loamy clay of varying 
 
38 SOILS FOR SUGAR CULTURE. 
 
 physical and chemical composition, which was determined 
 by the geologic place whence it came and the force which 
 deposited it. It must be thoroughly drained before a maxi- 
 mum yield can be expected. This is accomplished by a 
 system of canals, panel (cross) ditches and parallel ditches, 
 quarter drains and ridged rows, to be described further on. 
 
 The Red River and its outlying bayous, the Teche, Boeuf, 
 Rapides, De Glaze, etc., have continuous alluvial bottoms 
 of red sand and clay, extremely fertile, easy of cultivation 
 and susceptible of good drainage, on which some of the best 
 sugar estates are located. 
 
 The prairies of the southwestern part of the state are 
 derived from old bluff hills, which once skirted the western 
 edge of the then Mississippi River and are similar to those 
 of East Baton Rouge, on the eastern side of the river, where 
 much cane is grown. These soils are brown loams, mainly 
 silts, and very productive. The following is about the 
 average of the three types described above : 
 
 Mississippi Alluvial, — .2 to i. per cent, lime ; .1 to .9 per 
 cent, potash; .07 to .2 per cent, phosphoric acid, 
 and .08 to .15 per cent, nitrogen. 
 
 Red River Alluvial, — .2 to 3. per cent, lime ; .08 to 2 
 per cent, potash ; .09 to .12 per cent, phosphoric 
 acid, and .06 to .1 per cent, nitrogen. 
 
 Bluff Prairie, — .12 to .4 per cent, lime ; .1 to .2 per 
 cent, potash ; .06 to i 3 per cent, phosphoric acid, 
 and .07 to 1.2 per cent, nitrogen. 
 
 The Texas sugar lands of Oyster Creek and the Brazos 
 
SOILS FOR SUGAR CULTURE. 39 
 
 bottoms are similar in origin and composition to those of 
 the Red River. 
 
 Atlantic Coast Belt. A large area, usually styled the 
 piney woods coast belt, extends from Carolina to Texas on 
 the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Its soil is sandy and well- 
 drained, but in spite of its being thin and poor, sugar cane 
 is grown in small quantities throughout its entire extent. 
 The cane is converted into syrup mostly for home con- 
 sumption, still a considerable surplus is marketed in the 
 north and west. Great improvement is being made and 
 fairly good cane crops raised by the judicious rotation of 
 other crops and an intelligent use of fertilizers. The in- 
 dustry is constantly growing and gives promise of soon be- 
 coming second in value to the cotton crop alone. Nowhere, 
 perhaps, are the effects of commercial fertilizers more 
 marked than on these very soils which annually use 
 many tons of them. 
 
 COMPOSITION OF CANE. 
 
 Cane varies in its chemical composition, which depends 
 upon many influences, such as variety cultivated, country 
 where grown, soil, season and maturity. In Louisiana and 
 other southern states of the United States, it varies with 
 the quantity grown upon an acre, the time of harvests, and 
 whether plant or stubble. 
 
 Prof. Stubbs, at the Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station, 
 found that a ton of purple cane, cut for the mill, had 135 
 
40 
 
 COMPOSITION OF CANE. 
 
 lbs. roots, 844 lbs. leaves, and 532 lbs. lops, or a total of 15 11 
 lbs., making with the ton of cane 35 11 lbs. 
 
 A ton of striped cane had, similarly, 113 lbs. roots, 656 
 lbs. leaves and 385 lbs. tops, or 1,154 lbs., making with the 
 ton of cane 3,154 lbs. 
 
 The following table shows the valuable soil ingredients 
 removed by a ton of cane and its roots and foliage : 
 
 Purple cane. 
 
 
 NITROGEN. 
 
 PHOS- 
 PHORIC 
 ACID. 
 
 POTASH. 
 
 LIME. 
 
 MINERAL 
 MATTER. 
 
 ORGANIC 
 MATTER. 
 
 Roots, lbs. 
 
 Stalks, " 
 
 0.17 
 1.08 
 
 0.72 
 1.01 
 
 2.98 
 
 0.10 
 
 1.04 
 0.30 
 0.19 
 
 0.09 
 
 1.22 
 0.69 
 0.52 
 
 0.14 
 0.52 
 1.32 
 0.56 
 
 2.99 
 11 18 
 
 20.17 
 10.29 
 
 31.48 
 
 407.14 
 
 Leaves " 
 
 134.66 
 
 Tops, " 
 
 84 19 
 
 Total 
 
 1.63 
 
 2.52 
 
 2.54 
 
 44.63 
 
 657.47 
 
 Striped cane. 
 
 
 .NITROGEN. 
 17 
 
 0.88 
 0.55 
 
 0.78 
 
 PHOS 
 PHORIC 
 ACID. 
 
 0.10 
 1.30 
 
 0.26 
 0.41 
 
 POTASH. 
 0.19 
 
 2.34 
 1.13 
 0.52 
 
 LIME. 
 0.11 
 
 0.58 
 1.04 
 0.80 
 
 2.03 
 
 MINERAL 
 MATTER. 
 
 ORGANIC 
 MATTER. 
 
 Roots lbs 
 
 2.81 
 
 12.40 
 
 17.95 
 8.43 
 
 29.81 
 
 Stalks, " 
 
 392.52 
 
 Leaves, " 
 
 Tops " 
 
 102.40 
 63.51 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 2.38 
 
 2.07 
 
 4.18 
 
 41.59 
 
 588.24 
 
 In plantation growing the roots are left in the ground, 
 and, if the tops and leaves are plowed under, a ton of cane 
 only removes what is contained in the stalks ; that is to say, 
 for the purple variety, 1.08 lbs. nitrogen; 1.04 lbs. phos- 
 phoric acid; 1.22 lbs. potash, and 0.52 lbs. lime. For the 
 striped, .88 lbs. nitrogen; 1.30 lbs. phosphoric acid; 2.34 
 lbs. potash and 0.58 lbs. lime. 
 
