LY op) ON MN o>) 630, Hy elite ol a fice KS CENTRAL CIRCULATION AND BOOKSTACKS The person borrowing this material is re- sponsible for its renewal or return before the Latest Date stamped below. You may be charged a minimum fee of $75.00 for each non-returned or lost item. Theft, mutilation, or defacement of library materials can be causes for student disciplinary action. All materials owned by the University of Illinois Library are the property of the State of Illinois and are protected by Article 16B of IIlinois Criminal Law and Procedure. TO RENEW, CALL (217) 333-8400. University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign MOV 74 19y: MAY 0 1 2006 When renewing by phone, write new due date below previous due date. L162 AGRICULTURE IN PUERTO RICO, BY ROY STONE, Brigadier-General, U. S. Volunteers. REPRINT FROM YEARBOOK OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR 1898. “ —————_—$___$____ 19634——1 i CONTENTS. Page. General conditions ..22: 2. bese 2 oe ee ee ruetak eaten 505 Toportaphy st cootc bh tweteae eee ee ee oe nines suds 2 b0= 4 a= ee 505 Oil CONGIWONS. .... 3. . eke La 2 as ee ee nee ee el 506 Distribution of products ys... soe ee ee Pee 506 Observations of a native... 22. 2.2..221.. 2.222552) -n se ee ee 507 ane laborers. 2e-. = 2. os io Bird oie a ee Se Me ees 6enlk sa 507 Productions for export \. 2... 5.22 i4b cl ee 508 Banana cultivation .........2.-.-.. Tiwio..... ise 508 Cattle raising ...-..---.-- nbs oe cane en abe cael nek ses oe er 509 Home markets, ._.- 22-225 2 stk en ech Spel Sree ope 509 LanGe-Ownersbip.. 092. .2.2 nine ie ohne Sat ei OSE ha eee oe a Me | Transportation facilities and irrigation needed......_......--.----.------. 510 False impressions of the climate of Puerto Rico..._....-....-_.-.-.------- 511 Puerto Rico as seen by a United States writer_.-...<_...-.1_-..-_- eee 512 Need of experiment stations: 2. ..-.-...22. eee ee ee os ee ious 512 The future of Puerto Rican farming __.. 2-7-2 2u. eee eee ee 513 ILLUSTRATION. : Page PLATE XXXVIII.:The island of Puerto Rico aeee2-2- 65-2 oe eee rps OOS Il PLATE XXXVIII. Yearbook U.S. Dept of Agriculture, 1898, « és ay YanSebastian © Et £ Opa, a FE ise} gear main ala C Gurabo “rnin ol Taste «cl, a Tarn Ne ~ ne a Te ON ULC 1, Shi BoM See Zn piel} s A te. rr salle tle, aos Rg rea? Rerun ait Maly Ny, a 9, QO : ©: q 2 ou, uM Wi apenyeae N's rors CUAYA MASS Seis za av yy Lf RIL OF PURRKO RICO, 66° WEST OF GREENWICH. THE ISLAND OF PUERTO RICO. AGRICULTURE IN PUERTO RICO. By Roy STONE, Brigadier-General, U. S. Volunteers. GENERAL CONDITIONS. The island of Puerto Rico (Pl. XX XVIII), with an area one-fourth less than that of the State of Connecticut, supports a population about one-third greater, and supports it almost entirely by agriculture, after paying a heavy tribute of taxation and another of remittances to absent landlords. The island does all this, too, with few of the modern implements, methods, or appliances. It has so few roads that large portions of its products are brought to market on pack animals or on the heads of men and women. It has few railroads, and these consist entirely of some short pieces along the coast. Its harbors are without improvements, and the cost of shipping its products amounts to an export tax. There is no place on the island where a large ship can come to a dock, and all goods have to be lightered out and in. While, as stated, the population derives its means of support almost entirely from the limited agriculture practiced, the island does not produce its own food staples, such as wheat, corn, rice, etc., and nearly half its imports are of cereals and other agricultural products. The island itself is so mountainous and so broken into steep declivities by the deep gorges of its numerous rivers that it seems to one from the United States, especially from the prairie regions, as if it were almost incapable of cultivation. The result obtained under all these diffi- culties makes the study of the conditions and methods of agriculture in the island peculiarly interesting. TOPOGRAPHY. The island, which is rectangular in shape, lies exactly east and west, and is situated between latitudes 17° 50’ and 18° 30’ N. and longitude 65° and 67° W. of Greenwich. It is about 100 miles long and 40 miles wide. A high, steep ridge, accented with humerous higher peaks, known as the Cayey Range, extends unbroken from end to end of the island at a distance of 8 to 15 miles.froym the south coast. The Luquillo Range, lying in general nearly parallel to the Cayey, and nearer to fhe north coast he the Cayey is v0 the south, is broken by many 505 P 879 506 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. valleys, through which the streams rising on the north slope of the Cayey Mountains make their way to the sea. The general