The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-05-14

of the great prairie farms of Illinois, and
fences of piled-up stones speak Of thrifty
New England Clear streams are fire.
quent; corn is knee-high in a few scat
tered fields, and the thick, coarse grass
of the meadows raises anew the old
queery why, in this land of condensed
milk and rank, imported butter, dairy
farms are not established. Of course we
know that all the cattle of the island
were killed and eaten during the war;
but now that peace is restored, why do
not some sensible Americans awake from
their never-to-be realized dreams of
amassing colossal fortunes In Cuba sand
come down to the simple and feasible
business of making butter raising chick
ems and cultivating market gardens?
Poultry sells in Habana today at prices
unheard of in the United States-the
smallest and scrawniest fowls bringing
from $3.50 to $500 each. Eggs cost $500
the crate; cows-milk, 20 cents the quart
and most Of the common vegetab' es ara
not to be had for love or money. This
valley of Guines Is one of the rich st Sec
tons of Cuba, which formerly sent to
the Habana markets onions and boniatas
Co kind of sweet pOtato) to the value Of
three million dollars a year, to say Moth
ing of its corn and sugar-cane. Nowhere
else does the landscape show such brill
liant coloring, in the dark red earth,
1t is very paradise Of climate, with soil
Of unparalleled richness, but desolated by
wars relentless hand. Not a farmhouse
is left standing, none having escaped de-
strucion by one army or the other. Only
an occasional hut is seen in the open
country, shaped like an inverted v, it's
matched roof and palm-leaf walls form
ing picturesque feature. 1t Is worth
knowing, in a commercial sense, that two
crops year of corn, onions and Irish po-
tatoes are here grown and marketed.
This is an absolute certainty, Independent
of any freaks Of the weather, the water
supply being regulated by irrigation.
They say that three crops in year are
possible-but surely two in such generous
proportion, with an uninterrupted success
sion of vegetables, ought to satisfy any
reasonable man. There are great many
small stations along the railway route to
Catalina, because in Cuba's golden days
OF rich plantations roads were built ex-
pressly to accommodate the planters
each OF whom was as a king in his own
domain, his casa and sugar mill being the
center Of village of serfs. They are
now
MOSTLY KINGS DEPOSED
their fields laid waste, mills and houses
burned, and only the serfs remain to
beg of passing travellers. Every station
Is thronged with nendicants, mostly Wo-
men and children, whose pitiful rags and
emaciated faces accentuate their tales of
woe. Each village is surrounded by a
Gordon of Spanish blockhouses, small
ones guarding all cross roads and crown
ing every eminence, and larger forts
near the railway depots. Every village
church is still enclosed within q barri-
cade of stones, hastily erected when the
Spanish army took possession. They sta
bled their horses inside, knocked down the
saints and holy affairs, used the belfry
for a watch tower, and punched holes in
the walls through which to poke their
guns. Such Dissertation was the more re-
markable since the Spanish army to a
man was Roman Catholic with the her
editary veneration strong within him for
so-called sacred things. A great many
negroes are seen lounging around the
railway stations, most of them wearing
| the light cotton uniform and tuIned-up-
| in-front straw hats that distinguish the
| Cuban soldiers. "Othello's occupations
| gone, and he handles his beloved Rem
| ington or Mauser-probably stolen from
| some dead Spaniard--as If longing for
| another job of the same nature. Each
| station is also the residence of it's "Jefe''
and affords glimpses of family life to the
passing understanding chairs and sew