The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-04-25


humane planter built them houses and
protected them NJ best he could. and
for more than two years has furnished
them with food, clothes and medicine.
OF course they have more thnn abb
sorbcd tho profits OF his business, though
some OF them have been able to work a
little on the place. The greatest trou-
bio Is with their alleged protectors, the
soldlnr-guard. II the latter want beef.
they kill the first COW they see. though
II be the finest Jersey. II fresh horses
IRE needed. they help themselves to the
best the plantation affords. When the
| spirit moves them TO recreation, they.
troop over to the mano house aud de-
tnand It's use for n dance. On such occa-
| sion "a high old time but tnmely ex-
presses II. They pick up female part
ners wherever they can-the daughters
OF plantation hands, good-looking re-.
concentrate girls, and camp followers.
Champagne, (the proprietary flows
like water-or rather. as water never
flowed for the Internal use OF these sons
OF Mars: and II they do not end the or
gle by smashing things generally and
making n bonfire OF the buildings, the
planter considers himself lucky. There
has never been any danger from the In
surgents, to mike this so-called pro
lection. necessary, because the proprie-
tor and his family are known TO be In
sympathy with the Cuban cause; but
there is everything to fear from the
Spanish soldiers. And when the crisis
comes, II Spain Is forced to withdraw
her forces, they will probably celebrate
their departure by burning the place, II
not numbering the people upon whose
bounty they have 80 long subslsted. The
magnitude OF things on this small" es-
tate amazes the stranger. There are
twenty-five miles Of broad-gauge rail-
road within its limits, besides the three
mile traniway. rs equipment includes
five locomotives, three hundred freight
cars OF largest size. and one hundred
and fifty box cars for q narrow gauge.
track. There are thousands OF mules
and horses and carts; q dry goods and
general supply store, pharmacy, h
house, church, ice-maklng plant; ma
chine chop, carpenters and blacksm!ths
shops; In short all the requirements OF
an Isolated community, The enormous
grinding house contains several great
engines and q wilderness OF wheels,
bands and machinery. It Is lighted BY
electricity, and has seven hundred and
twenty tanks, each of which holds a
ton OF crude sugar. In prosperous
times this plantation turns out 100000
bags OF sugar every year: but this
year, when more than ever ought to be
made to keep up extraordinary x
penses, 1t will hardly make half the
amount. The sugar Is sent to New
York to be refined, und much OF this
yield will bring low prices because of
scorched cant Passing bands OF SOL
diers often burn q few acres. The stalks
are generally ground with the rest, but
the first squeezing Turns out juice as
black as Ink. It lightens considerably In
the process of refining, but Is vet too
dark for first class sugar.
we occupied a long day going over
the plantation. but several days would
be required TO see all Its "polnts of in
%terest." Besides the extensive flower
gardens, with its fountain and shrub
berry and shaded walks, there is q park
of many acres, containing the choicest
trees OF the tropics-cinnamon. spice,
Peruvian pepper. thickets or bamboo,
fruits OF every variety, an aviary with
countless birds, artificial lakes covered
with water fowl, deer-in short. q reg
ular Zoo" and botanical garden COM
bined. Then we took a sixteen-mlle
car ride to visit n OF the villages.
What would my reader give to have
. Shasa cly,-- uaro MINI no1nc In
his front yard-and here are thousands
OF them to spare! Our host sent a
man to climb, one Of them. just to show
us how It Is done. The smooth, round
trunk looked like q telegraph pole-ful-
" seventy feet from the ground to the
tuft Of splendid plumes on top, without
a branch between. The man, with q
bit of rope around his waist, ending
with a palm leaf stlrrup for one bare
foot, took his hachet in his teeth and
Skinned up lire "a lizard to the very
top, where he whacked of one of the
huge leaves. AS in most things In this
wicked world, the descent was more
rapid and dangerous than the ascent;
but he came down grinning, elated by
the t~wenty-cent piece for which he
would gladly climb palm trees the rest
OF his natural life.
Later we went to see the cutting Of a
field OF cane. Several hundred men and
women were ranged in long lines. each
line under a leader, who starts the
tune, and takes the initiative in every
movement; all together they swing the
machete, grasping the cane stalk with
one hand and bending In unison, as
though moved by machinery, the whiz-
zIng sound OF the blades cutting the air
and the click OF failing cane making 4
rude accompaniment. TO the song they
ore singing. Ox-carts carry the cane 10
a queer machine patented BY q Cuban,
which hoIsts 1t up. weighs it,and dumps
1t evenly into waiting cars, to be con-
veyed to the mill. There women throw
It into the grinders, chanting n wild
chorus az they work, in which one
company responds %to..another in q SOFT
OF musical dialogue.
This letter is already too long to go
into the modus operandi of sugar-mak-
ing, even II Its writer understood the
subject. Cane is cultivated like indian
corn, which It closely resembles In ap-
pearance-only moro yellow In color. II
Is first planted In rows-not in hills, like
corn-and must be hoed and wecded I'M
til 1t gets high enough to shade Its own
Miraculous Benefit
RECEIVED FROM,
IT. W;1ect Nov, Ho,.A C.,