The times., 1899-07-16

door to door, to be milked before the con-
| sumer's eyes, until few years ago when
the captain general issued an edict forbid
ding the practice. To this day goats are
hauled about town by string and milkad
for the convenience of customers
Market for Native Vegetables,
! Another important industry, which is
never likely to be overdone 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 semi
| tropical countries seem to have no idea
whatever of growing the common table
vegetables. Asparagus, for example, can be
| bought in Havana only in tins, though
| three or four crops year of il might be
raised without an effort Yet everybody
is fond of it, and in the swell q la carte
| restaurant pays dollar a plate for the
| canned stuff. Tomatoes are sometimes
grown in back patios, more for an orna-
! ment than anything else. but are never
| raised to any extent, though everybody de-
pends upon them to assist the salad which
| figures so largely twice every day in the
Cuban menu. None are found in the mar
kets, outside of tin cans, except the small,
bitter, wild variety. Celery we do not ex-
pect in regions, where there is no frost;
but l am told by an American who tried
the experiment that it grows to surpris-
ing perfection in the sandy soil of Cuba.
A great many Irish potatoes are grown,
especially in the irrigated Guines Valley,
but not nearly enough to supply the whole
island The boniato, a kind of wild sweet
potato, is a 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 M OF oil
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 reconcentrados at Marianoa were
given the use of land on which to raise
something to sustain life, and seeds and
| implements were offered them, everyone
started in to plant tobacco-tke only "staff
of life' with which they were acquainted
Lying close to all the houses and cities are
large areas of unused land, Some of it
may need drainage and other portions
irrigation; but an intelligent, willing-to-
work Northern farmer will know how to
supply either necessity in some simple in
expensive fashion. The natives, having no
idea of truck farms, are ignorant of the
value of these lands, and will not find 1t
out until American, German, and Chinese
marketgardeners have taught them an OBJ
ject lesson. Whether the soil is black and
deep, chocolate color, or red as brick dust,
its fertility 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
great depth of loan, the result of cen
turies 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 trop-
ical conservatory and its wealth of verdi
ure is that of the northern hothouse
As to whether it would prove profit
able venture to send down working oxen
for sale in Cuba, can only say that oxen
are used for all the heavy work of the
| island in place of mule or man-power,
and even of machinery. 1t has always
been believed that only oxen can plow the
land, which, after the long, dry season,
becomes in many places as hard as a ma
cadamized road. An American gentleman
OF my acquaintance, who is doing some ex-
| perimental farming in the Guines Valley,
| has demonstrated the untruth of the prop
osition by plowing with mules, and doing
day than the Cubans have ever
done His farm, however, lies
In one of the irrigated sections of the is
| land. or perhaps he could not have ac-
complished it, First he softened the hard
| baked clay by turning ON water for a cou-
pie OF days, and then with pair of army
mules and an American steel plow turned
up an acre of ground in one day. twelve
| inches deep, to the unbounded astonish-
ment 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 par
ticulars concerning Cuban farming, they
can obtain them by writing to Mr.. Ed
ward Egleston, Guines, Province of Hav-
ana He is the experimental agriculturist
above referred to-an obliging American
| gentleman of highest attalnments, who will
doubtless cheerfully answer all questions
If stamps are enclosed for reply.
| Fruit-Growing.
The possibilities of fruit culture in Cuba
are practically unlimited. AS everybody
knows all varieties of tropical fruits are
found on the island, most Of them too per-
ishable for transportation and of an insipid
sweetness not relished by Americans Moth
ing has ever been DONE to my knowledge.
in the way of acclimatizing the fruits of
the temperate zone, though pears, peaches.
plums, etc, TO say nothing of berries of ali
kinds ought to flourish as well here as in
! Southern California and Florida Years
/ dSO al luIINiUS lTulI business was done
near the eastern end of the island, Baracoa
the oldest city in the Antilles being the
port of shipment. Bananas were the prin-
cipal crop, and cocoanuts, oranges, pine
| apples, 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 moth
| ing 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 remark
able terraces which rise abruptly from the
| eastern coast from 200 To ZOO feet.
One of the most prolific of tropical fruit
! trees is the lime, bearing from sixty to
| eighty bushels to the acre, each lime the
size of a hens egg. 1t is estimated that
| this will make seven gallons of juice to
barrel and fifteen ounces of citric acid to
a gallon. There is no trouble in picking
| them, for when lines are ripe they fall to
the ground. About 10000 Cuban acres are
! planted to the big red bananas, which are
so well liked in the United States, and ten
| times that amount would not begin to be
enough. Better yet are the small yellow
bananas, the very best in the world
and never seen outside of Cuba Though
| the large bitter orange is most common
| here, there Is a small sweet variety in
digenous to the island equal to the far
famed oranges of Paraguay. One who has
never eaten a Cuban mango has missed a
happy experience. 1t is as large as your
fist, plnkish green outside and golden with
in, so luscious and juicy that it is an old
saying ''one should sit over washtub to