level of the Cayey Range is about 2,500 feet above the sea, and its peaks rise 1,000 feet higher, while the eastern peaks of the Luquillo reach a few hundred feet higher still. Between the two ranges lies what might be called a mountainous valley, full of sharp ridges, detached peaks, ~ and deep ravines, with no level lands except a few narrow alluvial bottoms. Along either coast, however, extending from the foothills of the mountains to the sea, stretch beautiful plains, gently sloping to the shore and reaching in width at some points on the south side to 5 miles and on the north to 3 miles. SOIL CONDITIONS. To one of our own countrymen perhaps the most wonderful thing in the island is the depth of the soil on the faces of the steep mountains and its cultivation to their very peaks. Anything short of a vertical cliff is considered tillable, and is actually tilled and made productive. Why the mountains are not washed bare by the torrential rains, and why there are few or no landslips except where cuttings are made, are puzzling questions. The secret of it may be in the fact that there is no frost to dislodge the accumulation of the decaying rock on the mountain sides, and that the great depth of soil and porosity of the underlying rock absorb the rain as fast as it falls; but there is undoubtedly great art in the tillage and judgment in the planting of these lands so as to secure their preservation from erosion. Fortu- nately, the soil is so rich that very little tillage is required, and in the coffee districts, especially those of the highest lands, the only eultivator used is the machete, or short sword, which clears the fields of the wild growth but leaves the roots alive to help hold the ground. The waste lands of the island are few, but those that do exist could be made useful by attention to the proper means for their improye- ment, and a scientific study of the adaptabilities of their various soils. There is not, properly, any one soil that is characteristic of the island. Even the coast lands will show different kinds. The coastal plains are generally rich alluvium. Many of the plains of the south coast, especially of the eastern section, have never been cultivated owing to the lack of rainfall, and one of the greatest benefits to be conferred upon the island will be the encouragement of irrigation. DISTRIBUTION OF PR@DUCTS. Conditions of elevation and of soil naturally govern the distribu- tion of the various agricultural products. The littoral plains are the home of the sugar cane wherever it-has sufficient rainfall or ean be irrigated, the cane requiring a large amovutof water for its snecessful cultivation. Advancing into the interior, the growth of coffee begins at the foothills and continues to the tops of the highest mountains, but its best habitat is at an elevation of 500 to 1,000 feet. AGRICULTURE IN PUERTO RICO. 507 OBSERVATIONS OF A NATIVE. The following are some general observations on agriculture by a gentleman of Puerto Rico who is thoroughly acquainted with cultiva- tion in the various sections of the island: The island, on account of its warm climate and the richness of its various soils, of which it has all kinds suited to various cultivations, is in its general character adapted to agriculture in preference to any other purpose. All the tropical plants find suitable soil for their growth, though a few of the coast valleys do not yield to-day what they did afew yearsago. Badcultivation has in a measure exhausted their exuberance; nevertheless can they, under all systems of sound agriculture, that is to say, with irrigation, drainage, and scientific methods of fertilization of soils, compete with any other of the West Indian islands. The plains along the coast are adapted to sugar cultivation, except in those parts where drought will not allow anything but pasturage. They will also produce excellent tobacco, corn, bananas, and pineapples. Cocoanut trees line the seashores. In the interior, besides the growing of coffee, the soil and climate are adapted especially to such fruits as oranges, lemons, and limes. The banana also flourishes even to the moun- tain tops. The quality of the oranges is very high, equal to the best Florida orange, with the great advantage that they ripen mucheariier. Excellent oranges _ are found ripening at Utuado early in August. The orange so far grows entirely wild, and there are many varieties. It needs the fostering care of American agri- cultural experiment stations to develop the best kinds of fruit for export. Natu- rally the early fruit will be most desirable, and a careful development of such varieties as would ripen in convenient localities in August and September would be of immense value to the agriculture of the island. Crops in general on the island begin to ripen much