18 FOREST CONDITIONS OF PORTO RICO. 



vicinity of Rio Grande and Carolina, ruins were seen of what were once 

 houses of extensive sugar estates, the former fields being grown up in 

 grass. In the western part of the island, in the high summit region, 

 seen in passing from Adjuntas to Lares, many abandoned fields were 

 observed, which are now entirely denuded of trees and cultivated crops. 

 Considerable areas of ruinate were also observed on the south coast, 

 between Juana Dias and Ponce. The reclamation of these lands by 

 forestry or the methods of scientific agriculture is one of the problems 

 which Porto Eico presents to the civilization of its new owners. 



CLIMATE. 



The climate of Porto Eico has been recently studied upon the 

 ground by Prof. Mark W. Harrington, of the IT. S. Weather Bureau, 

 and no attempt will be made to describe it other than to state a few 

 facts relating to its bearing upon the distribution of life and culture. 

 Professor Harrington has already published many new and interesting 

 data concerning the climate and its local variation, which will be found 

 in the publications of the U. S. Weather Bureau. 



The whole island may be divided into a wet and a dry belt, on the 

 north and south sides of the central Cordillera, respectively. The 

 greatest rainfall, which sometimes attains 120 inches a year on the 

 slopes of El Yunque, is at the northeast end. On the south side, from 

 Guayama to Cabo Eojo, the climate is dryer, but most of the island is 

 wet in comparison with the standard of the United States. The higher 

 mountains are slightly cooler than the coast belt, but the temperature 

 is so uniformly warm that altitude has but little bearing upon distribu- 

 tion of vegetation. The mountains are constantly bathed in moisture, 

 either by daily rainfalls or dense mists which collect upon them at 

 night, except upon the lower portion of their southern slopes; hence, 

 it may be said that the superfice is never dry and the subsoil is con- 

 stantly saturated in the mountain region. 



On the southern coast, however, owing both to the porosity of the 

 limestone, which quickly drains off the moisture, and to the inter- 

 mittent dryer periods, the surface above has a parched and arid look, 

 especially in the long dry season. Some portions of this south belt are 

 very arid, and great complaint was heard in places that the rainfall for 

 the past two years had been insufficient for domestic supply. In fact, 

 to cultivate the staple crops of the lowlands of the south coast, irriga- 

 tion is necessary. This is practiced with great skill and at considera- 

 ble cost along the whole southern border from Guayama to Cabo Eojo. 



THE RELATIONS OF AGRICULTURE AND THE FOREST. 



Porto Eico is densely populated, and the whole area, with the excep- 

 tion of probably less than 1 per cent, is or has been devoted to either 

 agricultural or pastoral pursuits. The three staple agricultural prod- 

 ucts of the island are sugar, coifee, and tobacco. While these constitute 



