“It is useless, therefore, to look for gardens and orchards in a country where the plow is yet unknown, and which has not even made the first step in agricultural development.”

* * * * *

Under the royal decree of 1815 commerce, both foreign and inland, rapidly developed.

From the official returns made to the Government in 1828 to 1830, Colonel Flinter drew up the following statement of the agricultural wealth of the island in the latter year (1830): 

Wooden sugar-cane mills       1,277
Iron sugar-cane mills           800
Coffee estates with machinery   148
Stills for distilling rum       340
Brick ovens                      80
Lime kilns                       45

Land under Cultivation

     Cane 14,803 acres. 
     Plantains 30,706 "
     Rice 14,850 "
     Maize 16,194 "
     Tobacco 2,599 "
     Manioc 1,150 "
     Sweet potatoes 1,224 "
     Yams 6,696 "
     Pulse 1,100 "
     Horticulture 31 "

Coffee-plants  16,750 acres      16,992,857
Cotton-trees    3,079 "           3,079,310
Coco-palms      2,402 "              60,050
Orange-trees    3,430 "              85,760
Aguacate-trees  2,230 "              55,760
Pepper or chilli or aji trees           500

The live stock of the island in the same year consisted of: 

Cows         42,500 head. 
Bulls         6,720 "
Oxen         20,910 "
Horses       25,760 "
Mares        27,210 "
Asses           315 "
Mules         1,112 "
Sheep         7,560 "
Goats         5,969 "
Swine        25,087 "
Turkeys       8,671 "
Other fowls 838,454 "

This agricultural wealth of the island, houses, lands, and slaves not included, was valued at $37,993,600, and its annual produce at $6,883,371, half of which was exported.  These statistics may be considered as only approximately correct, as the returns made by the proprietors to the Government, in order to escape taxation, were less than the real numbers existing.

The natural wealth of Puerto Rico may be divided into agricultural, pastoral, and sylvan.  According to the Spanish Government measurements the island’s area is 2,584,000 English acres.  Of these, there were

Under cultivation in 1830, as above
detailed 117,244 acres. 
In pastures 634,506 "
In forests 728,703 "
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Total tax-paying lands 1,480,453 "

The pasture lands on the north and east coasts are equal to the best lands of the kind in the West Indies for the breeding and fattening of cattle.  On the south coast excessive droughts often parch the grass, in which case the cattle are fed on cane-tops at harvest time.  There are excellent and nutritive native grasses of different species to be found in every valley.  The cattle bred in the island are generally tame.