The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-04-26

rapid and dangerous than the ascent;
but he came down grinning, elated by
the twenty cent piece for which he
would gladly climb palm trees the rest
of his natural life.
Later we went to see the outing of
a field of cane. Several hundred men
and women We're ranged in long lines,
each line under a leader, who starts
the tune and takes the iniative 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 falling cane MAX
ing a rude accompaniment to the song
they are singing. Oxcarts carry the
cane to a queer machine patented by a
Cuban, which hoists it up, weighs it,
and dumps it evenly into waiting cars,
to be conveyed to the mill There wo-
men throw it into the grinders, chant
ing wild chorus as they work, in
which one company responds to an
other in a sort of musical dialogue.
This letter is already too long to go
into the modus operandi of sugar maxi
Ing, even II its writer understood the
subject. Cane is cultivated like Indian
corn, which 1t closely resembles in APP
pearance-only more yellow in color.
1t is first planted in rows-not in hills,
like corn-and must be hoed and weed
ed until it gets high enough to shade
its own roots: after which it needs no
further attention till the cutting. This
refers to the first laying out of plan
tation, which will afterwards continue
fruitful for years, by simple processes
of renewal. When thoroughly ripe, the
long, yellow leaves are streaked with
red, the top a dark green, from the
center of which shoots up a silvery
stem, two or three feet high, on whose
top grows a lilac plue, shading to
white. The effect of a cane field in it's
maturity, basking under the torrid sun
and gently undulating in the breeze, is
picture to live in the memory. Sugar
cane yields but one crop year. There
are several varities, but in Cuba the
Otaheitan seems to be the favorite. Be
tween the time when enough of the
cane is ripe to warrant the getting up
of steam in the grinding mill, and the
time when the rain and heat spoils its
quality, all the sugar for the season
must be made; hence the necessity for
great industry during a portion of the
year. In Louisiana the grinding sea-
son lasts only eight weeks; in Cuba it
continues four months This year, with
war on hand, there is greater haste
than ever, for the mills may be burnt
down any day. The Juice is pressed
out by machinery, and after the second
sqeezing the cane is dry as finder, serves
excellently for fuel. When thoroughly
dry, the crude sugar is put into bags of
jute, each bag containing 240 pounds
By the way, fair sample of Spain's
methods may be seen in these sugar
bags. The cost of an English .jute bag
is cents; but the duty thereon, unless
1T be made in Spain is 10 cents, and it's
price to Cubans is 20 cents. So the
thrifty mother country gets the job of
making the bags and supplies them to
her colonies at twice their value and
five per cent. over! That is no worse,
however, than in the matter of flour,
Cubans might get it direct from the
United States for about $500 the bar
rel; but it sells in Havana from $1,000
to $500 the barrel because every ounce
of it must first go to Spain and come
peiCh Will q DIduu upon IL, "A rev
years ago the value of Cuba's planta-
lions, all told, including sugar, coffee
and tobacco, was officially estimated at
$3S0555,527, yielding a net yearly income
of $35, 100000. Remembering that only
about one-third of the islands superb
cial area of $4,000 square kilometres,
is under cultivation, these figures
speak we'll for its fertility. Heaven
knows it ought to be fertile, with fire.
quent baptisms of blood during four
centuries. Within the last two years
it has been enriched by upwards of AGO.
900 human carcasses. According to a
statement made in the Cortes by the
learned Deputado, Don Jose de Pirojo,
Cuba had contributed to the Spanish
crown, up to the year 1890, a trifle over
$137, 100000
In the year 1885, she was happy in
having to pay only S26, 900, 900, not
counting the exorbitant municipal tax
es-more than was ever demanded of
any equal number of Taxpayers in the
world No wonder Spain considers her
rebellious colony a prize to fight for,
FANNIE BRIGHAM WARD.