26 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



When the cane is ready for harvesting, it is cut by hand with a cane knife. The 

 leaves are first stripped from the matured stalk by using the back of the cane knife. 

 The green top is then cut off and the matured stalk is cut even with the ground into 

 lengths of from three to four feet and thrown into heaps. This green top, with its 

 mass of leaves, is left in the fields, forming an excellent mulch which prevents the 

 growth of weeds and grass until such time as the new cane shades the ground. When 

 the mulch decays, it is valuable as a fertilizer. This cane trash also forms an excel- 

 lent fodder for cattle on the plantation, being, in fact, their principal article of food 

 during the crop season. 



Cane cutting is the most serious labor problem which confronts the sugar planter 

 in Cuba. In the first place, to operate the mill economically, it is necessary to fur- 

 nish it with sufficient quantity of cane to keep it running night and day, while the 

 sugar content of the cane is at the maximum. In the second place, cane cutting is a 

 laborious hand process and the supply of labor is not sufficient for the Island's needs. 

 Thus far no mechanical cane cutting device has been invented which gives satisfac- 

 tory results. 



Thirty-car train of cane bound for mill 



The two methods used for delivering cane from the field to the factory are 

 animal and mechanical transportation. The piles of cut cane are loaded into two- 

 wheeled bullcarts and hauled to the nearest railroad switch, where they are transferred 

 to railroad cars by means of field cranes or sometimes by hand. The cane is then 

 taken in train-loads to the mill, each car containing from ten to twenty tons of cane, 

 depending on the gauge of the railroad — whether narrow or standard gauge. The 

 floor of the cane cars is usually constructed so as to admit the passing of iron chains 

 underneath the cane on arrival at the mill to facilitate unloading, and on some estates 

 automatic dumping devices are used. 



The United Fruit Company is now engaged in certain experiments which it is 

 hoped will result in putting its agricultural department on a mechanical basis to a 

 large extent, the idea being to eliminate as much as possible the use of hand labor 

 and cattle. 



