The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1899-08-24
,'r.ways and Byways to Wealth in
Cuba.

.l correspondence OF The Journal.
r.<.pAp DE CUBA, July u. Though
, thousands of our countrymen have
...... cuba with speculative intent dur
+r. asst year, fewer than five hundred
..eu to-day own dollars worth of
..t.y Oh the island. This is the more
cable when Englishmeu are buying
,rueIty right and left. Is it because
.,r, If Britain are less cautious than
-. Western cousins, or are they shrewp-
bs,5uesS men? You may meet them
...,VheIe-in town and country, in the
WAYS Of travel and the byways of the
...u riding about on their ponies, get
uJns on sugar lands, timber lands,
lnds, broken down plantations,
rasi9ns, building sites, anything on
e most sanguine imagination can
eeof penny gained They operate
., le.l customary quiet persistency,
..t. title, but making grist of all that
... the mill. A huge deal was re-
..- .ompleted by one of these silent
whereby a London syndicate be-
size owners of nearly two million
- The central portion of the island
said that the Englishmen purpose
.r- some novel experiments on part
and, ia the line of tea culture.
leuies, etc
. r Way, we have always heard that
sill not thrive in Cuba-an errone-
>ltement, easily disproved The
u with berries in Cuba is that they
IS l big in this generous soil as not to
34nized by their nearest northern
IFS, J. gooseberlies, for example,
SID. 10 the size of plums and currants
.l-e IS cherries. Right here is a hint
puDen for whom there seems to be
.g peuings in our new possessions. 1t
wal known that the currant crop has
I'D practically a failure in the United
5.g> .ol several years, owing to some
b. a Inch destroys the bushes, and that
nt jelly, such as used to be the
,- lie S pride, in universal demand for
se, came and other culinary purposes,
rs ecame thing of the past, its place
l- poorly filled by factory product
r"uuded largely of gelatine Why not
s few Cuban acres with currant
s1a, and convert the fruit into such
4 Us our grandmothers made, moulded
asses, which would find ready sale?
aeautitul long ago, at home in the
liry, when mother and sisters and
all joined in the annual jelly max
0e used to calculate that the batch
l-sIucent ruby, which would stand
zen released from the moulds, cost
"o cents the glass, buying sugar at
and as there is an endless demand
4t twenty cents the glass and up
'oe profit is not uncertain,
4s province OF Santa Clara, which
authorities is conceded to be the
Il Cuba, the plice of land varies
rty cents the acre to three hun
ans, the latter the cream Of the
ands, the former mostly unbroken
Wi tOI little bat pasturage. In some
We'll cleared land near the market
Ja be bought as low as three dol
~ acre; but as a rule, this is only in
,- Where once wealthy planters find
IS without cash, owing to hard
alougAt on by the war, and are
ed to part with some OF their an
-. acres in order to start anew in cane
H.eo growing. 1t is for these golden
mites that the shlewd Englishmen
la are looking. and few escape their
ravback to investment in Cuba is
ertainty Of titles and the absolute
~ exercised by the native notaries.
ug to the old Spanish laws, which
s7 n vogue to a great extent, the
a.4s keep all record of liabilities, and
h. heir decisions there is no appeal.
flee has descended from father to
trough many generations, and hav-
4 -ld things so long their own way, the
-in5ents have grown exceedingly AFRO
,t' and demand outrageous fees. Three
Dlt lharge for the copy of a deed Not
ago three thousand dollars was act
4 paid in Habana for recording deed
1-eu hundred or a thousand dollars is
-- mmon charge for recording a will.
everybody knows, it requires
-I"aaire, or wealthy syndicate, to do
--e4 in sugaI-cane, because very large
a1toi and is necessary, besides fortune
uachinery, buildings, plantation rail
way, cattle, etc. Coffee does not grow
7@Fwhere, and neither does tobacco.
sitting aside these two great staples of
-oa what could man Tor woman) of
~dejate means engage in, with fair
0,iects of success? First and foremost
farming, because with single
Ne Of this Incompatible soil, land the
.9ss oility of two or three crops a year, a
Odd may support family; and with ten
.as, judiciously managed, in favorable
dizzy, he may rapidly acquire com
..,eley Atpresent almost no vegetables
.e als.d in Cuba except the native sweet