26 MEXICAN RESOURCES. 



The coffee-tree, savs the same authority, flourishes in hilly districts, where its 

 roots can be kept dry, while its leaves are refreshed with frequent showers. 



" Rocky ground, with rich, decomposed mould in the fissures, agrees best with it. 

 Though it would grow to the height of fifteen or twenty feet, yet it is usually kept 

 down by pruning to that of five feet, for increasing its productiveness, as well as 

 for the convenience of cropping. It begins to yield the third year, but is not gen- 

 erally in full bearing until the fifth. In coffee husbandry, the plants should be 

 placed eight feet apart, as the trees throw out extensive horizontal branches." 

 The berry must not be picked till fully ripe, then dried in the sun, with the pulp 

 and parchment attached, then passed between wooden rollers, or brayed in a mortar, 

 to remove the dried envelope, and winnowed. 



The coffee-plants should be first started in a nursery, whence they are trans- 

 planted to the ground assigned for the grove, and during their early years protected 

 from the heat of the sun by bananas and plantains. 



Coffee improves in aroma by keeping, and although it loses in weight, it gains 

 in color, and quality. IMost of the Mexican coffee is sold direct from the planta- 

 tions, and is not allowed to arrive at that perfect state acquired by the " Old Gov- 

 ernment " Java, which possesses a spicy aroma the light-colored berries do not. 



In the opening years of this century, coffee was not very extensively cultivated in 

 Brazil, but that country supplies to the United States the greatest proportion used. 

 " The first cargo of coffee from Brazil entered at the port of Salem, Mass., and con- 

 sisted of 1,522 bags. In 1871, the United States consumed 316,609,765 pounds of 

 coffee, 244,809,600 pounds of which came from Brazil, 27,776,000 from Java, Sumatra, 

 etc., and but 6,728,165 from Central American, Mexican, and other foreign ports." 

 In 1S74, according to the Consular Report, the value of coffee exported from Mexico 

 to the United States was $543,352 ; the amount of coffee exported from Vera Cruz, 

 to all ports in 1876, was $1,146,845. For the year ending iSSo, the total value of 

 coffee export from Mexico, was $2,060,382. To show the great value of the coffee 

 crop to us, and to illustrate the growth of this special industry, the following fig- 

 ures are appended, obtained from the United States consulate in Vera Cruz. Total 

 amount of coffee exported from Mexico to the United States only, from March 31, 

 1S76, to March 31, 18S1 : — 



Year ending March 31, 1877 $660,68582 



Year ending March 31, 1878 1,320,612 58 



Year ending March 31, 1879 1,064,862 17 



Year ending March 31, 1S80 1,490,171 87 



Year ending March 31, 1881 1,289,716 16 



All the coast states of Southern Mexico, on both the Gulf and Pacific, have excel- 

 lent soil and climate for the growing of coffee ; but the most accessible are the 

 Eastern, and the coffee region of Vera Cruz is the best known, while portions of 

 Colima and Michoacan may contain the most favored combinations for success. 



Coffee win certainly form the most remunerative of Mexico's agricultural pro- 

 ducts, as there is a vast area especially adapted to its culture, which lies adjacent to 

 ports connected by short steam-lines with the United States, and penetrated by the 

 great railroads running southward. 



