The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1869-05-28
Cuba.

both hcnisphcrcs. A great deal has been
written and publ lishcd in regard TO it du-
ring the last century by travellers and
others, and yet very little is known about
lit by the masses Of the intelligent people
OF any nation. Even in Spain, which
has held il as colony, there is unques-
Itionably extensive and profound popu-
lar ignorance as 10 what Cuba actually
is, physically, agriculturally, and tinan-
cially.
The area Of Cuba, including the cir
cumjacent keys and reefs, is abput twen-
lty-four millions Of acres, three-fOurths
of which are Of very extraordinary fer
Utility. Her cultivated tracts, however,
are comparatively few and quite limited,
the entire extent which produces crops
being less than two millions of acres.
while the virgin woods and natural pas
turages embrace some fifteen millions.
with SO small u proportion of her soil
under cultivation, she produces crops Ia
the amount of not less than one hundred
and thirty millions Of dollars a year. OF
this amount, sugar, her chief staple, con-
stitutes sixty or seventy millions. tobac-
co fifteen or sixteen millions, and coffee
about five and half millions. For the
|
not only unsurpassed but unequallcd III
all the world. The sugar planters Of the
United States are obliged 10 replant their
fields every year, and the expense and
trouble Of doing this are very great, but
there are in Cuba many sugar estates
(which yield enormous crops consfcutivc-
| ly from forty to fifty years without re-
lplanting. Sugar is cultivated more Oh
less all over the island, but the most i'm
lportant sugar districts are i'll the iuris-
Idictions OF Cardcnas. Matanz.s. Sagua.
land l,emedios on the north side, and
lCicniuegos, Trinidad, and Santiago on
the south. The sugar estates are owned
lahnost'chtircly by native Cub;ms. though
a few large ones belong 10 some OF the
twealthy Spaniards Of Ilavann. "a f
/ The coffee crop Ut Cuba is obtained
jalmost exclusively mt present from the
lextremc eastern end of the island in the
lhilly districts Ning back from the ports
lIf Santiago dc Cuba and Guantanamo
Coffee planting has. for both large and
|small capitalists. serious disadvantage
i'm comparison with sugar making. for
! lin the first place, sugar can be cut eight
months after il is planted, whereas thu
coffee plant produces only in the third
Tor fourth year of its growth. and, Sec
Iondly, whether the season is good or bad
too wet or too dry, the cane untailingl!
yields some proceeds. while the coffee
lplarter is always in danger of losing his
Iwhule by an umscasonably heavy rain al
1.-THE time when the bush is in flower. In
Isone important respects. however. coffet
Iplantng. as an agricultural pursuit, il
Infinitely preferable TO sugar making, FOL
lthe coffee estates are generally on clcva'
tied and hilly lands, free from the intense
Ihcat of the low and unwholcsome sugar
districts, the nights are at all times deli.
Iciously cool. and the labor Of The field
hands is infinitely less severe.
The tobacco districts arc TO the south
lwcst of Havana. Tire estates are, gcncr.
|ally in the hands of small planters, who
i'm. some cases, pay enormous rent foi
llcboicc lands. and obtain an equivalent!
IenorinOus price for their crops. Tho
central portion of Cuba. including the
large Jurisdiction of Puerto Principe. i
tthc great pastoral district of the island
1t affords the very finest pasturagc fol
VERY large herds. Havana derives thence
her principal supply of.cattle. The NV,
Ieragc yearly value, of cattle sold Is csti.
.,matcd at over five millions Of dollars. =
This district is the most sparscly popu-
lated Of the island.
The whole population of Cuba is less
,Ithan million and half Tho census
Iof 1869. compiled by the Government
lgives the figures white. 76+. .760; free
lcolorcd. 22l.4l6; and slave, 373,O7l; TO-
Ital, 1.s59.28s. The population is believed
mot 10 have increased much since 1862
1.-The excess Of births over deaths of the
lwhitc' and free colorcd races being fully
.|countcrbalanccd or even more than coliIl-
|terbalanccd by the decrease of the slaves,
lit seems an anomaly that only about one-
twentieth part OF All island, SO singularly
,Iproductivc. aud in many parts so salubri,
ous, is under cultivation, and that so
small a population is supported; but
There are causes for this with which
most of our readers arc more or less TO-
miliar.
Il II is too soon to speculate much upon
1.-The consequences Of the annexation oi
|Cuba To the United States, q thing which
may he very far in the future il in the
future at ali. We of the West aud South
! should possess, and. we trust. do possess
rlcnough' of public spirit and patriotism Ia
pdcsire whatever would advance the pros,
Iperity, the greatness, and the glory oi
1.-The whole United States. but we pre-
sumc there can be little doubt that the
ANNEXATION of Cuba and the consequent
Establishment of tho immense impost dn.
tiles OH her sugar and tobacco would de-