 If the leaves and tops be burned in the field, — a custom 
 
COMPOSITION OF CANE, 
 
 41 
 
 prevailing in Louisiana, — the nitrogen in them is dissipated, 
 and the other mineral ingredients returned to the soil. 
 The nitrogen removed will then be, for the purple cane, 
 2.81 lbs. per ton, and, for striped, 2.21 lbs., and the entire 
 loss for the former variety, 2.81 lbs. nitrogen, 1.04 lbs. phos- 
 phoric acid, 1.22 lbs. potash, and .52 lbs. of lime; and for the 
 latter 2.21 lbs. nitrogen, 1.30 lbs. phosphoric acid, 2.34 lbs. 
 potash and .58 lbs. lime. 
 
 Dr. Maxwell gives analyses of Rose Bamboo and Lahaina 
 varieties and their trash as grown in Hawaii as follows: 
 
 J^ose JSam^oo .'-Nitrogen .074 per cent., potash .144 per 
 cent., phosphoric acid .045 per cent., lime 0.40 per cent. 
 
 LaAaina .--N'ltrogQn .077 per cent , potash .077 per cent., 
 phosphoric acid .031 per cent., lime .031 per cent. 
 
 In the dried trash there were in : 
 
 J?!ose Bamboo .--Nitrogen .53 per cent,, potash i 30 per 
 cent., phosphoric acid .13 per cent,, lime ,47 per cent. 
 
 Lahaina :-N\\rogex\ .42 percent., potash 1.36 per cent., 
 phosphoric acid . 11 per cent., lime .44 per cent. 
 
 In the report for 1900 the yields (including trash) and 
 analyses of m_any varieties are given; by calculation the 
 following amounts are found to have been removed by 
 each ton of cane, and its trash : 
 
 Rose Bamboo 
 
 Lahaina 
 
 Louisiana Purple, 
 Louisiana Striped 
 
 
 PHOS- 
 
 
 NITROGEN. 
 
 PHORIC 
 ACID. 
 
 J'OTASH. 
 
 5.91bs. 
 
 2.0 lbs. 
 
 16.60 lbs. 
 
 3.9 " 
 
 2.4 " 
 
 IS 70 ■• 
 
 7.1 " 
 
 2.45 " 
 
 22 50 '• 
 
 4.8 " 
 
 2 10 " 
 
 19.30 '• 
 
 5.0 lbs. 
 4.4 " 
 7 0" 
 4.4 '• 
 
42 
 
 COMPOSITION OF CANE. 
 
 Extensive investigations as to the composition of sugar 
 cane, were made by Prof. Prinsen Gerlichs and Prof. Potter 
 of Java; their figures for a ton of cane, with trash are : 2.72 
 lbs. nitrogen, 2.22 lbs. phosphoric acid, 8.10 lbs, potash and 
 1.93 lbs. lime. On the same basis, Kruger gives for Cheri- 
 bon 2.1 lbs. nitrogen, 4.3 lbs phosphoric acid, 4.3 lbs. 
 potash and 1.8 lbs. lime. 
 
 C. J. von Lockeren, of Java, gives the following table 
 on the basis of the yield of an entire acre : 
 
 78.701 lbs. Cane 
 
 5,430 lbs. Tops an;' Green Leaves 
 9,523 lbs. Dry Leaves 
 
 Total 
 
 NITROGEN. 
 
 40.9 
 10.5 
 23.6 
 
 75.0 
 
 PHOS- 
 PHORIC 
 ACID. 
 
 85.0 
 
 83.5 
 
 52.6 
 
 171 1 
 
 40.1 
 4.9 
 
 7 7 
 
 52.7 
 
 16.5 
 
 4.9 
 
 50.5 
 
 71 9 
 
 From these reliable conclusions, based on experiments 
 in countries far apart, the following general deduction may 
 fairly be made : The amoxmt of fertilizing ingredients 
 taken up by a ton of cane and its accompanying foliage, 
 etc. varies greatly in different soils and climates, and the 
 percentage of stalks to foliage takes as wide a range. In 
 Louisiana the foliage to a ton of stalks is much greater 
 than in tropical countries, while the dry matter in the trash 
 is much less than that in the cane. 
 
 In Hawaii, Dr. Maxwell found the latter to be to the 
 former as 44 and 47 is to 52, showing that the composition 
 of the foliage varies with the variety, age and climate, and 
 that the ash changes in quantity and composition as the 
 
COMPOSITION OF CANE. 45 
 
 foliage matures. The stalk is nearer constant than the 
 other parts of the cane, and even in it the amount of 
 potash taken up, depending largely upon the variety and 
 the soil growing it. 
 
 This consideration of the heavy draft of the plant food, 
 especialy of potash and nitrogen, which a large cane crop 
 makes on the soil, leads to study of the best way to keep up 
 its fertility. 
 
 FERTILIZING REQUIREMENTS OF CANE* 
 
 Cane, like every other plant, needs for its growth a 
 number of chemical substances, but, as most natural soils 
 supply a large part of these ingredients in abundance, it is 
 necessary here to consider only those which, in cultivated 
 soils, are frequently more or less lacking. These are potash, 
 phosphoric acid and nitrogen, and their relative relation to 
 the cane crop has been the subject of important investigation 
 and study at the Java Experiment Station. It was found 
 that the absence of either of them was fatal to the life of 
 the cane plant, and that, with an insufficient supply of any 
 one of them, the plant grew slowly; but when all were 
 present in ample quantities, it grew rapidly. 
 
