THE CUBA REVIEW 



AND BULLETIN 



"ALL ABOUT CUBA" 



Copyright, 1907, by the Munson Steamship Line. 



Volume V. JANUARY, 1907. Number 2. 



FIBRES IN CUBA. 



The Great Possibilities of Henequen — The Poorest Land the Best for This Product — 

 Native Jutes in Plenty — Banana Fibre Exceedingly Valuable. 



By C. F. BAKER, Chief Botanical Department Cuban Agricultural Experiment Station. 



Cuba uses many thousands of dollars worth of sacking, cordage, and allied 

 products each year, a large part of which is imported, and all of which might be 

 readily produced in the Island. This fact places the subject among the very im- 

 portant agricultural problems deserving the attention of planters and manufacturers 

 and of the Cuban Government. 



Only one fibre is as yet being commercially grown and handled in the Island 

 and that is henequen. Many hundreds of acres are already planted to this important 

 fibre and several cleaning mills are in operation. There are also one or more cordage 

 factories in Havana. However, but a small part of the current demand for such 

 products is satisfied from the home supply. There is still a tremendous field for 

 expansion both in lands for planting and in markets for exploitation. Knowing the 

 possibilities here, one is certainly justified in believing that Cuba will one day export 

 henequen products. Thousands of acres of good henequen land are yet lying idle, 

 since the best henequen lands are of little value for anything else The quality of 

 henequen produced here is as good as any on earth — not even excepting the Yucatan 

 product. For this crop fertilizers are a detriment and cultivation unnecessary. 

 Plants require several years to come to bearing, but afterwards bear continuously 

 for several years more. Other similar fibres like Mauritius fibre, could be produced 

 here with the utmost readiness. Large Fourcroyas of several species are common 

 all over the Island. 



A number of native jutes of good quality run wild throughout the Island. Some 

 of these are readily amenable to cultivation as we already know from actual trial, 

 and yield heavily and continuously from the same roots for some time. There is 

 most urgent need for a thorough trial here on the ground under the existing condi- 

 tions of the various methods of handling. If a practical and economical system of 

 handling can be arrived at, we can readily produce in the Island enough jute for all 

 the sacking used here — and more. 



There is found in the Island, cultivated to some extent for its fruit, a certain red- 

 sheathed banana which yields a fibre almost if not quite equal to Manila hemp, the 

 fibres being somewhat coarser, but often six to eight feet in length and of great 

 strength. It is one of the many unused products of the Island which possess tre- 

 mendous possibilities for economic importance, but which still await capital and 

 energy. I do not know of a single item in the long list of new subjects crying for 

 scientific investigation in Cuba, that is more worthy the attention of the Govern- 

 ment experts or of outside agricultural experts than this banana fibre. Here is a 

 plant producing a large amount of food for which there is a steady current demand, 

 and which, after the bananas are cut, will still yield a product of the most striking 

 value. Any single plant yielding two such distinct and important products is quite 

 unique among the fibre plants of the world. 



