ALTHOUGHthe forests of Cuba abound in several varieties of the citrus family growing wild within their depths, the fruit was probably brought from Spain by the early conquerors. The beautiful, glossy-leafed trees of the wild sour and bitter oranges are met today throughout most of the West Indies, and are especially plentiful in this island. The seeds have probably been carried by birds, but the wild fruit, although seldom if ever sweet, with its deep red color, is not only ornamental to the forest, but often refreshing to the thirsty individual who may come across it in his travels. The lime is also found in more or less abundance, scattered over rocky hillsides, where the beautiful lemon-like fruit goes to waste for lack of transportation to market.
Almost everywhere in Cuba are found a few sweet orange trees that were planted years ago for home consumption, but only with the coming of Americans have the various varieties been planted systematically, in groves, and the citrus fruit has assumed its place as a commercial industry in the Island.
Homeseekers from Florida found the native oranges of Cuba, all of which are called “Chinos” or Chinese oranges to distinguish them from the wild orange of the woods, to be not only sweet but often of superior quality to those grown either in Florida or California. A prominent horticulturist, who during the first Government of American Intervention made a careful study of the citrus fruit of Cuba, stated that the finest orange he had ever met during his years of experience was found in the patio or backyard of a residence in the City of Camaguey.The delicious fruit from that tree he described as an accident or horticultural freak, since no other like it has been found in the island.
The rich soils, requiring comparatively little fertilizer, were very promising to the settlers who came over from Florida in 1900, and many of these pioneers planted large tracts with choice varieties of the orange, brought from their own state, and from California. Capital was interested in many sections, and extensive estates, orange groves covering hundreds and even thousands of acres, were planted near Bahia Honda, fifty miles west of Havana. Other large plantings were made on the Western Railroad at a point known as Herradura, in the province of Pinar del Rio, 100 miles from the capital.
Smaller groves were planted in the neighborhood of San Cristobal and Candelaria, in the same province, some fifty miles from Havana. Other American colonies set out large groves in the eastern provinces; one at a station of the Cuban Railroad, in Camaguey, known as Omaha; another east of the harbor of Nuevitas. Orange groves were planted, too, at the American colony of La Gloria and at nearby places on the Guanaja Bay of the north shore.
One of the largest plantings of citrus fruit was started on the cleared lands of the Trocha, in the western part of Camaguey, some ten miles north of Ciega de Avila, while at several different points along the Cuba Company’s Road, orange groves were started during the early days following its construction. Both the provinces of Santa Clara and Matanzas, also, came in for more or less extensive citrus fruit culture, while in the Isle of Pines, during the first years of the present century, large holdings of cheap lands were purchased by American promoters, and afterwards sold in small tracts to residents of the United States who were promised fortunes in orange culture.
Some of these various ventures in citrus fruit culture, especially those where intelligence was used in the selectionof soils, and sites commanding convenient transportation facilities, have proved quite profitable. Many of them, however, far removed from convenient points of shipment to foreign markets, have failed to yield satisfactory returns and some have been abandoned to weeds, disease and decay.
Some of the earliest and best kept groves were started in 1902 and 1903, along the beautiful Guines carretera, or automobile drive, between Rancho Volero and the Experimental Station at Santiago de las Vegas. These groves have all reached their maturity and with their close proximity to the local market of Havana, and easy transportation to the United States, have been, and are, successful and profitable investments.
The first of these covered some 400 acres, all planted in choice varieties of oranges by Mr. Gray of Cincinnati. In this vicinity too, close by the Experimental Station, is the Malgoba Estate, the most extensive and successful nursery, not only in citrus fruit, but for nearly every other valuable plant, fruit, flower or nut bearing tree indigenous to or introduced into Cuba. This nursery, as well as the beautiful, orderly kept grounds of the Experimental Station, will be found very interesting and perhaps valuable to the visitor from northern countries.
Some of the most successful groves in Cuba have been those planted in what is known as the Guayabal District, located near the Guanajay Road, in the extreme northwestern corner of the Province of Havana, within 25 miles, or easy automobile drive, from the capital of the Island. The oranges produced in this district are all from comparatively small orchards, well cared for, whose fruit is sold to local purchasers and conveyed in trucks to the markets of Havana. These oranges are sold in on the trees, at prices varying from $10 to $20 per thousand. The grape fruit, or toronja, alone is crated and shipped to the United States, where the market for some years has been quite satisfactory, especially when heavy frosts have cut short the yield of Florida groves.
The great mistake of many of the early investors of capital in citrus fruits in Cuba was not alone in the selection of the site, but in the fact that enormous tracts of land were prepared at heavy expense and groves set out with varieties not only unsuited to the market, but in tracts so large that protection from disease, and from the tall rank grasses of the island, was practically impossible.
There is perhaps no fruit grown for commercial purposes that requires more constant care and intelligent supervision than the orange and grape fruit. An orange grove must be kept free from weeds, grass and running vines; must be frequently cultivated to form a dust mulch; the trees must be sprayed with insecticides and should be always under the eye of an expert horticulturist, or orange grower, who will recognize and combat not alone the scale insect but scores of other diseases that may attack the trees at any time. These, if neglected for a year, or even for a few months, will make inroads into the health of a grove that spells heavy loss if not ultimate ruin.
In Florida and California these facts, of course, are well known, and the rules for successful orange culture are carefully followed. But in the early rush for cheap lands in Cuba, and the selfish desire of the promoter for huge profits and quick sales, regardless of the welfare of the purchaser, tracts were purchased and trees were set out with neither capital nor provision for the care and fertilizer required to keep a grove thriving, from the time of planting the nursery stock to its ultimate maturity.
Experience has proved that the most successful varieties of oranges, intended for the export trade, are those that bear very early in the fall, and very late in the spring, avoiding thus all competition with oranges from Florida and the Bahamas. Of these the early and the late Valencias, together with the Washington navel, that will easily stand shipment even to Europe and other distant markets, probably have the preference among most growers in Cuba.
The quality of this fruit is excellent, and although the navel orange among some growers has gotten into ill repute, the fault lies not in the orange itself, but in the fact that inferior nursery stock was imposed upon many planters during the first days of the Republic. During the past six years, first-class well selected and packed fruit has brought from $2 to $5 per crate, and sometimes more, in the eastern and northern markets of the United States, while common oranges, sold by the truck load in the Havana market, bring to the grower from $6 to $12 per thousand, choice fruit selling at from $10 to $20 per thousand.
For general commercial purposes, especially for shipment abroad, the Washington navel or Riverside oranges have probably no superior in Cuba. They are large in size, weighing from 1½ to 2 pounds each. When properly grown the skin is thin, with deep red color, and the fruit is full of juice, as one may judge from the fact that no orange will exceed a pound in weight and not be juicy.
