Cuba produces a variety of vegetables, chiefly for domestic consumption, and many fruits, some of which are exported.  There is also a limited production of grains.  Among the tubers produced are sweet potatoes, white potatoes, yams, the arum and the yucca.  From the latter is made starch and the cassava bread.  The legumes are represented by varieties of beans and peas.  The most extensively used food of the island people is rice, only a little of which is locally grown.  The imports are valued at five or six million dollars yearly.  Corn is grown in some quantity, but nearly two million dollars worth is imported yearly from the United States.  There are fruits of many kinds.  The banana is the most important of the group, and is grown throughout the island.  It appears on the table of all, rich and poor, sometimes au naturel but more frequently cooked.  There are many varieties, some of which are exported while others are practically unknown here.  The Cuban mango is not of the best, but they are locally consumed by the million.  Only a few of the best are produced and those command a fancy price even when they are obtainable.  The aguacate, or alligator pear, is produced in abundance.  Cocoanuts are a product largely of the eastern end of the island, although produced in fair supply elsewhere.  The trees are victims of a disastrous bud disease that has attacked them in recent years causing heavy loss to growers.

[Illustration:  PALM-THATCHED ROOFS A PEASANT’S HOME]

Since the American occupation, considerable attention has been given, mainly by Americans, to the production of oranges, grape-fruit, and pineapples, in which a considerable industry has been developed.  There are several varieties.  The guava of Cuba makes a jelly that is superior to that produced from the fruit in any other land of my experience.  If there is a better guava jelly produced anywhere, I should be pleased to sample it, more pleased to obtain a supply.  But there is a difference in the product even there, just as there is a difference in currant or grape jelly produced here.  It depends a good deal on the maker.  Some of the best of my experience is made in the neighborhood of Santa Clara, but I have tried no Cuban jalea de guayaba that was not better than any I have had in the Far East or elsewhere.  The guanabana is eaten in its natural state, but serves its best purpose as a flavor for ices or cooling drinks.  There are a number of others, like the anon, the zapote, the granadilla, the mamey, etc., with which visitors may experiment or not as they see fit.  Some like some of them and others like none of them.  An excellent grade of cacao, the basis of chocolate and cocoa, is produced in somewhat limited quantity.  The industry could easily be extended.  In fact, there are many soil products not now grown in the island but which might be grown there, and many others now produced on small scale that could be produced