THE NUTMEG TREE.
The nutmeg tree grows to a height of thirty to fifty feet. The ripe
fruit looks somewhat like the apricot on the outside. It bursts in two
and shows the dark nut covered with mace, a bright scarlet. This is
stripped off and pressed flat. The shells are broken open when perfectly
dry, and the nuts powdered with lime to prevent the attacks of worms.
The tree bears the sixth or seventh year, - the nuts becoming ripe six
months after the flower appears. Twenty thousand nuts are sometimes
gathered from one tree.
Other important growths we find to be pepper, which begins to bear when
five years old and may bear for thirty years; the vanilla bean, which
proves to be very profitable when properly cared for; and cacao, which
requires eight years to come to full fruitage, but is an invaluable
plant.
MINERALS.
Puerto Rico has no mines or minerals of any consequence, except a little
iron. Foundries for magnetic iron have been established at Ponce, San
Juan and Mayaguez.
Gold, silver, copper and coal are known to exist in small quantities
beneath the surface, but not in sufficient amount to be mined.
The island is well supplied with limestone, which makes an excellent
building material. Marble, also, is easily obtained. Along the coast are
occasional marshes where salt is prepared for market.
OUR JOURNEY'S END.
Our month in Puerto Rico is drawing to a close, and the good ship which
is to bear us homeward is waiting in the harbor.
We make a last farewell tour of the shops in San Juan, and buy a few
gifts for the friends at home: a green parrot to please sister; a
tortoise-shell comb for mother; a cane for father, a native hat for
brother, and a calabash drinking bowl for the school museum.
It is with reluctant steps that we make our way to the ship. The clear
sky, the perfect climate, the constant verdure, the wonderful plants and
trees, and the beautiful mountain scenery make Puerto Rico one of the
most attractive lands to be found anywhere.
Although the roads are in a deplorable condition, a new system has been
planned, and will probably be soon completed.
Though the country may lack school buildings, the cities and towns are
better provided with other public buildings than most places of the same
size in the United States. And the eagerness with which the people seize
upon the statements that their children are to be given the same
opportunity for an education as children in the United States have,
indicates that the schoolhouses will soon dot the island.
The streets of the smallest villages are paved, and all contain some
place of recreation and attempts at ornamentation. Each village has one
or more public squares laid out with trees, walks, flowers, seats, and
usually with a band stand in the center.
We do not find these improvements in all our own small towns. But the
people need better schools, more nourishing food, and improved methods
of farming. Sanitary measures need to be introduced into the homes and
communities. Harbors need to be dredged, that ships may come closer to
land. The water power of many rushing streams needs to be chained and
made to generate electricity, to grind corn, to hull coffee, to cook
food, to pull cars, and to light cities.
There should also be fountains, baths, and sewers; the land in certain
sections should be irrigated, and the streams should be bridged, that
means for travel and transportation may be afforded.
Perhaps all this will be done, ere we visit this island again. At any
rate, we sincerely hope that this may be the beginning of a new and
better day for Puerto Rico.
[Illustration: PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY.]
* * * * *
REFERENCE BOOKS.
"Our New Possessions," by Trumbull White. Cloth, 676 pp........$2.00
"Puerto Rico and Its Resources," by Frederick A. Ober.......... 1.50
"The West Indies," by A. K. Fisk. 414 pp....................... 1.50
"Porto Rico," Hall............................................. 1.00
"Porto Rico," Rector........................................... 1.25
"Porto Rico," Dinwiddie........................................ 2.50
"Porto Rico," Robinson......................................... 1.50
"The West Indies and the Main"................................. 1.75
"At Last" and "A Christmas in the West Indies," Kingsley.......
"Three Cruises of the Blake," Alexander Agassiz. 2 vol......... 8.00
"Down the Islands," Palon...................................... 2.50
"The West Indies," Fiske....................................... 1.50
"In the Wake of Columbus," Ober................................ 2.00
"Due South," Ballou............................................ 1.50
"The Foreign Commerce of Our Possessions," etc., Treasury
Department, Washington.....................................
"Porto Rico," National Geographic Magazine, '99, 25 cts.
a number; per year......................................... 2.00
These books may be obtained from A. FLANAGAN Co., Chicago, Ill., at
price given. Considerable reductions may be secured, if several volumes
are purchased at one time.
TEACHER'S SUPPLEMENT
* * * * *
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO
* * * * *
SPECIAL SUGGESTIONS.
Children love to read or hear of the people of other lands, and the
tactful teacher will wrap her information about the natural features of
a country in the "sugared pill of stories."
Books of travel are helpful and interesting in linking together fact and
story. From them the child comes to feel a sympathetic interest in the
ways of people unlike those he knows.
By emphasizing the idea of continuity of beliefs and customs, we impress
the child with the most important lesson history and geography hold for
him, - that all countries and peoples are closely related and have mutual
interests.
"The acquisition of this feeling of the inter-relationship of the
nations of the world, while starting the child out with a broad view of
life, will in no wise lessen his love for his own country."
Too often the lonely little stranger in our midst - the foreigner - is
viewed with heartless curiosity, or contempt, and subjected to ridicule.
Patriotism to many a child means nothing more than a belief that our own
country is the best, our own people the smartest, and that we can whip
any and every other nation on the globe.
