FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
53 
trouble on this score. We were never 
troubled much on the rich Hammock 
lands here in Florida for the reason that 
the trees grew so rapidly that the scale 
could not seem to do much damage. I 
had several hammock land groves be¬ 
fore the freeze, and do not recollect ever 
having sprayed one for insects, but on 
the pine lands we always had troubles of 
our own. The soil in Cuba being so very 
much richer than any in Florida, I do not 
apprehend much trouble from scale in¬ 
sects for the reasons above given. We 
have not, as yet, had any white fly to con¬ 
tend with, and I sincerely hope that we 
will be able to keep them out. Judging 
from the growth the trees already plant¬ 
ed have made, and by the prospect we 
have for fruit this year, I think I am safe 
in saying that the present planting at 
Ceballos in the course of five or six years 
ought to yield easily one and a half mil¬ 
lions of boxes. We are located on the 
line of the Cuba Railroad, and this Com¬ 
pany is building enormous docks at its 
.terminus at Nipe Bay, which will be our 
^shipping port, and we expect to deliver 
'fruit from our packing house tO' the 
wharf in New York in five days or less. 
There is one great advantage in ship¬ 
ping from Cuba, and that is, after the 
fruit is loaded onto the vessels, there 
are no way stations or side tracks, but 
it goes direct to its destination without 
stopping. I am satisfied that thousands 
of trees will be planted in unfavorable lo¬ 
cations in Cuba, and do not believe such 
trees will ever amount to anything. I 
have seen trees grown on heavy black 
lands which produced beautiful fruit, 
but upon examination I found them bad¬ 
ly creased and would not stand shipment. 
This land is very similar to some I own 
at Silver Springs Run, and while my fruit 
was very handsome to look at it was al¬ 
ways badly creased, and it put me to lots 
of trouble to market it, as I could never 
sell the crop to the same man twice, for 
the reasons above stated. There are 
bound to be failures in Cuba just as 
there have been in Florida and Califor¬ 
nia, but in my opinion where careful and 
intelligent selection of land and location 
has been made there ought to- be no trou¬ 
ble to succeed in growing as good citrus 
fruit in Cuba, as in any other place in 
the world, and I believe when our im¬ 
proved budded varieties begin to fruit 
there will be no question about its quality. 
Many people in Florida have an erroneous 
idea that good oranges can not be grown 
anywhere else. I think, however, that 
you will all agree with me that tl^iere are 
some mighty poor oranges grown in Flor¬ 
ida, especially on lands which are not 
well adapted and which are not properly 
fertilized. It is doubtful if any better 
fruit than is grown in some parts of Flor¬ 
ida will ever be produced anywhere, and 
it would be an unreasonable man who 
would ask for anything better, but with 
the experience I have already had in 
Cuba I feel perfectly satisfied that we 
will produce a great deal of good fruit 
that will compete with the best in Flor¬ 
ida and California. 
In regard to the nursery business I 
do not suppose this will interest your 
hearers, but will say briefly that I have 
never yet seen any trees grown in Cuba 
which compared to those produced in the 
sandy lands of Florida. Any one who is 
at all familiar with the propagation of 
trees or plants knows very well that a 
light sandy soil is much more desirable 
for the reason that it will produce a much 
better root system. In the rich lands of 
Cuba there is so much plant food always 
present in the soil that the young plant 
does not find it necessary to throw out any 
