The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1919-05-14
GROWING SUGAR CANE FOR
SIRUP DISCUSSED IN BULLETIN


definite information on production of
sugar cane for sirup uses. TO satisfy
this need the United States Depart
ment of Agriculture has recently pub
lished Farmers Bulletin 1884. Sugar
cane requires eight months or more
of warm, growing weather, with plen-
ty of rain. Alabama, Georgia, and
Louisiana in 1913 led in producing
cane for sirup, raising 143,300 acres
OF the 189,58O acres devoted to this
crop for sirup production in the
Southern States.
Sugar cane is agross feeder and
shorl Id be grown only on strong soils
particularly adapted to good cultiva-
tion. The cane land, furthermore, re-
qulres heavy and regular applications
of fertilizer. This crop rarely natures
seed within the continental United
States and is propagatcd from cut
ting from the stocks even in tropical
countries. crop is usually in the
second season; sometimes the third
from the root stocks which are left
in the ground. 1t is essential that
there be an abundance of humus in
the. soil, and where it is deficient
plenty of barnyard manure should be
applied or some grcen-manure crops
should be grown and piowed under.
Both the top and underground parts
Of the stock are used for planting.
On an old field where the root stocks
of cane are not dug up a new root
stock of sprouts, called ratoons, de-
velop and produce another crop of
cane, so-callcd stubble or ratoon
crop. However, as many root stocks
10 not survive, because of disease or
decay, mutilation in harvesting, freez-
fox Ia -
crop is rarely as good as the first or
plant cane crop The second stubble.
or ratoon crop, if the stutble is left
to grow another year. is usually still
smaller. The custom is to harvest one
plant cane crop and one or two stub
bic crops from each planting before
the land is again broken up.
Four Year Rotation Satisfies
The two old varieties, Home Purple
or Red cane, and the so-called Rib
bon cane. dominate in popularity
throughout the sirup sections. The
common rotation followed on the
sugar plantations in Louisiana has
been one year of corn and cowpeas,
followed by two years of sugar cane
from one planting. With the grow
ing interest in stock raising some
planters in the last few years have
rotation, with two successive years
of corn and cowpeas, blowing under
the peas each time and then growing
cane two years. The results obtained
nave been satisfactory, ordinarily as
much cane being produced on half
the plantation as previously had been
grown on two-thirds of the total acre
age under the three-year rotation.
In the principal sirup- producing To-
calities, unlike the sugar plantations,
the farmer can usually select for his
cane patch a piece Of ground which
is especially fertile and satisfactory.
Good results obtain where a field is
manured very heavily and then put
into sweet potatoes, being cropped the
succeeding year with sugar cane. it
is essential that a well-prepared, mel
low seed bed be made for the sugar
cane crop. On the well-drained land
in Louisiana and parts of Florida it
iss desirable to plant the cane in the
fall as late as it is safe from frost.
But fall paintings are usually earlier,
because after the harvesting for the
mill commences all the available la
bor and teams are fully occupied
Hence, the fall planting is usually
over by the latter part Of October.
If the job can not be finished at this
season it is deferred until February
or early March, when there is no fear
of freezing. In Georgia and northern
Florida planting nearly always is
done in the spring.
Seed-bed preparation and the selec-
tion and planting of the seed are dis
cussed in Farmers Bulletin 1884, and
all farmers interested in home produc-
ton OF slrup or commercial growing
of sugar cane are invited to get and
read this publication.
More Power for Mills
Often the mills on the small farms
which make their own sirup are able
| to extract only SO to 55 per cent of
the material, whereas if greater power
| were provided this extraction might
| readily be increased to 65 per cent.
The small-scale sirup maker thus sac
rifces 31a to 5 gallons of sirup a ton
| of cane, or 70 to 1875 gallons an acre.
This loss is far from being offset by
! the reduction in the expense Of pro-
viding a stronger mill and more
power. Farmers who contemplate
purchasing engines and mills are ad-
vised to select more powerful ones
than are commonly used. Under pres
ent sugar-farm conditions, about 22
gallons of sirup may be expected from
ton of cane of the good varieties
and of average maturity, whereas the
big mills and the sugar factories OBJ
tain a yield of 176 pounds Of raw
sugar, together with about Sd gal
Ions Of "blackstrap" molasses as a
byproduct from ] tor of cane. On
| this basis the equivalent of / gallon
of sirup is about pounds of raw