 The skilled cane-grower ascertains what his soil requires 
 in the way of potash, phosphoric acid or nitrogen, or all 
 three of them, in order to produce strong, healthy plants, 
 and then supplies that in which it is deficient. The object 
 
46 FERTILIZING REQUIREMENTS OF CANE. 
 
 of the manufacturer of commercial fertilizers is to meet the 
 exact needs of the planter, and so, while he sells each one 
 of these separately, he also compounds them, by means of 
 modern machinery, into what are styled " complete fertil- 
 izers," which are mixed and blended to suit the certain soils 
 and the needs of the crop to be grown. Different forms of 
 the same chemical may differ in action and effect, so form 
 itself is to be considered in an economical administration of 
 an estate. The following are the principal fertilizer in- 
 gredients and their sources. 
 
 Potash. The Stassfurt mines of Germany have placed 
 within the reach of almost every civilized farmer and planter 
 every useful form of potash, convenient to handle and 
 cheap in price. 
 
 Sulphate of Potash is sold in two forms, one containing 
 50 per cent, and the other 27 per cent, potash. Sulphate is 
 esteemed best for potatoes, tobacco and sugar cane, but 
 both potash and sulphuric acid are plant foods, and cannot 
 possibly injure the soil by their excessive use. 
 
 Muriate of Potash^ containing 50^ or more of potash, is 
 the most concentrated potash fertilizer in the market, is 
 highly esteemed, and furnishes potash at the lowest price 
 per pound. On soils deficient in lime, the sulphate is better 
 than the muriate, since the muriate converts lime into a 
 soluble chloride, which leaches out of the soil. For a simi- 
 lar reason soils already charged abundantly with common 
 salt, are better served with the sulphate. 
 
 Kainit, a crude form of potash salt, contains on an 
 
FERTILIZING REQUIREMENTS OF CANE. 47 
 
 average of 12.4 per cent, of pure potash. Besides potash, 
 it contains chloride of sodium and magnesium. For sugar 
 cane, concentrated potash, especially the sulphate, is to be 
 preferred to the kainit. 
 
 Wood ashes formerly were our only commercial source 
 of this important ingredient, but now they are rarely found 
 on the market, and are so uncertain in strength that they 
 cannot be recommended. 
 
 Phosphoric Acid is supplied to the planter in many 
 forms; reference has already been made to bones, tankage 
 and fish scrap. Mineral phosphates or rock phosphates are 
 found abundantly in South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee 
 and natural guanos on several of the ''rainy" islands of the 
 Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. These guanos are the re- 
 mains of the ordure of fish-eating birds, the nitrogen having 
 been washed out by rains. All of these materials contain 
 insoluble forms of phosphoric acid, and, in their natural 
 state, have but little agricultural value; to be immediately 
 available, on most soils, these raw phosphates must be 
 treated with acid (generally sulphuric acid). This treat- 
 ment converts them into acid phosphate or superphos- 
 phate, where the phosphoric acid is in a soluble (available) 
 form, which is that most extensively used, and in the manu- 
 facture and sale of which millions of dollars of capital find 
 profitable employment. 
 
 Peruvian Guano is also a natural or bird guano, coming 
 from rainless countries, so that it still retains its nitrogen, 
 and a part of its phosphoric acid, in available form. The 
 
4<^ FERTILIZING REQUIREMENTS OF CANK. 
 
 deposits of Peruvian guano are now largely exhausted. 
 Another form of phosphoric acid, now offered, is a by- 
 product obtained in the manufacture of iron and steel from 
 ores rich in phosphorus. The manufacturing process is 
 known as the 'Thomas Gilchrist patent," and this by-product 
 is sometimes styled "Thomas Slag," as well as "Basic Slag." 
 It contains about 14 per cent, of phosphoric acid, available 
 to plants, though not as soluble as that contained in acid 
 phosphate, and also, a large amount of caustic lime, on ac- 
 count of which it should not be mixed with fertilizers con- 
 taining ammonia, because it would decompose such ma- 
 terials and release the volatile ammonia. 
 
 Nitrogen is supplied to the trade in many forms : 
 (i) Nitrate of Soda ^ a product of the mines of Chili. 
 This form of nitrogen (nitrates) is that into which all others 
 are resolved before they can serve as plant food. In what- 
 ever form it is supplied it must be rendered available by 
 the work of microbes, acting in an areated, well drained 
 soil, upon the nitrogenous matter present. Just here comes 
 a suggestion, that many of the failures in applying organic 
 forms of nitrogen to cane soils may be due to improper 
 mechanical conditions, which prevent a rapid multiplication 
 of microbes, and thereby retard the transformation into ni- 
 trates. This process of nitrification is an inherent concomi- 
 tant of tilth, and soils in excellent tilth can consume and 
 appropriate large quantities of organic nitrogen. Nitrate 
 of soda readily leaches from a soil, especially an open, por- 
 ous, sandy one, whenever not taken up by growing plants, 
 
FERTILIZING REQUIREMENTS OF CANE. 49 
 
 and hence, to obtain its full effects, it should be applied to 
 crops, at short intervals, in small quantities. 
 
 (2) Sulphate of Ammonia^ a product of the distillation of 
 coal and bones, is a by-product of the coal-gas factories of 
 large cities. It contains a large percentage of nitrogen 
 (22 per cent.) and is an excellent form for cane. 
 
