SOME of the men who followed Christopher Columbus across the Atlantic at the close of the 15th century were accustomed to stock raising in Spain, and all of them realized the value of the horse to the mounted warrior, armed with long lance or sharp cutlass, with which he could ride down the poor naked Indians of Cuba. They had come from Seville and the southern provinces, and had perhaps acquired their appreciation of the horse from the Arab, who made this noble animal his companion, and to all intents and purposes a member of his family.

The conquerors brought with them their animals and thus the equine race was introduced for the first time into the Western Hemisphere. All that came from Spain in the early days were of Arabian stock, which, although permitted to deteriorate, has still retained many of the characteristics of the parent stock, among which are endurance and gentleness. A colt that has always run wild over the ranges of Cuba, can be easily broken to the saddle in a few hours.

Owing to the abundance of food throughout the year, and to the absence of sleet, snow or cold rains, that sometimes chill and retard the growth of young colts, this Island is probably quite as well adapted to the breeding and raising of horses as any place in the world. During the first Government of Intervention, a large number of American horses were brought to Cuba by the Army of Occupation, and in spite of this abrupt change of climate and conditions, cavalry officers stated that never before had they found a place where their mounts seemed to thrive so well, and to remain so free from disease. Out of two thousand horses stationed at Camp Columbia, in the year 1901, only three were found in the hospital, two of these suffering from accidents, and the third, from a mild case of imported glanders.

The native horses, although smaller than the American, are hardy, gentle and easily kept, and unless taught to eat corn, invariably prefer the rich grasses to which they have always been accustomed. This native stock, when crossed with good Kentucky, Missouri or Montana stallions, produces really excellent service animals, especially for the saddle.

Since the accession of General Menocal to the Presidency, and especially since his appointment of General Sanchez Agramonte as Secretary of Agriculture, rapid strides have been made in the introduction of fine thoroughbred stallions, most of them gaited saddle animals that have been imported from Kentucky, and brought to Cuba for breeding purposes. These animals have been distributed by the Department of Agriculture throughout the different provinces, and improvement in resulting colts is already beginning to be apparent.

Probably one half of the native horses of Cuba in 1895 were killed or rendered useless during the War of Independence, which began in that year. This, of course, was a great loss to the Island, but so rapid is the rate of increase in this balmy climate that horses have again become quite plentiful and consequently cheap.

Registered in the Department of Agriculture, in the year 1918, for the Province of Oriente, were 218,876 horses; in Santa Clara were 212,985; in Camaguey 129,023; in Matanzas, 108,900; in Havana, 94,214, and in Pinar del Rio, 63,021; making a total of 827,019 registered in the Island.

The small, pony-built, light stepping, sure-footed horses, of the original or native stock of the Island, especially in the interior, are quite cheap; mares selling in some places at from $10 to $20, while geldings of the same grade will bring from $20 to $40, and stallions from $25 to $50.

Nevertheless, a well gaited and spirited native saddle horse, in the City of Havana, will find a ready market at anywhere from $75 to $200. Imported saddle animals, well gaited, and from good stables, bring in Cuba prices varying from $300 to $2,000; the price varying with the merit of the animal and the fancy of the purchaser. With splendid grasses, balmy climate, and excellent water, there is no reason why the breeding of horses in Cuba, especially those types suited for fancy saddle animals, military remounts and polo ponies, should not be profitable and successful in every sense of the word.

Good mules are always in demand in Cuba, although not many are bred in the Island, and most of them up to the present have been imported from Missouri, Texas and other sections of the United States. Under normal conditions a pair of good mules in Havana will bring from $250 to $500. Scattered throughout the country in 1918 were approximately 61,000 mules, and about 3,250 asses.

When the first Spanish settlers, most of whom were lured to Cuba through the hope of finding gold in quantities never realized, saw the great, broad and rich grass covered savannas of Camaguey, dreams of riches from cattle raising with far more promise than the fortunes expected from easily found gold tempered their disappointment, and laid the foundation for future prosperity.

A few cattle were brought over from Spain in the first expeditions and left at Santo Domingo, where they at once began to multiply and thrive. From this fountain head, Diego Velasquez brought several boatloads to Cuba, that were distributed among his friends in the seven cities of which he was the founder.

