Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-10-17
FRUIT FROM PORTO RICO
A Growers Opinion of The Island's
 Oranges.

A Growers Opinion of The Islands
 "Porto Rico will be the orange islano
 of the world, it's coffee will come to
 have the same vogue in the United
 States 1t one time had in Spain, and
 its people will be lifted out of poverty
 and ignorance" This prophecy was
 made at the St. James hotel in Wash
 ington to a reporter for the Washing
 ton Star by Mir. James Struthers, or
 ange shipper and grower of Bayamon,
 Porto Rico. Mr. Struthers lived in
 Washington from 1885 to 1895, for a
 part of that time being engaged in the
 produce commission business.
 Porto Rico" continued MT. Struth-
 CTS, twill become a sea girt garden.
 The people there are going to find gold
 in the golden fruit, just as the people
 of Florida did and as the orange grow
 CTS of California do. Cold, which over
 whelmed the Florida growers in 1894
 and which threatens them in the Pen
 insula State every winter, is not feared
 in Porto Rico The hurricane danger is
 a small one because the orange lands
 are in the upland valleys, wind shel-
 tered by great hills. The late hurri-
 cane in Porto Rico did greatest dam
 age on the low sugar lands of the coast
 and along the water courses. Compari-
 son between central and southern Flor
 ida and Porto Rico as an orange land
 is all in favor of the latter: A high
 percentage, if not majority, of the
 American orange growers in Porto
 Rico are from Florida.
 "The orange districts of Porto Rico
 have a self evident advantage over
 southern California for the production
 of citrus fruits. Frost in Porto Rico
 is such a remote possibility that it is
 not to be considered. The island is
 well watered and has bounteous rain
 fall. It is nearer to the markets of the Atlantic states both in the matter of time and charges than California. It is four days sail from San Juan to New York, and 1t is an event when q fruit train crosses from California to the Hudson river in seven days. Porto Rico has plenty of cheap, faithful and willing field labor. It is not efficient labor as yet, but 1t will become so un. der American instruction and with the application of American field machin- cry and implements. The natives in the interior of Porto Rico are weak
 because they are underfed, but the main reason for their ineficiency is that there is no method in their work, and the only tool they know how to use is the machete. California's only <3 is that of daily or multidaily ship ments, but as the trade of Porto Rico is developed the steamship companies
 will provide frequent enough sailings.
 "As to quality, the Porto Rico orange
 is as good as any other. Of course, there are good and bad oranges in the island, just as elsewhere, but I am
 sure 1t is a reasonable statement that the average orange of Porto Rico is superior to the average orange grown in any of the citrus belts of the United States. But the quality of an orange depends largely on the grower. He
 can, if he understands orange culture and has favorable climate, make the
 kind of orange the public wants.
 "This winter there will be thousands of boxes of Porto Rico oranges from wild trees shipped to the American market, and they will sell side by side with the orchard fruit of California Cultivated oranges from Porto Rico will make strong impression on the
 market three or five years hence. Many groves have been and many are being planted in the island, and yet the in- dustry has scarcely been begun.
 "The coffee of Porto Rico will soon make itself felt in the United States market. There is no better coffee in the
 world outside of Arabia than that grown in our island. Millions of Amer jeans who believe they drink coffee three times a day would not know cof- fee if 1t were poured out to them. Tons of chickory, roasted beans and peas are being drunk for coffee, while the Porto Rican berries go to waste. Porto Rico's
 coffee is strong in tannin, and the
 American palate will not tolerate this. The berry Is shipped green to the Unit ed States and roasted by the Ameri- can or light process, which does not remove the tannin. This astringent quality is overcome by the French or dark roasting process, and plans are evolving to give Porto Rican coffee this treatment and build up demand for it in the United States by the dis tribution of samples.
 There are several thousand acres 1 planted in cotton for the first time in l twenty-five years. The quality is good l and the yield fair. With proper culti- vation 1t is destined to be paying crop. Sugar is the money crop of the island. The acreage has been largely increased since the American occupa- ton, but king sugar will have to take second place when the cultivated Porto Rico orange groves come Into bear anar ,,