The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1910-08-04
1<EZI54z ,S1H GZyy A0AtSE" or cZI34WS

On than otherwise. for exactly the opposite OF
+he 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
ant to be coarse-sknned, too big, and pithy
These defects nevertheless, time remedies, tor
as groves age they lessen the supply OF plant
food Eventually it will become necessary to Ter
tlize the trees, and then growers, by selectmg
their fertilizer, control the quality or thelf
fruit.
Thev have, meanwhile, acquired their grove
without the expense for fertilizer the grower In
the west has been put to in order to produce MIS-
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 d
tangle of tropical vegetation.
The obvious conclusion, is therefore, tnat SIN
is one.half dozen. Groves in both eastern ana
western Cuba will produce trees and good lrult'
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 fve-acre grove anywhere
in Cuba unless he has at least $4,000 where ne
can lay his hands on it. II he is lively capaple
man he will probably not need that amount OF
money but no matter what his ability ne 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, IL
is the writer's impression that In western Cupa'
including the Isle of Pines, the acreage OF or
anges is more than that of grape fruit, While III
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
IT. torf
although there are many good roads in Pnar del
Rio province and all over the Isle of Pines. every
foot of haul counts, and where the roads are not
excellent it counts heavily, most especially In
wet weather.
Americans and Canadians have plunged head
foremost into citrus-fruit culture In CUBA. lney
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 olnd
to the possibilities, lacked specific knowledge
or the energy required; or possibly they were
outmatched by adverse conditions In past dec
ades Then again, it may be they were deferred
not by these things at ALL but by true under
standing of basic conditions here; by a reaza
ton of difficulties in the way of competing, not te
say 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 Anglo-Saxor
when engaged in opening up fields to him new.
New to him, be it noted, but in Cuba's case
not in themselves either or untried. This
island is not virgin wilderness In toto. 1t has
been under the domination of white men for 40(
years. Not all these white men were idle ant
incompetent. They appreciated the country ane
in developing it's resources-not to the fullest ex
tent possible nowadays, to be sure, but as fa
as 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 to
bacco in the eastern and central provinces, ant
especially to tobacco in the west. For four cen
turtles they held fast to these two products, thu
demonstrating that they were possessed of III
versatility than the American and the Ca
madam who, In Cuba, insist upon discovering NJ
future in citrus fruit
From tobacco and from cane the Spaniard, AM
the Cuban with him. has wrested the wealth o
the Indies" Rich as Cuban plante-"-plante
Of cane and tobacco, not of oranges and crap
fruits a significant English phrase To attain
to the wealth and the 1t implies has bee
the ambition of the adventurous and the avar
cious from 1892 to the present time.