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



Rico, to show their value to the people of the island, and to suggest 

 the means of improving them and making them permanent. 1 



PHYSICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES. 



Porto Rico is very sparsely wooded. The impenetrable forest 

 jungles, commonly associated with the West Indies, are so scarce 

 that one may cross and recross the island without seeing them, for, 

 with the exception of those in the Sierra de Luquillo, they are tucked 

 away *in the more inaccessible places into which few except the 

 "jibaro" ever penetrate. 'The island is, however, by no means 

 devoid of wood growth. Around almost every habitation there are 

 groups of trees, such as the bread fruit and mango; and numerous 

 scattered single trees, mostly palms, dot the open landscape. The 

 protective cover of shade trees of the coffee plantations gives a 

 decidedly forested appearance to many localities. 



Porto Rico presents an unusual combination of physical and eco- 

 nomic conditions. The insular and geographic position of the coun- 

 try, its diminutive size, its restricted area of level lands, and its 

 density of population, to mention but a few of many influences, have 

 occasioned unusual demands on the forests. The same cycle of 

 change is found here as is recorded by civilization everywhere — a 

 profligate waste and despoliation of the bounties of nature, followed 

 by an acute need for what has been destroyed. 



GEOGRAPHIC SITUATION. 



Porto Rico is the easternmost and smallest of the Greater Antilles 

 and is well within the Tropics. It is situated between latitudes 17° 54' 

 and 18° 30' north and longitude 65° 35' and 67° 15' west, occupying a 

 position about midway in the chain of islands connecting Florida and 

 Venezuela and separating the Carribean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean. 

 It is about 450 miles east and slightly south of the nearest point of 

 Cuba; about 500 miles north of the nearest point of Venezuela; about 

 1,000 miles from Colon (Panama) ; about 1,500 miles from New York 

 and New Orleans, and a little more than twice that distance from 

 Gibraltar. 



1 In addition to new material the present bulletin revises and brings up to date two previous bulletins 

 of the Forest Service: "Notes on the Forest Conditions of Porto Rico," by Robert T. Hill, Bulletin 25, 

 Division of Forestry, Department of Agriculture, 1899, and "The Luquillo Forest Reserve, Porto Rico," 

 by John C Gifford, Bulletin 54, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1905. 



It is appropriate to acknowledge in this place the author's indebtedness to the works enumerated above 

 and in the bibliography. Special acknowledgment is due to the officers and employees of the Insular 

 Government and of the Porto Rico Agricultural Experiment Station (U. S. Dept. of Agriculture) for giv- 

 ing the author access to official unpublished data and personal assistance in locating and getting to the 

 various places visited; to Mr. Paul Buffault, Conservateur, Administration des Eaux et Forets, France, 

 and Mr. Thomas R . Wallace , American consul at Fort de France , for valuable information concerning forest 

 conditions and legislation in Martinique (French West Indies); also to the Office of Acclimatization and 

 Adaption of Crop Plants of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Department of Agriculture, for the use of photo- 

 graphs comprising Plates I, IV, and VI, fig. 1. 



