CLIMATE AND VEGETATION. 5 



flora of any country on the globe. This is owing to the fact that a goodly portion 

 of Mexico lies within the tropics, and at the same time attains to a great elevation 

 above the sea ; in other words, altitztde confers upon this elevated region beneath 

 the northern tropic all the variety of climate that one would meet with in journey- 

 ing from the equator to the pole. The vegetable world, says the German writer 

 Sartorius, is of course always determined by the nature of the soil; on a calcareous 

 soil we find a different description of plants to those which are met with in trachyte 

 or porphyry ; for instance, in lime we have chiefly fan palms and malvacese : but the 

 conditions which the elevation above the sea produce, the isothe7-vial line, would 

 everywhere call forth analogous appearances. 



The Old World has sent here its apples, pears, cherries, peaches, oranges, figs, 

 grapes, and pomegranates; by their side flourish the East Indian mangoes, papaws, 

 the American ananas (6 species), mammees, aguacates, spondias, the fruit of the 

 passion-flower, excellent cactus fruits, gourds of all kinds, and many others. 



"An Indian village of the temperate zone, where coast and hill country meet and 

 blend, presents a truly delightful picture, surrounded by heavily-laden orange-trees 

 and banana-stalks, by fruits of every imaginable hue, and by the blossoming shrubs 

 which invariably follow the steps of man." 



In the lower, or coast, regions, as high as 1,500 feet, we have coconuts, cacao, 

 vanilla, cotton, cloves, nutmegs, peppers, and the other spices of commerce, besides 

 all the fruits of the tropical countries of the East and West. Up to 4,000 feet grow 

 sugar and coffee, indigo, rice, tea, banana, and tobacco, besides the productive edible 

 roots : manioc, yam, arum, arrow-root, sweet potato, curcuma and ginger, and all the 

 fruits of America, Central Asia, and Barbary. From this point upwards begiris the 

 cultivation of the cerealia of the Old World, such as barley and wheat, of the ole- 

 aginous plants (olive, poppy, rape, and linseed) of pulse and kitchen vegetables, of 

 grapes for wine, and every kind of European fruit. The mulberry tree finds its cli- 

 mate at the height of from 3,000 to 6,000 feet above the sea. 



From the following partial catalogue of the fruits and vegetables cultivated in 

 Mexico, one may be led to believe in its agricultural possibilities. It was Humboldt 

 who estimated the value of the gold and silver of the Mexican mines at the begin- 

 ning of this century, vast as it was, as less by almost a fourth than that of the ter- 

 ritorial produce. Mexico, as its national statistician very truly remarks, has the 

 markets of all the world constantly open for the excess of her agricultural produc- 

 tions, for, such is the varied nature of her soil and climate, that there is scarcely a 

 plant that grows, or a fruit that ripens, or a grain that matures its seed, that may not 

 find a congenial home within her limits. Plants of the different zones, from frigid 

 to torrid, are all found in the ascent from coast to table-land, and indicate to a nicety 

 the different degrees of altitude and temperature. 



Not only can she export many of the cereals, but she has almost a monopoly of 

 several peculiar products of the tropics, and, owing to the combined advantages of 

 topography and climate, can supply foreign markets with immense quantities of such 

 valuable articles as coffee, cacao, henequen, tobacco, vanilla, and precious woods. 



MEXICO'S ECONOMIC FLORA 



Under this distinctive title, while no attempt has been made to compile an 

 exhaustive botanical catalogue, — which would be quite unnecessary, even if prac- 



