THE CUBA REVIEW 



17 



per acre. After the off-barring is done the cultivation should proceed immediately 

 with disc harrows. 



There are many other implements which do good work in the cultivation of cane. 

 Attention has been given only to the most important. Cultivation of cane will depend 

 upon the practical nature and the training of the man in charge of the work. Without 

 rain, or with only a scanty rainfall, all the cultivation in the world will avail nothing. 

 If soil conditions are basically vmfit for the crop, cultivation will fail. 



It should also be mentioned that this mule work was all done on a normal dayhght 

 day basis. The work-day was from 5:30 a. m. to 11 a. m. and from 1:30 p. m. 

 until dark. Most of the hardest work was done in the heat of summer. Mules stand 

 up well under the hot Cuban sun. It is absolutely impractical to plow to or cultivate 

 with mules at night. 



Certainly the mule and the implement he draws can compete with almost any other 

 kind of cultivation. During the crop it is well established in this part of Cuba that 

 his efficiency in hauling cane is double that of oxen, for the simple reason of his 

 superior intelligence and activity. He walks just three times as fast as an ox, and 

 he can trot if the walk is too slow. To this add his economy in cultivation during 

 the dead season. In the past his feed has been a problem but the future, with cheap 

 fire-line hay, home grown alfalfa hay, fire-line Kaffir corn, and molasses, will reduce his 

 upkeep to only a few cents a day. There is an opportunity in cultivating with mules 

 in Oriente, Cuba. — Facts About Sugar. 



Financial 



Two Reserve Bank Agencies for Cuba 



The Federal Reserve Board has an- 

 nounced its approval of a plan under which 

 the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta and 

 Boston are to open agencies in Havana, 

 Cuba. The matter has been under con- 

 sideration for some time. 



The announcement of the board follows : 



"For some time the Federal Reserve 

 Board has been considering the matter of 

 the use of the Federal Reserve and other 

 currency of the United States in Cuba. Our 

 relations with Cuba are unique, because of 

 the provisions of the Piatt amendment and 

 also because the currency of the United 

 States has been made legal tender by act 

 of the Cuban Government, but no adequate 

 machinery has ever been set up by which 

 unfit paper currency could be sent back to 

 the United States for redemption and re- 

 placement. 



"The board has finally decided to approve 

 a plan agreed upon by the Federal Reserve 

 Banks of Atlanta and Boston by which 

 they are to open agencies in Havana work- 

 ing co-operatively along certain definite 

 lines. It happens that a considerable part 

 of the paper currency in Cuba consists of 

 notes issued by the Federal Reserve Bank 

 of Atlanta, and the plan is expected to con- 

 tinue these notes in circulation. It is ex- 

 pected that currency will be presented to the 



agencies for the purpose of cable transfers 

 and that the currency so received wall be 

 at once sorted, so that the unfit bills can 

 be sent back to this country for replacement 

 by new currency. The new money will then 

 be put into circulation through the purchase 

 by the reserve agencies of bills of exchange 

 from the banks operating in Cuba. 



"This, it is expected, will result not only 

 in replacing unfit paper money with new 

 currency, but w'ill have a tendency to stabi- 

 lize banking conditions. Banks operating in 

 Cuba will be enabled to carry on their 

 business without the necessity of holding 

 abnormal reserves and will be able at any 

 time to obtain currency by selling prime 

 bills of exchange originating in import or 

 export transactions. The board's regula- 

 tions have undertaken in some detail to 

 safeguard these transactions. 



"It was on the appHcation of the Boston 

 Reserve Bank that the matter first came 

 definitely before the board and it was 

 through agreement between the Atlanta Re- 

 serve Bank and the Boston bank that it 

 was worked out in detail. Some changes 

 in detail may become necessary when the 

 agencies get into operation, as the estab- 

 lishment of such an agency is an entirely 

 new thing, and the board has reserved the 

 right to terminate the agencies at any time 

 if it deems such action advisable." 



