The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-09-10
OUR NEW FRUIT GARDEN
BANANAS, PINEAPPLEs AND COCOA.
NUTS FLOURISH IN PORTO RICO.
How They Are Grown and Marketed,
end the Profits of the Business
Place for Small Capitalists.
tcopyrishted. 1899. by Frank G Carpenter,

you like to own an orange grove? II so.
come to Porto Rico. The rich. golden fruit
grows here without cultivation. There is no
need Of irrigation, as in California, and as
for Jack Frost his name is unknown.
There are only ], 400 miles OF smooth water
between San Juan and New York, and in
the near future there will be lines Of fruit
steamers which will dump your product into
the best of our markets.
At present the oranges grow almost Wild
and you can buy the best at less than 1
cent apiece. i am told that they could be
grown here in orchards so that they could
be sold at 81 thousand and give big
profit, and fruit men say they could be
shipped to the United States and sold there
at Il cents dozen and still pay the grow
ers, the shippers and dealers.
Porto Rico promises to be Uncle Sans
choicest fruit garden. Barring hurricanes.
such as that of last month, which do rot
come more than once in a generation, We
have no land SO well favored. Oranges,
lemons and pineapples grow almost wild,
and with careful cultivation they can be
produced in great quantities. 1t seems 10
me the best chance in Porto Rico for men
with small capital is in fruit growing. If
some of our small investors would form
syndicates of ten or a dozen each and come
down here and buy orange groves they
could soon build UP industry which would
pay them enormous dividends. One man
could do but little, for enough fruit would
have to be raised in locality to furnish
saiploads for the steamers. But in combi-
nation settlements of this kind could be
made all over the island and a vast business
established.
At present the orange trees are scattered.
They have grown UP where the seeds have
dropped and have been neither budded nor
cultivated. They are of many varieties,
some being full of juice and as sweet as
any orange of Florida California. The
trees are exceedingly thrifty. They grow
everywhere, but the best places are back
| from the coast, on the foothills Of the noun
tains.
FLORIDA MEN IN PORTO RICO.
The frost of last year, which killed the
orange trees of Florida, has brought num-
| Der of men from that State to Porto Rico.
| They are now investigating the fruit con-
| ditions here, and some of them are buy
| ing land and planting out orchards. One
| man has bought 600 acres not far from San
| Juan He expects to give up his planta-
| ton in Florida and will begin planting
| oranges and pineapples this fall. A Mr..
| 12O acres, which he expects to plant in
| oranges and pineapples, and there is col
ony of young Americans who are establish
| ing fruit farms on the east coast.
| One of the best-posted fruit men have
net here is Maj. S. S. Harvey, of Pensa-
cola. Fla. Major Harvey is we'll known
| among the horticulturists of the United
| States. He has been at the head of some
| of the leading horticultural societies of the
South and his pear orchard near Pensacola
| Melted him more than SIC, 060 year for many
| years. He came to Porto Rico as q pay
| master, but is thinking seriously of going
| into orange growing on large scale.
One of his plans is to establish nursery
| near Coamo, and there raise orange trees
to meet the orange-raising boom which
| will probably be here within few years
He has already bought the land for his
nursery ana he thinks that he will have
| 1000 trees ready for sale within four
years from now. He takes the oranges a.
| they drop from the trees, buying them by
the tens o. thousands and drops them just
as you drop potatoes, drilling them along
the rows and covering them up. The
oranges soon rot and the seeds sprout up
Within three weeks they will be through
the ground, and when they are six inches
high they will be transplanted in rows. The
trees being six inches apart. After they
are a year old they will be budded from
the best Florida fruit, and the result viii
be tens of thousands OF the finest of young
orange trees of our best Florida varieties
This is the way trees grown in the
nurseries Of Florida, and the business 1!
exceedingly profitable. The trees ready
for sale at two years, and they can be solo
from then on for three. four, five or NOR,
years. They will bring. according to theil
| age and size. all the way from 81 TO SIS {
tree. II the rush to Porto Rico comes, a.
Major Harvey expects, 1t will be seen tina
his nursery will net him a fortune. 1t is
believe, so far the only one started OF
| the island.
PROFITS OF ORANGE GROWING.
chatted with Major Harvey about orang'
growing in Porto Rico. He tells me tina
good orange lands can be bought for from
$50 to 800 per acre. and that a man cal
make a fortune out of a hundred acres
Said he:
at think that hundred-acre grove shout
pay a man from $4,000 to $4,000 year a
the end of six years. He would have t
come here and handle the property himself
He would use the poems as laborers. The
/
be hired for from % to so cents day. TIL
man should not expect to do anything him
self but boss the job and furnish tn
brains" / think that syndicates could ais
do we'll, and the larger the capital the bet
ter the investment. There is America
fruit company which is making great des
! of money out of Jamaica fruits. Within
year from now there will be no tariff o.
fruit brought from Porto Rico to the Unite
States, and this island will lead the other
Of the West Indies in time In its fruit ex
! ports.
Il believe continued Major Harvey
that this is one of the richest islands Q
the world In its natural possibilities. 70
can raise anything here that you can rails
in California or Florida, and many thing
that you cannot. see no reason why Ems
lish walnuts, pecans and almonds could nc
be grown, and as for pineapples, / dout
whether the equal of the Porto Rican kin
can be found anywhere"
There is no doubt as to the excellence {
the Porto Rican pineapples. / have see
; some as big as peck measures. and pine
which weigh twenty pounds are not uncou
mon- They are sweet and full of juic,
They are far superior TO anything that eve
, / comes TO the United States. and they couI