“Of the islands, Cuba was the second discovered; but no attempt had been made to plant a colony there during the life of Columbus, who, indeed, after skirting the whole extent of its southern coast, died in the conviction that it was part of the continent. At length, in 1511, Diego, the son and successor of the ‘Admiral,’ who still maintained the seat of government in Hispaniola, finding the mines much exhausted there, proposed to occupy the neighboring island of Cuba, or Fernandina, as it was called in compliment to the Spanish monarch. He prepared a small force for the conquest, which he placed under the command of Don Diego Velasquez. The conquest was effected without much bloodshed. After the conquest, Velasquez, now appointed governor, diligently occupied himself with measures for promoting the prosperity of the island. He formed a number of settlements and invited settlers by liberal grants of land and slaves. He encouraged them to cultivate the soil and gave particular attention to the sugar cane.” [49] 25.317 lbs. = 1 _arroba_. [50] A _caballería_ is generally taken to mean 33⅓ acres. [51] See Report of E. E. Paxton, Honolulu, T. H., 1905. [52] Extremely high prices are paid only in districts where the number of sugar mills is unusually large and the competition for cane consequently very keen. For example, if a central needed 200,000 tons of cane in order to grind at full capacity during the season, and if its own cane and that which it had already purchased amounted to 175,000 tons, it might pay an excessive price for the remaining 25,000 tons. There is, however, no such thing as uniformity in the contracts made with colonos, except that the price is based on weight and not on sugar content. [53] A well-known authority on sugar culture states that ratoons constitute about 90 per cent of the Cuban crop, and that it takes twelve months for ratoons to ripen. _Primavera_, or cane planted in the spring, is cut when twelve months old, and _caña fria_, or cane planted in the fall, is cut when it is between fourteen and eighteen months old. The industry has been greatly extended during 1915 and 1916, and consequently much new planting has been done. These plantings will be ratooned after the first crop is taken off. [54] Geerligs, p. 177. [55] On December 16, 1914, Willett & Gray gave the average as between 2,250,000 and 2,500,000, to which the recent new plantings must be added. [56] Journal, Society of Chemical Industry, Vol. XXV, pp. 161 _et seq._ [57] Prinsen Geerligs says that the average yield is 50,000 arrobas per caballería, or 16.82 long tons per acre, but that a good crop gives 80,000 arrobas (26.92 long tons per acre) and sometimes 100,000 arrobas per caballería (33.65 long tons per acre) or even more are obtained. [58] _The United States Beet Sugar Industry and the Tariff._ Blakey, p. 179.