112 THE PLANT WOKLD 



were burned where they fell ; hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth 

 of lumber and cabinet-woods were thus destroyed. Perhaps the old 

 Dons did not realize the fact, but there was another reason for the burn- 

 ing : virgin tropical soil is very " sour " and the alkali of the ashes 

 served to correct in part this dangerous acidity. 



Long before the American occupancy all the conveniently arable 

 ground on the island had been cleared. Public lands comprise about 

 one-fifth of the entire area of the island. At present the only wooded 

 districts are a few square miles about " El Yunque," the highest moun- 

 tain (3800 feet) in the eastern j)art, and a few thousand acres in the west 

 central part between Lares and Ciales ; and these areas, although too 

 hilly to be cultivated, are being robbed of their most valuable timbers. 

 Indeed, if the Government does not at once establish and protect a forest 

 reserve, there is great danger that many of Porto Rico's native trees may 

 become extinct within a very few years. 



The West Indian mahogany has already disappeared and the 

 "Tabanuco," or candle-wood {Dacryodes \_Amyris] hexandra Gr.), will 

 not last two years at the present rate of cutting ; the latter wood is 

 stained and sold as mahogany. The native satin-wood is one of the 

 most valuable cabinet-woods in the world's market, its transparent 

 "grain " and lustre equaling, if not exceeding, that of the East Indian 

 (jhloroxylon ; it is said to be worth |300 per thousand feet wholesale : 

 only small trees are now procurable. While coffee is worth onlj^ six to 

 ten cents per pound, the native will not spend much extra time in his 

 " cafetal," when he can bring in wide but rough sawn planks of Spanish 

 cedar which net him $25 per M. (and which net the dealer about $100 

 per M.). The beautiful purplish wood of the male cedar, as well as that 

 of the Spanish cedar, is extremely scarce ; and the strangely grainless 

 red " Ansubo " {Sideroxylon mastichodendron, Jacq.) and the dark mauve, 

 never-decaying "Ortegon" {Coccoloba sp.) are rapidly disappearing. 



There seems to be small hope of re-afforestation of the island, either 

 on the part of owners of large mountain estates or directly by the In- 

 sular Government. Land once cleared, subjugated, in an over-populated 

 country is not likely to ever regain its splendid freedom. 



And so, while vast areas in Trinidad and Jamaica retain almost in- 

 tact their virgin naturalness, the hills of Porto Rico seem doomed to 

 stand bare-headed and face the terrible tropical rains which will soon 

 strip them of their rich humus robes and leave them unsightly monu- 

 ments to human greed and shortsightedness. 



Otis W. Barrett. 