 (3) Dried Bloody a product of slaughter houses, red or 
 black in color, according to the method used in desiccation, 
 contains from 12 to i8 per cent, nitrogen, and is esteemed 
 as one of the best forms of organic nitrogen. It is largely 
 used to supply the nitrogen in the compounding of com- 
 mercial fertilizers. 
 
 (4) Tankage^ another refuse of slaughter houses, consists 
 in the waste materials incident to preparing various meat 
 products for market. Its composition is variable, and its 
 availability as a fertilizer depends largely upon the charac- 
 ter as well as composition of the materials of which it is 
 composed. It contains a variable quantity of phosphoric 
 acid, and is a favorite nitrogen fertilizer with the sugar 
 planters of Louisiana. 
 
 (5) Fish Scraps especially that obtained in large quan- 
 tities from the Menhaden of the Atlantic coast, is used 
 largely by manufacturers of commercial fertilizers as a 
 source of nitrogen. The oil is extracted, and after that 
 the steamed and dried residue, more or less finely ground, 
 is sold as fertilizer, which, as it retains the meat and bones 
 of the fish, like tankage, contains considerable phosphoric 
 acid. 
 
50 FERTILIZING REQUIREMENTS OF CANE. 
 
 (6) Bones, both raw and steamed, are extensively used 
 for fertilizers, especially on soils filled with vegetable 
 matter. They are usually finely ground, and their good re- 
 sults are frequently due more to the small percentage of 
 nitrogen which they contain than to their large content of 
 phosphoric acid, which, for the most part, is in an insoluble 
 and unavailable form. 
 
 (7) Cottonseed Meal^ gluten meal, linseed meal, castor 
 pomace, sunflower cake, peanut cake, Chinese soja bean 
 cake, rape seed cake, niger seed cake, — are all vegetable 
 forms of nitrogen, obtained by extracting, under pressure, 
 the oil from the various seeds and grinding the residue into 
 powder. In Louisiana and other parts of the South, cotton- 
 seed meal, which contains about 7^ nitrogen, 3^ phosphoric 
 acid and 2^ potash, is extensively used as a fertilizer for 
 cane, cotton, corn etc. 
 
 STABLE MANURES AND GREEN MANURING* 
 
 Stable manure may be used on the cane crop with ad- 
 vantage, but its available amount is usually so small and 
 insufficient, that it is of little practical importance to sugar 
 planters. Where stable manure can be had, it is useful to 
 the cane, especially for its nitrogen ;but it is comparatively 
 poor in potash and phosphoric acid, both of which must be 
 supplemented in proper proportion if a full benefit be ex- 
 pected. 
 
STABLE MANURES AND GREEN MANURING. 5 1 
 
 Green manuring, that is, the raising of leguminous crops 
 in rotation, like in other agricultural industries, is useful in 
 sugar growing. Green manuring is regularly employed in 
 Louisiana in a tri-ennial rotation of corn with cow-peas, 
 plant cane and stubble cane. To this purpose the cow-pea 
 is well adapted throughout the cane growing sections of 
 the Atlantic and Gulf states, while in Barbados the Bengal 
 Bean (Mucuna pruriens var.) has produced the best results, 
 yielding a crop of 17,040 pounds per acre, containing 120 
 pounds of nitrogen. The indiscriminate growth of legum- 
 inous catch crops in Barbados is, however, not recommend- 
 ed, because of the evaporation of moisture from the great 
 extent of leaf surface. Many soils there are underlaid, at a 
 aepth oi lyi to ^h feet, by a porous stratum of coral rock 
 of great thickness, and so, with the capacity of the soil for 
 storing water limited, if a leguminous crop be harvested 
 late in the year, the young cane plant cannot find enough 
 stored moisture to secure an early growth in the spring. 
 Under such circumstances and conditions it is recommend- 
 ed that all such crops be grown early and cut not later than 
 the middle of September, to give ample time for tillage and 
 the accumulation of moisture near the surface. Local con- 
 ditions must control action in this, as in every other precept 
 of science, but, whenever existing conditions permit the 
 growing of a strong, vigorous, leguminous catch crop, such 
 action is strongly recommended. 
 
 The benefit derived from a rotation with legumes con- 
 sists rnainly in the large amount of nitrogen which these 
 
52 STABLE MANURES AND GREEN MANURING. 
 
 crops gather from the air and furnish to the succeeding 
 cane crop through their decaying stalks and leaves. A crop 
 of cow-peas (dry) of 4500 lbs. per acre will contain ap- 
 proximately 65 lbs. of nitrogen, mostly gathered from the 
 air, without cost to the grower, and corresponding to 420 
 lbs. of nitrate of soda. 
 
 It must be kept in mind that these legumes, greedy feed- 
 ers as they are on the nitrogen of the air, need considerable 
 amounts of phosphoric acid and potash, both of which need 
 to be supplied to the soil so that a heavy crop of legumes 
 may be produced and a correspondingly large amount of 
 nitrogen acquired free of cost. An application of 300 lbs. 
 of acid phosphate, and 100 lbs. of muriate of potash per 
 acre is advisable for cow-peas and other legumes. 
 
 FERTILIZER REQUIREMENTS OF CANE SOILS* 
 
 By the chemical analysis of a crop, we can learn the 
 quantities of potash, phosphoric acid and nitrogen required 
 to produce it. It has already been stated in the preceding 
 pages that growing sugar cane needs very large quantities 
 of potash and nitrogen, and smaller amounts of phosphoric 
 acid. 
 
