26 



THE CUBA REVIEW. 



Improved Native Hut in Cuba. 



Farming in Camaguey Province. 



E. W. Locke, of Alinas, Cuba, writes in 

 the Southern RuraHst, regarding farming 

 life in his section, from which the follow- 

 ing extracts are taken : 



Our money crops here are potatoes, beans, 

 peas, onions, melons, corn, cabbage, to- 

 matoes, bananas, peanuts and grapefruit. 

 We grow three crops of corn in a year. 

 The Irish potato does the best planted in 

 November and we grow good crops of 

 them. The Cuban field corn does better 

 than other varieties. The farmers here 

 never use fertilizer or manure, and they do 

 not irrigate ; but they do cultivate all the 

 year around, because their crops are grown 

 mostly in their grapefruit groves. Mr. 

 Henry Colby planted one barrel of Irish 

 potatoes in his yard and harvested $30.00 

 worth. He sent them to Camaguey and 

 they returned him $30.00. Mr. Gilson 

 planted one-half barrel of Irish potatoes on 

 his lots last fall. He dug and sold $20.00 

 worth and he sold $20.00 worth at his door. 

 A part of the seed rotted and he planted white 

 beans, and he sold them for $5.00. Onions 

 do well here and retail from 5 to 7 cents 

 a pound. Reans are another good crop and 

 are sold by the farmers at wholesale for 

 5 cents a pound. Peanuts produce a goocf 

 crop and sell for $5.00 a hundred. I sold 

 my cabbage for 70 cents a dozen, big and 

 little. They were all good, hard heads. Red 

 kidney beans retail for 10 cents a pound 

 and they produce a good crop. There is 

 good money in eggs and poultr\' here. The 



farmers raise corn, kaftir corn, broom 

 corn, sorghum, sunflowers and cow peas 

 for poultry; also sweet potatoes and pea- 

 nuts: and the feed costs next to nothing. 

 Eggs sell for 20 to 25 cents a dozen all 

 the year here, and Camaguey eggs usu- 

 ally bring 35 to 40 cents a dozen. 



The farmers raise chickens here all the 

 year. Insects are not troublesome. Chick- 

 ens sell for 20 cents a pound dressed. In 

 Camaguey fowls bring a dollar apiece. The 

 farmers are raising a good many horses and 

 cattle. A Cuban pony is worth from $30 

 to $50. An American horse is worth from 

 $100 to $200. Just at present cattle are 

 cheap. Yearlings are selling for $8.00 

 apiece; beef cows bring $20.00. milch 

 cows bring from $20.00 to $100.00 each. 

 Mules bring $150.00 and up. 



The farmers here never grow any fodder 

 for their stock. They let them run in the 

 pastures and eat the green grass all the year 

 around. Those farmers that work their 

 teams all day and every day havfe to give 

 them grain or sugar cane. But those farm- 

 ers that only work their horses a half-day 

 and then turn them into the pasture find 

 that their horses hold their fat and their 

 strength all right. I buy the best pieces 

 of beef for 15 cents Spanish money or, 

 say, 12 cents American money. Pork a 

 little higher usually; venison 15 cents 

 .American money a pound. Butter retails 

 here for 30 to 40 cents a pound. In 

 Camaguey it is 60 to 80 cents a pound. 



