24 



THE CUBA REVIEW And Bulletin. 



GREAT EMIGRATION FROM SPAIN. 



Evcrj' steamer from Sikmii brings m\v 

 arrivals to engage in the tiekl i»l labur, 

 and not only does S,)ain supply Cuba 

 with immigrants, but Sweden. Norway, 

 Denmark. England, Canada and Italy 

 will supply a goodly quota. Cai^tain 

 Otto S'verdrup is expected in Baracoa with 

 more Norwegian settlers to join the 

 twenty Norwegian families already es- 

 tablished in the Toa \'alley. Christian 

 Haug is also expected and his object 

 will be to put saw mills into operation. 

 He is at the head of a concern of this 

 kind in his own country. 



The immigration law of July, 1906, sets 

 aside twentj- per cent, of its million dol- 

 lar appropriation towards encouragement 

 of immigration from Europe. No immi- 

 grant sliall land in Cuba without certain 



guarantees and tliirly dollars in his 

 pocket. A Swedisli colony is located in 

 Bayate, Santiag(j I'rovince. The Swed- 

 ish colony at Caribou, in .Maine, estab- 

 lished by William Thomas, United 

 States Minister to Sweden, has been 

 successful, and Swedish settlers have 

 proved satisfactory throughout the United 

 States. Upon landing in Habana, Span- 

 isli immigrants are taken to Trisconia 

 for a period of several days until some 

 resi)onsiblc person vouches for their good 

 character. 



Professor Crawley warns the authori- 

 ties against the importation of insect 

 pests and recommends restrictions in the 

 im])ortation of fruits and trees from 

 abroad. 



RECENT PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. DEPARTMENT OF 



AGRICULTURE. 



They may be obtained from the Department at Washington. 



ltLI.Li;TIN NOS. is:! AM) 17il.— Mi'cliMiiunl 

 Tests of I'uuips and I'umiiing I'laiits fsod fi:r 

 Irripalloii and Drain.-ipc in L<niii-;iana in li)o.") and 

 ItKHi. by I'rof. W. B. Grognry. of Tulanc University. 



Irrigation and drainage concern the resi- 

 dents of Cuba very deeply, especially those 

 engaged in the growing of citrus fruits and 

 early vegetables for outside markets. The 

 Bulletin describes experiment work in 

 Louisiana and Texas, and in the introduc- 

 tion makes the interesting statement that 

 under irrigation "lands previously consid- 

 ered only for grazing were being rapidly 

 brought under rich cultivation." Doubt- 

 less the many thousands of acres in Cuba, 

 apparently not very fertile, could be made 

 immensely productive by the employment 

 of similar metho'ds. The profitable use of 

 a large part of arid or semi-arid lands de- 

 pends upon the storage and use of rain- 

 water and of underground and surface 

 streams. The subject cf small storage res- 

 ervoirs forms the subject of Bulletin 179. 

 There are numerous illustrations. 



F.xRMERs' Blm.letin No. 2/0 treats of mod- 

 em conveniences for the farm heme, with 

 many drawings. Some of the subjects covered 

 are the construction of cisterns and water 

 tanks, windmills, house building, kitchen 

 improvements, disposal of waste water and 

 of sewage, subsurface irrigation, and build- 

 ing hints. It is by Elmina T. Wilson, C.E., 

 formerly assistant professor of civil engi- 

 neering Iowa State College. 



Bulletin No. 266 deals with the "man- 

 agement of soils to conserve moisture," by 

 George H. Failyer, of the Bureau of Soils, 

 especiall}^ during arid or semi-arid condi- 

 tions. It enters into the subject very fully, 

 giving on plowing, cultivation, absorptive 

 power of the soil, management under irri- 

 gation in dry farming, storage of water, etc. 



Bulletin No. 62 describes the San Jose 

 or Chinese scale, with numerous illustra- 

 tions, showing the ravages of the insect. 



I low it came, where it originally came from 

 and other interesting details are all giv- 

 en. The San Jose scale is in Cuba, but 

 widely scattered, and may not prove very 

 injurious under the general rule regarding 

 armored scale insects in warm coutitries. 

 Armored scales rarely appear or thrive in the 

 moist tropics, says C. L. r^Iarlatt, entomol- 

 ogist in the U. S. Bureau of Entomology, 

 as shown by his explorations in the East 

 and West Indies. Fungus diseases which 

 thrive in warm and moist climates are the 

 principal agencies in keeping such scale in- 

 sects in check. 



Bulletin No. 91 relates to the prickly 

 pear as food for stock in Texas. This plant 

 grow's freely in Cuba and if it will af- 

 ford fodder for cattle during the dry 

 season when the grass is parched the in- 

 formation is valuable. For steers a gain 

 of i-)4 pounds a day at an expense of 

 3'/. cents a pound compares very favor- 

 ably with results obtained with standard 

 feeds. The spines were burnt off with 

 torches for field feeding and for barn feed- 

 ing were chopped fine by a machine. 

 The rough treatment almost obliterated 

 the spines in this case, and cattle ate the 

 jjcars greedily. 



I'akmers' Bulletin No'. 278 deals with 

 the subject of "Leguminous Crops for 

 Green ^lanuring," by Prof. Charles V. 

 Piper. There are chapters on soil nitro- 

 gen showing how legumes get nitrogen 

 from the air, and add it to the soil. 

 Green manuring makes sandy soils dark- 

 er in color and more retentive of mois- 

 ture, while clayey soils are made more 

 porous and friable, less likely to puddle 

 or bake and less subject to washing. 

 Corn, potatoes, tobacco derive great 

 benefit following green manuring. Cow- 

 peas, velvet beans, clover and vetches 

 are all food soil renovators when plowed 

 under. 



