California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



^lorticultiut* 



CULTIVATION OF COFFEE 

 MEXICO. 



JOHN W. FOSTER, tTNITED STATES 

 MINISTER TO MEPICO. 



^(V? 



S'-^HE total product of the coffee crop 

 of the worhl for 1874 is estimated 

 at about 900,000,000 pounds,* of 

 which amount the Uuited States 

 imported in 1875 one-third, or 317,- 

 970,065 pounds; which fact is sutlicient 

 to indicate the great interest which this 

 country has in its production and cost. 

 The chief coffee-producing countries are 

 Brazil (whose product is about two- 

 thirds of the entire amount), the Dutch 

 colonies, the West Indies, the Central 

 and South American republics, and Cey- 

 lon. Coffee was first introduced into 

 Europe more than two hundred years 

 ago, but during the last fifty its use has 

 greatly increased, and of recent years the 

 supply has not kept pace with the grow- 

 ing demand in the civilized world. In 

 the United States the amount imported 

 twenty years ago, in 185(j, was 

 235,865,268 pounds, of the value of 

 $21,573,558. In 1875 the amount im- 

 ported was 317,970,605 pounds of the 

 value of $50,591,488. But as the con- 

 sumption is affected somewhat from year 

 to year by the production, it is fair to es- 

 timate the average importation. The 

 three years beginning with 1856 show an 

 average annual importation of 221,800,- 

 000 pounds, of the value of $20,700,000; 

 and the three years ending with 1875 an 

 average annual importation of 298,700,- 

 000 pounds, of the value of $50,000,000. 

 It will thus be seen that in the past 20 

 years the increase in quantity of imports 

 of coffee has been only 34 per cent., 

 which is 21 per cent, less than the in- 

 crease of population, but that the in- 

 crease in value has been 146 per cent. It 

 will be interesting to make a comparison 

 with the importations of the other table 

 beverage, tea. The increased amount of 

 importations in pounds (annual average) 

 of tea from 1856 to 1875, inclusive, has 

 been 136 per cent, or 81 per cent, more 

 than the increase of population, the lat- 

 ter being in the past twenty years 55 per 

 cent. The import consumption of cof- 

 fee and tea per inhabitant, estimating the 

 population in 1856 at 27,000,000 and iu 

 1875 at 42,000,000, was as follows: 



1856. 

 POUNDS. 



Coffee 8.24 



Tea 93 



1875. 



POUNDS. PER CENT. 



7.11 Decrease of 13 



1,42 Increase of 54 



Comparing the consumption of coffee 

 and tea with the population, it is thus 

 seen that the increased consumption of 

 coft'ee has fallen behind the increased 

 population, while that of tea has very 

 largely exceeded the growth of the coun- 

 try, and that there is actually less coffee 

 used per capita than twenty years ago. 

 The reason of this is not found in the de- 

 creased {)opularity of coffee as a beverage 

 as it holds a place in the taste of the 

 American people much above tea; but the 

 explanation is justly to be attributed to 



THE GKOWINQ DEMAND FOK COFFEE 

 THROUGH THE WORLD, 



and the failure of the production to keep 

 pace with that demand, which has greatly 

 enhanced the price. The price iu gold 

 of tea at wholesale is to-day as low as it 

 was in 1860, before the civil war, t while 

 coffee is nearly double the i^rice of 1856 

 and 1800. These statistics are given to 

 \ show that the United States are deeply 

 ' interested in the increased production of 



"American Grocer, September 26, 1875. 

 tNew York Post, March 29, 1876. 



coffee, and iu finding new and more ac- 

 cessible sources for its supply of this ar- 

 ticle, of which it is a much larger con- 

 sumer than any other nation in the 

 world. It may be au unknown fact to 

 many Americans that at our very doors, 

 in Mexico, our neighboring republic, 

 there exists the agricultural capacity to 

 produce all the cott'ee that can be con- 

 sumed in the United States, and of qual- 

 ity equal to the best grown in any 

 country. Mexico, it is true, is exporting 

 very little coffee, and scarcely figures in 

 the coft'ee-prodiicing countries, but its 

 capacity and adaptability for its produc- 

 tion have been tested by more than fifty 

 years of successful cultivation. The to- 

 jjographical and climatic character of the 

 country is admirably adapted for this 

 purpose. 



THE COFFEE-PRODDCINO REGIONS, 



The great Andean mountain range 

 coming up through South and Cen- 

 tral America, greatly depressed iu the 

 Isthmus of Tehuantepec, apparently for 

 the passage of the ccnumercc of the two 

 oceans, suddenly springs up in South- 

 eastern Mexico into lofty Cordilleras, one 

 branch of which follows close along the 

 Pacific and the other along the Gulf 

 coast of the country, holding up on 

 these two arms the great table-laud of 

 the interior, thus affording every variety 

 of jiiroduction of the earth. The coff'ee- 

 produciug regions are found on the en- 

 tire line of sea-slope of the mountains 

 from Guatemala on the south, on the 

 Pacific side, for more than a thousand 

 miles to the north, until it 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 Ta- 

 maulipas. In addition to these immense 

 stretches of country it flourishes in the 

 numerous and fertile valleys of the in- 

 terior, wherever the great table land is 

 sufficiently depressed to reach the level 

 of tropical and semi-tropical vegetation. 