The original cattle were of a type peculiar to Spain in the 16th century; rather small, well shaped and handsome animals, of a light brown or dark jersey color, similar to that of the wild deer in shade, and usually carrying a dark streak along the spine, with a rather heavy cross of black at the shoulders. Although almost no care was given to these animals, and no attempt made at selection or improvement of the breed, they continued to multiply and thrive on the rich native grasses of the savannas throughout the Island.

In 1895, there were approximately 3,000,000 head registered in Cuba by the Spanish colonial authorities. Beef was then plentiful and cheap, and Cuba was supplying the British colonies of the Bahama Islands with nearly all the meat consumed. Most of it was shipped from the harbor of Nuevitas across the banks to Nassau.

With the beginning of the War of Independence, as in all wars, food was a matter of prime necessity; hence the great herds of cattle roaming the fields of the eastern provinces became at once legitimate prey, and since there was no commissary department, and but little effort made on either side to protect beef from unnecessary slaughter, thousands of head of cattle were killed, not alone for food, but by each army, the insurgent and the Spanish, in order to prevent the other side from getting the benefit of the food. With this reckless method of destruction, at the expiration of the struggle in 1898, 85%, perhaps 90%, of the cattle of the Island had been wiped out of existence.

The shortage of beef, of course, was serious, and at the beginning of the first Government of Intervention steps were taken by General Brooke and later by General Wood to encourage the immediate importation of cattle from any locality where they might happen to be available. Hence cattle were imported indiscriminately from Texas, Louisiana, Florida and Venezuela, with the natural result that the breeding animals of succeeding years were composed of a very mixed and ill selected lot.

With the installation of the Republic, measures were taken to remedy this misfortune, and to improve the breed. Many private individuals who had always been interested in the cattle industry imported thoroughbred bulls from the United States. Quite a number of American stock raisers, mostly from Texas and other southern states, attracted by the stories of fine cheap grazing lands, with fresh grass throughout the year, came to Cuba and settled in Camaguey. Many of these brought with them a stock of better animals.

When General Menocal assumed the Presidency in 1913 the further importation of good cattle was encouraged, and an Agricultural Exposition or Stock Fair was held at the Quinto de Molinos, or Botanical Gardens in Havana, where stock breeders from all over the world vied with each other in the exhibition of fine, thoroughbred animals of many kinds. An excellent exhibition of Jerseys, imported in 1901 by Joaquin Quilez, then Governor of the Province of Pinar del Rio, represented a fine grade of milch cows.

Cattle came not only from the United States, but crossed the Atlantic from Holland and from France, while a very attractive breed of handsome, dark red cattle, were placed on exhibition by the late Sir William Van Horne, which he had previously imported from the Western coast of Africa. Most interesting, perhaps, of all, were several specimens of the Zebu, a large variety of the sacred cattle of India, that had previously been introduced from abroad, and kept at the Experimental Station at Santiago de las Vegas.

The Zebu, although of somewhat self-willed disposition, and with an inclination to jump any fence under seven feet, is nevertheless proving a very important addition to the breeding stock of Cuba. This largest specimen of the bovine species, standing at the shoulders some six feet in height, when crossed with the ordinary cow of Cuba, produces a much larger and stronger animal, with this very important advantage, that at two years of age, a weight equivalent to or in excess of the ordinary three years old, is attained, while the quality of the meat is in no way impaired.

The Zebu is not only valuable for beef breeding purposes but is probably unequaled in the capacity of a draft ox. A pair of Zebus, when yoked to a cart or wagon, will drop into a trot with an ordinary load at daylight in the morning, and without serious effort make fifty miles by sunset. The strength of these animals is almost incredible, and the cross with the common cow will undoubtedly furnish a valuable adjunct to successful stock growing in the Republic.

In all stock raising enterprises, plenty of fresh water is absolutely essential. Rivers or running streams are most desirable acquisitions to any ranch. Where these cannot be found, wells are usually sunk and water met at depths varying from twenty to two hundred feet. In the foothills and mountainous districts, never failing streams are found in abundance.

There still remain hundreds of thousands of acres of well watered and well drained lands, that possess all the conditions desired for stock raising. Much of the territory formerly devoted to grazing has been recently planted in sugar cane, owing to the high prices of sugar, resulting from the European War. In spite of this fact there are still large tracts in nearly every province of the Island that not only are available for stock raising, but would, if sown in grasses and forage plants, produce, under proper management, returns per acre quite as satisfactory as those derived from sugar cane.

