The History of Cuba Volume V Part 21

Recent experiments have been made by an American grower who has imported the seed of the small pie-pumpkin into Cuba. To use his own words, "This variety grows even faster than weeds, and the pumpkins cover the ground so thick that you can hardly avoid walking on them." They make a very fine fall and winter crop, with an average yield of five tons per acre.

This delicate variety of pumpkin, when canned, will probably prove available for export purposes.

The great drawback to profitable vegetable growing in Cuba lies largely in the uncertainty of the northern markets, where prices fluctuate so rapidly, with the minimum and the maximum so far apart, that it is difficult for the vegetable grower, a thousand miles away, to count with any certainty on the returns from his crops when shipped abroad. The establishment of receiving agents, perhaps, under the control of men who were financially interested with the growers themselves, might remedy this difficulty. The canning industry, if established on a sufficiently broad scale, would also add stability to the price of all crops grown in Cuba, and place the cultivation of vegetables on a more certain foundation.

The introduction of irrigation, wherever possible, insures so generous a crop of almost any vegetable planted in this Island, that the returns to the grower, even where the price may not be fancy, will be decidedly remunerative. The incalculable advantages to be secured by irrigation, especially in the growing of vegetables, planted in the late fall and gathered during the winter and early spring, when rains are not always forthcoming, is a matter in which the Department of Agriculture is deeply interested.

One of the best irrigation engineers of the United States has been invited to go over the field of Cuba, and to advise the Government in regard to the various localities in which irrigation plants may be installed with success and profit to the growers. These plans when carried out will prove of marvellous benefit to the agricultural industry and will greatly increase the revenues derived from tobacco, as well as from vegetables.

The great advantage, however, enjoyed by all vegetable growers in Cuba, lies in the fact that stormy weather never interferes with the cultivation of crops; sunshine may be depended upon every day of the year, and the farmer is seldom if ever compelled to lay aside his implements, and wait for the weather to adjust itself to his needs. In other words, he can always work if he wants to, and the market abroad, if he "strikes it right," may yield him a small fortune from a comparatively few acres in a very few months.

It would be misleading to the prospective farmer or stranger to quote the almost fabulous returns at times secured on some favored spot, but with irrigation, which insures absolute control of the growing crop, the profits from vegetable raising may run anywhere from $100 to $500 per acre, and more.

Among those "striking it rich" incidents that may be occasionally found, may be mentioned a little tract of ground consisting of only four acres of land, located along the railroad track, not 100 yards from a station on the Western Railway. Here two Spanish storekeepers placed under cultivation four acres of land that had been previously prepared with a carita bean crop, hog fed and turned under. These partners had a well sunk in the middle of the tract, and a little gasoline engine installed that enabled them to adjust the water supply each day to the requirements of the field.

Here they planted eggplants, tomatoes, green peppers and Irish potatoes.

The cultivation was done by one man and a pony. During the gathering of the crops some additional help was required, although the two owners worked hard themselves during late afternoons and early mornings. The return from these crops during the four months in which they were in the ground, amounted to $6,430.

Incidents of this kind are not by any means common, but nevertheless they give some indication of what may be accomplished in growing vegetables in Cuba, when the work is conducted along modern lines and under intelligent management. Capital, of course, is necessary, as in all other industries, but the reward, even with the element of the gamble taken into consideration, is to say the least very tempting.

CHAPTER XXIV

STANDARD GRAINS AND FORAGE

Corn or Maize was probably indigenous to the Island of Cuba, since it was one of the chief staples of food used by the Siboney Indians at the time of Columbus's visit. This cereal may be grown in any of the provinces, although varieties introduced from the United States do not give the results that might be expected.

The native Cuban corn has a comparatively short ear with its point closed by Nature. This prevents the entrance of the grub or worm, so destructive to the northern varieties that have been introduced here.

The kernel is hard, bright, yellow, rich in proteins and in oil, and is very nutritious as a food.

In spite of the small size of the ear, on rich lands 40 bushels per acre are frequently secured, so that, taking into consideration the fact that two crops may be successfully grown in twelve months, the sum total of the yield is not bad, and the price of maize in the local markets is always satisfactory. Experiments are being carried on at the present time towards improving the native Cuban corn, some of which have met with success.

