According to Mr. H. A. Himely, who is a recognized authority on the subject, 196 “centrales” handled the crop of 1919, amounting to 27,769,662 bags, or 3,967,064 tons of sugar. These “centrales” varied in output, from a minimum capacity of only 145 to a maximum of 701,768 bags, showing an average of about 142,000. Hence it is clear that the word “central” conveys no definite idea of capacity, and constitutes no exact unit of thought or calculation. Let us, however, assume that the word applies to a complete modern sugar factory of 250,000 bags yearly capacity, each bag containing 325 pounds of sugar; an output of 81,250,000 pounds. Factories of such capacity may be installed as single units or in multiple units. To obtain maximum results it is necessary that they shall be provided with sufficient areas of suitable land in one contiguous and reasonably compact body, within easy access of an economical deep water port, so that the costs of hauling and delivering the cane to the mill, and of transporting the sugar and molasses to the port, or shipside, may be reduced to the minimum. Now, of the new and virgin cane lands still remaining and now available in Cuba, there are few if any now obtainable which answer to these demands; and it is questionable if there are yet remaining and now available in the island new and virgin lands in tracts of sufficient size and aggregate area to warrant the installation of more than twenty “centrales,” having a combined yearly capacity of 5,000,000 bags. Indeed it is believed that it would be difficult if not impossible to find desirable and economically satisfactory locations for even so large a number. Wherever possible, virgin forests are cleared and planted for cane fields, as the accumulated humus of centuries produces a growth of cane that with care will endure for from five to twenty-five years without replanting. In Oriente cane fields are still producing good crops which were planted fifty and even sixty years ago. This method of cane culture is, however, most uneconomical, since the soil in time will certainly become exhausted. No plant responds more quickly to judicious and generous use of fertilizers than does sugar cane; and, according to the best authorities, no matter how rich the soil may be, it pays to fertilize. In opening up a sugar plantation, the trees are first felled and the trunks of valuable timber drawn off the land, while the limbs, brush and other waste materials are piled and burned. Owing to the previous shade of the trees, the ground is free from weeds, and but little preparation of the soil is required.