The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1905-02-17
PORTO RICO REGENERATE
TROPICAL sPEcIALITiEs THAT
WILL REVoLUTIoNIZE THE
ISLAND.
The Prosperity Must Always Rest on
Its Agrlculture-The Litchl Tree
Prospects for Sapodllas-The
Cashew Tree-Ylanu-Ylan OIL.


Tropical Porto Rico is to be revolu-
tionized. American influences there
may not always have been for the best,
but the process Of adaptation is steadi-
ly progressing. When this is complet-
ed there will be a new future for
Porto Rico. The prosperity of the
Island must always rest in its agri-
culture; but this must be brought up
to date, and made to yield its quota
OF the worlds goods that are in special
demand.
Under the scientific directions of
the department of agriculture it is
proposed to make Porto Rico an
island of neutrality-suspicious. in
tropical commercial fruits. Sugar,
tobacco, and few other staple pro-
ducts will not be abandoned; but the
islands salvation appears to lie in 9TH
er directions. 1t needs more variety
OF industries-more materials out of
which to weave a solid, substantial
prosperity.
tons are all there, and even the pro-
ducts in some instances but there
have been lacking the brains and
the ability to adapt nature to the de-
mands of the day. For some time
now government experts have been
studying the botany of the island, and
incidentally experimenting with some
OF the native and important plants of
commercial value. The opening of
the prosperity of Porto Rico will be-
gin with the cultivation of these
plants according to the most recent
scientific methods. Many of them are
Indigenous to the island, but either
through lack of proper culture, or ig-
norance of their commercial value,
they have been of little real use to
the natives. Others are to be i'm
ported from the Orient and transplant
ed to the island for cultivation. They
are eminently adapted to the soil and
climate of Porto Rico, and hence there
is little doubt, in the minds of the
scientists having the matter in charge,
about their success.
One of these new plants to be trans
planted from southern China or Brit
ish India is the litchi tree Uitchi
chinensis), which is eminently adapt
ed to a climate and soil such as fur
nished in Porto Rico. Specimens of
these trees have been brought to this
country and experimental with in the
Washington greenhouses, and planta-
ed in Porto Rico by the government
experts within the next year. A litchi
orchard once started should prove
source of income for the owner for
lifetime. The fresh fruit has a delici-
GUS flavor, and dried the fruits resem-
BILE raisins in appearance. A few of
these dried fruits are imported from
the Orient every year, and they sell
as high as so cents a quart. In the
far east, however, they are eaten chief
~ in their fresh. acid condition. En-
quantities are consumed, and
they are considered by natives and
visiting foreigners in southern China,
British India and the Malay Peninsula
as most excellent fruits. The cultiva-
ton of plantations of these fruit trees
in Porto Rico should open a market
here for their products, and in a short
time the industry should prove most
paying and satisfying one.
The sapodilla tree is one that WISH
tors to Florida see at times. but it
has never been raised on a commercial
scale in that state. The sapodillas
are fruits that are greatly enjoyed in
tropical countries, and there is
growing demand in our northern
markets as they are better appreciat-
ed. The question of raising these in
Porto Rico on a large commercial
scale is not a doubtful or visionary
one. 1t is believed that there is a
great future for the trees when they
ire raised in sufficient quantities to
make it worth while to introduce the
be brought by steamers direct to this
and if properly refrigerated
n transportation they would offer a
empting fruit to the millions of con-
,umers in the United States. In Porto
Rico there is no frost to endanger
he life and production of the trees,
md a plantation should continue to
produce for upward of 20 years. When
90 old to yield good crop, the trees
furnish a most excellent and costly,
wood that sells for near
y as much as the cost of starting and
the grove for the first few
years.
The tree which produces the cashew
tut of commerce is tropical growth
hat can be raised in Porto Rico on a
arge scale, and it Is estimated that
plantations of this tree alone should
i'd many millions of dollars to the
stands income within the next half
century If its cultivation is wisely and
IL 30