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The Bay Oil Industry of St. JohnAuthor(s): Earl ShawSource: Economic Geography, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Apr., 1934), pp. 143-146Published by: Clark UniversityStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/140113 .

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THE BAY OIL INDUSTRY OF ST. JOHN

Earl Shaw

ALL geographers have read about the triangular trade among the three Virgin Islands of the

United States-how the bay oil of St. John and the alcohol of St. Croix meet at St. Thomas to be manufactured into bay rum. Probably not every one, how- ever, is familiar with the details of each island's share in the commerce and it is the purpose of this article to indicate the part played by St. John.

IDENTIFICATION MAP

ST JOHN

FIGURE 1.-Iwo major periods of submergence in Quaternary time account for the many inden- tations of St. John's shore line. In early days pirates and buccaneers used the bays and inlets as bases for preying upon Spanish trade. After settlement the sugar planters took advantage of the irregular coastline and delivered their produce and supplies by boat. This method was easier than carriage of goods over the rugged mountain trails that are common on the island. To-day some of the bay leaves are delivered to the still in boats because easily accessible harbors encourage water transport.

St. John (Figure 1), the smallest of the Virgins, both in area (approxi- mately 20 square miles) and in popula- tion (765 with only 4 white), lies near the northeast corner of the Caribbean Sea. In the early days pirates and buc- caneers used the inlets and bays of its submerged shoreline as bases for prey- ing on Spanish trade. Then followed its colonization and development by the Danes, who converted it into a sugar-

producing land in spite of the maturely dissected upland comprising nearly the whole of its area (Figure 2). Slaves were cheap, sugar prices were high, and hand-cultivated cane milled by animal and wind power yielded profit in spite of the rugged topography. But beet sugar, East Indian cane competition, and free labor ended the reign of sugar in St. John, and for several decades the island's economy has depended on cattle raising, fishing, sustenance farming, and bay oil manufacture.

Just when an export bay oil industry began is not known, but wide local use of bay leaves started in early colonial days. The negro slaves employed in the cane fields mixed bay leaf juice and water to rub on their tired muscles after the day's work. Later they changed the formula by substituting rum in place of water and found that it improved the 1)roduct considerably. The first com- mercial manufacture of bay rum in the neighboring isle of St. Thomas began about the time of the United States Civil War, and it is likely that traffic with St. John in bay oil began soon after.

The bay tree, 1'imenta acres, a mem- 1)er of the myrtle family, is indigenous

Elevation in Feet

1000 HY0

0

Scale of Miles

Q ~ ~~L 2.

FIGu1Wx- 2.-This north northwest-south south- east topographic profile from Cinnamon Bay to Reef Bay indicates the maturely dissected upland of St. John. The vertical scale is exaggerated approximately 3 to 1.

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144 EC4NOMIC GEOGRAPHY

to St. John (Figure 3). Although it is found in several places on the island, thiree-fourths of the growth occurs on the upper slopes of Bordeaux Mountain, just west of Coral Bay (Bordeaux MIountain, 1277 feet high, is the high- est point on the island). Unlike the oc- currence of many valuable trees in the tropic forests, the bay trees here form a

more or less consistent stand and prob- ably the largest single natural bay (le- velol)ment of any place in the WNest nldies. Just what feature of the physi-

cal environment accounts for the luxuri- onls growth never has been (leterminell

definitely. Some ascribe it to a peculiar a(lap)tability of the soil, vet there is no general acceptance of this belief.

FIGURE 3 One of the few bay groves that has been cleared of underbrush.

i'))lduta acis looks a little like a pear tree, has an average height of twenty to thirty feet, and never reaches large dimensions. Its glossy, leathery ever- green leaves contain the bay oil in their

minute cells. The trees blossom early in J ulv and, after they (lrop their seeds dtrilng the months of Auoust and S4ep- temiber, a more luxurious gYrowth of foliage develops. Although the tree does not reach maturity until about ten

years of age, leaves may be picked at an tte of three to five years, and with proper care the plant may yield for three or f our decades.

The bay oil industry is not a planta- tion development. No attempt is made to plant the trees, but birds, eating the l)ay berries, and the wind, are the scat- tering agents for the seeds. Seedlings start, trees develop, and if the land owner wishes to encourage a favorable leaf growth, he clears the brush around the young trees (Figure 3). Leaves are usually picked on the basis of a twvo- year cycle. There are more than enough to supply oil for the present market, and the picking is so appor- tioned that the harvest may continue at ally time, yet no tree is stripped oftener than in alternate years. Rainfall is moderate and variable like many tropi- cal regions, yet its major controls, con- vection and hurricane influences, bring about ample precipitation for a heavy leaf growth at biennial intervals.

