THIRTY-THIRD BlENNIAD SESSION 
83 
The term horticulture is seldom applied in the West Indies. All who 
cultivate the soil are planters, which broadly speaking means farmers. Sugar 
cane takes the lead in most Islands. Tobacco comes next in some places, 
while cotton is the chief crop in one Island at least. But practically all oth$r 
crops cultivated can be classed as horticultural, and some of the Islands 
are relying almost entirely on horticulture. 
The Development of Horticulture. 
In visiting various Islands I have often asked: Why do you specialize 
in this or that crop? And why do you cultivate in this particular way? The 
answer is usually unsatisfactory. They do it because somebody else does; 
they do it because they know of no better crop; they do it because their 
ancestors did, but they seldom know why their ancestors did it. Sometimes 
history gives us a clue to the why of it and frequently common sense rea- 
soning is enough. 
We find in Cuba, for instance, that most of the land in the Havana 
Province was at one time planted with coffee. We also find that coffee as 
well as oranges were commonly grown in Matanzas and Santa Clara Prov- 
inces. The reason for this was the low price of coffee and the high price 
of sugar at that time. In the case of oranges we may readily reason that 
the market was not well enough developed to make that a paying crop, but 
why was the cultivation started? To-day the land is either producing sugar 
cane or lying waste. 
There seems to be indication that fruit culture was highly developed 
for that time, and we know that the Spanish people in the West Indies were 
never good horticulturists. We find, however, that a large number of French 
people had settled in that part of the Island and the development was un- 
doubtedly due to them. The reason why the industry did not survive may 
have been partly economic, but the people who started it would undoubtedly 
have continued, on a smaller scale at any rate, if they had stayed. They 
were prevented, however, on account of one of the many political upheavals 
from which Cuba has suffered. 
I mention this to illustrate that the cultivation of a certain crop is not 
dependent entirely on soil, climatic conditions or commercial development. 
The man is a greater factor than the land. 
We may continue with Cuba and examine the horticultural development 
of recent years. We find that citrus culture was undeveloped before the 
Spanish-American war, but at the present time the cultivation is extensive 
and successful. This, we know, is due entirely to the energy of the Amer- 
ican planters. The land was the same before the war and there were people 
cultivating it, but they were not interested in fruit culture. They are in- 
terested to-day, but they do not yet know enough about it to continue it and 
if the Americans should suddenly leave, the industry would undoubtedly 
lapse as it did before. 
Cultural Methods too Old. 
In regard to cultural methods we find practically the same conditions. 
It is true in a general way, that methods are the outgrowth of experience, 
