PORTO RICO 



PORTO RICO 



1415 



chocolate from 15 per cent to 50 per cent, according to 

 quality; castor oil beans and other oil seeds 25 per cent; 

 castor oil 35 cents per gallon; bay rum and bay water 

 $1.50 per gallon. Starch pays 1% cents per pound, rice 

 2 cents per pound ; while sugar pays -j^^ cents per pound 

 if not over No. 16 Dutch standard in color, and Ixro 

 cents per pound if above that standard. 



Labor. — Qen. Roy Stone in an article, "Porto Rico 

 and Its Future," in Munsey's magazine for August, 

 1900, testifies from large experience to the effectiveness 

 of the Porto Rican native laborers, and the writer con- 

 siders them material for excellent gardeners, possess- 

 ing as much quickness and natural intelligence as the 

 better class of Hindoos he has employed for like labor 

 in Jamaica. 



There are good opportunities in Porto Rico awaiting 

 the capitalist and the horticulturist, for it is a field 

 in which every dollar intelligently invested in tropical 

 production is almost sure of a rich return. The island is 

 abjectly poor to-day. It has but $3,600,000 for a popula- 

 tion of nearly a million, and all of this but $600,000 is in 

 the hands of the merchants and bankers, who will do 

 nothing to develop the country. 



Authorities on Porto Rico.— Valuable works bear- 

 ing on our subject are: A bulletin, "Agriculture in Porto 

 Rico," of the Department of Agriculture by Gen. Roy 

 Stone, reprinted from the year book of 1898; a book on 

 Cuba and Porto Rico by Mr. Robert T. Hill, and the full 

 and informing volume of Mr. William Dinwiddle, 

 "Puerto Rico, its Conditions and Possibilities." For 

 statistics, see Bull. 13, section of Foreign Markets, U. 

 S. Dept. Agric. on Trade of Puerto Rico, 84 pp., by 

 Frank H. Hitchcock, 1898. p_ jyi, Pennock. 



General Notes on Porto Rico. — The following notes 

 are selected from the "Report on the Census of Porto 

 Rico, 1899," compiled under the direction of Lt.-Col. 

 J. P. Sanger and published by the War Department. 



Most of the area of Porto Rico is held as farms, and 

 a large portion, more than one-fifth, is under cultivation. 

 The forested areas are small and are almost entirely 

 confined to the higher parts of the mountains. The 

 largest of these tracts is on El Yunque, in the Sierra 

 Luquilla. Here are found small tracts of primeval for- 

 est, composed of large trees of a variety of species, sev- 

 eral of which are of great value, such as Spanish cedar, 

 ebony and sandalwood, besides many others as yet 

 unknown to American markets. Timber is, however, 

 very scarce, and most of that used in building is im- 

 ported. 



Lying in the tropics, the island is within the region 

 of the southwest trades, which blow with great regu- 

 larity. The annual temperature at San Juan, on the 

 north coast, ranges in different years from 78 to 82'^ F. 

 The mean monthly temperature ranges from 75° in Jan- 

 uary to 82° in August. The maximum temperature on 

 record is 99°, and the minimum 57°, indicating a very 

 slight range and a uniform climate. The only difference 

 of temperature to be observed throughout the island is 

 due to altitude, the highlands of the interior having a 



1923. P.neapple plantation in Porto Rico. 



mean annual temperature as low as 72° F. Serious 

 storms occur, and occasional earthquakes, but the latter 

 are not violent, doing but little damage. The annual 

 rainfall at San Juan averages 60 inches, about the same 

 as at New Orleans, and nearly two-thirds of this falls in 

 the summer and autumn. The annual relative humidity 

 at the capital is very high, averaging not far from 80 



per cent. The annual rainfall increases eastward from 

 San Juan, until near the northeast corner of the island 

 it exceeds 100 inches. It increases also upon the high- 

 lands of the interior, reaching a maximum upon the di- 

 viding ridge of nearly 100 inches. The south slope of 

 the island, on the other hand, is much drier, both rain- 



Tomato-erowinB in Porto Rico, 

 The plants are tied to cords 

 supported on stakes. 



fall and atmospheric moisture being less, so much so 

 that in some regions irrigation is necessary for cultiva 

 tion of crops. 



Owing to the fact that Porto Rico has for centuries 

 maintained a dense population almost entirely supported 

 by agriculture, a large portion of its surface is under 

 cultivation, and only a trifling proportion remains in its 

 natural condition. Hence little of its vegetation is in- 

 digenous. The native fauna of the island is, owing to 

 the same cause, very limited. There are no large mam 

 mals except such as are domesticated. It is said that 

 there are no noxious reptiles and few insect pests. 



Of the total area of Porto Rico— 3,606 square miles— 

 2,743 square miles were included within farms. This is 

 76 per cent, or more than three-fourths of the area of 

 the island. The area under cultivation was 747 square 

 miles, or not less than 21 per cent of the entire area of 

 the island. These figures are in strong contrast with 

 those for Cuba, of which 29.9 per cent only were in- 

 cluded within farms and only 3 per cent of the area of 

 the island was under cultivation. They approach more 

 nearly the condition of things in the United States, 

 where in 1890 16 per cent was under cultivation. Yet, 

 considering the density of the rural population, which 

 is far beyond that of any part of the United States, the 

 proportion of cultivated land is small. To illustrate 

 this, consider the case of Illinois, in which the number of 

 rural inhabitants to a sqtiare mile was in 1890 but 42, or 

 less than one-fifth as great as in Porto Rico, while more 

 than seven-tenths of its area was under cultivation. 



The total number of farms in Porto Rico was 39,021; 

 the total area was 1,757,774 cuerdns (practically equiva- 

 lent to an acre) ; the average farm had an area of but 

 45 cnerdas, or acres; the cultivated land comprised 

 4:77,987 cnerdas, an average to a farm of only 12 cnerdas. 

 In the United States in 1890 the average farm contained 

 137 acres, of which 78 acres were improved. In Cuba 

 the average farm had an area of 142 acres, of which, 

 however, only about 13 acres were under cultivation. 



The only measure of agricultural products which was 

 obtained hj the census consisted in the area cultivated 

 in each crop. Measured in this way, the following table 

 shows the relative importance of each such crop, ex- 



