44 BULLETIN 354^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGEICULTURE. 



worth in the aggregate approximately $490,000. Accordingly, to 



neglect to adopt a constructiye forest policy for the future will mean 



the loss of a possible income from wood products of $355,000 per 



annum, 



forest industries. 



Charcoaling. 



One could hardly expect that with depleted forests there would be 

 many or very flourishing industries.^ The charcoal industry is prob- 

 ably the leading forest industry of Porto Rico, as of many other of 

 the West Indies. Charcoal is the fuel most generally used, particu- 

 larly for domestic purposes. It is the only fuel of the poorer classes 

 in the cities and is still in use to a great extent among the better 

 classes also. Generally speaking, the charcoal is of exceedingly poor 

 quality and small size. Some is scarcely larger than pea coal. Such 

 stuff, the good and the bad indiscriminately, sells in San Juan for 

 as high as 25 cents a can.^ A sack holding about 2 bushels sells for 

 from $1 to $1.25.^ 



The manufacturing part of the industry is carried on in a crude 

 and haphazard way. All sizes of material, even to brushwood and 

 small limbs scarcely one-half inch thick, and all kinds of wood are 

 fired in the same heap. Because of its crookedness the wood is cut 

 into short lengths — 4 to 6 inches. The kilns are of poor and crude 

 construction, and the fire control consequently is ineffective. Too 

 rapid combustion is thus apt to occur and great waste results through 

 the complete consumption of part of the wood, or incomplete com- 

 bustion may leave some of the wood only partially carbonized, which 

 renders the product very variable in burning and heating qualities. 



The sources of supply are numerous. Most of the material comes 

 from the clearing of land for agricultural use, but the mangrove 

 swamps and the south coast hills furnish considerable. In some 

 instances the charcoaling is done by contract with the bona-fide 

 owners of the land, especially of land being cleared for the cultivation 

 of sugar cane. In this case the large material is frequently cut and 

 sold at from $1 .50 to $2 a ton * to the "central." The charcoal opera- 



1 The census (1910) reports 8 establishments classed as "lumber and timber products" industries, having 

 a total personnel of 171 — 26 proprietors, 22 clerks, and 123 laborers. These industries represent a combined 

 capital of $113,392 and handle a product valued at $268,719, of which $90,301 is the value added by manu- 

 facture. 



s Since the advent of the automobUe the 5-gallon gasoUne containers have become very plentiful and 

 have been adapted to a variety of uses, one of which is as a unit of measure for the retailing of charcoal. 

 • 3 A small amount of charcoal is brought in from Santo Domingo, but only one instance is known to the 

 writer of anj' being brought from the mainland. The sale of this, however, under adverse market condi- 

 tions yielded a slight profit and shows not only the high price of the native product but the possibility of 

 developing a successful and profitable competition with it. 



* The wood is thrown loosely into the car and is of varying lengths and frequently crooked. Under these 

 conditions a car having a capacity of 1,000 cubic feet weighed 22,548 poimds, or about 22J pounds per cubic 

 foot. Making an allowance for the condition of the wood in the car, 150 cubic feet seems a fair equivalent 

 of a properly cut and stacked cord. On this basis a cord would weigh about 3,400 pounds. 