earlier on the coast than in the mountains. The. coffee crop begins ripening along the coast in August and September, and is all gathered by November, when the crop begins to ripen in the mountains, where its gathering continues until February. A small amount of cocoa is produced, but it is not likely to increase very largely, since it does not yield so well in elevated ground from the level of the sea. THE LABORERS. \ The laborers are mostly white natives in the interior, while those on the coast are colored, principally on the south and southeast coasts, because of the African slavery which existed on sugar plantations there. When freedom came for the slaves in the year 1873 they entered on their new condition without any disturbance; and now that America releases a whole people from enthrallment, which she takes under her safeguard, why not expect still better conduct, if possible, from the former slaves? Apart from their ignorance and their unsocial way of living, they are, as laborers, to be considered very good. During nearly two years of the Cuban war all work was stopped in the island because the merchants feared to adyance money to aid cultivation, and the ex-slaves patiently, and without troubling in the least the tranquillity of their neighbors, endured that difficult situation. The average rate of wages is half a peso, or 50 tents, egtia to 25 cents American money, per day. Laborers on the sugar plantations and in town generally board themselves. In the coffee plantations tey are boarded, that is, houses and food are given to them. All laborers in Puerto Rieo- aasily apply dicniwelives to any improvements in labor, art though they are not strong, they can sustain a long day’s work even with poor and insufficient food. If collected in towns instead of living scattered, as they now dd, no doubt all their habits, including their morals, would be modified 5O8 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. and improved and the education of their children facilitated. It would not take a long period to elevate them in the social scale and make them useful citizens; in other words, to change the man machine into a civilized true man. The laborers from the coast can be easily distinguished from those of the interior. They are stouter and healthier, owing to the difference in their feeding and dwellings. Labor is commonly paid by the day’s work in the coffee plantations and in almost all the agricultural employments. On the coast sugar-cane cultivation is done by the job, as cane cutting, harvesting, plowing, and all the different labor required to raise the rich gramineous plant. Only the mechanical part of this exploitation, which is done in the sugar factories, is paid by the day. PRODUCTIONS FOR EXPORT. The principal productions of the island for exportation are sugar, coffee, tobacco, and, can be in the near future, such fruits as bananas, pineapples, oranges, lemons, and limes. Besides these, though of less importance, all kinds of vegetables grow abundantly, are of excellent quality, and at any season, giving several crops a year. The people raise corn, rice, beans, and various kinds of peas and vegetables, though not in sufficient quantity to provide for their subsistence, and are obliged to supply their additional requirements in these articles by importations from the United States. With quick transportation facilities, the people of the island would probably engage extensively in the cultivation of the more valuable prod- ucts, as sugar, coffee, tobacco, cocoa, bananas, oranges, lemons, cocoanuts, pine- apples, and early vegetables, and take from the States the flour, corn, rice, bacon, salt fish, etc., required as daily food. BANANA CULTIVATION. Banana cultivation will be one of the most productive agricultural exploitations. There are many different kinds of plantains, the banana, the one most. usually brought to the American markets, being the kind which grows best on the island and yields the most fruit. It requires good soil and little water, for it brings humidity to the ground, perhaps because of the large leaves sucking the moisture of the air, which runs through the plant, or because it brings up the underground deep waters to the surface. Whatever be the cause, the ground is always moist in a banana plantation, however great the drought. When planted in new soil the banana does not require any plowing, but it does when the lands have been much used and have, of course, lost their natural state of porosity. When once the soil is ready, holes are made 1 yard in diameter, 2 or 3 yards distant from one another, and about one-half a yard deep. In rich lands and new lands no fertilizer is required, but otherwise a basketful of some kind is useful; a sprout is.then planted. which in three months’ time will grow