28 AGBICULTUEAL KE80URCES, ETC., OF POKTO RICO. 



of industry — sugar, tobacco, and cofEee. Wliile immediate steps 

 should be taken greatly to increase the number of proiitable agricul- 

 tural industries, such changes can only be effected gradually and 

 should be regarded rather as part of a wise economic policy for the 

 future than as a measure to afford the immediate relief required. All 

 the farm labor of the island was formerly given employment. The insuf- 

 ficiency of employment now arises chiefly from the prostration of the 

 coffee farms. While the sugar and tobacco industries will provide 

 about the normal amount of labor the present year, they can be greatly 

 strengthened financially. Better drainage, the use of renovating 

 crops, and a judicious system of crop rotation will enormously increase 

 the product per acre, and more improved machinery will add largely 

 to the sugar product. 



SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY AND EXPERIMENTS. 



These improvements rsquire scientific inquiry and experiments 

 along practical lines. These experiments, to be of assured value, must 

 be made upon Porto Rican soil. The tobacco industry comes nearer 

 being able to sustain itself and provide for future improvement than 

 the other industries. This, however, applies more to the large plant- 

 ers and manufacturers than to the small producers, who at least need 

 instruction. Few crops require more technical knowledge and skill 

 in production and manufacture than tobacco. The production of the 

 best varieties is a fine art and is complicated by fashion, which differs 

 in different markets. What is a vei-y high grade in one market is a 

 low grade in another, and small producers can not investigate meth- 

 ods as adapted to markets. 



HOME PRODUCTION OF FOOD. 



A further means of improving agricultural conditions is for all the 

 sugar, coffee, and tobacco plantations to produce a variety of food 

 crops sufficient for their employees, and for each employee who is the 

 head of a family to produce the food for his household. This should 

 be a cardinal principle adopted by all planters. For an island as 

 fertile as Porto Rico to import annually 50 cents' worth of alimentary 

 products in order to export one dollar's worth of sugar, coffee, and 

 tobacco is an unsafe policy and should be discontinued at once. 



INCREASE OF SMALL FARMS. , 



Naturally when a large number of small farms fell into the hands 

 of the capitalist he consolidated them and placed them under one 

 administration. If it was not convenient to work them, they were 

 grazed, reducing the demand for labor. 



The number of small farms should be greatly increased and their 

 products diversified to the limit of profit. The fruit and nut crop in 

 ten years should exceed the combined annual export of all farm crops 

 at this date. Winter vegetables, poultry, and dairy products should 

 form large items in the export columns. 



INDUSTRIAL VILLAGES. 



The early establishment of a number of minor industries closely 

 related to agriculture is of vital importance to future prosperity. The 



