The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-22
OUR PORTO RICAN FARM
AGRICULTURE THE ONE SOURCE OF
WEALTH IN THAT ISLAND.
Possibilities of Tobacco. Coffee and
Sugar Fa rming-MOney and Sell
entific Methods Needed.
Ponce Letter in New York Post.

a workshop. Its resources are almost ex-
clusively agricultural. There is theory Of
mining possibilities, but thus far [ have,
been able to find very little foundation for
it. What foundation there is seems TO lie
in two directions. One of these appears in
the old tales of nearly four hundred years
ago, when the discoveries of the island and
its early settlers claimed the new possess
sion land of gold The other appears
in the old saying that 1.-The wish is the
father of the thought" If there be gold
here. it seems very strange that four hun
dred years of hunger for the yellow metal
should not have established the fact of its
presence beyond all doubt. Iron is here.
and also copper and galena. But until these
metals become less readily and less eco
nomically available in scores of other places
there is little to encourage any investment
IN their development in Porto Rico. STILL
mining possibilities always questions for
determination by mining experts, and val
liable properties may even yet be found to
exist the island.
There is little encouragement in timber.
There are some fine woods here, but the
commercial supply is very limited. The
area throughout which such woods are to be
found is of comparatively small extent and
is exceedingly rough in character. A mod
crate amount of highly valuable timber
might be got out at a reasonable cost but
the greater portion of what there is is of
mountain growth, and it's removal would
involve the construction of roads or logways
through a country which is even rougher
than our Southern mountains. Some logs
can and will be taken out at profitable
prices, but there is hardly enough of tim
Der land to make any very extensive bust
! ness.
/ 1t is chiefly to the cultivation of the rich
and fertile soil of the island that we must
! look for it's industrial wealth. There we
ter promising field. Sugar, coffee and to-
bacco are now its principal products. with
rum and Porto Rico molaSses as important
by-products. At present sugar raising is
somewhat doubtful enterprise. The low
price of raw sugar during recent years has
caused the suspension of operations on
large number of plantations in different
parts of the island. The possibility of cane
raising at a profit under the conditions
likely to be presented by the market for
some time to come is open question
How much might be accomplished by the
application of thoroughly systematic bust
ness METHODS upon the plantation l
able TO say. That uoes not seem to be "A
common practice. 1t may be that Porto
Rican sugar has seen its best days.
BETTER SUGAR LAND.
There are other lands in which the cane
is produced with less of labor and less of
risk than in Porto Rico. Here it must be
pared for it. Weather conditions sometimes
interfere to the serious injury or loss of
crops. Different conditions during the same
year may be presented in different parts of
the island. There may be excessive rains or
excessive drought in certain portions, while
in other portions the conditions may be en-
tirely favorable. Many acres of sugar land
of excellent quality can be bought. Out of
some of them good money could doubtless
ma6Q Annlinafi0n business
methods and the adoption of the best of
modern machinery. But the investment is
understand the work and who are possessed
of capital enough for it's successful prose- .
cution. The business requires considerable
capital, as each plantation operates its own
MILL and an area of land must be cultivated
which will warrant the erection and opera
ton of the mill. An economy for all sugar
struction of an improved highway system
and the introduction of a belt line railroad
around the island by which the present ex-
pensive system of hauling the sugar to ex-
port points on the coast would be greatly
modified. There are few lines of business
that will warrant the hauling of product
on sloW-moving bullock teams, over miles
of rocks or through miles of mud. An inn
provement in transportation facilities may
mean the salvation of many acres or sugar
lands.
The tobacco industry could undoubtedly
be very greatly extended, and / can see no
reason why tobacco culture should not be-
come very profitable business. The people
of the island claim that their best tobacco
now goes to Cuba, where 1t is manufactured
and shipped to the United States as a high
grade of Cuban product l can see no rea-
son to believe that any special effort has
been made towards the development of the
Porto Rican weed to its highest stage of
perfection. and j can see no reason to doubt
that business intelligence applied to tobacco
culture and manufacture on this island will
some day make Porto Rican cigars a choice
article for the American smoker. AS 1t Is
now, we buy here for $3.50 to So hundred
cigars which average on an equality with
those which retail in the States at three
for a quarter But they are not well made
or we'll finished, and the tobacco itself is
but poorly cultivated. / we'll satisfied
that thousands of acres of this rich soil
cultivation of tobacco for high-grade cigars.
A COFFEE COUNTRY.
Porto Rico now produces some 25O00 to
1900 tons of coffee annually Very little of
this goes to the United States. and few of
us have any idea of the excellence of the
Porto Rican product. The finest grade is
consumed on the European continent. Most
of the inferior grades are sent to Cuba.
European prices are about the same the
price on the Java article. The great ma
jority of American coffee drinkers are con-
tent with the cheaper article, which is OBJ
tanned chiefly from the lowlands of South
America. Those who more particular
about their palates sip from the fragrant
cup u decoction which they firmly believe
has come from the Persian gulf or from
far-famed Java. But Mocha" and Java"
are now little more than trade terms for
coffee of certain kinds rather than for coffee
from certain localities. Most OF that which
we drink under those very respectable old
titles comes to us from the mountain dis
tricts of South America. Those who may
be disposed TO question this statement are
referred to the custom house reports for re-
cent years, where they will find statements
to show the quantity which we have
brought from Mocha and from Java within
the last ten years or so. They may then
calculate how far that quantity would go
in filling the demand
Lowland coffee yields more abundantly.
but Yields an inferior article. Upland or
hll-grown coffee is less prolific. but :ts
quality is superior. The Porto Rican coffee
is all hill-grown. The principal coffee dis
trct is among the hills of the western
third of the island. The conditions there are
particularly favorable for it's production.
Coffee-raising is "A profitable industry. At
least / have yet to see coffee planter who
many of them are rich OF course. there are
those of small possessions who raise a little
coffee. men of an acre or two of ground in
the coffee district. But they are not to be
regarded as coffee planters. Contemplating
as a business means a plantation with sew
eral hundred acres under cultivation. Then
it pays There is room for some extension
of the industry. though / am told by one
whose information / regard entirely
competent that II is very doubtful If the
entire crop which the island could be made
to produce would much more than double
the present output.
Coffee and tobacco seem to me to be in
dustries which offer ample promise for prof
table investment. Sugar appears more