The History of Cuba Volume V Part 13

MAMONCILLO: indigenous; 55 to 60 feet in height; 3 feet in diameter; found all over the Island; hard and compact; light mahogany color; yields an edible plum; used in cabinet work; Sp.

Gr. 0.85.

MORAL NEGRO: found all over the Island, strong and solid; dark chestnut color; used in fine carpentry and cabinet work; Sp. Gr.

0.75.

MORUO: indigenous; 50 to 60 feet in height; found in all forests; good wood; wine colored; used for general carpentry and carriage work; takes a high polish; Sp. Gr. 1.06.

OCUJE: indigenous; 45 to 50 feet in height; strong, tough and resistant; red color; used in carriage work and channel stakes; Sp.

Gr. 0.77.

PALO DE LANZA: (lance wood) indigenous; 30 to 35 feet in height; very resilient and flexible; light yellow color; used for yard sticks, tool handles, light strong poles and wood springs; Sp. Gr.

0.84.

PALO CAMPECHE: (log wood) indigenous; 25 to 35 feet in height; found in deep forests; hard, heavy and compact; deep purple color; used for turning and produces log wood dye; Sp. Gr. 0.9.

ROBLE: five varieties; indigenous; 40 to 45 feet in height; good wood, general carpenter work and shelving; Sp. Gr. 0.73.

SABINA: indigenous; found in eastern end of Island; hard beautiful wood, mottled chocolate color; furniture and general construction; Sp. Gr. 0.65.

SABICU: indigenous; very large tree, sometimes called imitation mahogany; hard, tough and compact; mahogany color; used for rail chalks, port holes of s.h.i.+ps, wagons, etc.

TAGUA: indigenous; 25 to 30 feet in height; hard, compact and durable; used for fine cabinet work and musical instruments; Sp.

Gr. 0.7.

YABA: indigenous; 45 feet in height; abundant, strong and compact; reddish color; used for wagon work, general construction and turning; Sp. Gr. 0.88.

TANA: indigenous; very hard, inflexible; grows in damp and sandy soils; specially adapted for naval construction; Sp. Gr. 1.02.

YAMAGUA: indigenous; 30 to 35 feet in height; 20 inches in diameter; excellent wood; reddish yellow; used in general construction work; Spec. Gr. 0.7.

Specimens of all these woods, together with some three hundred others, form a collection that may be seen at any time at the Government Experimental Station at Santiago de las Vegas.

Scattered throughout the broad gra.s.s covered savannas that lie along some parts of the coast of Cuba, are found heavily wooded clumps of forest trees, that stand up out of the gra.s.sy plains like islands, and give rather a peculiar effect to the landscape. In these "Cayos de Monte," as they are called, are found nearly all of the small, hard and durable woods of Cuba, such as Ebony, Lignum Vitae or Guayacan, Grenadillo and others of similar character, that seldom make tall trees, but that frequently have a value in the markets of the world that cause them to be sold by the pound or hundredweight, instead of by board measure.

The great bulk of timber lands, or virgin forests of Cuba, are scattered throughout the mountainous districts of the Island, mostly in Santa Clara and Oriente, and belong to non-resident owners living in Spain.

While the timber is very valuable, the cost of cutting and getting out the logs with the help of oxen, precludes any possibility of profit and will insure their remaining untouched until less expensive methods are found for their removal to the coast. The price of these lands vary at the present time from $3 to $15 per acre, and they can be purchased only in large tracts.

In pa.s.sing it may be mentioned that many of the forest lands of the mountainous districts are located within the mineral zones of the Island, but the purchase of the property does not carry with it a right to the ore deposits that may lie below the surface. These can be acquired only through registering mineral claims or "denouncements" in accordance with the laws of the Republic.

Along the southern coast of Cuba, bordering on the Caribbean, especially in the Province of Camaguey, are still large areas of virgin forests growing on low, flat lands. Some of these are traversed by streams, down which the logs are rafted during the rainy season.

