Cotton, although it is mentioned as an agricultural product of Cuba, is only a possibility, for its cultivation has been so slightly attempted as scarcely to warrant an opinion of what may be done in its cultivation. Sea-island cotton, which is of famous excellence in the United States, may be raised along the Cuban coasts; and there is no known reason why the general cultivation of cotton would not be fairly profitable. Whether or not it may be developed under the new order remains to be seen.
The indigo plant grows easily, but it has never been cultivated profitably. The future may bring to its producers more knowledge and better methods than the past has known.
Grasses grow rankly almost anywhere in the Island. In the province of Pinar del Rio one variety grows to the height of six feet; another is a bunch grass similar to our species. Of these two grasses stock is very fond, but a third variety has such sharp edges that stock cannot eat it. Little of this grass is used as hay, and the hay crop has not been of especial significance in Cuban agricultural products, but it might well be, if it were given proper cultivation and care.
The fibre plants of Cuba are numerous, and many of them are of the best quality; moreover, they grow upon soil not very useful for any other purpose. The best known of them are the henequin, lanseveria, and lengua de vaca. The first produces from twenty-five to thirty leaves a year for twelve years, each leaf from five to nine feet long, weighing from four to seven pounds.
So far as Spanish statistics may be correct, there were in Cuba in 1891 a total of 2,485,768 cattle of all kinds; but at the close of the war in August, 1898, it was estimated by American stockmen, who were apprised of the condition of affairs throughout the Island, that not over 75,000 head were left. For a number of years past, owing to excessive import duties and other exactions, shipments of cattle to Cuba have been kept far below the demand, not only for working, but for slaughtering purposes; and as the Cubans raised few cattle, though every natural condition of climate, forage, and water was favourable to grazing, there was never a surplus to meet any emergency. Therefore the result was that, when the war came the ports were blockaded and no new supplies could be brought in, the people, as well as the soldiers, had to be fed, and the cattle were slaughtered indiscriminately. It should be stated here that just prior to the war, cattle were admitted free, and the imports, chiefly from South American countries, reached from 70,000 to 80,000 head per month. These were nearly all beef cattle. From August, 1897, to May, 1898, 83,868 head of cattle were received at Havana, of which 37,129 came from the United States. These cattle came chiefly from Texas, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana, for southern cattle are much better suited to the Cuban climate and conditions than northern or western cattle. The fact that cattle are bought by weight in the United States and sold by the head in Cuba has been against the American stockmen.
From a report of a dealer in Havana, under date of October 5, 1898, these extracts are made:
“The average of cattle weighs about seven hundred pounds, for which I get between $32 and $48. On these I have to pay all the freight and customs charges, etc., so that by the time that the meat gets into the butcher’s shop, it is up to about 42 cents silver (say 38 cents gold) per pound, although it is the same that costs in the United States from 3 to 3½ cents. Cottonseed-fed steers give between sixty-five and seventy per cent. of meat, nett; grass-fed cattle from the United States only nett fifty per cent. Tampico cattle give only about fifty per cent. There is no advantage in selling good cattle in Cuba, as they buy these by the head. On my St. Louis cattle I lost money, they weighing about fifteen hundred pounds and costing in the United States about $65, and I sold them for about $52. A good team (yoke) of oxen for working purposes is worth between seven and eight onzas (an onza equalling $17), and I give a statement of what it costs to get such a team into Cuba”:
| Cost in Texas for one team of oxen | $90.00 |
| Freight to Havana | 14.00 |
| Exchange | 11.40 |
| Duty | 20.00 |
| Risk, about five per cent. | 5.00 |
| $140.40 |