The late Valencia, sometimes called Hart’s Tardiff, for commercial purposes and shipment abroad is recognized as one of the most reliable varieties grown in the island. It is seldom ripe before the month of March, and is very much better during May and June. Its commercial season extends from March to about the first of August, while the fruit of some trees has been kept in good condition even longer than this. The tree is thrifty and very prolific, bearing heavy crops every year. The fruit is of medium size to large, depending on the amount of fertilizer and care given it, while the color is a bright golden yellow. Good late Valencia oranges, during the months of May, June and July, have never sold in the Havana market for less than $15 to $20 per thousand. When the tree is properly cared for, and the fruit is thoroughly ripe, the late Valencia is one of the best of the citrus family.
The Parson Brown is probably the earliest orange of all varieties that have been imported. It sometimes ripens during the latter part of August. The fruit is of good size and very sweet, with no particularly marked flavor. The color of the peel is a greenish yellow, and it may be eaten even before the yellow color appears. Its early appearance on the market is the only thing, perhaps, that recommends it for commercial purposes.
In 1915 some small plantings were made in Havana Province of an orange brought from Florida, known as the Lu Gim Gong. The principal merit of this orange is said to be in its keeping quality on the tree. The fruit, we are told, will hang on the branches in excellent edible condition from one year to another. If this reputation can be maintained in Cuba, oranges for the local market may be had all the year round. Sufficient time has not elapsed however, since the first trees were brought into the island, to pass judgment on its merits or its commercial value.
Although up to the inauguration of the Republic in 1902, the grape fruit, known in Cuba as the toronja, was little valued, the people of Cuba have gradually acquired a fondness for it, especially with the desayuno or early morning coffee. Owing to this fact there is a rapidly growing local demand for the toronja that promises quite a profitable home market for this really excellent fruit. The grape fruit of Cuba, although but little attention has been given to the improvement of varieties, has been favored in some way by the climate itself, and that of the entire Island, including the Isle of Pines, is very much sweeter and juicier than that grown in the United States.
The cultivation of grape fruit in Cuba, especially in the Isle of Pines, has been very successful as far as the production of a high-grade fruit is concerned. The trees are prolific and the crop never fails. Unfortunately, grape fruit shipped from Cuba to the United States has not always found a profitable market, and there have been seasons when the crop became an absolute loss, since the demand abroad was not sufficient to pay the transportation to northern markets. As the taste for grape fruit grows, it is possible that this occasional glutting of the market may become a thing of the past, but at the present time many of the groves of grape fruit in Cuba are being budded with oranges. This is true also of lemon trees.
Limes, as before stated, are quite abundant in some parts of the Island, growing wild in the forests of hilly sections. The recent demand for citric acid would suggest that the establishment of a plant for its manufacture might solve the problem of enormous quantities of citrus fruit that must go to waste every year unless some method of utilizing it is discovered in the locality where found.
There are over 20,000 acres today in this republic on which citrus fruit is grown. The total value of the estates is estimated at about fifteen millions of dollars, but with each year it becomes more apparent that the area of really profitable citrus culture should be limited to a radius of not more than one hundred miles from some port whence regular shipments can be made to the United States. This is an essential feature of the citrus fruit industry. Its disregard means failure.
The wild varieties of the orange, both the bitter and the sour, although too isolated and scattered for commercial purposes, are often a godsend to the prospector in the forest covered mountains, since the juice of the sour orange mixed with a little water and sugar makes a very pleasant drink. The wild trees themselves, with their symmetrical trunks, dark glossy evergreen leaves, white, fragrant flowers, and deep golden red fruit, that hangs on the tree for months after maturity, furnish a very attractive sight to the traveler, as well as a safe indication of the fact that in Cuba the citrus fruit, if not indigenous to the soil, has found a natural home.
CHAPTER XXI
BANANAS, PINEAPPLES AND OTHER FRUITS
THE banana is of East Indian origin, but of an antiquity so great that man has no record of its appearance on earth as an edible fruit, nor can any variety of the plant be found today growing wild. The importance of the banana as a source of food for the human race in all warm countries of low altitude is probably equaled by no other plant, owing to the fact that a greater amount of nourishment can be secured from an acre of bananas than from any other product of the soil.