CUBA. 



199 



Rio, where the plants are sheltered from destruc- 

 tive winds by the Sierra de los Organos, and 

 where the soil has some peculiar quality or the 

 ferments in the air some virtue not found else- 

 where, is grown with great care, the plants, which 

 cost about $1.50 a thousand, being protected with 

 pains from insects and weeds, cultivated fre- 

 quently, kept free from suckers, and topped either 

 high or low, in one case leaving 8 or 10, in the 

 other 18 or 20 leaves, which are cut in pairs in 

 January, dried during three or four weeks, 

 sweated for some time, being sprayed with water 

 to give them a darker color and perhaps a better 

 flavor, and then sorted and packed for market 

 in bales of 50 kilograms. A second crop is 

 grown from suckers, which is suitable for fillers. 

 The production of this Vuelta Aba jo tobacco be- 

 fore the war was 260,000 bales a year, and the cost 

 of production is $47 a bale. The consumption in 

 Havana was 140,000 bales, leaving 120,000 bales 

 for export, mostly to Key West and New York. 

 Of the partidos leaf, grown in Havana province, 

 70,000 bales were raised, of which 60,000 were ex- 

 ported to Key West. The average production of 

 the Remedies tobacco of Santa Clara was 130,000 

 bales, and the export 100,000 bales. Santiago 

 produced 100,000 bales of the coarse Gibara 

 tobacco, of which 60,000 bales w T ere used by 

 the regies of Europe and the remainder smoked 

 in the district. The average tobacco crop has 

 been 560,000 bales of 110 pounds, of which 340,- 

 000 bales were exported, three-fourths of this 

 to the United States, and the rest was manufac- 

 tured into cigars and cigarettes in Havana or con- 

 sumed in the country. The export of cigars in- 

 creased from 91,812,000 in 1898, the year of the 

 war, to 215,236,371 in 1899, of which about 38,- 

 000,000 went to the United States, 64,000,000 to 

 Great Britain, 72,000,000 to Russia, Germany, 

 Austria, and Italy, and 11,000,000 to Spain and 

 France. The exports of cigarettes were 11,529,- 

 688; of leaf tobacco, 15,388,806 pounds from Ha- 

 vana and about 8,000,000 pounds from other ports. 

 The value of cigar exports was about $11,650,000; 

 of leaf tobacco, $8,800,000. The exports of leaf in 

 1900 were $9,720,266, of which over $8,000,000 

 went to the United States and nearly $1,000,000 to 

 Germany. The value of cigar exports was $11,- 

 599,985, of which the United States took $4,503,- 

 962, England $3,964,063, Germany $836,231. The 

 cigarettes exported were $305,889, Spain taking 

 over a third. 



The eastern parts of Cuba are adapted to the 

 cultivation of coffee, an industry that once 

 flourished, having been introduced by planters 

 who emigrated from Santo Domingo. Hurricanes 

 in 1843 and 1846, the competition of Brazil and 

 Java, and the profits in the sugar industry caused 

 a great decline, although the Cuban coffee was of 

 as good a flavor and the trees as productive as 

 could be found in the West Indies or South Amer- 

 ica. In 1894 there were 191 plantations, most of 

 them in Santiago province. In 1900 the crop 

 amounted to 130,000 bags of 134J pounds, not 

 nearly enough for home consumption. The culti- 

 vation of cacao in Cuba was rendered unproduc- 

 tive by the devastations of war and excessive 

 taxes. Oranges were shipped to the United States 

 until the development of orange cultivation in 

 Florida and afterward in California. The Cuban 

 oranges are delicate and juicy, and shaddocks, 

 limes, lemons, pineapples, olives, coconuts, and 

 other fruits grow in perfection. Bananas were 

 shipped in large quantities to the United States 

 before the last war from the plantations in Puerto 

 Principe and Santiago. 



