DATA of any kind on the farming interests of Cuba are difficult to collect, and those obtained are, as a rule, meagre, indefinite, and unsatisfactory. Statements vary as to the acreage under cultivation, estimates vary from 2,000,000 to 9,000,000 of acres. One writer says there are 100,000 farms, plantations, and cattle ranches in the Island, valued at $20,000,000; and Cabrera, in 1862, gives these figures: 18 cocoa plantations, 35 cotton plantations, 782 coffee plantations, 1523 sugar plantations, 1731 bee farms, 2712 stock farms, 6175 cattle ranches, 11,541 tobacco plantations, 11,738 truck farms, and 22,748 produce farms, a total of 59,001. Spanish official figures show a total of 37,702 farms, cattle ranches, sugar, tobacco, and coffee plantations. What these properties may be worth or valued at now cannot be stated; but before the war their value might be fairly estimated at from $275,000,000 to $300,000,000.

The Cuban farmer, despite what nature had done for him in climate and soil, was never equal to his opportunities. True, the mother country, by taxation, had kept him over-burdened with debt, and by not giving him the benefit of progressive ideas had forced him to use only the most primitive implements and farm machinery. When he used these at all, they were of Spanish manufacture, the worst in the world; but even under such adverse circumstances he might have done much better than he did. That he did not is due largely to himself, for indeed there are thrifty Cuban farmers, who have good farms and do as well as farmers anywhere, all things considered. But they are not in a majority. As one evidence of the general lack of thrift, the Cubans imported from the United States in 1893, a good year, animal products (largely hogs), worth $5,718,101; bread stuffs, $3,164,541; provisions other than the foregoing, $1,315,097; a total value of over $10,000,000, all of which except, possibly, wheat flour, might have been raised at home, with a fair amount of care and industry, under a decent government.

While all parts of the Island are not adapted to such agricultural development as is found in higher latitudes, nearly all the products of northern soil may be grown in Cuba. Our common corn is very generally raised, on the uplands especially, and two crops of it will grow yearly. It is smaller than the corn of the north, but is said to be more nutritious. It is fed to stock in the ear and as fodder. Wheat growing has never been attempted to any extent, and while the lowlands are impossible for it, in the mountain regions, according to theory, it might be accomplished successfully. However, all the chances are against Cuba’s entering the wheat market against Minnesota and the Dakotas. Oats and barley are not in the list of Cuban products. A great deal of rice is raised in the lowlands along the coast; but the Cubans are great rice eaters and none is exported. A careful handling of the Cuban rice crop would bring it into the markets of the United States.

Although, to insure good quality, seed potatoes must be brought to Cuba each year from the United States, the crops raised are enormous, and they come twice a year. We do not get new potatoes from Cuba in the spring, but there is no reason why we should not, if the farmer will raise them for export. The Cuban potato is worth considerably more in Havana than those imported. The sweet potato grows everywhere and anywhere, and is not only of great quantity but good quality. To Cuba it is almost what the white potato is to Ireland. The yam, another and larger form of the sweet potato, is prolific and prevalent. It is not cultivated for exportation. In fact it can scarcely be said to be cultivated at all in Cuba, so common is the growth.

Beans are an article of import into Cuba, and the people consume great quantities of them, yet every variety of bean grows there rankly, and that they are not grown not only to meet the home demands but for export as well, is simply because of a lack of industry in their cultivation. Asparagus may be grown and greatly improved, as that now produced is small and inferior. Beets, as far as produced, show that by proper cultivation they might become a leading product. Cabbage, too, is so neglected that it is imported to meet the demand that Cuba easily could supply. Watercress of good quality grows along most of the streams. Spinach is found in the home market-gardens, but none is raised beyond that. The sago palm, furnishing sago flour, is neglected though it grows in profusion. Radishes grow all the year. Two crops a year of fine peanuts might be produced, but not enough for export are raised. So far the Cuban onion, though it flourishes with very little cultivation, is not in competition with the Bermuda onion, so popular in American markets. Lettuce is perennial and of the best quality. The cucumber is another vegetable growing profusely but never exported. Yuca is a root much used in place of potatoes. It is rendered palatable by pressure or by cooking. The sweet variety is used raw as a table vegetable. Bitter cassabe flour, made from yuca, when parched in pellets, is known as tapioca, and is a popular edible in various forms of soups, puddings, etc., in northern countries. Celery, which is found in the local gardens, is inferior by reason of neglect. Millet is raised for local fowl food.

Cotton, although it is mentioned as an agricultural product of Cuba, is only a possibility, for its cultivation has been so slightly attempted as scarcely to warrant an opinion of what may be done in its cultivation. Sea-island cotton, which is of famous excellence in the United States, may be raised along the Cuban coasts; and there is no known reason why the general cultivation of cotton would not be fairly profitable. Whether or not it may be developed under the new order remains to be seen.

The indigo plant grows easily, but it has never been cultivated profitably. The future may bring to its producers more knowledge and better methods than the past has known.

Grasses grow rankly almost anywhere in the Island. In the province of Pinar del Rio one variety grows to the height of six feet; another is a bunch grass similar to our species. Of these two grasses stock is very fond, but a third variety has such sharp edges that stock cannot eat it. Little of this grass is used as hay, and the hay crop has not been of especial significance in Cuban agricultural products, but it might well be, if it were given proper cultivation and care.

The fibre plants of Cuba are numerous, and many of them are of the best quality; moreover, they grow upon soil not very useful for any other purpose. The best known of them are the henequin, lanseveria, and lengua de vaca. The first produces from twenty-five to thirty leaves a year for twelve years, each leaf from five to nine feet long, weighing from four to seven pounds.

