Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-05-18
Sugar Culture.

Sugar-cane produces no natural seed
but is prppagated from cuttings placed
TEShalbony-fBnchgs through, the field
two or three feet apart. ! The young
plants spring from the joints of thc
buried cane. and continue thus to grow
for several years without new plsnt-
ings, somewhat after the manner OF the
asparagus of cur Northern chimes. But
eaffl Year the growth becomes inferior.
until the planting has at last TO be re-
newed. Though at first having to be
weedetl, while the ground is kept clear.
the cane Is soon len To itself when once
IT begins TO shadesthe soil so as to pre-
vent the growth of obstructive plants.
Most curious Of oil is the change that
enilles as soon as the cane begins tc
ripen atits lower joints. Then the long,
swoidtlike leaves that surround the IN
der part Of the stalk, loosen one BY one.
Finally they drop of, and as joint after
joint Sottens the dry leaves make
tangled thick mattress on the ground
covering thousands of acres and highly
infinmmable.A Readers of this letter
will many of them recall the frequent re-
ports Photographed during the, late Cuban
rebellion of she immense destruction
caused Ivy firing the sugar plantations
! The explanation is to- be found in the case
with whicha whole sugarerop can be set
in flames byaa touch of the match to this
jungle of dry leaves that underfiesI
and penetrates the standing cane. Fire
is inc Cuban planters nightmare. "A
pcRreless toss of alhalf-burned cigarette.
Rspark from a .negro's cabin. an lighted,
match, may signify the loss of a year'>
crop and absolute ruin. Most danger
Gus Of all. a revcngeful negro has it in
his power often To inflict a loss of tens
of thousands of dollars on his employer.
baye heard Of'Oneof the clever devices
which the negro uses to fire plantations
and ut the stme time prove an abb.
He takes light box. with n candle SET
within IT,. Equipped with this and
bunch OF matches, he crawls to the cen
-tre of a sugar-eane tract He then sc
fixes the candle that IL must burn
through the box before the flame can
reach the matted cane leaves. A touch
of the match does the rest, and the fugi.
tive has time to escape and appear
among the working, hands long before
the distant smoke and spreading flames
warn the planter of the impending ca.
lamity.. "a sugar crop has to he watched
like baby" said a Cuban planter, re.
Gently. speaking to me of cane culture
If danger is apprehended, the watchers
guard il at every point, and short shrift
Is given the black man ever. caught in
the incendiary act. II he reaches the
courts, his chances are far better than
those given him by the quick bullet OF
the guard.
n4afu H. s e
| find that sugar culture is more precari-
Gus than other agricultural industries.
But it exhatISts the soil rapidly, sc
that its fertility needs constant renewal
BY manures; and a plantation of three
OF four thousand acres, with its one OF
two hundred hands, its scores. Of OK
leans. Its costly machinery, sugar
house. casks, -cultivators, and various
apputtaiaHc es. ineeds n vast I amount Of
working capital have heard of one
of theseEsugar farms on which the sugar
mill alone, with its improved machine
ry, cost $500 900. Some of the largest
planters even 90 TO the expense Of ram
flying the cane tract with narrow
gauge railroads, some of them two OF
three miles long. TO bring the cane
economically to- the crushing mills
Americans who have lived here in Cuba
all agree rs 10 the ordinary character of
the Sugar planter. He is kindly hos
pitable, courteous, and very often an
educated and refined gentleman. But
he Is dreadfully improvident and waste
full The $50, 600 or more which he NAV
make in good sugar year Is often dis
sipated in Havana before tho next year
begins. His plantation is apt to be
loaded with debt, and this. with the
stupendous- taxes that he pays and his
persistency in never looking ahead, ex-
plains the miserable plight in which so
many Of the rich Cuban sugar,farms
are found at the present time. Hacdn0
Cor. " y Post. -f