[33] In 1894 it was calculated that ground that was not yet cleared was worth 100 to 150 piastres a hectare at Cruz Alta, and the cost of clearing 150 to 200 piastres, whereas in the moist forest at the foot of the Sierra the land was worth only 75 to 100 piastres, the cost of clearing it was double (300 to 350 piastres). These various districts do not offer quite the same conditions to the farmer. The _Falda_ is the most suitable, not only on account of the rareness of frost, but because of the fertility of the soil, as the tropical forest has accumulated inexhaustible stores of humus. The sugar-cane returns are higher there than anywhere else. Irrigation is not necessary, but, on the other hand, the humidity reduces the proportion of sugar in the cane. Irrigation is the rule in the next belt, between the local railway and the Central Cordoba line (on the right bank of the Sali). On the left bank a large number of the estates must still do without watering. The most original feature of the organization of the sugar industry at Tucuman is the maintenance of a class of independent cultivators, the _caneros_, side by side with the large enterprises. This survival of small and medium properties is a fact to which we find no parallel in the other sugar districts of tropical America.[34] Everywhere else, in Brazil and in the Antilles, the farms which worked up their own produce, on primitive methods, have been absorbed by the central works. The home-worker has lost his land as well as been ruined in his industry by the competition of the modern factory. At Tucuman, on the contrary, the sugar industry never passed through the stage of domestic production. It was set up in full development, some devoting their capital to building works, others to growing the cane. Irrigation seemed from the first to dictate a concentration of ownership; the refineries at Cruz Alta constructed costly special canals to bring the water of the Sali. It is only large proprietors who have the resources needed to carry out work of this kind, and sufficient influence to secure permission to conduct the water over adjoining estates. However, the law of 1897 reorganized irrigation and withdrew the water-supply from the control of a few privileged big capitalists. Public works, undertaken by the provincial authorities, brought the water within the reach of every farmer. Since 1897 the number of water-concessions has risen from 230 to nearly 2,000. [34] Except, perhaps, in Barbadoes.