22 THE PLANT WORLD 



tains especially, and where the underlying rock is near the surface, as 

 in the Isle of Pines and the Pinar Plateau, it has been entirel}^ removed, 

 either hj fire or by the heavy rains. The demand for charcoal is now 

 so great that the trade is highly important, especially through the port 

 of Batabano, where it is brought in schooners from the Isle of Pines, 

 and from the swamp lands and mountains of the south coast. The 

 wooded areas are constantly dwindling on account of this demand, and 

 in a long dry season are unable to re-establish themselves. Practically 

 all the northern portion of the pine lands in the Isle of Pines is annu- 

 ally burned over to furnish a little grass for a few cattle, while the 

 immense lumber interests, so valuable now in regenerating Cuba, are 

 thoughtlessly ignored, and the capital stock of the island, the original 

 forest, is being wantonly destroyed. In western Cuba, on the Pinar 

 Plateau, the view shown in the first figure is a common one. On these 

 almost level stretches of low uplands, the coral rock is very close to 

 the surface, and stores up the heat of the winter sun, thus preventing 

 the retention of moisture in the thin soil. Similar conditions prevail 

 in the pine mountains, shown in the second illustration ; here the sandy 

 shale that almost entirely makes up the hills, retains little moisture. 

 One may walk for miles and never be out of sight of the steep slopes 

 covered with small angular pieces of quartz, and with an almost total 

 absence of soil. Such conditions are, of course, deplorable anywhere, 

 but particularly so in a country like Cuba, where fuel and lumber are 

 both necessary and valuable, and where a large proportion of the arable 

 land is given over to such crops as sugar and tobacco. 



Aside from these utilitarian features of the Cuban flora, there is 

 another of considerable importance. The change in the topography 

 has been so great, that the original type of vegetation exists now only 

 in isolated places, and usually in comparatively small patches, along 

 water courses and among rocks of the hard limestone mountains ; and 

 it is not often a conspicuous feature of the landscape. For large areas 

 the primitive flora has been mainly replaced by dry -ground, or xero- 

 phytic plants, which have greatly extended their original ranges. 

 Thus views like those shown in the illustrations are common, but by no 

 means represent the former wealth of plant life occurring throughout 

 the same areas. 



If Cuba is to become prosperous, some remedy is necessarj^ but it 

 is doubtful whether the people, with their habits of rarely thinking of 

 or making preparations for the future, can be expected to apply one. 

 Thousands of acres now utterly worthless, might, if saved from the 

 annual burning over, be allowed to grow as they will, and would event- 

 ually produce fuel in abundance for the whole population. 

 Washington, D. C. 



