26 



Returning to Coatxacualus, I took the train crossing the isthmus to the 

 town of San Lucrecia, situated in the centre of a great marshy district, 

 where, down the river, there are a number of American companies starting 

 sugar plantations. From San Lucrecia I caught the branch train that started 

 for Cordoba at 5 a.m., and reached Vera Cruz at dark the same day, travelling 

 across a great deal of low, marshy land. 



I left Yera Cruz on 28th November for Habana, Cuba. When coming on 

 board I noticed a large number of cattle and horses on board. The cattle 

 were smothered with the blood-sucking Horn Fly ; and apparently a consider- 

 able number came on with them, and reached Cuba in due course. Two days 

 out we spent a very unpleasant day at anchor off the low lying town of 

 Progresso Yucatan. This is the chief port for the export of the sisal hemp, 

 the fibre of the aloe Argave rigida. We shipped some hundreds of bales, and 

 a quantity of tickory, the gum of one of the Sapotacea, which is collected by a 

 syndicate over a very large portion of Yucatan, and shipped to New York, 

 where it is used as the chief ingredient in the manufacture of American chewing 

 gum. On the 2nd December arrived at Cuba, and, as soon as I had landed, 

 went to see the British Consul. He informed me that Jamaica had a strict 

 quarantine against Cuba for yellow fever, and it was also probable that, after 

 the recent outbreak of yellow fever at Barbados, no ship would call there. 

 From there went to the Government offices, and called upon the Under 

 Secretary of Agriculture, who gave me a letter to the Director of the 

 Agricultural Experiment Station at Santiago de Vegas, and others to the 

 Museum. At the Experiment Station, about 10 miles out from Habana, I 

 met Mr. Crawley (the Director), who introduced me to his staff. Messrs. 

 Home and Howser went over the collections and pests in their orchards 

 with me. No fruit-fly is recorded from the Cuban orchards, but there are 

 several destructive orchard pests, among which may be noted the Orange 

 Weevil, which feeds upon the foliage of the orange, and lays its eggs upon 

 the leaves, which it curls over and gums together, just like our Laptops hopei, 

 the apple-root weevil. The larvae feed upon the roots, and often kill the 

 trees. This handsome green weevil ( Pachncsus curescens) is a native species, 

 and is quite common in both field and forest. Among the most common 

 scale insects of the orange is a very large lecanid (Lecanium, sp.?), which 

 attacks the bark and injures it in much the same manner as woolly-blight 

 damages our apple-trees. Two others, purple and long scale, are common. 

 Melanose is very prevalent in all the citrus orchards. I examined some of the 

 oranges and grape fruit having the sheltered half almost ink black, but it did 

 not appear to injure the quality of the fruit. Most of the citrus trees have 

 been brought from Florida, and are grafted on the wild sour orange that 

 grows in the forest. Besides the tangarines (as mandarins are known 

 throughout the West Indies) the most profitable fruit is a pomolo, known as 

 the "grape fruit." It differs from our pomolo in having a much finer skin, 

 and only the slightest bitter taste. Two varieties are grown here. The 

 Royal, which is the original Cuban type, is small, but with a fine skin and 

 excellent flavour ; the larger one has been introduced from Florida, where 

 immense numbers are grown, for it is the most popular of breakfast fruits, 

 eaten with sugar, in the United States. At the time of my visit they were 

 bringing about 4 dollars a case, and in some of the fashionable hotels in New 

 York and Boston, they charge from 50 to 75 cents for one for breakfast. 

 Altogether there is about 400 acres of orchard (chiefly citrus) within a few 

 miles of the Experiment Station, most of it in the hands of Americans. 



The growing of tobacco is one of the important industries of this part of 

 Cuba, and one of the most valuable ; and though it requires a lot of attention 



