THE REPUBLIC OF SAN DOMINGO 25*3 



Tobacco grows readily everywhere, and, in addition to 

 local use, nearly thirteen million pounds are annually ex- 

 ported. The principal area of culture is on the northern 

 side. It is said that smue of the tobacco of the uplands 

 of the interior is quite as highly flavored and as good as 

 the besl Vnelta Abajo, and if Cuban skill were exercised 

 in its culture and curing it would be a mosl valuable ar- 

 ticle. Vet tobacco-culture is declining, while the production 

 of coffee, cocoa, and bananas, as well as cane-sugar, is on 

 the increase. Some attention has recently been given to 

 cattle-raising and dairy produce. A large part of the 

 Vega Keal, as well as other parts of San Domingo, is 

 admirably adapted to cultivation by irrigation, which 

 could be accomplished at a very trifling expense in com- 

 parison with other lands. 



What we have said concerning tropical fruits in the other 

 Antilles applies equally to Santo Domingo. They grow 

 everywhere throughout the island. American companies 

 have appreciated the banana-lands, and large shipments are 

 made from Samana Bay. The luxuriance of the native 

 forests is one of the most striking features; large tracts 

 of these in the interior have been preserved, owing to 

 their inaccessibility to transportation. On these mountain 

 slopes is an abundance, not only of the choicest cabinet- 

 woods, such as mahogany, satin woods, and cedar, but also 

 a greal variety of timber especially valuable for house- and 

 ship-building, and many other woods which enter into 

 manufactures. 



San Domingo has been a center of the mining interests, 

 but at present its mineral resources are neglected. The 

 republic in former years engaged an American geologist, 

 Mr. W. M. Qabb, to make a geological survey of its do- 

 main, and a good report has been published thereon. I iold, 

 which \\a< worked extensively in the earlier years of its 

 discovery, occurs both in placers in the plains and in 

 quartz veins higher up in the mountains. The gravel is 

 rich in quality, bul the quantity La too small over any 



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