Durango semi-weekly herald., 1907-05-02

has a promising future because of its |
geographical location and from the fact |
that 1t is the eastern terminus of the |
United Havana railway system, own
ed by an English corporation. and |
the western terminus of the Cuba rail
road, which was recently built by Sir
Dodge and other Americans, to open
UP and make accessible about 20 per
cent of the area of the island, which,
until 1t was completed, could be reach
ed only by bride paths. Fer con
siderable distance the right of way
passes through dense forests of ma
hogany and other cabinet woods which
are valuable, and it has been demon
strated through the enterprise of Sir
William Van Horne that forest land,
when cleared, is ever more fertile and
produces larger crops of sugar, tobac-
co and other staples than the prairies
and open plains. Notwithstanding their
fame for richness of soil.
The railroad from Matanzas runs
through a succession of sugar estates
decorated with beautiful palms and
| tuIlbuS-lOAhIllb nuts
described in my letter yesterday.
There is a great deal Of fire this year,
Tor everything is so dry. The drought
| is more serious than has been known
| since 1863. The wells are exhausted,
the streams are very low, water is
being sold from door to door in the
towns. and in the country is carried
long distances to farmhouses. The
sattle have difficulty in getting enough
10 drink.
we noticed that the vegetation is
,burned almost continuously along both
sides of the track, where fires have
been started by sparks from the 10
comtives. and there has been an un
usual amount of cane burned from sim
liar accidents. Cane fields are very
innammable when they are ripe for
the harvest, and for that reason sugar
planters are constant objects of black
mail, political persecution and private
animosity, as well as the victims oil
accidents. Only the other day one OF
the finest mills in the island was burn
ed 1t belonged to a Spanish com
pany, of which the mayor of Madrid
Is president. The loss Is estimated at
100000. Last year $3.50 900 worth OF
new machinery from the United States
was put in. At first 1t was believed
to be due to incendiaries prompted
by private animosity or political rea-
sons, but an investigation has shown
that 1t caught fire from lighted ciga-
rette carelessly thrown among some
dry can leave by one of the employees.
1t is asser I'd that an unusual amount
of cane has been burnel this year
but more from natural causes and ac
cidents and less for political reasons
than usual.
Careless smokers habitnally throw
the burning ends of cigars and ciga
rettes into the grass along the road
side. The larger sugar plantations
are girdled and gridironed with mar
, row gauge railroads on which the cane
is hauled from the fields to the mills
and sparks from locomotives are the
cause of much destruction. Fires are
, frequently started by laborers who are
l
ances, because of quarrels over wages
and ill-treatment, and for a thousand
and one other causes, 1t is also pos
sible for plantation hands to increase
their earnings by burning the cane
They are paid from S1.50 to $3.50
per day for ordinary days labor
but when a field has been burned the
cane must be cut Immediately and the
men are required to work extra hours
for which they receive double pay
This has frequently been an induce
ment for them to set fire to- the cane
The avarice of planters has some
times tempted them to burn their own
fields. The rule at the mills is that
cane from which the leaves have been
burned must have preference in grind
ing because it will be ruined If it is
exposed for more than few days
Hence owners of estates have been
suspected of burning their own fields
to take advantage of this custom. II
often happens, too, that cane cannot
be harvested because of a lack of la.
hor or for other reasons. AS con.
sequence weeds and underbrush grow
up between the rows and make the
next years harvest very difficult. To
clear ont the fields the owners often
set fire to them on quiet days when
there is no wind.
1t is customary, too, when there is
an excessive crop, and low prices are
threatened, to burn cane fields to get
the insurance, and frequently planta-
ton fires are looked upon with sus-
picion. During the present year the
area planted in cane is larger than
usual and the crop is expected to be a
record breaker The unusual supply
is likely to be followed by low prices.
and several fires in fields that are in
sured have occasioned much gossip.
Cane planters suffer from poison
GUS weed called pica-pica, which
causes serious Inflammation whenever
Il comes in contact with the body, and
cane cutters cannot be induced to en-
ter field where 1t is growing. This
is another reason for fires, which burn
out the weed and pc nit the cane to