PROPAGATION OF MISCELLANEOUS TROPICAL FRUITS. The ten foregoing subjects have been taken up first, not by any means because they are the most important, but because they come nearest to hand. The fact is that the Tropics possess so many unsolved horticultural problems that one is more likely to undertake too much than not enough, but it is much to be deplored that the propagation of a delicious fruit like the Ceriman (Monstera deliciosa) should be neglected just for the want of a few hours' time, or that the propagation of the fruit of all fruits, the mangosteen, should be delayed for another year simply for the want of a little more money. A hundred small seedlings of this tree were recently received from the U. S. Department of Agriculture, but unless time can be spared to bud, graft, or inarch it onto some allied species, of which there are some growing wild on the island, it will be many years before Porto Rico will produce mangosteens, and, in fact, it may never do so, as the tree may not succeed on its own roots in the Porto Rican soil. The guava grows wild in Porto Rico-in fact it is a weed and is met with everywhere. In spite of this, the writer has not been able to obtain a fruit which a Floridian would call edible. Here is room for improvement. The Spondias dulcis, a tree bearing a fruit nearly as large as an apple and of fine flavor, grows on the island, but is not very common because it is extremely difficult to propagate. If it could be grafted on hog plum, or Jobo (Spondias lutea), one of the most common trees of the island, or even on the Spanish plum (Spondias purpurea) it would be worth a great many thousand dollars to the island. Many more of equal importance might be added. REPORT OF J. W. VAN LEENHOFF, COFFEE SPECIALIST. This year has been one of exceptional climatic conditions. The wet season, which as a rule ends about the middle of January, continued all through the months of February to April, and an especially heavy rainfall occurred during March. In consequence the blossoming of coffee, which occurs during these months, has been irregular, small, and damaged. It is estimated that the coffee crop will be only about from one-third to one-half of last year's crop. Oranges, mangoes, and all other fruits have suffered even more, and minor fruits have in most cases given very poor results. As various other districts report similar conditions, it can be said that the whole interior of the island has suffered a crop failure. The influence of the conditions upon our experiments has been that we can not show results of our work. Experiments with fertilizers do not show any returns in larger quantities of berries, but only in a more luxurious foliage and the general finer condition of the trees. The same can be said of all other experiments made with the view of increasing the production per tree. IMPROVEMENT OF OLD COFFEE GROVE. The crop produced on each of the 10 acres was again ascertained. Besides, all the productive trees thereon were counted in order to make it possible to get at the figures of production per tree. The results, as shown by the crop of 1903, are given below. The same figures of the cost of production as last year were used, except the price of pulping, hulling, and drying, which was increased from 60 cents to 75 cents per 100 pounds, making the cost per 100 pounds for harvesting and marketing the coffee as follows: After the harvesting the whole of the 10 acres was again carefully weeded and the trees pruned. The pruning consisted in the removal of all dead wood, the cutting down of all stumps that had lost their branches, excepting a few at the top, and the removal of all suckers. In some cases where stumps had lost many branches, but not sufficient to as yet cut them down, one or more suckers were allowed to remain so as to produce new stumps for the time when the old ones should be cut down. The planting of leguminous plants between the coffee gave very good results as far as these plants themselves were concerned. After attaining maturity they were hoed under, but results to the coffee could not be obtained for the same reason as given for the fertilizers. CUTTING COFFEE TREES TO STUMPS. The trees in plats 9 and 10 cut to stump last year are doing well, in so far as they are not suffering from the attack of the leaf miner. The two shoots allowed to remain on each stump have now developed into trees about 6 feet high, which promise to be in bearing next year. RENOVATING OLD COFFEE PLANTATION. Plat No. 13 was found to consist of a thin layer of soil on top of rock, for which reason it was found not possible to cultivate it, and accordingly it was abandoned. Plat No. 14 was planted with 164 coffee seedlings from nursery beds and 38 guaba seedlings for shade. All were cut on stump to 6 inches above the root collar, and are now doing very well. Plat No. 15 was planted to alfalfa with the intention of using this as green manure by plowing it under, and then to plant coffee. The alfalfa, however, looked so promising that it was decided to allow it to stand, to reseed where necessary, and to continue experimenting with it in the hope that it might