The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-10-07
The Coleman Cane Planter In Louis
lana.


The Coleman cane planter has been
thoroughly tried in Louisiana, in presence
of the Executive Committee of the Sugar
Planters Association, which reported in
its favor. The report appears in the
"Sugar Bowl'' OF September 10Th 1t
was drawn up and signed by Mr.
Dymond, of the Bellair Plantation,
where the tests took place. These, it is
said, were as thorough as possible under
the circumstances. Common reed or
bamboo canes were used in the expert
ment. The machine is designed to open
the land for planting, to drop the cane
into their proper position and finally to
cover them. Mr.. Dymond considered
these claims separately in his report.
The double mould-board pillow, as i'm
proved by Mr.. Coleman, opens the hand
soonest furrow he had ever seen, about
twelve inches wide, three to four inches
deep, and the loose earth thrown so far
back that practically none of it falls into
the row, thus avoiding the expensive
work of clearing the opened row for
planting with the hoe.
The dropping was not so perfect; it
was not done sufficiently well to render
further work unnecessary, and it would
be requisite to follow the machine and
add canes where the machine dropped
too few Mr.. Dymond thought this labor
saving device might become almost COM
plete for the purpose. The third function
OF covering the cane was accomplished
by two little mould-boards that throw
back on the cane part of the earth
thrown out in opening. Mr.. DymOnd,
however, thinks that no device for cover
ing can equal the hand hoe unless it has
the same pitching motion. He sums up
the triple functions of the machine: 'It
opens land for planting excellently well /;
it drops canes fairly we'll. it covers in
differently we'll" He suggests that the
machine be separated into two parts, the
opening pillow being one and the drop
ping carriage and cover device the other
From this point of view Mr.. Dymond
has already achieved a most pronounced
success in his opening pillow (Mr. Dymond
continues) which becomes a double
mould-board sully pillow, which will
make first-class, clean furrow in mixed
lands, where the earth has the most
tendency to roll back into the furrow.
The work surpassed that OF any other
plow I have ever seen, and is better than
what have been able to do with pillow,
fiuke and shaping plank, and hand hoe,
used successfully. The pillow was severely
tested, run into some logs, and was
under the strain of four first-class mules
and came through without breaking If
the plow be disconnected from the ma
chine, the dropping portion can thus
readily be made to carry ton OF cane,
which. on the basis of six tons per acre,
would plant row five acres long with
out renewing the supply, and, l believe
could be made to do away with about
three-fourths of the present manual labor
required for the purpose. l think that
Mr.. Coleman, in his pillow, has made Il
tool of immense value to US, and,
further, that the cane, dropped as 1t now
stands, is valuable, but may be improved
bv him, with his present experience, 50
that it also shall be one OF our chei
Iabor-sIving tools"