The centrals usually raise about one-half of the cane they grind. The rest they buy from the colono, who grows cane either on his own land or upon ground rented to him by the central owner. As a rule the price paid to the colono for his cane is 5 per cent of the weight of the cane in sugar, although this is subject to modification at times. As the central factories are of recent construction, they are equipped with the newest and best machinery and the most scientific methods govern their operation.
In 1853 Porto Rico exported 112,000 tons of sugar; the following year the amount was 70,000 tons and during the next twenty years it remained nearly stationary. In 1871 the production reached 105,000 tons, dropping back to 89,000 tons in 1885 and 65,000 tons in 1886. The crop of 1900 was very small—35,000 tons—owing to the havoc wrought by an unusually severe hurricane, but from that time on it has increased year by year.
As most of the diseases and pests that attack sugar cane are met with in Porto Rico, it is obvious that the work of the United States agricultural station at Mayaquez has been of inestimable benefit to the planters. Experimenting with different varieties of cane, importing seed cane from other countries, analysis of soils, scientific advice upon the use of fertilizers and instruction as to the best means to destroy or control harmful parasites, these are but a few of the many important services rendered by the station.
The outlook for Porto Rico’s sugar industry seems hopeful. Labor is cheap and abundant, climatic and soil conditions are favorable and an irrigation project at present under way promises to convert lands now arid into productive cane fields.
Since 1900 the production of sugar in Porto Rico in tons of 2240 pounds has been:
| 1900 | 35,000 |
| 1901 | 80,000 |
| 1902 | 85,000 |
| 1903 | 85,000 |
| 1904 | 130,000 |
| 1905 | 145,000 |
| 1906 | 213,000 |
| 1907 | 210,000 |
| 1908 | 200,000 |
| 1909 | 245,000 |
| 1910 | 308,000 |
| 1911 | 295,000 |
| 1912 | 320,000 |
| 1913 | 350,323 |
| 1914 | 325,000 |
| 1915 | 308,178 |
| 1916 | 378,509 |
THE PHILIPPINES
This group of islands is situated about 500 miles off the southeast coast of Asia, between 4 degrees 10 minutes and 21 degrees 10 minutes north latitude and between 116 degrees 40 minutes and 126 degrees 34 minutes east longitude. It is bounded on the west and north by the China sea, on the east by the Pacific ocean and on the south by the Celebes sea. It comprises 3141 islands, of which 2775 contain less than one square mile each. According to the Philippine census of 1903 the total area is 115,026 square miles,[44] although some authorities estimate it to be as much as 127,800 square miles. Two-thirds of this is forest land and not more than 9½ per cent of the entire archipelago was classified under Farms in 1903. The area devoted to sugar cane the year previous was 177,628 acres, about 5 per cent of the cultivated land.
The islands are chiefly of volcanic origin and their surface is much broken by hills, isolated volcanoes and mountain ranges running north and south, northwest and southeast or northeast and southwest. There are twelve active volcanoes in the group and eight others with well-defined cones that are either dormant or extinct. The highest elevation in the islands is Mount Apo, an extinct volcano on Mindanao, 10,312 feet, with Mount Mayon, an active volcano on Luzon, next, 8970 feet. Earthquakes are frequent and occasionally violent.