VEGETABLE GROWING
With the advent of the American colonists in 1900, truck gardening
sprang rapidly into prominence in Cuba until today it forms an important
part of the small farmer’s revenue. Most of the well-known vegetables of
the United States are grown here, not only for local markets, but for
shipment abroad. They are usually planted at the close of the rainy
season in October or November, and are brought to maturity in time to
reach the North during winter and early spring, when high prices
prevail.
Those vegetables from which the best results have been obtained are
early potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, sweet peppers, okra, white squash,
and string beans. These may be grown in the rich soils of any part of
the Island, but are only profitable when cultivated close to railroads
or within easy reach of steamship lines having daily sailings from
Havana. Profits depend on location, soil, water supply, intelligent
cultivation and success in reaching markets in which there is a demand
for the product.
The long belt of land lying just south of the Organ Mountains of Pinar
del Rio, extending from east to west throughout the province, furnishes
the largest tract for vegetable growing in Cuba. The conditions in this
section are exceptionally favorable to that industry. Close to the base
of the mountain range, the surface is rather rolling, but soon slopes
away into the level prairies extending out toward the Caribbean. The
soil as a rule is a dark grey sandy loam, easily worked at all seasons,
and responds quickly to the use of fertilizers and to cultivation.
Numerous small streams that have their origin back in the mountains,
furnish excellent natural drainage, and some of them can easily be used
for irrigating purposes, if necessary, in the dry months of February and
March. The Western Railway of Havana runs through the entire length of
the vegetable belt, reinforced by a splendid automobile drive, more or
less parallel, connecting the further extremity of Pinar del Rio with
the markets and wharves of Havana.
These lands are very productive, and under intelligent management,
especially when irrigation can be employed, may be rendered exceedingly
profitable, through the cultivation of vegetables. In some sections, the
semi-vuelta or Partido tobacco fields monopolize the use of the land
during the fall months, but there are nevertheless hundreds of thousands
of acres in this district that if properly cultivated, and conducted in
connection with canning plants, would yield large revenues to the
Island.
Nearly all seed is brought from the United States, fresh, each year, and
the planting season for some crops begins in September, extending
through the entire winter, especially where irrigation or fortunate
rains furnish a sufficient amount of moisture to carry the crop through
the dry months of early spring.
The methods employed in vegetable growing are identical with those of
the United States, and the results are practically the same, aside from
the one important fact that all fall grown vegetables, or those that may
be placed on the markets of large cities in the United States between
January and April, bring, as a rule, very high prices.
Later in the spring the vegetable gardens of Florida and the Gulf States
come into competition, causing the growers of the Island gradually to
yield to those of sections further north. It is at this time, or in the
late spring, that the canning industry could take care of the great
surplus of vegetables that for any reason might fail to find a
profitable market abroad. Well equipped plants could handle this crop
with great benefit both to the vegetable growers and the canners.
Irish potatoes, planted in the fall so that the crop may be brought to
maturity in March, have proven very successful throughout this section,
as well as in the beautiful Guines Valley, southeast of Havana. The
potato growers of Cuba have experimented with nearly all of the standard
varieties of the United States and it is rather difficult to determine
which has given the best results.
The Early Rose variety of Irish potato is quite a favorite in Cuba,
owing to its rapid growth and productivity. Later potatoes, while
finding a sale perhaps in the local market, are not considered
profitable, since, as a rule, one can procure during summer and fall
excellent potatoes from Maine and Nova Scotia, with greater economy than
by growing them in Cuba, at times when the land can be more profitably
used for other purposes.
Potatoes, of course, need barn yard manures and fertilizers, the more
the better; or rather, the greater is the return. The yield varies
according to conditions anywhere from forty to one hundred barrels and
more per acre. The Cuban product is almost invariably of good quality,
and when placed in the eastern markets of the United States in the month
of March, will bring anywhere from $6 to $10 per barrel. Under normal
conditions $8 seems to be the ruling price for Cuban potatoes on the
wharves at New York, where they are sold as exotics or new potatoes.
Thus $500 may be considered a fair return per acre.
Green peppers, too, have been found to be one of the most satisfactory
and profitable crops in Cuba. They are planted in rows three feet apart,
spaced a foot or more in the row so that they can be kept clean with
adjustable cultivators drawn by light ponies. Hand cultivation, although
sometimes indulged in, with the present price of labor is practically
impossible.
A well-known pepper grower of the Guayabal district, in the northwestern
corner of Havana Province, on less than a hundred acres of land, grew
6,000 crates of green peppers in the winter of 1917-18, that netted him
$6 per crate in the City of New York. Peppers are easily grown and
handled, and the market or demand for them seems to be quite constant,
hence they have become one of the favorite vegetables for the export
trade.
Tomatoes, too, are grown very successfully in Cuba during the late fall
and winter. The seed is secured from reliable houses in the United
States each year, and is selected largely with reference to the firmness
or shipping quality of the fruit. The methods of cultivation are similar
to those employed in the United States. The weeds are usually killed out
of the field in the early spring, and kept down with profitable cover
crops, such as the carita and velvet bean. These, when turned under or
harvested by hogs, place the soil in perfect condition.
The planting is done usually in October and November and the cultivation
carried on either with native horses or mules, or gasoline-propelled
cultivators. The yield where the water control and other conditions are
favorable, is large, and the price secured in the northern markets
varies from $2 to $5 per half bushel crate. It is true that when
tomatoes from Florida and the Gulf States begin to go north in large
quantities, there are frequently reports of glutted markets and falling
prices. It is then that the canning factory comes to the rescue of the
planter and contracts for the remainder of his stock at satisfactory
prices.