to 8 and 10 feet high, and nine months or a year after planting, according to the variety, will yield fruit in the form of a bunch, which will count as many sometimes as 200 bananas. In the first two years the weeds have to ke removed, but afterwards the shade will prevent their growth. In most places no water is required, but half a dozen irrigations a year will be enough in the driest lands. Onee the plantation is in full growth and producing condition, it does not require more attention than the cleaning of the plants of their dry leaves and the keeping oi 2! the detritus from the plants well gathered round the trunk to fertilize it, allowins jlenty of space for the new sprouts to come out. Sometimes these come in such profiiau, that the expert laborer has to extirpate them and only allow a certain number to grey nn. Yueh’ ha nanta- tion is in full growth and production the collecting of the fruit i is constant, ankee"" every week the plantation can be gone through to collect the ripe bunches, As ~ if nature had provided it, the largest bunches contain fruit of the most delicate AGRICULTURE IN PUERTO RICO. 509 flavor, with sweetness and fine pulp, and they also are those that keep the best, lasting for many days, thus giving sufficient time for transportation. The dry leaves and trunks of the plants are useful for paper manufacture. When the bunch of bananas.is ripe the tree or stalk, often 10 inches in diameter and 20 feet high, is cut down with a single stroke of the machete; the stump dies, but numer- ous sprouts are ready to take its place and the plantation constantly renews itself. Many are in good production for a half century or more, and wherever there is suitable transportation for so heavy a crop it is very profitable. The trunks are cut in pieces and piled round the tree for fertilizing. CATTLE RAISING. This industry is very profitable in the island, as various grasses and nourishing plants grow in profusion, and a good market for the surplus stock is found in Cuba and other islands. The cattle are of large size and of a uniform light-red color, and they seem to fatten easily. The cows are nearly as large as the oxen, but do not yield milk in proportion to their size. On account of the heat the milk ean only be kept by boiling, and cream and butter are unknown. A very coarse cheese is made, but otherwise there is very little use of the milk. Whenever it becomes possible to establish refrigerating plants a very good local dairy business can be inaugurated. These cooling plants could be operated by electric power derived from the abundant waterfalls in the island as soon as capital can be found for their exploitation. HOME MARKETS. The peculiar facilities for manufacturing afforded by an abundant supply of labor and ample water power will lead to the establishment of many factories for working up the productions of the island, such as cotton, hemp, and other fibers. The husks of cocoanuts are now shipped to Germany for paper making. Water powers can be con- structed at a very low cost as compared with those in the United States, and power can now be transmitted by electricity to a distance equal to the width or even the length of the island without serious loss. The establishment of domestic manufactures will, of course, greatly enlarge the home markets for agricultural products. The attractions of the island for tourists and for health seekers will add a large population of nonproducers, and will also increase the home demand for many products. Moreover, as the people of the island improve in their condition and circumstances they will develop new and increased wants, as well as the means for satisfying them, and the home markets will be largely extended. LAND OWNERSHIP. The landowners are mainly white people, residents of the towns during inost of the year ~ ++ a few owners in some parts of the island, fis in the district of Porice and on the north side, live in Europe. The landed property is well distributed, most of it being in small holdings. Only in the valleys and plains are there many estates of 510 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. great extent. Theowners who live in towns spend a portion of the year on their plantations, where, during the season of gathering the princi- pal crops, there are numerous entertainments and general festivity. TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES AND IRRIGATION NEEDED. Large tracts of land in the interior of the island are practically without cultivation on account of the lack of communication. Some owners have been obliged to give up raising vegetables in the interior because the prices obtained on the coast would not pay the cost of transporting them to the markets, which is greater than that of bring- ing them from Europe or some other distant