The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1910-08-05
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%RUVT GROIERS %H'

80 than otherwise, for, exactly the opposite Of
tbe case in the west, these far eastern lands need
to be reduced.
They are almost too rich, and the fruit Of
trees they produce, particularly young trees, Is
apt to be coarse-skinned, too big, and pithy.
These defects. nevertheless, time remedies, for
as groves age they lessen the supply Of plant
food. Eventually it will become necessary to fer
tilize the trees, and then growers, by selecting
their fertilizer, can control the quality OF their
fruit.
They have, meanwhile, acquired their grove
without the expense for fertilizer the grower in
the west has been put to in order to produce his.
He. on the other hand. has been to less expense
than the man in the east in the matter of clear
ing, and he has not had to sit up nights wedding
to keep his grove from disappearing under a
tangle of tropical vegetation.
The Obvious conclusion, is therefore, that six
is onehalf dozen. Groves In both eastern and
western Cuba will produce trees and good fruit,
but neither will do so for any owner not willing
to pay the price under one head or another IN
cash and also in hard work.
It is conservatively estimated that no man
should undertake even a fve-acre grove anywhere
in Cuba unless he has at least $4,000 where he
can lay his hands on it. II he is a lively, capable
man he will probably not need that amount of
money, but no matter what his ability he should
be able to command at least that sum before en-
barking in the citrus fruit business here. He may
need it all, and more.
While no complete statistics are available, 1t
is the writer's impression that in western Cuba,
including the Isle of Pines, the acreage of or
anges is more than that of grape fruit, while In
the east it would seem that the grapefruit acre
age Is the larger. The older groves seem. usu'
ally. to be orange groves; the younger the grove
the larger the proportion of grape fruit in 1t.
Problems of transportation to market demand
careful study from all growers, prospective or
established. Groves situated at a distance from
railway lines are handicapped at the start, for.
although there are many good roads In Pinar del
Rio province, and all over the Isle of Pines, every
foot of haul counts. and where the roads are not
excellent, 1t counts heavily, most especially in
wet weather.
Americans and Canadians have plunged head
foremost into citrus-fruit culture in Cuba. They
are building up against odds, by their indomitable
courage and optimism, an industry into which
preceding owners of the lands they hold did not
venture. The Spaniards and Cubans did not so
venture may have been because they were blind
to the possibilities, lacked specific knowledge,
or the energy required; or possibly they were
outmatched by adverse conditions in past dec
AIDES. Then again, 1t may be they were deferred
not by these things at all, but by a true under
standing of basic conditions here; by a realiza'
tion of difficulties In the way Of competing, not to
say controlling, In the markets where the citrus
fruit Of Cuba must be sold; and, especially, by a
keen appreciation of more profit to be made more
quickly and inexpensively elsewhere. In fine,
ShSy may " DNSh . W WhACA
does not notably distinguish the AnglolSaxon
when engaged in opening UP fields to him new.
New to him, be 1t noted. but in Cuba's case
not in themselves either new or untried. This
island is not a virgin wilderness in toto. It has
been under the domination of white men for 400
years. Not all these white men were idle and
incompetent. They appreciated the country and
In developing its resources-not to the fullest ex-
tent possible nowadays. to be sure. but as far
as was possible to them in their times-they
made fortunes.
The spaniards devoted all the energies they
had for agriculture In Cuba to sugar cane and to-
bacco In the eastern and central provinces, and
especially to tobacco In the west. For four CEN
turtles they held fast to these two products. thus
demonstrating that they were possessed OF no
more versatility than the American and the Ca
madam who, in Cuba, insist upon discovering no
future save In citrus fruit.
From tobacco and from cane the Spaaiard, and
the Cuban with him, has wrested the wealth OF
the Indies" Rich as a Cuban planter"-plante
Of cane and tobacco. not OF oranges and grape
fruit--is a significant English phrase. To attain
to the wealth and the ease It implies has been
the ambition Of the adventurous and the ayari
cious from 1872 to the present time