Evening star., 1898-09-03

BILE and arabic land: but it does not follow
that here, also, lies the best soil for spe-
cial CIVILIZATIONS. Ascend, now, toward the
central ridge of mountains, or climb the
bench of fertile land above MayagueZ, on
the west coast. All the way you are accom-
panied by the bamboos, whose feathery
foliaged lances, like great spears clashing
in the wind, are now elements in the West
Indian landscape which are purely tropical
in character. The bamboos serve a variety
of uses, and are especially valuable in hut
building and in fencing, their long poles,
sometimes sixty feet in length, being al
most as strong iron and smooth as glass.
The bread fruit was introduced into the
West indies about century ago, but has
not become so abundant as in the French
and English islands. 1t is d hill lover, like
the bamboo, and its fruit is one of the most
delightful and satisfactory foods that hun
cry man could desire. The hill region is
the natural home of all aromatic spices
Such as cinnamon Glove, pimento, and of
coffee, cacao, vanilla, nutmeg; while the
arrow root grows here, and the aloes, log
wood and mahogany. Plants from which
tlnctures and dyes are obtained and trees
valuable for industrial purposes are abund-
ant, both in the littoral forests and in the
uplands. A common but now neglected
plant is the arnatto-the biXa orellana-
which is in such repute with some farmers
Tor coloring their butter, and which was
used by the ancient Indians to color their
skins. The arnatto shrub grows to the size
of ounce tree, has heart-shaped leaves
and pretty rosy flowers, followed by bristly
PODS, something like chestnut burrS. and
which burst open when ripe, displaying a
crimson pulp, containing numerous seeds
This pulp is immersed in water a few
weeks, strained, then boiled to a paste and
formed into cakes, which are dried in the
sun.
The CacaO Tree.
Another shrub which now practically runs
wild is the guava, from which the delicious
g do In al or fn1 ,,la
ton becomes covered with guava
bushes, which bear abundantly and might
be made very profitable But the hill coun-
the former hardly cultivated here and he
latter not to its full capacity. Cacao is a
native of tropical America, and was known
to the aboriginal inhabitants of this island
probably, as stones have been discovered
which were evidently used for crus hing the
cacao bean, or chocolate. The tree grows
Well in the coast country, but best in ele
waited valleys, where it can get abundant
moisture and the waShings of the hills. 1t
reaches height of twenty or thirty feet.
but should be carefully pruned and thinned,
so that it can be kept within bounds When
in bearing the cacao pods grow from the
limbs and branches, and also directly from
the trunk itself looking at a distance like
great, swollen, red and purple rats climbing
up the trees.
The seed, from which the chocolate is
OBTAINED, are contained inside this pod, in
a sweetish pulp. sometimes to the number
of thirty or forty. 1t is easily separable,
and the cultivation of the cacao-taking
one, as it does, to the fragrant valleys of
the higher hils-would seem very desir-
able occupation. At least one island, which
was nearly ruined by clinging to the old
fashioned methods of sugar cultivation,
was saved and eventually became wealthy
by abandoning sugar and taking to cacao.
This island is Grenada, In the southern
West Indies, and there seems to be no rea-
son why any other should not be equally
benefited by following the same course.
Fortunes in Coffee
There is, however, one cultivation that
surpasseS the cacao, and that is coffee. 1t
seems very strange that we should almost
simultaneously acquire two or three islands
in different parts of the world which pro-
duce just what we cannot raise at home.
We cannot grow coffee in any portion of
the continental United States but in Ha-
waii. Cuba and Porto Rico it is perfectly
naturalzcd. And in all these islands the
cultivation of coffee takes one to the most
beautiful and healthful regions above the
heat and feVers of the coast. Coffee grows
best at height of fifteen hundred feet
above the sea or thereab bouts. 1t is not,
ike the cacao, native to the West Indies
but was brought here in the last century
from Africa by the way of Martinique. Its
cultivation was almost abandoned during
now 1T begins to assert its supremacy The
Mocha was first cultivated which does best
between one and two thousand feet above
the sea but in the English islands the Lii
heridn variety yields the best results and
at lower levels. From three to five wears
only the coffee planter has to wait for re-
turns, and after that his profits are GER
tain and steadily augmented. If one can
endure the enforced isola ton and find com
pensation in beautiful scenery. pure air
ana charming industry he do no bet
Ter than to try coffee cultivation either in
Cuba Porto Rico. The annual
export from the last-named island has been
ABOUT lreoo tons, which amount can doubt
less De greatly increased
In the High Woods
Reaching an altitude greater than 1000
Ieet above the sea all agricultural opera
tlons cease, except for the primitive pro
vision grounds"-as they are called in the
EnSI1sh Antilles of the poor natives
where they grow small fruits and vege-
tables. But from the height of about
1000 feet to the mountain tops we have the
glorious vegetation of the high woods"
Iree Terms wave their beautiful lace-Uke
leaves; mountain palms thrust their fronds
through green masses of epiphytic plants
and gigantic gum trees tower aloft wreath,
ed in mile-long lianas.
There will, doubtless be some DELIGHTFUL
experiences in tropical mountain climbing
"hen we have secured and pacified the is