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A14 LOCAL
Tuesday 19 November 2019

Small Aruban Industries of the 19th century EpisodeXLIV

Small industries tried in Aruba such as the tobacco, cotton and wool in-
dustry did not achieve an appreciable success.

However peanut-growing, imported maize. This was called maishi rabo or
from Curacao from Aruba by the maishi di siete, produced best results.
Dutch West India Company grew It is called seven weeks’ maize be-
into an important industry. In the cause when the water is favorable it
nineteenth century the main harvest can be harvested within seven weeks
always took place at an earlier date of having been planted.
than on Curacao. The difference in
soil and the knowledge of the na- The priests acted as distributors of the
tives made Aruba for a long time the seeded plants. In 1911, when Aruba
peanut island. At Noord and near did not yet knew of imported canned
Cero Cristal and Hooiberg in particu- of food, many worries of the Arubans
lar peanut-growing was a favored about their maize crops. In most cases
means of existence. the crops are exposed to many dan-
gers which cause them to partly or
For the growing of cotton, even with completely miscarry. When the seed
the support of the government, which needs a long time to develop owing
offered the head of every family the to lack of rain, it dies underground, or
lease for an indefinite period of 2 1/2 is devoured by earth-worms or ants.
acres of soil, to be extended to ten When the plant has risen to a certain
acres on request, was of no avail. height, maybe one or two feet, there
In 1866 the administration made an is a possibility that, owing to a pro-
attempt at stimulating the growing of longed drought or too much humid-
cashew trees in connection with the ity, a liquid is formed inside the plant,
rise in gum-prices, but this endeavor, a sort of oil turning from bright yellow
too, proved unsuccessful. into black and becoming as thick
Throughout the nineteenth century as molasses. This pest named maba,
maize growing developed in propor- greatly injures the plant, hampering
tion as the population increased and or paralyzing its vegetative force. As
according as rains favored the suc- this liquid arises from a long drought
cess of the crops. This in a manner be- or too much humidity it is washed off
came traditional, work went on two the plant by heavy rains or dried out
plots: a piece of rich clay soil and a by the fierce sun or hard wind.
meagre sand-plot. If because of an Cultivation methods were more ad-
abundance of rain the crop from the vanced on Aruba than at other plac-
rich soil was disappointing, this loss es. Maize-harvests very rarely com-
was made good by the crop from the pletely failed, and more often than
sandy plot, and inversely. not two harvests could be gathered
in. Besides maize, beans were also
Different grades of maize from grown in the agricultural season.
abroad, such as Jerusalem Corn, Yel-
low Millow Corn, etc., have been tried
here. In the long run a type of corn,
originally from China, known as sor- Continued on Page 15
ghum substituted the native Aruban