After the lands are ploughed and harrowed and all the weeds turned under, double mould-board ploughs are used to make the furrows in which the seed is planted. The furrows are not like those made for planting potatoes, but are about five feet apart and eighteen inches deep, each furrow and hill being symmetrical. They follow the contour of the land so that the irrigation water will fill the furrow and remain there until it is absorbed by the soil and penetrates to the cane roots. At regular intervals of about thirty-five feet, lateral ditches are cut, from which there is an entrance into every furrow. These lateral ditches deliver the water from the main ditches to the various parts of the fields. The land is now ready for the seed. Meanwhile, the harvesting of the ripened cane in other fields is going on. As the laborers cut the cane, they top it, that is to say, they cut off about twelve inches of the upper part of the solid stalk. Sugar cane resembles bamboo, in that it is cylindrical in shape and divided every few inches into sections by rings or joints. In every joint there is a bud or eye, from which a shoot of cane will sprout, if properly planted in the ground and watered. These tops, always cut from untasseled cane, contain very little sugar. They are carried to the newly prepared field and placed in rows in the furrows, end to end, lengthwise, the ends overlapping a trifle in order to guard against blank spaces in the growing cane. They are then covered, according to the season, with one to one and a half inches of earth, and the water is turned in until the furrow contains from three to four inches of water. Between six and ten days afterward, the little green cane shoots appear above the ground. From this time forward continuous irrigation and cultivation, together with proper fertilization, are required until the cane matures. Planting usually begins in March and continues until September, sometimes later, and the cane ripens one year from the following December. Growing cane should be watered every seven days, and the amount of water used for this purpose is enormous. For example: a plantation producing thirty-five thousand tons of sugar per annum needs twice as much water per day as the city of San Francisco. The appearance of growing cane is much like that of Indian corn. The whole field area is covered with a dense, jungle-like vegetation of brilliant green. The leaves are long and narrow and hang in graceful curves. The cane grows so thick that it is almost impossible to crawl through it, and so seldom do the sun’s rays penetrate to the ground that rapid evaporation of the irrigation water cannot take place, hence the cane gets the full benefit of the moisture.