Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1908-02-14
SMALL FARMS IN CUBA.
AGRICULTURE HAS MADE PROGRESS
SINCE The WAR.


the New York Tribune. Leaving out
the culture of fruits, which is going to
take front rank in its agricultural in
dustry in the near future, there is
a further variation in production.
Guines is the district of small farms
and small farming. They raise crops
not only for local consumption, but
for export to the United States. No
section of the island gives better
chance to study the prospects and the
conditions Of small farming.
Before the instruction brought such
great destruction the Guines district
was one of the most prosperous parts
of the island. 1t has been coming up
rather slowly because, with so large
proportion of small farms destroyed,
and with their owners dead or heavily
in debt, speedy recuperation was not
possible. The foreclosure of mortgages
which has begun still bears heavily
on some unfortunate landowners, but
this is one of the inevitable results
Of the war which no authority of gov
eminent could entirely relieve. Never
theless, in spite of the grip of the Span
ish money lender, many of the orig
inal owners of the small farms or
their heirs seem to be keeping their
property or a part of it. Their bur-
dens are heavy, yet encouragement is
given that with a good season or two
these will be lightened.
The Guines district is not given over
entirely to small farming, for half the
country is covered with cane fields, and
there are several large centrales, or
sugar mills. which did not have to be
rebuilt Among these are the Provi-
dencia, one of the largest in Havana
province, which also operates a small
refinery; the Amistad, Nombre de Dios
and other smaller estates. All of these
have raised fair crops this year, which
have brought an average price, and
thus the gradual revival of the sugar
industry has helped other agricultural
pursuits. The cane planted insures a
crop at least one-fourth larger next
season, and this will be an additional
aid toward recuperation.
The Guines district differs from 9th
er parts of the island in that it does
not depend on nature alone for it's fer
tility. Irrigation enabled it to become
the market garden of Havana and to
export a considerable surplus crop
of onions, potatoes and other vegeta-
bles to the United States 1t is claimed
that good part of Bermuda onions,
instead of coming from Bermuda. come
from Guines. By means OF irrigation
the district is enabled to market two
crops of)both potatoes and onions an
! nually, in addition to other products
which are raised for the island con-
sumption.
The irrigating bitches have not been
restored to their former condition, but
enough is seen of the system to demon
strate its value in country where the
rainy season of four or five months is
supposed to furnish sufficient moisture
for the rest of the year. Cuines, by
means of irrigation, has had the adj
vantage over the other parts of the is
land that it could alternate crops with
greater regularity, and was not af-
fected by the occasional drouths which
occur often enough to demonstrate that
the rains in Cuba are not perennial
or perpetual The soil is both of the
rich black loan and of the red earth,
which is sometimes called mulatto
land. 1t is good for sugar as we'll as
for fruits and vegetables, but it does
not produce the tobacco leaf of the
quality or quantity sufficient to make
this cultivation profitable.
The Spanish laws governing irriga-
ton are said to be very good ones
They protect all parties in interest
and afford a sufficient guarantee fol
the investment of capital. Before the
insurrection various English and
American syndicates were reported to
be projecting extensive systems of ir-
| rigation. Since peace came these re-
ports have been revived. but;Slike most
enterprises which are dependant upon
American capital, the realization
comes very slowly. Yet in time the OBJ
ject lesson which Guines has given OF
the value of irrigation is certain tc
be taken advantage of, either by CO.
operation among the land owners
themselves or by corporations with
outside capital.
IN the days before the war and in
surrection the possession of a caballe
ria of land with a few oxen anywhere
in the Guines territory constituted
what would be called in the states 9
well-to-do farmer. A caballeria is 3S l.;
acres, yet in its productive value II
would pass for the quarter section Of
100 acres on a western prairie. The
farm houses and outbuildings as in al
parts of rural Cuba, are simple and
inexpensive. and the conditions of life
except for the oppression and corrup-
tion of the Spanish officials. were mo-
difficult to meet. Sometimes a caballe-
ria would be sold for $4,000 or there
abouts. but it was difficult to put any
fixed price.
The small holding was valuable
enough to secure more than one ad
vance from the bodeguero or store
keeper, who usually was the money
loaner. In spite of Is or 20 percent in
terest. compounded annually, the pro
duetiveness of the soil was grea
enough to stave of the foreclosure fo
long time. and the small farmer,
with the debts hanging over them man