The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-12-05
SUGAR CANE.
THE LARGEST PLANTATION IN
THE WORLD DESCRIBED.
A Yield Of $4,000 Tons in One Year
Obtaining Water for Irri-
eating Purposes From Dis
tant Mountain Peaks.

eSl, UuG tuey CauuoI SoiupdiS WIN 'A~
plantations on the Sandwich Islands, the
largest of which is that of Claus Spreck-
els, on the island of Maui. The planta-
tion of the khedive of Egypt, which is
the second largest plantation in the
world, yields annually five thousand tons
of sugar. The Spreckels plantation has
yielded as much as fourteen thousand
tons in one year; the average yearly
yield is from six to eight thousand, or
several thousand tons more than the
highest yield of the Khedive's planta-
tior.
On the island of Maui stands the
great volcano Haleakala, ten thousand
feet high, with crater thirty miles in
circumference. Twenty miles away, on
the opposite side of the island, is series
of high mountain peaks that are
almost cternally wrapped in clouds.
1t is in the valley between Hale
akala and the cloud wrapped peaks
that the 2S,00J acres of the Spreckles
plantation are spread; and it is the pres
ence OF the high volcano and the noun
tain peaks that makes it possible to
convert the $4,000 acres in green cane
fields; for without the water obtained
from the mountain tops much of the
valley would be an ARID desert. The
rainfall in the valley is meagre and un'
certain, but on Haleakala and on the
green, moss covered peaks the atmos'
phere IS saturated with cloud and mist.
Water trickles down from a thousand
springs, which are made to serve mans
needs by irrigating land twenty miles
away. The 1.umes leading from the
mountain springs to the plantations in
the valley .rt. merely plank troughs four
feet wide by about three feet deep. They
are carried through tunnels, over deep
gulches, along high trestles, until the
valley is reached. There the water is
emptied into canals or bitches. and so
conducted to the fields. The planks of
which the fumes are constructed are all
brought from the forests of California
and oregon. 5000 miles away. This fact,
together with the cost of erecting tres
ties, digging tunnels, ETC., makes the
item OF irrigation an expensive one.
The fumes leading to the Spreckles
plantation are upward of forty miles in
length. Some of the neighboring plan
tations pay as much as $1U, 0U0 year for
the privilege of tapping them and using
only a small portion of the water.
The bitches into which the fume
water is empt!ed traverse the plantation
in every direction, crossing ana inter-
secting each other as they carry water
to the cane, which otherwise would
wither and burn under the fierce tropical
sun. The expense of importing the
lumber from America is not the main
item of flume- building, as heavy as that
expense is. it costs thousands of dollars
to keep the fumes and bitches in order.
The head "ditch. minder" on the Spreck-
els plantation is paid $115 month and
furnished a horse and board besides.
His twenty assistants receive each $40.
In addition to these, large gangs of tenn
porary employees are frequently needed
to stop leaks or make other repairs.
once saw gang of about twenty men
and women galloping up and down in
the bitches. The women had their
gowns tucked up. One had TN can in
her hand from which she was feeding
puppy as she galloped along, splashing
the water right and left. These kanakas
were having a jolly time, riding, and
getting therefor dollar day. They
are EN- ployed to ride IN the irrigating
canals in order to kuead, as it were, the
bottom of the ditch and prevent tbe
water from leaking away. The planters
say that the soil is mixture of sand
and clav, and that the tramping OF the
horses hoofs kneads the sand and clay
into q mixture that prevents to a great
extent the waters seepipg away into the
earth. The natives are fond of horse
back exercise; those who are paid merely
to ride about plantations splashing water
are the happiest of mortals.
The Spreckels plantation on Maui is
on so vast scale that the methods in
vogue on Louisiana plantations would
be entirely made ,uate. The huge steam
ploughs that go bowling over the miles
of fields on Maui turn over more ground
in day than the ordinary ploughs on
other plantations turn in week. With
oxen it would take month to bring to
the mills the cane that the Sprcckels
plantation railroads bring in a single
day. Forty miles of railroad traverse the
fields, and four locomotives with long
trains of cars transport the cane to the
mills. In addition to the regular lines
of railroad, sections of portable track
are thrown in various directions as
needed. The gauge is three feet, each
section fifteen feet long, the rails held
together by three iron ties, one at each
end of the section and one in the Md
die. Long trains of cars are loaded
with these sections of track, and when
field not reached by the permanent road
is to be cleared, the portable track is un-
loaded from the cars and laid direct to
the cane that is to be cut. A gang of
Cinnamon can quickly throw a mile or
two of this track in any desired direc-
ton, thus enabling the cane to be
brought by rail to the mills from the
most remoteparts of the plantation. On
some of the southern islands of the Ha.
waiian group, where water is more
abundant, the cane is foated from the
fields to the mills in fumes. When the
train reaches the mills the cane is un-
loaded from the cars directly into the
roller machines. They grind the
cane, expressing sixty-fve per cent.
into juice. A second set of powerful
rollers takes the partially denuded cane
and expresses an additional twelve per
cent, making total of seventy-seven
per cent. The actual per cent. of juice
contained in the cane is eighty eight,
but all over seventy seven, or at most
seventy eight, is lost, the most powerful
rollers being unable to squeeze the cane
perfectly dry. OF the seventy-sevcn per
cent. of juice actually expressed, nine.
teen per cent. is sugar. Thus, 1000