26 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



INFORMATION FOR THE AMERICAN SETTLER 



HOW TO PACK VEGETABLES— EXTRAVAGANCE IN EUCALYPTUS ESTI- 

 MATES — THE FLORIDA WHITE FLY — PEANUTS AND COTTON SEED 



Problem of the Package 



Suggestions to Florida growers as to 

 how to pack their vegetables for shipment 

 are valuable also to Cuban shippers and 

 should be heeded. It is well understood 

 that the annual loss to growers on account 

 of improper packing is something enor- 

 mous. An old dealer in the south, writing 

 to the Nezv York Frnitman's Guide, de- 

 clares that "no package is properly put up 

 for shipment that contains an article in sev- 

 eral stages of growth or maturity." He 

 says further : 



"Take tomatoes, for instance. The com- 

 mon practice is to put half-grown and ripe 

 in the same package. The consequence 

 is, the half-grown never ripen and the ripe 

 ones rot. Of course tomatoes that are 

 put up for shipment to distant markets 

 should not be perfectly ripe, but should be 

 at least fully grown. 



"All spotted and deformed stock should 

 be rejected. The six-basket carriers or the 

 flats make unsatisfactory packages. 



"Lettuce should receive special care. It 

 should not be allowed to wither, but packed 

 as cut. All decayed leaves should be 

 picked off and in packing use both hands to 

 tuck the outer leaves around the head to 

 preserve it. Pack in layers with a side 

 pressure. Thus packed it will carry long 

 distances and keep fresh and crisp. 



"Beets should be packed with the beets 

 in center of barrel instead of outside, which 

 is the common practice. 



"The great error in packing lies in the 

 fact that the grower will not resist the 

 temptation to put a few inferior or worth- 

 less specimens in his package. I cannot 

 conceive why they persist in doing it when 

 it should be as much to the grower as it 

 is to the receiver, that a few inferior speci- 

 mens will often make a two-dollar pack- 

 age sell for one-fifty. 



"It is not a surplus of desirable stock 

 that gluts our markets at all times, but an 

 accumulation of unmarketable trash \vhich 

 is a loss to the shipper and a hardship to 

 the receiver." 



A'alue of the Eucalyptus 



Extravagant estimates of the probable re- 

 turns from planted eucalyptus have been 

 widely circulated, and there is reason to 

 fear that many persons have formed an al- 

 together false idea of the merits of euca- 

 lyptus growing as a field for investment, 

 and have supposed that this false idea was 



justified by statements and figures of the 

 United States Forest Service. 



The truth is that there are as yet too 

 many elements of uncertainty involved to 

 permit a close calculation of money returns 

 to be made. There is, however, every rea- 

 son to believe that under proper conditions 

 eucalyptus growing will be profitable. 



Thoroughly dry eucalyptus possesses ev- 

 ery requisite of a first-class furniture wood. 

 There has never been any attempt on a 

 large scale to manufacture furniture from 

 eucalyptus, but several sample pieces have 

 been made with excellent success. The 

 wood has a beautiful grain and takes a high 

 polish. If thoroughly seasoned material is 

 used, there is little danger that furniture 

 or finish made from it will not hold its 

 shape. 



Eucalyptus is sometimes used by farmers 

 in California for wagon poles, shafts, axles, 

 doubletrees, bolsters, spokes, hubs, felloes 

 and for the wooden parts of plows, har- 

 rows and other agricultural implements, 

 and, so far as known, it has given satis- 

 faction. The results of the laboratory tests 

 show that its strength is sufficient for ve- 

 hicle construction. 



Another possible source of revenue is the 

 distillation of the leaves and twigs for the 

 production of eucalyptus oil. The higher 

 grades of eucalyptus oil are at present 

 manufactured largely in Austria, and there 

 seems to be no good reason why the same 

 methods, applied in this country, should not 

 produce equally valuable oil. — United States 

 Department of Agriculture Circular 179. 



The White Fly in Cuba 



Dr. E. A. Back, agent and expert of the 

 bureau of entomology, of the Department 

 of Agriculture of the United States, was 

 recently in Cuba, making a study of the 

 white fly disease, so destructive to orange 

 trees. 



He visited a number of points on the 

 island and did not discover the species of 

 white fly which is so injurious to the or- 

 ange groves of Florida. He was informed 

 that the species existed in the island, but 

 so far he has been unable to locate it. 

 He has been to Bahia Honda, and has niade 

 a careful examination of the Buena Vista, 

 Redencion and other groves planted in that 

 section and at Ceiba Mocha, which have an 

 extension of several thousand acres; but 

 found no white flv at any of these places. 



It has long been beUeved that the Florida 

 white flv was imported into Cuba on nurs- 