The method of growing corn in Cuba has little to recommend it.

Improvements will come, however, as a result of the excellent instructive work being carried on by the Government Experimental Station. As a rule, corn in Cuba is planted too close, and with absolutely no attention paid to the selection of seed; hence we seldom find more than one ear to a stalk.

A rather novel experiment, carried on by Mr. F. R. Hall, of Camaguey, has proved quite satisfactory in increasing the length of the ear. His corn is grown in hills four feet apart and cultivated in both directions. Two grains are planted in the hill, one a grain of selected Cuban corn, the other a grain of first-cla.s.s American corn. The latter will make the taller stalk of the two, and from the former, or native stock, the ta.s.sel is nipped off, so that only pollen from the American corn is permitted to fall upon the silk and thus fertilize the native ear.

The result of this experiment has been a very much larger ear, the tip of which has retained the tight twist of the husk, peculiar to native corn. This closes in and protects the grain from attack of worms or borers. By selecting from this cross, and again crossing or fertilizing with Northern corn, a greatly improved variety of maize has been produced. This experiment is sufficient to demonstrate that a great deal may be done towards improving both the size and quality of Cuban corn.

Between the rows, calabaza, a variety of native pumpkin, greatly resembling that of the United States, is grown as a rule, thus following one of the precepts of New England. In this connection pumpkins from Ma.s.sachusetts seed give excellent results, planted with corn. The demand for corn in the market, owing to the large amount consumed in the Island, insures always a good price to the grower.

Nearly all varieties of millet and kaffir corn thrive well in Cuba and furnish a very nutritious food for both stock and poultry. This millet, or "millo," of which two varieties, the tall white and the short black, are in common use, is apparently free from enemies, and since it seems to thrive in seasons either wet or dry, and in lands either moist or subject to drought, the crop is considered very reliable and hence profitable especially where poultry raising is contemplated.

Wheat was grown at one time for home consumption, in the Province of Santa Clara. Here, on the high table lands, with a comparatively low temperature during the cool, dry winter months, it came to maturity. In one locality west of the city of Sancti Spiritus in Santa Clara, there is quite an extensive table land, with an alt.i.tude of some 2,000 feet, where a very good variety of wheat was grown along about the middle of the 19th century. It is said to have furnished an abundance of good grain that was highly prized in that section. Just why its cultivation was abandoned is not known, aside from the fact that most of the agriculturists found growing sugar cane vastly more profitable. With money from the sugar crop flour could be purchased and the demands of the baker satisfied.

Experiments are contemplated in the near future in the growing of wheat in this same locality. But regardless of the results, it is more than probable that custom or inclination will impel the people of Cuba under normal conditions to purchase their wheat from the United States.

Nevertheless, extensive experiments in the propagation of wheat, the seed of which has been brought from many countries, are now in process of development in the grounds of the Government Agricultural Station.

These will probably be supplemented a little later by plantings from selected seeds of the most promising varieties on the fertile soils of high plateaus in southeastern Santa Clara. Experimental work at the Central or Havana Station facilitates also the study of any disease that may attack different varieties of wheat before they have been accepted as permanently successful in Cuba.

Next to wheat bread, rice is in greater demand than any other food staple in Cuba. Large quant.i.ties are imported every year from India, and were it not for the low price of the product, greater attention would probably have been paid to its local production. Upland or dry rice has been grown to a certain extent in Cuba for many years. Nearly every farmer with suitable soil, who can command irrigation in any form, has a small patch of rice for his own consumption, and that grown from the Valencia seed is much preferred to the imported rice.

The European War, with its attendant difficulties of high freights and shortages of shipping, has stimulated the planting of rice in Cuba to a greater extent than ever before. A series of experiments are now being carried on at the Government Agricultural Station, in order to secure more definite knowledge in regard to the success of rice in various soils, alt.i.tudes and months of planting. For this purpose seeds of the Valencia, Barbados and Bolo, the exotics also from Honduras and j.a.pan, together with American upland and golden rice, are being tried. The last-named seems excellently adapted to Cuban soil and lat.i.tude.

