PORTABLE BRANCH LINE OF FIELD RAILWAY AND CANE CUTTERS, PERU
The principal ingredient of the fertilizer used is guano, which is mixed with lime, nitrate of soda, potassium sulphate, or ashes from the bagasse furnaces, and it is applied in various ways. Some planters throw it in the furrows with the seed cane and allow it to remain there a time before turning on the water; others place it in the furrows a few months after the planting and cover it immediately, while still another method is to apply it and turn on the water at the same time. On certain plantations the fertilizer is ground and spread over the entire field just before replanting.
Water for irrigating is obtained from the mountain streams, which are dammed at certain points, and but little is pumped from wells. The quantity needed is far less than in Hawaii, owing to the nature of the soil and the presence of underground moisture close to the surface. A fixed amount is assigned to each estate by the government and this is never exceeded during the dry season. In flood time, however, the regulations are somewhat relaxed, as there is then enough for all and to spare.
The water is brought on the land by large ditches, and thence to the cane fields through smaller ones. From these field ditches it flows directly into the cane rows at the upper end of the field or section, and, owing to the slight slope of the land, it passes freely through the parallel rows from the upper to the lower end of the section. It is retained in the furrow by means of a dam at the lower end. Other ditches are made at the lower ends of the sections for drainage purposes. The amount of irrigating done varies according to the nature of the land; in some cases water is applied only once during the season, in others as many as twenty-four times. The average number of waterings is five.
When the cane is ripe it is cut by laborers with heavy knives, or machetes, and loaded by hand into cars that run through the fields on portable tracks. These cars, which hold from two to ten tons each, are made up into trains and drawn by a locomotive to the mill. The average yield per acre in 1912 was about 34 tons, but the planters are seeking for better results through improved field methods and new varieties of cane. Pests and disease do little damage in Peru, although the borer gives some trouble. Owing to the long period of growth in a dry climate, Peruvian cane is high in fiber and low in juice, but the juice is rich and very pure; this combination of high fiber content and high percentage of sugar in the juice, however, brings about an unusual loss of sugar in the bagasse.
Nearly all of the sugar manufactured is a coarse-grained centrifugal raw, polarizing about 96.5 degrees and known to the trade as “Peruvian crystals.” Part of it is marketed in the United States and the rest goes to Great Britain, while the second and third sugars are sent to Chile to be refined there. A certain amount of white sugar for home consumption is made by washing the brown centrifugal sugar.
HAULING CANE-LADEN CARS WITH OX-TEAM, PERU
TRAIN-LOAD OF CANE EN ROUTE TO THE FACTORY, PERU