In both Havana and Matanzas Provinces good lands command a price that is rather prohibitive for grazing purposes. But in Pinar del Rio, and the three large eastern provinces of the Island, there are still extensive tracts, both in the level sections, and in the foothills, that are ideal grazing lands, and if not absorbed in the near future by the cane planters, these lands will eventually, owing to their advantages for stock raising, yield revenues quite as satisfactory as those of any other in the Republic.

These lands can be secured at the present time, in large tracts, at prices varying from $15 to $50 per acre, and if properly administered, will easily yield an annual net return from 25% to 50% on the investment. One prominent stock raiser in the Province of Camaguey, an American who, starting with nothing, has built up a very tidy fortune in the last ten years, stated that his return in the year 1918 represented a profit of 104% on his capital invested. This excellent showing, however, may have resulted from the practice of buying calves at low figures that have been dropped in less advantageous sections, and removing them to rich potreros where they were quickly fattened for the Havana market.

Cuba at the present time is importing approximately $10,000,000 worth of pork and pork products annually, notwithstanding the fact that this Island, owing to exceptional conditions for raising hogs economically, could not only supply the local demand, but could and will ultimately, export pork products to all of the Latin American countries bordering on the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.

Hogs breed twice a year in Cuba, and the climate, free from extremes of heat or cold, enables probably a larger percentage of the young to be brought to maturity, with less care and less risk, than in any section of the United States. Science today has rendered it possible to eliminate the danger from contagious disease to pork; hence it is that raising of small stock, especially hogs, under the supervision of intelligent management, is bound to prove one of the most remunerative industries of this country.

Hogs were introduced into Cuba from Spain by the early Spanish settlers, but no effort was made either to improve the breed by selection or even to prevent its retrograding through lack of care and good food. Nearly all hogs raised in Cuba, even at the present time, are permitted to run in droves in the forests and foothills of the thinly settled sections, as did their ancestors four centuries ago.

Even the owners of these droves have but little idea of the number of hogs belonging to them. Monteros, or forest men, are hired to herd them, which is done with the assistance of dogs. The hogs in this way are followed from place to place where the forests may furnish natural food for the mothers and their progeny. As a rule, at evening each day, the montero or herder, in order to keep up a partial contact between him and his drove, carries a few ears of corn slung over his shoulder in a sack, or to the saddle of his horse. This he shells and drops as he rides along the narrow trails of the forest, uttering at the same time a peculiar cry or call, heard in the mountain jungles of the hog districts, when the monteros are coaxing their herds out into the open, so that they may catch a glimpse of them before they dodge back into the leafy glades of the interior.

This semi-savage breed of hogs of course would cause a smile if seen on a first-class stock farm in the United States. He is usually black in color, long and lank, resembling very much the “razor back,” once common in the southern part of the United States. He is prolific, a good fighter, and hustles for his own living, since nothing is provided for him excepting what he picks up in the forest. This, however, is pretty good feed.

The royal palm that covers many of the hillsides and slopes of the long mountain chains throughout Cuba, produces a small nut called palmiche, which furnishes a never-failing food and aids the stock man greatly in raising hogs. The palmiche, picked up by the animals at the base of the palms or cut by the monteros, who with the assistance of a rope easily climb these tall smooth barked ornaments of the forest, will keep animals in fairly good condition throughout the year.

The palmiche, however, although only about the size of the kernel of a hazel nut, is very hard, and much of it is rather indigestible. This nut, when ground and pressed yields about 20% of excellent oil, either for lubricating or commercial purposes, while the residue of the nut, or pressed cake of the palmiche, from which the worthless part has been separated previous to grinding, owing to its rich content of protein and oil, furnishes an easily digested and splendid food.

The recent demand for oil has resulted in the introduction of a number of presses in Cuba since the beginning of the European War, and the palmiche cake is being placed on the market as a stock food product. In this form it is quite probable that a valuable adjunct will soon be added to the other natural foods of the country.

Palmiche fed pork in Cuba, or for that matter wherever it has been eaten, is considered a greater delicacy than any other pork in the world, and in this Island is preferred to either turkey or chicken. This is owing to the peculiar nutty flavor which the palmiche imparts to the meat of the forest-bred hog. Young palmiche fed pork, known as lechon, roasted over a hardwood or charcoal fire, during the holidays of Christmas and New Year’s in Havana, readily retails at 75¢ to $1 per pound, and little roasting pigs at that time of the year will bring from five to ten dollars each.

