212 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



larger and better crops of coffee, sugar, and tobacco, and food products 

 for home consumption, and that at an early day work should be 

 undertaken in horticulture, forestry, animal husbandry, and dairy- 

 ing. Besides conducting experiments, it should give object lessons 

 in improved farming and should disseminate information by publica- 

 tions and agricultural meetings. 



On the basis of this report Congress made a second appropriation 

 ($12,000) for the current fiscal year, which authorized the Secretary 

 of Agriculture "to establish and maintain an agricultural experiment 

 station in Porto Rico, including the erection of buildings, the print- 

 ing (in Porto Rico), illustration, and distribution of reports and bul- 

 letins, and all other expenses essential to the maintenance of said 

 station." 



Though this appropriation did not become available until July 1, 

 1901, Mr. Frank D. Gardner, assistant in the Division of Soils, was 

 transferred to this Office April 15, 1901, and was appointed to take 

 charge of the agricultural investigations in Porto Rico. After spend- 

 ing some time in such preliminary preparations for the establishment 

 and maintenance of an experiment station in Porto Rico as could best 

 be conducted in Washington and vicinity, he proceeded to Porto Rico, 

 arriving in San Juan about the middle of May. The remaining por- 

 tion of the fiscal year he spent mostly in traveling about the island to 

 familiarize himself with its people and the conditions and needs of 

 agriculture, with special reference to the location of the experiment 

 station and the character of experiments most desirable to undertake. 

 During a portion of this time he was accompanied by Messrs. O. F. 

 Cook and G. N. Collins, of the Division of Botany, who had been tem- 

 porarily assigned to this Office, and sent to Porto Rico to aid in pre- 

 liminary studies with reference to the determination of the best lines 

 of work for the proposed experiment station. Mr. Gardner has made 

 the following brief preliminary report on his observations in Porto 

 Rico during these journeys: 



To the tourist the island is indeed most attractive and beautiful. This is par- 

 ticularly true of the interior and mountainous parts, which constitute somewhat 

 more than three- fourths of its total area. As a winter resort for tourists from the 

 States and elsewhere it has great possibilities. Better and quicker water communi- 

 cations between the island and States, good hotels at a number of suitable points 

 on the island, and easy communication between them, are the chief requisites which 

 are wanting in order to make the island a most attractive and popular resort. 



From the standpoint of the agriculturist there are also good possibilities, but in 

 some respects there are also adverse conditions which present grave difficulties to 

 agriculture, at least when considered in its intensive form. 



Chief among these are the rough and rugged topography of much of the land 

 surface, which prohibits in a large measure the use of modern machinery; the 

 torrential character of many of the rains, which in case of cultivated land tends 

 to wash awaj the surface soil, much to the detriment of the fertility of the land, 

 and then the heavy texture of the soil, which in a wet climate often renders it 

 unfit to cultivate for long periods of time, to the advantage of weeds and to the 

 detriment of crops. Last, but not least, is the lack of roads by which the prod- 

 ucts of the land can be taken to market. 



At present there are areas of 50,000 acres in one body which are inaccessible 

 except on horseback or on foot, and from which the only means of transporting 

 the products is either on the backs of mules or upon the heads of peons. Much 

 money has been spent on roads during the past year and much will be spent the 

 coming year, so that the road question is in a fair way to be solved in time. 



The soils of the island vary greatly. About the seashore there is usually present 

 a sandy border varying from a few hundred feet in width to several miles in 

 other places. This is a coarse, light-colored coral sand, and is best adapted to 

 cocoanut palms and pineapples. Between the sandy lands and the mountainous 

 interior occur quite extensive areas of level alluvial lands, which constitute the 

 principal sugar lands. These areas are most extensive near the mouihs of larger 



