22 



THE CUBA REVI EW 



COFFEE IN CUBA. 



(By D. H. Howell, Ceiba Mocha, Cuba) 



It is claimed by many that the coffee 

 industry is not likely to be revived in 

 Cuba to any great extent on account of 

 the present high price of labor. As pick- 

 ing the cofifee is quite an item of ex- 

 pense, a look at the accompanying photo 

 may suggest a partial solution of the 

 problem, "Let the women do the work." 



The picture shows Cuban coffee trees 

 full of coffee, and an imported "coffee 

 picker." Whether coffee can again be 

 made a paying crop commercially in this 

 part of Cuba I am not prepared to say, 

 liut I do say that every family of cofifee 

 drinkers settling in Cuba should follow 

 the good example of the better class of 

 Cuban farmers and plant enough coffee 

 trees near their houses, under the shade 

 of other fruit trees, to suppl}^ their own 

 needs. 



Even in many of the Cuban villages 

 we often find a good number of beautiful 

 cofifee trees in the yards planted beneath 

 the mango, aguacate, mame and other 

 fruit trees. The cofifee tree with its shin- 

 ing dark green leaves has much the ap- 

 pearance of the holly tree, at any time 

 of the year, but especially so when the 

 cofifee is ripe and the berries are red. 

 From a little distance a clump of cofifee 

 trees when in bloom, have the exact 

 appearance of trees in the north covered 

 with snow. The little white, starlike 

 blossoms nil the air with a delicious 

 perfume, similar to that of the tuberose. 

 To attain the best success with cofifee, 

 the trees should be planted in virgin soil 

 or at least in soil that has not been 

 planted with other crops for many years. 

 Where the soil and climate are right, the 

 ideal place to plant is in a virgin forest 

 — just cutting out enough trees to leave 

 the required amount of shade. All the 

 trees and brush cut being burned on the 

 ground, helps to sweeten the land, and 

 when two-year-old trees are set in good 

 ground thus prepared they will begin to 

 bear the second year from planting. 



It is customary to top the trees when 

 they leatli about six feet, in order to 

 save labor in picking, also to prevent 

 damage by wind. There is in this vicin- 

 ity a large plantation for many years 

 used as a stock ranch, which in slavery 

 times produced a crop of three hundred 

 thousand pounds a year, all of which was 

 sent to Spain. 



Cocoanut Bud-Rot in Cuba. 



In circular No. 36 of the Bureau of 

 Plant Industry, United States Depart- 



1 he "imiiorted" coffee picker is the daughter 

 lit an American settler in Cuba. 



Una seiiorita americana y el arbol del cafe en 

 el patio de in colono americano en Cuba. 



El autor del articulo en esta pagina insta a 

 todas las familias a que sigan el ejemplo dado por 

 los mejores hacendados de Cuba y propaguen el 

 cultivo del cafe para sus propias necesidades 

 domesticas. 



Los cafetos 6 arboles del cafe empiezan a dar 

 fruto al segundo ano de ser plantados, y duraran 

 muchos afios si son atendidos con cuidado. Gomo 

 la recoleccion de las cerezas del cafe ocasiona vin 

 gasto crecido y los jornales en Cuba son muy 

 altos, sugierc la idea de emplear mujeres para 

 recolectar las cerezas del cafe. 



ment of Agriculture, entitled "The Bud- 

 rot of the Cocoanut Palm," and issued 

 July 9, 1909, the present position in re- 

 gard to the disease is reviewed. 



Notes in regard to the bud-rot of 

 cocoanut palms have appeared in various 

 publications in recent years, but it may 

 not be generally known that, apparently, 

 this same disease destroyed many cocoa- 

 nut groves in the Provinces of Matan- 

 zas and HaA'ana, Cuba, as early as 1886. 

 A long report on the disease was pub- 

 lished at Havana in 1882. Its occur- 

 rence was reported in Baracoa, on the 

 eastern end of the island, in 1888. and 

 according to the natives, it was present 

 at least ten years before that time. 