The navel orange is seedless and exceedingly sweet, although lacking somewhat in the spicy flavor found in other varieties. Its season for ripening in this latitude varies from August to November, and extends into January. In planting groves with this variety care must be taken that the buds come from trees producing first-class fruit, since the type is liable to degenerate, unless the grower selects ideal trees from which to cut his bud wood.
Both the Jaffa and the Pineapple orange are popular in Cuba, especially for the local markets of the island, since they ripen during what is known as the middle orange season, or from December to March. The pineapple orange is probably one of the most prolific of the mid-season type. The fruit is pear-shaped, orange yellow in color, and one of the most highly flavored oranges grown in Cuba. Its skin is thin. The form of the tree is upright in growth rather than spreading.
The Jaffa is a dainty round orange, of medium size,golden yellow in color, with a thin skin, and pulp tender and juicy. It keeps well and is, as a rule, a prolific bearer. The tree is upright in shape, compact and not prone to disease.
The late Valencia, sometimes called Hart’s Tardiff, for commercial purposes and shipment abroad is recognized as one of the most reliable varieties grown in the island. It is seldom ripe before the month of March, and is very much better during May and June. Its commercial season extends from March to about the first of August, while the fruit of some trees has been kept in good condition even longer than this. The tree is thrifty and very prolific, bearing heavy crops every year. The fruit is of medium size to large, depending on the amount of fertilizer and care given it, while the color is a bright golden yellow. Good late Valencia oranges, during the months of May, June and July, have never sold in the Havana market for less than $15 to $20 per thousand. When the tree is properly cared for, and the fruit is thoroughly ripe, the late Valencia is one of the best of the citrus family.
The Parson Brown is probably the earliest orange of all varieties that have been imported. It sometimes ripens during the latter part of August. The fruit is of good size and very sweet, with no particularly marked flavor. The color of the peel is a greenish yellow, and it may be eaten even before the yellow color appears. Its early appearance on the market is the only thing, perhaps, that recommends it for commercial purposes.
In 1915 some small plantings were made in Havana Province of an orange brought from Florida, known as the Lu Gim Gong. The principal merit of this orange is said to be in its keeping quality on the tree. The fruit, we are told, will hang on the branches in excellent edible condition from one year to another. If this reputation can be maintained in Cuba, oranges for the local market may be had all the year round. Sufficient time has not elapsed however, since the first trees were brought into theisland, to pass judgment on its merits or its commercial value.
Although up to the inauguration of the Republic in 1902, the grape fruit, known in Cuba as the toronja, was little valued, the people of Cuba have gradually acquired a fondness for it, especially with the desayuno or early morning coffee. Owing to this fact there is a rapidly growing local demand for the toronja that promises quite a profitable home market for this really excellent fruit. The grape fruit of Cuba, although but little attention has been given to the improvement of varieties, has been favored in some way by the climate itself, and that of the entire Island, including the Isle of Pines, is very much sweeter and juicier than that grown in the United States.
The cultivation of grape fruit in Cuba, especially in the Isle of Pines, has been very successful as far as the production of a high-grade fruit is concerned. The trees are prolific and the crop never fails. Unfortunately, grape fruit shipped from Cuba to the United States has not always found a profitable market, and there have been seasons when the crop became an absolute loss, since the demand abroad was not sufficient to pay the transportation to northern markets. As the taste for grape fruit grows, it is possible that this occasional glutting of the market may become a thing of the past, but at the present time many of the groves of grape fruit in Cuba are being budded with oranges. This is true also of lemon trees.
Limes, as before stated, are quite abundant in some parts of the Island, growing wild in the forests of hilly sections. The recent demand for citric acid would suggest that the establishment of a plant for its manufacture might solve the problem of enormous quantities of citrus fruit that must go to waste every year unless some method of utilizing it is discovered in the locality where found.
There are over 20,000 acres today in this republic on which citrus fruit is grown. The total value of the estatesis estimated at about fifteen millions of dollars, but with each year it becomes more apparent that the area of really profitable citrus culture should be limited to a radius of not more than one hundred miles from some port whence regular shipments can be made to the United States. This is an essential feature of the citrus fruit industry. Its disregard means failure.
The wild varieties of the orange, both the bitter and the sour, although too isolated and scattered for commercial purposes, are often a godsend to the prospector in the forest covered mountains, since the juice of the sour orange mixed with a little water and sugar makes a very pleasant drink. The wild trees themselves, with their symmetrical trunks, dark glossy evergreen leaves, white, fragrant flowers, and deep golden red fruit, that hangs on the tree for months after maturity, furnish a very attractive sight to the traveler, as well as a safe indication of the fact that in Cuba the citrus fruit, if not indigenous to the soil, has found a natural home.
THEbanana is of East Indian origin, but of an antiquity so great that man has no record of its appearance on earth as an edible fruit, nor can any variety of the plant be found today growing wild. The importance of the banana as a source of food for the human race in all warm countries of low altitude is probably equaled by no other plant, owing to the fact that a greater amount of nourishment can be secured from an acre of bananas than from any other product of the soil.
The banana has accompanied man into all parts of the tropical world, and for the natives at least still remains the one unfailing staff of life. The bulb once placed in moist fertile earth will continue to propagate itself and to produce fruit indefinitely, even without care of any kind, although for commercial purposes it may be improved and its productiveness increased through selection and cultivation.
Few if any plants that nature has given us can be utilized in so many ways as the banana. The fruit when green, and before the development of its saccharine matter takes place, consists largely of starch and gluten, furnishing a splendid substitute, either boiled or baked, for the potato. Cut into thin slices, and fried in hot oil or lard, it becomes quite as palatable as the Saratoga chips of the United States. When baked in an oven and mashed with butter or sauce, it is not a bad substitute for the potato, and far more nourishing.
When sun-dried and finely ground, a splendid highly nutritious banana-flour is produced, that is not only pleasant to the taste, but according to the report of physicians far more easily digested and assimilated than isthe flour of wheat or corn. From good banana flour, either bread, crackers, griddle cakes or fancy pastry may be made, that would be relished on any table.
The green fruit, when cut into small cubes, toasted and mixed with a little mocha coffee to give it flavor, offers the best substitute for that beverage that has been found up to the present time. When scientifically treated with sugar, the semi-ripe fruit with the addition of flavoring extracts may be converted into very good imitations of dried figs, prunes and others forms of preserves, that are not only healthful and palatable, but are nutritious, and may well serve as an important contribution to the food products of the world.
