XXIV REPOET OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 



Porto Rico. Some sisal plants from the Bahamas have been sent for 

 trial to the Porto Rico experiment station at Maj'aguez. There seems 

 to be little doubt that the sisal plant can be successfully cultivated in 

 limited areas in Porto Rico, as it is now being cultivated in Santo 

 Domingo. It has been introduced into Hawaii, and the first commer- 

 cial crop has been harvested there during the past season, the liber 

 produced linding a ready market at good prices in San Francisco. 



THE MANGO AND ALLIGATOR PEAR IN PORTO RICO. 



Reports are in preparation advising the extensive planting- of supe- 

 rior varieties of mangoes and alligator pears in Porto Rico, to supply 

 the increasing demands of the markets of our Eastern cities. That 

 these fruits are not alreadj^ as popular in the United States as bananas 

 and oranges is due to the fact that there has been no adequate or regu- 

 lar supplv of good quality. Porto Rico offers natural conditions very 

 favorable for their culture, and improved facilities of transportation 

 have simplilied the commercial problem. Varieties much superior to 

 those now grown for home use in Porto Rico have been found by rep- 

 resentatives of the Department in Guatemala and Mexico. 



CULTURE OF THE CENTRAL AMERICAN RUBBER TREE (cASTILLOa). 



It is general!}^ supposed that a continuousl}^ humid climate is neces- 

 sary for rubber culture, but in southern Mexico it is obvious that an 

 alternation of distinct wet and dry seasons is favorable to the produc- 

 tion of rubber by Castilloa, which will permit a much wider use of 

 this tree in our tropical islands than has appeared possible hitherto. 

 The failure of some of the earlier experiments may be ascribed to 

 planting in situations too uniformly moist. The tree will often grow 

 luxuriantly where it will produce little or no rubber, as many planters 

 have learned to their cost. Rubber is the most important vegetable 

 raw material now imported for manufacture in the United States. 

 The agricultural production of rubber is assured, and several millions 

 of capital from the United States have been invested alread\^ in Mexi- 

 can rubber plantations. The extent, however, to which these and 

 similar enterprises in other countries can be made profitable depends 

 on the solution of many new agricultural problems. 



COFFEE SHADE. 



The coffee industry of Porto Rico has been injured b}^ the presence 

 of too many shade trees in the plantations, owing to the belief of the 

 planters that heav}' shading is necessary. A stud}" of the flourishing 

 coffee industr}' of Guatemala establishes the facts that coffee of the 

 highest grade can be grown entireh' without shade, and that the dimi- 

 nution of shade lessens the ravages of the Central American leaf dis- 



