Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1911-04-06

built up Of plain lurber f9c to eight
feet high and for the roof framework
is made of poles and these are matched
with long grass and palms.
The farmers there raise few cattle,
some corn. vegetables and sugar cane,
and some raise few pineapples. The
farm work is all done with oxen-o one
to three yoke Of cattle being used on a
single plow and at times during the
summer eight and ten are used. The
I plows are queer in construction, many
OF them being made Of a small tree.
This IS used for the beam and is long
enough to be attached to the oxe-yoke.
Then piece Of timber is fastened to
the end Of the beam and this piece of
( iron Is fastened for the pillow, and the
other end extends up and is used as a
handle The Cubans have a peculiar
way of Harvesting their oxen. The yoke
! is placed close to the horns of the cat
tie, then rope is wrapped around the
yoke and horns, and over a pad placed
on the forehead Of the cattle. BY this
method they are pulling from the top
Of their heads. making it very difficult
for them to pull! heavy loads. After
passing over that rolling land for forty
five miles. We crossed beautiful val
ley five miles wide, and in this valley
the land was slightly rolling, and the
soil was deep black loan. On it
sugar cane was growing from four 70
seven feet in height. This they were
just beginning to harvest and haul to
market. This cane is cut near the ground
the leaves are trimmed from the stems.
These are left on the ground about three
days. Then these stems are placed in
racks on two-wheeled carts and hauled
with oxen to the sugar mills, or to the
railroad and placed in racks on fiat cars.
After leaving that valley we passed
through country of high hills and
deep valleys. The hills were covered
with thick grass and many of the val
leys had small stream of flowing water
and various varieties of small timber
were growing there. Within five miles
of Mantanzas we struck rolling land
covered with fields of sugar cane. hemp
and truck gardens.
In the north many people think il
must be very warm in Cuba in the sum-
mer season, but from all we could learn
while in Havana, the temperature dur
ing the longest days in summer was
from seventy to eighty. With this
temperature and the light breeze from
the ocean make it very even and
delightful climate.
When we think of Cuba as a small
island and the number of people who
there-2, 048, $50, according to the 1907
census we would think the farms there
must be very small But some men
own large tracts of land. One of these
large farms is fifty miles north of SAM
tiago and contains SO, 1888 acres, most of
which is covered with hardwood tim
Der. We found the railroad equipment
in Cuba about the same as in the United
States, except that the cars and engines
We're smaller. The passenger trains
have first and third class coaches. The
first class cars are built the same as the
old style coaches here and arr, about
two-thirds as long. The third class
coaches are very low, the tops are made
rounding like on box cars, and the win
dows are exceedingly small. The rail-
road we travelled over was very crooked
but it was quite smooth and .and the
train made good time-from thirty to
fifty miles an hour.
On our return to Havana we spent
some time there, and on January 9th at
3 p. m. we went on board the steamer
Governor Cobb and steamed through
the channel, passing MORO castle, and
continued out in the Atlantic, leaving
the white city to the rear of us. While
we were in the harbor, protected from
the wind by the lofty hills to the north
and east and the giant walls of MORO
castle, we were pleased in thinking we
were going to have calm sea on our
return trip to Key West. But after
sailing few miles strong wind came
up from the east, and we then seated
ourselves in some easy chairs on the
upper deck on the east side of the ves-
sci and took our rocking lesson. We
noticed that many Of the passengers
enjoyed the fresh air more than they
did their suppers that evening.
Continued next week
Pratt Bros. Webster, S. d. |