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-class American corn. The latter
will make the taller stalk of the two, and from the former, or native
stock, the tassel 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
Massachusetts 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 altitude 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 quantities 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, altitudes and months of planting. For this purpose seeds of the
Valencia, Barbados and Bolo, the exotics also from Honduras and Japan,
together with American upland and golden rice, are being tried. The
last-named seems excellently adapted to Cuban soil and latitude.
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 grass 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 grasses 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 quantities 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 grass 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 grass, 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 grasses of the Island, although
suitable for grazing purposes, are rather tough and hard and will not
fatten livestock as will the two grasses referred to above.
Probably the best permanent pasture in Cuba is secured by planting
Bermuda. This grass 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 grass, 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 grass, 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
spaces 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
shells 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.