Interesting and important experiments with banana-flour and the various products of both the ripe and the green fruit were made in Camaguey some years ago. The results were exceedingly satisfactory, but with the death of the inventor this promising industry was permitted to drop into disuse. Had Cuba been able to command the use of, or fall back on this splendid substitute for wheat flour, there would have been no bread famine in the island, such as occurred in the spring of 1918, and the Republic would have been independent of outside assistance.
Bananas for commercial purposes, or rather for export, have been grown for many years in the eastern end of the Island, especially in the neighborhood of Nipe Bay, where deep, rich soil, combined with the heavy rainfall of summer, results in rapid growth and full development of the fruit. The banana grown for shipment to the United States is known in Cuba as the Johnson. There are several types of this, but all resemble closely the bananas of Costa Rica and other Central American countries, where the United Fruit Company controls the trade. Owing to the fact that this Company owns its own groves in Central America, conveniently located for loading its ships, the United States is supplied today almost entirelyfrom that section, and the exportation of bananas from Cuba has been materially reduced.
Banana lands, too, are almost invariably well adapted to the growing of sugar cane, hence the great fields of Nipe Bay, and that part of Oriente once devoted to the cultivation of bananas, were eagerly sought by the sugar companies of the Island, and most of the territory converted into big sugar cane plantations.
There are probably twenty varieties of bananas cultivated in different parts of Cuba. Some twelve or more of these may be seen growing at the Experimental Station at Santiago de las Vegas. The variety preferred for local consumption and always in constant demand is the large cooking bananas, known in the United States as the plantain. This banana is not eaten in its natural state, but when cooked, either green or ripe, it finds a place on every table in Cuba.
The plant is tall and the fruit at least twice as long as that of the ordinary banana of commerce. It is not as prolific as other varieties, seldom bearing more than 30 or 40 to the stem, but it is found on every farm on the Island and is relied on as a source of food, even more than is the potato. The bunches under normal conditions command in the market prices varying from 20¢ to 60¢, dependent upon the number of “hands” or bananas to the stalk.
The banana plant reaches a height of twelve or fifteen feet and is reproduced from the sucker or offshoot of the original bulb. About 400 hills are set out to the acre. In twelve months the first comes to maturity, producing a single bunch of fruit, whose price, dependent on variety and size, varied from 20¢ to $1. Each main stalk during the year sends up six or eight suckers, that are used to increase the acreage as desired. Bananas for export are grown profitably only on or near the edge of deep water harbors, where transportation to northern markets is assured.
A description of all of the many varieties of the banana grown in Cuba would be perhaps superfluous. The most commonly cultivated for the table, and eaten without cooking, is known as the Manzana or Apple Banana. Its flavor may suggest the apple, although the choice of name is probably accidental. The bunch is rather small, and the fruit is bright yellow, only about one-half the length of the banana of commerce, and stands out more or less horizontally from the stem on which it grows. The average price of these when found in the market is about 35¢ per bunch.
Some three or four varieties of the red banana are grown in Cuba, and while quite hardy and easily cultivated they are not prized in the Indies as in the United States. The dwarf banana, or Platano Enano, has a very pleasant flavor, not unlike that of the Johnson, or banana of commerce, and may be found in almost every garden in the Island. The plant reaches a height of only five or six feet, and the bunches of fruit are long and heavy, filled almost to the tip, and often supported by a forked stock, caught under the neck of the stalk so that the weight of the fruit will not break or pull over the plant itself.
Another very choice banana is called the “Platano Datil,” or date banana. The stalks are relatively small and hold but little fruit in comparison with other varieties, seldom having more than two or three hands to the bunch. The fruit itself is from two and a half to three inches in length, round and plump, with a thin skin that can be slipped off, like a glove, but with a flavor that is probably the most delicate and delicious of the whole Musa family.
Approximately 125,000,000 pounds of bananas are exported from the Island each year, valued under normal conditions at a little over a million dollars. The great bulk of bananas grown in Cuba are for domestic consumption.
Agriculture, although rapidly assuming as it shouldthe dignity of a science, still has its caprices or apparent contradictions. And so it happens that the choicest flavored and highest priced bananas of the world are grown in the waterworn pockets of almost barren dog-teethed rocks—“los dientes de perro” of the extreme eastern end of Cuba, just back of Cape Maysi.
Here the coast rises from sea level in a series of four or five steps or comparatively flat plateaux, each some four or five hundred feet above the other, until an altitude of two thousand feet is reached. The rocks are soft limestone and in the millions of waterworn pockets, the leaves and dust of the forest jungle have left their deposit for ages. In this shallow soil bananas not only grow luxuriously but have a remarkably delicate and delicious flavor, essentially their own.
The secret of this wondrous growth and par excellence however, lies not alone in the rocky soil, but in the fact that generous nature at this point, contributes an abundant shower of rain almost every day in the year. The low, heavily waterladen clouds of the West Indian seas, driven by easterly winds strike this series of table lands, one rising above the other, and shower the lands with daily rains. Hence it is that while the average rainfall of Cuba is 54 inches, this series of table land of Cape Maysi has an annual rainfall of 125 inches.
The result is that in spite of difficult access and a cultivation confined to the hoe, millions of bunches of choice bananas are grown and shipped from the mouth of the Little Yumuri every year. United Fruit steamers on their way north from South and Central American banana fields stop at the above landing to take on a top dressing of fancy fruit.
Owing to the fact that the banana has practically no season, or rather that it may bear in any month, four suckers of varying ages are set out in each hill, from which four bunches of fruit, some three months apart, will result during the year. With four hundred stands or hills to the acre, the annual yield should be, approximately1,600 bunches, and whether the crop is disposed of in the local markets or converted into banana flour, the growing of bananas may be made one of the important industries of Cuba.
Patient toil and judicious selection have made the modern pineapple one of our most delightful of all fruits, in addition to which, in those countries not too far removed from markets, it has assumed an important place as a commercial industry. The fruit of the pineapple, like that of the strawberry, is a strange compound or consolidation of hundreds of little fruits, in one symmetrical cone, tinted when ripe with shades varying from greenish yellow to golden red or orange. Like the strawberry, it is a ground fruit that must be planted and cultivated along the lines that bring best results with ordinary field crops.
Pineapples have been grown in Cuba since the beginning of the Spanish occupation, perhaps even before, although no mention is made of them as being cultivated by the Indians. As a commercial product the growing of the pineapple on a large scale began during the first Government of Intervention, although they were shipped abroad to some extent before that time. In point of money value, the industry ranks next to that of the citrus fruit. Although up to the present time most of the pineapples intended for export are grown within fifty miles of the city of Havana, over a million crates are annually shipped to the United States.
