20 BULLETIN 473, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



be had by adding the estimated consumption of 100,000 tons to the 

 exports, which would give an annual production figure slightly in 

 excess of 200,000 tons for the last 10 years, which was increased to 

 more than 400,000 tons in 1913-14. 



CUBA. 



The cane-sugar industry of Cuba dates back almost to the discovery 

 of the island. Climatic conditions and soil are well adapted to the 

 growing of sugar cane, with the result that nearly one-half of the 

 cultivated area of the island has been devoted to this crop. The 

 cane matures in from 12 to 18 months. It has been grown in the 

 western Provinces until the land is more or less exhausted and seldom 

 more than 4 or 7 crops are harvested without replanting. In the 

 richer and newer lands of the eastern Provinces 10 or 12 crops and 

 sometimes double that number may be harvested without replanting. 

 The crop is harvested more or less throughout the year, but the prin- 

 cipal harvest season is from December to June. In 1899 there were 

 60,711 farms in Cuba, containing an area of 8,762,000 acres. The 

 area of farm land under cultivation increased from 901,077 acres in 

 1899 to 2,918,977 acres in 1912, or an increase of 233.9 per cent. The 

 area devoted to cane was 414,202 acres in 1899, 849,000 acres in 1907, 

 and 1,340,139 acres in 1912, an increase of 233.5 per cent since 1899, 

 approximately the same rate of increase as was shown for total land 

 under cultivation. In 1912 56 per cent of the area under cane was 

 either cultivated or controlled by the factory owners and 44 per cent 

 was cultivated by independent farmers who sold their cane to the 

 factories. As an incentive to produce cane rich in saccharine matter 

 the cane is paid for according to the sugar content and not the gross 

 weight. 



The sugar factories of Cuba have made considerable improve- 

 ment in the use of modern equipment during the last few years. 

 Close competition in the sugar market has forced Cuba, as well as 

 other sugar-producing countries, to adopt a more economical method 

 of manufacturing sugar. The result has been an almost constant 

 decline in the number of factories, but an increase in their size and 

 capacity. The number of sugar factories in Cuba decreased from 

 473 in 1876-77 to 157 in 1900-1901 and increased to 186 in 1906-7, 

 but decreased again to 170 in 1913-14. The average output of sugar 

 per factory increased from 1,231 tons in 1876-77 to 17,008 tons in 

 1913-14. In 1903-4 the 174 sugar factories in operation used 11,- 

 853,129 tons of cane and produced 1,178,546 tons of sugar. The 

 factories each used an average of 68,121 tons of cane and produced 

 an average of 6,773 tons of sugar. Ten years later a smaller num- 

 ber of factories used more than twice as much cane and produced 