 If the cane growing soil were without plant food, all of 
 which must be artificially applied, the question of manuring 
 
FERTILISER REQUIREMENTS OF CANE SOILS. 53 
 
 would be one of simple calculation of the amounts of 
 fertilizer ingredients contained in the crop ; — but there 
 is already present in the soil a certain amount of such 
 food available to the plant, with no need of supplying it 
 artificially. Every ambitious, scientific, practical sugar 
 planter asks himself the following questions : 
 
 1. What quantities of phosphoric acid, potash and ni- 
 
 trogen do my soils need for the production of 
 good yields ? 
 
 2. In what forms shall I supply the fertilizing elements? 
 
 A chemical analysis of a soil discloses the quantities of 
 each plant food ingredient present in it, but as the larger 
 part of its potash, phosphoric acid and nitrogen exists in an 
 insoluble, unavailable form, it is far more important to learn 
 what and how much is availably present. Unfortunately 
 chemical science has not yet succeeded in finding a method 
 whereby the available can be distinguished from the non- 
 available plant food contained in a soil. Some such methods 
 were designed and are now used by some chemists, but it is 
 the prevailing opinion of scientists that accurate and reli- 
 able information is not conveyed thereby, and that its near- 
 est approach is reached through the indirect way of so- 
 called field or fertilizer experiments. Such judiciously 
 planned and carefully conducted experiments have been 
 made in many cane-growing countries, and valuable inform- 
 ation obtained and conclusions drawn from them. The 
 following is a summarizing and general review of such ob- 
 servations in the several countries : 
 
54 FERTILIZER REQUIREMENTS OF CANE SOILS. 
 
 In Hawaii, which practices the heaviest fertilizing and 
 secures the largest yield of sugar per acre, the greatest 
 variation and widest range in soil, rainfall, irrigation and 
 cultivation is found. Mr. Chas. F. Eckart, the present di- 
 rector of the Hawaiian Experiment Station, makes the fol- 
 lowing report as to the fertilizers successfully used on the 
 four cane growing islands. 
 
 Oahii, 8.50 to 14.60 per cent, potash, in the form of sul- 
 phate of potash, 7 to 15 per cent, available phosphoric acid, 
 and 4.7 to 7.1 per cent, nitrogen, in three forms, — nitrate of 
 soda, sulphate of ammonia, and organic material. 
 
 Maui^ 4.13 to 17.34 per cent, potash, 5.7 to 14.26 per 
 cent, phosphoric acid, and 5.5 to 9.7 per cent, nitrogen. 
 
 Kauai^ 4.89 to 10. i per cent, potash, 5.68 to 9.39 per 
 cent, phosphoric acid, and 6.06 to 9.91 per cent, nitrogen. 
 
 Hawaii^ 4 03 to 22.54 per cent, potash, 5.29 to 14.61 per 
 cent, phosphoric acid, and 3.25 to 10.42 per cent, nitrogen. 
 This island possesses a diversity of conditions, to each of 
 which it conforms in applying mineral fertilizer. Where 
 heavy rainfalls prevail, organic nitrogen washes out less, 
 and is preferred; and no nitrate of soda and little sulphate 
 of ammonia is used. In the Hamakua district, the nitrogen 
 is in the form of sulphate of ammonia, the phosphoric acid 
 as acid phosphate, and potash as sulphate of potash. 
 
 Experiments in Honolulu with plant cane and first year 
 rattoons gave, per acre, from different combinations of 
 fertilizers : 
 
FERTILIZER REQUIREMENTS OF CANE SOILS. 
 
 55 
 
 Results of Experiments on Plant Cane harvested in 1899. 
 
 KIND OF FERTILIZERS APPLIED. 
 
 Unfertilized 
 
 Nitrogen 
 
 Phosphoric Acid 
 
 Potash 
 
 Phosphoric Acid and Nitrogen 
 
 Potash and Phosphoric Acid 
 
 Potash and Nitrogen 
 
 Potash, Phosphoric Acid and Nitrogen. 
 
 POUNDS OF 
 
 CANE 
 PER ACRE. 
 
 140,880 
 
 172,040 
 144,480 
 171,280 
 170,040 
 170,120 
 182,200 
 171,520 
 
 PER CENT, 
 
 SUCROSE IN 
 
 CANE. 
 
 15.52 
 
 15.12 
 15 15 
 14.7.3 
 14 41 
 14 73 
 14.95 
 14 89 
 
 POUNDS OF 
 
 SUGAR 
 PER ACRE. 
 
 21,832 
 
 25,463 
 21.842 
 25,201 
 24,466 
 25.041 
 27,2.30 
 25,493 
 
 Results of Experiments on Rattoons harvested in 1900. 
 
 KIND OF FERTILIZERS APPLIED. 
 
 Unfertilized 
 
 Nitrogen 
 
 Phosphoric Acid 
 
 Potash 
 
 Phosphoric Acid and Nitrogen 
 
 Potash and Phosphoric Acid 
 
 Potash and Nitrogen 
 
 Potash, Phosphoric Acid and Nitrogen . 
 
 POUNDS OF 
 
 CANE 
 PER ACRE 
 
 126,424 
 174 636 
 144.715 
 151,780 
 210,16] 
 153,068 
 222,134 
 221,297 
 
 Average 175,526 
 
 PER CENT. 
 
 SUCROSE IN 
 
 CANE. 
 
 16.85 
 14 10 
 15.65 
 15.81 
 13.53 
 14.55 
 13.85 
 13.80 
 
 14.68 
 
 POUNDS OF 
 
 SUGAR 
 PER ACRE. 
 