Pineapples may be grown on any rich soil in Cuba, and are considered one of the staple crops. The slips or offshoots from the parent plant are set out in long ridges some four feet apart, with intervening spaces averaging a foot. These produce fruit in one year from planting, and from each original stalk an average of six suckers may be taken for planting in other beds, so that with a very small start the acreage may be easily increased five or six-fold each year.
About 8,000 plants are considered sufficient for anacre of ground; and the cost of them when purchased averages about $30 per acre, while the preparation of the land for pineapple culture will amount to somewhat more. The net returns under favorable circumstances will vary from $75 to $100. The average net profit from pineapples grown near Artemisia and Campo Florida is said to be about $50 per acre. The high price of sugar, since the beginning of the European War, has, however, caused much of the former pineapple acreage to be converted into cane fields.
The profit derived from pineapple culture, as in all fruits or vegetables of a perishable nature, depends very largely upon the shipping facilities of the locality selected. Pineapples cannot long be held on the wharf waiting for either trains or steamers. In this connection it may be mentioned that the daily ferry between Key West and Havana, by which freight cars can be loaded in the fields and shipped to any city in the United States without breaking bulk, has been very beneficial to growers.
The Red Spanish, owing to its excellent shipping qualities, is preferred to all others for export, although many other varieties, such as the “Pina blanca” or sugarloaf, which will not stand shipment abroad, are used for local consumption and bring an average price of ten cents retail throughout the year.
The largest pines grown for commercial purposes include the Smooth Cayenne, a beautiful fruit, varying in weight from five to fifteen pounds. Unfortunate is he who may have partaken of the rich sweet, juicy Sugar Loaf of Cuba, since it will discourage his fondness for the Smooth Cayenne, the much advertised Honolulu and other cone shaped products, whose flavor is not in keeping with their appearance.
So delicious in flavor is the sugar loaf pine in comparison with those large varieties suited only for canning or cooking purposes, that the latter have never become sufficiently popular in Cuba to induce cultivation. In theIsle of Pines, however, as well as in Florida, the smooth Cayenne is grown and shipped to the nondiscriminating who live abroad. With care in packing, however, the sugarloaf may reach northern markets.
The pineapple more than any other fruit appeals to the canning industry, especially in Cuba, where hundreds of thousands that have ripened too late for the northern markets are left to rot in the fields. There are no better pineapples grown in the world than in the Island of Cuba, and the excess or overproduction of the fruit within the next few years will undoubtedly be handled by properly equipped canning factories and thus add another industry to the revenues of the Island.
The Anon is a small shapely tree seldom growing over twenty feet in height and common throughout all Cuba. The fruit of the Anon, sometimes called the sugar-apple, resembles a small round greenish white cone, about the size of the ordinary apple. Its delightful pulp suggests a mixture of thick sweetened cream, adhering to smooth black sunflower seeds. Although delicious to eat fresh from the tree, and very useful in making ices, it does not readily endure shipment, and is thus confined commercially to the local markets of the larger cities in Cuba.
The Chirimoya, belonging to the same family, is undoubtedly the queen of the Anones. It is larger than the Anon, reaching the size of an ordinary grape-fruit. Its pulp is white, soft and very delicate, while the skin, unlike the Anon, is smooth, yellowish in color, with a blush of red.
The Zapote, Nispero or Sapodilla, as it is variously termed, is a beautiful ornamental tree of the forest, indigenous to tropical America and the West Indies. The tree, with its trim shapely trunk and branches, its crisp, dark green foliage that never fails, adds greatly to the beauty of parks and lawns. The wood is hard, reddish and very durable. From the trunk exudes chicle gum, used in the United States for making chewing-gum. In England, since it is more plastic than caoutchouc, andmore elastic than gutta-percha, it is employed as an adulterant to these products. The fruit in size and color resembles somewhat a small russet apple. It has a delightfully sweet juicy pulp, not unlike a persimmon touched with frost. The small glossy seeds are easily removed, and the fruit is very refreshing when left on ice, or in the early morning hours. Only with extreme care in packing could zapotes, like many other fruits of Cuba, stand shipment to foreign countries.
The Tamarind is a tall, beautiful tree frequently 70 to 80 feet in height, with a soft, delicate, locust-like foliage, and purplish or orange veined flowers in terminal clusters. The Tamarind probably originated in Abyssinia or some other part of eastern tropical Africa, but at the present time it is scattered throughout the entire tropical world, and is very common in Cuba. There is perhaps no tree known whose fruit furnishes a more refreshing fruit than the Tamarind. It is said to have been brought to Cuba from Southern Europe more than a century ago, whence it has since been scattered throughout the forest, through the medium of birds. From its branches, after the flowers have disappeared, hang clusters of brown colored, bean-like brittle pods. These when ripe are filled with a sweet yet pleasantly acid pulp, which when mixed with water makes a refreshing, slightly laxative and healthful drink.
The Mamey Colorado is another giant tree of the forest, belonging to the Sapodilla family and indigenous to tropical America. Its fruit is oval in form, some six or eight inches in length, covered with a tough brown skin, and filled with a rich peculiar dark red pulp, inclosing a long, smooth, coffee-colored seed, that is easily separated from the edible part of the fruit. In consistency and flavor, it suggests slightly a well-made pumpkin pie. Those unaccustomed to the fruit would probably find it unpleasantly rich. The yellow or Mamey de Santo Domingo is a true Mamey, entirely different from the Mamey Colorado. The tree is large, tall and quite common inthe forests of the Island. Its fruit is round, russet yellow in color and equivalent to a large grapefruit. It is used only as a preserve, and in that capacity serves a useful purpose.
The Guava, or Guayaba, as it is known in Spanish countries, springs up unwanted in almost every field of Cuba. Its nature is that of a shrub, spreading out with little form or symmetry. If permitted to propagate itself, it soon becomes a pest difficult to eradicate. A few choice varieties, one of which is known as the Pear Guava, imported from Peru, are very palatable. The meat of the latter is white, rather juicy and free from seeds. The common Guayaba of the field, while sometimes eaten raw, is always in demand for jellies, Guayaba paste and marmalades, which have a ready sale in Cuba and in the United States and are very popular in the latter country. Animals of all kinds, especially pigs and horses, are very fond of it.
The Mamoncillo is another beautiful forest tree indigenous to Cuba, that spreads out like a giant live-oak or mammoth apple tree. Its round, russet green fruit hangs from every branch, and is refreshing to the traveler who stops a moment beneath its shade. Its slightly acid pulp covers a rather large round seed, the whole resembling a tough skinned plum, although the tree belongs to an entirely distinct family.
