Cane (plant)

“ To this remark, all its tributaries are exceptions; for they invariably afford, however small, tracts of the most fertile land, covered with a heavy growth of forest trees and underbrush. The cane is also common to this stream in its whole course, and affords a nutritious food for cows, horses, and hogs, who are fond of it, and fatten upon it. This plant being an evergreen, cattle and horses may feed upon it all winter; and it is accordingly given to them, as a substitute for hay, by the Indians and hunters. ”

“ The cane matures in from eighteen to twenty-four months, according to location, soil and weather conditions. Some weeks before harvesting, irrigation is discontinued in order to allow the cane to ripen.
In cultivating the first ratoons, when the cane gets to be a few feet high the crest of the furrow is thrown down into the furrow so that the irrigation water passes between the rows of cane instead of along the furrows, as in the case of plant cane.
Ratooning is kept up until it ceases to be profitable. ”

“ If the ground is to be afterwards kept clear by the horse-hoe, the rows of canes should be 5 feet asunder, and the hillocks 21⁄2 feet distant, with only one cane left in one hillock. After some shoots appear, the sooner the horse-hoe is used, the more will the plants thrive, by keeping the weeds under, and stirring up the soil. Plant-canes of the first growth have been known to yield, on the brick-mould of Jamaica, in very fine seasons, 21⁄2 tons of sugar per acre. ”

“ Under these circumstances, the newcomer stands a poor chance for life. A plant introduced by layering a strong cane from a near-by vine has little difficulty in establishing itself on its own roots, after which it can be separated from the parent. Such layering is best done by taking in early spring a strong, unpruned cane from an adjoining plant in the same row and covering an end joint six inches deep in the vacant place, but leaving sufficient wood on [Pg 45] the end of the cane to turn up perpendicularly out of the soil. ”

“ The sugar harvest commences late in January, and ends in May, the planting season taking place during the breaks in the wet season, which lasts from June to the end of November. The cane is not grown from seed, as is generally stated, but from slips taken from the top of the plant, the lower leaves of which are stripped off. When stuck in the ground at regular intervals, to a depth of about two inches, the cane slips soon take root, and in about six months grow to maturity, sometimes, but very rarely, attaining a height of twenty feet. ”

“ When the side-branches are eight or ten inches long, pinch them back, thus throwing the chief strength into the central cane. By keeping all the branches pinched back you form the plant into an erect, sturdy bush that will load itself with berries the following year. No fruit will be borne the first season. The young canes of the second year will incline to be more sturdy and erect in their growth ”

“ The material facts regarding the cultivation of sugar-cane, as appearing by the evidence returned with the master's report, are these: Sugar-cane is propagated by cutting standing cane and planting it as seed cane. The cane so cut from one acre will plant not more than three acres. The plants that spring up from the seed cane are called plant cane; the roots from which cane has been cut are called stubble ”

“ It would be impossible to enumerate all the host of other plants the garden contains—creepers, shrubs, flowering trees, besides roses, begonias, geraniums, heliotropes, in an almost endless list—while the cliffs have remained a natural rock-garden. In the clefts of the rocks giant agaves occasionally throw up their great flower-heads fifteen feet or more in height, and then the plant, as if exhausted by the supreme effort in the climax of its existence, dies; but it is quickly replaced by hundreds of others, as the seed of the monster flower has found fresh ground in every nook and cranny. ”

“ The first is called plant cane; the second is known as first-year stubble, or ratoon. Sometimes second-year stubble is grown.
Fig. 217. A Common Type of Sirup Factory
In Louisiana large quantities of tankage, cotton-seed meal, and acid phosphate are used to fertilize cane-fields. Each [Pg 226] country has its own time for planting and harvesting. In Louisiana, for example, canes are planted from October to April. In the United States cane is harvested each year because of frost, but in tropical countries the stalks are permitted to grow from fifteen to twenty-four months. ”

