The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1899-01-29
SUGAR GROWING IN
CENTRAL CUBA
Scenes on BIZ Plantations in
Santa Clara Province.
-
Details of the Operation of a
Typical Estate.
Disbandment of the Army Has Let
Loose Upon the Community
Class That May Make Trouble.

Cienfuegos, Jan. As Santa Clara pro-
| vince is the very heart and centre of the
best sugar producing region in the world.
| and this city is the one port of conse-
| Quence in the province, no better field
could be found for studying the industry;
therefore 1 have been visiting some of the
neighboring plantations in order that the
readers of The Times may see them by
proxy, so to speak.
Thirty of the largest sugar estates on
| the island lie within a days ride of Glen
| fuegos, and before the war $4,000 hogs
| heads of sugar annually left this port. The
| show-place of the vicinity is the "Ingenio
| Hormiguero" ((Ingenio being the Spanish
| term for sugar plantation)-a little princi-
| pality of 5000 acres in cane, with the new
| est and most expensive machinery in its
great mills. Its managers are the Provost
| brothers-Americans of French descent
| and they cordially welcome all visitors and
| give them every facility for pursuing their
Investigations The whole place is laid
out in lots OF four or five acres in each, for
| greater convenience in managing such a
| vast concern. There are so many of these
| lots that map OF them Is kept in the Of
| flee, on which the exact condition OF each
| is indicated by buttons of different colors.
| mus, IL u 1Ot mas just Deen pldULeu Win
| cane, the fact is announced by a green
| button; il the cane on another lot is ready
| to cut, a yellow button tells the story; and
| when the cutting Is accomplished a brown
| button is substituted. Between these lots
| are many miles of cart roads and bride
| paths. and there are also a dozen miles of
railway, over which cane is brought to the
| mills in cars.
| Havoc of the Wnr.
| Not far behind the Hormiguero in size
and value is La Constancia," fine es-
! tate under conservative English manage
ment. More interesting than either, be-
| cause yielding much sugar, though
| hardly a third as large, is the "Ingenio
| Soledad, carried on by n thrifty Mis-
| sourian on strictly scientific principles.
! More correctly speaking, we should put
| the foregoing in thespast tense-as today.
| out of Cuba's nine hundred and odd planta-
| lions, not one is In operation as before the
war. After four years of guerrilla fight
| ing, during which Spanish troops and Gu
| ban patriots were chiefly engaged in de-
stroying property. not much Is left. Every
estate In the country was seriously Grip
! pied and finally had to- suspend operations
altogether. while fully zine tenths of them
had their buildings burned and machinery
destroyed Most of the planters have be-
init; but they are woefully poor, without
! even money to pay the necessary laborers.
much less to rebuild However. a good
many will make shift somehow on Dor
rowed capital and long credit. The last
of the cane must be in the ground before
the end OF April. and it is estimated that
| this years crop will reach perhaps 100000
tons, instead of the million tons which
used TO be annually expected of the island.
Much Capital Required.
BY the way. judging from the number OF
letters | am constantly receiving from peo-
,, pie in the United States concerning the
prospects for starting sugar plantations on
amounts varying from a few hundred TO
few thousand dollars. II would seem that
great deal of Misrepresentation exists in
regard to sugar growing. 1t is no use
whatever for a poor man. or one In mod
crate circumstances. to dream of such a
thing-unaided. There is not plantation
in Cuba worth less than million dollars,
and many cost several times that sum.
Suppose some impoverished owner could
be induced to sell his estate literally 10:
a song" or on credit. it would be found
impossible to- do anything with such a
property without Il great deal of money at
command II by rare good fortune the
guerrillas had left its machinery and build
ings intact. an experienced and careful
manager might set things going again and
rub along until the first crop could be
marketed on S250.000 or whereabouts, but
to attempt it with smaller bank account
would be sheer madness. The sugar busi-
ness In Cuba, for many years TO come, VIII
be one of syndicates and companies-sureiy
not of individual owners unless the latter
be multi mllionares. and that class can
better afford 10 remain in the peace and
security of home. rather than to risk the
uncertain chances of this chaotic country.
The Harvest of Death.
Today it is "A sad thing TO ride through
the valleys of Santa Clara, notwithstand-
ing their Incompatible natural beauties.
Twice before | have made the trip. The
first time, nearly five years ago, | thought
the hill-environed plains back OF Glen
fuegos were the very garden-spot of the
word-a hawless paradise of towering
palms and following cane. soft airs. sing
ing birds, and odorous flowers, ovcrarched
by the cloudless skies OF eternal summer
Next time | came this wey the war had
been going On nearly three years. and the
smoke of a hundred fires hung over the |
valley Ike a dense black pail There |
was danger in the trip. for every knoll
and hollow might hide a murderous band
of Spanish soldiers. or the no-less- to- be-
feared machetas of guerrilla patriots.
as ever, for the last embers ceased sSlok |
ing months ago. But where are the happy
go-lucky, parti-coored people that swarm
ed the wayslde stations and loitered along
the sunny roads? Death has gathered them
all under his shadowy Wings-upward OF
400, 900 OF the non-combatant country peO-
pie of Cuba wiped out by famine in four
years time. Where are the white walled
villas. the straw-thatched huts. the fields
of waving cane? The whole province is
like vast crematorlum-every hamlet
obiiterated. every home an ashheap. The
patriots themselves destroyed $4,000 farms.
plantations. and ranches. and converted
$50 900. 900 worth OF growing into
drifting ashes. Here, as well rs all over
the desoiated island shining. well kept
| machinery is thing of the past: in most
cases what is not now rusting uncovered in
the fields has been shipped abroad as old
| junk. General prosperity can never return
to warcursed Cuba until its chief source
| OF wealth-sugar-ha been rehabilitated
by the Introduction oh many million dol
lars worth of new machinery.
Husy Plantation Scenes
description of one sugar plantation
answers pretty web for all the rest The
scene is always the same-the tall white
| chimney of the mill, emitting its thick
volumes of smoke like the funnel Of a
steamboat. groups of straw matched huts.
constituting the laborers quarters. and at
one side, or on some commanding knoll,
the planters villa. yerandad and latticsd,
surrounded by gardens and beautiful shade
trees. The entrances to some OF the es-
tates are magnificent avenues of royal
palms. the round. smooth trunks, all as
exactly alike as though turned by Machin-