Figs of all varieties, green, black and yellow, may be found in almost every garden in Cuba. No effort has been made to preserve them for commercial purposes, but when ripe they are very refreshing taken with “desayuno” or the early morning meal.
The Aguacate is another valuable product of the Caribbean Basin, and seems to be indigenous to nearly all its shores, including Mexico and Central and South America. It extended south along the Pacific Coast also, as far as Peru, where the Spanish conquerors found it in use among the people of the Incas. Oviedo, in his reports to Charles I of Spain in 1526, stated that he hadfound this peculiar fruit on the Caribbean shores of both South and Central America.
It was also indigenous to Mexico, where the Aztecs called it the Ahuacatl, whence came the Spanish name of Aguacate, by which it is known in Cuba. The name Avocado has been adopted by the Department of Agriculture of the United States, in order to avoid the confusion resulting from the many local names under which this fruit is known in various countries.
The aguacate of Cuba is a tall handsome tree of the forest, scattered more or less throughout all portions of the Island. It frequently reaches a height of 70 or 80 feet, and although of an open spreading nature, nevertheless furnishes grateful shade. There are many types, although systematic efforts to classify them botanically have not been very successful. The distinction between them usually made is dependent largely upon the shape of the fruit or its color.
The most common variety in Cuba is probably the long, pear-shaped aguacate, although trees bearing round and oblong fruit are often met, especially where they have been planted in gardens or orchards. In color the fruit is usually bright green, or greenish red. Some types again will vary from greenish red to a reddish purple.
The pear shaped aguacates vary in length from five to ten inches, and will average probably a pound and a half in weight. The round or oblong types are usually green in color, with a diameter of five or six inches. The skin is about 1/16th of an inch in thickness, smooth and bright, and peels freely from the inclosed meat. The meat is rather difficult to describe since it resembles in flavor and texture no other edible fruit known. Its color is golden yellow, resembling both in consistency and shade, rich, cold butter, and is used sometimes as a substitute for this product of the dairy. Close to the skin the meat has a slightly greenish tinge. It is very rich in oil and has a pleasant nutty flavor, that evades all description.
The aguacate may be eaten just as it comes from its thin shell-like covering. In the center of the fruit is a large hard seed some two and a half inches in diameter. This never adheres to the pulp, and may be lifted out readily so that the fruit can be eaten with a spoon.
The aguacate forms the finest salad in the world. When used for this purpose the pocket from which the seed was removed is usually filled with broken ice, over which is poured a dressing of salt, vinegar and mustard or pepper, as fancy may happen to dictate. When filled with small cubes of sugar loaf pineapple and mayonnaise dressing, you have a “salad divine.” When taken this way, the aguacate is cut in half, the shell-like covering forming the bowl from which it is eaten. Owing to its content of oil, and other nutritious elements, the aguacate will probably go further towards sustaining life and producing energy than any other fruit known. It is also excellent when removed from the peel, cut into cubes and eaten in soup.
The tree is a prolific bearer, the fruit ripening during the months of July to October inclusive. Other varieties recently introduced come into bearing in October and remain in fruit until January, some occasionally holding over until the month of March.
In the development and improvement of the aguacate, it is the aim of the horticulturist to lengthen the bearing period as much as possible, and through selection to eliminate any space between the pulp and the seed; for the latter, if loose, will often bruise the fruit in handling and shipping. Since the aguacate, like most fruit trees, is not true to seed, this work can be accomplished only through grafting, and although successful, requires care and experience. The ordinary aguacate of the forest bears the fourth or fifth year from the seed, while the grafted varieties will bear the third year. A tree of the latter type, when five years of age, will bear from one hundred to five hundred aguacates, that will average twopounds in weight, and will sell in the fruit markets of the United States at from $1 to $3 a dozen.
The tree may be grown on any well drained land and under conditions similar to those of the mango. On hillsides that have sufficient depth of soil, it does very well, and as the demand for fancy fruit in the palatial hotels of the United States increases, the growing of aguacates for commercial purposes will undoubtedly be undertaken in Cuba or a still larger scale.
INspite of the fact that the Grape is indigenous to Cuba, prohibitory laws on the part of Spain discouraged its culture in all of her colonies, so that vine culture in the Island has had no opportunity to thrive. The few isolated specimens found occasionally in gardens have produced excellent fruit, especially in the neighborhood of Guantanamo, where French refugees from Santo Domingo introduced a few plants in the beginning of the 19th century.
Realizing the importance of grape culture in any country where possible, Dr. Calvino, Director of the Government Experiment Station, in the first days of his administration, sent into the forests of Cuba for healthy specimens of the wild grape, indigenous to the country, known as the “Uva Cimarron.” These were brought to the Station and set out in soil especially prepared. After less than a year had elapsed, four or five lanes, several hundred feet in length, for which trellises of wire have been provided, showed wonderful growth. This native sour grape has simply covered the supports with a wilderness of leaves, vines and fruit.
Correspondence with Professor Munson of Texas, one of the most noted grape specialists of the United States, resulted in bringing to Cuba a dozen or more varieties of choice grapes from that section. These, together with others brought from France, Spain and other European countries, have been planted at the Station, where, in spite of the change of climate and conditions, they seem to thrive. The Director is planning to bud the wild stock of the Cuban grape with all of these choice importedvarieties, in order to ascertain which may give the best results in this country.
Several acres are devoted to this experimental grape field and have been supplied with convenient trellises and facilities for irrigation. The Director and those interested with him are much encouraged with the present stage of the experiment and have great confidence in their ability to establish successfully in Cuba many of the choice grapes of the world, although the medium of the vigorous Cimarron grape of the island. If these experiments prove successful, there is no reason why many of the hillsides of this country should not be converted into immense vineyards, and the cultivation of grapes become a prominent and permanent source of agricultural wealth.
Although intoxication among the inhabitants of Cuba is almost unknown, the drinking of wine, as in all other Latin American countries, has been a custom from time immemorial and the annual importation of wine, most of which comes from Spain, approximates $2,500,000 a year. Should the culture of grapes in Cuba meet with the success expected, there is no reason why this industry, together with that of wine making, might not be carried on in connection with coffee growing in the mountains, since the soils of the fertile hills throughout the Island are adapted to the culture of both at the same time.
In the matter of popular beverages it is somewhat interesting to note that in each hemisphere, nature provided trees of the forest, the fruit of which for countless centuries has furnished to man beverages that today are almost as essential as food. In fact the Cacao of the western hemisphere is a very nutritious food and drink at the same time. While coffee is indigenous to Arabia and Abyssinia, whence the trees have been carried into nearly all parts of the tropical world, cacao, on the other hand, was indigenous to the West Indies, to Mexico, Central America and probably to all countries borderingon the Caribbean. The shores of the latter great sea or basin of the ocean, with their rich warm valleys formed by the rivers tributary to it, are the natural home of the cacoa, botanically known as Theobroma, or food of the gods.
