274 Journal of Agriculture. [8 May, 19o8_ 



broken. White louse is another common pest, but there is no red or yel- 

 low scale in these orchards. The annual rainfall of Cuba is 80 inches, 

 but this last year there has been a drought all over the island, and they ha\e 

 only had about half their usual rainfall, so that the orchards look at their 

 worst. I found no record of fruit flies in the orchards, but one peculiar 

 fjest is a bright greenish weevil {Paclmaiis virescens) which in the larval 

 state feeds upon the outer surface of the roots of the citrus trees where they 

 pupate. When they emerge they climb up into the foliage, where the 

 beetles lay their eggs between the leaves which they gum together, in 

 exactly the same way that the apple root weevil {Leptops Iiopei) does in the- 

 Victorian orchards. Where the leaf-cutting ants {Afta iusuhnis) are 

 numerous they do an immense amount of damage, stripping every leaf off 

 a tree in a single night; and roses and vegetable gardens suffer as much 

 as orchards. 



In the experimental plots I noticed for the tirst time a native chry- 

 somelid beetle attacking the foliage of eucalyptus trees. Some Cuban, 

 cedar trees {Cedrela odorata) were so thickly covered with the larvae of a 

 froghopper (so enveloj)ed in woolly matter that they looked like mealy 

 bugs), that some of them were killed. A number of Aleurodes were- 

 found upon different trees. On the 12th December I went with Mr. 

 Horn, of the Experimental Station, to the Guines district where there is 

 a \ery large area under tomatoes, which are grown under irrigation in a 

 heavy black soil. The small holders grow the tomatoes and sell them to- 

 the American packers at from 4s. 2d. to 6s. 3d. per bushel at the packing 

 sheds; on arrival at New York and Chicago, they usuallv bring i6s. 4d. 

 per bushel. The tomatoes are of the stone variety, and are hard and 

 green when packed. Large quantities of cabbages, onions, and green^ 

 peppers and other vegetables are also grown in this district. The chief 

 disease of the tomato is a fungus that forms discolored black blotches be- 

 neath the skin ; it is said to be caused by the tomatoes resting upon the 

 ground when the land is irrigated. The tomato packing lasts from De- 

 cember to the end of May. We also visited one of the largest sugar mills 

 in this district, "La Providencia," where they have been growing cane on 

 the same land for over 100 years without any fertilizer. This estate has 

 about 800 caballarias (over 160,000 acres), but only part of it is in cane. 

 The output is 13,000,000 arrobas of sugar (an arroba is 25 lbs.), and the 

 mill is a verv large one with modern machinery. The cane-fields were full 

 of long horned grasshoppers, and in the village there were thousands of 

 them flying round the electric lights in the square. 



On the 15th December, with letters of introduction to leading planters 

 at Cienfuegos and Santiago de Cuba, I left Havana and reached the town 

 of Cienfuegos, 190 miles south at 6 p.m. Next morning, with an inter- 

 preter, I called upon the manager of one of the largest plantations, but 

 found he had left the night before for Santa Clara; his chief clerk ar- 

 ranged to send word to him, and promised that I should get word early 

 next morning. In the meantime I visited a large experimental garden, 

 some six miles out, owned by a wealthy Cuban, Signer Calvado, who grows 

 all kinds of tropical plants and fruits. As I could not get in touch with 

 the manager referred to, I left the following afternoon for Santa Clara, 

 where I stopped the night, and caught the mail train to Santiago de Cuba 

 St 6 a.m., reaching that town at 10 p.m. Next morning I visited the 

 British Consul, who gave me letters to several of the large plantations in 

 the district, but in the meantime the Secretary of the United Fruit Com- 

 pany's " Boston Plantations" called upon me and invited me to go with 



