Crop Farming - The Ultimate Player's Guide to Minecraft - page 129

Harvesting Other Crops
Sugar cane, pumpkin, melons, and cocoa pods all work best using a slightly different and
nondestructive method of farming.
Sugar cane can be harvested using a standard piston raised above ground level (see Figure
6.17 ) . This piston is operated from a lever made from cobblestone and a stick.
FIGURE 6.17 This cane-shearing piston is operated by a lever.
The piston shears off the sugar cane, leaving the original stalk still implanted so that it can
grow again.
You can harvest all the other crops by placing pistons beside the main stem's growth
blocks. As with sugarcane, the piston shears off the crop, leaving the original plant un-
touched.