Vol XI. No. 272. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 



315 



TRADE AND AGRICULTURE OF CUBA 

 1910-11. 



The following information concerning the agnciil- 

 ture and commerce of Cuba during the }'ear ended 

 Juue -iO, 1911, is taken from Jiiplomatic and Con- 

 sular Reports, No. ■i905 Annual Series: — 



The total trade of the Kepublic during the period under 

 review amounted to £49,432,634, divided into imports 

 ,£22,5"20,370 and exports £26,912,264, showing an increase 

 of £969,120 in imports and a decrease of £3,095,861 in 

 exports, or a decrease in the total trade of £2,126,741 as 

 compared with the figures of the preceeding financial year. 

 The decrease is accounted for by a diminution both in the 

 size and value of the 1911 sugar cro|). 



The total production (including local consumption) of 

 sugar in 1911 was 1,483,451 tons, as against 1,804,349 tons 

 in 19)0 



The decrease in the value of the crop as compared with 

 the preceding one was about £4,000,000, the quantity 

 harvested being nearly 300,000 tons short of the estimate. 



The area under sugar continues to increase under the 

 stimulus given to the industry by the increased demand and 

 consequent high prices of the past two or three years, and it 

 is said that there are still 10,000 square miles of sugar land 

 awaiting development. 



The value of the tobacco exported in 1910-11 was 

 £6,184,680; in 1909-10, it was £.5,765,155. 



The crop of 1910-11 again suffered -severely from the 

 cyclone, but was nevertheless larger than that of the previous 

 year. 



The export trade with the United Kingdom appears to be 

 still suflering from the increase in the British duty. Exact 

 figures of the exports to the United Kingdom are not yet 

 available, but it is knnwn that they show a slight increase 

 over the figures of the previous year. The United Kingdom 

 still remains Cuba's best customer for cigars. 



FRUITS. No great progress can yet be recorded in the 

 citrus fruit industry. It would ap|ie.ar that a success can at 

 present only be made of this industry where the plantations 

 are in a position to supply the local market. 



The export trade in coco-nuts has been almost destroyed 

 by a disease which has attacked the palms, and the number 

 .exported has fallen in three years from 10,000,000 to 

 4,000,000. A coco-nut oil mill at Baracoa which formerly 

 worked day and night operates only two days a week. The 

 Commission which has been con.sidering the disease appears 

 to be of opinion that nothing can uproot the disease except 

 the destruction of all the infected palms. As it takes five 

 years for a coco nut palm to come into bearing, the industry 

 must for some time sutler eclipse. 



The exportation of pine apples in 1910-11 amounted to 

 989,883 crates, a decrease of about 350,000 crates as 

 ■compared with the export in the previous year, the whole 

 going to the United States. 



COTTON. An interesting experiment has recently been 

 made in growing cotton on tobacco lands in the Province of 

 Pirar del Rio. So far 6 acres have been planted and the 

 experiments have extended over three years. 



The owners are now anxious to put the matter on 

 a commercial basis, and if the industry can be made 

 a success it would do much to relieve the prevalent distress 

 'in the western province. 



SISAL. A factory has recently been established at Regla, 

 ■near Havana, with a capital of £70,000 to work the sisal 

 ifrom its own plantation at Cardenas. The machinery has 



all been inported from the United States. It is said thak 

 2,000,000 plants are now ready for cutting and that over 

 3,000 acres are ready for cultivation. 



At Matanzis is situated the largest plant for working 

 sisal in the Vie&t Indies, and there are 4,000 acres under 

 cultivation in the immediate neighbourhood. 



HOXEY. A considerable amount of honey and beeswai 

 is produced in the eastern part of the island. It is 

 estimated that 250,000 gallons of honey (valued at £21,000) 

 and 250,000 It), of wax (valued at £13,500) were exported 

 in 1909-10. The honey is dark in colour but of good 

 quality. Nearly the whole of the honey goes to tha 

 Netherlands, and the wax to Germany. 



TIMBER Twelve million feet of spruce and 8,000,000 

 feet of white pine annually come to Havana, of which nearly 

 all the spruce and much of the pine come from Canada. 

 The import of Canadian lumber showB considerable prospect 

 of increase. 



Hardwoods — consisting almost entirely of mahogany — 

 to the value af £71,500 were exported to the United 

 Kingdom during the year under review. 



"•OFFEE. Coffee, which was once Cuba's principal crop^ 

 is now so little ciltivated that only enough is grown to fill 

 one quarter of the local demand. Cuba takes practically the 

 whole crop produced by Porto Rico, the duty of Porto Ricaa 

 coffee being only 8^, cents per fi). as against 1 1 cents on the 

 |iroduct of other countries. The total amount imported in 

 1909-10 was 2.5,000,000 lb. 



Coffee is, nevertheless, a crop which would give good 

 returns to the grower in Cuba, as the home-grown article 

 retails at about 25 per cent, higher price than foreign coffee, 

 and is jiroduced at about 1,200 tt. to the acre. 



BRITISH GUIANA AND THE INTERNA- 

 TIONAL RUBBER EXHIBITION. 



In the last number of the Agricultural Jfeios, p. 299 

 an account was given of the representation of the Imperial 

 Institute at the Third International Rubber Exhibition. 

 At a meeting of the British Guiana Board of Agriculture 

 held on August 22, it was stated that the following samples 

 from the Colony would be additionally included in the 

 exhibit of that Institute; — 



(1) Seven-pound sheet of balata from Messrs. Garnett 

 ct Co. 



(2) Seven-pound sample of sheet balata from the Con- 

 solidated Rubber and Balata Company. 



(3) Seven pounds of plantation Para biscuits from Mr. W. 

 Hodgson, of Plantation Noitgedacht, Demerara River. 



(4) Biscuits of plantation Para rubber from Messrs. 

 Booker, Bros,, McConnell & Co., Ltd., from Plantatioa 

 Tuschen. 



(5) Biscuits of plantation Para rubber from the Experi- 

 ment Station of the Department of Science and Agriculture. 



(6) Biscuits of Sapium rubber from Bonasika Govern- 

 ment Reserve. 



(7) Scrap cakes of Sapium rubber from David Young 

 Rubber Estates, Ltd. 



The Permanent Exhibitions Committee announced 

 further that it was prepared to receive additional, suitably 

 exhibits of rubber and balata, up to September 1^. 



