Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1898-08-11


A SCENE IN PUERTO RICO.
"a Comely Country Girl and Calabash
Tree.)
height. The hills are of lesser eleva.
ton toward the west and southwest.
but the whole north-central country
is rugged and uneven. Between the
spurs from the main range lie innu-
merable secluded valleys, where the
soil is of great fertility. The impress
sive features OF the landscape are
the rounded SUBMITS of the multitud-
nous hills, which leave the coast in
constantly rising pillows that finally
break against the cordillera vertebra;
yet all are cultivable. and cultivated to
their very crests, though the higher
mountain peaks are forest-clad.
The higher hills are clothed in the
exuberant and diversified vegetation
of the tropical forest, where tree
ferns flourish, and great gum-trees and
mountain palms tower aloft; at lower
levels are the cedar and mahogany,
walnut and laurel, with many others
noted for their useful woods. Through
out the island are found those trees
and shrubs valuable for their gums,
as the Nancy, guaiacum and copal,
while the list of medicinal plants in
cludes most of those, invaluable to
our pharmacopeias, which tropical
America has given to the world. These
are the si.vestres, natures wild chill
dren; but of cultivated plants there is
no species peculiar to the tropics that
does not flourish here. In the littoral
levels, between the mountains and the
sea, grows the sugarcane, which may
be cultivated up to an altitude of 5000
feet. It was introduced here from
Santo Domingo, having been brought
to America either from Spain or the
sugar is estimated at about 10000
tons.
In these fertile lowlands, also, to-
bacco does exceedingly well, and the
annual production is said to be quite
100000 pounds. It may be cultivated
on the hills, but the true mountain
lover ID the coffee, which does not
do well below 600 feet, and is at its
best 1000 feet above the sea. It was
first brought here from Martinique in
1922, and now yields to the extent of
1900 tons annually. Maize, the true
Indian corn is indigenous, as is the
yucca, the aboriginal staff of life;"
and both grow everywhere, as well as
the pineapple, which is more reliable
and more universal than the peach of
our north temperate zone. Cotton and
rice are found at nearly all elevations,
the latter, which Is the chief food of
many laborers, being what is known
as the mountain variety.
Bananas and plantains are wonder
fully prolific, bearing fruit in ten
months from planting. The plants
virtually last go years, being
equally long-lived with the cocoa
palm. which produces nuts in
six or seven years, and there
after during the space of an ordinary
life, its yield being reckoned at 100
nuts a year. The annual product Of
bananas is given as 200,00O,00O, and of
cocoanuts 100000. The entire range
of tropical fruits is represented here,
such as the guava, lime, orange, aqua
cate, sapodilla and avocado pear;
while all sub-tropic vegetables may be
raised, including those of the south
temperate zone, such, for instance, as
are grown in Florida.
The mineral kingdom has not been
so exhaustively exploited as the veg
etable, but more than traces have
been found of copper, coal and iron, as
well as vast deposits of salt. The
rivers at one time ran to the sea over
beds of golden sand, and from the
streams to-day (as in the neighbor-
ing island of Santo Domingo, where
the first American gold was discov-
ered) the natives wash out nuggets,
by the crude processes of that distant
day when Agueynaba went prospect
ing with his false friend Ponce de
Leon.
There are no native quadrupeds here
larger than the agouti and the arma-
dillo, but birds are relatively nu-
merous, with a few of fine song, and
some of brilliant plumage. All do
nestle fowl do well here, and the
great pastures of the northeast and
southeast support vast herds of cattle
and horses, which suffice not only for
the needs of the island, but are ex-
ported to all parts of the West Indies,
being held in high esteem.
There are no poisonous reptiles to
be feared, but insects of questionable
character are too numerous for COM
fort. This islam d, indeed, were para
disc without them; even with them,
the inhabitantsk seem to experience
little trouble. The worst of these are
the scorpions, centipedes, tarantulas,
wasps, mosquitoes. some species of ants.
ticks, chieoes and feas. The heat of a
tropical climate. like that of Puerto
Rico. which, though rarely exceeding
30 degrees, is continuous, is conducive
to the breeding of insect pests OF
oil sorts.