28 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



ISLE OF PINES MATTERS 



On October 24th the Cuban Official Ga- 

 zette pubHshed the fact that a new port 

 of entry had been created on the Isle of 

 Pines and that a full compliment of port 

 officers had been named to fill the posts. 



The custom house collector is J. Santini. 



Pilots were later examined at Xueva 

 Gerona for the service at Los Indios. 



The last of the equipment for conducting 

 lousiness at the Los Indios wharf arrived 

 late in October. 



On October 13th the district engineer of 

 Havana Province approved the plans for 

 the construction of bridges at Mai Pais 

 and Ca^o Benito, and requested the sec- 

 tion engineer to draw funds to start the 

 work. 



The bridges will be of concrete and steel, 

 and cost $4,000 each. 



Engineers from the Department of 

 Public Works, Havana, have been running 

 lines for the proposed calzada to the south- 

 west part of the island beginning at Nueva 

 Gerona. 



The Casas River Bridge is also t'^ be 

 of steel and concrete and it is expected 

 that it cannot be built for less than $8,000, 

 and it will very likely cost a third more. 



The Nezvs says : Aside from the fruit 

 itself and the suckers for replanting there 

 remains another possibility in pineapple 

 growing — the fiber from the leaves, which, 

 where the facilities exist, is woven into 

 the finest fabric. Pineapple cloth is famous 

 wherever known. Its filmy texture is a 

 joy to the heart of all who see or use it 

 and it is adaptable to as many uses as 

 silk, in fact, is said to be more serviceable 

 than silk, especially in the tropics where 

 silk deteriorates rapidly. 



At a recent meeting of the Central 

 Association the Industrial Committee pre- 

 sented a suggestion for an industrial ex- 

 hibition to be held on the Isle during 

 January, 1913. The idea seemed to make 

 a hit with the delegates generally and 

 there is little doubt but that it will be 

 acted upon. 



The people of the Isle of Pines are 

 greatly concerned over the report that 

 Mayor Benito Ortiz of that municipality 

 is to resign his office. The mayor's resig- 

 nation will be greatly regretted by every 

 resident. 



Miss Sarah Arnold and Miss Beaudoin 

 have purchased a lemon and pineapple 

 orchard on the Isle of Pines. The two 

 young women, recently of Pawtucket, R. I., 

 will take up the management of their in- 

 terests in that place personally. 



About two years ago Miss Arnold went 

 to the Isle of Pines on a visit and when 

 she saw the productiveness of the country 

 she decided to try an experiment. Her plan 

 was quickly put to action and she purchased 

 a 10-acre tract in Santa Barbara Heights 

 on the island, which she immediately 

 planted. Just now the land is preparing to 

 yield a crop of lemons and pineapples. 



Mr. Joseph S. French of New York is 

 in the Isle of Pines with a big freight car- 

 rying automobile. He will conduct a pas- 

 senger and freight business between the 

 steamship docks at Nueva Gerona and the 

 hotels and plantations at West McKinley, 

 fifteen miles distant, and to fruit planta- 

 tions of the surrounding country. 



It seems almost increditable that after 

 ten years of residence in the Isle of Pines 

 the American settlers should persist in 

 buying imported hay at prices (forty to 

 sixty dollars per ton) all out of propor- 

 tion of its food value, when at least one- 

 third of the land on the Isle will produce 

 enormous crops of Para Grass, the equal 

 of, if not superior to, any imported article, 

 not excepting alfalfa. 



Any moist soil well fertilized and 

 planted to Para Grass will produce from 

 ten to fifteen tons of green forage per acre 

 annually. Guinea Grass is a good second, 

 and if cut every eight to ten weeks, will 

 furnish forage and pasture for the A'ear 

 round. Both Para Grass and Guinea 

 Grass are rich in meat and butter fats. A 

 mixture of the two grasses makes ideal 

 pasture for milch cows, the milk being rich 

 and the butter standing up firm and hard 

 in warm weather without ice. This is not 

 a visionary preamble, but deduction from 

 our own experience in Cuba. — A. H. fan 

 Herman hi the "Appeal." 



The first Trapp avocado of the season 

 came from George D. Roberts of Santa 

 Rosalia, on October 4th. The fruit was 

 from a tree only twenty-six months old. 

 The Trapp had a very tough skin and the 

 meat adheres very closely to the seed, not 

 permitting the latter to rattle and bruise 

 the fruit in transit. When cut, the seed 

 comes out easil}'. 



