The History of Cuba, vol. 5

by Willis Fletcher Johnson

With the use of dams and turbines, power can be easily secured from the many mountain streams with which to furnish refrigeration and cold storage, and there is no reason why a pork-packing industry, combining the curing of hams, shoulders, etc., should not be carried on successfully. Branches of large packing houses in the United States have long imported their hams and shoulders, in brine, afterwards smoking them in Cuba. Experts in pork packing soon discovered that most of the small hard woods of the Cuban forests were splendidly adapted for smoking meat, giving it a piquant and aromatic flavor, pleasing to the taste.

With the large local demand for hams, shoulders, bacon, etc., a profitable business is assured from the beginning, while the proximity of so many Latin Republics south and west of the Caribbean render the prospect of the export trade very promising.

Owing to the genial climate, sheep in Cuba, lacking the necessity for wool with which to retain warmth, very naturally lose it within a comparatively few years. Mutton, however, always commands a good price in the local markets, hence it is that the raising of sheep for food, especially by those small farmers who are close to large markets, will always yield a satisfactory return.

The large hotels of Havana, especially during the tourist season, are compelled to supply mutton of good quality to their guests, and since the local supply is not sufficient, a considerable amount of this excellent food is imported, dressed, from the United States. In this latitude, where green grass may be found in abundance throughout the year, sheep may be profitably raised and used in many ways. They are close grazers and will keep down the heavy growth of grass in citrus fruit groves, and also along the roadsides and in the surface drains that border hundreds of miles of automobile drives scattered throughout the Island.

Thousands of dollars are expended by the Department of Public Works every year in cutting out this rank growth of grass, so that the flow of water in the ditches may not be impeded. This work could undoubtedly be done by sheep, and a great deal of manual labor be saved, if the system of roadside grazing was once introduced into this country. Sheep are found in small numbers throughout all parts of the Island, and up to the present the Government has made no attempt to register them.

So far no discrimination has been used in introducing those breeds of sheep best suited for the production of mutton. That which the Island has is usually tender, and of excellent flavor, and if small farmers would take the trouble to import good rams from desirable breeds in the United States, the raising of mutton, even as a side issue, would add greatly to the revenue of farms located near large consuming centers.

The Republic of Mexico for many years has derived a very large revenue from the sale of goat skins, most of which were purchased by the New England shoe factories, while the by-products in the form of salted and sun dried meat, fat and other materials, always command a market. Recent years of devastation, however, have practically annihilated all of the great herds once so profitable, since for three or four years they furnished food to the roving bands of different contestants in that unfortunate country.

In the various mountain chains, foothills and fertile ravines of Cuba are hundreds of thousands of acres of forest land, in much of which sufficient sunlight enters to permit of new growth, the tender shoots of which are preferred by both goats and deer to any other food in the world. More than all, the goat is by nature a hill climber, and is never content until he gains the nearest ascent from which he can look down on his companions below.

For many years to come, most of these vast ranges will be unfenced and free, and the keeping of the goats will require nothing more than a herder with a couple of good dogs for every thousand head. With this excellent food that can serve no other purpose, and the splendid water of mountain streams, the goat industry in Cuba could not fail to be profitable, and yet the raising of goats has never been considered there commercially.

Under the management of men who are familiar with the raising of goats for their hides, and by-products, there is no reason why this industry should not assume importance in Cuba, especially since these animals are invaluable for cleaning out undergrowth economically and effectively.