42 FOREST CONDITIONS OF PORTO RICO. 



United States, the value of which is trifling and the annual quantity 

 most variable, as shown in the following table: 



Imports of woods into the United States from Porto Pico. 



Items. 



1888. 



1889. 1890. 



1891. 



1892. 



1893. 



1894. 



1895. 



1896. 



1897. 



Unmanufactured. 



$5, 233 



$342 | $1,469 



$4, 613 

 139 



$519 

 3 



$1, 062 

 222 



$80 



$1, 592 

 111 



$149 

 147 



$579 





""""1 





A little wood may also have been sent from Porto Rico to England 

 and France, but inasmuch as the total nonagricultural exports of the 

 island are annually less than $10,000, the aggregate quantity of the 

 export lumber trade must be inconsiderable. 



On the other hand, Porto Rico imports woods and manufactures of 

 woods quite extensively, principally from Canada and the United 

 States, and a little from Spain. Ool. Fred A. Hill, who has been col- 

 lector at the port of Ponce for the past eight months, informed the 

 writer that the principal imports of wood consisted of spruce and hem- 

 lock from Canada and New Brunswick. In 1895 the United States 

 sent wood and its manufactures to Porto Rico to the value of $840,511. 

 During the four years 1892-1896 Spain exported to the island the same 

 articles valued at $71,267, our exports for the one year, 1895, having 

 been over ten times as great as that of Spain for four years. 



The following facts concerning the exports of wood and the manufac- 

 tures of wood from the United States to Porto Rico are taken from 

 Bulletin No. 13, Section of Foreign Markets, U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, entitled Trade of Porto Rico : 



During the last five years (1893-1897) our exports of wood and its manufactures to 

 Porto Rico reached an average annual value of $292,336. Although these figures 

 are somewhat larger than those for 1888-1892, returned at $285,773, an examination 

 of the records for earlier years shows that this slight increase was preceded by a 

 long period of decline, dating from 1871, when the value of the exports was at its 

 highest, amounting to $900,407 



Lumber and timber form the principal portion of the exports under this item, the 

 value of the wood manufactures sent to Porto Rico being comparatively small. The 

 lumber exports consist chiefly of boards, deals and plauks, shooks, and staves and 

 headings. Under the head of wood manufactures house furniture is the leadiug 

 export. The average yearly value of the lumber and timber exported amounted to 

 $254,191 in 1888-1892 and to $267,036 in 1893-1897, while that of the wood manufac- 

 tures was only $31,582 for the former period and $25,300 for the latter. 