In order for rice to be successfully grown, however, certain conditions are absolutely essential. Most important of these is first, a fairly rich soil, underlaid with an impervious subsoil of clay, and located in sections where irrigation, or the application of water to the crop, may be possible. Comparatively level valleys or basins, lying close to the mountains, that have impervious clay subsoil, are considered favorite localities. The preparation for rice, as with most other crops, necessitates the extermination of all weeds and the thorough ploughing or pulverizing of the soil, after which it should be planted with drilling machines as is wheat or oats. The sowing of the rice in seed beds to be afterwards transplanted requires entirely too much hand labor for the successful cultivation of this or any other crop in Cuba, unless perhaps an exception might be made of tobacco and a few winter vegetables. Machinery adapted to the cultivation of rice or any other crop, is absolutely essential to successful agriculture in Cuba at the present time.

Rice is planted with the earliest spring rains of March or April, when possible, so that the crop may be taken off in August or September. When lack of early rains renders this dangerous, it is planted in late May, or early June, and gathered in the month of October. Seeds of a variety of rice that is said to thrive in salt marshes have been received at the Experimental Station and will be thoroughly tried out a little later.

North and east of Moron, in western Camaguey, are low savannas extending over thousands of acres that are covered during much of the rainy season with a few inches of water, and where the surface, even during the dry season, is moist, although not muddy. These great level areas have practically no drainage and are almost invariably saturated with water, although in no sense of the word can they be considered swamps, and if planted in rice, as are the low prairies of southern Louisiana and Texas, would seem to give promise of success. In the district above mentioned, these flat damp lands extend in a wild belt for many miles along the north coast of Camaguey, between the mountains and the ocean.

They are covered with gra.s.s on which cattle feed during the dry season.

There are many other similar lands located at different points along the coast of Cuba. If these could be successfully dedicated to the cultivation of rice, following where convenient the methods prevalent in the western Gulf States, an enormous saving to the Island would be made as well as the development of a now neglected industry. The importation of rice from the orient and other foreign countries amounts to approximately three hundred and thirty million pounds, valued at $12,000,000.

With the increase of population and the demand for rice as a staple food product, the cultivation of this grain, so popular in all Latin-American Republics, will undoubtedly be considered. Experiments now being carried on at the Government Station will ultimately determine the varieties and conditions under which it can be most economically and successfully grown in Cuba.

In spite of the fact that two of the best gra.s.ses known, both of which are said to yield even better here than in either Africa or the plains of Parana, whence they came, flourish in Cuba, the Island still imports large quant.i.ties of hay from the United States for use in cities. The potreros or meadows of Cuba with their great fields, stretching over many leagues of territory, are as rich as any known, and can support as a rule at least twenty head of cattle to every caballeria or 33 acres.

The Parana gra.s.s of South America grows on the low lands of Cuba with a luxuriance that will almost impede travel through it on horseback. The jointed stems of this gra.s.s, interlacing with each other, frequently grow to a length of ten or 12 feet. The same is true of the Guinea, brought from the west coast of Africa, which is adapted to the higher lands and hillsides, and where the soil beneath is rich, it often reaches a height of 6 or 8 feet, completely hiding the grazing cattle or the man who may be endeavoring to force his way afoot across the field in search of them. The native indigenous gra.s.ses of the Island, although suitable for grazing purposes, are rather tough and hard and will not fatten livestock as will the two gra.s.ses referred to above.

Probably the best permanent pasture in Cuba is secured by planting Bermuda. This gra.s.s has been imported from the United States and installed in Cuba with splendid results. On rich soils the growth is rank, and the sod firm, with a larger yield probably on account of the more favorable climate. Stock of all kind, especially horses and hogs, are very fond of the Bermuda gra.s.s, preferring it in fact to any other.

Some stock growers, in the Province of Camaguey, are planting large fields of it, as one rancher explained "just to tickle the palate" of his brood mares. This same gra.s.s, too, is being used for lawns in nearly all parks and private grounds in the neighborhood of Havana. With a little care at the beginning of the rainy season, a splendid firm lawn can be made with Bermuda in a few weeks.

