The History of Cuba, vol. 5

by Willis Fletcher Johnson

Freedom from frost means much to the agriculturist, since it relieves him from the anxiety suffered by the farmers of Florida and the Gulf States, that although lying on the other side of the Tropic of Cancer, and enjoying sufficient warmth to produce vegetables during the winter months, are nevertheless exposed to the danger of absolute ruin, or at least the loss of a year’s work.

That, however, which favors successful agriculture in Cuba more than anything else, is the fact that her copious rainfall begins in May, and continuing throughout the warm months of summer terminates in the latter part of October, leaving the winter cool and dry, so that fall crops may ripen and be gathered free from danger of the cold, rainy days of December so common in the Gulf States.

In stock raising, also, not only is the Island supplied with an abundance of nutritious grass, on which animals may graze throughout the year, but the young are never subjected to loss from the cold winds, sleets, and driving storms, that decimate the herds of less favored countries in the North.

Cuba undoubtedly has some agricultural drawbacks and disadvantages, but few that may not be successfully overcome with intelligent management and the judicious care which renders stock raising profitable in any country. The one great advantage of the Republic lies in the fact that the farmer, if he so desires, can put in three hundred and sixty five days of every year at profitable work in his fields, orchards or pastures, with no time necessarily lost. Nor is he compelled to work half the year to provide food and fuel sufficient to feed and keep warm during the remaining six months of comparative idleness.

Owing to the exceptional natural facilities for producing sugar and tobacco cheaply and easily, the farmers of Cuba largely become, in one sense of the word, “specialists,” and little by little have fallen into the habit of producing enormous crops of these two staples that are sold abroad, while food crops are imported at an expense far above that which it would cost to produce them in the Island. This neglect of food and forage crops would seem to render Cuba an ideal place for the general farmer and stock raiser, and the Department of Agriculture, under the direction of General E. Sanchez Agramonte, is now making every effort to place the advantages of the country for diversified farming before the outside world, so that practical farmers and families from agricultural districts abroad may be induced to come to Cuba and settle permanently.

The Republic ultimately will raise her own live stock and should produce sufficient corn, rice, beans, peanuts and perhaps wheat to be, to a large extent at least, independent of the outside world. With this purpose in view the Department of Agriculture has encouraged immigration and through the Experimental Station at Santiago de las Vegas is making greater efforts than ever before to ascertain just what crops and what seeds or plants are best adapted to the soil and climate of Cuba.

This information is being gathered and carefully digested so that it may be given to the homeseekers and settlers of which the country stands in such urgent need. At the request of the Secretary of Agriculture, Dr. Calvino, chief of the Government Station, together with his staff, is searching for and bringing from all parts of the globe every plant and every variety of animal that can be utilized for food purposes.

Nearly every variety of wheat, corn, sorghum, rice, potatoes, grains and tubers, is being tested and tried on the 160 acres of land belonging to the station. Grapes, peaches, plums and other semi-tropical fruits are being planted, experimented with and carefully watched for results, while forage plants and grasses from South America, Africa, Australia, India, China, Europe and the United States are being tried, each under conditions approaching as nearly as possible those of its original habitat.

Although Cuba with its adjacent islands has an area of only about 45,000 square miles—approximating the area of the State of Mississippi—one finds many varieties of soil, the characteristics of which, even when lying contiguous, are so varied as to be astounding. High and comparatively dry plateaus, in places, rise almost abruptly from low level savannas that remain moist in the driest seasons of the year. Rich deep soiled mountain sides and valleys may be found within a few miles of pine barrens, whose hillsides are valued only for the mineral wealth that may lie beneath the surface.