St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-11-05

a rush for the rush for the new cli-
matte E,dorado. Health-seekers who
have breathed the woodland perfume
of the Alturas and tasted the waters
of the cool highland springs, will think
southern California a sand-wake, and
Florida quagmire. The American
guide-book compiler, who proposes to
publish pamphlet on insect plaques,
might deduce suggestive conclusions
from the fact that there are no mos
quitoes on the Alturas of Puerto Rico,
while Chippewa county, Michigan. 5000
miles further from the equator, is
shrouded in gnat clouds from the
middle of May to the end of Septem-
Der. On the Upper Yukon the gnat
nuisance is so fearful that wire
screens are almost a condition of
existence. and the Olympian abode OF
the eimmortals cannot be more free from
insect troubles than the plateau of
Quito, in the very heart of the tropics.
Large wasps of some 20 varieties do
infest the forests of Puerto Rico, but
the raids of still more numerous spe-
cies of birds have taught them the
wisdom of concealing their nests in
the densest foliage, and they rarely
trouble the clearings, though, after the
fashion of our wild bees, they may
be seen lowering around strings of
sun-dried fruit and the refuse of the
grape press. Venomous serpents do
not exist. The same popularity of
isolation that prevented the immi-
grafton Of large quadrupeds kept out
reptiles, with the exception Of lizards
and few varieties of harmless
tree snakes. There are no wolves or
foxes. no wildcats, polecats, or weas-
els. The only enemy of the poultry
farmer is a bushrat, almost as large
as a fox squirrel. Hawks abound,
ing grounds of their own to venture
within gunshot range of a human hab-
itation.
Under American management the
orchards of the uplands would eclipse
the fruit gardens OF southern Spain,
the huertas, that tempted the fol-
lowers Ut Tarik to stake their lives in
the conquest of the peninsula The
productiveness of well-filled banana
plantations may be inferred from the
statement of Valverde, that at the ar
rival of the Spaniarda. the island had
a population of 1000 aborigines, be-
sides some Caribs in hunting camps,
at a time when min. -tenths Of the hin
country was still covered with prime
val forests. In other words. the cul-
tivated portions of the vega support
cd an average of 1.SOO natives per
square mile.
At present the total population does
not exceed 600. 900, though some 1880
tout Of 4.Ooo) square miles are under
tillage, or covered with perennial fruit
trees, holding their own against the
encroachments OF weeds.
Besides the staples already men
toned the island produces unfailiEg
crops Of pineapples, sugar cane, yams.
cotton. lemons. vanilla. poppy. red pep
per. mulberries, figs, pomegranatcs,
grapes, almonds and nuts. rice, ginger,
indigo and arrowrcot. Wheat has been
successfully cultivated on some of the
upper terrace lands, and some man.
moth specimens Of Italian chestnuts.
exhibited in New Orleans. came from
the neighborhood of Toliejas, some Is
miles east of San Juan.
The sheltered valleys Of lie south
coast might ripen dates. the only
products of the eastern tropics
which America has thus far failed
to reproduce. Olives. too. would