“ So far as the eye can reach there are rolling lands covered everywhere with a dense growth of vegetation, large tracks covered with marshy grasses, and maiden cane, which is a spurious kind of sugar cane, grows to the height of twelve or fifteen feet, and resembles a waving field of ripening corn. ”

“ Hard, smooth wood of medium size usually gives better results than the very large and softer canes which are sometimes produced on soils rich in nitrogenous manures. This large and overgrown wood is known as a "bull cane." A cane does not attain its full growth the first year, but will increase in diameter during the second season. ”

“ A young and in most varieties a fruitless cane is produced in one season; it bears in July the second year, and then its usefulness is over. It will continue to live in a half-dying way until fall, but it is a useless and unsightly life. I know that it is contended by some that the foliage on the old canes aids in nourishing the plants; but I think that, under all ordinary circumstances, the leaves on the young growth are abundantly sufficient. By removing the old canes after they have borne their fruit, an aspect of neatness is imparted, which would be conspicuously absent were they left. ”

“ Like the daisy tree, the poinsettia flowers on the young wood, and throws out fresh branches six to ten feet long, which can be cut back in January, when the beauty of the blossoms is gone and the foliage becomes an unsightly yellow and at length drops altogether. When seen growing in all their luxuriant and garish splendour, it is difficult to remember that it is the same plant that one has seen in a weakly and attenuated form in our English stove-houses, with one poor little flower-head at the end of a single stem imperfectly clad with sickly foliage. ”

“ Though Nature has done her best to protect the plant from the hand of man, by giving it long, hooked thorns, which are exceedingly sharp, and, I believe, somewhat poisonous, even this has not been sufficient, and many a beautiful specimen have I seen maimed and dwarfed beyond repair in a few hours by an ignorant and overzealous gardener. Its second enemy is rats, which unfortunately have a great love for the bark on the stems of old plants, and many a plant narrowly escapes destruction at their hands, or rather teeth. ”

“ There was yet another show which represented the night after the great battle of Lia Yang, when the spirits of the dead soldiers appeared, all flower-clad, with white swords in their hands, with which to salute the sleeping fighters. Every year the showmen find some new subject in order to keep up the people’s interest. Besides these dramatic shows, there are splendid specimen plants; and what I always admired about the large plants in Japan was the perfect foliage, the rather dwarfed growth, and the way in which all the blossoms on the plant open together. ”

“ The plant is impatient of drought, and its foliage soon flags in the heat of the sun unless its roots are well supplied with moisture, and it will be discovered that its roots run far in the ground in search of it, which, combined with its practice of seeding itself in undesirable situations, makes it a dangerous plant to introduce unawares to a garden, as, once established, it is there for good. ”

“ The whole horticultural energy of the owner of the little strip of garden has been centred in the loving care bestowed on his few treasured azaleas. A tiny plant, not more than a few inches in height, will be far more valued than its overgrown neighbour, if it should happen to be some new variety, possibly only bearing a few blossoms, but perfect in form, of immense size, single or semi-double, of a brilliant rose-red, clear pink, salmon colour, or pure white. ”

“ There they sweep for miles away, with their different grasses waving and whispering under the steady blowing breeze, first the red-top, then as the soil grows wet the blue-joint and the swamp grass, and out of the standing water the dark green reeds, and farthest in the tall, wild cane bowing its stately, tasseled head. ”

“ The cane raised here is three per cent. richer than that raised in the Southern States. It grows from four to eight feet in height, according to the fertility of the soil. It is now March, and the summit of the cane is crowned with its useful blooms, which are gathered and dried for upholstering purposes, while the leaves are cut and used for the sustenance of stock, which are herded, watched, and fed, night and day, when not working. In passing through the country we frequently see, remote from any dwelling, small tents stretched over a cot-bed. Here is where the coolie cattle-herder sleeps. ”

