Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-04
PORTO RICAN ORANGES.
AMERICANS INVEST EXTENSIVE
LY IN GROVES.
Postmaster Lands of San Juan Dis
cusses Conditions on the Island
The Capital Prosperous.

w X Lands, postmaster at San Juan,
Porto Rico. is at the Portland the guest of
his brother Representative Lands. San
Juan is prosperous and contented,' said
Mr.. Lands to a representative of The Star
Business has been conducted a solid
basis, and no storms have disturbed the
financial centers. There has not been
great influx of American merchants at San
Juan: business Is conducted mainly as it
was just after the war. In the suburbs
however, there has been a marked increase
in the American colony. This is due to the
large number of people who have gone over
from Florida to engage in orange growing
In my opinion the future of the island is in
citrous fruits, oranges, lines, etc. One man
VINO recently went from Florida has put 200
acres in oranges near San Juan, and that is
very large grove. Five acres make
gocd-sized orange grove Some Florida
people have bought extensively four miles
from San Juan and will put the land In
oranges, selling small plantations of i've
acres each An American company has also
gone in with 100000 capital for the pur-
pose of developing orange lands extensively:
The trees there will bear a few oranges the
third year One mature tree near San Juan
produced last year 1850 oranges, about 40
cases.
There is undoubtedly some speculation in
land on account of this tendency toward
orange culture. l bought IS acres of land
four miles from San Juan last spring, and
in three months was offered twice what l
paid for it. l think there is question
about the titles. They are traced back to
the Spanish. grants by agents versed in that
line of work, and l have not heard of any
proving defective.
The Question of Shipment.
Zone difficulty now.is the question of
shipment The plantations thus far have
been developed by individual enterprise
without any cooperation. When the trees
begin to bear in quantities line Of fruit
steamers will be necessary, and to make
them profitable there must be fruit enough
at one time to make a full cargo. This is
hard to figure upon at first and there may
be little loss and some confusion for a
time. I have no doubt this will work out
all right. for. l have said, oranges in
time will be the largest crop of the island.
The Tomato Bug.
"Other crops are not so profitable The
raising of tomatoes would be the most
profitable business but for an insect which
destroys the plant. The product itself is
large perfect and juicy but it requires a
great deal of care to ripen it. Tomatoes
sell for from IS to $40 bushel, and if they
could be raised as easily as in the United
States there would be quite a profit in the
business. This insect, the changa, some
thing like a grass-hopper, works under
ground and cuts the roots Of the tomato
plant while it is young, killing it. Growers
have discovered that by removing the top
and bottom of peach cans, other round
cans, and inserting them in the ground
around the roots, the top level with the
ground, this insect can be headed off. This
involves some labor and expense, and is not
considered practicable where large crops
are involved The agricultural experiment
in1G tinD With fJiSn .,r
Insects with the idea of noculating this
insect with some exterminating germ. !
do not know what progress has been made
in this direction.
The Porto Rican Soldiers.
II noticed in the paper the other day thai
the uniforms sent to the rural guard in the
Philippines on measurements taken some
time ago were proving too small, the
guard having In the meantime fattened on
army rations. We had remarkable Illus
tration of that in Porto Rico. The Porto
Rico Battalion, composed of men over
twenty-one, thoroughly matured was Sc
lected after a thorough physical eX:@t nina
ton. The height of the men was taken in
their stocking feet and carefully recorded.
A physical examination made six months
later by the same system of Measurement
showed that the men had increased in
height an average of one-fourth of an inch
as a result OF regular meals or army ra-
tons Perhaps the drill had somethinH to
do with making them erect and firm but in
any event 1t was a remarkable result Of
army methods
And speaking of the army, do not
think the United States ever advanced a
cause well 1t did by bringing the
Porto Rico regiment to the capital a the
time of the Inauguration. The members of
that regiment have been instructors ever
since. They never tire of telling of Amer
lean greatness great buildings, fast trains
big men (physically), and the many sights
they saw. 1t is the ambition of every
Porto Rican to some day come to the
United States, and their pride in their
American citizenship is unbounded. The
members of that regiment are looking for
ward to the next inauguration in the hope
that they may be sent again, and their
spare hours still devoted to telling their
friends what they saw in the United States
believe 1t would be good investment to
bring regiment or two from the Philip