Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-30
REPORT OF DIRECTOR MAY
Efforts Have Been Hampered by
Lack of Money.
THE PRODUCTION OF COFFEE
Raising of Sugar Cane and Tobacco
Great Profits Found in Cotton
Vigilance is Necessary.


Gus study with the United States govern
ment. A few years ago this was unthought
Of, but with the acquisition OF Porto Rico.
the Philippines and Hawaii the problem
has become an important one and the re-
ports from the tropical possessions not only
make interesting reading, but show the
variety of interests that this country has
to serve. The report of the Porto Rican
experiment station has just been made to
the Department of Agriculture and. al
though It notes scarcely more than a be-
ginning of the work, II indicates that there
wilt be many things doing agriculturally
in that part of the world In few years.
The experiment station has recently been
enlarged by having the adjoining old Span
Ssh station turned over to II, making alto
gether 242 acres OF farm The director, Mr..
May says that the work has been greatly
hampered by lack of money, but that the
station realized 81 coo last year off Its prod
ucts and that they hope to do better in the
future.
He says agriculture in the tropics is so
essentially different from that of the tenn
perate zone and there are many different
problems TO be attended to that Ii is hard
with a limited amount of money and almost
no skilled help to know where to start.
However, the ground has been gone over
In general way and many special lines
OF investigation have been started. The
cane, as the natural staple crop of the
Island, and there is an interesting volume
about the work with coffee and the work of
getting 1t commercially introduced into the
United States. The insular government
has established a special agency In New
York for selling and introducing the coffee
free of cost to the planter. The Porto
Rloan berry is peculiar in some ways and
is different in flavor from the higher grade
OF coffee that the consumer in the United
states is used to. but there is already
great deal OF trade with Cuba. owing to
ths favored tariff relations, and the trade
with the United States in coffee is grow
ing. Mr. May thinks 1t will become i'm
portrait as soon as the American taste is
accutomed TO the Porto Rican berry The
experiments on the station farm and In
the plantations of the island as a whole
nave been satisfactory The better grades
OF foreign coffee are being tried and the
best methods of fertilization determined
the coffee from one experimental patch
averaged S11.3712 per 100 pounds at Ponce.
which was considered doing very well
Necessity for Vigilance.
But agriculture in the tropics according
to the report is not all an irridescent
dream. good many crops will not grow
there at all, and many others produce all
foliage and no fruit. 1t is not a question
OF just sticking any old thing in the ground
and sitting down to watch it grow. The
soil has to be studied and has TO he fer
ullzed, the same as In a more temperate
cline. There are numerous insect foes to
De dealt with, and the enemies OF the crops
increase as the area cultivated is en-
larged. Many of the plants also grow so
rapidly and rankly that 1t keeps the ex-
perimenter busy following up any line of
investigation, and he has to crowd three
years work into one to keep up with the
progress of the tropical growth.
The station has had to do a lot of things
with a lot of different subjects. and has
dealt with coffee and cane raising with
nf~ hFn linz
ductiOn OF a lot of foreign fruits and the
Improvement of native varieties In the
fruit line alone there were fifty-tyo va
r!etles experimental with and reported on,
showing the growth that each one made
and the prospects of its proving of COM
mercial Importance. Many of these were
more or less familiar, such as plneapples
and bananas, cocoanuts and the like but
there were some entirely strange To the
average northerner. the cherimoya. the
otahite apple, the loQuat and the surnim
CHERRY and score Of other weird things
In the fruit line that make a nightmare
picture OF the years work at the expert
ment station.
Although there are a good many insect
pests 10 be dealt with in Porto Rico. there
are not as many as possibly might be ex-
pected In the tropics The worst of the
crop troubles come from not properly rotat-
ing the crops on the cane land and sim
liar precautions that American scientific ex-
perlence Will be able TO guard against
Next TO cane and coffee, the most inpor-
tant crop is and will be tobacco. Some Of
the valleys of the island will grow cigar
tobacco that is almost equal to the Cuban
ana the station is working with various
varieties and crosses that promise to i'm
prove the quality of the crop.
Cotton Will Thrive.
Porto Rico is a land where cotton Will
grow Wild, and II has been found thar the
famous sea island cotton will thrive there
and makes immensely valuable crop.
or course, the seed has TO be watched to
see that &, does not deteriorata, as sea
island cotton will If II is not carefully
guarded and selected. and the cultivated
cotton has to be watched to sea thar IL Is
not contaminated with the wild cotton that
grows naturally on the island Thrra IL
one thing In favor of Porto Rico az a
newly added part OF the American cotton
pet ana that Is that there is no boil weevil.
ana every effort will be made TO keen the
insect out OF the island. Egyptian cotton
mas peen Tried at the experiment station.
oI gu, II mas h9t done We'll run uns 10 foliage
without producing a good crop
Rice forms one az the chief dishes OF the
country. both rich and poor casing IT. vet
The bulk Of 1t is imported frcm I-ouisian,,
simply because with machinev9 il can ne
raised more advantg geuusIY there ;h;n in
Porto Rico. even with ,he cncao labor and
the advantage OF soil and climate TIE
station has been working On The tIcn prob
lem, and finds that II is one OF In, bAsr
crops TO rotate with sugar cane ana it
seems there is no reason why the Slend
should not eventually raise enough for It's
own use and possibly some For export as
well.
Extensive experiments nave been made
with fiber plants. and & has been foun
that sIsal grows better than anything else
in that line. Samples have been sent To
the mills in New Jersey. and t&a repor,s
have been favorable. The :nsuiar goVefn-
meut has determined 10 put sIsai gr0Wirs
on a commercial footing, and hrs set out
loo.HO plants under the supervision OF the
experiment station.
Flowers have been grown by he station
to some extent and there is much tina:
might be said about the experiments With
different varieties OF roses ana other few
ers that grow rank under tae favor HE
climatic conditions.
Animal breeding has been done to some
extent. and there is movcracft on foot
TO improve the native oreeis OF horses
which has sadly gone to seed. The ex-
periments in this line have oeel eneourag-
ing. The breeding OF beef and dairy cat
tie also has been satisfactory. but shg ep
have not done well. as The climate is tno
warm to produce a good heeSe.
Thus II will be seen that the agricultural
experiment station has had Its hands futt