■AGKICULTUKAL RESOURCES, ETC., OF PORTO RICO. 6 



the English and Spanish languages, and the best ways of securing the preparation 

 and dissemination of such information in printed form. 



(8) The cost of inaugurating and maintaining agricultural investigations and 

 disseminating information (exclusive of the buildings, land, and equipment) in 

 a manner similar to that of an agricultural experiment station in one of the 

 United States having an area approximating that of Porto "Rico. An estimate 

 should be made with special reference to the cost of maintaining such work during 

 the single fiscal year ending June 30, 1902. 



Professor Knapp's report of his investigations is submitted here- 

 with. In this report the need of experiment-statiorf work in Porto 

 Rico is plainly shown, and it is recommended that a station should be 

 established with headquarters in the vicinity of San Juan. This sta- 

 tion should give immediate attention to promoting the production of 

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

 products for home consumption. As soon as practicable it should 

 undertake work in horticulture, forestry, animal husbandry, and 

 dairying. Besides conducting experiments, it should give object les- 

 sons in improved farming and should disseminate information by pub- 

 lications and agricultural meetings. In these recommendations of 

 Professor Knapp I heartily concur. In my judgment an agricul- 

 tural experiment station should be immediately established in Porto 

 Rico on the same general plan as that pursued elsewhere in the United 

 States. 



Land should be obtained in the vicinity of San Juan on which to 

 erect office, laboratory, and farm buildings and to conduct experi- 

 ments. A competent man should be appointed to act as the chief 

 executive officer of the station, plan and supervise its operations, and 

 begin the organization of a staff of scientific and practical men to con- 

 duct investigations in various lines and instruct the people in improved 

 methods of agriculture. It will be best to limit the work of the sta- 

 tion at the outset to a few main lines, which will require the services 

 of only a small staff, and develop the organization of the working corps 

 as the station becomes more fully established and the way is opened 

 for the extension of its work. As the station will not have the aid of 

 an agricultural college alreadj^ equipped with buildings and land, as has 

 been the ease with most of the stations established in the United States, 

 it will be necessary at the outset to devote a considerable amount of 

 money to its equipment. Without doubt as much will be required for 

 the current expenses involved in the proper maintenance of an experi- 

 ment station in Porto Rico as is the case elsewhere in the United 

 States. I can see no good reason why an appropriation of ,$15,000 a 

 year should not be given to Porto Rico for the maintenance of an 

 experiment station as well as to the other Territories of the United 

 States, and I hope that Congress will make the first appropriation of 

 this kind during its present session. For the purchase of land and the 

 erection of buildings the station should have in addition an initial 

 fund of $15,000. In the case of the other Territories such expenses 

 have been largely provided for by the local governments, and I think it 

 would be well if this plan could be followed in Porto Rico, a portion of 

 the revenues of the island being set aside for this purpose by the 

 action of Congress or the Territorial legislature. 



Authority should be given the Secretary of Agriculture in the 

 appropriation act to establish and maintain an agricultural experi- 

 ment station in Porto Rico, including the purchase of land, the erec- 

 tion of buildings, the printing (in Porto Rico), illustration and distri- 

 bution of reports and bulletins in the English and Spanish languages, 



