THE CUBA REVIEW And Bulletin. 



The railway station of Herradura on the line of the Western Rallwars. 



THE AMERICAN COLONY AT HERRADURA. 



Herradura is on the line of the West- 

 ern Railways of Havana, about 146 kilo- 

 meters west of that city, and has a train 

 each way daily. The service is prompt 

 and the rolling stock and roadbed ex- 

 cellent. Herradura is a thriving colony, 

 and the talks the writer had with many 

 of the settlers convinced him they were 

 contented in their new home, especial- 

 ly as they were beginning to realize on 

 their holamgs and securing profitable re- 

 turns on consignments of tomatoes, 

 peppers and eggplants. The packing 

 house was well filled with packed crates 

 of tomatoes, and these in a'-'^earance and 

 size left nothinsr to be desired. 



The favorite tomatoes are the "stone" 

 and "matchless." Seed beds are made 

 in September each year and this applies to 

 all early vegetables, and the young plants are 

 set out in October. Shipments begin usually 

 between December i and 10, though this 

 year they were later because of the Oc- 

 tober storm, which made it necessary to 

 plant over again. Desoite this drawback 

 good shipments were o-oing forward, one 

 settler sending up to February i some 

 1,500 crates of tomatoes alone. Of pep- 

 pers the Ruby King appears to be the 

 favorite, while in eggplants the New York 

 Purole and the Florida High Bush, the 

 latter thriving especially well. Most of 

 the men have forty acres, though some 

 have more and a few less. Probably 

 each settler has about 50% of his acreage 

 under cultivation. Mr. W. H. Tripp, for in- 

 stance, has 17 acres producing, divided as 

 follows : 9 acres to tomatoes, 2 to peppers, 2 

 to eggplants and 4 acres to miscellaneous 

 vegetables and fruits. Cucumbers are being 

 experimented with. Mr. Tripp found his 

 "White Spine" variety turning yellow at the 

 ends, which interfered with their sale. The 

 soil at Herradura is distinctly different 

 from the average red and black soils of 

 ^--uba, having a large oreoonderance of 

 sandy loam. This is favorable ground 

 for certain fruits and vegetables Wa- 



termelons were ripe on February i and 

 were of good size and quality. But they 

 seem capricious in bearing. Said F. Mc- 

 Cowan: "Sometimes you may casually 

 drop some melon seed here and there and 

 you will get fine, large fruit, and yet if 

 you plant a field with the expectation of 

 getting good-sized fruit you will prob- 

 ably be disappointed, the large speci- 

 mens not appearing." Mr. McCowan has 

 purchased 4 acres, one planted to orange 

 trees, which the company takes care of 

 for three or four years, until the trees 

 are in bearing, the-"' agreeing to turn over 

 to him 75 trees to the acre. For this he 

 paid $650. The varieties planted are the 

 late A^alencias, Parson Browns and 

 others. 



Strawberries do well, the Klondike and 

 Lady Thompson being the favorites. The 

 freight to Havana is 6 cents per crate and 

 $24 for a full car. In some cars almost 

 600 crates can be stowed. Clearing the 

 ground costs $5 or $6 per acre in 320- 

 acre plots. In smaller acreage the price 

 is higher, up to $10 per acre. Irrigation 

 has not been practiced yet, the soil hold- 

 ing the moisture well. For heavy rain 

 ditching is suggested, which will dispose 

 of the surface water accumulations rap- 

 idly. Commercial fertilizers are used 

 largely because stable manure, which is 

 preferred, is both scarce and high. Some 

 of the residents are turning their atten- 

 tion to 



TOBACCO. 



and finding it exceedingly profitable. 

 Both Mr. Goetze and H. E. Havens have 

 many acres under cultivation and will 

 make handsome profits, as high prices are 

 now prevailing owing to a shortage in 

 the crop. The soil in this section seems 

 favorable to good flavored tobacco, but 

 Prof. Earle says that there are lands in 

 Eastern Cuba closely approximating 

 these soils which might produce, under 

 proper cultivation, equally well-flavored 

 plants. The demand, said Col. Havens, 

 is greater than the supply, although there 



