, 1890-06-18
CANE CULTURE By
CONTRACT.
THE Louisiana Planter and S1gdF
MGHufGctureT,(

The economic problems III cane culture
have received much attention during re-
cent Years, and the many new lab0r-saving
devices now in gene al use show the keen
dtSile to do all work at the least possible
cost. The careful measurement of lands
and the weighing of the cane crops are now
giving us exact data from which We may
elaborate definite plans and in due course
cheaper the cost of our work.
The account given by our Cuban cor
respondent, in this issue, concerning the
contract labor system which is coming into
such general use in Cuba, W i'll afford many
useful suggestions to Louisiana planters.
So long as we depend upon the gang system
of labor, we must employ good overseers
to see that the work Is properly done. The
gang system of labor becomes the most
Wasteful of all systems, if there be not con-
slant supervision to keep the men at work
and to have them do we'll, whatever they
may do.
The immediate objection to scattering
field forces is that the separate gangs can
not be we'll watched, and that when not
watched the dlached gangs will do but
little work and do that little indiferently
wei.
Now that we have come to accurate mea-
of our fields, we should knOw
lust what a man should do for @ days
work. The length of the cane rows, the
character of the land, and the quality of
the team considered, it would seem posi-
BILE to exactly lay out work for every man
and to then pay him only for what he has
done.
For many years the digging Of new
plantation bitches and the deepening OF
old ones has been done gener ally by con.
tract. The levee building of the state
was formerly done by gangs, but is now
done chiefly by contract, each hundred
feet in length being the unit that the gen.
raj contractor gives to the actual laborer.
Now, let us see how we can apply the
contract plan to ploughing. In the light
lands q good p%lOughman can plough six
acres of land per day, throwing four burrows
toward the cane rows, aud assuming the
cane to he pl0nted in rows seven feet apart
a weeks work would then be thirty-six
acres. 1t Is desirable to get over the whole
field once a w(.k during the cultivating
season. Why may we not the,3 give a
good ploughman a forty acre field aud di-
rect him. to throw four burrows to the cane
in first class manner and tell him that the
price for such work is 191 cents per acre,
and for the field S5, and TO go ahead and
do the work we'll and report when done,
just as a ditcher does.
The first difficulty that presents itself is
the non.ownership of the mules by the la
borer and their probable injury from over
work under such q contract. This can GER
tainly DO prevented by a. competent over
seer. The next difficulty that suggest itself
is the probably inferior quality OF the work
that would be done by the labOrer under
such a contract, The lsborer will always
do as poor work as he is allowed to do,
and the same overseer that can judge Of
competent work in the gang system can
certainly do the same under the proposed
contract system.
There are, OF course, many difficulties
to be overcome in adopting any such piece
work system, but they have been overcome
in ditching and in levee building, and NJ
can certainly extend the line to include
some other kinds of work. If 4-furr0w
ploqghing be worth 124 cents per acre, Q.
furrow should be worth St cents, and
horse -hoeing 3 cents or perhaps 4 cents per
acre, Stubble digging by machine would
be, by parity, 8 cents per acre for single sck
aud 6 cents per acre for double lick, and SO we
may go on and formulate a scale Of prices
corresponding with what we now pay for
uninter rupted work. The careful, indus
~trious, and persistent laborers would make
more money than now, while the careless
navnr .do.wnil SORT uould have fewer hrpak