16 



T HECUBA REVIEW 



Cultivating an Orange Grove. 



on which nothhig can be grown without the use of an excessive amount of fertihzer, unless 

 it be Burbank's spineless cactus. 



In the early days of the first Intervention, real estate dealers succeeded in buying lands in 

 large tracts at prices varying from 90c. to S1.25 per acre that the natives would not consider 

 for agricultural purposes at any price— lands not only lacking in fertility, but without any 

 reference whatever to transportation either for the present or the future. These large tracts 

 of almost worthless sand were divided up into sm,all farms of from five to fifty acres each and 

 sold at prices ranging all the way from $25 to $75 per acre and are held at those prices to-day. 



Through the reckless use of fertilizer, and the expenditure of considerable amounts in care 

 and cultivation, attractive citrus fruit groves have been brought to maturity in some of the 

 colonies. Photographs of these served for advertising purposes, and through the mediimi of 

 tons of beautifully illustrated literature, spread broadcast in the United States and Canada, 

 many settlers were induced to come to Cuba in the early days of the Eepublic, who were sorely 

 disappointed, since they found no way in which these farm.s could be m.ade to support a fam.ily 

 dependent on them for a decent living. 



To those of the poor sandy lands of the extreme west of "Vuelta Abajo" and in the Isle of 

 Pines, a saviour seems to have been found in the Burbank spineless cactus. This marvelously 

 prolific and persistent plant of the desert, not only thrives where other forage refuses to gjow, 

 but it will yield from, twenty-five to fifty tons of fresh succulent food for cattle, horses, hogs, 

 sheep, goats and chickens throughout the entire year. It defies drouth and needs no fertilizer. 

 No land, if well drained, is too poor for spineless cactus. Thus it seems that the comparatively 

 steril soils on which othei- useful plants refuse to grow without the use of quantities of exi^ensive 

 fertilizer, ro.ay yet be made to produce a crop almost priceless to the stockman, the poultry 

 raiser and the small farmer. With spineless cactus planted in these soils, lands otherwise 

 agriculturally worthless, m.ay be made to yield a profit of from $100 to $200 per acre. 



There are still, however, thousands of acres of land in Cuba that can be purchased, divided 

 up into small farms and sold at reasonable prices, and under fairly intelligent m,anagement 

 success on these farms can be almost assured. 



Small stock raising— hogs, sheep, goats, poultry— and vegetable growing where irrigation 



