The possibilities latent in Cuba’s splendid agricultural resources are incalculably great. It is practically certain that at some day, not distant as the lives of nations go, this Island will be completely covered with plantations and farms, scientifically worked by intensive methods, and sustained by the capital of many large corporations. There is hardly room to doubt this conclusion. The demands of America and the great manufacturing countries of Europe for food supplies are constantly on the increase and must grow ever greater with the increase of their populations and the further development of their mechanical industries. There are few agricultural regions better situated and conditioned to take advantage of this demand. But before this can be done a complete reformation in the agricultural methods of Cuba must be brought about. Capital must be attracted, not in independent driblets, scattered{232} the country, but in large sums, concentrated upon particular districts and devoted to definite developments. In a word, the arable lands of Cuba, now lying idle, or being wasted by a ruinous method of cultivation, must be subjected to a process of exploitation similar to that which has brought the sugar and tobacco industries to their present conditions of high development. Such a movement must necessarily tend to the uplift and prosperity of the individual farmer. It must influence his methods and his product for the better. It must open new markets to him and afford him increased facilities for transportation. Organized enterprise, with ample capital, could make Cuba a great exporter of food stuffs. Under good management the investments in such enterprises would undoubtedly be safe and profitable. Coincident with a movement of this kind a national agricultural bank should be established, and conducted somewhat after the manner of the Egyptian Agricultural Bank, which has a counterpart in the Philippines. In Cuba, almost more than anywhere else, the small farmer needs loans and credit on moderate terms. At present, if he can borrow at all, he must pay an exorbitant rate of interest.{233} Cuba is now importing annually forty millions of dollars’ worth of food supplies. More than half of the commodities making up this purchase, enormous for an agricultural population of two millions, might be raised in the country, at lower cost and of better quality.
There is here an excellent opportunity for foreign capital. One or two such companies as have successfully developed new tracts in our Western States would find a profitable enterprise in the business of supplying Cuba’s food demands from the product of Cuban soil. This statement is made on the assumption that such concerns would avoid the errors into which several colonization companies, which otherwise had good prospects, have fallen. No such project should be started, except with well defined plans, plenty of capital to carry them through, and, above all, a management familiar with Cuban soils and conditions.
To begin with, the acquisition of one thousand acres of the best arable land, well situated for the transportation of produce, will require the investment of one hundred thousand dollars, which would, however, cover the cost of buildings, water supply, and other necessary permanent accessories. Each acre would then{234} call for the further investment of one hundred dollars, which would include all expenses until the first crop should be secured. The expense of cultivation would average about fifty dollars an acre, and an average return of one hundred dollars could be looked for. This estimate of fifty dollars gross profit per acre will appear excessive, and doubtless most Cuban farmers would call it ridiculous. Nevertheless, there are directors of experimental stations in Cuba, who are prepared to demonstrate the feasibility of accomplishing it with ordinary staple crops, and several experts, familiar with local conditions, who endorse it. If it is possible to produce thirty, or even fifteen per cent. net profit from the cultivation of Cuban farm lands, then the fact is the most striking evidence of the shortcomings of the present methods of agriculture. Of course, a large proportion of the estimated results would accrue from the economies in production which a well-capitalized corporation could effect by the employment of labor-saving mechanical devices, and the economies which would naturally arise from shipping in great bulk.
In Hawaii, Mexico, and other tropical countries, the agricultural development has been
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ORANGE TREE.
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effected mainly by large corporations, and in the majority of cases the enterprises have enjoyed financial success. All things considered, the prospect for such a project would be unusually good in Cuba. One such undertaking would be a revelation to the Cubans, and to the world at large. It would attract additional capital to the same field and otherwise work such benefit to the country that the Government and the railroad which would be immediately affected by it might reasonably be expected to lend substantial aid in its establishment and operation.
