December 



,:;;;.;.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



477 



industry with regular shipments, it should command from 

 £00 to £70 per ton. An idea of its great strength and value 

 in some instances may be gained from its use in hydraulic 

 machines. "Where hoses made of the strongest known 

 vegetable fibre, not rhea, will only stand a pressure of 300 

 lb. rhea will stand 800 lb. and burst the machine, and has 

 done so. Only rhea was tried on Saturday, but there will 

 be another trial on Wednesday next after tiffin or at 3 p.m., 

 when rhea and other fibres will be tried, as it is hoped the 

 Madrasees will have arrived before then. 



We shall watch with much interest the further 

 prosecution of the Glenrock experiment, but the re- 

 sults will probably not be fully given to the public, more 

 especially if the directors find they have " struck gold" 

 at last, through cultivating rhea and other fibres. 

 Let Dundee come to the front and establish a Plant- 

 ation in Ceylon, on which every fibrous plant under 

 the sun, if need be, can be tried. 



COFFEE PRODUCTION. 



[With the qualification that no very large decrease 

 in coffee production has as yet taken place in Brazil, 

 the following article is worthy of careful consider- 

 ation, showing as it does that in a considerable pro- 

 portion of the coffee growing countries of the world, 

 production is diminishing. — Ed.] 



A majority of the coffee dealers of the country will 

 say, if applied to for information on the subject, that 

 the comparatively low price of the staple which has 

 ruled in the principal markets during the past three 

 years, is due to overproduction in cousequence of the 

 annual increase of the acreage of the plantations. 



A careful sifting of the statistics connected with 

 this important industry will not bear out the asser- 

 tions of the coffee dealers, but will elicit the fact that 

 for the last two years the acreage of coffee planting, 

 in many localities, has sensibly declined, while the 

 inquirer will discover that the number of coffee- 

 producing plantations three years ago was sufficient 

 not only to supply the demand at that time, but the 

 call for coffee for several years to come. The follow- 

 ing interestiiug details connected with coffee production 

 in Central America, show that Guatemala is the only 

 locality in that territory where coffee planting is on 

 the increase, while Nicaragua, San Salvador and Costa 

 Rica indicate a sensible decline. The production in 

 Mexico also shows a decrease : — 



Between Dec. 3rd 1883, and March 15th, the ves- 

 sels of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company brought 

 177,896 sacks of coffee into Panama Bay. Of this 

 number 5,230 came from Mexico, 90,059 from Guate- 

 mala, 29,534 from Salvador, 14 from Honduras, 

 2,387 from Nicaragua and 50,072 from Cosia Rica. 

 Thus Guatemala stands at the head of the list with 

 more than 50 per cent of the total shipments, Costa 

 Rica being second with a little less than a third 

 of the whole. 



The ports of the differ, nt republics from which the 

 coflbe came, and the amounts received in each, are 

 shown in the following list : 



Mexico. — Port Angel, 3,042 ; Salinas Cruz, 150 ; San 

 Benito, 2,032. Total, 5,230 sacks. 



Guatemala. — Tecojate, 4 998 ; Champerico, 67,414 ; 

 San Jo*e 23,647. Total, 90,059 sacks. 



Salvador.— Acajutla, 22,914; La Libcrtad, 5,S90 : 

 La UnioD, 741. Total, 29,534 sacks. 



Honduras. — Amapala, 14 .-ack?. 



Nicaragua. — Corinto, 2,252; S^ii Juan de Sur, 135. 

 Total, 2,387 sacks. 



Coxta Rica. — Puntarenae. 50,072 sacks. 



The largest shipment, 61,414 sacks, was made from 

 Champerico, and the smallest, 14 sacks, from Ampala 

 the only port of Honduras ou the Pacific coast. 



In Ceylon and Java, while there are mauy fair 

 si/ a plantations, the coffee iudustry is greatly 

 divided up, and numerous small producers supply the 



demand. In Columbia and Venezuela and in Nicaragua 

 and Costa Rica, the proximity of that great enterprise, 

 the Panama Canal construction work, and the high 

 rate of wages that obtain ou the Isthmus, have very 

 materially affected the labor market in the above- 

 mentioned countries, and thousands of the working class 

 emigrate annually to that more fortunate locality. 

 Thus the price of labor has increased the cost of pro- 

 duction. In parts of Costa Rica this problem has 

 assumed such proportions that many coffee plantations 

 have actually been abandoned. We baBe our assertion 

 up the late report of the Minister of Fomento of Costa 

 Rica. 



At Cordoba, Mexico, an analogous condition of affairs 

 rules. Railroad enterprises give higher rates of wages 

 The agricultural laborers have deserted the plantations' 

 and have flocked to the railroads in hopes of obtaining 

 greater compensation for their labor. In consequence 

 the increased cost of coffee production has effectually 

 prevented the increase of the acreage of planting. 



Cuba, which, years ago, exported quantities of the 

 precious staple, no longer produces a sufficiency for 

 home consumption. In Santo Domingo and Puerto 

 Kico no sensil le increase of the aereage of coffee 

 production has been visible for the past five years, 

 while Jamaica scarcely considers this industry worthy 

 further attention. In Brazil the labour supply ques- 

 tion, in consequence of the abolition movement, has 

 assumed alarming uncertainty. In that country, 

 therefore, the acreage of coffee production has by no 

 meaus augmented, while grave fears are entertained 

 that the industry is positively ou the decline. From 

 the above, then, it will be seen that while at 

 Cohnia (Mexico), in Guatemala, in Honduras, and 

 perhaps in Java and Ceylon, the acreage of coffee 

 planting is slightly on the increase;* at Cordoba, 

 Mexico, and in the other countries abovementioned, 

 this industry is, to say the least, at a standstill' 

 while in many of the localities it has actually de- 

 clined. It is safe, therefore, to assume that the 

 present coffee production will fill the demand for 

 some time yet. But the increased consumption will 

 eventually make an impression on the market, and 

 coffee producers, who are now suffering from low 

 prices, will then reap the reward of their courage 

 and constancy. — Rio News. 



CINCHONA PLANTING AND PROSPECTING 

 IN GUATEMALA. 

 (Extracts from, an ex-Ceylon Planter's letters.) 

 April 10th. — I received your long and to me very wel- 

 come letter, but, before replying thereto, I must give you 

 a short sketch of my further wanderings since my return 

 here (city of Guatemala). Almost immediately after my 

 arrival from Ceylon with the cinchona seed, I started 

 for the Mexican boundary, or rather " Porvenir " the 

 estate of the President, which is situated near the 

 boundary where I sowed my first seed ; thence I pro- 

 ceeded to the different Coffee districts situated along 

 the Pacific slope, at most of which places I sowed 

 seed. I was 43 days in the saddle altogether before 

 I returned to the city. The ride, of course, I did 

 nut mind so much, but the fare is of the hum- 

 blest description as also is the accommodation. 

 I had hardly been here a few days then I was off 

 again to the opposite side of the Republic, the Depart- 

 ment of Cohan on the Atlantic Coast. Here I formed 

 seven other nurseries, and then returned again lo the 

 city. I have been here about three weeks, and leave 

 again in a few days on a visit of inspection up the Coast. 



