The Florida agriculturist., 1908-03-01
OUR CUBAN NEIGE4BORS.
Review of the Frut and and Vegetable Condition in
Cuba, by our Regular Correspondent.

season, the first supplies arr wing in
November. Tomatoes and peppers
formed the bulk of them, the latter
at first bringing good price IS. The
excellent prospects which growers
and commission men saw before them
soon faded away with the financial
panic and super-abundance Of stock.
No less than twenty-five thousand
cases were shipped during December,
and the prices which had been as
high as from $500 to $3.50 dropped
before Christmas to from $I.oo to
$780, and stand now at IS cents.
The general result of the tomato
season, then, has been disap pointing
to the growers. 1t was certainly a
record crop for Cuba and has brought
a record bad price The rea sons for
this are three:
In many cases the tomatoes are
picked from nine to ten day rs before
they are put on the market and as
a result, when they arrive they are
either still green or over ripe. The
amount of green stuff which has ac-
cumulated in New York al i'd other
markets this year is beyond concep-
ton. This result is mainly due to
the lack Of transportation facilities in
the island and the absence of suitable
fruit vans on the railroads.
The early production has operated
against the growers, inasmuch as their
stuff has clashed against crops in the
North, when generally they get it on
to the market in the interval between
the finish of the Northern crops and
the arrival of the Florida. T he result
has been glut of tomato es from
all districts, in which the green and
unattractive Cuban has had little
chance of realizing good pri les.
Again, at the beginning of the sea-
son growers were only sending their
stuff to New York, Chicago ind New
Orleans. Bad prices have M alde them
spread further afeld in the effort to
recoup some of the losses of the COM
mencement
Peppers have been very plentiful
this season, but without gai4 ming any
good prices In many ca Ses they
were small and oftentimes were sold
in New York for the bare cost of
the freight.
Egg plant and okra ha We been
plentiful. Eggplant at the beginning
were Wasty, but now a very good
quality is being shipped and fair
prices obtain.
Beans from Cuba are near y always
of sufficiently good quality to COM
mand good prices, and this year has
been no exception to the rule It
is unfortunate that they do not stand
the journey we'll and the nu mber ex-
ported is in consequence lin nlited
Onions are now very plentiful
many of them being of quite the
best quality and getting good money
in the market.
With regard to the citrus fruit the
season has been without amy clrcum-
stance of note. The growing Of citrus
fruit in this island is still in an ex-
perimental stage, and, although there
has been in the past a lot of wild
talk as to the future of this industry
in the island, nothing definite can be
said on the matter at present In
some parts, notably in La Gloria, in
Camaguey Province, fine ora hges have
been grown but whether alt a COM
mercial rate cannot say.
In the Isle of Pines, Mason Bros. and
others grow and ship good numbers
Generally, however, exc1ud ing those
from the Isle Of Pines, oranges have
not been a great success in the North
and it has proved far more femunera-
tive to sell them locally. The same
may be said of tangerines.
Grapefruit has been grown very
successfully, and quite a qua antity has
been shipped to different poi ints in the
States.
The pineapple crop of Ioo7 was
very late, and did not bulk as large