ut clean. With
our evaporating machines and with care to get the most out of the
crop, the profit will be enormous. Often we would buy the cane in the
markets, peel off the outside and chew the pith to get the sweet juice.

They raise vast quantities of cocoa, as indifferently cared for as
everything else, also a small flat bean, but it has a bitter taste.

The largest crop of all is the hemp crop which grows, seemingly,
without any cultivation. This hemp when growing looks something
like the banana tree. They cut it down and divide it into lengths as
long as possible and then prepare the wood or fiber by shaving it on
iron teeth.

They are expert in this industry, in making it fine and in tying it,
often times, in lengths of not more than two or three inches. They
give a very dextrous turn of the hand and the finest of these threads
are used in some of the fabrics which they weave. I often wondered
how they could prepare these delicate, strong, linen-like threads
that are as fine as gossamer.

A man who had cotton mills in Massachusetts visited places where the
hemp is prepared and the looms where it is woven. He said he had never
known anything so wonderful as the deft manner in which these people
worked out the little skeins from an intricate mass of tangled webs.

One of the curiosities of the world's fair at St. Louis will be this
tying and weaving of hemp. Then a still greater curiosity will be the
making of pine-apple fiber. This manufacture has been sadly neglected
and crippled by the war and its devastations. They have learned to
mix in other fibers because of the scarcity of the pine-apple. I
did not see this prepared at all; only secured with difficulty some
of the good cloth. It is considered by the natives their very best
and finest fabric. They spend much time on its embroidery and their
exquisite work astonishes the finest lace makers.

The field corn which I saw was of such an inferior grade that it
never occurred to me to try it; indeed, they do not bring it to market
until it is out of the milk.

On my return home I planted a few kernels as an experiment. There never
was a more insignificant looking stalk of corn in our garden. With
misgivings we made trial of the scrubby looking ears. To our surprise
it was the best we ever had on our table. It seemed too good to be
true. I gave several messes to my friends and this year am hoping to
give pleasure to many others. I denied myself the delicious