When Cortez forced himself as an unwelcome guest upon Montezuma, in the first quarter of the sixteenth century, he found a delicious drink called caca-huatl, made by the Aztecs from the seeds of this really marvellous plant. The taste of chocolate is so delicate and so palatable that fondness for the drink does not have to be acquired in any country. From the West Indies cacao, or cocoa beans, were carried to Spain and the cultivation of the plant was introduced into the warmer latitudes of the eastern hemisphere. The government of Spain, with its short-sighted greed of those days, succeeded in keeping the manufacture of this drink more or less secret from the outside world, and for chocolate demanded prices so high that only the rich could afford to buy it, retarding thus its general use in Europe for nearly a century.
The consumption of chocolate today, both as a beverage and as a food, especially in the manufacture of confections, has assumed throughout the world very large proportions. Approximately 150,000,000 pounds of chocolate and cocoa produced from the cacao trees of the Caribbean basin are consumed in civilized countries, while the demand for the beans is increasing by rapid bounds every year.
There is perhaps no form of nutritious food more condensed and complete than that of the better grade of chocolate. Nine-tenths of the content of this wonderful bean are assimilated by the system, hence its value not only to travelers but also to armies and forces in the field, who demand condensed foods like chocolate, with a large amount of nourishment in a very small bulk. An analysis of cacao yields of carbohydrates, 37%; of fat, 29%; and of protein, 22%. In the better grades ofchocolate, used for both food and drink, there is practically no waste.
From the above it may be readily seen that the cultivation of cacao, from which the chocolate and cocoa of commerce are derived, has become one of the standard agricultural industries of the world, and one which for the future gives great promise, since the demand for the cacao beans is increasing rapidly, as is also the market price.
The Central American republics bordering on the Caribbean, as well as the northern coast of Colombia and Venezuela, are the greatest producers of cacao, while Trinidad, Cuba and other islands of the West Indies, produce considerable amounts.
The culture of cacao, like that of coffee and citrus fruits, is a healthful and profitable employment, and especially agreeable for those fond of life in the open, and who enjoy living in the mountains and valleys that slope toward the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. Its cultivation may be carried on where conditions are favorable, in company with coffee, since while the latter is grown on the fertile foothills and mountain sides, cacao is at its best in the sheltered valleys of the forest. Cacao demands a rich, deep, moist soil, well drained, since the roots of the tree will not tolerate standing water, and the subsoil, if not pervious, must lie at least six feet below the surface.
The forest-covered valleys of tropical Cuba, receiving as they do the washings of the hillsides, upon which decayed vegetable matter has accumulated during centuries, furnish ideal locations for cacao. In preparing for the cultivation of the plant, all underbrush is removed, leaving only the tall stately trees, that although giving the required shade will still admit some sunlight to the soil below; otherwise the cacao, reaching up for the light, assumes a tall slender growth, inconvenient in gathering the crop. Trees for commercial purposes should not attain a height of more than 25 or 30 feet,the branches leaving the trunk six or eight feet from the ground. They are planted as a rule from 12 to 15 feet apart, which is equivalent to from 200 to 300 trees per acre.
There are several varieties of the cacao, although that in common use in Cuba is known as the Cacao Criolla, and is not subject to diseases as are some of the other varieties grown in South America. The fruit is an elongated pod of cucumber shape, with a rough corrugated skin, hanging close to the trunk and branches. The side facing the sun carries shades of red and yellow that produce a rather startling color effect when first seen in the forest.
The cacao has two major crops each year. The pods when ripe are removed from the trees with a hooked pruning knife attached to a bamboo pole, and collected into piles, sometimes covered with earth, where they undergo a period of fermentation lasting five or six days. After this the seeds are removed from the pods and carefully dried for the market. In the days of Montezuma such was the value of the cacao seeds or beans that they took the place of money or small change in adjusting purchases, and they are recognized even today among the Indians in representation of values. In the cacao factories, the oil of the bean, which represents 50% of its weight, is extracted and known to the trade as cocoa butter. The residue, known as the cacao nib, is ground and forms the chocolate and cocoa of commerce. Even the hulls are used to make a low grade of cocoa known as “La Miserable.”
The tree comes into bearing the fourth year after planting and attains its maturity in about twelve years, with a life extending over a half a century or more. The yield per tree varies greatly, or from four to twelve pounds annually, with an average, under favorable conditions, or five or six pounds. This extreme range in the productivity of cacao is dependent almost entirely on the fertility of the soil, since the plant is greedy inits demand for nourishment, and it quickly responds to the generous use of fertilizer. In the ordinary sense of the term no cultivation whatever is given to the cacao tree, since it is truly speaking a denizen of the forest, doing better when the soil above its roots is never disturbed, although a mulch of leaves to maintain the moisture is very beneficial. Weeds and brush that may appear are removed with a machete.
The successful culture of cacao requires experience and care, especially during the period of fermentation through which the pods must pass before the removal of the seeds. This latter work is done usually by women and children, hence, as in the case of coffee, cacao in many senses of the word is well adapted to colonies and settlements composed of families who have grouped together and made permanent homes in the mountains and valleys that border on the Caribbean and the Gulf.
Cuba is exporting at the present time, mostly from the province of Oriente, approximately two and a half million pounds of cacao, valued at $15.20 per hundred pounds, or $380,000. The commodity is staple and the demand at good prices constant, while the cacao once prepared for market does not deteriorate or suffer loss if sale is delayed, all of which is to the advantage of the grower.
The north shores of the Province of Pinar del Rio, swept by the northeast trade winds throughout the entire year, furnish in many places conditions most favorable to the culture of cacao and coffee. The same is true of southeastern Santa Clara, of the northern slopes of the Sierra de Cubitas and of the coasts of Oriente from the Bay of Nipe on the north, clear around to Cabo Cruz on the southwest.
Both in nature and in its domestic use, cacao and the vanilla bean have always been more or less closely associated. Both are denizens of the deep forest, and are indigenous to the two Americas from Mexico to Peru. The Aztecs of Anhuac, the Mayas of Central America,and the subjects of the Incas, further south, added the delicate flavor of the vanilla to their chocolate, made from the beans of the caca-huatl, from which the name of cacao was taken. This association of vanilla with chocolate and other confectioneries has continued into modern times.
