270 
reaches a line in the State of Sinaloa where occasional frosts endanger 
the crop; and also for more than a thousand miles on the Gulf coast from 
Yucatan into Tamaulipas. In addition to these immense stretches of 
country it flourishes in the numerous and fertile valleys of the interior, 
wherever the great table Jand is sufficiently depressed to reach the level 
of tropical and semi-tropical vegetation. 
The elevation above the sea at which it is thought coffee is most 
favorably grown is from 1,000 to 4,000 feet; but in Mexico it is eultiva- 
ted with success at an elevation 4,500 feet, and it is found even still 
higher. So also it is grown at lower levels than 1,000 feet, as in various 
places in Mexico it is produced at the very sea-side. Off the eastern 
coast of Yucatan, on the island of Cozumel, coffee trees of prolific yield 
are growing nearly at the sea-level as well as in many other localities. 
on both the Pacific and Gulf coasts. So that it will be seen that the 
area for the cultivation of coffee in Mexico is immense. The amount of 
its production, so far as natural capacity is concerned, need only be 
limited by the extent of land brought under cultivation. 
As already stated, the adaptability of Mexico as a coffee producing 
country has been tested by more than fifty years of experience in its 
cultivation, which experience proves that in profit to the producer, as 
well as in quality of the article, this country has no superior. That it 
has not assumed the first place in exportation is to be attributed to 
other causes than the capacity of the soil, profit of the cultivation, or 
quality of the article—to the same causes which have retarded all com- 
mercial and agricultural development of the country. In 1818 and 1819 
the profitableness of the growth of coffee in the West Indies led to the 
establishment.of extensive plantations in the vicinity of Cordova and 
Orizaba, and in 1825 they were in a flourishing state. In the valleys of 
Cuernavaca and Cuautla, in the interior, in 1826 there were estates 
where there were growing aS many as five hundred thousand plants.* 
And elsewhere in the republic much attention was given to coffee 
planting at that period, and great hopes were entertained that the 
country would soon be largely engaged in its exportation to foreign 
countries. But the civil disorders, which began soon after and which con- 
tinued till lately, paralyzed all business enterprises, and disappointed 
these hopes; so that the coffee production of Mexico has been mostly 
limited to supplying the home demand, which is quite large, as coffee is 
in very general use by all classes. 
During the past few years, up to the close of 1875, there have been 
peace and security in the country, and the cultivation of coffee has 
begun to increase, so that a small exportation has commenced. The 
statistics of the single port of Vera Cruz will show the growth of this 
exportation, which, although insignificant as compared with the total 
production of the world, still indicates a very healthy development of 
this industry ; it ought in a few years to become very considerable: 
Exportation of coffee from Vera Cruz, 1871 to 1875. 
Pounds. 
Wear Ondine J0N0-30, 118i leap meses sen ce ee-its ene eee eeeee ee eos Apa 672, 588 
Mearonnine Une 50, Lote conch es soe cosepe ses scans eee eaten eee 1, 912, 020 
Meat ending Juri SU; Tad 22S aces: Sees > | ae tetas ae one Sele ee eaten 3, 909, 446 
Vearcnuding June/30, 1874... -cto 82.0. LS AeR TES eh, Shee eee 4, 204, 446 
enmendine \Jurie30, 187535: 2 5. set fe pags - si Sane eet es oes weet see 5, 373, 678 
The coftee exported from Vera Cruz is all grown in that State, with 
the valley of Cordova, on the Mexico and Vera Cruz Railway, as the 
chief center of its production. <A brief reference to the methods of its 
j *See Ward’s Mexico, book 1& 