country. It is safe to say that three times the present production of coffee can easily be counted on whenever proper means of communication are established. Transportation and irrigation are closely connected. As has been stated, many of the plains of the south coast, especially of the eastern section, have never been cultivated owing to lack of rainfall, and in order to irrigate these lands it will be necessary to bring the water through and under the Cayey Range, since nearly all the large streams of the island are on its northern slope. A project of this kind has for many years been in contemplation and several royal grants have been made for its encouragement. ‘Those who are inter- ested in promoting better communication have proposed while bringing the irrigation water through to bring also an electric rail- road under the mountain in the same tunnel, and in addition to use the irrigation water after it passes through the tunnel to develop electric power, as this water will have a descent of a thousand feet to the sea. Tbis combination of increased production through irriga- tion with improved transportation by means of this low-grade outlet for a system of electric roads in the interior of the island, together with the development of power to operate such roads, will cause increased prosperity everywhere. Many other water powers exist throughout the island, which can be made available not only for electric roads but for manufacturing purposes. There are many considerations in favor of the adoption of electric roads for the island in preference to wagon roads. It is useless to build roads in the island unless they are thoroughly drained and macadamized. Ordinary wagon roads, especially in hilly districts, where the rain will follow the wagon tracks in the soft soil, are soon washed out of all semblance to roads, and enormous expense would be required to keep them barely passable for ox carts. Good macadam roads, on the other hand, will cost approximately as much as electrie roads, while the latter, with properly paved gutters, will stand with- out washing for many years, there *peing no frost to loosen the soil. Another great advantage of a general sys#car of-electric fi cransporta- tion would be that central factories for the production of sugar and ? the preparation of coffee for the market would be established at con- venient points, and the gathering of these products by rail for the AGRICULTURE IN PUERTO RICO. Hit factories would be a great economy for the producers. It is estimated that the average percentage of juice extracted from the cane in Puerto Rico is not above 54 per cent of the weight of the eane, owing to the imperfect methods in vogue, while a modern central factory, with the best machinery, produces from 70 to 80 per cent. In the same way, such a system would greatly benefit the coffee country. The planter in the high lands, if he had electric trains running down to the coast, would send his crop to be treated entirely by machinery with os cost and better results than now. FALSE IMPRESSIONS OF THE CLIMATE OF PUERTO RICO. Many false impressions prevail regarding the climate of Puerto Rico. The best information indicates that the island is practically out of the track of the tropical hurricanes, and while such storms occur fre- quently in the West Indies, Puerto Rico is seldom touched by them. It is now nearly a quarter of a century since a hurricane has done any serious damage, and there is practically no more danger in the island from this cause than there is in the United States. The tem- perature is uniform, with no sudden changes, and the range from the highest to the lowest is very narrow. The heat is never so great as in the cities of the North American coast, ranging from 78° to 90° in the summer and from 60° to 80° in the winter. In the mountains, even in the hottest season, the nights are cool and the days comforta- ble except in the direct rays of the sun at noonday. Delicious breezes blow toward the land throughout the day and toward the sea at night. Even in what is called the rainy season there is scarcely a day with- out sunshine. In fact, what is called the rainy season is only a season of showery weather. The rain falls chiefly on the north side of the Cayey Range, leaving the south slope, especially along the sea, com- paratively dry, sometimes extremely so. The trees are always green, as also the grass and vegetation, except in time of prolonged drought. Among other fallacies about Puerto Rico is one that the climate is so damp that iron can not be used for construction on account of rust, but the fact is that iron bridges exist throughout the island, and all sorts of tools of iron and steel are used, as are many small iron tram- ways. The air is probably no more damp than it is elsewhere