Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1899-04-03
COFFEE CULTURE IN PORTO RICO.
What it Costs to Secure a Paying Plan
tatiOn.

Coffee raising ranks second as an in
0ustry in Porto Rico, bringing wage
into the pockets of thousands of earn
ers and substantial profits to the cof-
fers of the plantation owner and ex-
porter. Besides the assured income
from a Well-planted coffee plantation,
the life of the planter and owner has
many desirable features which recon-
mend it as an occupation to be fol-
lowed by the American investor.
First, coffee must needs be raised in
the higher attitudes of the picturesque
rolling hills, and on the faces of the
steep mountainous inclines which fin
ish upward in sharp zigzagging narrow
ridges, thus giving, him a healthful,
cool place of residence, away from the
hot loWlands and fever country of the
coast. Second, in the hills and mount
aims living springs for uncontaminated
water supply are found, and, at the
worst, he has always at hand the cool
er, frothing, oashing torrents of the
rock-bound mountain streams from
which to draw crystalline water.
Third, and perhaps most important, no
great technical training is required to
raise coffee successfully, as is the case
with raising sugar Or tobacco.
Fourth, the life is an easier one for
the proprietor-Which is no small fac
tor in torrid zone, where excessive
activity is sure to bring on fever in the
case of the unacclimated-in that he
travels in the shade of the forest which
shelters his coffee trees from the hot
sun, as he makes his overseeing tours.
and works under cover where the
PUPPY berry is changed into the fin
isheo and polished bean of commerce.
Good coffee land ranges in price
from $40 to $500 an acre, depending
upon location and the topography OF
the site, and again whether it be vir.
gin soil or in crop of varying age, the
highest price being asked for fiye-year-
old full-bearing trees, near the great
military highways, within easy hauling
distance of coast shipping centers.
1t may be said that $500 is a fictitious
value for any coffee plantation, aud
that the owner naming such a price
is usually Spaniaru, filled with a de-
sire to return to Spain, but inwardly
fearing, even in his dislike of the
American, that the new rule may mean
unparalleled progress in the island
Two hundred dollars an acre for we'll
grown trees, with adequate shade
above them, has hitherto been consid~
ered a good round sum for a planta-
ton, though as much as $500 has been
paid under Spanish rule. Here is a
fair estimate of the cost to a man con-
templating the purchase of 100 acres Of
coffee land and converting it into a
paying investment:
One hundred acres of land, with
trail leading from it, not over
20 miles from coast harbor, at
$40 an acre .... $4,000
Clearing of land, preparing the
soil, planting coffee bean, pla-
tano and guava trees, at $50
an acre ........ ........... 5000
Wedding for four years, cutting
out the platano at $40 an acre 1000
Introduction Of machinery -. 5000
Buildings, plain residence $3.50. $500
Coffee houses -. -. ........ $500
Trail-building and repairs and
bitches for water ..... 500
Incidentals :. ............ 80. 1000
Total ............ ......... 1913, 5OU