The Republican journal., 1899-07-20

string and MIXED for the convenience of
customers.
Another important industry, which is
never likely to be over done in Cuba, no
matter how many Americans flock in, is
truck farming. 1T is strange that the ma
tives Of this wonderfully fertile island,
like those Of Mexico and most sem-tropi-
cal countries seem TO have no idea what
ever of growing the common table vege-
tables. Asparagus, for example, can be
bought in Habana only in tins, though
three or four crops a year of it might be
raised without an effort Yet everybody
is fond of it and the 5" ell la carte res
taurants pay a dollar a plate for the can
ned stun. Tomatoes are sometimes grown
in back patios, more for an ornament than
anything else, but are never raised to any
extent, though everybody depends upon
them to assist the salad which figures SO
largely twice every day in the Cuban
menu. None are found in the markets,
outside Of tin cans, except the small, bit
ter wild variety. Celery, we do not ex-
pect i'll regions where there is 40 frost;
but am told by an American, who tried
the experiment. thatit grows to surprising
perfection in the sandy soil of Cuba. a
great many Irish potatoes are grown,
especially in the irrigated Guinness valley,
| but not nearly enough to supply the whole
island. The bOnjatO, a kind of wild sweet
potato, is much more common product,
as it grows without care and its sugary
taste is agreeable to the native palate.
Cabbages, peas, beets, turnips and other
ordinary vegetables are not grown at all
in Cuba, though the people of the cities
are literally waiting to consume all that
can be produced. SO utterly ignorant are
the natives of market gardening that
when the starving reconcentIados at Mar
iaDJa were given the use of land on which
to raise something to sustain life, and
seeds and implements were offered them,
every one started in to plant tobacco--the
| only staff OF lfe'' with which they were
acquainted. Lying close to all the houses
and cities are large areas of unused land.
/ Some OF 1t may need drainage and other
portions irrigation; but an intelligent
wiling TO work northern farmer will
know how to supply either necessity in
some simple, inexpensive fashion. The
natives, having no idea of truck FARMS
are ignorant OF the value of these lands,
and will not find it out until American
German and Chinese market gardeners
have taught them an object-lesson.
Whether the soil is Black ana deep, chloe
olate color OF red as brick dust, its fer
tiliJy is the wonder Of the world. You
may search the grazing meadows of Santa
! Clara and the grass ''porterros Of
Puerto Principe and scarcely find a stone
No sticky clay is found in the earth, but a
great depth of loan, the result of centu-
ries OF organic decay, fertilized by the
disintegration of coral reefs and older
lime rock, and by the remains of marine
mammalia that swarmed the Miocene
ocean The whole island is one big tropi-
cal conservatory and its wealth of verdure
is that of the northern hot house.
AS to whether it would prove a profit
able venture to send down working oxen
for sale in Cuba, | can only say that oXep
are used tor all the heavy work of the is
land, IN place OF mule OF man power, and
even of machinery. 1t has always been
believed that only oxen can pillow the land,
which after the long, dry season becomes
in many places hard as macadamized
road. An American gentleman of my ac-
quaintance, who is doing some expert
mental farming in the Guinness valley, has
demonstrated the untruth of the PROPOSE
ton by blowing with mules, and doing a
good deal more of it in a day than the
Cubans have ever done. His farm, how
ever, lies in the one irrigated section of
the island, or perhaps he could not have
accomplished it. First he softened the
hard baked clay by turning on water for
couple OF days; and then with a pair of
army mules and an American steel pillow,
turned up an acre of ground in one day,
twelve inches deep, to the unbounded as
constituent of the natives. Hitherto, for
four long centuries, only the surface of
Cuba has been slightly scratched with
wooden plows, leaving all below in virgin
richness. If any of my readers desire
further particulars concerning Cuban
farming, they can obtain them by writing
to Mr.. Edward Egleston. Guinness, Pro-
vince of Habana. He is the experimental
! agrlculturist above referred to-an oblig-
ing American gentleman of highest at
tainments, who will doubtless cheerfully
answer all questions-if stamps are en-
closed for reply.
The possibilities of fruit-culture in
/ Cuba are practically unlimited. As every
body knows, all varieties of tropical fruits
are found on the island, most of them too
perlshable for transportation and OF an in
sipid sweetness not relshed by Americans.
Nothing has ever been done, to my knowl-
| edge, in the way of acclimatizing the
fruit OF the temperate zone, though pears,
peaches, plums, etc., to say nothing of
berries of all kinds, ought to flourish as
/ we'll ucIc dS Ill SOulUeTH CdllIOGQld anu
Florida. Years ago thriving fruit bust
ness was done near the eastern end of the
island, Baracoa, the oldest city in the
Antilles being the port of shipment. Ba-
nanas were the principal crop, and cocoa
nuts, oranges, pineapples, aguacates and
mangoes were also handled at one time
Baracoa was the greatest banana shipping
port in the world, before various places
| in Central America came into prominence
in that line. Now there is no trace of
such an industry-and even in the golden
days of prosperity nothing could be seen
of it from the decks of vessels rounding
the tip of the island. Though the great
orchards and pine fields lay only a short
distance inland, between them and the
sea rose those three remarkable terraces
which rise abruptly from the eastern
coast from two hundred to two thousand
feet. One of the most prolific of tropi-
cal fruit trees is the lime, bearing from