86 
AMERICAN POMOIvOGlCAL SOCIETY 
was practically at sea level. In Porto Rico that same fruit would not have 
been ripe before December or January. 
I may mention another instance of such difference that I observed in 
Martinique. There I visited a pineapple plantation in the mountains, the 
altitude I do not remember, but it was over a thousand feet. Several 
varieties had been planted, in order to find out which one would be best for 
that locality, and it was very interesting to note that the Smooth Cayenne 
was far ahead of all the others. The Queen type was an absolute failure 
and the Red Spanish was not a success, compared with what we find in 
Cuba and Porto Rico. 
If we go into Venezuela and Colombia we find wheat, apples and peaches 
growing together with oranges and coffee in altitudes where no such crops 
lave been found to thrive in the West Indies. This subject of climate and 
adaptation of crops in its larger aspects is so vast that it would be useless 
to discuss it here, but by looking ahead a vista of broad and interesting 
fields of research lie before us. 
Present and Future. 
I should like, very much, to tell you of the present status, and what in 
my opinion will he the future development of horticulture in each sep« 
arate Islands. But as you are not especially interested in tropical horticul- 
ture I shall not tax your patience with detailed descriptions. As I have in- 
dicated to you the man is a greater factor than the land. Climate, soil and 
market are important questions, but the great difference in the development 
of the different Islands is due primarily to the difference in the training of 
the people. 
In Cuba there was no horticultural development worth mentioning be- 
fore the Spanish-American war; neither was there in Porto Rico, except the 
coffee crop. Since the war, Americans and other foreign settlers have come 
in and the conditions are entirely changed. Citrus fruits and pineapples 
are being produced as successfully as in Florida. The Mango and the 
Avocado are being improved by budding and grafting and the trade in 
those, and other tropical fruits, is already developed to such an extent that 
they can be bought in the New York market at reasonable prices. 
In comparing the above conditions with those in Santo Domingo and 
Haiti we find that the soil and climate are as favorable in that Island but 
nothing has been done in the line of horticultural development, because no 
people with horticultural inclination and training have settled there. The 
same thing may be said about many other Islands and judging from past 
achievements, it would seem that no rapid progress of any kind will be 
liable to come from within. 
Jamaica is an Island in which great horticultural development has taken 
place during the last two decades. But that is also due to influences from 
without, more than from within. If it had not been for the large fruit 
companies, the banana industry would not have reached its present high 
standard. It is true that a great deal of the fruit is produced by natives, but 
they receive their training through examples set by foreigners. 
