Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 169, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 July 1914 — COFFEE IN DEMAND [ARTICLE]

COFFEE IN DEMAND

Porto Rican Crop Wanted Abroad But Not in* United States. Grapefruit and Cocoanuta Offer Big Opportunities for Investment, Although Sugar and Tobacco Still . Lead as Exports. Washington, D. C.—The coffee raised in our island possession, Porto Rico, is in great demand abroad and the foreign market places it, at the top of the price list of coffees from all over the world, according to experts at the United States department of agriculture’s Porto Rican experiment station. However, the people of the United States have developed a taste for a different kind of coffee, and the preference of a great many people/ will have to be changed in order to obtain a larger market for Porto Rican coffee in this country. The cost of changing the acquired taste of the American seems too great to justify the attempt so long as such excellent prices are obtained elsewhere for the product. ' ' During the past year, says the new-ly-issued annual report of the department’s station in Porto Rico, the value of the exports of coffee amounted to a great deal more than they ever have since the American occupation. Better cultivation and higher prices havn ennhlAri tha <-nffee Industry to show great progress, and planters are now following better practises in the selection of their seed for planting. The department’s station is Introducing the so-called “Java” and other coffees which are yielding better than native coffee and giving a higher percentage of large and uniform grains. The coffee is grown for distribution to planters on the Island and has been resulting in greater yields as well aB in better prices for the planters. Of the coffee exported during the past year, $8,378,346 .worth went to foreign countries, while 0n1y5132,970 worth went to the United States. Although today there exists a benefit of tariff, the coffee is still following the old lines of trade established by tariff laws during the Spanish regime, it is a marked indication of the truth that trade established upon preference of taste for a certain product is a most difficult one to change. However, associations and individuals are still striving to extend the market and to gain even a higher reputation for the coffee of Porto Rico. The grapefruit industry which started from nothing ten years ago’lS now thriving in Porte* Rico and promises good returns to the man with perseverance, industry, and personal supervision. Porto Rico is safe from frosts that threaten the industry oh the mainland and at the open door of the best market in the world —New Yorjf and the eastern seaboard. The grapefruit industry represents the highest type of intensive farming, and is sure to increase to a much greater extent in-Porto Rico as the trees which are already planted come into bearing. The value of the exports of grapefruit last year ($726,687) was exceeded by the exports of two other fresh-fruit industries which have been established for a much greater period in the island. Oranges were the value of $740,010, ahd pineapples to the value of $1,142,007; $151,681" worth of canned pineapples "ivaa also exported. There is considerable planting of cocoanuta in Porto Rico and 'there are extensive areas yet where these tiroes may be profitably set out X cocoanut grove, properly cared tor, yields a sure and steady income. BetAm milHvatiait tha growing nf Vftgfltir MU CUtUTBUWII DWW psvwwiw ■■■

bles among the trees, the utilization of seaweed and other manures, yield excellent returns over cost The value of exports of cocoanuts for the past year amounted to $352,390. Besides being Interested in oocoanuts, the department’s agricultural station has a number of other nutbearing trees on trial, both etfible and 1 oil-bearing, and it Is hoped that some will prove profitable for cultivation there. Although the other agricultural products show such great promise, sugar and tobacco still continue to lead all others by a big margin. The exports of sugar during the last year had a total value of $27,226,905, while the value of the tobacco exports were, manufactured, $5,824,030; unmanufactured, $3,188,227. Planters are, now introducing improved varieties of cane, while the cultivation and fertilization of the crop has been vastly improved. On the other hand, lands not well suited to the crop have been planted and others have been continuously planted to cane, so that yields have been reduced to a minimum. Many of these lands will now go out of cultivation. Porto Rican tobacco, as well as sugar, is being improved in quality. This improvement is resulting in its finding a larger market and increasing prices. There is a large population skilled in certain lines of tobacco manufacturing such as cigar-making.