“ These canes grow all over the South, in the swamps. They are, in fact, a kind of gigantic grass, although the people who are most familiar with them do not dream of the fact. The botanists call them a grass, at any rate, and the botanists know. Each cane is a long, straight rod, tapering very gently, with "joints," as they are called, about eight or ten inches apart. These joints are simply places where the cane, outside, is a little larger than it is between joints, while inside each joint consists of a hard woody partition, across the hollow tube, which is otherwise continuous. ”

“ Allemandas flourish even at this higher altitude, as does Thumbergia grandiflora, another tropical plant. Though its bunches of grey-blue gloxinia-like blooms are beautiful enough individually, it is sadly marred by the dead blossoms which hang on to the bitter end and are singularly ugly in death, not having the grace to drop and leave the newcomers to deck the yards of trailing branches, with which the plant will in an incredibly short time smother a garden wall or take possession of and eventually kill a neighbouring tree. ”

“ While every bud on the 1909 shoot may produce shoots or canes in 1910, only the strongest of these new canes will bear fruit. The skilled grape-grower can tell by the looks of his cane (as he prunes it in winter) which buds will give rise to the grape-producing wood the following season. The larger and stronger buds usually give best results; but if the cane itself is very big and stout, or if it is very weak and slender, he does not expect good results from any of its buds. A hard, well-ripened cane the diameter of a man’s little finger is the ideal size. ”

“ The plant has long, narrow, oblong leaves, of a dull greyish-green, of a peculiarly tough texture, and a good clump some four or five feet high is very ornamental. Strelitzia augusta, as its name implies, is of more majestic growth. It has large foliage, not unlike a banana, and clumps attain to twelve or fifteen feet in height. The blossom is more curious than beautiful, being of so dark a purple as to be almost black; but, for the sake of its foliage, it is always worth a place, and may well be called a noble plant. ”

“ The garden is very sheltered, and never seems to suffer from the strong, rough winds which those in a more exposed and open situation feel so keenly. Here there comes no rude blast from the east to strip the leaves off the great begonia plants, and their brittle foliage and heavy flower-heads remain unbruised and untorn, while many a neighbouring garden has suffered severely at the hands of a winter storm. Each plant is a perfect specimen in itself, and is the result of many years’ care and attention. ”

“ The canes generally grow on the richest soil, and are particularly plentiful along the margins of the great western rivers. Many of our new settlers are fond of forming farms in their immediate vicinity, as the plant is much relished by all kinds of cattle and horses, which feed upon it at all seasons, and again because these brakes are plentifully stocked with game of various kinds. ”

“ If a very vigorous growth has been made the first season two canes may be left for fruiting, but in the case of weak growth, only one cane should be allowed to fruit. In case of low-growing varieties—those that have been pinched back short—a mulch of straw or grass around the plants at fruiting time will help to hold the moisture, and also serve to keep the fruits clean in case of heavy rains. A Raspberry plantation will last three to five years. The black varieties are propagated by layers, the tip of a cane being laid in the soil in midsummer ”

“ Tinder must be procured. Like a flash came to my mind the feathery heads of the wild cane. If I could find one dry enough I thought it would do. I at once ran up stream to where the canes grew, and after a little search I found a plume that was dead and quite dry. Bending the cane down I gathered a handful of the floss from the head, and going to the foot of a cocoanut tree, I lay the cane floss down by the foot of the tree and once more tried to produce a spark. I was soon able to obtain a spark frequently, but they invariably failed to reach the floss, or to ignite when they touched it. ”

“ The [112] plant is an ornament at all seasons; its beautiful glabrous foliage seems to retain its freshness at all seasons of the year, and when the plant is covered with its bunches of large white blossoms, each with its deep red-purple throat, which seems to reflect a shade of purple on to the white petals, it is one of the most beautiful of all creepers. ”

“ Like all good gardeners, she has not been deterred by the failure of a plant one season or the failure to import a new treasure at the first attempt, but has given hosts of plants a fair trial, often rewarded with success in the end, though naturally failing in some cases. Plants have been sent to her from all parts of the world, and the island owes many of its flowery treasures to this garden, which was originally their nursery and trial-ground. ”