18 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



THE SUGAR INDUSTRY 



NEW UNITS OF WEIGHT AND VALUE FOR 

 CUBAN SUGAR 



(Consul General James M. Rogers, Habana) 



The Department of Agriculture of Cuba has 

 declared that on and after May 1, 1915, all 

 quotations and operations dealing with 

 weights and values of Cuban sugars shall be 

 expressed in pounds and cents instead of in 

 arrobas and reales, which has been the old 

 Spanish custom. This decree has been well 

 received by those in the sugar business, inas- 

 much as it does away with the necessity of a 

 cumbersome and artificial method of book- 

 keeping. The Spanish arroba of 25 pounds 

 has become a confusing quantity in the public 

 mind, and the use of the real as a unit of value 

 equivalent roughly to J^ of 1 cent has been 

 subject to such variations on account of the 

 fluctuations of silver and gold as still further 

 to comphcate business. The institution of the 

 Cuban national coinage and of its declared 

 parity with the American dollar will receive 

 very strong support from this decree. 



Some coldfusion, however, will arise during 

 the present crop season if this decree is put 

 into full force, and representations to this 

 effect are now being made to the Government 

 by the sugar planters, their request being that 

 the full operation of the decree be suspended 

 until after the close of this season, in order 

 that present settlements may be made under 

 the old basis. It is probable that some such 

 extension will be granted. 



SUGAR PLANT BEGINS OPERATIONS AT ST. 

 JOHN, N. B. 



St. John, N. B., has the disticntion of secur- 

 ing the largest and most important industry 

 which has located in Canada for some months. 

 The Atlantic Sugar Refineries which com- 

 menced operations a few days ago, has been 

 two years under construction. The plant is 

 located on the water front, and can receive 

 its'raw material from ocean-going vessels and 

 tranship the finished product either by rail 

 orjwater to all part of the country. The 

 plant, which is the very latest in sugar man- 

 facturing concerns has a capacity of one mil- 

 lion pounds per day, while the output will go 

 out to the consumer known as "Lantic" 

 sugars. 



CANE TANK EXPLOSION AT PALMARITO 



A serious explosion took place at the ingenio 

 Palmarito, when, without the slightest warn- 

 ing, a huge tank which contained about 170,000 

 gallons of juice, burst, scattering its contents 

 and the sides of the tank in all directions. It 

 is also believed that the concrete foundation of 

 the tank has been destroyed. 



By extreme good fortune no one was stand- 

 ing near the tank at the time, so there aie no 

 fatalities to report. 



CHAPARRA AND DELICIAS BOTH GRIND 

 MUCH CANE 



Some interesting information has been given 

 out concerning the result of this year's grind- 

 ing at the two gi'eat centrals, Chaparra and 

 Las Delicias. It is calculated that each cen- 

 tral will elaborate 950,000 bags of sugar, 

 reckoning a bag at 13 arrobas. 



For next season great improvements and 

 enlargements have been planned, and it is 

 estimated that Las Delicias will be able to 

 increase its output by 50%, while Chaparra 

 is expected to grind at least 1,200,000 bags. 



New land to the extent of 400 caballerias 

 will be planted, making a total of 2,800 cabal- 

 lerias in all. 



The present season is reported to have been 

 an excellent one in spite of the bad start, ow- 

 ing to the heavy rains. 



It is estimated that constant employment 

 has been found for 5,000 men in the cane fields, 

 apart from those directly employed at the 

 mills. 



CANE CUTTING STOPPED 



The recent heavy rains have completely 

 paralyzed the cane cutting. The ingenious 

 Pilon, Media Luna, Calixto, San Ramon, 

 Ceiba Hueca and Dos Amigos have had to 

 lay off their employees. 



THE DETERIORATION OF CUT CANE 

 By H. Pellet 



In a recent numl^er of the International 

 Sugar Jourual, we have noticed an article re- 

 lating to the deterioration of cut cane, giving 

 the conclusions of experiments made by the 

 Department of Agriculture of Barbados. A 

 large numl^er of canes were cut and divided 

 into three lots, which were treated as follows: 



(1) Ex]iosed to the sun and air in the open; 



(2) covered with trash, and left in the open; 

 and (3) covered with trash, and sprinkled with 

 water daily. The results found were variable, 

 and showed that the first lot altered most 

 rapidly, the second was next and the third 

 was the least affected. Simultaneously with 

 the deterioration, there was an increase of 

 reducing sugars, and a decrease of weights the 

 extent of which differed according to the con- 

 ditions under which the cane were preserved. 



Factors influencing deterioration. — -We have 

 also made a large numljer of ex-periments in 

 the same direction, and have found that the 

 loss of weight (all other conditions being 

 equal) varies with: (1) the size of the cane; 

 (2) the density of the heap ; (3) the temperature 

 of the atmosphere; and (4) the force of the 

 wind. With the same lot of straight canes, the 

 largest (that is those having the smallest sur- 

 face for evaporation) lose least in weight. If, 



