adds, "that in January and
February the canes begin to be ready to cut, which is about nine
months from the time of planting. This operation is the same as in
other sugar countries--of course I need not describe it. Their height,
when standing on the field, will be from eight to ten feet (foliage
included), and the naked cane from an inch to an inch and a quarter in
diameter."

In Malda, the canes are cut in January and February. In N. Mooradabad,
upon the low land, the canes are ripe in October, and upon the high
lands a month later. The fitness of the cane for cutting may be
ascertained by making an incision across the cane, and observing the
internal grain. If it is soft and moist, like a turnip, it is not yet
ripe; but if the face of the cut is dry, and white particles appear,
it is fit for harvesting.--(_Fitzmaurice on the Culture of the Sugar
Cane_.)

_Injuries_.--1. _A wet season_, either during the very early or in the
concluding period of the cane's vegetation, is one of the worst causes
of injury. In such a season, the absence of the usual intensity of
light and heat causes the sap to be very materially deficient in
saccharine matter. But, on the other hand,

2. _A very dry season_, immediately after the sets are planted, though
the want of rain may in some degree be supplied by artificial means,
causes the produce to be but indifferent. These inconveniences are of
a general nature, and irremediable.

3. _Animals_.--In India not only the incursions of domesticated
animals, but in some districts of the wild elephant, buffalo, and hog,
are frequent sources of injury. Almost every plantation is liable,
also, to the attack of the jackal, and rats are destructive enemies.

4. _White Ants_.--The sets of the sugar cane have to be carefully
watched, to preserve them from the white ant (_Termes fatalis_), to
attacks from which they are liable until they have begun to shoot. To
prevent this injury, the following mixture has been recommended:--

Asafoetida (hing), 8 chittacks.
Mustard-seed cake (sarsum ki khalli), 8 seers.
Putrid fish, 4 seers.
Bruised butch root, 2 seers;
or muddur, 2 seers.

Mix the above together in a large vessel, with water sufficient to
make them into the thickness of curds; then steep each slip of cane in
it for half an hour after planting; and, lastly, water the lines three
times previous