THE CUB A RE VI ETV 27 



The scheme was, in these patches of good soil to thoroughly prepare the land. 

 First the major part of the rubbish, burned cane, etc. (there are no tree stumps 

 in the entire district), was cleared away by means of mule-drawn rakes, an operation 

 never dreamed of by the local planter; the land was then broken (first plowing), 

 harrowed with the native harrow having spikes 1><4 inches thick by about 8 inches 

 in length, dragged to further break the clods, and again raked over to remove the 

 remaining rubbish. It was proposed to then fertilize, or rather, amend the soil with 

 "cachaza" (filter press cake) left from the last crop, and for this work a mule-drawn 

 manure spreading wagon was purchased. Afterwards, to cross-plow, subsoil plow, 

 harrow with disc harrows, and with the cultipackers to further fine the soil and 

 pack it, also maintaining a mulch, to permit of the retained moisture and the potential 

 plant food reaching the cane roots by capillarity. It was purposed to plant in squares 

 of about five feet apart to allow a better development in growth and to permit of 

 economical and effective cultivation after springing by means of mule-drawn disc gang 

 harrows and other cultivators. 



It was clearly demonstrated that this work could be done at a cost not exceeding 

 one thousand dollars per caballeria, which is the same as it now costs to plant by 

 the old methods; but in these patches of good soil by such intensive cultivation an 

 average production of around 100,000 arrobas per caballeria could be maintained 

 as against about 35,000, or not over 40,000 arrobas by the old methods. 



It is pertinent at this point to mention the use of cachaza. It is not a cencentrated 

 fertilizer by any means. At this time the cost of applying concentrated (commercial) 

 fertilizers would range from four to five hundred dollars per caballeria, which is 

 absolutely prohibitive at the present price of sugar. Furthermore, concentrated ferti- 

 lizer applied to the plant may be considered more as a temporary stimulant, and 

 what these lands need, as indeed practically all the "worn-out" cane lands of Cuba, 

 is a building up of the soil. 



Cachaza is purely organic matter, with an average nitrogen content, it may be 

 said of 1.2 per cent, phosphoric acid 1.5 per cent, potash 0.2 per cent. Noel Deerr 

 says: "The filter press cake, rich in nitrogen and phosphates, is in a form easily 

 handled, and its application presents no difficulty. The megass ashes, rich in phosphates 

 and potash are also readily applied." And Bailey says: "Worn-out lands usually 

 suffer more from lack of humus than from actual plant food." The deduction is 

 therefore very clear, that nothing better than cachaza as an amendment, an addition 

 of humus, improving the physical condition (its structure) of the soil as well as 

 adding a certain amount of plant food could be obtained for building up these lands. 

 In the case of one central, during this last crop, however, through ignorance of the 

 value of cachaza, two thousand tons of this valuable amendment was deliberately 

 destroyed by burning it as it came from the mill merely to get it out of the way. 

 It should be remarked, though, that on account of its facility of oxidation, cachaza, 

 particularly if fresh, should be used judiciously. It was purposed also to make use 

 of bat guano, a large supply of which was fouad in a cave on the property. 



It was intended to plow and harrow (with the native tooth harrow) the gravelly 

 lands, and later to cultivate them with mule-drawn gang tooth cultivators, as discs in 

 such lands are out of the question; and the other classes of lands it was purposed to 

 study minutely, as time permitted, and work them to the best advantage possible, 

 the heavy production of the good soils being relied upon to uphold the general average 

 of at least 50,000 arrobas per caballeria. 



As has been mentioned, it was found that by the employment of such methods 

 the entire 150 caballerias available for cane could be planted at a cost of not exceeding 

 one thousand dollars per caballeria and an average yearly production of some 50,000 

 arrobas per caballeria maintained. By the old methods the cost of planting is the 

 same, with the difference that supposing the entire 150 caballerias to be planted 

 at once, the total planting will hold for one year only, and will, at that planting 

 (first crop) give even less than 50,000 arrobas per caballeria, when practically two- 



