400 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



The cyclone of August 8, 1899, wrought great damage to the coffee 

 plantations. The terrific wind broke the large shade trees, which, fall- 

 ing across the smaller coffee trees, not only bore them to the ground 

 but obstructed passage through the plantations and allowed the sun 

 to beat down on foliage that had previously been very much shaded. 

 The wind swayed the trees so furiously that many of their roots were 

 either loosened or broken, while the deluge of water swept the surface 

 and carried seaward vast amounts of organic matter, loose soil, and 

 fertility, thus greatly depleting the soil. In places the deluge was so 

 great that considerable areas of land, accompanied by the shade and 

 coffee trees, slid from the mountain sides to the bottoms of the val- 

 leys, leaving only the bare rocks of the mountains. The sun poured 

 into the groves onto slender trees that had always been accustomed to 

 shade, and the effect on the foliage, the trunks, and the ground com- 

 bined was very disastrous. As a result, the plantations, probably 

 always showing much variation, are more spotted than formerly. 

 What were formerly good trees are now, in many cases, barely alive, 

 having only a few scattering leaves on their tops and bearing no 

 fruit. The great damage caused the coffee lands through the violent 

 washing and depletion of the soil has in many instances been a gain to 

 the sugar planter. His fields are now more fertile than for years pre- 

 ceding the cyclone, as a result of the rich deposits of sediment which 

 they received. The mean yield of coffee in Porto Rico is abnormally 

 low, being about 2 quintals a cuerda, i. e., 200 pounds per acre. 

 By the adoption of modern methods of planting and cultivation there 

 is scarcely a doubt but that the yield can be doubled and it can prob- 

 ably be increased by five times, or 1,000 pounds per acre. On a basis 

 of 1,000 pounds per acre, even at only 10 cents per pound, coffee 

 growing should be very remunerative. 



SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT. 



Improvement of the coffee plantations will be attempted along two 

 lines: First, the improvement of the old groves by reducing the shade, 

 thinning and pruning the trees, and giving cultivation and fertilization; 

 second, the adoption of a more rational system in the planting and care 

 of young groves. That too much shade is used now is shown by the 

 fact that the best and most productive coffee trees occur about the 

 margin of the plantations or in open spaces where the shade is incom- 

 plete and where, for a portion of the day at least, the. coffee trees 

 enjoy the full sunlight. 



The statement that coffee can probably be successfully grown in 

 Porto Rico without shade does not mean that the shade can be all 

 removed from the present plantations, nor that the young trees can 

 be transferred from the shade of the old groves to the full sunlight of 