Recognizing the value of alfalfa, which is today probably the standard forage of the Western and Southwestern States of North America, experiments were made in Cuba at different times, but not always with success. A fairly good stand was apparently secured on President Menocal's farm "El Chico," just out of Havana. But in spite of earnest efforts on the part of the gardener, weeds eventually choked it out, so that the field was abandoned. At the Experimental Station a small tract of alfalfa has been recently planted that seems to give promise of permanence and complete success.

In the Province of Camaguey, a well-known stock raiser from Texas secured seed from his native state that had been inoculated, and planted it in drills three feet apart. All weeds had been previously exterminated through the use of a heavy cover crop of velvet beans, turned under. As soon as the alfalfa began to show, light-pony-drawn cultivators were kept running between the rows, cutting out every weed that appeared, and allowing the alfalfa gradually to spread, until the s.p.a.ces between rows were completely covered, and further cultivation was unnecessary. The soil was rich and moist, and could be irrigated in February or March if necessary. From his alfalfa today, he is making seven heavy cuttings a year, which demonstrates the fact that this valuable forage plant under favorable conditions can be successfully grown in Cuba.

Cowpeas of almost all varieties are successfully grown in Cuba as they are in the Gulf States of America, where the climate, aside from cold rains and frost in winter, is somewhat similar to Cuba. Both the peas and the pea-vine hay command good prices throughout the year, in the local markets of the cities; hence the cultivation of this excellent forage plant and vegetable, especially when grown with corn, is in common practice.

A variety of the cowpea, known as La Carita, is very popular in Cuba, owing to its large yield, and to the fact that after a shower of rain it can be planted with profit any month of the year, with the exception perhaps of July and August. The carita belongs to the running or ground covering variety, and if grown with corn will use the stalks on which to climb, without detriment to the major crop. The pods are long and filled with peas about the size of the small Navy beans of New England. The color is a cream white, with a little dark stain around the germ, which gave it the name of Carita or little face. The pea for table use is excellent, of splendid flavor, and becomes soft and palatable with an hour's cooking. The vines make good hay, and the average yield of beans is about 1200 pounds to the acre, which at prices varying from five to ten cents per pound forms quite a satisfactory crop.

The kinds of beans grown in Cuba are almost unlimited. Various soils of the Island seem adapted to the legume family, and many varieties have been introduced not only from the United States but from Mexico and Central America. One indigenous bean, the botanical name for which has not been determined, is found growing wild along the southern coast of Pinar del Rio. The pods are well filled, and although the bean is very small it is nevertheless delicious eating. The running vines make a perfect mat or surface carpet and yield an abundance of hay, nutritious and greatly liked by stock. The origin and habits of this bean, and the extent to which it might be improved by cultivation, are being studied by the Government Experimental Station at the present time.

Of all forage and food crops grown in Cuba, there is none, perhaps, more universally successful than the peanut. The little Spanish variety, owing to its heavy production of oil, is popular and very prolific in all parts of the Island where the soil is sandy.

On the red lands, or those that have a clay basis, the Virginia peanuts thrive wonderfully well. Unlike the little Spanish, the Virginia, or larger varieties, are usually planted in the spring months, and continue growing all through the summer. The yield of the Virginia peanut is large, and the hay resulting from the vines, under favorable conditions, will approximate two tons or more per acre. This hay is considered one of the best forage crops, and the field, after the peanuts have been removed for market, can be very profitably converted into a hog pasture, so that the small nuts, and those that escape the harvester, are turned into excellent account, and the field is put into splendid condition for the next planting.

The yield of the Spanish peanut varies according to conditions of soil, and control of water, anywhere from 40 to 100 bushels per acre. Every bushel of Spanish peanuts will produce one gallon of oil, the price of which at the present time exceeds $1. From each bushel of nuts with the sh.e.l.ls ground in, about 20 pounds of splendid oil-cake are secured.

This, fed to stock, especially to hogs, in combination with corn or yucca, is undoubtedly one of the finest foods for fattening and quick growth that can be found. Peanut-cake readily brings in Havana from $30 to $40 per ton.

CHAPTER XXV