At harvest time the picker strips twigs as well as leaves from the tree. Instead of harming it, the breaking of the smaller branches seems to encourage more growth, for several twigs sprout from the break made by the removal of a single branch. On an average one man can pick about two hundred-weight of leaves per day. Often the pickers work in pairs, one man climbing the tree and breaking or slashing off leaves and twios while the worker on the ground picks them up and stuffs then in burlap sacks holding 75 to 100 pounds each. Sometimes children hell) with the picking because they can climb the small trees better than an adult. After the leaves are sacked, they are loaded on donkeys, usually one bag onl either side, and a small pack train of these little aninials, so well fitted for l)ur(len bearers on the rocky trails around Bordeaux Mountain (there are no roads in St. John), takes them down grade to the still at Coral Bay (Figure 4). Here the sacks are unloaded and oil is distilled within a short time, as

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THE BAY OIL INDUSTRY OF ST. TOHN 145

fresh picked leaves furnish a better product than stale ones. The still owner sometimes buys leaves from other farmers to supplement the sup- ply grown on his own land. Many of these are brought in by boat, for the small size of the island and the numer- otus bays and inlets make boat trans- port easier than animal carriage over rugged trails. Several hundred-weight of leaves go into the still at a cooking. The steam and pungent oil are con- densed in a metal "worm" enclosed in a tank of water and then separated in another section of the still. Approxi- mately one hundred fifty pounds of leaves are used in making one quart of oil.

Native families perform the labor in the bay oil industry. They cut the brush between the mature trees (Figure 3), clear the land where seedlings are developing, and pick the leaves at har- vest. The land owner provides them with a plot of ground on which they build a rude hut (Figure 5), and where they raise such provision crops as tan- ias, sweet potatoes, corn, okra, cassava, papayas and bananas. They supple- ment these activities with fishing, burn- ing charcoal, and gathering fruits and

nuts from the forest, which covers eighty per cent of the island.

Not many workers are needed. Al- though there are hundreds of acres of mature trees, most of the bay tree re- gion is uncared for and is growing up with thick underbrush. There is little market for the product and only one of the four stills on the island is operating -this one intermittently. For the last few years annual production of oil has averaged about four hundred gallons, which at present prices would yield ap- proximately four thousand dollars a year. Unlike St. Thomas' bay rum manufacture, which has expanded from a production of 10,000 gallons in 1910

FIGURE 4. The E. W. Marsh bay oil still, the only one now operating in St. John.

to a production of 138,065 gallons in 1931, St. John's bay oil industry shows little evidence of increase. There are several causes for this lack of progress.

First, bay oil forms a very small frac- tion of bay rum which is made up al- most entirely of alcohol, quinine, and bay oil. Second, although Pimienta saris grows naturally without intermix- ture with closely related species bearing leaves of poorer quality, the harvesting and distilling are performed in a care- less manner and the resultant product lacks a quality that careful practice would impart. Third, the man who practically controls the industry is a wealthy negro well satisfied with his present income from the business. He does not care to change over to proc- esses and equipment that might expand the market for his product. Finally, other islands of the \Vest Indies, Puerto Rico especially, are expanding their bay oil production and are providing keen competition.

Yet there are possibilities for growth in St. John's well-known industry. The thousands of trees throughout the island have a leaf base superior in qual- ity to that of maany other West Indian islands. It is likely that with an im- provement in harvesting and distilling methods a standardized product could be obtained that would significantly in- crease demand. The Chemical and

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146 ECONOMIc GEOGRAPHY

FIGURE 5.-The home of one of the laborers in the Bordeaux Mountain bay tree region of St. John. The harbor of Coral Bay lies in the background.

Technological Research Section of the United States Bureau of Chemistry and Soils is seeking new uses for the oil and may discover possibilities for new

markets. Some optimists believe that an adherence to standardization and a continuation of research will, in time, create a large native industry. They even suggest that selective propagation and forest planting might lead to impor- tant developments on the other Virgins, St. Thomas and St. Croix.

The writer is inclined to be skeptical of this optimistic outlook. He believes that future growth will be slow and insignificant. For, in addition to the drawbacks previously indicated, there is always the hurricane hazard which de- ters a spirit of progress, and which, not many years ago (1916), destroyed practically all the bay trees of St. John.

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