 21 086 
 
 24,631 
 22,639 
 23,985 
 28,463 
 22,272 
 31,008 
 29,265 
 
 25,419 
 
 The fertilizer applied in the rattoon experiment furnished 
 182 pounds nitrogen, 255 pounds actual potash, and 148 
 pounds phosphoric acid, equivalent to 920 pounds sulphate 
 of ammonia or 1137 pounds nitrate of soda, 510 pounds 
 sulphate of potash, and 1000 pounds acid phosphate. The 
 most profitable combination was nitrogen and potash, which 
 produced an increase of 9,922 pounds of sugar over the 
 unfertilized plot. 
 
56 FERTILIZER REQUIREMENTS OF CANE SOILS. 
 
 In Louisiana^ cane is grown only on the alluvial soil, and 
 its Sugar Experiment Station has concluded that a fertilizer, 
 rich in nitrogen with a small quantity of available phosphoric 
 acid, is best suited to it. The proportion of nitrogen is in- 
 creased on rattoons and succession plant cane. 
 
 Throughout the Georgia and Florida coast region, mix- 
 tures of cottonseed meal, acid phosphate and kainit are 
 almost exclusively used, and produce good results. 
 
 Barbados finds nitrogen, preferably nitrate of soda and 
 sulphateof ammonia, most effective; phosphoric acid in acid 
 phosphates is beneficial when used in moderation, but dimin- 
 ishes the yield when applied in excessive quantities 
 
 Demerara derives the most benefit from nitrogen as 
 sulphate of ammonia, with Thomas slag, the most effective 
 source of phosphoric acid. 
 
 The Leeward Islands have, apparently, no great demand 
 for nitrogen, although on soils not recently treated with pen 
 manure, its results are marked. Phosphates do not increase 
 their cane yield, but in many instances decrease it, while 
 potash with nitrogen gives their largest yields. 
 
 In a publication of the Imperial Department of Agri- 
 culture for the West Indies, Francis Watts shows that on 
 land where pen manure had not been previously used, an 
 application of 60 pounds potash (120 lbs. sulphate of potash) 
 per acre produced an increase of 393 pounds of sugar, and 
 of 2318 pounds of sugar, when nitrogen and phosphoric acid 
 were added to the potash. 
 
FERTILIZER REQUIREMENTS OF CANE SOILS. 
 
 57 
 
 Upper Egypt secures the best results from *a complete 
 fertilizer containing potash, phosphoric acid and nitrogen, 
 as shown by an increase of 2659 pounds sugar per acre in 
 1900 in experiments conducted by Prof. W. Tiemann, Director 
 of the Agricultural Experiment Station, Cheik Fadl. His 
 tabulation is : 
 
 PLOT 
 NO. 
 
 POUNDS FERTILIZER PER ACRE. 
 
 POUNDS 
 
 SUGAR CANE 
 
 PER ACRE. 
 
 PER CENT. 
 SUGAR 
 IN THE 
 CANE. 
 
 POUNDS 
 
 SUGAR 
 
 PER ACRE. 
 
 s. 
 
 Unfertilized 
 
 43,494 
 49 006 
 
 47,508 
 
 53,: 01 
 55,661 
 
 56,285 
 
 53,583 
 59,157 
 
 13.2 
 14.0 
 13.8 
 
 13.8 
 
 IH.O 
 
 13.9 
 
 13.7 
 14.2 
 
 5 741 
 
 2. 
 
 750 lbs. Thomas Slag 
 
 6 861 
 
 8. 
 
 150 lbs. Sulphate of Potash 
 
 6 556 
 
 4. 
 
 750 lbs. Thomas Slag ) 
 
 7,328 
 7,236 
 
 7,824 
 
 5. 
 6. 
 
 150 lbs. Sulphate of Potash) 
 
 188 lbs. Nitrate of Soda 
 
 188 lbs. Nitrate of Soda 1 
 
 7. 
 
 750 lbs. Thomas Slag . . j 
 
 188 lbs. Nitrateof Soda.... 1 
 
 7,341 
 8 400 
 
 8. 
 
 150 1 bs. Sulphate of Potash ( 
 
 188 lbs. Nitrate of Soda . . . . ) 
 
 750 lbs. Thomas Slag > 
 
 
 150 lbs. Sulphate of Potash ) 
 
 
 For cane, where fertilizer requirements have not been 
 ascertained by practical experiments, the safest and best 
 plan is to use that which contains a liberal amount of pot- 
 ash, a moderate amount of phosphoric acid and an excess 
 of nitrogen. 
 
 • The best forms of plant food, for average conditions, 
 are:-for potash, high grade sulphate of potash; for nitrogen, 
 nitrate of soda and sulphate of ammonia; and for phosphoric 
 acid, acid phosphate, or, on some soils, Thomas slag is 
 preferable. 
 
QUANTITY OF FERTILIZERS PER ACRE, AND 
 HOW TO APPLY THEM. 
 
 The Hawaiians frequently use a ton (2000 lbs.), or more, 
 of fertilizer per acre, applying it at two different times, first 
 at planting, or soon after the cane is well up, and a second 
 time at the opening of the following spring. Mr. Pogue of 
 Kihei Plantation has successfully applied nitrate of soda 
 in the irrigation waters; as a question of economy, it is 
 proposed to apply all soluble fertilizers in this manner. 
 
