the ci) B a a i: v i i: w '•"• 



THE CITRUS INDUSTRY IN CUBA 



Hy II. < >. \r: ill,: 



Perhaps in no country in the world are re luscious oranges and grapefruit <»f 



many varieties found than in the island of Cuba; yet their production was, until a 

 few years ago, a matter of chance, and the result <>i' the kindly disposition of thai 

 particular Goddess of Nature which has ruled over the formation of Cuba's soil and 



controls ber rains and sunshine. Native SWeel and sour oranges, rough lemons, limes. 



shaddocks, bergamol oranges, and several other varieties of the citrus family, have 

 been produced here from time immemorial, hut the plantings made by the Inhabitants 



consisted only Of isolated trees and groups thereof, set mil Largely in a haphazard man- 

 ner, without form or order, nearly always too close together, and during their whole 

 existence were unattended save during the time required to gather their production. 

 Such a thing as a citrus industry was nol known, even though the total production 

 of the trees set out as described above was large and supplied fairly abundantly tin; 

 requirements of the population. 



With the close of the War of Independence, and the coming of the American 

 Occupation, a change ca >ver these c litions. Among those in the Army of Occu- 

 pation were some who. in view of the existence <>t' large and aged orange trees which 

 for years, unattended and neglected, had produced bounteous crops of excellent fruit, 

 and the abundance of wild citrus trees in the forests, were lead to believe that there 

 was a future for any one who would settle here and set out -roves. Still others. 

 broader in their thoughts, and more inclined to earn their money from the labor of 

 Others, were able to see the rich returns that could he secured by those who would 

 start real estate operations and induce northern residents to purchase from them for 

 the purpose of planting citrus groves and reaping in the harvest that could thus be 

 made. 



The result of these two lines of thoughl are apparent today in the many scattered 

 groves, formerly belonging altogether to Americans, though now a considerable num- 

 ber of them have passed to the control of natives, lying within a radius ,,f r,u miles 

 of Havana, especially to the west: and in the colonies of Americans established by 

 the companies formed by the real estate operators. 



The establishment of isolated groves by individual planters naturally would be 

 made in that portion of the Island with which the Americans were best acquainted. 

 This, of course, was Havana, so that near it we rind the groves of this character. Bui 

 the real estate operator could make more money from the resale of cheap lands than 

 from that of the costlier lands of the western part of the Island. At the dose of the 

 War of independence, lands were selling for a very moderate price in the two eastern 

 provinces, Caraagiiey and Oriente, this being also the case for the very sandy and 



poor lands in tl xtreme western pari of Cuba. So here, naturally, the attention of 



the real estate men was centered, and the result has been the founding of the many 

 colonies such as La Gloria, Santa Lucia, ha Atalaya, Riverside and Canet, in Caraa- 

 giiey Province, and Bartle, Victoria de las Tunas, Omaha, Holguin, Bayate, Cacoctim, 

 and Paso Estancia, in Oriente Province; while to the west of Havana we thai Her- 

 radura and Ocean Beach as types of the colonies formed by these people. In the cen- 

 tral portion of the Island, colonizing of this nature was almosl entirely lacking, this 

 portion of Cuba being at that time pretty well developed by native farmers, and land 

 prices being fairly high. Exceptions to this are the colonies at Itabo and Ceibn Mocha, 

 both in Matanzas Province. To the south of Havana, the Isle of Pines deserves 

 Special mention, as here thousands of acres have been set out, almost entirely to 

 grapefruit. 



We have gone thus in detail into the American colonization of the Island because 

 with it is hound inseparably the establishment Of the Island's citrus industry as such. 

 The people of the north, many of them at least, were tiring of the Ion- cold winters 

 and were attracted by the representations made by the land companies regarding Cuba's 



