BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1901-07-20
SAN JUAN, JULY 20, 1901.
Editorial Comment.

The Nicaragua Rubber and Agricultural
Company have issued circular to be dis
tributed in the United States irom which
we can do no better than quote IN con-
nectiOn with the remarks that have been
recently made in these columns oE indus
trial opportunities offered by Porto Rico.
As to the general promise Of tropical
farming the circular says:
"Tropical agriculture is far more remu-
lucrative than is tsrming in the temperate
regions. Coffee, cacao, vanilla, bananas
and rubber pay much better than potatoes,
corn. wheat, hay, etc. The chief crops OF
the Uri.ed States in 1897 showed an av-
erage value per acre of 1926; while the
average value of bananas grown in the
West Indies and Central America was
thirteen and one-haIf times as much, or
911l,67 per acre. The value of an acre
of rubber is easily three times greater than
tropics costs as little to produce as rubber
and bananas, and no crops are at once as
sure and require as little care. Rubber
and bananas are grown together, the young
rubber trees needing the shade of the more
quickly growing bananas, which yield an
income while the rubber trees are matur
ing.
A rubber-banana plantation is the safest
and most profitable investment known in
tropical agriculture"
ssThere is o taste in investments even
az in food and clothing. Some like to put
money In mining operations; others in ma
nDfacturing; some prefer to buy and sell
and "want to grow something" We don't
wish to arbitrarily classify you, but it may
have an influence if we tell you that sta.
tistics on this subject shosO that ninety
five per cent. Of all who engage in mer.
camille business fail; while only six per
cent. Of those who are employed in fruit
growing may be classed as failures. One
inference from these figures would seem to
be that it is safer to go into business with
Mother Nature as partner than it is to
depend on mere human cooperation"
"There is perhaps no industry that is SO
attractive to men of small capital as
banana growing, from tie fact that the
clearing of the land is effected cheaply,
and from the small cost of after cultivation,
which is limited to the clearing of such
weeds and lndergrowth as may be sufficient
to allow access to the trees, and the short
time necessary to produce paying crop.
When the trees and brush that have been
cut In clearing the land become sufficiently |
dry, they are burned, and the banana
suckers are then planted among the caar
red remains and ashes, without any further
preparation of the soil. The best results
are obtained by giving t1e trees plenty of
space, say from Is to IS feet apart. In
about ten months the first ruiz can be
gathered, but 10 the second year the trees
reach maturity, and by prop manag ement
of the fruit stalks in fair size plant ,tion
constant succession in the crop may be
secared, and fruit gathered every neek
throughout the year."
s'To capitalists..a and farmers the circular
sums up in these words: Why not 60:
Whsre northern heat and biting cold are
never felt,
Where are no destructive foods or ruinous
droughts,
And never ceasing winds bring coolness
from the sea,
Where spring is eternal and harvest never
ends,
Aud delicious fruits yield profusely through
the year,
Where the banana and the cocoa give
feod every hour,
Where little work insures against want
and care,
And health and happy leisure make old
age content"