Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 July 1901 — Porto Rico a Country of Farms. [ARTICLE]

Porto Rico a Country of Farms.

Of the 953,243 population of Porto Rico only 75.000 live in cities. On the island, but 100 miles long and thirtysix wide, are 40,000 district farms and one-flfth of the island under cultivation. The average size of a farm in Porto Rico is forty-five acres, of which twelve are cultivated. Seventy-one per cent of these Porto Rican farms are owned by white*. Ninety-three jht cent of nil the farm* are cultivated by their ownt'Ts, a higher rate of owner cultivation than tiie United States can show, where the proportion is but 72 per cent. Thirty-eight per cent of the Porto Ricans are colored. In Porto Rico 83 per cent of the colored people are of mixed blood. Tho percentage of illiteracy in Porto Rico la very high—about 84.—World’s Work.