51 



lime and labor as it must be done by hand. It is best accomplished 

 by the use of a cane knife or bolo, which the laborer passes down each 

 side of the cane, knocking the leaves off and throwing them out into 

 the middle of the row. The cane strippers also cut off the top, leaving 

 the stripped canes standing in their usual position in the row. The 

 cane is subsequently cut down with a cane hoe and thrown into piles 

 along the rows so arranged that the transportation men can gather 

 up each pile as an armful and take it to the carts, wagons or cars 

 used for transporting the cane. Where the dead leaves are left heaped 

 up around the roots of the cane the stripping is imperfect, results 

 in loss by cutting the cane above ground, and in carrying an excess 

 of trash to the mill. 



Transportation. — The common method of transporting cane from 

 the field to the mill in the Philippines is by the use of a cart having 

 a low-staked bed and generally drawn by a single carabao or bullock. 

 When two animals are used they are either driven tandem or one is 

 hitched outside of the shafts. Wagons are very rarely used, double 

 yokes with bows are almost unknown, and are not likely to become 

 popular with Filipino laborers. Small narrow-gauge tramways with 

 one-ton cars drawn by bullocks are used to some extent in Negros, 

 but are very rarely seen elsewhere in the Islands. This means of 

 transportation djeserves more extended use on account of its economy, 

 but is only applicable where the sugar grower has considerable means 

 with which to purchase and install the system. The larger plantation 

 railways using up to 6 and 8 ton cars in trains drawn by locomotives 

 are not used at the present time in the Philippines, but are certain 

 to be installed by all of the large mills owning and operating their 

 own plantations. By maintaining a system of permanent tracks well 

 located in the sugar fields, with frequent switches from which portable 

 tracks can be laid directly into the cane fields, the tramway can be 

 made to take the place of all other forms of transportation. The 

 portable spur tracks are laid in regular succession from 50 to 75 meters 

 apart through the cane fields, the cars are switched out on these tracks, 

 and the laborers load the cane directly into the cars by hand. The 

 cars are then switched in on the permanent sidings with animals where 

 the rails are heavy enough to permit the use of locomotives, after which 

 they are made up into trains of suitable length and hauled to the mill. 



In Louisiana and many other sugar-growing countries the regular 

 commercial railways make a satisfactory' freight rate on cane so that 

 it can be transported long distances to the central mills. Specially 

 constructed cars of heavy carrying capacity are generally used and on 

 arrival at the mill are unloaded promptly to avoid demurrage charges. 



The shipment of sugar cane by water is practiced in other countries 

 and can no doubt be resorted to in many places in the Philippines. It 

 wili prove most economical along the coasts, lakes, and larger rivers where 



