The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-07-21
THE SPICE OF LIFE" IN CUBA.

A Novel and Profitable Business Ven
ture in the Raising of Pepper, Nut
megs, Gloves, Cinnamon and Other
Seasons" for the United States
Market-The Spice-Trade, Hitherto
Monopolized in the Orient, May be
Shared by the Western Hemisphere
Cuban Coffee.
Especial Correspondence of the Journal
and Courier.
Trinidad de Cuba, July 1.-Among the
new industries which are being intro
duced into our recently-acquired pos
sessions, the very strangest thing that
has come under my observation Is spice
farming. 1t has at least the charm Of
novelty among multitude of American
enterprises, and the certainty of not be-
ing overdone-at least during the next
century or two. In this case, variety is
truly the spice of life. Think of dwell
ing amid perpetual odors of Araby the
Blest, every lightest zephyr redolent as
! a freshly filled rose jar! The fact that
most of the spicy growths are extreme
ly slow in maturing will be an effectual
hindrance to over-production. The spice
/ planter must have some other source of
revenue While waiting several years for
his groves to reach the point of profit
able bearing; or, like the pioneer in the
business above referred to- he may set
out his trees in squares and rows, grow
ing quicker crops between them The
ideal spot for this queer kind of farming
is the valley of Trinidad. midway along
the southern coast of Cuba, where abso-
lutte perfection of climate is found-con-
| tinual northern June, hardly varying
ten degrees in ten years. The scenery IS
beautiful beyond compare. and the
| healthfulness of the locality unsur-
passed. The central railway completed
nearly to Casida, (the port Of TrinidaD
affords ample shipping facilities; and as
yet the land-speculator, who has made
the ravages of peace almost as destruc-
tive as the ravages of war in some por-
tons of Cuba-has not put up the price
of the wonderfully fertile soil.
| The nutmeg tree, for example, which
fourishes wild in the Molucca Archpel-
ago, Bengal Singapore, but not in the
Philippines, and was brought by the
monks at some long distance day into
Brazil, the Guianas and West Indies
grows to greater perfection in Cuba,
under cultivation, than ever in it's ma
tive home 1t is a splendid evergreen,
towering from fifty to seventy feet high.
Unfortunately however, the nutmeg
tree is too slow in growing to suit the
Anglo-S Saxon mood but is in batter ac-
cord with the temperament of the race
which loves the proverb: He who
plants an olive, plants for his children's
Children Grown from the seed, it be-
gins to bear fruit in nine or ten years,
but does not reach maturity under a
quarter of century. At present not
enough growing trees could be found in
all Cuba to supply one good-sized plan
tation, and to import them from the 9TH
err side of the world is both risky and
expensive. In view of the demand that
is sure to come, would it not be worth
while to at once start nurseries for nut
meg and other spice trees?
Most people are aware that the nut
meg of commerce is the kernel of a
seed, inside a fruit which resembles
small pear. When ripe, nature splits
the fruit in two, exposing crimson
arillus, surrounding single seed. In
the Banda Islands, whence most of our
supply comes, the fruit is picked into
small oval baskets at the end of a bam-
boo to prevent bruising. The pericarp
is first removed; then the arillus. (Which
is the IMAGE" of commerce), is careful
ly stripped off and dried Then the
seeds, enclosing the valuable kernel, are
put into a drying house and exposed to
oh tyvn months heinz
turned every second day. The shells are
then broken open with wooden mallet
and the nutmegs picked out and sorted,
the inferior ones being reserved for eX-
pressing into the so-called oil Of mace.
Then the dried nutmegs are rubbed
over with lime, or dipped into bath of
lime-milk, in order to spoil them for
generation, so that buyers may not
plant them and thus stsal the trade
The thrifty Dutch who control the Mo-
lucca nutmeg business, are responsible |
for this little dodge, but 1t is waste of |
time, since it has been demonstrated |
that the drying process, and even a |
weeks exposure to the sun, destroys the |
fertility of the kernel. The Dutch have !
known it many years, but since for CEN
turtles buyers have been accustomed to |
the whitish exterior of nutmegs. and |
look with suspicion upon those without |
it. they continue the unnecessary lime |
process. In some parts of the East In |
dies the entire fruit, with the nutmeg
kernel inside, is boiled in sugar and ex-
ported as rare and costly sweetmeat.
Nutmeg butter" or Oil of mace, Is
made by grinding the refuse nutn1egs to
a powder, enclosing it in bag and
steaming it a long time over caldron;
then COMPRISING it while still warm be-
tween powerful wedges. The brown
fluid which flows out solidfies in time
and Is the "butter" in question, Of great
value as a commercial product. The
kernels yield about a quarter Of their
weight in this substance. Some idea of
the possible extent of this Industry may
be gained from the New York shipping
which show that upwards of
eight hundred thousand pounds Of nut
megs are brought into the United States
every year and eighty thousand pounds
Of mace, Estimating one hundred and
twenty to the pound-which every
knows retail at penny
apiece-you may figure out the sum to-
tai at leisure.
The Glove tree, another tall and state
~ evergreen, is easily grown in the
yTect Tnhihs and aGnacia11y II, the from ]