PORTO RICO EXPERIMENT STATION. 395 



exports was $1,863,473 and for the following five years the mean was 

 $1,090,453. 



Of the imports, slightly more than 40 per cent are agricultural prod- 

 ucts, much of which might be produced on the islands, thereb} r reduc- 

 ing the amount of imports perhaps to a less value than the exports, 

 greatly to the benefit of the island. Rice heads the list of imports, 

 and in 1895 reached the enormous amount of 74,145,046 pounds, valued 

 at $2,271,819. Other agricultural imports for the same year, in the 

 order of their value, are: Hog products, $1,274,618; wheat flour, 

 $1,023,694; wines, $431,536; vegetables, $400,660; cheese, $337,790, 

 and canned goods, $178,536. 



Of the nonagricultural imports cotton fabrics lead, with a value of 

 $2,070,667, and are followed by fish, valued at $1,918,107. 



In speaking of the present financial condition of Porto Rico, the 

 Secretary of the Treasury reports as follows: 



Without a dollar of funded or floating indebtedness, with a current income esti- 

 mated as sufficient to meet the ordinary expenses of the government, with large 

 reserve funds to provide for unforeseen or extraordinary contingencies, and with a 

 lighter burden of taxation upon the real economic life of the island than at any time 

 in its past history, there seems every reason for regarding the financial future of 

 Porto Rico as bright and auspicious. 



Statistics show a small falling off in both exports and imports for 

 the past two years as compared with those preceding 1899. This, how- 

 ever, is accounted for by the great damage which was done to the cof- 

 fee and other industries of the island by the hurricane of August, 

 1899. The plantations were temporarily ruined, and the value of 

 export coffee for the year was reduced to about half its normal, with 

 large reductions also in sugar and tobacco. The exports of coffee for 

 1899 are for the calendar year, and a large amount of it is from the 

 crop of 1898. In 1900, the coffee exportations reached the very low 

 value of about $2,500,000. It requires considerable time for a coffee 

 grove to recuperate after being so severely damaged. The crop for 

 1901 reached nearly its normal amount, but will be much reduced in 

 value because of the very low price at which it will have to be placed 

 upon the market. In the years preceding 1898 the island found a 

 market in France, Spain, Italy, and various other European countries 

 for the greater part of its coffee, at prices ranging from 20 to 35 cents 

 per pound. During the present year, however, the price received for 

 Porto Rican coffee averages about 12 cents, or less than half the aver- 

 age price for ten years preceding 1898. 



AGRICULTURAL CONDITIONS. 



Agriculture in Porto Rico is primitive and backward. Little is 

 known relating to the growing of an}^ crops other than coffee, sugar, and 

 tobacco, and the cultural methods of these three are very poor. There 



