Cane acquirement is an activity dating back to times, when cane was used as a building material; earlier it was used as a food for cattle and flock. Its availability was often dependent on the weather conditions, access to areas where the cane grew and to proper means of transport.

Young green cane was acquired in the spring as food from a boat or from the shore, and transported using a boat or carried on the human backs to the shore.

Cane was acquired as a building material in the winter, when the shafts became hard and it was transported manually or on ice, using sleds. It was used as a filler in Prussian walls and as an additive to the commonly used clay; however, it was mainly used as a roof covering – thus the cane became a very important building material in many places.

Later, cane was used in the form of mats and plates as an insulation materials, mainly under the wall and ceiling plasters.

Manual acquisition of cane is still in use today, especially in the eastern part of our country, also in Ukraine and Belarus and in Japan, where harsh frosts allow the people to enter the cane fields. Many harvesting devices are widely used, from simple slat harvesters to full harvester, often having very complicated constructions.