The new era., 1910-08-11
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the 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 1t will become necessary to fer
tilize the trees, and then growers. by selecting
their fertilizer. can control the quahty oi tneii
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
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 for any owner not willing
to pay the price under one head or another IN
cash and also in hard work.
1t is conservatively estimated that no man
should undertake five-acre grove anywhere
in Cuba unless he has at least $4,000 where he
can lay his hands It, If 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 1t 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
anpes 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 it.
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
yhAra fho GOODS pt
excellent, 1t counts heavily, most especially In
wet weather.
Americans and Canadians have plunged head
foremost into citrus-frut 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; possibly they were
outmatched by adverse conditions in past dec
ades. 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 realza
ton of difficulties in the way of competing, not to
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 inexpensively elsewhere. In fine
they may have been governed by caution, which
does not notably distinguish the AngloSaxon
when engaged in opening up fields to him
New to him, be 1t noted, but in Cuba's
not in themselves either new or untried. This
island Is not virgin wilderness in toto. 1t 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
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 possessed of no
more versatility than the American and the Ca
madam who In Cuba, insist upon discovering no
future in citrus fruit.
From tobacco and from the Spaniard and
the Cuban with him, has wrested the wealth Of
the Indies" Rich Cuban planter"-planter
of and tobacco not OF oranges and grape
fruits significant English phrase. To attain
to the wealth and the 1t implies has been
the ambition OF the adventurous and the ayari.
cious from 1892 to the present time.