PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 289 



the Club, by the secretary, and was requested to inform the 

 members in relation to the agriculture of that country. 



Mr. Koch then gave an interesting account of Tobasco, the 

 State in which he resides, and of its productions. He remarked 

 that he arrived in tlmt country last August, and had settled on 

 a plantation on the Tobasco river, about six miles from its mouth. 

 This river empties itself into the Gulf of Mexico. 



He had returned to New York for the purpose of purchasing 

 agricultural implements and machinery. 



The mode of cultivation pursued in Mexico was very rude. 

 They had hardly any implements of agriculture. The Indians 

 use a long, heavy knife, called a machette, with Mdiich they cut 

 the brush. When dry, the brush is burned, and then the seed is 

 put in with a sharp-pointed stick. The soil is sandy, and very 

 productive. The coffee tree produces from 15 to 20 pounds of 

 berries in a season, while in the Brazils five to six pounds was 

 deemed a fair crop. Each coffee tree has to be protected from 

 the sun by a shade tree. Rice produces three crops in a year 

 from one planting. The sugar cane grows to a great height, I 

 have measured some stalks that were thirty-six feet high. Sweet 

 potatoes are ver}'- abundant, of a monstrous size, and of a very- 

 superior quality. The Yucca also grows in abundance. Corn 

 can be planted nearly every day in the year, and the ears are 

 very large. Notwithstanding the ease with which it is grown, 

 enough of it for home supply is not raised. 



He stated a singular fact in relation to the change in fruit. If 

 you plant the seeds of the apple, they produce fruit in three 

 years. The first fruit obtained were small apples, but afterwards 

 the fruit became in character exactly like the wild guava, from 

 which is made the guava jelly. This iiative guava tree resembles 

 the apple tree in appearance. He also planted pear seeds, but only 

 got guava. Cherries change to a fruit unlike the original, being 

 yellow colored, and very sweet. 



Mr. Koch takes out with him a small steam engine, a mowing 

 machine, a saw-mill, rice huller, machines for grinding, and the 

 most approved agricultural implements. 



Mr. Robinson thought the change in the character of the fruit 

 very remarkable, but he had seen the Baldwin apple, as grown in 

 Ma'ssachusetts, quite a different apple when grown on the prai- 

 ries of Illinois. 



[Am. Inst.] S 



