THECUBAREVIEW 31 



increased year by year until at present 90' c of the acreage in thi.s Province Is so treated. It Ls 

 claimed that the use of fetilizers causes an increase in cane of about 30' l . 



Ships were more scarce and m )re ii regular than at any time since 1914, as a result of which 

 some 500,000 bags of sugar are still in the Matanzas warehouses waiting to be moved. At the 

 height of the season 95% of the local warehouse capacity was being used, and it was feared 

 that arrivals would exceed the storage capacity, but happily this did not occur. There has been 

 a marked sj)eeding up in the loading and discharging of cargo at the port of Matanzas during 

 the past year. In 1917 an average of 3,200 bags of sugar were loaded per day per boat, and 

 120 to 150 tons of general cargo were discharged. During 191S this average gradually in- 

 creased to 7,200 bags loade;! and 350 tons discharged. 



The increasing cost of living had no diiect effect on the ^ize of the 1917-18 croji. It did, 

 of course, cut down the profit of the cane grower and the mill owner, especially those using 

 primitive and inefficient methotls. During the past winter theie was a certain amount of ap- 

 prehension and dissatisfaction among the working class, due not so much to the rapid rise in 

 the cost of the necessities of life, especiallv such foodstuffs as flour, milk, and laro, as to the 

 absolute inabilitv at times to obtain them at any price. 



Outlook Jor the 1918-19 Crop. 



With regard to the 1918-19 crop, the weather has been favorable so far. No increa.se in 

 acreage is expected. The present acreage will perhaps receive less care than usual because of 

 the high cost of labor. The shipping situation ought to improve with the rapid launching of 

 vessels in the United States. There will be practically the same supply of, and demand fo)-, 

 labor as in the past season. 



Much less fetilizer than last year will be used because of inabilitv to obtain a supplv. The 

 United States has prohibited the exportation of ammoniates, wliichare used in the manufacture 

 of this fertilizer. The local fertilizer plant of Armour & Co. has not a pound of ammoniates 

 left in stock and is on the point of closing down. It has the usual number of orders for cane 

 fertilizer on its books but will be unable to fill them. Fertilizer is very essential to a good crop 

 in Matanzas Province, where the farmers have been growing nothing but sugar cane year after 

 year for almost a centur>-. Rotation of crops is not practised. In comparison with Matanzas 

 very little fertilizer Is required in Oriente Province, at the eastern end of the Island, where 

 practically virgin soil in encountered. 



No new grinding mills are being erected in Matanzas Province, but several of the old mills, 

 are installing new machinery and increaJng their grinding capacity, such as "Espana" with an 

 increase of 150,000 bags, "Limones" 100,000, and "Union" 100,000. The San Juan Bautlsta 

 mill, which last season ground 42,000 bags, is being dismantled, but the cane ordinarily ground 

 there will now be ground in Central Hershey in Habana Province.— T'ice Consul Paul L. 

 Clugslon, Matanzas. 



SUGAR SHIPMENTS FROM PORT OF 

 CIENFUEGOS 



the week under review. — Consul Charles S. 

 Winans, Cienfuegos, Cuba. 



During the week ended September 28, 1918, ESTIMATE OF INDIA'S 1917-18 OUTPUT 



15,800 bags of sugar (of about 325 pounds Based on reports from provmces contaming 



each) were exported from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 99 per cent, of the total area under sugar 



making the total number of bags shipped cane in British India, the Indian Department 



from this port since Jan. 1, 1918, 2,148,271. of Statistics' final estimate of the 1917-18 



Thirteen thousand six hundred and sixty outturn is 3,229,000 long tons of raw sugar 



bags of sugar have been consumed here since ("gur") from 2,796,000 acres of cane, com- 



January 1, 1918, and 160,334 bags are in pared with 2,728,000 tons from 2,416,000 



storage at the present time. (This last figirre acres in 1916-17. This works out at 2,587 



does not include the sugar stored at the pounds per acre, against 2,529 pounds for 



various sugar mills.) 1916-17. 



Besides the sugar, 1,300,000 gallons of The 1917-18 figures for both area and yield 



molasses were shipped from Cienfuegos dur- are the highest on record. 



