46 BULLETIN 354, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



seaport cities, San Juan, Mayaguez, and Ponce — resaw American 

 lumber. Some of these carry a small stock of native logs which they 

 saw on order for special work. 



One of the largest manufactories on the island, located near San 

 Juan, is devoted to the making of cigar boxes. The stock, cedro (71), 

 for this factory is entirely imported, in large measure if not wholly, 

 from Cuba. It comes in strips already cut to the proper thickness, 

 namely, I inch and ^ inch. The annual consumption amounts to 

 about 2,000,000 superficial feet, or something less than 1,000,000 feet 

 b. m. A box of the size to hold 50 cigars contains about 1J square 

 feet of material. 



The trunk and match industries use considerable wood, but it is 

 all imported. Furniture and other cabinet work and novelties, of 

 which very little is produced, are to a large extent the product of 

 hand labor. Native woods are almost exclusively used. The 

 furniture is very excellently made, and, though of a style some- 

 what different and considerably more ornate than our furniture, is 

 very attractive and pleasing. It especially brings out the beauties 

 of the native woods, which, though practically unknown to com- 

 merce, possess very desirable qualities of both gram and color. 

 The native furniture trade is unfortunately doomed to extinction, 

 because of its inability to meet the competition of cheap machine-made 

 furniture from the mainland. 



FOREST PRODUCTS. 



The forests of Porto Rico yield a large variety of gums, resins, 

 fibers, coloring and dyeing materials, edible fruits, and the like, hav- 

 ing a decided commercial value if systematically developed. Some 

 of these are well-known articles of commerce, as anatto, fustic, and 

 other coloring and dyeing materials. Although none are produced in 

 sufficient quantity for export, most of them are to be found on sale 

 in the public markets. It is doubtful if the various products and 

 their still more varied uses have ever been completely catalogued. 

 Many of the more important uses are given in Appendix 1, where, 

 however, the wood uses are the ones chiefly considered. 



FOREST PROBLEMS. 



Every acre of land best suited, either temporarily or for all time, 

 to forest production should be devoted to that use. Every acre of 

 land around the headwaters and along the banks of the rivers on 

 which a forest cover would offer a protection superior to the present 

 cover against erosion and soil wastage should be forested. All for- 

 ested lands and those to be forested should be so managed as to yield 

 a maximum of the products most needed by the local communities 

 and industries. The forestry program should also provide suitable 