The so-called vanilla bean is not, as the name would indicate, of the legume family, but is an orchid, climbing the trunks of trees that grow on the rich soils of tropical forests. The vine may be germinated from seed planted in leaf mold at the base of the tree, but where cultivated it is propagated from cuttings and must have the shade of trees in order to thrive, climbing the trunks to a height of 20 to 30 feet, by means of fibrous roots that come from nodes along its length.
The leaves are bright green, long and fleshy; the flowers are white and usually fragrant, having eccentric forms peculiar to the orchid family. The pods, from six to nine inches in length, are cylindrical and some three-eighths of an inch in thickness. The vine begins to bear in the third year from planting and will continue to do so for thirty to forty years with but little care or culture. The pods are gathered before they are fully ripe, dried in the shade and “sweated” or fermented in order to develop and fix the delightful aroma for which they are famous.
It is during this period of fermentation that the bean requires careful watching and expert knowledge in order that the process of sweating may be perfect, since upon this chemical change in the texture of the beans the value of the product really depends. After fermentation the pods are carefully dried, tied in small bundles and made ready for market or export. They will keep indefinitely and the high prices secured for very small bulk renders them an attractive crop to handle.
The vanilla of commerce is not only used to flavor chocolate, sweetmeats and liquors, but also enters into the composition of many perfumes, owing to an aromaticalkaloid that exudes from and crystallizes on the outer coating of the best quality beans. These under normal conditions are worth from $12 to $16 per pound.
Owing perhaps to the lack of experimental initiative, the vanilla bean, although at home in the heavy forests of Cuba, with the exception of a few instances has never attracted the attention of those who are in a position to grow and care for this valuable plant. In conjunction with cacao, coffee, or any industry carried on in the rich forest-covered mountain valleys of the Island, there is no reason why the culture of the vanilla bean should not be made very profitable.
Aside from the removal of the beans from the vine, the only effort required is that of assisting nature in the fertilization of the flowers, which in the forest, of course, is carried on by insects, but for commercial purposes, in order to insure a large crop of beans, it is well to see that each flower is fertilized by shaking a little of the pollen upon the stamens. This is readily done with the use of a light bamboo ladder that may be carried from tree to tree.
Indians from the eastern forests of Mexico, between Vera Cruz and Tampico, would readily come to Cuba to teach the best methods of curing or take charge of the treatment of the beans after picking, and thus insure the success of a very profitable crop, which up to the present has received practically no attention.
WITHthe advent of the American colonists in 1900, truck gardening sprang rapidly into prominence in Cuba until today it forms an important part of the small farmer’s revenue. Most of the well-known vegetables of the United States are grown here, not only for local markets, but for shipment abroad. They are usually planted at the close of the rainy season in October or November, and are brought to maturity in time to reach the North during winter and early spring, when high prices prevail.
Those vegetables from which the best results have been obtained are early potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, sweet peppers, okra, white squash, and string beans. These may be grown in the rich soils of any part of the Island, but are only profitable when cultivated close to railroads or within easy reach of steamship lines having daily sailings from Havana. Profits depend on location, soil, water supply, intelligent cultivation and success in reaching markets in which there is a demand for the product.
The long belt of land lying just south of the Organ Mountains of Pinar del Rio, extending from east to west throughout the province, furnishes the largest tract for vegetable growing in Cuba. The conditions in this section are exceptionally favorable to that industry. Close to the base of the mountain range, the surface is rather rolling, but soon slopes away into the level prairies extending out toward the Caribbean. The soil as a rule is a dark grey sandy loam, easily worked at all seasons, and responds quickly to the use of fertilizers and to cultivation.
Numerous small streams that have their origin back in the mountains, furnish excellent natural drainage, and some of them can easily be used for irrigating purposes, if necessary, in the dry months of February and March. The Western Railway of Havana runs through the entire length of the vegetable belt, reinforced by a splendid automobile drive, more or less parallel, connecting the further extremity of Pinar del Rio with the markets and wharves of Havana.
These lands are very productive, and under intelligent management, especially when irrigation can be employed, may be rendered exceedingly profitable, through the cultivation of vegetables. In some sections, the semi-vuelta or Partido tobacco fields monopolize the use of the land during the fall months, but there are nevertheless hundreds of thousands of acres in this district that if properly cultivated, and conducted in connection with canning plants, would yield large revenues to the Island.
Nearly all seed is brought from the United States, fresh, each year, and the planting season for some crops begins in September, extending through the entire winter, especially where irrigation or fortunate rains furnish a sufficient amount of moisture to carry the crop through the dry months of early spring.
The methods employed in vegetable growing are identical with those of the United States, and the results are practically the same, aside from the one important fact that all fall grown vegetables, or those that may be placed on the markets of large cities in the United States between January and April, bring, as a rule, very high prices.
Later in the spring the vegetable gardens of Florida and the Gulf States come into competition, causing the growers of the Island gradually to yield to those of sections further north. It is at this time, or in the late spring, that the canning industry could take care of the great surplus of vegetables that for any reason might fail to find a profitable market abroad. Well equippedplants could handle this crop with great benefit both to the vegetable growers and the canners.
Irish potatoes, planted in the fall so that the crop may be brought to maturity in March, have proven very successful throughout this section, as well as in the beautiful Guines Valley, southeast of Havana. The potato growers of Cuba have experimented with nearly all of the standard varieties of the United States and it is rather difficult to determine which has given the best results.
The Early Rose variety of Irish potato is quite a favorite in Cuba, owing to its rapid growth and productivity. Later potatoes, while finding a sale perhaps in the local market, are not considered profitable, since, as a rule, one can procure during summer and fall excellent potatoes from Maine and Nova Scotia, with greater economy than by growing them in Cuba, at times when the land can be more profitably used for other purposes.
Potatoes, of course, need barn yard manures and fertilizers, the more the better; or rather, the greater is the return. The yield varies according to conditions anywhere from forty to one hundred barrels and more per acre. The Cuban product is almost invariably of good quality, and when placed in the eastern markets of the United States in the month of March, will bring anywhere from $6 to $10 per barrel. Under normal conditions $8 seems to be the ruling price for Cuban potatoes on the wharves at New York, where they are sold as exotics or new potatoes. Thus $500 may be considered a fair return per acre.
Green peppers, too, have been found to be one of the most satisfactory and profitable crops in Cuba. They are planted in rows three feet apart, spaced a foot or more in the row so that they can be kept clean with adjustable cultivators drawn by light ponies. Hand cultivation, although sometimes indulged in, with the present price of labor is practically impossible.
