The times., 1899-08-20


Fortunes Might Reward Banana
PIanting-Energy of EngIishmen.
Trinidad de Cuba, Aug. 10.-Though
! many thousands of our countrymen have
visited Cuba with speculative intent dur
ing the last year, fewer than 500 OF them
today own dollars worth of property on
the island. This is the more remarkable
when Englishmen are buying up property
right and left Is it because the sons of
Britain are less cautious than their West
erD cousins, or are they shrewder business
men? You may meet them everywhere
in town and country, in the highways OF
travel and the byways of the interior, rid
ing about on their ponies, getting options
on sugar lands, timber lands, mining
lands, broken-do plantations city man
sions, building sites, anything on which
the most sanguine Imagination can con-
ceive of penny to be gained. They operate
with their customary quiet persistency,
talking little, but making grist of all that
comes to the mill. A huge deal was re-
Gently completed by one of these silent
agents. whereby a London syndicate be-
came the owners of nearly two million
acres, in the central portion Of the island.
1t is said that the Englishmen purpose try
ing some novel experiments on part of
their land, in the line of tea culture. celery,
berries, etc
Thriftiness of Berries.
BY the way we have always heard that
I IT,, T,,ho oTrr
neous statement easily disproved. The
trouble with berries in Cuba is that they
grow SO big in this generous soil as not
to be recognized by their nearest Northern
relations gooseberries, for example,
swelling to the size of plums and currants
as large as cherries. Right here is hint
| to women, for whom there seems to be
! few openings in our new possessions. 1t
| is well known that the currant crop has
been practically a failure In the United
States for several years, owing to some
thing which destroys the bushes, and that
all-currant jelly, such as used to be the
housewives pride, In universal demand for
cakes, game, and other culinary purposes,
has become a thing of the past its place
| being poorly filled by factory product
| compounded largely OF gelatine. Why not
plant few Cuban acres with currant
| ly as our grandmothers made, nodded in
glasses which would find ready sale? In
| the beautiful long ago. at home in the
| country, when mother, sisters, and aunts
| all joined in the annual jelly making, we
used to calculate that the batch of trans
lucent ruby, which would stand alone
| when released from the molds, cost about
2 cents per glass, buying sugar at retail;
and as there is an endless demand for it,
/ or ant oil md n fba f$
/ is not uncertain.
| In this province of Santa Clara, which
| by all authorities is conceded to be the
/ richest in Cuba, the price of land varies
from 80 cents the acre to $300--the latter
the cream of the sugar lands, the former
mostly unbroken and good for little but
pasturage. In some places, well cleaned
land near market towns can be bought as
low as So the acre; but as rule, this is
only in cases where oncewealthy planters
find themselves without cash, owing to
hard times brought on by the war, and
| are compelled to part with some of their
ancestral acres in order to start anew in
cane or tobacco growing. 1t is for these
golden opportunities that the shrewd En-
glishmen aforesaid are looking and few
escape their eyes.
Drawback to Investment.
One drawback to investment in Cuba is
the uncertainty of titles and the absolute
authority exercised by the native nota-
ries. According to the old Spanish laws
which are yet in vogue to a great extent
the notaries keep all records of land IL
ties, and from their decisions there is nc
appeal. The office has descended from
father to son through many generations
and having had things so long their OWL
way, the incumbents have grown exceed
iLgly arrogant and demand outrageous
fees. Three hundred dollars is not con-
sidered an exorbitant charge for the copy
of deed. Not long ago 1000 was ac-
tually paid in Havana for recording q
deedi Fifteen hundred or 81 600 is the
common charge for recording a Will.
AS everybody knows, 1t requires mill.
ionaire. or wealthy syndicate, to do nuct
in sugar-cane, because a very large trac
of land is necessary, besides a fortune il
machinery, buildings, plantation railway
cattle, etc. Coffee does not grow every.
where. and neither does tobacco. Putting
aside these two great staples of Cuba
what could a man (or woman) of moder.
, ate means engage in, with fair prospects
, of success? First and foremost is trucl
, farming because with a single acre of thi
a man may support family; and with tel
acres judicously managed, in a favorable
. locality, he may rapidly acquire a com
| petence. AT present almost no vegetable
, are raised in Cuba except the native swee
potato, the people depending for their sup
. plies chiefly on canned goods, and a fey
peas, tomatoes, etc, brought from Florida
The Cubans have only lately learned t,
care for turnips, beets and other of ou
! common Northern vegetables, and ar
: willing to pay good prices for them; an
there are now enough Americans on tn
: island to consume the products of all tn
truck farms that are likely to be estab
lished here for years to come. Poultr,
: farms. though greatly needed, are still al
, most unknown In Cuba. Bee ranches, toe
though more troublesome and uncertain
> would doubtless pay extremely well. Sue
cessful experiment has proved that te
9 can be profitably raised in our own South
!, then why not better in Cuba, where sol
and climate, are more like that of Chin
and Ceylon? At any rate, the farme
might hedge his beans and cabbages wit
tea plants as well as with any other bush
The Department of Agriculture at Wash
ington viii furnish the plants free O
charge; his wife and children can pic
5 and dry the leaves, and If he gain nothin
but the filling OF the family tea-caddy, tn