A letter from EC Smith Mom (dated 1960)

This is from E.C. Smith’s Mom who lived in Cuba (they were Americans)

E.C. is a founding member of Berkeley Prep in 1960 and he is now 75 years old (and still working here as a special assistant to the Headmaster). He found this paper in his mother’s papers. Dated 1960 in Cuba. She wanted to write down what she saw before they left.

“Sugar cane is said to have been brought to the West Indies island of Santo Domingo, known at that time as Hisponiola, by Columbus on one of his voyages.

It is known to have been in cultivation in that island shortly after the year 1500, from whence shortly afterward it was carried to Cuba.

The history of sugar cane shows that this plant was originally introduced from India to the lands of the Mediterranean during the thirteenth century, whence through Spain and Portugal it was brought to the islands of the Caribbean, where the soil, rainfall, and climatic factors were found to be ideal for its development.

The island of Cuba, in particular, due to its size and the character of its soil, gradually became to be the largest producer of sugar cane in the Western Hemisphere, until today (1960). Cuba produced in 1942 approximately 12% of the world’s sugar cane.”

She goes on to describe how the land is prepared….and how it is cut….

An acre of cane produces 16 tons of cane WITHOUT fertilization or irrigation…

Cutting is done by hand with a knife known as a “guampera”

The cane is transported on boxcars…

This is a brief outline of the sugar cane which I have picked up from observation and reading in my 25 years of life on the sugar plantation….

Sincerely, Mildred Morris Smith
United Fruit Company
Preston, Oriente, Cuba