36 FOREST CONDITIONS OF PORTO RICO. 



value to the public, inasmuch as the growing of fruits is the most 

 valuable prospective resource of the island. 



Porto Eico is especially well adapted to the growth of citrous fruits. 

 The wild or Seville orange in the country is an indigenous tree, which 

 would prove a source of considerable revenue if properly appreciated 

 by the makers of jams and marmalades. Of the cultivated oranges, 

 there are two principal kinds which the people call ••naranjos"' and 

 "chinos." The former term is applied to oranges in general, and the 

 latter to an especially fine and sweet variety. No attempt has been 

 made to cultivate the orange as an export product. Such trees as 

 exist are the result of casual planting for shade, ornamental, and fam- 

 ily use, just as an American may set out an occasional peach tree in 

 his yard. The art of orange culture as practiced, in Florida and Cali- 

 fornia is unknown. When one considers the perfection and abundance 

 of the Porto Eican orange and the demand for that fruit in this coun- 

 try, it is obvious that its culture offers a most profitable opening to the 

 American investor. Limes, lemons, grape fruit, shaddock, tangerines, 

 and other varieties of the citrous family can be cultivated with profit. 



Although the banana is not properly a tree, still it is the most useful 

 and the most cultivated fruit of the island, constituting the staple food 

 of the inhabitants, especially the working classes. One is hardly ever 

 out of sight of these plants, as they are grown around, every hut and 

 upon all the estates. They grow to a height of from 12 to 15 feet, and 

 their trunk is a large roll of leaves in sheathlike form, one within 

 another, having neither wood nor bark. The leaves are green, smooth, 

 lustrous, and beautiful. Each stalk of the banana plant yields one 

 bunch of fruit; this contains from 80 to 100 or more bananas. When 

 the fruit is cut the plant is also cut. although it is renewed from the 

 foot stalk three or four times, each shoot producing its bunch of fruit 

 each year. 



The species of banana called platanos or hortones are the most com- 

 mon and useful. When green and roasted they serve as bread: when 

 ripe they are eaten raw, fried in butter, prepared in the Spanish dish 

 called the olla-podrida, and baked. A very strong vinegar is also 

 made from them. There are several other varieties of banana ("con- 

 gos,' ? " guineos," "cainbures," ;i dominicos." and others) which are 

 raised in the immediate vicinity of the houses: these plants differ from 

 the hortones, being lighter green with smaller, sweeter fruit, more 

 mellow, and delicious in taste. All these species of banana are abun- 

 dant and delicate in taste, according to the quality of the soil in which 

 they grow. Generally, they are planted in a rich, humid soil, and 

 require no other cultivation than to be freed from the weeds surround- 

 ing them. 1 



< >viedo says •• that the banana was brought to the island of San Domingo from 

 the Gran-( anaria in 1516 l»y the padre friar Tomas de Barlanga. of the Order of 

 Predicadores. and that from there they have been conveyed to the other islands and 

 to the Continent, and that they originated in India,, where they are called lnusas."' 



