Evening capital., 1907-04-20
SWEETNESS IN BIG CHUNKS.
SUGAR THE STAPLE PRODUCT
OF CUBA.
A Great Industry. Rich Red Soil. Perpet-
uaI Crop of Sugar Cane. Methods Of
Capitalization.
The BULL TEAM is USED FOR
TRANSPORTATION

Sugar is the staple product Of the
Island of Cuba. Sugar plantations are
everywhere and stretch out for miles
and miles as far as the eve can reach.
In some parts of the Island the whole
country seems TO be one vast and one
immense region of canefeld, stretch
ing away beyond the sight, looking
not unlike the great grainiields OF
Kansas and the cornfelds of the West.
While the Cubans do not cultivate
oranges or vegetables 10 any extent,
leaving the former largely to the
American agriculturists on the Island,
and the latter TO the Chinese. they
do cultivate TO n great degree both
tobacco and sugarcane. We were for
tunate to visit the Island during bar
vest (zafra) time, which includes the
months from December TO May. The
sight of the cane being cut and carted
to the ingenious mills is a great one.
and certainly most interesting. The
cut cane is conveyed in carts drawn
by bull teams or on freight trains
which one sees all over the Island on
the nsrrow guage plantation railroads.
There are nearly a thousand miles of
these private sugar plantation rail-
roads on the Island.
These bull teams that convey the
sugar cane from the fields TO the rail-
roads on the plantations. or to the city
of Havana are n most interesting as
well as n primitive sight on the Is
land. We occasionally see yoke of
oxen drawing an odd-looking impro-
vised cart in Annapolis even in these
days of the twentieth century when
\ .f,tt Il,
such wonderful strides along progress
sive lines, but in Cuba we see these
bull teams every day, dozens and
dozens of them, creeping along so
slowly that we wonder If they ever
reach their destination. But as this
is the country of menana, and to-
morrow never comes, the drivers of
these creeping beasts of burden do not
seem TO care whether they get there
tomorrow ar next week, or even next
year.
The Cuban primitive fashions are
little changed since the day Columbus
landed on these shores aud the Cuban
farmer yolSes his bulls to crooked
branch of a tree for plow today just
as the Egyptians did in the time of
Moses. But to return to the Cuban
sugar crop, of which, in way, bulls
and bull teams are an important fac
tor. The wealth of the Island from
sugar alone averages annually from
forty to sixty millions of dollars.
Sugar cane grows luxuriantly every
where. The sugar cane is carted
TO the mills, whose smoking Chin
neys, the general air of activity
about these mills and the heavily sugar
laden atmosphere in their vicinity
bespeak the magnitude of the
greatest industry on the Island.
The sugar is extracted from the cane
by a boiling process. Lime is placed
into the liquid to destroy its acidity
and to cause the refuse and impurities
to rise to the surface of the liquid.
The sugar is extracted from beneath
where the substance is pure aud sweet.
This liquid is then solidifled, as it
is more easily transported in crystal
than in liquid form. Sugar is rarely
if ever clarified and converted into
white sugar in cuba. but is sent to
the States and other countries almost
entirely for this process, and the
sugar which leaves here is brown
sugar in crystals. The solidification
or capitalization of the syrup is Great
ed by centrifugal force or process.
The liquid is put into machine
that revolves in the midst of the
LIQUID and this literal fleeing away
from the center forms. the crystals of
sugar by means of centrifugal force Teen
trum. the centre, and fugeo, to flee. }
The grains of sugar remain, and the
molasses part of the sugar is thrown
off. The grains, or crystals are of n
brownish hue and are sent to the
States for refining. After the refining
process much of this sugar is re-
shipped to Cuba, the place where it
had its inception. The richness of
the native soil of Cuba is conducive
to The luxuriant growth of sugarcane,
as it is to everything that is planted.
The soil, which is very fertile, is of
a deep red, and is said to be the most
productive in the world. Travelling
through the Island and viewing from
an automobile or from the car window
miles and miles of this rich red ma
tive soil. the tourist no longer ceases
to doubt how it is possible to raise
two and three crops of corn year and
practically perpetual crop of sugar
cano without repianting, and without
the use of single ounce of fertilizer.
We do not wonder, then, that the
staple product of the Islands wealth
is nearly seventy-five millions annual
ly. or that the wealth of the Island
centers in its luxuriaRt growth of
sweetness.