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PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF CUBA 3 portant in the development of present types of Cuban maize. This has led to the inclusion of much data on how corn is grown in Cuba, as well as those prepared from collected specimens, such as descriptions, photographs, and spots on the map. The authors of the Races of Maize in Mexico state: "The variation in cultivated plants is frequently so bewildering that additional techniques in- cluding those of the geneticist, the cytologist and the agronomist are needed to bring a semblance of order out of apparent chaos." The modern social anthropologist might well have been added to this list. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF CUBA Cuba is a crescent-shaped island about 730 miles long and from twenty-two to 160 miles wide. Its area, exclusive of the Isle of Pines, is about 43,000 square miles. Cuba's topography is varied. Mountains over 2,900 feet high occur in three of the six provinces. The topographic diversity of the eastern province of Oriente is especially great. The Sierra Maestra, a massive range culminat- ing in Pico Turquino, about 6,500 feet high, extends along much of the south coast, while the northeast corner of the province is dominated by the Nipe, Crista!, and Moa ranges and the high mesa of Baracoa. The Sierra de Organos, in the western province of Pinar del Rio, is scarcely less spectacular, although not nearly so high as the ranges of Oriente. The Trinidad Mountains of Las Villas province, in central Cuba, are the island's other important range. About 65 per cent of Cuba is flat or gently rolling, and it is on such land that most of the country's corn and other crops are grown. The soils of Cuba ( 5) are also diverse. The most productive are the Matanzas and Habana clays, derived from marine limestones. Serpentine rock outcrops sporadically from central to eastern Cuba; almost all the derived soils are considered highly infertile. In western Cuba, sandy soils are common and productive when fertilizers are added. Much sandy soil in central Cuba is un- cultivated. Cuba, which lies between the latitudes 19°48' and 23°13' north, is situated in the trade-wind belt. Since it is an island, extremes of temperature are not wide. Mean annual temperature is about
