The St. Lucie County tribune. (Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, Fla.) 1905-1920, 1909-12-17
|0UR GROWERS
INSPECT CUBA
,,,o,bers of the East Coast Asso-
citation Make Report.
(vBAN PROSPECT Dull
~, fruit is Inferior and Cost Of PrOduc-
i'm ;s NearI, Equal to fIorida--SmaII
Vegetable Crop Planted this Year

noring the past month Messrs.
lanes n. Mckay and Cullen Pence
mad" , tour of the vegetable, citrus
t @nit and pineapple sections of Cuba;
M" Mr. Pence being president of the
v.at Coast Fruit and Vegetable Assoc
nation, G was given a great deal of in
,",mation that otherwise might not
have been given.
'' Tbov visited the Messrs. Orr Bros /.
mace near Taco Taco, Cuba, who are
i,id 10 have as promising grove as
, ,Ssre is on the island. They have a
vsrv favorable situation, good soil, yet
,,e I ,sing one-half ton of commercial
fertizer to the acre annually. These
Gentlemen think they have seen decid-
sdlv better results from trees in Flor
IA Of the same age and expense used,
and care in growing. Also they saw
Uoves where from one.half to three
ons of fertilizer per acre was used,
and did not show what they considered
satisfactory results.
The cost of maintaining a grove in
/ Cuba is very large, for eternal vigilance
i the price of the life of tree in Cuba
on account of the luxuriant growth of
grasses and insects such as Florida
does not have to contend with.
Americans who went to Cuba after
the first Intervention seem to have
thought that the planting of the tree
was all that was necessary and that in
a few years Il grove laden with fruit
would be theirs with but little care.
. But the thousands of acres of deserted
groves show the folly of such an idea.
| Il takes more fertilizer and more care
TO get anything like the results OBJ
tanned in Florida. AS to the quality of
| fruit produced, the grapefruit is finely
cOlored where sprayed and is most de-
| @iOus, is full of juice as one could
| wish, but are not used commercially in
/ Cuba. The Cubans call it the Ameri-
| can orange and they do not eat them at
all. The growers must depend on the
United States and Canada for their
/ market
The oranges while juicy and sweet do
| not color up naturally so they are not
marketable in the United States, but
so far those who have been able to
produce fruit are able to dispose of
them on the island for about double
what Florida growers receive for their
fruit.
The Cubans have never mastered the
growing of citrus fruits to any extent
BECAUSE Of the restrictions placed on
Growing citrus trees. while under
Spanish rule, and the high tariff ON
Citrus fruits is not an incentive for
Them to ship to our markets.
The main tomato sections are in the
vicinity of Gulnes. There is a large
crop planted this season, wholly by
Vaoanss, generally in small acreages by
men who are indebted to the "bOdega'
ocountry merchants, who practically
control the crops and who in turn are
Probably indebted to the Havana brok /
q; and as the Cuban grower prefers to
uta' with Cuban or Spanish merchants, |
!.aey will actually sell their products to
t0t'' Tor Il lower price than to an
American.
AZ Gulnes there were over one hun
aed americans interested in growing
.gelao'es "A few years ago and not II
ue 'hls season, and other sections !
"g more or less the same.
ihey estimate the tomato crop for
WIS season under favorable conditions
ABOUT two hundred thousand crates |
Ne marketed from January to the
70, asl Of April. The crop is rather late
s SS season on account of hurricane and |
'salher conditions during the fall.
!, inere Is but a small acreage planted
!, eggplants and peppers, on account
n por returns of crops produced in
me pineapple industry is confined
within fifty miles of Havana. They |
S NY I'rst grown on the outskirts of
ras, and has gradually .drifted
Sss'ward, the center of the old section
sa.s rlnta Bravo, about twenty miles
m rss. OF Havana where they have inn
''se packing houses well equipped;
i A. instance they have mailing machines
k .Ss Dy electric motors but do not
ih nv, packing tables as the Cubans cut
kef"u anu put them on the floors day
'ihsm e packing, then one man sizes
h es.. another wraps. another places
ers,a a'e and still another nails up the
e, sss, which seems rather slow and
M ' . way to the Florida grower.
mi lac. oa are made the narrow way
liz iel larger apple to the same
b IL me Florida grown pine, owing
c %e smaller crowns.
n ; j. q; pines are cut instead of brok-
sljns picking the majority owing to the
tbe MI Growing so to the apple. It seems
% ns. nhs;ersal price for cutting, hauling
abcar house, packing and placing
soms, cars Is fifty cents per crate, and
% No me, mes more, however this seems
q p;r ~, usual contract and cost price.
& ~'opples are grown in Cuba on