THE CUBA i: i: v i B w 17 



such .-is to offset his work. Alter production la effected, the grapefrull musl he taken 

 to the packing house, thoroughly washed, dried, separated Into the various sizes under 

 which it is packed, each fruil wrapped with b tissue paper wrap, and then properly 

 placed in the righl order in boxes provided for the purpose, which then must be nailed 

 up, hoops put on and fastened, and branded with the name of the party who will re- 

 ceive it in the north. Shippers from the interior must make arrange nts with some 



one :it the pui-ts for the t'urw a rdhi.Lr of their fruit, and consular Invoices, hills <>r lad- 

 ing, ;iikI other shipping papers required in order thai the shipment be properly effected 

 must be made out. Nor is ihis all. Very little of Cuba's grapefruil is exported ;it ;i 

 price known to the growers when the shipment is made. Bj far the largest percentage 

 goes forward to commission bouses In the north, who sell it <>n a commission basis, 

 receiving as their pay a certain percentage of whal they can obtain I'm- the fruit. As 

 is naturally the case, there is lacking the Interesl to obtain for the grower the lasl 

 penny from such shipments, nor is there the incentive for thai treatmenl of fruit 

 arriving in bad condition which will bring to the owner the largesl possible return. 

 and the result is thai in a ureal many cases the shipper receives, not a check in return 

 lor his product, hut a hill for freight and expenses thereon. This, of course, is the 

 dark side. The brighl side is seen when it is known thai in many cases a check for 



$1,000.00 or more has 1 n received for one carload consisting of less than -'inn boxes 



of grapefruit. Many instances such as this could he cited, hut by far 1 he vt gen- 

 eral experience is that the returns are either very small, in very many cases not pay- 

 ing for the boxes, paper, cost Of production and packing, or in many others, as we 

 have already mentioned, resulting in a hill of expenses to the shipper. 



In great contrast to the experiences of the grapefruit grower have been those 

 of the producers of oranges. With the development accompanying the American occu- 

 pation of Cuba and the practical certainty of stable Government conditions, every 

 industry in Cuba prospered. The cultivation of tobacco very largely increased, its 

 production under cheesecloth or other shade rapidly spreading. Some growers be- 

 lieved thai the tobacco produced under partial shade was superior to and cosl much 

 less to produce than that given total shade, and in looking around for means of pro- 

 ducing this partial shade the planting of orange frees appealed to many. The result 

 of this was that considerable acreages of oranges were planted, especially in the 

 partidos and semi-vuelta sections lying wesl of Havana, with tiie double idea of ob- 

 taining fruit from the trees and of securing shade under which the tobacco could 

 he grown. Plantings of this character continued to he made until disastrous years 

 came upon the tobacco industry: the burn of the wrapper • produced under shade 

 seemed lo -row more and more defective, and finally a very large percentage of the 

 lands planted to tobacco in this way were turned over to some other crop or allowed 

 to run wild. Furthermore, with the increase in price of sugar in 1915 as the result 

 of the World War, came such a furor of cane planting that in a great many cases 

 orange trees and groves of other classes of fruit have been uprooted to make way for 

 the planting of cane. The heavy losses received by many of the American planters 

 of grapefruit who had set out with their grapefruit relatively small areas of oranges, 

 disheartened them and caused them also to abandon the -roves of both character, and 

 the result has been a gradual decrease in the acreage of oranges planted and in the 

 quantity <>f fruits produced. Coincidenl with fins has been the tremendous increase 

 in prosperity in Cuba due to high sugar prices, the increase in population, especially 

 of workmen during the sugar harvest, and the far greater purchasing power of all 

 the people due to their better economic condition, and. consequently, a very much 

 heavier demand for oranges, a fruit which is loved by every Cuban from the little 

 child to the old gray haired grandfather. This, of course, has brought prosperity 

 and well-heing to the homes of all those who were foresighted enough to plant oranges 

 instead of grapefruit or who, seeing the trend of events, had converted their grape- 

 fruit trees into orange by rebudding. Especially fortunate were those who had heen 

 •sufficiently close to market conditions to note the great scarcity of oranges in the sum- 



