The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1869-05-28
CUBA-WHAT SHE Is GOOD FOR.
A Full Account of her Population and
Natural Resources.

| have thought 1t well to lay before our read.
ers succinct Of what Cnba really is phys.
ically, agricuturally and financial y.
| Including the circumiacent keys and
reefs, her superGcies is about "a ,000, 900
acres, of which at least four fiffhs are lands
OF almost unsurpassed fertility. Her cul-
tlvated tracts, however, are comparatively
very few, the entire extent which produces
crops being u8der two million acres, her
virgin woods and natural pasturageS en-
bracing some fifteen million acres The
lands on which her crops of sugar, coffee
and tobacco are raisei, are in most cases
cleard land With this very inSignii :ant
! proportion Of the soll under cultivation,
| Cuba produces crops to the extent of not
less than one hundred and thirty million
dollars per anHum. La this monen', sugar,
the great staple of the island, figures to
/ the sum of sixty or seventy million. to-
| bacco to some fifteen or sixteen m | ion,
and coffee to about five aud half million
dollars. For the production of sugar,
| probably no other lands in the word are so
admirably adapted, both from their CHAR
acter and geographical position. While
the Louisiana planter is obliged to re-plant
his fields every year, there are many sugar
estates in Cuba which yield enormous crops
consecutivey from forty to fifty years with
out replanting. Sugar is cuitivatei more
or less all over the island, but he most I'M
| portant sugar districts are in the juri<dic>
tions of Cardenas. Matanzls, Ssgua, and
| Cienfuegos, Trinidad and Santiago on the
south. The sugar estates are owned al
most entirely by native Cubans, with the
exception of few of the large ones be-
! longing to some Of the wealthy Spaniards
Of Havana.
The coffee crop is obtained almost ex-
clusively from the extreme eastern end of
the island, in the hilly districts lying back
| from the ports of Santiago dc Cuba aud
Guantanamo. Formerly coffee was extcn-
! sivcly cultivated in the Fuelta de Abai io-
that is in the districts on the south coast
lying west of Havana but the price of
the article falling some thirty years ago to
about four cents pound, the planters be-
gan to abandon their plantations, and
| transfer their slaves to the back of Matan>
zas and Cardenas, where good uncleared
sugar lands were cheap and devoted them
selves to the cultivation OF sular Sugar,
moreover, offers many advantages over coi-
fee planting, both to large and small capit-
ists In the first place, sugar cane can be
cut eight months after it is planted, where
as, the coffee plant bears only in the third
or fourth year of its growth, thereby, ex>
Guiding persons of small capt. al AMI Sec
ondy be the season wet or bad, too wet or
too dry, cane always yields some proceeds,
while the coffee. planters is always exposed
to the danger OF losing the whole of his
crop by an INCREASINGLY heavy rain W while
the bush is in flower.
The Cuban coffee planters Of to o-day
about Guantanamo aud Santiago are in
nowise related to those who abandoned
their coffee plant atons in the western part
of the island, They are, in fact, almost a
distinct race, both in origin and language.
They are mostly deccndants Of families
driven out Of Santiago to Domingo at the
time of the revolution, wLo, find ng land
eminently suited Tor coffee planting, trans
terred their industrial pursuits and social
institutions to Cuba. Even now French
is the almost universal language on these
| estates both among the owners and their
slaves. AS an agricultural pursuit, coffee
planting is infinitively preferable to coffee
making. The estates are general ly on ele-
waited and billy lands, free from the intense
heat of the low seething districts the
nights are always delicious!y cool, and the
labor is Infinitely less severe to the field
hands.
The tobacco districts are to the south.
west of Havana. The estates are in the
hands OF small planters, who in some cases
pay enormous rent for very choice lands,
and obtain an eqnivalently enormous rent
for their crop. Tobacco Of inferior quality
is raised in other districts, such as Puerto
Principle, Yala and Santa Clara.
The central portion of Cuba including
the large jurisdiction of Puerto Pprincipe,
known locally as Gamaguey, is the great
| Il rf, h., L..
estates in this section Of the country are O
very great extent, consisting of virgin
woods and savannas In about equal propor.
ton, ana affording admirable pasturage fol
very large herds Havanna derives he,
principle supply of cattle from this portion
OF the island. The average value of cat
tie sold is estimated at over four million
dollars The enormous amount of large
and valuable timber, OF Which the
, untouched woods OF this section are full
, including mahogany, cedar and innum
|. cradle other kinds must some day
, draw capital thither At present owing Il
the facilities for getting timber from tht
t interior to the coast, this branch of com
) merce is almost neglected Moreover the
: dstri It Of CGmaguey Is the most sparse J
populated of tn. island Geographical
few countries in the world offer such al
vantages for commerce as Cuba, from til,
! very large number Of splendid harbor
: with which her coasts are studded tron
e Masi TO San Antonio. OF these ale al
e most unknoEn, such as the magnfcen
$ ones of Nipe and Levisa on thes norti
: shore, in the eastern department.
The population OF the whole island o
, Cuba is under one and half a million. :
: The last sensus of 1862, which was prett
accurately complied by the government
D gives me figures at-white, 76i, $50 fre
n colored, 22l AT, and slave, 373 OH; total
e 1859 23S. We are not inclined 10 belicv
$ that the population has greatly increase
! siuce 1862, the excess of births over death
Of the white and free colored races bein
more than counter balanced by the decreas
of the slave The number of the latter ca
only be maintained in Cuba by imports
y tions from Africa, which, thank God
!, are ended, uness the Spaniards shoul
.,f.1 r.la