in equally close proximity to the sea. PUERTO RICO AS SEEN BY A UNITED STATES WRITER. The following statements regarding Puerto Rico are from a new book on Cuba and Puerto Rico, by Mr. Robert T. Hill, of the United States Geological Survey : No part of the Antilles is se susceptible of Sateaticn and diversified farming. Possessing every vaziaty of tropical landscape, fertile from the mountain tops to the sea, rich in pasture lands, shaded with beautiful groves of magnificent palms, moistened by 1,300 streams, with here and there a hot spring, its agricultural pos- sibilities are immense. * * * The island is almost entirely free from those 19634 512 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. noxious reptiles and insects which infest the other West Indies. * * * The natives enumerate twenty-eight medicinal plants, twelve of which are used as condiments, as many used for dyeing and tanning, eight resinous trees and many large trees which have edible fruits. * * * The climate, though warm, is more agreeable and healthful than that of any of the other Antilles. The mortality does not exceed that of some of the more healthful countries of Europe.- * * * The island has 66 tobacco farms, 240 large cattle farms, 361 large coffee estates, 4,184 small coffee farms, 4,333 sugar estates, 4,376 farms devoted to miscellaneous cultivation, and 16,988 small fruit farms. NEED OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. No country or region is more in need of a system of official experi- mentation in agriculture like that of the United States than is Puerto Rieo. There have been two institutions of the kind in the island under Spanish control, but, owing probably to inefficient management, nothing of practical value has been developed. Under an efficient experiment station system every one of the scores of products of the island could be experimented with and tested, selections and crosses made, diseases studied and cured, fertilizers tried, and methods of preservation and transportation devised, whereby, in time, intelli- gent cultivation and shipment would take the place of haphazard operations. Natural fertilizers are said to abound in the island, but so far very little use has been made of them. As an instance of what Government can do to assist the develop- ment of agriculture in the Tropics, Mr. Hill, in writing of the island of Jamaica, which lies in the same latitude as Puerto Rico, a few hundred miles to the west, says: A department of gardens and plantations, under capable and experienced men, has carried on experiments which, while supporting the old, have encouraged the establishment of many new and promising agricultural industries; the Govern- ment has also promoted the construction of roads and the establishment of rapid steamship lines to the United States, and the people are now finding a source of livelihood and profit in products sphich were formerly disdained. The Boston Fruit Company, which has the bulk of the trafie, runs some fifteen steamers from Jamaica to the United States, and a new line is to be started for European trade. A valuable trade is being created also in new potatoes, tomatoes, and other fresh vegetables for the markets of this country. THE FUTURE OF PUERTO RICAN FARMING. Under the new dispensation for Puerto Rico it is not difficult to fore- cast the probable rapidity of her progress in agriculture. Fast lines of steamers will be established to carry the tourist travel, seeking health and recreation. Capital frem this country will develop the water powers of the island, providé irrigation, build electric railways, erect central sugar, coffee, ana tobaeeo factorie e- and warecheases, and make advances on growing crops. ime The island will probably continue to draw the bulk of its food staples from abroad, especially no doubt from the United States, AGRICULTURE IN PUERTO RICO. BLO + importing flour, corn, salt fish, and meats, and devoting its whole area _ to tropical productions, thereby securing the best use of its matchless soil and climate. The dense population promises abundant labor for many years, and producers will thus feel secure against outside com- petition. It will, of course, be no place for laborers from the United States, but for families of moderate means who seek a mild climate for health or comfort in a country where frost will never come to ruin them, Puerto Rico will be the Mecca. A few acres in fruits or vege- tables, well tended, will furnish an easy support, and whatever extra labor is needed can always be readily procured. The exports of the island will be varied and increased by the cultivation of medicinal plants and condiments, fibrous plants, and many kinds of tropical fruits not now shipped for the want of the necessary quick transportation. The loeation of the