So far as Spanish statistics may be correct, there were in Cuba in 1891 a total of 2,485,768 cattle of all kinds; but at the close of the war in August, 1898, it was estimated by American stockmen, who were apprised of the condition of affairs throughout the Island, that not over 75,000 head were left. For a number of years past, owing to excessive import duties and other exactions, shipments of cattle to Cuba have been kept far below the demand, not only for working, but for slaughtering purposes; and as the Cubans raised few cattle, though every natural condition of climate, forage, and water was favourable to grazing, there was never a surplus to meet any emergency. Therefore the result was that, when the war came the ports were blockaded and no new supplies could be brought in, the people, as well as the soldiers, had to be fed, and the cattle were slaughtered indiscriminately. It should be stated here that just prior to the war, cattle were admitted free, and the imports, chiefly from South American countries, reached from 70,000 to 80,000 head per month. These were nearly all beef cattle. From August, 1897, to May, 1898, 83,868 head of cattle were received at Havana, of which 37,129 came from the United States. These cattle came chiefly from Texas, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana, for southern cattle are much better suited to the Cuban climate and conditions than northern or western cattle. The fact that cattle are bought by weight in the United States and sold by the head in Cuba has been against the American stockmen.

AN OX CART.
AN OX CART.

From a report of a dealer in Havana, under date of October 5, 1898, these extracts are made:

Though Cuban estimates of the Island’s cattle capacity are fanciful and unreliable (one estimate sets the “untilled land for cattle raising” at 28,300,000 acres, every acre of which when tilled will support at least one head), it is an undeniable fact that within a few years, by ordinary care in the selection and handling of stock, Cuba will be in a position to export cattle. The fact is worthy of American stockmen’s attention that at least a million cattle of all kinds, for breeding, beef, and work, are needed in Cuba, that the best cattle so far received in Cuba have come from the United States, and that by contiguity and sentiment the United States is first choice against all South and Central American and Mexican competitors. It is as well worthy of the attention of the Government authorities that in restocking the Island with cattle, careful and scientific attention should be given to the class of cattle used for breeding purposes in order that the very best results be obtained. The estimate of a million head to meet the immediate demands may seem to be large, but when we come to consider that one sugar plantation of 3000 acres requires from 250 to 400 yoke of working cattle, not to mention cows and beef cattle,—and that there are thousands of sugar and tobacco plantations, besides other thousands of farms of various kinds,—and ox-carts for general transportation all over the Island, it will be seen that a million head will be scarcely enough.

A FOWL VENDOR.
A FOWL VENDOR.

“Jerked beef” has been an important article of import into Cuba, and it may become still more so in the future, as Texas, with its millions of cattle, has a climate peculiarly adapted to the preparation of this form of beef product. On this subject a report made by Mr. Modesto Trelles of Cienfuegos, under date of September 19, 1898, may be of more than passing interest:

In 1891 it was estimated that there were 531,416 horses in Cuba and 43,309 mules, yet a report dated as late as October, 1898, is to the effect that there are practically no horses in the Island. The same authority states that there is a great demand for cheap horses, and that now, since the prohibitive duty of fifty dollars a head is gone with other Spanish customs, the American “plug horse” would bring a quick sale all over the Island. The Cuban horse, of Andalusian ancestry, is a fair average animal for a low, hot country, but great improvement could be made in the stock by careful selection and breeding. At present he is a substantial, small horse of the cob style, is very easy under the saddle, and does well in harness. Stallions and mares are needed, and the surplus horse-flesh of the United States, increased by the introduction of electricity as a street-car motor, might easily find profitable use in this new country. The Cuban horse will hardly achieve the proud position of the Arabian or Kentuckian, but he may be as useful in his humbler fashion.

ROYAL PALMS, YUMURI VALLEY.
ROYAL PALMS, YUMURI VALLEY.

The mule in Cuba as elsewhere, “without pride of ancestry or hope of posterity,” is a most patient and useful animal, and his virtues and his scarcity make him more valuable than the horse. A fine mule commands a fancy price, and a pair are worth from $600 to $800. What the mule raisers of the United States can do in Cuba is left for them to determine.

Sheep of good quality are among the impossibles to Cuba, for the climate has the peculiar effect of straightening their wool into harsh hair, like that of the goat.

Although Cuba has not only every facility for hog raising, including the palm, the seed of which is one of the finest hog-fatteners on earth, and although the people of the Island use more lard, bacon, hams, and pickled pork than any other meat product, nevertheless, instead of raising their own, they have received from the United States over $35,000,000 worth of pork in the ten years from 1887 to 1896. Some hogs are raised, but it is because of the energy of the hog, not of the Cuban. Wild hogs (jabali) prevail in many parts of the Island, and the boar hunts are sometimes exciting sport. The wild hog is merely the domestic hog run away and grown up in the woods.

Poultry of all kinds similar to that found in the United States was common all over the Island before the war. No attention is paid to its cultivation, except in the matter of game-cocks. Cock-fighting is so wide-spread and popular that the game-cock may be well called the national bird of Cuba.

Humboldt has said that the bee is not native to Cuba and came from Europe. However that may be, the busy little worker has found there a land of flowers, and his products of honey and wax are among the reliable exports of the Island. The value of honey shipped to the United States in 1893 was $39,712, and of beeswax, $45,504. The best honey comes from the uplands and the poorest from the swamp flowers.

Agriculture in Cuba promises rich results in the future.