14 ageicultural resources, etc., of porto rico. 



Molasses and Rum. 



Inferior machinery used in such a large number of sugar factories 

 leaves the molasses rich in sugar. Part of this is exported for reboil- 

 ing in the United States; the remainder is manufactured into rum. 



In 1897 the number of distilleries of rum was . _ - . 198 



In 1897 the number of distilleries of bay rum was 28 



Gallons of rum distilled in 1897... _. 1,615,075 



jQ-allons of rum exported in 1897 - - - 85, 352 



Gallons of rum consumed at home 1,529,823 



Gallons of bay rum manufactured 15,143 



Gallons of bay rum exported 13,843 



Gallons of bay rum consumed at home 1, 300 



Total export of molasses in 1897: 



Number of gallons _ 3,543,330 



Value $291,906 



Value per gallon.... cents.. 8.2 



General Comments on the Sugar Industry. 



With United States markets and under Spanish conditions of labor 

 in semiservitude, Porto Rican planters could make money rapidly 

 even with existing methods ; but under American conditions of labor — 

 i. e. , labor under American laws — it is an even thing between the pro- 

 duction of cane sugar in Porto Rico and cane sugar in the United 

 States. The sugar estates in Porto Rico pay lower wages than those 

 in the United States. They have a longer period in which to mature 

 and manufacture their crop, with no danger of frost. The cane has a 

 full year for growth and five months in which it can be ground under 

 favorable conditions, as against nine months for growth and seventy- 

 five days for manufacture in the United States. 



Labor, however, owing mainly to the primitive methods employed, 

 accomplishes very little in a day in Porto Rico, and notwithstanding 

 that men were paid only 50 cents a day, silver (worth 30 cents gold), it 

 was expensive labor. It required 6 yoke of oxen and 3 men to plow 

 three-fourths of an acre in a day. The oxen subsisted on grass with- 

 out grain, could plow only half a day at a time, consequently 3 yoke 

 were used in the forenoon and 3 in the afternoon. One of the most 

 thoroTigh xjlanters in the island stated to me that he used 420 oxen to 

 cultivate and harvest his cane crop — a little over 800 acres. He 

 thought it would be economical to substitute mules. The farm work 

 is vmiversally done with oxen. No labor-saving machinery is employed 

 in the cane shed or in the field. 



renovating crops. 



Sugar planters appear to have little knowledge of the importance and 

 value of renovating crops. When a field has been in cane so long- 

 that it is exhausted, the Porto Rican planter says "it is sick," or "it 

 is tired," and forthwith turns it out to common till it is recuperated. 

 A system of rotating cane with corn and the free use of cowpeas 

 (which grow luxuriantly) would soon restore the cane fields. One 

 planter nearBayamonputsomemanure on his old field, andhe reported 

 a crop of 50 tons per acre last year. Improved implements, modern 

 methods in handling cane fields, the substitution of mules for oxen, 



