, 1912-04-20

~ w AoCOSh lHO Tx lhCb luul 10 DfO-
ftably continue orr great industry we must
ultimately drain, plow, cultivate and harvest
our cane crop largely by mechanical power.
We have steam dredges digging our main
drainage canals at less than one-tenth of the
cost for the same work involved in manual
labor, steam and gasoline power ditching our
fields at a less c st than that formerly paid
our long departed first class field labor for
performing the same work; and perhaps only
a dozen of the latest type of gasoline pro-
PEELED plowlng engines at work on our inn
proved caneields, rice lands, and recently
drained reclamation tracts.
OF course, with the good beginning they
have made, all of those inventions ana dew
ices must come annually more largely in
vogue to take the place of our vanished mau-
ual labor, and all too costly mule power. And
in all such work such inventions as may take
the place of manual labor in the cane harvest
will be the most important ard the most
mO@ey-saving.
We have several types Of mechanical APP
planes to load our cane ia the fields; but
40 traction power has yet been EN- ployed to
more cheaply haul it to mill. But what Is
most needed in the harvest work is q motor
machine to rapidly, evenly and closely cut
the cane at the bottom, and lay it IN eVeIE
rows OF WlndroWs, preparatory to manual
cutting. We do not bel eve s at any device
will ever be invented to economically top
and strip the cane and lay it in the heap rows,
as the variation in length and diameter OF
the stalks on the same row requires humafs
intelligence III the iual cutting Of cane for
the mill.
But if such cane as our D. "a were cut at
the bottom and laid ia even rows, ready t L
subsequent manual attention, or laid safely
in WindroW6 after our early freezes, q great
end would be gained IN saving the raw ma
teriaI of our sugar harvest.
OF recent years, owing 10 the depreciation
of The class of our canefield labor, the cost
of cutting cane of all kinds as an average
has almost, if not quite, doubled. The time
was that this work cost less than forty cents
a ton, taking an average entire crop OF
standing cane. This cost has increased to
about seventy cents n ton, which mikes 1T
by tar the most expensive work OF the mar
vest, and heavy beyond all human reason.
A powerful machine which could cut the
cane evenly down to the ground and lay 1T
in regular rows, with the butts all in one
direction. ought to reduce this enormous
cost by at least rs or 30 per cent as no
work would be then left to the manual cut
tiers, except the picking up and topping OF
the cane, which may be done in one double!
handed movement, with but one additional
stroke for the removal Of the dead and cas-
lily detached sheaths and leaves OF the cane
handled.
Ganssiran's Mule Power Cane Cutter does
good work in D.. "A cane, laying the eue
cane in uniform rows on top Of the cane
rows wherefrom it can easily be pulled down
into the water burrows without breaking the
continuity of the cane windows, but oil this
requires much hand labor and much mule
labor, the scarcity and cost of which have
prevented this excellent machine from get
ting the favor it really deserved. The de-
mand is for a motor. driven machine for VIII
drowning, and such has not yet appeared.
When it comes to q machine tor r"pld
winlrowin8 we have had a most emphatic
object lesson in our experience with the last
harvest campaign. If the sugar region OF
tie State had been amply provided with fast
cane-cuttiDg and windrowing machines on
the arrival Of the freezes Of November 18th
and November Both it would have meant the
salvage OF several million dollars which were
lost by our sugar planters through lack OF
labour to get their frosted cane wiDdrowed
in time to keep it from spelling.
While, through the prevailing labor and
other conditions, our local sugar industry