prove a valuable acquisition to the agricultural resources of the island of Porto Rico. On plat No. 16, after the cowpeas planted last year were plowed under, plant holes were made and 190 coffee seedlings and 28 guaba seedlings for shade were planted in the same way as on plat No. 14. All are doing very well. EXPERIMENTS WITH NEW PLANTINGS. Fourteen acres of virgin forest land have now been cleared, laid out in fields, and partly planted. The clearing consisted of Cost per acre. Cutting away the underbrush, followed by felling the trees-- $5.50 Total cost of clearing per acre_ 5.50 11.00 The very heavy timber, too heavy to be piled, was allowed to remain untouched. The soil thus prepared was lined and staked at distances of 7 by 7 feet, and according to these stakes a map showing the roads and different fields was made. Trails giving access to all fields have been made, and such small wooden bridges as were necessary were constructed. All plants set are doing well. IMPROVEMENT IN PORTO RICAN COFFEE. Coffee and shade trees have been planted for experiments with plant distances, as follows: This close planting has been used in order to find out whether it would be profitable to harvest from double the quantity of trees. while they were small and to remove one-half for transplantation to another site as soon as the trees have become so developed that their branches touch each other. For experiments with topping, crossbreeding, etc., land is in course of preparation and will soon be planted, for which 1,155 fine seedlings are ready in the nursery beds. PLANTING OF FOREIGN COFFEE. Owing to the difficulty of procuring foreign coffee and the loss of germinating power of coffee during long transportation, due in several cases to the poor preparation of the seed by shippers, it has not been possible to grow a representative collection of all coffees of different countries of the world. I regard it as of the highest importance to secure with the least possible loss of time all these different coffee varieties, so as to be able to select out of them the very best and most suitable to the American palate with which to improve our crop, either by direct planting or by crossbreeding. Thus far have been planted: In fields: 70 Hawaiian trees, received from W. W. Brunner. 58 Ceylon hybrids, probably Maragogype and Ceylon seed, received from United States Department of Agriculture, Section of Seed and Plant Introduction, Washington, D. C., No. 8682. 10 Philippine trees, received from Mr. Bliss, ex-private secretary of governor of Porto Rico. 5 Haitian trees, received from officers of Dutch man-of-war De Ruyter. In nursery beds: 4 Nuevo Café Pieraldi, received from Mr. Felipe Pieraldi, Yauco. This is probably a sport and similar to the many-seeded coffee received in 1873 by the botanical garden, Buitenzorg, Java, from Menado (Celebes). In seed beds: 814 Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, received from Mr. José M. Valdés. 461 Maragogype, from Guatemala. 30 Caracolilla (?), from Guatemala. 30 Maragogype, from trees grown in Porto Rico. 180 Liberian, from Trinidad. 228 Abeokuta, from St. Lucia. 206 Mauritius. 221 Preanger, from Java. 192 Menado, from Java. 204 Padang, from Java. Besides making experiments with coffee, which necessarily takes a long time before results are obtained, experiments with other plants have been undertaken which may give immediate results in improving the condition of the people living in the coffee regions and yield the planter profits between the coffee seasons. Also, experiments have been begun with such crops as may prove valuable additions to agriculture in the coffee regions in soils not occupied by coffee. For these objects the following have been planted: Bananas from the station at Mayaguez and other sources, 132 plants of 28 varieties; yautias, 177 plants of 12 varieties; tea, 19 plants of 3 varieties. There have also been planted besides trees suitable for shading coffee certain. economic fruits, as oranges, lemons, and figs, and other trees, such as rubber, eucalyptus, etc. A number of varieties of yams and sweet potatoes are planted, and experiments are underway in cotton growing for the interior high lands of the island. REPORT OF J. VAN LEENHOFF, TOBACCO EXPERT. The information embodied in the first part of the following article was gathered during a trip of two months and a half through the island of Porto Rico from planters and manufacturers in the tobaccogrowing districts of Aibonito, Cayey, Cidra, Caguas, Aguas Buenas, Comerio, Arecibo, Utuado, Yauco, and Jayuga, several days being spent in each district. Not only were investigations made into the local methods of growing tobacco, but typical tobacco samples were secured from each of the above districts for further study in the laboratory. Samples of typical soils and subsoils were obtained for chemical and physical examination. In Porto Rico the seed bed is usually made on high inclined land and sometimes on level lands called "vegas." The high lands are, however, preferred, because they are more exempt from the depredations of insects. The preparation of the bed usually consists in |