12 AGEICULTUEAL RESOURCES, ETC., OF PORTO RICO. 



taxed for the raw materials. Of course shoes are costly, and 700,000 out of the 

 900,000 population go bare-footed. It was the opinion of the industrialists that they 

 could make better shoes and furnish them more cheaply than the Balearic Island 

 manufacturers, but they were not given the chance. They believed that the result 

 of home manufacture would be to lower the prices, as in other instances, but com- 

 petition with Spanish producers, when the latter had both the home and insular 

 markets, was impossible. There are salt mines at Cabo Rojo, but salt from Spain 

 is free, and vessels loading with salt had to clear from Mayaguez, increasing the 

 expenses of shipments, because the port of Cabo Rojo had been closed, so the salt 

 industry was crippled. 



Those interested, or who would be glad to be interested, in the manufacture of 

 soap show that while soap from Barcelona paid only the transitory duty of 10 per 

 cent at the ports of the island, amounting to |15 for every htindred boxes of a 

 hundredweight each, the insular industry is compelled to pay $32.83 in duties 

 for the raw materials to make that quantity of soap. No wonder they ask, in 

 despair. What business can succeed under such circumstances? 



Agriculture on Narrow Lines. 



Agriculture in Porto Rico is conducted on narrow lines. Sugar, 

 coffee, tobacco, and cattle constitute almost the entire exports. In 

 1897 the total agricultural exports amounted to 18, .352,541 pesos (peso 

 valued at 60 cents gold), and of this total, sugar, coffee, tobacco, and 

 cattle furnished 18,133,682 pesos. 



Rural lands are classified, as declared by their owners for assessment, 

 as follows : 



Classification of rural lands. 



Cuer'dos facres). 



Tobacco -- 4,264.07 



Sugar cane _ 61, 558. 43 



Coffee _ - 122,359.76 



Minor crops 93,511.08 



Cultivated grasses .-. _ . .. . 16,277.23 



Natural pasture -_ _ 1,127,087.55 



Mountain lands and forests :. 664,273.37 



Total area of island 2,089,331.49 



SUGAR-CANE LANDS. 



Cane lands may be divided into three divisions, according to quality 

 required for this purpose : 



First. The rich alluvial bottoms along'the rivers. 



Second. Second bottoms somewhat remote from the rivers. 



Third. Fertile hill lands. 



The best cane lands produce 60 to 60 tons of cane per acre when 

 virgin, and one planting will last ten to twelve years. After the land 

 has been in cane four or five years the annual crop falls to 30 and 35 

 tons, and finally to 20 tons. The productive power of the soil gradu- 

 ally declines under the system of cultivation at present pursued. 



Twenty to 25 tons of cane per acre is now regarded as a fair crop 

 on old land, and one planting will not continue profitable more than 

 three years on an average. 



Second-class land yields on virgin soil 30 to 35 tons of cane per acre 

 and must be replanted after three crops. When somewhat worn, 15 

 to 20 tons of cane per acre is an average crop, and must be replanted 

 the third season. 



Third-class lands produce about 20 to 25 tons of cane on virgin soil, 

 and deterioriate within a few years below the point of profitable cul- 

 tivation. 



The extent of first-class sugar lands is quite limited in Porto Rico, 

 and nearly all of it has been farmed for many years. The proprietor 

 of one tract stated that it had been in cane continuously for ninety 