A well-known pepper grower of the Guayabal district, in the northwestern corner of Havana Province, on less than a hundred acres of land, grew 6,000 crates of green peppers in the winter of 1917-18, that netted him $6 per crate in the City of New York. Peppers are easily grown and handled, and the market or demand for them seems to be quite constant, hence they have become one of the favorite vegetables for the export trade.
Tomatoes, too, are grown very successfully in Cuba during the late fall and winter. The seed is secured from reliable houses in the United States each year, and is selected largely with reference to the firmness or shipping quality of the fruit. The methods of cultivation are similar to those employed in the United States. The weeds are usually killed out of the field in the early spring, and kept down with profitable cover crops, such as the carita and velvet bean. These, when turned under or harvested by hogs, place the soil in perfect condition.
The planting is done usually in October and November and the cultivation carried on either with native horses or mules, or gasoline-propelled cultivators. The yield where the water control and other conditions are favorable, is large, and the price secured in the northern markets varies from $2 to $5 per half bushel crate. It is true that when tomatoes from Florida and the Gulf States begin to go north in large quantities, there are frequently reports of glutted markets and falling prices. It is then that the canning factory comes to the rescue of the planter and contracts for the remainder of his stock at satisfactory prices.
Of all varieties, the Redfield Beauty is probably the tomato most in vogue among growers in Cuba. It grows luxuriantly and yields from two hundred to three hundred crates per acre.
Eggplants as a rule are successfully grown on all rich mellow soils. The methods of cultivation are almostidentical with those employed in growing tomatoes. A small pear shaped variety is grown for the local markets in Havana and other cities, but for export purposes it would be unsatisfactory. The finest varieties known in the States are all found here. The yield under favorable conditions is large and the crop stands shipment for long distances without injury.
As a rule the prices obtained in the north have rendered the growing of egg plants very profitable. From $3 to $7 per crate are the usual limitations in price. The uncertainty of this price, however, in different seasons, has rendered the production of the eggplant rather an interesting gamble. This is true regardless of the quality of the fruit, in nearly all products sold in distant markets.
Okra, or quimbombo, as the vegetable is called in Cuba, while not as a rule commanding fancy prices, nevertheless brings satisfactory returns, both abroad and in the local market, where the demand is more or less steady. Like all others mentioned, it is strictly a late fall or winter vegetable, and its cultivation is identical with methods employed in the United States. Prices usually obtained are from two to three dollars a half bushel crate.
The growing of lima beans in Cuba has proved a gilt-edge undertaking for those who have been careful in the selection of seed and proper cultivation after planting. The price obtained in the United States has varied between $2 and $8 per hamper, or bean basket, with an average of perhaps $5. The crop is quickly grown and with sufficient labor to gather the beans at the proper time the grower is relieved of his only cause for worry. The labor problem can usually be overcome if the farm is located near any one of the small towns where help of women and children is available.
String beans, while readily grown in Cuba, do not always find a demand in the northern markets sufficient to justify the fancy prices frequently obtained for othervegetables. The local demand in Havana, while not large, is nevertheless satisfactory to the small farmer living within a short distance of the city, where he can deliver his crop without the expense of railroad transportation.
The summer squash, too, succeeds very well in Cuba, and if the crop does not encounter the competition of the growers in the Gulf States, it is, as a rule, fairly profitable. A variety of the native squash known as the Calabaza, always finds a ready sale in the local markets. This prolific Criolla production is almost always planted with corn by the native farmers, since its yield never fails and its market is constant and satisfactory.
Recent experiments have been made by an American grower who has imported the seed of the small pie-pumpkin into Cuba. To use his own words, “This variety grows even faster than weeds, and the pumpkins cover the ground so thick that you can hardly avoid walking on them.” They make a very fine fall and winter crop, with an average yield of five tons per acre. This delicate variety of pumpkin, when canned, will probably prove available for export purposes.
The great drawback to profitable vegetable growing in Cuba lies largely in the uncertainty of the northern markets, where prices fluctuate so rapidly, with the minimum and the maximum so far apart, that it is difficult for the vegetable grower, a thousand miles away, to count with any certainty on the returns from his crops when shipped abroad. The establishment of receiving agents, perhaps, under the control of men who were financially interested with the growers themselves, might remedy this difficulty. The canning industry, if established on a sufficiently broad scale, would also add stability to the price of all crops grown in Cuba, and place the cultivation of vegetables on a more certain foundation.
The introduction of irrigation, wherever possible, insures so generous a crop of almost any vegetable plantedin this Island, that the returns to the grower, even where the price may not be fancy, will be decidedly remunerative. The incalculable advantages to be secured by irrigation, especially in the growing of vegetables, planted in the late fall and gathered during the winter and early spring, when rains are not always forthcoming, is a matter in which the Department of Agriculture is deeply interested.
One of the best irrigation engineers of the United States has been invited to go over the field of Cuba, and to advise the Government in regard to the various localities in which irrigation plants may be installed with success and profit to the growers. These plans when carried out will prove of marvellous benefit to the agricultural industry and will greatly increase the revenues derived from tobacco, as well as from vegetables.
The great advantage, however, enjoyed by all vegetable growers in Cuba, lies in the fact that stormy weather never interferes with the cultivation of crops; sunshine may be depended upon every day of the year, and the farmer is seldom if ever compelled to lay aside his implements, and wait for the weather to adjust itself to his needs. In other words, he can always work if he wants to, and the market abroad, if he “strikes it right,” may yield him a small fortune from a comparatively few acres in a very few months.
It would be misleading to the prospective farmer or stranger to quote the almost fabulous returns at times secured on some favored spot, but with irrigation, which insures absolute control of the growing crop, the profits from vegetable raising may run anywhere from $100 to $500 per acre, and more.
Among those “striking it rich” incidents that may be occasionally found, may be mentioned a little tract of ground consisting of only four acres of land, located along the railroad track, not 100 yards from a station on the Western Railway. Here two Spanish storekeepers placed under cultivation four acres of land that hadbeen previously prepared with a carita bean crop, hog fed and turned under. These partners had a well sunk in the middle of the tract, and a little gasoline engine installed that enabled them to adjust the water supply each day to the requirements of the field.
Here they planted eggplants, tomatoes, green peppers and Irish potatoes. The cultivation was done by one man and a pony. During the gathering of the crops some additional help was required, although the two owners worked hard themselves during late afternoons and early mornings. The return from these crops during the four months in which they were in the ground, amounted to $6,430.
Incidents of this kind are not by any means common, but nevertheless they give some indication of what may be accomplished in growing vegetables in Cuba, when the work is conducted along modern lines and under intelligent management. Capital, of course, is necessary, as in all other industries, but the reward, even with the element of the gamble taken into consideration, is to say the least very tempting.