the course of
twelve or fourteen days. The canes undergo three cleanings from the
weeds and the sprouts proceeding from the stumps of the trees; and
when the land is poor, and produces a greater quantity of the former,
and contains fewer of the latter, the canes require to be cleaned a
fourth time. The cuttings are usually 12 to 18 inches in length, but
it is judged that the shorter they are the better. If they are short,
and one piece of cane rots, the space which remains vacant is not so
large as when the cuttings are long, and they by any accident fail.
The canes which are used for planting are generally ratoons, if any
exist upon the plantation; but if there are none of these, the
inferior plant canes supply their places. It is accounted more
economical to make use of the ratoons for this purpose; and many
persons say that they are less liable to rot than the plant canes. In
the British sugar islands the cuttings for planting are commonly the
tops of the canes which have been ground for sugar. But in Brazil the
tops of the canes are all thrown to the cattle, for there is usually a
want of grass during the season that the mills are at work. In the
British colonies, the canes are at first covered with only a small
portion of mould, and yet they are as long in forcing their way to the
surface as in Brazil, though in the latter a more considerable
quantity of earth is laid upon them. I suppose that the superior
richness of the Brazilian soil accounts for this. Upon rich soils the
cuttings are laid at a greater distance, and the trenches are dug
farther from each other, than upon those which have undergone more
frequent cultivation, or which are known to possess less power from
their natural composition. The canes which are planted upon the former
throw out great numbers of sprouts, which spread each way; and,
although when they are young, the land may appear to promise but a
scanty crop, they soon close, and no opening is to be seen. It is
often judged proper to thin the canes, by removing some of the suckers
at the time that the last cleaning is given; and some persons
recommend that a portion of the dry leaves should also be stripped off
at the same period, but on other plantations this is not practised.

The proper season for planting is from the middle of July to the
middle of September, upon high lands, and from September to the middle
of November in low lands. Occasionally, the great moisture of the soil
induces