160 CUBA AND POKTO RICO 



cattle-farms, 240; large coffee-estates, 361; sugar-estates, 

 4:!:i; small coffee-farms, 4184 ; farms devoted to miscellane- 

 ous cultivation, 41376 ; small fruit-farms, 16,988 ; and plants 

 for grinding cane, 8. 



The export productions are sugar-cane, coffee, tobacco, 

 cocoa, and cotton. Sugar-cane is cultivated mostly on the 

 lower slopes and plains, yielding about six thousand pounds 

 to the acre. Coffee grows in the highlands, in the natural 

 shade of the mountains or in that of the guama-, 1 guava-, 2 

 bucare-, 3 and maga 4 -trees. Owing to the troubled state of 

 affairs in Cuba, prices for tobacco have increased enor- 

 mously in Porto Eico. A large amount has been planted, 

 and the crop promises well. 



A peculiar variety of upland rice, requiring no form of 

 irrigation or inundation, is commonly cultivated on the 

 hills of the central sierra. This, and yauchia (Caladium 

 esculent am) and plantain, which are grown nearly every- 

 where, are staple foods of laborers. The other fruits and 

 vegetables consumed on the island, and generally classified 

 as menareSj are the banana, platanos (plantains, which, 

 when baked in the immature state, constitute the bread of 

 the inhabitants), maize, beans, gaudures, and such fruits or 

 vegetables as yams, yautias, sweet potatoes, the mispel 

 (Achras sapota), the mango, the mamey (Mammea), the 

 guanavana {Anona), the aguacate {Per sea), pineapples, and 

 guayavas (which are very plentiful, and manufactured into 

 confections). 



The diversified agriculture of Porto Rico is also varied 

 by extensive pastoral interests, which not only supply the 

 inhabitants with meat, but produce hundreds of cattle of 

 excellent quality for annual export, especially to the Lesser 

 Antilles, which are largely dependent upon Porto Rico for 

 meat as well as for work-oxen. Martinique, Guadeloupe, 

 St. Thomas, and Cuba are the chief consumers. The pas- 

 ture-lands are superior to those of the other Antilles. 

 These lie mostly on the north and east sides of the island, 

 and are covered with a nutritious leguminous plant called 



1 Inga laurmea. 2 Inga vera. 3 Erythrina bucare. 4 Tliespesia grandiflora. 



