26 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



AGRICULTURAL INFORMATION 



ADVICE TO COLONISTS 



Are you located near a sugar mill, where 

 some thousand people are employed for six 

 months in the year? You will find it 

 profitable to raise plantains, boniatas, 

 chickens and hogs. Regarding plantains, 

 they represent the national food for the 

 natives and bring an average of seventy 

 cents per hundred. One acre should yield 

 400 bunches (each bunch bears about 30 

 plantains) after twelve months and about 

 1,000 bunches the following year. Thus 

 one acre will yield from $84.00 to $210.00, 

 according to the age. 



In raising vegetables and potatoes it 

 must be realized that irrigation is neces- 

 sary, and that such crops will not grow 

 during the summer months, except when 

 shaded. The success depends on the local 

 demand, and will give profits to a few 

 growers only. A few parties have been 

 successful with potatoes, due to a favorable 

 location. 



Try bread, vegetables, eggs, poultry, etc. 

 Cubans want good things to eat just as 

 much as you want to sell them. 



"Regarding lemons, I doubt whether 

 Cuba can compete with California and 

 Italy. California has no duty to pay, and 

 Italy has the advantage of ridiculously 

 cheap labor. But large lemon groves 

 would pay very well for manufacturing 

 calcium citrate, imported into the States 

 free of duty for making citric acid ; lemon 

 oil is utilized, too. The demand for citric 

 acid is increasing fast, for the increasing 

 cotton industry absorbs large quantities for 

 fixing colors on cotton. The increasing 

 demand for soft drinks all over the world 

 is very encouraging too. There is lime 

 everywhere in Cuba. Lime delivers the 

 calcium, and to deliver large amounts of 

 lemons is up to the growers." — Prof. Paul 

 Karutz, Camaguey, Cuba. 



KEEPING OUT MICE AND ANTS 



Mice and ants can be kept from entering 

 beehives by setting the hives on the bot- 

 toms of inverted bottles set in the ground. 

 Be sure to keep the grass or weeds cut 

 close to the ground about each beehive. 

 — Popular Mechanics, Chicago. 



Anon or custard apple. It is called the (jueen of Cuban fruits. 

 El anon 6 mansana guanabana, llamada la reina de las friitas cubanas. 