It is to be feared that capitalists who have considered such an enterprise, have been deterred from entering upon it by knowledge of the failures of some of the ill-judged colony projects. Several of these were doomed to failure from the outset. In some cases the promoters had bought poor land at low figures, which they sold to inexperienced settlers at high prices. Not infrequently these were invalids, or men looking for a life of ease, to whom it was represented that anyone might make a comfortable livelihood, if not a fortune, from Cuban land, with little effort and the investment of a trifling amount. The principal{236} object of such companies is to dispose of their property as quickly as possible. They do little, or nothing, for the community which they create. The natural result of such a combination of unfavorable conditions is failure in its worst form. Cuba has suffered incalculable harm from the effects of dishonest and ignorant exploitation by American and Canadian land companies. But the fact remains that there are few more inviting fields for effort in agriculture, if intelligently undertaken with sufficient means.
The future development of Cuba must be along agricultural lines and it must depend mainly upon foreigners, of whom the greater proportion will unquestionably be Americans. The colony, or community system, is the best means of promoting this development, and there are a number of large companies engaged in it under admirable methods. These corporations are affording every possible aid to the settlements for which they are responsible, and are encouraging none to take up their lands without the means of profitably working them.
One of the greatest present requirements of Cuba is a revival of its old-time stock industry. The annual imports of cattle, horses, and mules
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“A SUGAR PLANTATION OF FIFTEEN HUNDRED ACRES WILL NEED ABOUT THREE HUNDRED OXEN.{237}”
are large, and would be much larger if the peasants had the means of buying the animals that they sorely need. There is probably a shortage of not less than half a million head of various kinds of stock in the Island. The demand is constant and great. Horses and mules are everywhere employed as beasts of burden, and the ox is the universal draft animal. A sugar plantation of fifteen hundred acres will need about three hundred oxen, besides perhaps fifty horses and mules, and will slaughter twenty-five or more head of cattle monthly for meat.
There is no doubt but that several large cattle ranches and establishments for breeding horses and mules might be run on American lines with profit to the owners. As in the case of farm products, the first object to be aimed at should be the supply of the domestic demand. After that has been accomplished, there should be no difficulty in finding markets for all the surplus cattle that Cuba can raise. Europe is in need of constantly increasing meat supplies, and the United States will soon be a heavy importer of animal foods. Provided that the industry is conducted upon modern methods and the breed improved, as it may be{238} without difficulty, Cuba should be able to compete with any of the foremost cattle raising countries.
In this connection attention may be called to the neglect of alfalfa in Cuba. It has been ascertained that the plant can be grown in the Island with the best results. It is well known to be a powerful soil fertilizer and an excellent crop with which to rotate. The abundance of fattening grasses and the quantity of refuse from the sugar mills available, make it improbable that alfalfa could be profitably used as fodder on Cuban farms. There is no doubt however, about its ready sale in the place of the hay which is now imported to the extent of several hundred thousand dollars annually, and at a cost of forty dollars a ton. The market for alfalfa hay could be greatly enlarged by supplying the small towns to which the Cuban farmers carry pack-horse loads of grass, to be sold in the streets at five cents for two armfuls.
One of the first steps in the improvement of Cuban farming must be the attainment of greater yield and better crops from the land. Let us take corn as an illustration of present conditions and future possibilities. For long{239} past, Cuba has been importing this grain in constantly increasing quantities and at present is paying two million dollars a year for it. This is one of the most glaring instances of neglect. The Island should produce every ear of corn that is consumed in it and much more. As it is, a comparatively small area is devoted to this crop, which is deficient in both yield and quality. This is fully accounted for by the haphazard method of cultivation. In very rare cases is any other cause responsible for the poor results.
Tests, made at one of the experiment stations, of several parcels of the seeds usually bought for planting, showed that from forty to sixty per cent. were sterile, whilst the remainder were far from uniform in size and vitality. By using such seeds the farmer is wasting half the ground planted and paying six dollars per hundred pounds for the half that germinates. Under such circumstances he can hardly raise a crop from rented ground that will sell at a profit. Instead of attempting to do so, he grows enough to feed his few head of stock and takes no note of the cost.
The use of good seed is one of the urgent needs in Cuban farming, but so long as de{240}pendence is had upon imported seeds, which invariably degenerate in the new environment, no appreciable improvement can be looked for. Nor woul............