File:The Cuba review (1914) (14784696463).jpg

Identifier: cubarevie13muns (find matches)
Title: The Cuba review
Year: 1907 (1900s)
Authors: Munson Steamship Line
Subjects:
Publisher: New York : Munson Steamship Line
Contributing Library: The LuEsther T Mertz Library, the New York Botanical Garden
Digitizing Sponsor: The LuEsther T Mertz Library, the New York Botanical Garden

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
o Europewas carefully wrapped in the leaf bases, and it is said that there is no material better suitedfor this purpose. Even to-day all Cuban tobacco is boimd up and shipped from the plantationsin large bundles wrapped in these leafstalks. The royal palm is carefully preserved in all parts of the Island and is largely cultivated forthe sale of the leaves, which are consumed largely in the packing of tobacco for export. Narrowstrips torn off the edge of the pieces and twisted afford inexpensive yet very efficient tyingmaterial. In the country districts of Cuba palm leaf bases furnish a most important portion ofthe string and rope and are used either in the twisted or untwisted state. It also enters into the construction of houses, and it is a curious sight in some of the sectionswhere the royal palm is abundant to see houses built almost entirely of this material. In fact,a large proportion of the houses of the poorer classes are thatched or sided with yaguas, wbioh THE CUBA REVIEW 13
Text Appearing After Image:
A picturesque view of a lone royal palm in the open. are trimmed and tied to the framework of the house in a manner similar to that of shingles on theroofs of houses. Xails are never used to fasten them but they are always tied to the rafterswith palm leaf strings. Semi-cylindrical portions of the leafstalks are formed into cradlesfor negro children. They are also made into splints for fractures, and the inside skin whenpeeled off while green and then dried looks like vellum and V)ears ink on one side. The Cubanis using the leaf bases of this tree for almost countless other curious purposes, and the royal))alm is, therefore, probaljly the most useful native tree, to say nothing of its value for orna-mental purposes. Although it does not bear fruit of much economic use nor afford much shade from thetiopical sun, everj part of the tree is available for some use l)y the Cubans. Even the tenderyoimg shoots forming the terminal bud of the trees are utilized as a vegetable, tasting like the

Note About Images