24 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



EXTERMINATION THE ONLY CURE 



The cocoanut disease in Baracoa and 

 other parts of the eastern section of Cuba 

 is a bacterial infection for which there is 

 no cure except extermination. This is the 

 unanimous opinion of the commission 

 appointed by President Gomez to study 

 the disease, as announced l)y Professor 

 Earle, head of the commission. Its de- 

 velopment over a large area can be pre- 

 vented by burning all the infected trees 

 on which thev are found. 



The commission left Havana on July 

 4th last to visit Baracoa and the other 

 cocoanut districts and a careful study has 

 since been made at the various plantations. 



A detailed report will be made later. 

 The government offered a large prize some 

 time ago for the discovery of a remedy 

 for the disease, which is rapidly destroy- 

 ing the cocoanut groves of the island. 



Cocoanuts are of course still being har- 

 vest d, but it is believed that all exporta- 

 tion will cease within three years, the an- 

 nual supply being then barely sufficient to 

 supply the home demand. 



Mr. Tomas Simon, acting manager for 

 J. Simon and Co., New York, who are im- 

 porters of cocoanuts and cocoanut oil and 

 who have offices in Cuba at Baracoa, Sama 

 and Sagua Tanamo, all in Oriente Prov- 

 ince, said in a recent conversation with a 

 Cuba Review representative that their 

 own advices from Baracoa stated that the 

 cocoanut trees are all becoming infected 

 with the disease and are dying. One rea- 

 son they give for the wholesale destruction 

 of the trees is that the plantations around 

 Baracoa are all very old. Cocoanut trees 

 bear for sixty years or more, but new 

 plantations are a necessity and this pre- 

 caution has not been taken in this region 

 which has always produced cocoanuts and 

 which growers believed always would. 



Consequently no provision was made for 

 new plantations and as the present trees 

 became old, they became also more vul- 

 nerable to the attacks and ravages of the 

 disease which, as previously stated, menace 

 the entire industry. 



The price has gone higher, nuts now 

 bringing $.35.00 per thousand. 



Simon and Co. have established a new 

 plantation at Sagua Tanamo and this will 

 provide a new supply which, however, is 

 not immediately available, cocoanuts first 

 coming into bearing after five years. The 

 island's demand, which is growing, will 

 take care of all the product and prevent 

 exports for years to come. The exports 

 in 1909 were 9 million cocoanuts, and in 

 1910 it was 8 million, while in 1911 the esti- 

 mate" is for -t million only. 



Allied wnth the cocoanut industry is that 

 of cocoanut oil, which naturally suffers 

 W'ith the decadence of the main industry. 

 Messrs. Simon and Co. have a plant at 

 Baracoa where the cocoanut oil is ex- 

 pressed. The process includes the grind- 

 ing of the copra, the particles falling to 

 a lower floor where the oil is expressea. 

 Illustration No. 1 on the opposite page 

 shows the style of machinery used for this 

 purpose. The oil is then let into the vats 

 shown in illustration No. 2 and the im- 

 purities eliminated. It is then drawn into 

 cylinders holding 350 lbs. Twelve hours' 

 work make 20 cylinders of oil. Prices 

 vary between 7 and 10 cents per pound, the 

 highest price predominating at present. 



As showing how the business has fallen 

 off owing to the diseased trees, Mr. Simon 

 said that before the recent war with 

 Spain, the plant worked day and night. In 

 1910 the force worked three days per week 

 only, and this year, but one day per week. 

 The oil is largely used in soapmaking. 



FIND CUBANS COURTEOUS 



Mr. E. W. Halstead, manager of a fruit 

 company at Los Palacios, Cuba, and for- 

 merly connected with the Cuban Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station, was recently in 

 Birmingham, Ala., visiting his brother. 

 In an interview with a local newspaper, 

 he said : 



"The orange and lemon crops are good. 

 So far the orange production has not been 

 equal to the local demand, but in a few 

 years the fruit will begin to be sold in 

 the northern markets. The quality cannot 

 be beaten. Sugar plantations are being 

 increased through the center of the island 

 and the eastern and western parts, and 



this will be one of the biggest years we 

 have ever seen." "Americans find life 

 among the Cubans very pleasant," he con- 

 tinued ; "the Cubans are very courteous. 

 I have been there eight years and have 

 found that the Cubans come about as near 

 giving a man the treatment that he gives 

 them as any people on earth. There are 

 Americans living all over the island. 



"The Cubans are learning English 

 rapidly and are sending their children to 

 American schools. Most of them are sent 

 to this country to get business training, 

 but a large number also go to the higher 

 institutions of learning — to Harvard, Yale, 

 Cornell and Tulane." 