 In Louisiana the amount of fertilizer used is 400 to 700 
 lbs. per acre. Nitrogen in excess of 48 lbs. per acre, which 
 is about the limit of assimilation in an average season, has 
 been found by the Experiment Station to be wasteful, and 
 phosphoric acid at the rate of 36 lbs. ample. Fertilizers are 
 usually applied at the time of planting or at the time of 
 throwing the first soil to the young cane, whether plant or 
 stubble, by manure distributing machines constructed to 
 scatter the fertilizer on both sides of the row at the same 
 time. 
 
 In Barbados AtO to 80 lbs. of nitrogen, preferably as 2/3 
 sulphate of ammonia and 1/3 nitrate of soda, per acre is 
 correct; a small part applied shortly after the cane ger- 
 minates and the remainder in June and August, when the 
 cane's growth is most rapid, together with 80 to 100 lbs. of 
 sulphate of potash. Phosphates are not especially recom- 
 
QUANTITY OF FERTILIZERS PER ACRE. 6l 
 
 mended, but, when used, should contain from 30 lbs. (on 
 rattoons) to 40 lbs. (on plant cane) of phosphoric acid 
 per acre. 
 
 For Demerara s stiff clay, 50 lbs. of nitrogen, in the 
 form of sulphate of ammonia, with 500 to 600 lbs. finely 
 ground slag phosphate per acre is considered about right 
 by Prof. Harrison. Both are applied to plant cane at kn 
 early period and in one dressing, but sufficient slag phos- 
 phate remains in the soil to supply the rattoons. 
 
 VALUE OF FERTILIZERS* 
 
 Generally speaking, the question of profit or loss in cane 
 growing turns on the intelligent selection of fertilizer, the 
 correct use of which frequently doubles a yield. 
 
 The high esteem in which fertilizers are held by the 
 Hawaiian sugar growers may be inferred from the large 
 quantity used annually. Director Eckart asserts that in 
 1901, "no less than twenty-five thousand tons of commercial 
 fertilizers" were added to the Hawaiian soils to satisfy the 
 demand of the sugar industry. The shrewd business 
 wisdom of this enormous consumption is made plain by the 
 statement of Dr. Maxwell, that where the trash of the cane 
 is returned to the soil, each ton of sugar produced removes 
 from the soil in cane 12.7 lbs. nitrogen, 35.3 lbs. potash, 
 and 8.2 lbs. phosphoric acid. With the total sugar yield of 
 the islands approaching 300,000 tons, on about 50,000 acres 
 
62 VALUE OF FERTILIZERS. 
 
 of land, the demand for this large quantity of fertilizers is 
 apparent. 
 
 The secret of a profitable sugar industry lies in econo- 
 mically growing robust cane, rich in sugar; and no soil is 
 so rich as to continue year after year to grow large and 
 remunerative crops, unless the plant food removed by the 
 crop be returned in the form of fertilizers. Those sugar 
 countries, which are growing the largest crops of cane per 
 acre, are the most prosperous. A careful study of their 
 practices teaches that they obtain success and wealth by 
 thorough preparation of the soil, judicious fertilizing, 
 intelligent cultivation (including irrigation when required), 
 and an elimination of rattoons as soon as their yields drop 
 below a profit-producing quantity. 
 
 The world's experience is that no one crop can be grown 
 continuously and profitably on the same unfertilized soil, 
 no matter how rich it was at the beginning. Sugar cane 
 is a most exacting as well as soil exhausting crop. In a 
 report recently made to the Queensland Government upon 
 the condition of the sugar industry of Australia, Dr. 
 Walter Maxwell, Director of the Sugar Experiment Stations 
 at Brisbane, emphasizes the necessity of feeding and so 
 restoring to those soils their former fertility, which, accord- 
 ing to Hon. W. H. Groom, had fallen in annual yield from 
 40 tons of cane in the beginning to 16, 13 and 12 tons, in 
 1889, and according to the report, for 1900 in North 
 Mackay, to from 4 to 5 tons, and, in other districts, to from 
 7 to 8 tons. Dr. Maxwell says: "The average yield of cane 
 
VALUE OF FERTILIZERS. 63 
 
 to-day througnout Queensland is about 15 tons per acre, as 
 against about 46 tons per acre during the earlier years of 
 the industry." Further on, after showing by analyses of 
 virgin soils and those continually cropped with cane, a 
 loss of 31^ nitrogen, 42.2^ potash, and 37.2^ lime in the 
 latter, he adds: " Their immediate yielding power has been 
 seriously impaired, but by more modern methods of cultiva- 
 tion, rendering available the reserve stores of plant food 
 and by returning to the lands those elements which have 
 been and are being removed, the producing power can be 
 restored." Intelligent cultivation, and a judicious use of 
 fertilizers can, without a doubt, restore the original produc- 
 ing power to these soils, and obtain 40 tons of cane per 
 acre. More than that, here as elsewhere, by the application 
 of scientific resources and intelligence, better and larger 
 crops can be grown than those first produced by the 
 "virgin soil." 
 
 Modern methods of farming and planting recognize the 
 value of fertilizers for every soil and every crop, and the 
 sugar planter, alive to the advantages of the present age, 
 knows well that cane culture is among the most intense 
 agricultural industries, where the size and profit of his 
 crop is largely determined by the intelligent use of heavy 
 applications of fertilizer. 
 
Composition of Fertilizer flaterials Used as Sources of 
 
 Potash. 
 
 
 Pure 
 Potash 
 (K2O) 
 PerCt. 
 
 Lime 
 Per Ct. 
 
 Nitro- 
 gen 
 Per Ct. 
 
 Ammonia 
 Per Ct. 
 
 Phos- 
 phoric 
 Acid, 
 Total, 
 Per Cam 
 
 Chlorine 
 Per Cent. 
 
