PORTO RICO AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION 
MAYAGUEZ, P. R. 
Under the supervision of the 
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULLETIN No. 30 
Washington, D. C. June, 1924 
COFFEE VARIETIES IN PORTO RICO. 
By T. B. McClelland, Horticulturist. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Kinds of coffees 1 
Arabian group 2 
Liberian group 15 
Page. 
Kinds of coffees — Continued. 
Robustoid group 20 
Summary L'5 
During the 20-year period 1901 to 1920, the three principal articles 
of export from Porto Rico were, in the order named, sugar, coffee, 
and cigars. While sugar held first place each year, coffee held 
second place for 12 of the 20 years and for the period as a whole. 
The average annual exports aggregated 35,000,000 pounds, with a 
maximum annual exportation of over 51.000,000 pounds. In 1920, 
32.776.754 pounds of coffee, valued at more than $9,000,000, were 
exported. This valuation is the highest since the American occupa- 
tion. The coffee crop thus holds a very prominent place in the 
agriculture of Porto Rico, is one for which another crop can not 
readily be substituted, and is peculiarly adapted to the mountainous 
and often rather inaccessible regions in which it is grown. 
The Porto Rico Experiment Station, since its establishment, has 
for these reasons been doing everything possible to develop the 
industry by promoting better agricultural methods among local 
growers, and introducing and testing numerous varieties and species 
not formerly grown on the island to ascertain which are best suited 
to local conditions. This bulletin gives the results of some of the 
tests in order that growers contemplating planting new varieties 
may know with what success thev have been grown at the station. 1 
KINDS OF COFFEES. 
The coffees of commercial importance fall into three groups, 
the Arabian, the Liberian, and the robustoid. To the Arabian 
group belong the coffees known as Porto Riean, Padang, Bourbon, 
Pointed Bourbon, Erecta, Columnaris, Maragogipe, San Ramon, 
1 Varieties and species having little or no economic value on the island are not discussed 
in the bulletin. 
83926— 24 1 1 
