AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES, ETC., OF PORTO RICO. 



Temperature and rainfall for the week ending June 18, 1900. 



The above being a report for one week does not indicate the relative 

 rainfall for the year at the different points, but it shows how unequallj^ 

 the rainfall is liable to be distributed in a given period. It is said 

 that the rainfall was much more equal when the summits of the 

 mountains were well wooded. An article bj^ Prof. Mark W. Harring- 

 ton, of the United States Weather Bureau (in U. S. Treasury Doc. 

 2118), is instructive: 



The published observations of Porto Rico are very scanty, consisting of a total 

 of about nine years at San Juan only, and these are fragmentary, being scattered 

 through twenty years. They show a true tropical climate, with a high mean 

 temperature (78.9° F.) and very little difference in season, except in rainfall. 

 The coldest month on the average is February (75.7°) and the hottest, June (81.5), 

 but December to March are very much alike in temperature, and so are the months 

 from June to September. The very coldest month on record is January, 1895 

 (70°), and the very warmest is June, 1878 (86°). The average change from the 

 coldest to the hottest is only 6°, but this is very appreciable to one who has lived 

 long in the. Tropics. The cool months really seem to the natives to be decidedly 

 cold, requiring additional covering on the bed and heavier clothing. The coldest 

 temperature on record in San Juan is 57.2° on a day in January, 1894. The very 

 hottest on record is 108° on a day in May, 1878. The absolute range of tempera- 

 ture observed is therefore between 43' and 44°. The lormer temperature is far 

 above frost, but would seem to the natives very cold and would check the growth 

 of tropical plants. The latter would seem very hot, for the air of San Juan is 

 very moist and the evaporation of perspiration is slow. 



The comfort of San Juan as a place of residence, not to mention its healthful- 

 ness, is very much increased by the "briza," which is not given in the public 

 reports. It is the northeast trade wind which has been turned toward the west, 

 until the ' ' briza '' comes quite regularly from the east. It is not felt much during 

 the day, but springs up late in the afternoon and lasts through the evening. It is 

 a soft, gentle breeze, laving the body and giving an effect which is most fresh and 

 delightful. It has a regularity approaching that of the sun, and Santurce and 

 Cataiio, two suburbs of the capital, get it both more strongly and through a larger 

 part of the twenty-four hours. At Catano it may be felt until the middle of the 

 forenoon, and begins again in the mid afternoon. At Santurce it makes the nights 

 positively cool. 



The year at San Juan is divided into the dry season and the wet season; but the 

 dry season has about as much rainfall as the Northeastern States, and the wet 

 season more than twice as much. The dry season embraces the months from 

 December to March, with a rainfall of 10 or 11 inches. It is the most attractive 

 season of the year, relatively dry and cool. It is the proper season for the visits 

 of Northerners to San Juan, and winter residents would find its climate very 

 gentle, mild, and safe. The wet season embraces the other eight months in the 

 year, and has a rainfall of 48 to 49 inches, or more than the whole of the year for 

 the most of the United States. The total rainfall at San Juan is nearly 60 inches, 

 and the culmination is in November, when an average of nearly 8 inches falls. 



The rainfall is not excessi ve. It is equaled in many places in the Southern States 

 and in the northern part of the Pacific coast, and is surpassed in many places. It 

 is less significant from the ease with which the rain comes down. There are no 

 threatenings of storms for days beforehand. There is little wind and little light- 



