THE CUBA REVIEW 



43 



is a somewhat uncertain and risky undertaking. Some years the profits are good, 

 but heavy losses are liable to occur from glutted markets or unseasonable weather. 

 On account of our low freight rates, freedom from frosts, and, the long season dur- 

 ing which it is possible to plant these crops, the chances for success, on the whole, 

 seem more favorable here than in any part of the Southern States. 



The lines already discussed, sugar cane, tobacco, fruit and vegetable growing, are 

 the principal ones attracting attention at the present time. Coffee growing was once 

 an important industry in Cuba, but the high price of labor seems to prohibit its 

 planting except for home consumption. Owing to a protective tariff the price now 

 obtained for Cuban coffee is very high. 



Cacao is but little planted, although many parts of the country are well adapted 

 to its growth, and the business, if 

 properly conducted, would doubtless 

 prove profitable. 



There are a great many other 

 products that might well receive at- 

 tention : Corn, beans and rice are 

 all imported in large quantities ; 

 these can all be grown here and 

 doubtless it would be more profitable 

 to grow than to import them. The 

 growing of rice, in particular, seems 

 to offer a very attractive field; great 

 areas of land suitable for it, can be 



PALMICHI," 

 FRUIT OF 

 THE ROYAL 



PALM, USED 

 AS A FODDER 



FOR SWINE. 



bought very cheaply, so located that irrigation would be easy 

 and mexpensive. 



The same methods of planting and harvesting with ma- 

 chinery, so successfully adopted in Louisiana and Texas, would 

 be equally applicable here. 

 The demand for nursery stock for orchard planting is destined to increase rapidly. 

 Besides citrus fruits there will be a demand for budded aguacates and mangoes, of the 

 finer varieties, and there is a real need of nurseries for propagating other native 

 fruits and the numberless ornamentals that can be so successfully grown in this coun- 

 try. There would seem to be a field, too, for growing palms and other ornamentals for 

 the northern greenhouse trade. 