 Muriate of Potash 
 
 50 
 5oto55 
 27 " 30 
 
 I2i 
 
 16" 20 
 
 20 
 
 20" 30 
 
 2"8 
 I" 2 
 
 5"8 
 
 
 
 
 
 45 to 48 
 0.3 "1.5 
 
 1-5 "2.5 
 30 to 32 
 
 42 "46 
 
 Sulphate of Potash 
 (high grade) 
 
 Sulphate of Potash 
 Magnesia 
 
 0.85 
 I. 12 
 
 .... 
 
 
 
 
 
 Kainit 
 
 
 
 
 Sylvinit 
 
 
 
 
 Potash Manure Salt 20^ 
 
 
 
 
 Cotton - Seed - Hull 
 Ashes 
 
 3oto55 
 
 35 "40 
 3-5 
 
 i3toi4 
 
 i6toi7 
 
 
 
 Wood - Ashes } 
 
 (unleached) j" 
 
 Wood- Ashes (leached) . 
 Tobacco-Stems 
 
 I to 2 
 I toi^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 2t03 
 
 2i to 3i 
 
 
 
 
 
 Average Composition of the flost Important 
 Farm flanures. 
 
 FARM MANURES. 
 
 Nitrogen. 
 
 Equivalent 
 
 in 
 Ammonia. 
 
 Potash 
 (K2O). 
 
 Phosphoric Acid 
 
 
 Total. 
 
 Lime (CaO). 
 
 Cow- Manure (fresh) . . . 
 Horse-Manure (fresh) . . 
 Sheep-Manure (fresh) . . 
 Hog-Manure (fresh) . . . 
 
 Hen-Dung (fresh) 
 
 Mixed Stable Manure . . 
 
 0.34 
 
 0.58 
 0.83 
 
 0.45 
 1.63 
 0.50 
 
 0.41 
 0.70 
 1. 00 
 
 0.54 
 1.98 
 0.60 
 
 0.40 
 
 0.53 
 0.67 
 0.60 
 0.85 
 0.63 
 
 0. 16 
 
 0.28 
 0.23 
 0. 19 
 
 1-54 
 0.26 
 
 0.31 
 0. 21 
 
 0.33 
 0.08 
 0.24 
 0.70 
 
Composition of Fertilizer Materials Used 
 as Sources of Nitrogen. 
 
 Nitrate of Soda 
 
 Sulphate of Ammonia 
 
 Dried-Blood (high grade). . . 
 Dried-Blood (low grade) . . . 
 
 Concentrated Tankage 
 
 Tankage 
 
 Tankage 
 
 Dried Fish- Scrap 
 
 Cotton-Seed Meal 
 
 Castor Pomace 
 
 Tobacco Stems 
 
 Nitrogen. 
 
 15 to 16 
 
 19 
 12 
 10 
 II 
 
 5 
 1\ 
 9i 
 6i 
 
 5 
 2 
 
 22 
 12 1 
 II 
 
 i4i 
 6 
 
 9 
 1 [ 
 
 7i 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 Equivalent 
 
 in 
 Ammonia. 
 
 18 to 19^ 
 23 " 26 
 
 i7i 
 
 i4i 
 12 
 
 i3i 
 6 
 
 9 
 
 Hi 
 
 8 
 6 
 
 2i 
 
 14^ 
 15 
 
 7i 
 II 
 
 I3i 
 9 
 
 1\ 
 4 
 
 Potash 
 (K^O). 
 
 5 to 5 
 
 Phosphoric Add 
 Total. 
 
 3 
 
 I 
 
 II 
 
 to 
 
 5 
 2 
 
 14 
 loi 
 
 2% 
 
 2^ 
 
 about i^ 
 
 Composition of Fertilizer Materials Used 
 as Sources of Phosphoric Acid. 
 
 So Carol'a Phos. Rock 
 
 So. Carolina Acid 
 Phosphate 
 
 Florida Land Rock. . 
 
 Florida Pebble Phos- 
 phate 
 
 Florida Acid Phos- 
 phate 
 
 Tennessee Phosphate 
 
 Tennessee Acid Phos 
 phate 
 
 Bone-Black (spent). . 
 
 Bone-Black(dissolved) 
 
 Bone-Meal 
 
 Bone (dissolved) . . . 
 
 Peruvian Guano . , . 
 
 Nitro- 
 gen. 
 
 2"3 
 
 6 " 10 
 
 Equiv- 
 alent in 
 Ammo- 
 nia. 
 
 3 to5i 
 2i"3i 
 7i"i2 
 
 Potash 
 (K,Oj. 
 
 1-1 to 4 
 
 Phosphoric Acid. 
 
 Total. Available. Insoluble 
 
 26 to 27 
 
 13 " 16 
 
 33 "35 
 
 26 " 32 
 
 14 " 19 
 
 34 "39 
 
 14 
 
 "19 
 
 32 
 
 "35 
 
 17 
 
 "19 
 
 20 
 
 "25 
 
 15 
 
 "17 
 
 10 
 
 "15 
 
 12 to 15 
 
 13 to 16 
 
 13 to 16 
 
 16 to 1 7 
 
 5" 8 
 13 " 15 
 
 26 to 27 
 
 "3 
 
 " 35 
 
 26 " 32 
 
 "3 
 "39 
 
 " 3 
 " 35 
 " 2 
 
 " 17 
 
 " 3 
 
 " 7 
 
UUZ A CO., PRINTERS, 24 BROADWAY, NEW 
 

 ■- • 1' 'J. T'-J. 
 
 
 
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