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55 chapter ii y Planting and Weeding Canes, and the Different Kinds of Them When the best land has been chosen for the cane, it is cleared, burned, weeded, and cleared of anything in the way. It is then plowed in furrows, one and a half palmas5 deep and two broad, with a ridge between each furrow, so that the cane should not be smothered as it grows. In these furrows, either the cane is planted in shoots or the canes are planted in stocks measuring three or four palmas. If it is a small type of cane, then it is planted whole, one near the other, pushing it in with the foot. They are then covered over lightly with earth. After a few days, the shoots begin to grow and gradually reveal their greenery at ground level, taking root easily and growing more or less, according to the quality of the soil and the clemency or inclemency of the weather. But if they are planted too close together, or if when being weeded the earth gets too close to them, then they cannot sprout as they should. The planting of the cane in the higher lands of Bahia begins after the first rains at the end of February or at the beginning of March, and continues until the end of May. On the lowlands and the flat lands (which are fresher and more humid), the planting is also done in the months of July and August, and for a few days in September. Any kind of cane which is not dried out or damaged, or which has very small stalks, is good for planting. If the soil is new and strong, this causes the cane to grow very luxuriantly and it is called “wild cane.” The first and second times that it is cut, it does not usually yield good sugar, since it is very watery. However, after the soil has let loose its energy, even though the cane grows extraordinarily, it yields as well as it looks in appearance. One sometimes finds these kinds of canes seven, eight, or nine palmas high, and they look as outstanding in the fields as captains do in armies. 56 The Cultivation of Sugar The best cane has broad and clean joints. Canes with small and hairy joints are the worst. Narrow joints are caused by drought or by cold, because both of these contract them. If they are hairy, they have not been weeded in due time. The cane should be weeded as soon as there are any weeds or grass to remove. In the winter the grass that is removed soon grows again, so that the most important cleanings are the first ones, made to allow the cane to grow and prevent it from being smothered by the wild grass. For after it has grown, it is easier for it to resist the smaller weeds. Thus we see that the earliest vices are those that spoil good character. The canes planted on the hillsides are normally cleaner than those planted on the flat lands. Just as water running down the hillsides in the rainy season prevents the weeds from easily growing there, it also creates stagnant pools in the flat lands. This makes these lands always very damp and consequently very propitious for a renewed growth of the wild grass. For this reason, in some soils weeding three times is not enough. In others, the farmer can rest after the second weeding, according to the seasons being more or less rainy. Just as there are children so docile that they behave themselves after the first reprimand, there are others who do not improve in spite of repeated punishments. Likewise the ratoons6 (shoots from the stumps of the canes which have been cut in due time, or burned for being too old, or because the canes fell down in such ways that they could not be cut, or through some natural disaster) serve for planting. If they are not killed by severe cold or great drought, and earth is put round them, they sprout again. In this way, the shoots of cane can be renewed for five or six years or more. So useful is human ingenuity in deriving advantage even from what seems useless and not worth further attention! It is true that when the soil becomes exhausted, the ratoon likewise loses its vigor. After six or seven years, the cane decays and easily becomes withered until it is quite...

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