Of all varieties, the Redfield Beauty is probably the tomato most in
vogue among growers in Cuba. It grows luxuriantly and yields from two
hundred to three hundred crates per acre.
Eggplants as a rule are successfully grown on all rich mellow soils. The
methods of cultivation are almost identical with those employed in
growing tomatoes. A small pear shaped variety is grown for the local
markets in Havana and other cities, but for export purposes it would be
unsatisfactory. The finest varieties known in the States are all found
here. The yield under favorable conditions is large and the crop stands
shipment for long distances without injury.
As a rule the prices obtained in the north have rendered the growing of
egg plants very profitable. From $3 to $7 per crate are the usual
limitations in price. The uncertainty of this price, however, in
different seasons, has rendered the production of the eggplant rather an
interesting gamble. This is true regardless of the quality of the fruit,
in nearly all products sold in distant markets.
Okra, or quimbombo, as the vegetable is called in Cuba, while not as a
rule commanding fancy prices, nevertheless brings satisfactory returns,
both abroad and in the local market, where the demand is more or less
steady. Like all others mentioned, it is strictly a late fall or winter
vegetable, and its cultivation is identical with methods employed in the
United States. Prices usually obtained are from two to three dollars a
half bushel crate.
The growing of lima beans in Cuba has proved a gilt-edge undertaking for
those who have been careful in the selection of seed and proper
cultivation after planting. The price obtained in the United States has
varied between $2 and $8 per hamper, or bean basket, with an average of
perhaps $5. The crop is quickly grown and with sufficient labor to
gather the beans at the proper time the grower is relieved of his only
cause for worry. The labor problem can usually be overcome if the farm
is located near any one of the small towns where help of women and
children is available.
String beans, while readily grown in Cuba, do not always find a demand
in the northern markets sufficient to justify the fancy prices
frequently obtained for other vegetables. The local demand in Havana,
while not large, is nevertheless satisfactory to the small farmer living
within a short distance of the city, where he can deliver his crop
without the expense of railroad transportation.
The summer squash, too, succeeds very well in Cuba, and if the crop does
not encounter the competition of the growers in the Gulf States, it is,
as a rule, fairly profitable. A variety of the native squash known as
the Calabaza, always finds a ready sale in the local markets. This
prolific Criolla production is almost always planted with corn by the
native farmers, since its yield never fails and its market is constant
and satisfactory.
Recent experiments have been made by an American grower who has imported
the seed of the small pie-pumpkin into Cuba. To use his own words, “This
variety grows even faster than weeds, and the pumpkins cover the ground
so thick that you can hardly avoid walking on them.” They make a very
fine fall and winter crop, with an average yield of five tons per acre.
This delicate variety of pumpkin, when canned, will probably prove
available for export purposes.
The great drawback to profitable vegetable growing in Cuba lies largely
in the uncertainty of the northern markets, where prices fluctuate so
rapidly, with the minimum and the maximum so far apart, that it is
difficult for the vegetable grower, a thousand miles away, to count with
any certainty on the returns from his crops when shipped abroad. The
establishment of receiving agents, perhaps, under the control of men who
were financially interested with the growers themselves, might remedy
this difficulty. The canning industry, if established on a sufficiently
broad scale, would also add stability to the price of all crops grown in
Cuba, and place the cultivation of vegetables on a more certain
foundation.
The introduction of irrigation, wherever possible, insures so generous a
crop of almost any vegetable planted in this Island, that the returns
to the grower, even where the price may not be fancy, will be decidedly
remunerative. The incalculable advantages to be secured by irrigation,
especially in the growing of vegetables, planted in the late fall and
gathered during the winter and early spring, when rains are not always
forthcoming, is a matter in which the Department of Agriculture is
deeply interested.
One of the best irrigation engineers of the United States has been
invited to go over the field of Cuba, and to advise the Government in
regard to the various localities in which irrigation plants may be
installed with success and profit to the growers. These plans when
carried out will prove of marvellous benefit to the agricultural
industry and will greatly increase the revenues derived from tobacco, as
well as from vegetables.
The great advantage, however, enjoyed by all vegetable growers in Cuba,
lies in the fact that stormy weather never interferes with the
cultivation of crops; sunshine may be depended upon every day of the
year, and the farmer is seldom if ever compelled to lay aside his
implements, and wait for the weather to adjust itself to his needs. In
other words, he can always work if he wants to, and the market abroad,
if he “strikes it right,” may yield him a small fortune from a
comparatively few acres in a very few months.
It would be misleading to the prospective farmer or stranger to quote
the almost fabulous returns at times secured on some favored spot, but
with irrigation, which insures absolute control of the growing crop, the
profits from vegetable raising may run anywhere from $100 to $500 per
acre, and more.
Among those “striking it rich” incidents that may be occasionally found,
may be mentioned a little tract of ground consisting of only four acres
of land, located along the railroad track, not 100 yards from a station
on the Western Railway. Here two Spanish storekeepers placed under
cultivation four acres of land that had been previously prepared with a
carita bean crop, hog fed and turned under. These partners had a well
sunk in the middle of the tract, and a little gasoline engine installed
that enabled them to adjust the water supply each day to the
requirements of the field.
Here they planted eggplants, tomatoes, green peppers and Irish potatoes.
The cultivation was done by one man and a pony. During the gathering of
the crops some additional help was required, although the two owners
worked hard themselves during late afternoons and early mornings. The
return from these crops during the four months in which they were in the
ground, amounted to $6,430.
Incidents of this kind are not by any means common, but nevertheless
they give some indication of what may be accomplished in growing
vegetables in Cuba, when the work is conducted along modern lines and
under intelligent management. Capital, of course, is necessary, as in
all other industries, but the reward, even with the element of the
gamble taken into consideration, is to say the least very tempting.