Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1890-06-25
Planting and Cultivating Cane.

By j. H. MCCRACKEN. of Medicine Lodge
Read before the Kansas Sugar Association,
at Hutchinson, Kansas, June, 1890:
The subject assigned me to write upon, to
be read before your Association, is a question
of the greatest importance to the sugar indus
try of the state of Kansas, and one which, in
my limited experience, feel myself unable to
treat as ably as it should be done. For the past
four years l have given the growing of sor-
ghum sugar cane considerable attention i'm
Barber county, Kansas, especially during the
past season of 1889, when gave it my whole
time and attention. During that time have
consulted many of the most successful cane
growers in the state as to the best methods of
planting and cultivating.
The raising of cane for forage and for sugar
purposes are very different operations. Al
most any slOven of farmer can go into his
field, cut and cover his ground, scatter over it
some cane seed, and it will produce fair crop
of forage. To that class of farmers must say
that they will never make success of raising
sorghum for sugar purposes. 1t matters not
how much care and pains may be taken to Sc
lect and prepare the seed for planting, if the
farmer takes it out and throws it into the
ground in careless, Indifferent way, and per-
mits the weeds to grow up among it, he will
not be able to grow crop of sorghum that
will contain u high per centage of sugar, and
it will certainly and surely prove unsatisfacto-
~. both to himself and TO the sugar manu-
facturers.
The success of the sugar business in the state
of Kansas depends, first, on raising clean,
well-tilled crop of cane. Therefore the farmer
is the first spoke in the wheel of this great in
dustry, and it is with him to make the growing
of cane success or failure The best bust
ness men in the state of Kansas or any other
state. cannot make a success of the sugar
business unless the farmer first puts his shout
der to the wheel and says this industry must
go, and will do my part in the cultivation and
growing of the crop.
There is no doubt but that the soil and eli
mate OF Southern Kansas are well adapted to
the cultivation and growing of sorghum. The
sorghum plant requires plenty of spring rains.
and long season of warm sunshine. OF the
latter we are always sure, and, as a rule, we
have enough rain IN the spring to start the
crop to growing we'll.
PREPARATION OF THE SOIL.
First. the ground should be cleaned of all
stalks and weeds or other refuse and be plow-
ed during the winter early spring, and left
until time to prepare it for planting, which
IL
spring, say from the Goth of April to the LIST of
May, according to the condition of the SOIL
The first seed was planted this season for the
Medicine Lodge sugar factory, on the 10Th day
or April, which was rather early, owing to the
backward state of the weather.
The factory will furnish to the farmer n
memorandum of the number of acres and the
different dates on which they wish the planting
to be done, which the farmer should follow as
closely as possible, in order that the crop may
mature in rotation, so as to enable the factory
to work the crop as 1t natures.
The time OF planting being furnished, the
farmer should commence and pillow and har-
row the number of acres to be planted on a
given date. The best method of planting is
with common two-horse corn-planter. First,
by preparing the holes in the plates so as tn
drop from three to five seeds, from twelve to
fifteen inches apart in the rows. And 50 con-
tinue TO prepare the ground and plant each
successive week, as directed by the sugar fac
tory, until the whole crop is planted.
MANNER OF CULTIVATION.
Commence the cultivation early, in order to
keep the weeds well under control and to keep
the ground mellow. Cultivation should be
mostly shallow, taking care not to disturb the
surface roots, especially about the time the
plant forms its first joint, which will be when
it is about two and half feet high. Cultiva-
ton should be thorough up to this time, and
then cease,
am aware that we have many f, rmers who
are strongly in favor of the lister for planting
cane. must say that my experience with the
hster has not been very favorable, especially
Tor the early planting. as it puts the seed down
loo deep In the cold ground. making it difficult
TO commence early cultivation. We have had
TO re-plant ten listed pieces of cane to one of
surface planting. 1t may do to list the late
paintings, but the ground should be prepared
the same as for surface planting.