10 AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES, ETC., OE PORTO RICO. 



stock best adapted to the conditions and yielding the largest profits to 

 the farmer. It accounts iii part for only one-eighth of the arable land 

 of the island being under cultivation. The absence of timber on the 

 mountains is believed to affect in a large degree the amount and 

 regularity of the rainfall. The records of historj'^ and the samples of 

 the woods preserved prove that Porto Rico at the time of its discov- 

 ery had a wealth of timber unsurpassed by any island in the world. 

 In tlie United States quartermaster's department at San Juan is the 

 relic of an old Spanish military museum, which contains samples of 

 Porto Rioan woods selected over fifty years since, from which Mr. Paul 

 L. Hardy, engineer, made me a list of 150 varieties, with the uses for 

 which they are valuable. Among them are found cabinet woods, as 

 mahogany, satinwood, cedar, walnut, etc. ; other woods that are almost 

 indestructible in air or water, especially valuable for wharves. Many 

 varieties are suitable for posts, fencing, and building purposes. That 

 immediate steps should be taken to reforest the island to the extent of 

 its own uses is self-evident, especially as there is plenty of idle land 

 for this purpose. There is much government land in the mountains 

 that can be profitably used for woodland, on which could be planted 

 hard-wood trees of quick maturity for fuel and more durable woods 

 for posts and building purposes. 



Paemhouses. 



The huts in which farm laborers live are either in tent form, 10 by 

 14 feet on the ground and 6 feet high at the ridge, made of poles and 

 covered with the bark of the royal palm or with grass, with the ground 

 for floor; or they are made house fashion, 12 by 16 feet base, 5 to 6 feet 

 high at the eaves, sides and roof covered with palm bark, with which 

 the so-called windows are closed at night; rarely the roof is thatched 

 with grass. In the vicinity of towns the sides are frequently made of 

 boxes. Most of the huts built in house form stand on short posts and 

 have a rough floor made of palm boards sawed by hand. Many of 

 them have a small room, possibly 6 feet square, for cooking. In these 

 small houses large families are raised. Sometimes more than one family 

 reside in one house. There are rarely any gardens, flowers, or fruit, 

 except the banana. The water is not always the best, and few make 

 any efl;ort to improve it. Under such circumstances it is impossible 

 to have comfort or good morals. The houses occupied by the proprie- 

 tors or farm managers are generally fairly comfortable dwellings, occa- 

 sionally of a superior type, according to the taste and wealth of the 

 owner. 



Public Roads. 



In a country like Porto Rico there are no medium roads. They are 

 either good or so bad as to be impassable with a wagon. Unless a 

 road is constructed of stone, thoroughly ditched and bridged, the tor- 

 rents in the rainy season will wreck it. There are about 150 miles of 

 first-class road, which were constructed by the Spaniards at an aver- 

 age cost of over 112,000 per mile (gold). These roads are a monu- 

 ment to the science and thorough work of the Spanish engineers. 

 Outside of these military highways transportation must mainly be by 

 pack train. The cost of this in some seasons of the year operates as 

 a complete embargo on marketing farm products. Landslides cover 

 the trail, bridges have been swept away, and the swollen streams are 

 impassable at the fords. One person reported that he sometimes paid 



