THE CUBA REVIEW 



23 



mosa) and the common mangrove (Rhi- 

 zophora mangle). 



Some thirty or more years ago Cuban 

 insurgents established strongholds in 

 this range and cultivated plantations. 

 Traces of this civilization are to be 

 found in the wild coffee trees which 

 have straggled away from the former 

 cafetieras, guavas, the delicious little 

 fruit from which the celebrated guava 

 jelly is made; cacao, avocado pears, 

 bread fruit, cocoa, palms, bananas and 

 some other fruits which mark the sites. 

 Toward the top of the range a change 

 occurs in the general character of the 

 trees, and large specimens of the mu- 

 lato, alleyota, barril and retayma, with 

 trunks attaining a diameter of three to 

 four feet, and a number of smaller spe- 

 cies not found in the lower altitudes, 

 make their appearance. The height of 

 the trees seldom exceeds 125 feet, but 

 the diameter in some cases is as much 

 as six feet. Such palms as the spiny 



juta and the manaca, with tree ferns 

 preserve the tropical character of the 

 growth at the top of the range, where 

 the underbrush and growth of vines 

 form an even inore dense jungle than 

 elsewhere. 



Cuba seems adapted to the growth of 

 many northern forms of arborea, as 

 well as vegetables, and the conditions 

 there, favoring rapid development, en- 

 courage the belief that there might well 

 be founded a forest nursery, supplying 

 in no small part, the requirements of 

 a tree-impove "Ished world. 



Immense tracts of native pine 

 exist on the lines of the Western Rail- 

 way in the Province of Pinar del Rio, 

 which, though containing too high a 

 percentage of resin to last long when 

 used for building purposes, is especially 

 valuable for the manufacture of charcoal, 

 with turpentine as a by-product. In the 

 same section were recorded some hard 

 woods not yet acquired by foreign in- 

 terests. 





FRUIT TREES OF CUBA. The Sapote, bearing a fruit very much Hked by Cubans, and which 

 the visitor soon finds palatable. 



FRUTAS CUBANAS. El Zapote. Es un magnifico arbol de sombra y de adorno, cuya fruta 

 esti muy apreciada por los cubanos y los extranjeros tambien la hallaran muy sabrosa. 