The pork industry, however, in Cuba, to be really successful should be conducted along lines similar to those of the United States. Excellent food can be provided for hogs, fresh and sweet at all times of the year, simply by planting the various crops with reference to the season and period needed for feeding. Among those foods best adapted to sows and growing pigs in Cuba are peanuts, cow peas, sweet potatoes, sugar cane, calabasa or pumpkins, chufas, malanga, and other root crops peculiar to the country. For topping off, or putting into condition, shoats for six weeks before being sent to market should be fed on either corn or yucca, or both.

The latter, yucca, is one of the best root crops grown in the Island for fattening hogs. The tuber, some three or four feet in length, with a diameter of three or four inches, comes from a closely jointed plant that at maturity varies in height from three to five feet. The stalk of these plants, if cut into short joints, and planted in furrows about three feet apart, produces its crop of tubers in about twelve months, although the yield will increase for five or six months after this. The yucca tubers are covered with a cocoanut brown peel, while the inside, consisting of almost pure starch, is white as milk.

Yucca will produce a splendid, firm fat on pork in a very short time, and has the advantage over corn in the fact that the weight of the crop, from an acre of land, varies from four to twelve tons, according to the quality of the soil, and hogs delight in harvesting the crop themselves.

At the Experimental Station at Santiago de las Vegas may be seen many excellent breeds of hogs that were introduced from the United States some years ago. Among these are found the Duroc or Jersey Red, the Hampshire, the Chester White, the Berkshire and Tamworth, all of which under the favorable conditions found at the Station have done remarkably well. Interesting experiments on the various foods of the Island, and their adaptability as food for hogs, are being carried on there throughout the year. Those breeds which seem to give the greatest promise, up to the present, are the Duroc and the Hampshire. Some very interesting animals have been produced from crosses between Hampshires, Durocs and Tamworths, the shoulder mark or saddle band of the Hampshire being prominent in all of its crosses.

The population of Cuba is rapidly approaching three millions, and no people in the world are more addicted to the use of pork in all its forms than those not only in Cuba but in all the Latin American Republics lying to the west and south of the Caribbean. The hog industry at the present time does not begin to supply the local demand, and probably will not for some years to come. Fresh pork before the European war seldom varied throughout the year from the standard price of ten cents per pound on the hoof, while hams imported from the United States brought twenty-five cents at wholesale in Havana.

With the use of dams and turbines, power can be easily secured from the many mountain streams with which to furnish refrigeration and cold storage, and there is no reason why a pork-packing industry, combining the curing of hams, shoulders, etc., should not be carried on successfully. Branches of large packing houses in the United States have long imported their hams and shoulders, in brine, afterwards smoking them in Cuba. Experts in pork packing soon discovered that most of the small hard woods of the Cuban forests were splendidly adapted for smoking meat, giving it a piquant and aromatic flavor, pleasing to the taste.

With the large local demand for hams, shoulders, bacon, etc., a profitable business is assured from the beginning, while the proximity of so many Latin Republics south and west of the Caribbean render the prospect of the export trade very promising.

Owing to the genial climate, sheep in Cuba, lacking the necessity for wool with which to retain warmth, very naturally lose it within a comparatively few years. Mutton, however, always commands a good price in the local markets, hence it is that the raising of sheep for food, especially by those small farmers who are close to large markets, will always yield a satisfactory return.

The large hotels of Havana, especially during the tourist season, are compelled to supply mutton of good quality to their guests, and since the local supply is not sufficient, a considerable amount of this excellent food is imported, dressed, from the United States. In this latitude, where green grass may be found in abundance throughout the year, sheep may be profitably raised and used in many ways. They are close grazers and will keep down the heavy growth of grass in citrus fruit groves, and also along the roadsides and in the surface drains that border hundreds of miles of automobile drives scattered throughout the Island.

Thousands of dollars are expended by the Department of Public Works every year in cutting out this rank growth of grass, so that the flow of water in the ditches may not be impeded. This work could undoubtedly be done by sheep, and a great deal of manual labor be saved, if the system of roadside grazing was once introduced into this country. Sheep are found in small numbers throughout all parts of the Island, and up to the present the Government has made no attempt to register them.