Quite a large area of forest is still retained by the Government. The sale of these lands is forbidden by law, although under certain conditions they may be rented to private parties. Some of them have been distributed among the veterans of the War of Independence.

The total amount of forest still retained by the Republic is estimated at 37,000 caballeries or 1,226,450 acres, of which 519,144 acres are located in the Province of Oriente; 307,910 in Santa Clara; 148,200 in Pinar del Rio; 113,620 in Matanzas; 88,130 in Camaguey and 49,400 in the Province of Havana.

CHAPTER XIV

AGRICULTURE

The Island of Cuba is essentially an agricultural country. Its fertile soils have come from the constant erosion of rocks by heavy rains, through eons of time. Mountain torrents have brought down the debris of crumbling mountains of feldspar, shale and limestone to be deposited on the plains below, while rus.h.i.+ng streams have eaten their way into the plateaus of Pinar del Rio and Oriente, until we have at last a marvellously rich, tropical island garden, supplied by Nature with all the ingredients needed to maintain its fertility for many centuries to come.

More important perhaps than fertility of soil, is the fact that Cuba lies just within the edge of the Tropics, securing thereby an immunity from snow, cold wind and frost. This enables her to grow many crops that otherwise would be barred. More than all, those vegetables that in the United States and more northern climes thrive during only a few months of summer, may be grown in Cuba at almost any time in the year.

On the other hand it is true that many of the great grain crops, such as wheat, rye, oats and barley, cannot be successfully grown in Cuba, or at least on only a few of the more elevated plateaus of Santa Clara and Oriente. But, even were it possible to grow wheat in Cuba, it is more profitable to buy grain from districts further north, giving in exchange sugar, tobacco, henequen, coffee, cacao, hides, honey, citrus fruits and winter vegetables.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NATIONAL THEATRE, CENTRAL PARK, HAVANA

The builders of the city of Havana through more than four centuries paid commendable attention to the right placing of important buildings, not only for convenience but also for picturesque and artistic effect. Thus the National Theatre, one of the most commodious and beautiful playhouses in the world, has for its setting the equally beautiful Central Park, and is approached by the famous thoroughfare of the Prado.

Other notable public and private buildings are suitably grouped about it, making a civic centre of rarely impressive appearance.]

Freedom from frost means much to the agriculturist, since it relieves him from the anxiety suffered by the farmers of Florida and the Gulf States, that although lying on the other side of the Tropic of Cancer, and enjoying sufficient warmth to produce vegetables during the winter months, are nevertheless exposed to the danger of absolute ruin, or at least the loss of a year's work.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CUBAN RURAL HOME]

That, however, which favors successful agriculture in Cuba more than anything else, is the fact that her copious rainfall begins in May, and continuing throughout the warm months of summer terminates in the latter part of October, leaving the winter cool and dry, so that fall crops may ripen and be gathered free from danger of the cold, rainy days of December so common in the Gulf States.

In stock raising, also, not only is the Island supplied with an abundance of nutritious gra.s.s, on which animals may graze throughout the year, but the young are never subjected to loss from the cold winds, sleets, and driving storms, that decimate the herds of less favored countries in the North.

Cuba undoubtedly has some agricultural drawbacks and disadvantages, but few that may not be successfully overcome with intelligent management and the judicious care which renders stock raising profitable in any country. The one great advantage of the Republic lies in the fact that the farmer, if he so desires, can put in three hundred and sixty five days of every year at profitable work in his fields, orchards or pastures, with no time necessarily lost. Nor is he compelled to work half the year to provide food and fuel sufficient to feed and keep warm during the remaining six months of comparative idleness.

Owing to the exceptional natural facilities for producing sugar and tobacco cheaply and easily, the farmers of Cuba largely become, in one sense of the word, "specialists," and little by little have fallen into the habit of producing enormous crops of these two staples that are sold abroad, while food crops are imported at an expense far above that which it would cost to produce them in the Island. This neglect of food and forage crops would seem to render Cuba an ideal place for the general farmer and stock raiser, and the Department of Agriculture, under the direction of General E. Sanchez Agramonte, is now making every effort to place the advantages of the country for diversified farming before the outside world, so that practical farmers and families from agricultural districts abroad may be induced to come to Cuba and settle permanently.

