212 CUBA 



most of our own territory. The current impressions of insalu- 

 brity have arisen from an erroneous confusion of bad sanitation 

 with the weather. While it is true that sickness follows the 

 seasons, the former would-be greatly allayed — almost abated — 

 if public hygiene received proper official consideration. 



AGRICULTURE 



The principal products of Cuba in time of peace are agricultural, 

 and consist of sugar-cane, tobacco, coffee, bananas, corn, oranges, 

 and pines, in the order named. The raising of sugar-cane over- 

 whelmingly preponderates and heretofore has been the mainstay 

 of the island. This industry originated. in 1523, when a loan of 

 4,000 piastres to each person wishing to engage in it was made 

 by King Philip I. The whole of the vast central plain and much 

 of the region from the Cauto westward to Pinar' del Rio, except 

 where broken by hills, is one continuous field of cane, which 

 yielded in 1892-93 1,054,214 tons, valued at $80,000,000, besides 

 giving employment to large commercial and transportation in- 

 terests. The sugar plantations vary in extent from 100 to 1,000 

 acres, and employ an average of one man to two acres. 



The Cuban sugar lands are all upland soils, quite different 

 from the lowlands of Louisiana, and excel in fertility those of 

 all the other West Indies, the cane requiring to be planted only 

 once in seven years, instead of every year, as in Antigua. The 

 machinery of the estates up to the outbreak of the present revo- 

 lution was the finest and most modern in the world. According 

 to statistics elsewhere presented, this industry has been almost 

 destroyed within the last three years. 



Tobacco, while secondary to sugar, is far more profitable in 

 proportion to acreage. This product grows well in all parts of the 

 island, but the chief seat of its cultivation is along the southern 

 slopes of the Cordillera de las Organos, in Pinar del Rio— the 

 famous Vuelta Abajo region, which produces the finest article in 

 the world. Good tobaccos are also exported from Trinidad, 

 Cienfuegos, and Santiago. 



In addition to the growth of the leaf, there are dozens of large 

 cigar factories in Habana, giving employment to thousands of 

 people of both sexes and all ages. In 1893 6,160,000 pounds 

 of leaf tobacco and 134,210,000 cigars were exported. Large 

 exports of baled tobacco are also made from the east end of the 

 island, most of which is sent to the United States. 



