The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-08-15
SUGAR INDUSTRY LEADS
IMMENSE PLANTATIONS THAT
YIELD PRINCELY REVENUES.
Tobacco, Cocoa and Coffee Are Also
Grown = Spanish Grandees Lost
Their Estates Through Extrava-
gance and Improvidence = I'm
mense Forests of Valuable Wood.

especially that part of it east of line
drawn between Sagua de Tanamo. San
Luis and Santiago. is today of vital in
terest to thousands in the Uaited
States. The natural resources of the
country and its fertility, its products
and its industries, are of paramount
Importance. The richness of the soil
here. as elsewhere in the island, en-
titles it to consideration from an agri-
cultural standpoint.
The raising of cane and the manu-
facture of sugar are the chief sources
Of wealth in the province. In the i'm
mediate neighborhood of Santiago are
the following sugar estates:
Santa Ana-Owned by francisco
Auza. an American citizen, whose aver
age annual output is 10000 bags (each
300 pounds.
Hatillo-Owned by j. Bueno & Co.,
Cubans; annual output, $4,000 bags.
! Union-Owned by Santiago Rousseau,
a French citizen; $4,000 bags.
Sabinilla-Owned by Limo SaloZar, a
Cuban; $4,000 bags.
San Sebastian-Owned by Brooks &
Co., British subjects; 40, 900 bags.
Triumfo-Owned by Mr.. Whiting, an
American citizen; 5000 bags.
Northumberland and destroyed by
the insurgents.
San Luis-Owned by Angel Norma, a
Spaniard: now abandoned.
In the vicinity of Guantanamo the
principal estates are San Miguel, Santa
Cabel. Confiuente. Los Canos and Sole
| dad. The average annual crop of these
estates is estimated at $4,000 bags each.
There are many smaller estates.
The estates are all on the southern
coast. or this side of the Sierra Macs
ira chain of mountains. No sugar cane
| &c. 1,o CT in M
province.
CENTRAL ESTATES.
Manzanillo. further westward on the
south coast. boasts of many large
''centrales." or German sugar estates,
where the cane grown on neighboring
fields is brought and ground, so many
! carloads of cane being delivered
against so many pounds of manufac-
! tured sugar, the grinder or owner of
| the estate making his profit out Of the
immense amount of cane brought HIM,
of which he keeps a percentage or roy
atty, the colOno or smaller planter find
ing it to his advantage to have his
cane ground on royalty basis, instead
of laying out a large sum of money
| for machinery, etc, unWarranted by
/ the smallness of his holding, or cane
| crop
! Guantanamo. Santiago and Mama
milo are the three important sugar
shipping ports of eastern Cuba.
COFFEE AND COCOA.
Next in Importance, agriculturally,
come the coffee and cocoa plantations,
with which Santiago province is .hick-
| " covered. Coffee and cocoa plants are
generally on the same ''fincas,' or plan
tations. the frail coffee shrub requir-
i ing for its growth the shade offered by
ha fol nd - No
The coffee shrub yields its crop in
November. but. as it is not regular and
uniform. three. harvests are made an
nually. the first in November, the Sc c.
ond in January and the third in March.
Large Quantities of cocoa have been
shipped annually to Spain and France.
at prices varying between SIS and SIT
per hundredweight, free on board, but
for many years no coffee has been eX-
ported from the island of Cuba. The
reason Cor this lies in the fact that
Cuban coffee. like Cuban tobacco, is CT
a rare quality and aroma, laised and
selected by experts, and of necessity
bringing a price which would not easily
find a market for the product abroad.
In the fields Cuban coffee sells for from
S21 to S25 per hundred pounds.
OWNED BY GRANDEES.
In the bygone days these ''cafetales"
Coffee plantations) used to be the pride
of the Spanish grandees, their original
owners, who lived on their plantations
in great style, with their suites and
retinues. Six months in the year the
plantations would be scenes of feast
ing and merry making, neighboring
grandees coming from miles around in
their "volantes' and on horseback,
staying in one ''finea" a fortnight at a
time, then pushing on to the next plan
tation, carrying their last host with
them, until the complete round of the
"cafetales" was made.
The Spanish owners, therefore, spent
their lives in gaiety and debauch, pay
ing little attention to the management
of their estates while they yielded a
handsome living. But gradually their
plantations ceased to produce these
kingly incomes, and their fortunes be-
gan to dWindle.
driven over from Hayti, formed a
strong colony in Santiago in those early
days, and they took advantage of the
lax and shortSighted hidalgos. They
loaned their money on the
plantations. had themselves ap-
pointed overseers, foreclosed their
mortgages and became the own
ers of the rich "cafetales,'' most of
which to this day are owned by their
descendants. Of so "cafetales" it will
be found that 40 are owned by French
men.
A very common parasite creeper
which clings to the rough and sturdy
mahogany trees, choking and killing
them inch by inch, until after 20 years
the trees are dead and decayed is still
called the French overseer.'
Maize, yams, sweet potatoes and
other vegetables grow everywhere with
little care or supervision. In six months
they bear. Coffee shrubs need the shade
and these plants offer it.
The result is that on most coffee
plantations the vegetables are grown
which amply feed and sustain the plan
ter, who, after six months, is on self
sustaining basis with a good coffee
crop ahead as clean profit
Tobacco is grown extensively at
Palma Soriano, San Luis Barre, Jigu-
any and Guica, most of which has
hitherto been shipped to Germany.
Guica produces the best leaf. although,
of course, of an inferior grade as com
pared with Vuelta or Partidos tobacco.
Baracoa. on the north coast, is the
home of the cocoanut and plantain in
its wild and luXuriant state The ship
ments of these fruits to the north has
for many years warranted two steam
ship lines, exclusively engaged in the |
fruit trade, to run between Baracoa I,
and New York. The piantains and ba- |
nanas are extensively used in the man
ufacture of vinegar.
WEALTH OF FORESTS.
The woods and forests of eastern
Cuba abound in every variety of hard
woods. the principal being mahogany,
cedar, rosewood and majagua, a wood
lypOxxr1 tha world over. tho cfY-or1