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ILL., SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 1898.A BEAUTIFUL ISLAND.FAUPuerto Rico Is Indeed the Gem of[eor»ithe West Indies.hid-.0enIt linn Thirteen Hundred S(rtamif a Veritable Wealth of Vegetation, Highly Cultivable Soil and\Mflt Mineral DepoMitn.oro.reoral5C-53.ediyesy*[f©tfiupon*ss.he*88jon;arof*m-ifft.n,7heonin.[)f Uiin5rt«f‘StBX-J.,tw-5y-NTn,7Mr. Frederick A. Ober, late commissioner in Puerto Rico of the Columbian exposition, contributes to the Century an illustrated article on “The Island of Puerto Rico.” Mr. Ober•ays:In the extreme northeast rises the highest peak of the central Cordillera, in the Luquillo Sierra, known as “el Yunque,” or “the Anvil,” variously estimated at from 3,600 to 4,500 feet in height. The hills are of lesser elevation toward the west and southwest, but the whole north-central country is rugged and uneven. Between the spurs from the main range lie innumerable secluded valleys, where the .soil is of great fertility. The impressive features of the landscape are the rounded summits of the multitudinous hills, which leave the coast in constantly rising billows that finally break against the cordillera vertebra; vet all are cultivable, and cultivated to their very crests, though the higher mountain peaks are forest-clad.The higher hills are clothed in the exuberant and diversified vegetationoof the tropical forest, where tree-ferns flourish, and great gum-trees and mountain palms tower aloft; at lowerlevels are the cedar and mahogany,walnut and laurel, with many othersnoted for their useful woodls. 'Throughout the island are found those trees and shrubs valuable for their gums, as the raamey, guaiacum and copal, while the list of medicinal plants includes most of those, invaluable to our pharmacopeias, which tropical America has given to the world. Theseare the silvestres, nature’s wild children; but of cultivated plants there is no species peculiar to tlie tropics that does not flourish.here. In the littoral levels, between the mountains and the sea, grows the sugarcane, which may be cultivated up to an altitude of 3,000 feet. It was introduced here fromllowIt ithe c tainii diencBelutiveIts dSC X 1volul sion she !the i foot the ? port i“Waskelcamwhis“Cf ron plu n Timkindus t(Fcbrokself-( Olllipern in fiveryit titalleandlengT1talking *1 i 1.1 hto gTheI*»Dllun88,ts147s.inthealyrk,indre-er,?ouleduitearextuse3m-r to Bed ioffzly,c.s.th.Ofayirs7nts ses s— rthA SCENE IN PUERTO RICO.(A Comely Country Girl and CalabashTree.)lSan 000 a f i e zen the“Cdo vfurtprolsitic“I1 lie we r nunTimwer to n thrc liosl neci as i pris r u n “1 liancar ibut 1 tool thei t hatq u e andaa.th-thethe[offuller,rgede-ex-to , at get urs ihabeingoseCheapacemoShepering.1110* a uidDanl’eod,hatleftY.”cunivesuidIns,me,ats,oneier-l atdeists,Santo Domingo, having been brought to America either from Spain or the Canaries. The annual yield of sugar is estimated1 at about 70,000 tons.In these fertile lowlands, also, tobacco does exceedingly well, and the annual production is said to be quite 7,000,000 pounds. It may be cultivated on the hills, but ilie true mountain-lover is the coffee, which does not do well below 600 feet, and is at its best 1,000 feet above the sea. It was first brought here from Martinique in 1722, and now yields to the extent of 17,000 tons annually. Maize, the true Indian corn is indigenous, as is the yucca, the aboriginal “staff of life;”and both grow everywhere, as well as the pineapple, which is more reliable and more universal than the peach of our north temperate zone. C otton and rice are found at nearly all elevations, tliQ latter, which is the chief food of many laborers, being what is known as the mountain variety.Bananas and plantains are wonderfully prolific, bearing fruit in ten months from planting. The plants virtually last. 60 years, equally long-lived with the cocoa-palm, which produces nuts in six or seven years, and thereafter during the space of an ordinary life, its yield being reckoned at 100 nuts a year. The annual product of bananas is given as 200,000,000, and of cocoanuts 3,000,000. The entire range of tropical fruits is represented here, such as tlie guava, lime, orange, agminate, eapodilla and avocado pear; while all sub-tropic vegetables may be raised, including those of the south temperate zone, such, for instance, as are grown in Florida.The mineral kingdom has not been so exhaustively exploited as the vegetable, but more than traces have been found of copper, coal and iron, as j well as vast deposits of salt. The rivers at one time ran to the sea over beds of golden sand, and from the streams to-day (as in the neighboring island of Santo Domingo, where the first. American gold was discovered) tlie natives wash out nuggets, by the crude processes of that distant day when Agueynaba went prospecting with his false friend Ponce de Leon.There are no native quadrupeds here larger than the agouti and the armadillo, but birds are relatively numerous, with a few of fine song, and some of brilliant plumage. All domestic fowl do well here, and the great pastures of the northeast and southeast support vast herds of cattle and horses, which suffice not only for the needs of the island, but are exported to all parts of the West Indies, being held.in high esteem.inglt;V. .pleiHunc“Jtieshas whe Was t-ou { ordot Inhimo r chei far tlie e x p ry s-sho500headvwheconnotbuta blt;*a \ride d o r valiHOii uivslifclolt;“Tlt;Joiupc a h abs the tra clo a sSCOforupmisgajinthu$20,tioahea t the tru thedrr
Newspaper Details
Bloomington Sunday Leader
Bloomington, Illinois, US
Sun, Aug 07, 1898
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
FL, USA 30 Sep 2021
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