Cuban plantations may be divided into two classes, the ingenios and the centrals. The ingenio is a small plantation whose lands lie in the neighborhood of the mill, while the central, in addition to its own cane, handles the crops of a number of ingenios. The ingenio hauls all of its cane to the factory by ox-carts; the central is served by railroads, both privately and publicly owned, and its equipment and machinery are of the most modern type.
Approximately 90 per cent of the cane grown in Cuba comes from what are termed colonias, i. e., farms varying in size from a few acres up to several hundred.
Colonos, or farmers, may be classified in three groups: in the first is the man with his small estancia, or farm, on which he raises foodstuffs and cattle, and who takes his few hundred arrobas[49] of cane to the central when the price is good, or feeds it to his animals when the pasturage is short. In this class, too, is the man who has a hundred or two hundred caballerías[50] of land, but whose chief interests are in other channels and whose operations in cane growing are merely an adjunct to his regular business.
In the second group is the independent farmer, who owns his land and cane and sells his crop to whom he pleases.
The third and most numerous group comprises those who plant cane on lands belonging to the central. These people either pay rent, or receive a certain fixed amount for their cane, or both. Their work is at all times subject to inspection by the central administration and under such circumstances they may be likened to contractors or employés, whose compensation is based upon the success of their own efforts.
The average size of a colonia, exclusive of those owned by colonos of the first-mentioned class, who are independent of cane growing, doubtless depends upon what would afford a man a decent living with a few luxuries. H. C. Prinsen Geerligs, in his book “The World’s Cane Sugar Industry,” states that one hundred arrobas (2500 pounds) of cane costs the Cuban farmer $2.07 at the mill. If 2½ cents be taken as an average price for sugar and $900 per annum as a fair living wage, then the colono who gets an average yield of 50,000 arrobas per caballería and is paid for it at the rate of 5 per cent, receives $1560 per caballería for cane that has cost him $1035 to produce. According to this reasoning, a colonia should not be less than 1.75 caballerías in size, but of course this is purely speculative.
The farmer who owns his land is paid about six per cent[51] of the weight of the cane he furnishes in centrifugal sugar of 96 degrees, sacked and ready for shipment, and occasionally delivered at the nearest shipping port. Sometimes settlement is made in cash, based upon the value of the agreed percentage of sugar at the Habana quotation on the day the cane is delivered. In other words, for every one hundred pounds of clean cane in bundles, delivered on board the cars, the plantation pays the grower about six per cent of 96-degree centrifugal sugar, or its equivalent in money.[52]
Where the land is furnished by the plantation, the farmer is paid from four to five per cent of the weight of the cane in sugar. He is given a house free of rent and an acre or two of garden land as well. All material, labor or stores supplied to him are debited to him to be accounted for when final settlement is effected.
Planting cane in Cuba is a simple matter. In preparing virgin forest land for seed, no ploughing whatever is done; the trees and shrubs are cut down and allowed to dry, the valuable timber is carried away, and the remainder is burned. When this is done the land is found to be smooth and level, as a rule. Planting consists in making holes in the ground with a heavy pole shod with iron that is driven obliquely into the earth at regular intervals, the seed is then dropped in these holes and covered with earth, completing the operation. Grassy ground, however, must be ploughed, in which case furrows are made six feet apart. The seed cane is planted in them at intervals of from six inches to twelve inches, covered with earth and left to grow. There are the spring plantings and the autumn plantings, the first from April to June and the second in October and November, that is to say, one at the beginning and one at the end of the rainy season. In the case of the former, if the rains come soon after planting, the cane can be cut in the following March or April, i. e., after a growing period from nine to twelve months. If, however, the rains are late the cane cannot mature before the advent of the new rains and therefore cannot be ground until the following December. Cane planted in the fall ripens in December of the next year or sometimes a month later.[53]
Notwithstanding the little care given to the planting, the cane once started yields a generous crop, which is followed by profitable ratoon crops for a number of years without fertilization or a great amount of tillage. Finally, when through age the cane ceases to produce a paying crop of ratoons, the old roots are taken up,[54] and the same soil reseeded brings forth excellent results for another period of years without any rotation of crops being necessary. Not more than ten per cent[55] of the total area of Cuba is devoted to the growing of cane. In addition to the ground on which cane is actually planted, large tracts are needed as pasture for draft cattle. Besides, there is much forest land and many barren spaces that are undoubtedly included in the acreage classified as being under cane cultivation. According to Dr. W. D. Horne,[56] the average yield is from fifteen to twenty tons of cane per acre[57] and the crops are usually allowed to ratoon for ten years.