28 



Cuban farmers, who sell them at the packing-sheds in the town. The 

 American packers buy them by the bushel, at about 1 to 1 J dollars at this 

 time of the year, and the tomato season lasts from May to .December. The 

 tomatoes are green and hard when gathered, and graded into three qualities ; 

 each is wrapped in paper and packed in two rows of punks, separated by a 

 thin wooden frame. These crates are all imported from Florida. All these 

 tomatoes are sent to the large towns of the United States. 



There aro hardly any insect pests upon the tomatoes, and the only fungus 

 is one that causes discoloured black patches on the underside of the fruit, 

 which is said to be only found when the tomatoes rest too long on the wet 

 ground, Besides the tomatoes, great quantities of onions, cabbages, and 

 green peppers are grown on this rich land. 



At the Agricultural Experiment Station I made an interesting collection 

 of the insects and pests of Cuba. Dr. Mayo, in charge of the Stock Division, 

 gave me some interesting information regarding the stock diseases in Cuba. 

 One of the worst is thrush, which attacks the frog of the forefeet of both 

 mules and horses, and causes them to rot. Their chief treatment is dressing 

 them with creolino or carbolic, and packing the damaged tissue. Tetanus is 

 also very common all over Cuba, and attacks both man and animals. In 

 many of the smaller towns the children run about naked up to 5 or 6 years 

 old, except that they all weir some kind of boots for fear of lockjaw. Mules 

 and horses often contract tetanus from injuring their feet. The treatment 

 for stock is strychnine. and rest. Several species of tick are common on 

 cattle, but do n'jt affect the horses. Fowl Tick (Argas Americanus) is common 

 in many fowlhouses, and we found specimens in the fowl roosts at the Experi- 

 ment Station. 



There is no regular museum in Habana, but through the kindness of the 

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

 of the Institute de Secunda Ensenanza di la Habana (the High' School and 

 College), I was able to examine the Gundlach Collection of Zoology. This 

 fine collection of the zoology of Cuba was made by Dr. Gundlach, in 1839. 

 The insect?, pinned in small glass-topped boxes that have been carefully 

 sealed, are in excellent preservation, and the great collection of land shells 

 is very fine. I also visited Belen Church, where there is a very large 

 Catholic school, to see one of the priests, who had charge of a collection 

 belonging to the school, but he was away and the collection shut up till his 

 return. 



I also visited the fruit markets in Habana, where a great number of 

 bananas are sold, many of the bunches getting quite black before they are 

 eaten. Purple scale was common on the orange*, and both in the markets 

 and street-stalls oranges were usually peeled before they were sold, a thing I 

 jnever saw anywhere else. 



Great quantities of chillies, green peppers, and onions are in all the Cuban 

 markets. 



I left Santiago de Cuba for Jamaica on 23rd December, in the s.s. " Oteri," 

 and early in the morning was insight of Port Royal, landing about 10 o'clock 

 at Jamestown. As it was Christmas Eve, I could not find anybody in their 

 office for the next two days ; but as soon as the Government offices were 

 opened, I called upon the Colonial Secretary, who gave me letters to the Hon. 

 J. Faucett, Director of the Botanic Gardens and adviser on agricultural 

 matters, and also arranged for me to get a free pa<-s on the railways while in 

 Jamaica. To Mr. Faucett I am indebted for a great deal of valuable infor- 

 mation about the products and pests in Jamaica. Since 1901, fumigation of 

 all imported plants has been enforced under a proclamation of the Act of 



