16 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



The same good results have been secured at ths station ia studying the irrigation of 

 tobacco as of cane, but in the case of tobacco heavy fertihzation is required in addition to 

 irrigation. 



Several small plots of land have been devoted here to experiments with raising Burbank's ' 

 Spineless Cactus and Rubber Trees and plants from Demerara and Para, but in the case of the 

 Spineless Cactus the plot selected for these beds lays in a low stretch of ground which does 

 not give sufficient drainage, and with the recent heavy rains, there has been too much water, 

 which caused a rot to appear in the young slabs; and with the rubber plants or trees, just the 

 reverse occurred and, due to the lack of a sufficiently humid climate, the trees seemed to be 

 slowly withering, with the leaves discolored and dropping off, and the production of gum or 

 rubber was of no consequence. These rubber plants were seven years old and under natural 

 or normal conditions should be expected to produce good quantities of rubber, but they ap- 

 peared to be badly neglected or not intended for this particular district of Cuba. 



The production of cotton has been tried at this station, but destructive insect pests and 

 other difficulties have resulted in its abandonment as a crop. 



The grasses for pasturage seem to come second in importance to sugar cane and tobacco 

 and they have succeded in introducing several new grasses on the heavy clay soils here that 

 give every promise of success. 



The laboratories are most interesting and among other exhil)its there are 366 different 

 kinds of woods, registered and described fully, which are extremely useful, not only for purposes 

 of general construction, but for railway ties that never rot, handles for tools and implements, 

 shipbuilding, carving and inlaying, and a thousand and one purposes for which hardwoods 

 are always in demand. Interesting experiments are being conducted here in the importation 

 of jute fibers from India for the manufacture of sugar bags. 



The gardens are complete with their hundreds of varieties of palms, which are more plenti- 

 ful in Cuba than any other one tree, and not only does their peculiar graceful form add 

 marked beauty to the landscape, but either fruit, bark, leaves or pith of this great family of 

 indogens is here made to serve some good purpose in the life of the native. 



Spineless Cactus beds at Government Station, Santiago de las Vegas. 