So far no discrimination has been used in introducing those breeds of sheep best suited for the production of mutton. That which the Island has is usually tender, and of excellent flavor, and if small farmers would take the trouble to import good rams from desirable breeds in the United States, the raising of mutton, even as a side issue, would add greatly to the revenue of farms located near large consuming centers.

The Republic of Mexico for many years has derived a very large revenue from the sale of goat skins, most of which were purchased by the New England shoe factories, while the by-products in the form of salted and sun dried meat, fat and other materials, always command a market. Recent years of devastation, however, have practically annihilated all of the great herds once so profitable, since for three or four years they furnished food to the roving bands of different contestants in that unfortunate country.

In the various mountain chains, foothills and fertile ravines of Cuba are hundreds of thousands of acres of forest land, in much of which sufficient sunlight enters to permit of new growth, the tender shoots of which are preferred by both goats and deer to any other food in the world. More than all, the goat is by nature a hill climber, and is never content until he gains the nearest ascent from which he can look down on his companions below.

For many years to come, most of these vast ranges will be unfenced and free, and the keeping of the goats will require nothing more than a herder with a couple of good dogs for every thousand head. With this excellent food that can serve no other purpose, and the splendid water of mountain streams, the goat industry in Cuba could not fail to be profitable, and yet the raising of goats has never been considered there commercially.

Under the management of men who are familiar with the raising of goats for their hides, and by-products, there is no reason why this industry should not assume importance in Cuba, especially since these animals are invaluable for cleaning out undergrowth economically and effectively.

Although it is a well established fact that the Angora goat will thrive in any country that is not low and damp, with the exception a few pairs of Angoras, that were introduced at the Experimental Station at Santiago de las Vegas some years ago, the breeding of this variety of goat has never attracted the attention which it deserves. Those of the station, although not located under the ideal conditions which prevail in the mountains, have nevertheless fulfilled the reputation which this animal enjoys in other parts of the world.

The Angora, unlike the sheep, does not lose or drop its beautiful silky fleece when introduced into a warm climate. It is, however, desirable to shear the mohair twice a year instead of once, in order to avoid loss that might come from pushing its way through heavy underbrush in the mountains. In raising or breeding this variety of goat, where the long fine fleece is the chief source of income, provision should be made for rounding up and coralling the herd each night, in order to insure against the possibility of loss from dogs or theft, although the goat himself is an excellent fighter, and stoutly resents the intrusion of any enemy.

Under favorable circumstances the annual increase of kids will amount to 100% of the number of ewes in the flock. The young bucks, of course, when a year old may be sold at a profit, as is the ordinary goat, but since the finest yield of hair comes from the younger animals, it would seem ill advised to dispose of them until at least five or six years old.

The average price of a good angora ewe for breeding purposes is about $15, and the value of the mohair has been increasing steadily for the past ten years. Its price, of course, depends on the length and fineness of the fleece, and varies at the present time from 75¢ to $1 per pound. When it is considered that a good angora will produce five or six pounds of fleece each year, and that the entire expense is practically that of herding and clipping, the profit of the business is apparent. On the basis of a six-pound yield to each goat, and an average price of 83-1/3¢, a revenue of $12,000 would be derived from a herd of 2,400 goats that would cost $36,000; or in other words the net returns would exceed 25% on the capital invested.

Aside from a sufficient amount of land on which to establish night corrals, and the purchase of a few good collie dogs, there need be no other initial expense than that of the purchase of breeding animals themselves. Good herders can be readily secured at a salary of $50 per month and the feeding range is not only free but practically unlimited.

When it is considered that the angora, when living on high lands, with plentiful food and water, is free from disease, and that the capital stock is multiplying at the rate of 50% per year, with an overhead expense that may be considered as almost nothing, and an absolutely assured market at good prices for the mohair, the raising and breeding of angora goats would seem to be a very profitable investment in Cuba.

The deer of Cuba, while resembling in color, general form and configuration of antlers the deer of Florida, is somewhat smaller in size, the average height of the buck at the shoulders being only about three feet. Although hunted considerably during the open season, they are still very plentiful in Cuba, and if not chased by dogs soon become quite tame.

If deer parks or reserves were established in the mountains where these animals could be confined, cared for and bred, a market for venison could undoubtedly be found in the United States, while many city parks and zoological gardens would find them interesting and ornamental as an exhibit of the Cervidae family from Cuba.