COCOA-GROWING COUNTRIES 429 



Agricultural labour, however, is not everywhere 

 deficient. 1 In the districts devoted to cattle-raising, 

 and where land is very largely partitioned among small 

 settlers, labour is at least equal to the demand. In 

 areas where large sugar factories exist, and where fruit 

 cultivation (especially banana cultivation) is carried on 

 on a large scale, the deficiency in labour must be made 

 up by immigration. 



XIII. CUBA 



From the beginning of the nineteenth century cocoa 

 has been cultivated. The local consumption is im- 

 portant, and not until 1850 was cocoa exported. In 

 1857 the export amounted to about 491,000 kilograms. 



Civil war hindered for a long time the development 

 of the industry, which made again a fresh start about 

 1880. Since that time a slow and irregular increase 

 has been noticeable ; the highest amount was exported 

 in 1906 (3,272,000 kilograms). 



The fact that the sugar-cane cultivation occupies 

 the chief interest of the planters may be a cause of 

 hindrance to the development of the cocoa industry, 

 but greater influences are certainly the irregularity of 

 the seasons and the long periods of drought. The 

 years 1907 and 1908 were in this respect very un- 

 favourable, and the consequence was a decrease of 

 the exports to 1,713,800 kilograms in 1907 and to 

 862,600 kilograms in 1908. 



Cocoa is especially cultivated in the east and in the 

 central parts of the island. The province Oriente is the 

 most important cocoa district ; next to it come the 

 provinces Santa Clara and Camaguez. 



The exports amounted to : 



1 Agricultural Labour Conditions in Jamaica, by M. A. H. Miles, Collector- 

 General (edited by the Association Internat. d'Agric. Tropicale) (1910). 



