The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1945-03-01
Sugar Is Cubas Main Industry;
Island Worlds Largest Exporter


Latin America. EDITOR
No visitor has smelled the perfume
of Cuba or heard the heart OF Cuba
beat until he has scented the sweet
and heady smell of boiling molasses
and heard the rumbling Of the engin-
es of a sugar-mill.
While everything in Cuba revolves
around the sugar-cane industry, a
around the> cane sugar industry,
commodity of which the little island
is the worlds greatest exporter, the
hub of sugar production is undoubt-
edly the sugar-mill or central.
1t is here that the juice of the
sugar-cane is actually turned into
sugar; here are brought the tall
stalks of cane ripened under the
tropical sun and from here leave fat
bags swollen with the product that
may sweeten a cup of coffee many
thousand miles away. Here, indeed,
the destiny of Cuba is wrought.
A central is really a unit, con-
sisting of a huge mill, surrounded
by a large area planted to cane.
About 1870 of the cane is grown by
the sugar mill companies themselves,
but the traditional method of organ
izing production is what is known
as the colono system, whereby an
individual rents a parcel of land
from the central company, engages
laborers to cultivate the fields and
cut the cane, and receives a certain
percentage on each 100 pounds of
cane he delivers to the mill.
Sugar-cane is a perennial of the
grass family which grows in tropical
regions and reaches a height of from
five to fourteen feet. The stalks
hard rind encases the juicy pit which
contains up to 20e6 of sugar. Slender
leaves grow off this stalk which is
crowned at harvest time by a tassel.
Cuban soil is so fertile that cane
does not have to be replanted every
year but is grown again from the
year before's stubble in a process
that is called "ratooning". Cane is
cut close to the ground by machetes,
the cutter developing an extraordin-
airy skill which enables him to sever
the cane, trim off the dry leaves, cut
the stalk into suitable lengths, and
throw the pieces into a nearby pile,
all in one almost continuous motion.
From the pile, the cane is lifted
by the cutter to the carts and
hauled usually by four or six yoke
of oxen, to the nearest cane switch
of the company's railway, where
by means of a crane the load is
lifted in sling, weighed and drop
ped into railway car for transpor-
tation to the mill.
At the mill, after sharp knives
have cut the cane, it is fed to roll
ers and shredders which extract the
Juice.
Bagasso-the stringy pulp remain
ing after the juice has been squeez-
ed OUTS used as fuel for the mill,
as food for cattle and as the start
ing point for a number of by
products including fiber-board (celo-
tex).
As for the raw juice-the actual
source of sugar-it is purified and
clarified by being treated with chemi-
Gals (lime milk is one of them) and
heated.
Turned into a syrup in vacuum
evaporators, it is then boiled until it
becomes a brown mass of crystals
and molasses.
The resultant first sugar is still
moist and lumpy. The molasses
that remains in the centrifugal
machines is combined with additional
syrup, boiled again, and put through
the centrifugals for the extraction
of more crystals classed, this time,
as second sugar.
Upon undergoing the process a
third time the molasses reaches its
maximum point Of crystallization
and the remaining or final molasses
is sold for the manufacture of al
cohol and rum.
The raw sugar is conveyed to a
large bin from where it is packed in
bags, weighed and shipped out.
Besides the mill itself, central
includes laboratory where sugar
is analyzed at every stage of its
production, and where experiments
on sugar are made as we'll as on
the waste products of the industry.
Furthermore, the batey-name by
which is known the little community
surrounding sugar mills compos-
ed of the Administration building,
the homes of the owner (when there
is one) and of the First and Second
Administrators, of a church, a
store, "cafe", a school house, some
times club, all clustering around
square or park, besides a series
of small bungalows which are the
employees and laborers' quarters.
About this unit, surrounded ad
infnitum by the quietness of sun
baked sugar-cane fields, swarms dur
ing the mill-grinding gener-