112 



skill and the faithfulness of a native "maestro," who rarely receives 

 more than 1 peso per day for his expert services. It may appear 

 a broad statement, but it is one capable of demonstration, that not 

 one planter in twenty is capable, in case of necessity, of himself 

 going into the mill house, liming the juice properly, supervising the 

 clarification, and determining the right concentration at which to re- 

 move a "cocida" of "massecuite" in order to secure the best quality 

 of sugar therefrom. 



COST OF MANUFACTURE. 



If sugar is made by contract, the work is generally divided into the 

 three operations — grinding the cane, boiling the juice, and drying the 

 bagasse; the contract prices (in pesos per picul of 63.25 kilos) varying 

 according to local conditions as follows: 



To which must be added: 



Pesos. 



Oil for lubrication 0.02 



Bags (2 per picul) 12 



Rattan for tying up bags 02 



Extra wages to sugar boiler and engineer 03 



Extra for labor of packing in bags and carrying to storehouse.. .04 



Lime and coconuts or coconut oil 02 



Extra wood for boiler when bagasse is insufficient 05 



Total 



.30 



This makes a total cost of manufacturing sugar by contract of 72 

 centavos per picul, or 11.37 pesos per metric ton. 



Of course, the above includes a certain profit to the contractors. When 

 sugar is made exclusively by day laborers paid by the hacienda, the 

 cost is generally somewhat less. For example, the typical hacienda 

 previously assumed for the purpose of calculating the cost of cultiva- 

 tion, producing annually 6,000 piculs or 379.5 metric tons, would, 

 allowing for stops and delays because of bad weather, etc., need a 

 mill of about 8 nominal horsepower, with batteries of corresponding 

 capacity, capable of turning out an average of 80 piculs, or about 5 

 metric tons, of sugar per day in order to grind the whole crop in three 

 months or seventy-five actual working days. The daily expenses of 

 operating such a mill would be approximately as follows. 



