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. CHAPTER XXV ANIMALS