island is peculiarly favorable for the marketing of its products. It hes midway between North and South America, equidistant from New York and Para, which latter is called the Chi- eago of South America, and it is directly on the route from Central America to all Europe; every vessel journeying to and from the isth- mus canal will pass along the south side of the island and have the opportunity to replenish its stores and take more cargo. The effects of good government will be seen, too, in the relief from sundry vexa- tious restrictions heretofore imposed upon trade, and especially from arbitrary and unlawful port charges and fines imposed upon vessels for supposed offenses, which have in the past resulted in driving many lines of vessels from the island. PRESENT DEPRESSION ACCOUNTED FOR. The conditions of depression and even distress which now prevail throughout the greater part of the island (April, 1899) must be consid- ered temporary and easily remediable by judicious legislation. Mr. Gardner W. Pearson, an American gentleman now residing in the island, gives the following facts, which account in some measure for the present conditions: The following figures on exports from Puerto Rico are taken froin the Estadis- tica General del Comercio Exterior for the year 1897, compiled by the Secretario del Despacio de Hacienda, and issued as an official document, printed at San Juan: Exports of Puerto Rico for 1897. [Value in pesos. | | Articles. | Total. To Spain. ;~ To Cuba. Se | 2, 222,599.48 | 3,563, 920.88 |2, 084, 563. 00 PPOWERGO as eee lc. _..-.- | i ‘\318. 30 141,729.42 | 990, 808. 56 | ., Sugar, centrifugal -__.- “4,08 | , 501, 992.08 2, 792. 60 | i \ sugar, muscoyado: _ 770,058. 85 2, 868. 71. “23 3,081, 032. 87 514 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. The articles given are far the largest products for export, but adding to these all other products, would make approximately $18,500,000 for total exports, of which, as shown in the table, about 8,100,000 pesos in value found a market in Spain and Cuba under tariffs which were made by Spain to favor her colonies. Since October, 1898, when the last Spaniards left Puerto Rico, Spain has regarded the island as a foreign eee. and has applied her foreign duties to Puerto Rican products. Before October, 1898, the Spanish duty on Puerto Rican coffee was 60 pesetas, equal to 12 Spanish doliars, or $8.57 gold per 100 kilos. Since October it has been raised to 130 pesetas, equal to 26 Spanish dollars, or $18.57 gold per 100 kilos, a difference of $10 gold per 100 kilos against Puerto Rico. Onsugar before October, 1898, the duties were, to colonies, 33.50 pesetas, equal to 6.70 Spanish dollars, or $4.78 gold per 100 kilos. Since October they have been 82.50 pesetas, equal to 16.50 Spanish dollars, or $11.78 gold per 100 kilos, a difference of $7 gold against Puerto Rico. The above duties are substantially prohibitive, so far as Spain is concerned. The Cuban market has also been affected by recent tariff regulations. As Spain and Cuba were Puerto Rico’s principal markets, taking nearly one- half her product, she has lost markets to the value of 8,000,000 pesos, and can not get new markets without reducing the price of her goods greatly. Her coffee has fallen in price 40 per cent since the summer, and tobacco the same or a greater percentage. An additional, and the most serious, cause of the extremely low price of coffee is the excess of more than 6,000,000 sacks in this year’s production in Brazil. This, together with the comparatively short crop in Puerto Rico, has reduced the income of the island planters this year to less than one-third of the usual amount, leaving them in debt for previous advances and without means to make a new crop. ‘There is so little capital in the island that planters are unable to bor- row money on their lands, and numbers of them have been compelled to discharge the majority of their laborers or even to entirely abandon cultivation. These laborers have no other resource, no savings and no credit, and instant destitution has followed their discharge. The Puerto Rican coffee has no market in this country, though in Kurope it is considered among the best in the world. If it could be favorably introduced here, the increased demand would at onee advance its price, which would give new credit to the Puerto Rican planters and enable them to resume work. for the present, the military government, out of the funds in the island treasury, is providing food for those who are in danger of star- vation and giving employment on ro..ds to thousands. This is giving — temporary relief, but can not continue indefinitely, and it is to be hoped, therefore, that some method will be found to speedily exten fh, the markets for Puerto Rican products. \ i. , al me: th c.