Vol. IV. No. 90. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



291 



Cuba, from the planting to the shipment at Havana, is about 

 2c. per tt). — not less than that, aii.l perhaps on the average 

 a little more. In the old times the cost was much greater. 

 It is only within a comparatively recent period that sugar 

 could be pro,:luced in Cuba, or anywhere else, for anything 

 like that amount of money. In the case of Cuba, this low 

 cost has been made possible of late years by the a])plication 

 of inqirovcd machinery and methods of' cultivation and 

 manufacture, by the improved conditions of the local labour 

 market, by the cessation of .strife and war, and by the 

 abolition of the ojipressive taxes and inequitable tariff 

 restrictions imposed upon the Cubans for many generations 

 by their former rulers. The new era of improvement has 

 only just begun ; and it is the concurrent opinion of all the 

 best-informed observers that with the additional improvements 

 which may be certainly expected soon to follow — the 

 reconstruction of the plantations ravaged by war, the 

 establishment of new ones, the liquidation of old loans and 

 other debts incurred under the former regime, and the more 

 general adoption of ui)-to-date machinery and industrial 

 methods — the cost of production will be still further reduced. 

 Improved roads and transportation facilities will probably 

 also reduce the cost of transportation. 



It is also worthy of consideration that, although nearly 

 the whole island is well suited for the successful raising of 

 cane sugar of the best qualit}-, the largest crop ever produced 

 on the island — that of 1894— was raised on plantations 

 covering about 2,000,000 acres, or only about one-fourteenth 

 of the total acreage of Cuba. Owing to the terrible 

 devastation wrought during the years of the recent revolution, 

 many plantations were abandoned or greatly crippled, and the 

 recovery from these ravages is by no means yet complete, so 

 that the present sugar acreage is somewhat less than the 

 acreage of 1891. Considering this fact and also the other 

 fact, that without doubt at least 5,000,000 acres of the 

 island might cjuickly and easily be turned into first-class 

 sugar plantations, in addition to the plantations already 

 existing and in operation, and granting that all these 

 plantations be managed on the most approved modern 

 systems, the imagination is dazzled by the contemplation of 

 what Cuba would be capable of doing in the sugar-producing 

 line in the near future. 



The improvements that have been gradually introduced 

 in the process of sugar production in Cuba during the last 

 few years or decades include the introduction of steam power 

 in the fields and in the mills, labour-saving machines of 

 various kinds, improved furnaces, clarifiers, grinding 

 machines, defibrators, defecators, vacuum pans, centrifugal 

 separators, and other modern sugar machinery, cane carriers 

 and railway tracks through the fields for moving the crops 

 to the raill.s, chemical laboratories, cane loaders and unloaders, 

 electric-light plants in the mills, and a large variety of novel 

 improvements, tools, fertilizers, and systems of cultivation. 

 As is commonly the case in agricultural operations 

 everywhere, the size and quality of the cane crops vary 

 greatly according to the fertility of the soil and the ability 

 of the jilanter. The usual range is from 12 to 50 tons of 

 canes for the yield of 1 acre. The average is about 25 tons 

 of cane, or about 2.1 tons of sugar, per acre. The plant 

 matures in the autumn or early winter, according as it is 

 early or late planted, and is harvested and ground all along 

 through the months from December to May. 



In considering the figures as to the acreage of the cane 

 plantations of Cuba, it must be borne in mind that not bj- 

 any means the whole area of these plantations is devoted to 

 cane culture. The larger part of every plantation, in all 

 frobability, is utilized for building sites, gardens, the raising 



of vegetables, fruits, tol>acco, and other crops besides sugar, 

 pasturage lor cattle, the growth of timber, etc. At the 

 same tiine it is essentially a sugar plantation, as sugar 

 production is its main activity and main source of revenue. 

 >So, when it is stated as above^ that the sugar crop of 1894, 

 amounting to little over 1,000,000 tons, was raised on about 

 2,000,000 acres, the meaning is that it was raised on 

 plantations covering that acreage. In point of fact the 

 actual acreage of the cane fields "themselves was only about 

 400,000 or 450,000 acres. A crop of 1,000,000 tons raised 

 on 400,000 acres, as will be seen, gives an average yield 

 of 2J, tons of sugar an acre. 



The by-products of sugar-cane — molasses and rum — 

 constitute a considerable source of income to the .sugar 

 producer. They are produced from the juice of the cane as 

 it is extracted at certain stages of the sugar-making process, 

 and the mola.5ses output in particular is of material value 

 to the sugar planter. The rum product is comjiaratively 

 small and mainly de?tined for home consumption, but 

 molasses are exported to a considerable extent. 



NATDRE STUDY. 



In the following extracts from his annua! report, 

 the Inspector of Schools for British Guiana makes 

 reference to the provisions of the new education code. 

 It will be seen that greater prominence is to be given 

 to object-lessons and nature stud}- : — • 



I am firmly convinced that it is an improvement if only 

 for the reason that a little hj'giene is introduced and object- 

 lessons take an imjiortant [ilace. What is more important in 

 the primary school than a little knowledge of how to 

 preserve health ? Herbert Spencer says : 'As vigorous health 

 and its accompanying high spirits are larger elements of 

 hap[iiness than any other things whatever, the teaching how 

 to maintain them yields in moment to no other whatever.' 

 Are object-lessons of any importance 1 Again Spencer 

 answers : ' The rote system, like all other systems of its age, 

 made more of the forms and symbols than of the things 

 symbolized. To give the net product of inquiry without the 

 inquiry that leads to it, is found to be both enervating and 

 inefficient. General tnrths to be of due and permanent use 

 should be earned.' 



To sunr irp, the Code of 1904 is a great stride in the 

 right direction, in that it introduces hygiene, object- 

 lessons, and nature study into the school curriculum. In 

 tlie words of the English code : ' The purpose of the iniblic 

 elementary school is to form and strengthen the character 

 and to develop the intelligence of the children entrusted 

 to it, and to make the best use of the school years available, 

 in assisting both girls and boys, according to their difi'erent 

 needs, to fit themselves, practically as well as intel- 

 lectually, for the work of life. With this purpose 

 in view it will be the aim of the school to train the 

 children carefully in habits of observation and clear 

 reasoning so that they may gain an intelligent acquaintance 

 with some of the facts and laws of nature ; to arouse in them 

 a living interest in the ideals and achievements of mankind, 

 and to bring them to some familiarity with the literature and 

 history of their own country ; to give them some power over 

 language as an instrument of thought and expression, and, 

 while making them conscious of the limitations of their 

 knowledge, to develop in them such a taste for good reading 

 and thoughtful stirdy as will enable them to increase that 

 knowledge in after years by their own efforts.' 



