The Republican journal., 1898-07-14
lpuIT CULTURE IN CUBA.

... correspondence of The Journal j
..5 E. 1898. Among the things of
tuly pleasant memories remain to
Hus is the fruit industry, which
.a.. driving business on the island,
t..vaIs past has been good for moth
NLIle in the Trinidad valley this
met New York produce mer-
r- who had been fruit grower in
.,r. uba, until the loss of the trade
-.t SAND compelled him to give it
U-ag unable to understand how the
9, anne to lose SO valuable an indus
. which the conditions of soil and
perfect, | interviewed him on
.......l And this is the substance of
81, told NE: "It was the Cubans'
. a and they will be glad enough
k even remnant of their once
... iiuit trade-as they may when
as lave taught them how to man
call the Cubans lazy would be
good old New England word
better describes their temper
they always choose the easiest
complisbing an end and leave
.h Providence. Isl Dios quire
d wills''-is forever ON their
pplied to neglected crops as to
elise in Lie; while Anglo Sax
that Providence smiles in
uaryests upon the husbandmen
ilrth the proper effort rather than
use who leave it to Him entire
E" oranges, pine-apples, mangoes,
... bananas, require the most care
ada M, from the time they are
lJil offered for sale in the markets.
10. - is Just where the Cubans lost
I -ale. To get the fruit down, they
.e- tie trees, or knocked it off with a
ID n..e. as they would cocoanuts. 1t
..-.. The ground battered by the fall
si 10y the rap from the pole, and
7s a, handicapped in the start for com
r5A With the carefully picked fruit of
WAC can planter. 1t must be remem-
, The fruit has to make journey
eds of miles before it reaches
and the slightest bruse rapidly
IL
next step was to transport it to
-ueSt town, to be packed for ship
his was done by mules. The
ol pines, OF whatever it was, were
nap hazard into paniers, and
went the mule over the rough eoun-
jolting the softer fruit into jam
die bags. When the destination
9ed- instead of carefully lifting
from the mules back, the driver
Il 0tf regardless, and threw it'll
rhe nearesl corner of the store
Inc next conner threw his con
.-- If fruit on top of the other; amt
piled ~, with no thought Of the
noes. Thea, ia packing, / have
ans stand several feet away from,
is OF hampers, and actually throw
or miss, OF course adding to the
he poor fruit had already reeeiy-
-,n the barrel OF box was filled,
7ls Tilted On. by force, if neces-
NE sits on an obstrepelous trunk
instead getting tdown careful
e'lled end over end and dropped
hold, on top of whatever it might
this sort OF thing wont do at all.
table result was that the fruit
tan when it arrived in America and
was wasted. Buyers would not
ut even if Adam and Eve had gone
fruit business in the garden of
-. o' American planters decided that
jill beat the Cubans at fruit grow
/ III under far less favorable con-
They tried it, and the Cubans
found that there was no longer
Het for their rotting pines and
But the fact remains that no
the world is better adapted to
wing than Cuba; and under Amer
- 4uagement the Cuban fruit trade
tn become an important factor in
# trial life of the hemisphere.
-es ing to see for myself what used to
-e gTeatest bananas shipping port in
s void Baracoa, at the eastern end of
lp4- nd the prospects for the invest
sl' American capital there in fruit
7 c. when the war is over, | made the |
n Trinidad. Not many weeks ago,
wy blockade tied it up, a native
-us-ip line sent small vessels at regu-
.Iclvals to make the circuit of Cuba.
-ae was not much to be said in favor of
>1dners, except on the any port ina
4-4 lrinciple, when one particularly
4.e4 10 90 somewhere and there was no
-s sly. The boats were absurdly small |
"aln travel, extremely dirty, and
Ways loaded to the guards with passen-
No-tooted and four-not counting
raously-footed creeping and crawl
- 'l- wriggling things that infested
'' fanny. The four footed voyagers
.45y over filled the place originally
-.f.e- for them and We're penned so far
.-a' their noses touched the shoulders
'ls two-footed travelling companions
-7e -at at the table, amid odors which