Few countries are better suited to stock-raising 



than Cuba, where grass is ;il>nml;int :il all seasons 

 and running water is found everywhere in the 

 grazing regions. The berries ot t lie' palm -trees are 

 an -unfailing food supply for hogs. On.-c it was 

 an important industry, but it was kille.! by the 

 frequent revolutions and the tax of 40 j,er cent. 

 that the Spanish Government imposed Duties 

 of $85 a head on horses, $10 on cows, $s on calve-;, 

 and $7 on hogs, and the seizure of stock (MI mili- 

 tary requisitions, prevented recovery. The last, war 

 stripped Cuba of live-stock. In 1899 there were 

 400,000 cattle imported, and in 1900 there were 

 290,000. The island is being rapidly restocked 

 with domestic animals. The cattle imports for 

 breeding were 60,690 in 1899 and 85,225 in 1900, 

 the greater part being oxen for draft and food. 

 Of horses, asses, and mules about 10,000 were im- 

 ported in 1899 and 17,000 in 1900. The Govern- 

 ment in 1900 distributed for breeding purposes 

 762 cattle and 65 horses. The number of draft 

 oxen at the census of October, 1899, was 164,948, 

 nearly all of them having been imported since the 

 beginning of the year. The number of range cat- 

 tle was 211,702. Further importations and the 

 natural increase of 20 per cent, per annum make 

 the total number of cattle on Dec. 31, 1900, about 

 550,000. All owners are obliged by a recent law 

 to register their cattle before the municipal au- 

 thorities. There were 88,001 horses, 18,474 mules, 

 1,842 asses, 9,982 sheep, 18,564 goats, and 358,868 

 hogs on Oct. 16, 1899. 



The forests, covering 13,000,000 acres, or nearly 

 half the area of the island, are rich in timber and 

 cabinet woods and in forest produce. The Gov- 

 ernment owns 1,250,000 acres of forests. The 

 Cuban pine, which is the commonest forest tree in 

 the interior, affords excellent lumber. The royal 

 palm is the most useful of 30 species of palm 

 growing on the island, its leaves forming the roof 

 and its trunk providing the walls of the cabins of 

 the poor. The more valuable woods are mahog- 

 any, ebony, granadilla, majuga, cedar, walnut, 

 ceiba, lignum-vitae, and oak. The forests are 

 found mainly in the eastern parts of the island, 

 in the provinces of Santiago and Puerto Principe. 

 Iron ore, found at the base of the Sierra Maestra, 

 between Guantanamo and Santiago de Cuba, is of 

 the hematite variety, rich and easy to work. 

 Until the industry was stopped by the war in 

 1895 about 3,000,000 tons had been exported, 

 nearly all of it to the United States. Copper has 

 not been mined since 1868, although a rich deposit 

 was formerly worked at El Cobre in Santiago 

 province, and discoveries have been made in other 

 parts of the island. Asphaltum is found in vari- 

 ous places, that taken from beds near Santa Clara 

 being used to make gas for lighting the city. The 

 plains of Puerto Principe are covered with parana 

 and guinea grass, which affords excellent and 

 abundant pasturage for cattle. In Santa Clara, 

 Matanzas, and Havana they have been brought up 

 to a high state of cultivation, and, owing to the 

 richness of the soil, the equable temperature, and 

 abundant rainfall, form one of the most produc- 

 tive regions of the earth. In the Vuelta Abajo, 

 west of Havana, the unrivaled Cuban tobacco is 

 raised. The total value of rural property, as 

 assessed by the Spanish Government, was $184,- 

 724,836, of a renting value of $25,679,452, about 

 14 per cent. City property was valued at $138,- 

 917,060, the rental at $14,608,850, a little over 10 

 per cent. The war and antecedent causes left a 

 mortgage indebtedness of 58 per cent, of the as- 

 sessed value on rural and 79 per cent, on urban 

 property. 



The total value of imports in 1899 was $64,343,- 

 000, and of exports $43,880,820. The total im- 



