272 



htjmboldt's cuba. 



The first plant of cane in virgin soil, carefully 

 planted, will continue to yield for twenty or twenty- 

 three years, but, after that, it is necessary to replant 

 every three years. On the hacienda Matamoros, 

 there was, in 1804, a cane-field, which had been 

 planted forty-five years. The most fertile sugar 

 lands now under cultivation (1825) are those in the 

 vicinity of Mariel and Guanajay. The variety of 

 the sugar cane, known as Otaheitan cane, which is 

 distinguishable at some distance by its deep green, 

 yields, on the same lands, one-fourth more juice, and 

 a larger and more woody fibre, and is consequently 

 richer in combustible matter than any other variety. 



The sugar-makers on the plantations, who have all 

 the presumption of a little learning, pretend that the 

 juice of the Otaheitan cane is worked more easily, 

 and that it yields more crystallizable sugar, and less 

 cane-juice potash than that of the other varieties. 

 This south sea cane, after six or seven years' cultiva- 

 tion, certainly has a thinner rind, but _the knots 

 remain much further apart than in the Creole cane. 

 Fortunately the fears that were at first entertained, 

 that the Otaheitan cane would degenerate into the 

 ordinary sugar cane, have not been realized. In 

 Cuba it is planted during the rainy months of July 

 and October, and the crop is brought in from Febru- 

 ary to May. 



