The Florida star., 1901-02-01
STAY II THE UNITED STATES.


In the west Indies.
Mr. @. w. SWEET, the former treasurer
of the Boston Fruit company, now alb
sorhed by the United States Fruit COM
pany, has been frequent visitor to the
West India Islands and Central America,
and he recently gave an interview 70 >
reporter Of the Lewiston Journal, in
which he 50 well corroborates what We
have heard from other sources, perhaps
less well informed, but quite Is positive
in their assertions. that we viii give
place TO some of his statements
''Cuba is no place for the poor man,
and Porto Rico is not much better. In
Jamaica, where the United States Fruit
company has large plantations of bananas,
oranges, cocoanuts, pimento and other
tropical products, there may be a better
show; but even there the chances are all
in favor of the small investor coming out
the small end of the horn"
When a man goes to Jamaica to engage
In fruit growing, he will have TO pay any
where from $40 70 $3.50 per acre for suit
able land, and to grow oranges success
fully q man must have at least 500 acres
of land. Pineapples are easier to get un-
der way than oranges, as they come into
bearing in about year after setting out,
while oranges require five years, but the
oranges are the most profitable when in
bearing.
Fruit growers on the islands are not
troubled by frosts, but by the tariff which
was put on to protect the fruits of Cali
fornia and Florida, amounting to about
$1.50 a barrel, or 20 cents box, which is
tough on the growers in those islands.
There is also another serious obstacle
to success there. While the orange trees
of the West India islands have bearing
season from early fall until about the
middle of February, the last six weeks of
that time they cannot compete in our
markets with the fruit from Florida and
California, which begins to come in dur
ing December, and has the advantage of
being free from tariff. Thus the trees
are still heavily laden with fruit.
II fruits grow readily there so do weeds.
They spring up in a night and require
almost constant effort to keep them down.
1t takes long pocketbOok TO care for an
orange grove from the time it is set ont
until it is in bearing condition and the
fruit can be put upon the market.
There is no chance for men of limited
capital in growing sugar cane. There are
small planters who grow it and sell to
richer neighbOrs, but the price paid is
not such as to give them much above
bare subsistence.
Many have bought land and grown
good crops, and then failed TO find a
profit because they were so situated that
they had not good shipping facilities. In
this the growing of cocoanuts seems to
offer the best chance, as it is all done
near the coast, but it takes seven years
waiting and working before they come
into bearing.
OF San Domingo he could not say
much, as he was not familiar with it, but
the government there is uncertain, sub
ject TO sudden revolutions. The people
generally are ignorant, and the COM
mercial development very crude. Ship
ping facilities are likely TO be unsatisfac-
tory from the fruit growers standpoint.
There is no opportunity in Cuba for
one with limited capital to engage in to-
bacco growing. 1t has been one of the
staple products of the island for many
years, and all the good tobacco land is
taken. 1t has been cultivated for years
and has a well established value, which
varies very much even on plantations not
far distant from each other. Owing to
the quality of the soil and the produc-
ton, one may be called worth $40 an
acre and another actually worth $400.
The Santa Clara district is called the best
in the island.
To conclude, Mr.. SWEET said that ''the
lucky investor is one that has no money
locked up III Cuban lands" With this
opinion we agree, but distance lends en-
chantment to the view," and those who
would not put out one dollar to help
build up all enterprise in their own town
are ready to invest in Kansas, Alabama
or Porto Rico, if someone tells a fine
story.-American Cultivator.
ANOTHER WORD To THE LADIES.