The Italian Legacy in the Dominican Republic

415

DR. RAFFAELE CIFERRI’S CONTRIBUTIONS IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

the entire Republic.” Insects were collected systematically

during field investigations and crop inspection visits. Their

place was the Entomological Collection mentioned above,

where they were classified according to the plants that they

attacked, and also in combination with their entomopha-

gous enemies, predators, and parasites. This collection had

a mission to grow into a broad sampler of “Arthropods,

Insects, Myriapods, Spiders, Crustaceans, and other groups

of animals, for the purpose of forming an Agricultural Zoo-

logical Museum, which is greatly needed in this country.”

The

modus operandi

was the preparation of biolog-

ical boxes of the insects, which were observed system-

atically, to enable the observers to “summarize the life

of the insect and of its parasites,” as well as its relations

(with plants, other insects, and other sorts of animals),

and study its morphology and its scientific classification: a) Linnaean and b) Anderlich-Silvestri. This study

procedure was applied to all of the insects, regardless of whether they were noxious or beneficial to Domin-

ican agriculture.

Chemistry Laboratory

The primary labors of this component of the National Agronomic Station have to do with soil studies, includ-

ing the composition of minerals (coal, copper, etc.), the presence or absence of mineral waters, and fertilizers,

as well as the plants that produce edible products for consumption or export. The soil study made it possible

to judge the potential for adaptation of plants that could be brought in and cultivated in the Republic and to

determine which new crops might be the most advantageous. The laboratory also responded to requests from

farmers, who would send samples with their common names; the Station provided analyses and, in addition,

supplied the scientific names of the plants.

Regarding mineral waters, by 1927 the results were available from the “Analysis of thermal water from

the Province of Azua,” determining its levels of hydrogen sulphide and minerals, although the bacteriological

analysis was still pending. Comparisons were also made with other thermal springs in Europe, the Americas,

and Oceania. Analysis was made of water from the Laguna Salada (Salt Lagoon), whose “high chlorine content

makes it unpleasant,” also “almost indigestible and not potable.” Water from Villa Vásquez was also analyzed

and found to be “hard water and very difficult to digest.”

Meanwhile, many agricultural products were also analyzed. These included sugarcane, cacao, coffee, and

popular foods such as tubers (sweet potatoes, yams, cassava, plantains) and rice, as well as many different

grasses for fodder. From these analyses arose numerous suggestions for the industrial exploitation of many of

these products. In 1927, the initiation of “the classification of the soils in the Republic” was envisioned as a ma-

jor long-term task for the National Agronomic Station. For this project a complex method would be utilized

for tropical soils; it was described as “modern classification based on its

profiles

that tell us not only what a soil

is and what it is worth today, but also its layered strata, its development, its history and its future, that is, its

aptitude for improving, conserving, or losing its current characteristics” (p. 360).

Forestry Section

One of the most significant challenges was the question of pine forests, because the indiscriminate felling

of pine trees was destroying any possibility of a streamlined exploitation of the forest. It was suggested

A map of the provinces

of Santo Domingo, as

published in the article

by Dr. Raffaele Ciferri

“Phytopathological

Survey of Santo

Domingo, 1925-

1929,” featured

in the

Journal of

the Agriculture

Department of Puerto

Rico,

January 1959.

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