The Republic ultimately will raise her own live stock and should produce sufficient corn, rice, beans, peanuts and perhaps wheat to be, to a large extent at least, independent of the outside world. With this purpose in view the Department of Agriculture has encouraged immigration and through the Experimental Station at Santiago de las Vegas is making greater efforts than ever before to ascertain just what crops and what seeds or plants are best adapted to the soil and climate of Cuba.

This information is being gathered and carefully digested so that it may be given to the homeseekers and settlers of which the country stands in such urgent need. At the request of the Secretary of Agriculture, Dr.

Calvino, chief of the Government Station, together with his staff, is searching for and bringing from all parts of the globe every plant and every variety of animal that can be utilized for food purposes.

Nearly every variety of wheat, corn, sorghum, rice, potatoes, grains and tubers, is being tested and tried on the 160 acres of land belonging to the station. Grapes, peaches, plums and other semi-tropical fruits are being planted, experimented with and carefully watched for results, while forage plants and gra.s.ses from South America, Africa, Australia, India, China, Europe and the United States are being tried, each under conditions approaching as nearly as possible those of its original habitat.

Although Cuba with its adjacent islands has an area of only about 45,000 square miles--approximating the area of the State of Mississippi--one finds many varieties of soil, the characteristics of which, even when lying contiguous, are so varied as to be astounding. High and comparatively dry plateaus, in places, rise almost abruptly from low level savannas that remain moist in the driest seasons of the year. Rich deep soiled mountain sides and valleys may be found within a few miles of pine barrens, whose hillsides are valued only for the mineral wealth that may lie beneath the surface.

Great areas of rich virgin forest, in both mountain and plain, still exist, especially in the eastern half of the Island, where many thousands of acres in the open, if planted with suitable gra.s.ses, would support countless herds of cattle and live stock. To bring all of this territory as soon as possible into a state of profitable cultivation, and thus supply permanent homes for farmers and stock raisers, is the great aim and purpose of the Department of Agriculture in Cuba today, and to the consummation of these plans Secretary Agramonte is devoted, with a most able and energetic a.s.sistant Secretary in Dr. Carlos Armenteros.

The great pressing problems of agriculture in the Republic would seem to be quite sufficient for any one man's energies, but, as the present government was planned and organized, an enormous amount of additional work, including the supervision of mines, forests, weights, measures, bank inspection, commerce and labor, come under its jurisdiction, rendering the responsibilities of the Department heavier and more complicated than any other branch of the Government, and demanding a degree of persistence and versatility probably not called for on the part of any other Cabinet Officer.

The Department of Agriculture has a personnel of 640 while approximately a million and a half dollars are appropriated by the Budget for carrying on the work of the Department. For convenience of administration the Department is divided into the following sections:

Agriculture, Veterinary Inspection and Zoology, Commerce and Industry, Immigration, Colonization and Labor, Forests and Mines, Patents and Trade Marks.

In addition to these are several Bureaus, stations and offices that report directly to the a.s.sistant Secretary.

The Section of Agriculture, naturally, is the largest and most comprehensive of the various divisions or branches of the Department.

Under its direction are the six various "granjas" or Agricultural Schools that are maintained, one in each Province. The distribution of seeds and the awarding of agricultural prizes come under its direction, as so also the inspection of fish, turtling and sponging, and the registration of domestic animals, including horses, mules and cattle.

It has also charge of all agricultural fairs and exhibitions, either foreign or domestic. The purpose of the "Granjas" or agricultural schools is to educate the children of the rural districts along those lines which will tend to make them practical farmers and useful citizens of the community. Pupils are admitted at the age of fourteen and are given tuition, board, lodging and clothes at the expense of the Government.