ratoonn.
/rəˈtuːn/, /raˈtuːn/, U.S. /rəˈtun/ A new shoot or sprout springing from the base of a crop plant, esp. sugar cane, after cropping; a crop or harvest of these. Also (more fully ratoon cane): a sugar cane cutting which is suitable for planting. Also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > plants yielding sugar or syrup > [noun] > sugar-cane > parts of
ratoon1631
arrow1750
1631 Virginia House of Burgesses 63 Wee humbly intreate his Ma(jes)ty will bee pleased to add unto us the continuance of his princely assistance,..prohibiting all ratoones and second cropps.
1732 R. Robertson Detection State & Situation Sugar Planters 35 Very little of it [sc. the sugarcane crop] yielding a Ratoon (that is, when the ripe Cane being cut off, the same Root shoots forth new Branches).
1777 W. Robertson Hist. Amer. (1778) I. 459 On the banks of the Essequebo, thirty crops of ratoon canes have been raised successively.
1827 Western Monthly Rev. 1 82 It is propagated by cuttings or slips of the cane stalk, called rattoons.
1880 J. S. Cooper Coral Lands I. xviii. 213 When cut in March or April the ratoon canes are made to grow in cold dry weather.
1894 Pop. Sci. Monthly Feb. 493 The Jamaican reference to a meal made off the remnants of a previous feast as ‘eating the rattoons’.
1916 E. V. Wilcox Trop. Agric. vi. 46 In Java, most of the sugar cane crop is plant cane. In Louisiana, the crop is made up of plant cane and first rattoons.
1953 Sun (Baltimore) 15 May (B ed.) 5/5 The first crop [of sugar cane] is ordinarily harvested about eighteen months after planting. In most areas succeeding crops called ratoons, are obtained from a single planting before it is necessary to plow up the cane roots and replant.
1986 J. A. Samson Trop. Fruits (ed. 2) vi. 148 Banana and plantain... As with sugarcane and pineapple, the first sucker set in the field is called the ‘plant crop’, subsequent suckers are ‘ratoons’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
ratoonv.
/rəˈtuːn/, /raˈtuːn/, U.S. /rəˈtun/ 1. intransitive. Of a plant, esp. sugar cane: to send up new shoots after being cut down or cropped. Formerly also: † (of soil) to produce plants which send up new shoots after cropping (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > fertile land or place > land with vegetation > be covered with vegetation [verb (intransitive)] > produce vegetation
germinate1660
ratoon1732
vegetate1799
the world > plants > wild and cultivated plants > be wild [verb (intransitive)] > grow after being cut
ratoon1789
1732 R. Robertson Detection State & Situation Sugar Planters 35 Very little of it [sc. the sugar cane crop] yielding a Ratoon..or not ratooning above once.
1756 P. Browne Civil & Nat. Hist. Jamaica ii. ii. 130 Where the ground is observed to produce a kind plant and to rattoon well.
1789 Trans. Soc. Arts (ed. 2) 1 260 Some sorts of Cotton did not rattoon or stool so well as others.
1856 F. L. Olmsted Journey Slave States 666 In the West India plantations the cane is frequently allowed to ratoon for eight successive crops.
1880 J. S. Cooper Coral Lands I. xviii. 214 Such a cane must be hardy and healthy, grow rapidly, ratoon quickly and often.
1940 Geogr. Rev. 30 377 Cane..on that soil, has been known to ratoon for the extraordinary number of thirty years.
1957 R. W. Beachey Brit. W. Indies Sugar Industry v. 91 Watts and Harrison..disagreed with the practice of..allowing a crop to ratoon for the special purpose of planting.
1990 Florida Entomol. 73 300 The plots were allowed to ratoon naturally to determine if stand and yield losses..carried over to the ratoon crop.
2. transitive. To cut down (a plant or plants) so as to induce the growth of new shoots.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > cultivate plants or crops [verb (transitive)] > thin out
weed1544
size1660
suckera1661
single1731
rogue1764
to set out1812
flag1846
ratoon1907
1907 L. H. Bailey Cycl. Amer. Agric. II. 606 When the cane can be ratooned for a long series of years, the securing of sufficient first-class seed is an easy matter.
1926 M. Cran Gardens of Good Hope xiv. 200 Mr. Pilkington, of Griqualand West, told me he does not believe in ratooning his crop [sc. cotton]; he sows every year and gets far better results for the extra labour.
1970 Adv. in Agronomy 22 287 Most sugarcane in the tropics or subtropics is ratooned at least once.
1991 Amer. Jrnl. Agric. Econ. 73 708 Sugar production in dryland areas is privately profitable and..it is quite common in those areas to find sugar that has been ratooned more than once.
Derivatives
raˈtooned adj.
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1925 Glasgow Herald 23 Apr. 14/2 Reports indicate that ratooned cotton has suffered. Ratooned plants produce a much earlier crop than new plants and..Zululand had ratooned a considerable quantity this year.
1970 Econ. Geogr. 46 44/2 A common rotation sequence in Taiwan is legume followed by paddy rice, followed by plant cane, followed by ratooned cane.
1985 Past & Present No. 108. 203 The one crop which survived the drought well was the perennial ratooned sorghum.
raˈtooning n.
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1791 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 80 357 He makes a greater revenue than the Grenada planter on the present mode of rattooning.
1861 F. L. Olmsted Cotton Kingdom I. viii. 326 In Louisiana it is usual to plant once in three years, trusting to the ratooning for two crops only.
1970 Adv. in Agronomy 22 286 Ratooning is practiced widely and is important in many crops.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1631v.1732