THE CUBA REVIEW And Bulletin. 



23 



THE COSTS AND PROFITS OF RAISING BANANAS. 



The Cuban Department of Agriculture 

 calculates that the cost of cultivating 33 1-3 

 acres of bananas five years will be $4,893.75, 

 and that that amount of land should pro- 

 duce in five years 37,000 bunches of ba- 

 nanas, which should bring an average price 

 of 31 cents a bunch. Subtracting the cost 

 of production— $4,893-75— there remains a 

 profit to the grower of $6,731-25, a total 

 profit of $1,346-25 a year on only 33 i-3 

 acres. 



SOME NEW MEMBERS OF THE STAFF OF THE 

 ESTACION CENTRAL AGRONOMICA. 



Already arrived.— Chief of Department of 

 Chemistry, Robert W. Stark, a graduate 

 of the University of Illinois, and of twelve 

 years' experience as a chemist. For the 

 past two years he has been connected with 

 the Illinois Experiment S"tation. 



Assistant Chemist, J. D. Rose, a graduate 

 of the Minnesota Agricultural College. 



Assistant Horticulturist, C. F. Kinman, 

 a graduate of the Kansas Agricultural Col- 

 lege, who at the time of his engagement 

 was' doing post graduate work in horti- 

 culture at Cornell University. 



Assistant Botanist, Dr. J. H. Haselbnng 

 of the University of Chicago. Dr. Hasel- 

 bring is a graduate of Cornell University 

 and has held positions in Cornell University, 

 New York Experiment Station, Illinois Ex- 

 periment Station, and in the University of 

 Chicago, where for the past two years 

 he has been conducting investigations. 



To arrive within the month. — Chief of 

 Department of Agriculture, Professor Har- 

 mon Benton of the Bureau of Plant Indus- 

 try, U. S. Department of Agriculture. After 

 graduating from the Agricultural and Me- 

 chanical College of Alabama, Professor 

 Benton had charge of an experiment sub- 

 station for eight or ten years, and after- 

 wards became professor of Agronomy m 

 the South Carolina Agricultural College 

 and Agronomist of the South Carolina Ex- 

 periment Station. From this place he went 

 to the division of farm management of the 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture as agri- 

 cultural expert in charge of work in North 

 Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. All 

 together Professor Benton has had more 

 than fifteen years' experience in southern 

 agriculture, so that he is specially fitted for 

 work in Cuba. 



Assistant in Department of Plant Pathol- 

 ogy, J. S. Houser, a graduate of the Kan- 

 sas Agricultural College, who for several 

 years has been assistant entomologist pf 

 the Ohio Experiment Station, and has writ- 

 ten several important bulletins on ento- 

 mological subjects. 



VUELTA ARRIBA TOBACCO. 



Reports from Santa Clara province on 

 tobacco are to the effect that there are 

 about thirty "Escojidas" (selecting sheds) 

 in operation throughout the province. 

 Twenty of these are important. The out- 

 put this year, according to the planters, 

 will double that of last year. 



At Remedios, the principal center in the 

 Vuelta Arriba district, there are at pres- 

 ent six large escojidas. About 1,045 per- 

 sons, including men and women, are em- 

 ployed at these places, and the wages- are 

 good. During the last month (July) 1,900 

 bales have been packed. Manufacturers 

 have agreed to pay 70 cents for twenty-five 

 pounds of picked tobacco. 



A tobacco factory at Remedios. 

 LETTER FROM SANTA LUCIA, NUEVITAS. CUBA. 



Editor The Cuba Review and Bulletin, 



Dear Sir: — I have been experimenting 

 with broom corn. I think we can grow 

 a good quality of brush at this place. Some 

 that I have grown for the seed is a little 

 bit coarse. I am told by planting thicker 

 the brush will be finer. 



What is the experience of your readers 

 along this line in other parts of the island? 

 Yours very truly, 



C. C. Marsh. 

 Bulletin No. 12 of the Hawaii Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station deals with 

 the mango. It gives full directions for 

 soil requirements, selection of seed, how 

 to plant, budding, layering, grafting, 

 transplanting, pruning, etc. Considerable 

 space is devoted to the "uses of the 

 mango," and to mango breeding and its 

 diseases. Hawaii has 40 difl'erent va- 

 rieties and Prof. Higgins records a col- 

 lection of 500 in India. He Calls it the 

 "King of Fruits." There are many fine 

 illustrations. 



sale of the SANTA CATALINA SUGAR ESTATE 

 TO AN AMERICAN COMPANY. 



This important plantation, located within 

 the boundary of Recreo, near Cardenas, 

 belonging to Diaz & Co., was sold August 

 3 last, by Zaldo & Co. to an American 

 company, for the sum of $250,000, United 

 States currency. 



The company that bought it has the in- 

 tention of removing all the force and the 

 new machinery to Ciega de Avila for a 

 large sugar estate that will be established 

 there. 



