22 MEXICAN RESOURCES. 



SOME SPECIAL PRODUCTS. 



"The merciful hand of Providence," says Lempriere ("Notes on Mexico," 1862), 

 " has bestowed on the Mexicans a magnilicent land; abounding in resources of all 

 kinds, — a land where none ought to be poor, and where misery ought to be un- 

 known, — a land whose products and riches of every kind are abundant, and as 

 varied as they are rich. It is a country endowed to profusion with every gift that 

 man can desire or envy ; all the metals from gold to lead ; every sort of climate 

 from perpetual snow to tropical heat, and inconceivable fertility." 



In order to indicate the vast range of food and industrial plants found in Mexico, 

 the writer has selected some of the more important, — mainly tropical produc- 

 tions, — which are presented as worthy of attention. They are arranged in alpha- 

 betical order : — 



Arrmoroot, from both species, Maranta arimdinacea, and Tacca pittnatifida, finds 

 in certain sections of Mexico, a soil and climate adapted to its successful produc- 

 tion. The first-mentioned species, a native of South America, may have been 

 cultivated by the aborigines of Central America. In the West Indies, in some 

 islands, great attention is paid to its cultivation, with good results. Although not 

 an object of much attention in Mexico, it should form an important article of 

 export, and is herewith recommended to the agriculturists of the tierra calietite. 



Ba)iaua ?inA Plantain, Musa sapienUim and Miisa paradisiaca. — Everywhere in 

 the hot coast region, and on the lower borders of " the temperate land," wher- 

 ever cultivation is carried on, may be seen the banana and its sister-plant, the 

 plantain. The first, sweet, luscious, and equally good raw or cooked, is not, per- 

 haps, more valuable than the second, which forms the tropical aborigines' staple 

 article of diet. There is little reason to doubt that the plantain is indigenous to 

 tropical America, and was cultivated by the aboriginal inhabitants long before the 

 coming of Columbus. The many varieties of the banana are the result of long 

 cultivation, and the successful introduction into America of plants from Africa and 

 China. Regarding its productiveness, we may repeat that oft-quoted statement of 

 Humboldt, that thirty-three pounds of wheat and ninety-nine pounds of potatoes, 

 require the same space of ground to grow upon, as will produce four thousand 

 pounds of bananas. From a year to eighteen months is required to ripen the fruit 

 from the first planting, but as suckers spring up all about the original stock, there 

 is afterwards no labor, except that of gathering the immense bunches of fruit, 

 some of which attain to eighty pounds weight. These plants, like the agave and 

 coco-palm, are useful to man in many ways ; for besides producing delicious fruit, 

 they furnish material, from stalk and leaves, for paper, cordage, etc. 



It is said that the first banana was brought into America by a Dominican, in 

 1516, from the Canaries to Haiti, from whence it was transplanted to the Continent. 

 The name Platano, of the Spanish, is supposed to be derived from Falan, its most 

 ancient name ; Banana, the French, from its native Guinea appellation, and Miisa, 

 the Italian, is taken from the Arabic. 



Barley, Spanish cebada, introduced by the Spaniards, growing in the cold region, 

 or tierra fria, to a higher altitude than maize, though now used principally as 

 fodder, in a green state, it will undoubtedly attain to great importance in the 

 brewing industries of the Republic, and as an article of food. The estimated value 

 of its production in 1880, was above ^400,000, constantly increasing. This most 



