26 



THE CUBA RE\'IEW 



INFORMATION FOR THE AMERICAN SETTLER 



A TREE OF HIGH COMMERCIAL VALUE — MERITS OF THE MULE AND THE 



HORSE COMPARED 



Plant Eucalyptus Trees 



In all the list of trees there is no species 

 known which in any measure approaches 

 the eucalyptus in commercial value. In 

 hardness, density, elasticity, beauty or 

 strength, they equal, and m most cases 

 surpass, any timber known. 



1 he matured wood of all species is hard; 

 of some it is ver>- hard. Of many species 

 it is tough and durable, resembling in this 

 respect the wood of American oaks and 

 hickories. The wood of some species is 

 heavier than water. The wood varies a 

 good deal in grain, being straight-grained 

 and easily split in some, while in others 

 it is gnarled and splits with great difticulty. 

 For this reason the various species furnish 

 timber adapted to a great variety of uses. 

 The color of the wood varies from a clear 

 white to a rich brown. 



Blue gum is one of the largest and most 

 rapid growing trees in the world. In Cali- 

 fornia, under suitable conditions, trees have 

 attained a height of 175 feet and a diameter 

 of five feet in twenty-live years. Com- 

 pared with most native trees, blue gum 

 has a phenomenally rapid rate of growth. 

 Seedling stands will average a height 

 growth of fifty feet in six years, and 100 

 feet in ten years. Under very favorable con- 

 ditions, individual trees have reached a 

 height of 125 feet and a diameter of thirty- 

 si.\ inches in nine years. In sprout stands 

 growth is even more rapid. Trees fre- 

 quently reach three inches in diameter and 

 thirty-live feet in height in eight months, 

 while in three years a diameter of seven 

 inches and a height of seventy feet are 

 often obtained. 



Owing to this upright habit, it is common 

 to plant as close together as 8x8, or even 

 6x6 for some varieties, thus making 676 

 to 1,225 trees to the acre. 



With only 1,000 trees 100 feet high, and 

 twelve inches in diameter, breast high, or 

 with only 600 trees 120 feet high and 

 fourteen inches in diameter, the enormous 

 amount of 100,000 feet of lumber can be 

 cut from one acre. 



.■\nd when it has been cut it sprouts from 

 the roots and reproduces itself in about 

 seven years. — From Bulletin No. 35, U. S. 

 Bureau of Forestry. 



Grapefruit juice is sometimes used in- 

 stead of lime juice in dressing a salad of 

 alligator pears for New York epicures who 

 find it most agreeable. 



The Mule and the Horse 



Climatic conditions make the mule more 

 to be relied on than the horse in the rice, 

 cane and cotton districts and has advan- 

 tages over the horse which have come to 

 be recognized by men who work the two 

 side by side, he pays the breeder better 

 because he can be put on the market a 

 year or two sooner than the horse. He 

 IS not as e.vpensive to raise as the horse, 

 because he is in condition to do good work 

 long before the horse can be broken in 

 harness. At two years old, the mule can 

 be put in the field and kept there until 

 old age overtakes him. 



Thf mule is also healthier than the horse. 

 He is rarely subject to the horse diseases 

 and is much less liable to bone ailments, 

 such as ringbone, spavin, splint, curb, etc. ; 

 his eyes are unquestionably stronger than 

 the horse's eyes ; mules very seldom lose 

 an eye, except by accident. Neither is he 

 likely to have blemishes which destroy the 

 value of many ;i celt. With a mule, if 

 there are any D.t.nishes, they do not impair 

 his value, because he is purchased for work 

 and not for beauty. He is not so nervous 

 or high strung as the horse. He has a 

 saner instinct of self-preservation; will 

 stand greater hardships, has more vitality, 

 and when properly instructed is steadier 

 and more reliable, and on this account is 

 preferable for the movement of machinery, 

 as his movement is much steadier than that 

 of the horse. The mule, too, is always 

 salable. The mule market is never glutted; 

 in fact, the market comes to the mule 

 rather than the mule to the market. It 

 matters not whether it is a time of peace 

 or war, the demand for mules is always 

 large. As a war necessity the mule is 

 universally recognized. As a work animal, 

 the hauler of cart and dray, he will stand 

 more wear and cost less to keep. Down 

 south one part of the ration of a mule 

 is molasses, and another cottenseed meal, 

 but he thrives best on dry feed and grain 

 unground. The reverse suits the horse 

 best, as his feed should be all chopped and 

 ground. His diet should be light and moist, 

 and corn is unquestionably injurious to him, 

 especially when he has to bite it from the 

 cob ; but corn is the mule's favorite food 

 — it never appears to have any ill effects 

 upon his system, and nothing is better 

 adapted to his needs than drj- hay, if it 

 is good and sweet. 



In Cuba mules are in great demand and 

 are easily raised, 



