Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1910-08-05
IleGkElH2Yy M0UEE" ar CT
E1WT GRQTERS

/. = than otherwise, for, exactly the opposite OF
the case in the west. these Tar eastern lands neea
to be reduced.
+-aas +hev nroduce. particularly young trees, is
ant To he coarse-skinned, too big, and pitny.
These defects, nevertheless, time remeoles' :.
as groves age they lessen the supply OF plant
food. Eventually it will become necessary 10 lef-
+I1iza the trees. and then growers, by selecting
their fertilizer, can control the quality OF tneif
fruit. .au
They have, meanwhile, acquired their grove
without the expense for fertilizer the grower III
NC ,yes+ 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 mater OF cieal-
ing. and he has not had to sit up nights weedlns
to keep his grove from disappearing unue
tangle of tropical vegetation.
The obvious conclusion, Is therefore, that SIX
is one-half dozen. Groves In both eastern ana
western Cuba will produce trees and good Lruil,
hut neither will do so for any owner not VIKING
To nav the price under one head or another IN
cash and also in hard work.
II is conseryat lively estimated that no man
should undertake even a fve-acre grove anywhere
in Cuba unless he has at least $b,OOO Wnere ne
can Law his hands on it. If he Is a lively, capable
man he will probably not need that amount Of
money. hit no matter what his ability he should
he 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
ia the writer's impression that In western Cuba.
including the Isle OIL Pines, Iue SiCo6 =
anges is more than that of grape fruit, while IN
the east 1t 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 It,
Problems Of transportation to market demand
careful study from all growers, prospective OF
established. Groves situated at q distance from
railway lines are handicapped at the start. for.
although there are many good roads IN Finar oei
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 citrusfruit culture In Cuba iney
are building up against odds, by their indomitaoie
courage and optimism, an industry INTO winch
preceding owners Of the lands they hold did MOI
venture. The Spaniards and Cueans ald NOT :.
venture may have been because they were DINO
to the possibilities, lacked specific knowledge
or the energy required; or possibly they were
outmatched by adverse conditions In past dec
AIDES. Then again, II may be they were deferred
not by these things at all, but by a true under
standing of basic conditions here: by a realiza
ton Of difficulties In the way OF competing. not &c
saw controlling, in the markets where~the citrus
fruit of Cuba must be sold and, especially, by .
keen appreciation Of more profit to be made more
quickly and inexpensivelyt elsewhere. In hne
they may have been governed by caution. which
does not notably distinguish the AngloiSaxoI
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. TIL
island is not a virgin Wilderness in toto. 1t ha'
been under the domination Of white men for 40
years. Not all these white men were idle an
incompetent. They appreciated the country AM
in developing its resources-not to the fullest es
tent possible nowadays, to be sure. but as ia
as was possible to them in their times-the
made fortunes.
The spaniards devoted all the energies the
had for agriculture in Cuba to sugar cane and tt
bacco in the eastern and central provinces. an
especially to tobacco in the west. For four Ger
turtles they held fast to these two products, thu
demonstrating that they were possessed Of n
more versatility than the American and the c;
madam who, in Cuba, insist upon discovering n
future save In citrus fruit
From tobacco and from cane the Spaniard, an
the Cuban with him, has wrested the wealth {
the Indies" Rich as a Cuban planter"-plante
OF cane and tobacco, not of oranges and crap
fruits a significant English phrase. To attai
to the wealth and the ease 1t implies has bee
the ambition OF the adventurous and the avar
cious from 1892 to the present time.