THE CUBA REVIEW 



29 



MORE ABOUT THE CANE HARVESTER 



In the April issue oi Thk Cli-.a Review 

 was printed a brief description of a cane 

 harvester used in the cane holds of the 

 "Nneva Luisa" sugar plantation, Matan- 

 zas Province. Some further information 

 is supplied by a letter printed herewith 

 from Mr. F. S. Earle, under whose direc- 

 tion the experiments were made : 



To the Editor of The Cuba Review 

 Dear Sir : 



The Hadley cane harvester was being ex- 

 perimented with at the Central Xueva Luisa. 

 Mr. Hadley has been working on this cane 

 harvester for the past six years, and he 

 considers it now as practically completed. 

 He has spent considerable time at the 

 Nueva Luisa plantation for the past two 

 years, making actual field tests with cane 

 under different conditions, and he has 

 made numerous minor changes to meet 

 these varying conditions that w'ill arise 

 in actual field work. He considers that 

 the machine is now ready for commercial 

 work. Although up to the present time 

 he has only cut comparatively small areas, 

 the Ccue has been cut lower and more uni- 

 formh ihan is usually done by hand, and 

 the topping and stripping have been satis- 

 factory. 



The cane is cut by revolving disks that 

 work at the surface of the ground, or 

 even a little below the surface. The cane 



is stripijfd while passiii"; through the 

 throat of the machine by rapidly revolving 

 "whijipers."- After being stripped, it falls 

 on an "endless apron" that conveys it to 

 the topping saw-. It is pulled against this 

 topping saw by hand, in order that it may 

 be topped at the right place. After top- 

 ping, the cane is carried up by a conveyor 

 to an elevated basket or receptacle capable 

 of holding and carrying several hundred 

 pounds. From this catcher it is dumped 

 directly into a cart which is driven along- 

 side of the machine. The harvester is dou- 

 ble ended, so that it cuts back and forth 

 across the field. The frame is light, but 

 strong, being made of quadrangular pip- 

 ing, and it is driven by a powerful gaso- 

 lene motor. 



Of course, such a machine could only 

 be used on land free from stumps, stones 

 or other obstructions. It seems to be able 

 to pick up and handle fallen lodged cane 

 without difficulty. Since it has not as yet 

 been used on a real commercial scale, it 

 must be considered as still being in the 

 experimental stage, but no one who has 

 seen it and its work can doubt that it is 

 an exceedingly interesting and promising 

 invention. 



Yours trulv, 



F. S. Earle. 



Herradura, Liiba, April 17, 1911. 



SUGAR NOTES 



Senor Jose Miguel Tarafa and the capi- 

 talists whom he represents have purchased 

 the central Santo Domingo, not far from 

 LTnion de Reyes, Matanzas Province. The 

 former owner was Jose Garcia Blanco, 

 and the output of the last crop was esti- 

 mated at 4.5,000 bags. 



A new sugar cenL.'al is to be built in 

 San Miguel del Junco, a district in Santa 

 Cruz del Sur, Camaguey Province, to be 

 called the "Macareno." Sr. Manuel Her- 

 nandez Guevara and Col. Juan Manuel 

 Galdos, representative and general man- 

 ager of the Cuba Company, are interested. 



William F. Bridge, seventv-five years 

 old. president of the Hormiguero Central 

 Company (Cuban sugar estate), died in 

 his home at. Xew York on Mav 3d. 



The railroad now under construction be- 

 tween Caguaguas and Rancho Veloz, in 

 Santa Clara Province, is a part of the 

 projected line between CorraHllo and Sa- 

 gua. It traverses an extremely fertile 

 zone, in which are situated the w^ell-known 

 sugar plantations "Esperanza." 32.000 bags 

 output; "San Francisco." output 55.000 

 bags ; "Litgardita," output 55.000 bags : 

 "Ramona." output 15.000 bags : and "Re- 

 solucion." output 25.000 bags. Besides 

 these centrals tnere are many farmers and 

 colonos who will benefit W the road's 

 completion. Part of this line between 

 Caguaguas and San Francisco was re- 

 centh' opened to the public, and the en- 

 gineer in charge ^ f the construction work 

 believes Rancho A'eloz will be reached 

 earlv next month. 



Irrigation installation at the Las Cahas 

 mill of the Guantanamo Sugar Companv 

 has proven very successful. 



A fire on April 19th among the dwell- 

 ing , houses and store on the Francisco 

 sugar plantation in Camaguev^ Province 

 did considerable damage, but left the mill 

 uninjured. Grinding was therefore not 

 seriously interrupted. 



