FOREST ASPECTS OF THE ISLAND. 19 



tlie export crops, they do not occupy one-half the cultivated land, 

 the remainder being' devoted to the growing. of small products for 

 domestic consumption known as "menores." The pasturage lands are 

 extensive. 



Of the staple export crops, sugar is grown exclusively in the playa 

 plains or their alluvial extensions for a short distance up the stream- 

 ways into the mountain regions. The cultivation of this product 

 necessitates the complete clearance of timber from the soil, and hence 

 the land so occupied may be eliminated from the forest problem. At 

 the last census (1888) there were 433 sugar estates upon the island. 

 The sugar lands of the island are fully occupied. 



The best coffee and tobacco are grown upon the soils of the interior 

 mountains. The export coffee requires strong rich soils and is culti- 

 vated to the very mountain summits ; the higher the altitude the better 

 the quality in Porto Rico. The total acreage in coffee can not be 

 stated, but the latest figures obtainable show that there were 361 large 

 coffee estates and 4,184 small coffee farms. The cultivation of this 

 crop requires shade, and both natural and planted trees are employed 

 for this purpose, giving to the coffee plantations a forested aspect. 

 Coffee culture is also very exhaustive to the soil, and as a result, while 

 there may be a large suitable acreage unoccupied by plantations, there 

 are many which have been cultivated for this crop and abandoned. 

 Land thus disused goes slowly back to tropical vegetation, but the proc- 

 ess of natural vegetal reclamation is so slow, owing to the exhausted 

 condition of the soil, that its former use is long evident. 



The best tobacco is cultivated upon the mountains, notably in the 

 vicinity of Cayey. The cultivation of this crop requires complete 

 deforestation, and, like coffee, is exhaustive to the soil. When aban- 

 doned the land grows up in grass, and trees seem loath to reoccupy it. 



In addition to the coffee and tobacco plantations there are nearly 

 22,000 small farms in Porto Rico devoted to small fruits and miscel- 

 laneous cultivation, and these naturally occupy a large area of its sur- 

 face and result in the destruction of the native forests. 



Cattle are raised everywhere upon the ruinate estates in the moun- 

 tains and principally on the chaparral-covered hills of the coast border 

 region. At the last census there were 240 farms devoted exclusively 

 to the growing of cattle. 



In all there are 26,650 farms in Porto Eico, or nearly 7.4 farms to the 

 square mile. This intensive culture, continued for a long time, has been 

 destructive to the natural vegetation. 



FOREST ASPECTS OF THE ISLAND. 



Those who have read Kingsley's interesting description of the tropi- 

 cal forests of Trinidad or Lafcadio Hearn's vivid pictures of the vast 

 woods of Martinique will be disappointed not to find such forests and 

 woods duplicated in Porto Rico, except in the single instance of the 



