Difficulties of the Planter Who Tries to Raise Food.—In view of the world's need of more food it seems strange that tropical countries with all their possibilities have not been more fully utilized. The experi ence of an American who tried to raise corn in Mexico illustrates the difficulties of tropical farming. This man knew that in Mexico the farmers cling to primitive methods so persistently that " not even a modern hacienda (owned by a man of Spanish blood) can be any more up-to-date than its peons will allow." If left to their own crude methods, the peons plant corn in holes made with a pointed stick or in soil turned up by a plow which, though it scratches the earth only to the depth of a finger, is as large as the underfed cattle can draw. The native hoe weighs between three and five pounds, and harvesting and threshing are done by methods described in the Bible. The Ameri can wondered, as others have done, why he could not purchase a farm in Mexico, use scientific methods, and harvest a fortune, since the natives with crude implements and little skill can extract a living from the soil. Accordingly he imported American machinery and was delighted to find that his corn gave promise of yielding in proportion to the excellence of his methods. But he soon discovered how exceed ingly discouraging is the gauntlet of handicaps one must run who attempts to raise food in tropical Mexico. Although the Mexican soil and weather gave him a luxuriant growth of corn, it also gave an ant to eat the germs from some of the seeds before they had sprouted, a cut-worm and blackbird to attack the seedlings, an army worm to ravage the plants when knee high, another bird and worm to attack the maturing ears, parrots, parrakeets and raccoons to devour the ripened ears and a black weevil to develop in the kernels after they are shelled. 'Moreover, there is always the danger that the rainy season may begin before the crop is harvested. He also discovered that war on weeds and bushes rather than on men is the chief reason why the Latin American farmers are constantly armed with their sharp, long-bladed machetes. Sugar planters have indeed overcome many of these difficulties, and if the economic need should arise, they might be overcome for corn also.
All this illustrates the important fact that throughout all but the I drier and more elevated parts of the warmer zone the raising of food crops has thus far been successful only in the haphazard way of the ' primitive tropical farmer or in the highly intensive way of the rice farmer. Tropical countries still await a system of agriculture which shall afford a large yield per acre with a small amount of labor. When that system is perfected the plantations may be expected to raise koodl as well as luxuries, and to be self-supporting instead of relying in part, as they now do, on cooler climates.
The Sugar Plantations of Cuba.—The sugar plantations of Cuba illustrate the profitable nature of plantation agriculture. According to the official estimates of the Cuban government a capital of about $10,000 is needed in order to start a sugar plantation of 100 acres. Aside from the land and buildings the necessary equipment consists of oxen, a traction plow, and several carts each large enough to require. 6 or 8 yoke of oxen. The ground must be cleared, plowed, planted with cane cuttings, and cultivated at least once, but thereafter the canes often choke the weeds. Some farmers claim that it pays to make rough paper out of the " bagasse " or fiber of the pressed canes and pin this to the ground between the rows of cane. As the cane spreads, its sharp tips penetrate the paper, but most weeds cannot do so: Thus no cultivation is needed, and the canes do not have to compete with weeds. A year or more after the canes are set out, the labore strip off the leaves, cut off the tops, and load the canes on wagons while the leaves and tops are left as a mulch. The canes are crushec
and the juice is reduced to sugar in a large mill equipped with moderr machinery. Returns of fifty to a hundred per cent on the capita invested are sometimes made, but the crop varies greatly and so do the price of sugar.
The laborers who work on the sugar plantations rarely raise even : small fraction of their own food, nor do other farmers in Cuba raise surplus sufficient to feed them. Hence, Cuba's imports of food pe capita rival those of England. Because Cuba is so dependent o: imports, she is vitally interested in the success of the Newfoundlan fisheries, the troubles of the Mexican and Texan oil fields whence come fuel for the tractors, and the strikes of the Pittsburgh district whenc comes heavy machinery for the sugar mills and rails for the tramway: Even the variations in American politics may have an immediate bearin on every Cuban sugar grower because of possible changes in the tari The importance which the sugar plantations assume in the trade c the United States is illustrated by the fact that a fourth of all t American motor trucks and pleasure cars which this country sells t Latin America go to the one small country of Cuba. In proportio to its population that country spends more than any other in t American market. The sugar crop alone yielded $107 per capita i 1920-1921.
Sisal and Rubber Plantations.—Other types of plantations are like wise important in the world's business. In Yucatan a peculiar fitness of soil and climate for the henequen plant, a sort of agave resembling the century plant, helps to make that region one of the most prosperous parts of Mexico. The discovery of the strength and value of the sisal fiber contained in the henequin leaf caused a demand for it in the industrial centers and shipyards of the civilized world and especially in the American harvest fields. It is distasteful to crickets and grass hoppers, and hence the bundles of grain tied with sisal are cut by these pests much less often than are the sheaves tied with cord made of cotton. The large demand for sisal has not only created many Spanish millionaires in Merida, the capital city, but causes Yucatan to stand next to the Tampico oil region as a part of Mexico in which Americans are much interested.
In the same way, the demand for rubber and the suitability of soil and climate for the rubber plant on islands like Sumatra have caused millions of dollars of American and British money to be invested in the groves of rubber trees cultivated on these islands. There, more than in most plantations, the foreign owners have taken great pains to improve the conditions of health by draining marshy places, putting some of the brooks under ground, and providing medical attendance, hospital care, and above all complete isolation from mosquitoes for the sufferers from malaria. Such activities pay, and are making the plan ation owners realize that the system of virtual peonage which prevails n many old-fashioned plantations, as in Mexico where the Yaqui ndians were treated almost as slaves, is a financial as well as a moral mistake. This growing realization of the importance of health and !fficiency is one of the most hopeful signs within the tropics.
Today the plantations are chiefly found on seacoasts, especially m the islands of the East and West Indies. The coasts are not only he regions where level plains are most easily accessible, but where the 'onditions of health are best, aside from the highlands. Little by little he plantations tend to move inward. Thus tropical countries are )eing invaded by influences which gradually tend to promote health, : ncrease the capacity of the people, make them more capable of receiving :education and training, and raise their standards of living. These are he best methods of making the warm parts of the earth a valuable actor in business.