The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1902-10-17


salaried help is employed, wages are
often higher than in other parts of the
island, for the class of men who usual
ly supply the demand for day work
men are busy gathering their own
small crops. Moreover, the competi-
tion Of number Of employers for the
same amount of labor makes wages
better than when hiring is done by a
single planter. AS tobacco cannot be
allowed to stand in the field when ma
ture enough for cutting, there are ex-
ceptional occasions when the price
paid for crop gathers rise to 81 in
gold $3.50 American) day for very
short periods. From 81 to 50 Ameri-
can currency is as high rate as is
usually paid during the busiest sea-
son.
The operations of tobacco raising
are sowing, transplanting, wedding,
worming, buding, cutting, curing,
punching and baling. The ground has
to be prepared as for other crops.
Raising seed plants for resetting is
sometimes conducted as a separate
business upon highland unsuited for
cultivating the plant to maturity. One
man can attend to 10, 900 plants. These
are transplanted from seeding beds to
rows 2 or 8 feet apart and l or 2 feet
apart in the row, and 10000 plants do
not usually represent more than an
acre of ground. Allowing for the
assistance rendered by his family, five
acres is probably all that any farmers
can cultivate without hired labor In
1899 there were II acres of tobacco in
cultivation in Pinar del Rio for every
person engaged in agriculture in that
province, or probably about two acres
for every proprietor, renter or hired
lahorer engaged in tobacco-raising.
Some field work is paid for on
picce-work basis A man receives
about IS in gold ($4.50 AmericaD) for
setting thousand plants. During
the baling season, farmers and laborers
receive from 81 to $40 gold $3.50 to
50 American) bale for packing.
Two-thirds of the tobacco produced
in Pinar del Rio is raised by white
tenant farmers. On one farm, rented
on shares by two brothers and stocked
by the landlord, where tour or five ad-
ditional hands are employed during
the busiest season, the combined net
profits Of the tenants vary from $500
to $4,000 gold ($l350 to $500 Ameri-
can) per annum. -"
Subsidiary to tobacco cultivation is
gathering of palm bark, with which
the bales are covered. The poorer
tenants and laborers collect and store
this throughout the year, to sell dur
ing the packing season, and thus Sc
cure small and variable addition to
their income.
While many small plats of yucca,
sweet potatoes and corn are scattered
among the tobacco fields, agriculture
is less diversified in these districts
than would be desirable. This is due
partly to the fact that tobacco soil is
not we'll suited to other crops, and
partly because the peasantry lack ini-
itiative and an intelligent appreciation
of the Advantage Of varying their pro-
ducts. The same condition prevails in
other parts of the island. Except in
the immediate vicinity OF the larger
t"wn~, there is little market gardening,
an | this is mostly in the hands Of the
Chinese. There is practically no fruit
raising for export. Speaking OF actual
conditions, no demand for hired labor
exists outside of the cane and tobacco
fields.
The grazing industry was destroyed
by the insurrection, but it is rapidly
being rc-established. In the central
part of Cuba, there are large ranges
of natural and artificial pasture, the
latter in Guinea and Parana grass.
There are no statistics of the number
of men employed on the stock farms OF
the island. Wages have always been
about the same as those of field labor.
crs. ,an, ,ing from $50 silver (Sl4 Am
"r'can) to s25 gold (s22 so American)
4 month and board. Most cowboys
are whites, and were even during
slavery. Young married men are
usually employed in this class of work
but on the large ranges many of the
herders occupy shacks, and cultivate
small plates of ground allowed them
hy the proprietor as incidental to their
These men usually have
AS an occupation, grazing
is not sufficiently differentiated from
other farm work to offer any peculiar