Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-04-30

lakes covered with water fowl. deer
In short, regular 200" and botanical
garden combined. Then we took 10
mile car ride to visit one of the villages.
What would my readers give to have
Just one of those sky-scraping palms
IN MS front yard-and here are thou
sands OF them to sparel Our host sent
n man to climb one of them, lust to
show us how II Is done. The smooth.
round trunk looked like n telegraph
pole-fully 10 feet from the ground to
the tuft of splendid plumes on top.
without a branch between. The man,
with n bit OF rope around his waist.
ending with palm leaf stlrrup for
one bare foot, took his machete in his
teeth and Skinned UP like.
he whacked off one of the huge
leaves. As in most things In this wick
cd world, the descent was more rapid
and dangerous than the ascent; but he
came down grinnlng. elated by the
twenty-cent piece. for which he would
gladly climb palm treea for the rest of
his natural life.
Later we went to see the cutting Of
field OF cane. Several hundred men
and women Were ranged In long lines.
each line under leader. who starts the
tune and takes the initiative in every
movement. Altogether they swing the
machete, grasplng the cane stalk with
one hand and bending in unison, as
though moved by machinery, the whiz-
zing sounding of the blades cutting the
air and the click of falling cane making
a rude accompaniment TO the song they
are singing. OK carts carry the cane
to u queer machine patented by Il Gu
ban, which holsts 1t up. weighs It, and
dumps 1t evenly into waiting cars, to
be conveyed to the mill. There women
throw 1t in to the grinders, chanting
a wild chorus as they work. in which
one company responds to another in a
sort 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 IL cultivated like Indian
corn. which 1t closely resembles in ap-
pearance-only some yellow in color. 1t
is first planted In rows-not in hills like
Command must be hoed and weeded un-
III IT gets high enough to shade Its
own roots; after which 1t needs no fur
ther attention till the cutting. This re-
fers to the first laying out of a planta-
ton, 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 dark green, from the
center of which shoots up n silvery
stem. two or three feet high, on whose
stem grows a lilac plume. shading to
white. The effect of cane field in
its maturity, basking under the torrid
breeze, is picture to live In the
memory. Sugar-cane yields but one
crop n year. There are several va
rieties. but in Cuba the otaheitan seems
to be the favorite. Between the time
when enough of the cane is ripe to war
rant. the getting of steam in
the grinding mill. and the time when
rain and heat spoils it's quality. all the
sugar for the season must be made;
hence the necessity for great industry
during portion of the year In Louisi-
ana the grinding season lasts only eight
weeks: in Cuba II 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 IL pressed out by machinery.
and after the second squeezing Is dry.
the crude sugar is put into bags of jute.
each bag containing 240 pounds. BY
the way, n fair sample of Spain's
methods may be seen I'm these sugar
bags, The cost of an English jute bag
Is cents: but the duty thereon, unless
It be made in Spain, is 10 cents, and its
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
rive per cent over! That is no worse.
however, than In the matter of flour.