 The elevation above the sea at which it 

 is thought cott'ee is most favorably grown 

 is from 1,000 to 4,000 feet; but iii Mexi- 

 co it is cultivated with success at an ele- 

 vation of 4,500 feet, and it is even found 

 still higher. So also it is grown at low- 

 er levels than 1,000 feet, as in various 

 places in Mexico it is produced at the 

 very sea-side. Ofl' the eastern coast of 

 Yucatan, on the island of Cozumel, cof- 

 fee trees of prolific yield are gi'owing 

 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 cultivation of coffee in Mex- 

 ico is immense. The amount of its pro- 

 duction, so far as natural capacity is 

 concerned, need only be limited by the 

 extent of laud brought under cultivation. 

 As already stated, the adaptability of 

 Mexico as a coft'ee-producing country has 

 been tested by 



MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE 



iu 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 iu exporta- 

 tion 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 commercial and agricultural develop- 

 ment of the country. In 1818 and 1819 

 the profitableness of the growth of coffee 

 iu the West Indies led to the estabhsh- 

 ment of extensive plantations in the vi- 

 cinity of Cordova and Orizaba, and iu 

 1825 they were in a flourishing state. In 

 the valleys of Cuernavaca aud Cuautla, 

 iu the interior, in 1826, there were es- 

 tates where there were growing as many 



as five hundred thousand plants." And 

 elsewhere in the reiuiblic much attention 

 w,as given to coffee planting at that peri- 

 od, and great hopes were entertained that 

 the country would soon be largely en- 

 gaged in its exportation to foreign coun- 

 tries. But the civil disorders, which 

 began soon after and which continued 

 till lately, paralyzed all business enter- 

 prises, and disappointed these hopes; so 

 that the cott'ee 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 cultiva- 

 tion of cott'ee 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 tliis expor- 

 tation, 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 consider- 

 able: 



EXPORTATION OF COKP'EE FROM VERACRUZ. 



Year eniling Juno 30, 1871 672„'J88 n.|i 



Viar cn.liui; .Iinie 30. 1872 1.912.020 m» 



Ytar iii.liiii; June 30, 1873 3,909.440 1I.K 



Yi ni- en.lini! June 30. 1874 4.204,410 ll.ii 



Y'ear eniling June 30, 1375 5.373,678 lti« 



The coffee exported from Vera Cruz is 

 all gi-own in that State, with the valley 

 of Cordova, on the Mexico and Vera 

 Cruz Kaihvay, as the chief center of its 

 production. A brief reference to 



THE METHODS OF ITS CULTIVATION AT 

 CORDOVA 



may be a matter of interest to the vast 

 number of cottee-drinkers in the Uuited 

 States, many of whom know nothing of 

 the article except at the daily breakfast 

 table. t The seed or grain, which should 

 be selected with care, is usually planted 

 in well-prepared beds in a nursery, shad- 

 ed from the sun. The young plants are 

 transplanted at the age of one year or 

 eighteen months to the fields or ca/e?«/ex, 

 which are thoroughly cleaned of all uu- 

 der-growth and the soil well prepared. 

 As the young plants are very tender, it 

 is necessary to protect them from the 

 sun. For this reason open forests are 

 used, where available, and the mountain 

 sides att'ordiug shade are utilized for 

 coftee plantations. In open fields a 

 growing shade must be created, which 

 is most quickly obtained by planting 

 banana trees, also yielding some profit 

 from their fruit. But the best cultivat- 

 ors at Cordova consider this a poor sub- 

 stitute. One of the most intelligent 

 planters there has set out in his coffee 

 fields a large number of cinchona trees 

 (from which quinine is made), which 

 grow well in that latitude; also valuable 

 timber trees, as the oak, walnut, etc. 

 The second year after planting there is 

 a very slight j-ield of cott'ee ; the third 

 year about a half crop ; aud the fourth 

 year (or when the plant is Jive years old) 

 a full crop is gathered. 



A REASONABLY RICH SOIL IS DESIBABLK FOR 

 COFFEE, 



and manm-ing pays well in the vigor of 

 the tree and increase of yield. The 

 distance at which plants are set out in 

 the field is usually about three yards (or 

 Taras) apart each way, although often 

 planted closer. The cultivation consists 

 in keeping the fields clean from weeds 

 and undergrowth and plowing the soil. 

 In certain localities irrigation is neces- 

 sary, but iu Cordova, after the plants 

 are well started iu the lleld this is not 



*See WanVa Moiic«>. Book 1. 



tHon. Martiaa Romero, well known in the United 

 States as the fornier Mexican minister at Washing- 

 ton, has recently written a valuable work.in Spanish, 

 on coffee cultivati-m, entitleil " Cultivo del cafe en la 

 Costa Meridional de Chiapas." 



required, and the better class of plant- j 

 ers give careful attention to pruning, 

 keeping the plant or tree at the hight of 

 from six to eight feet, although it un- 

 checked it will grow to double that hight. 

 The trees do not yield their full blos- 

 soming at onetime. The first flowering 

 is sometimes as early as December, the 

 second about February, and the third 

 and most abundant the last of March 

 and the month of April. Early in April 

 last it was my good fortune to spend 

 several days in Cordova, in the midst of 

 the blossoming season. The suburbs of 

 the city in all directions are devoted to 

 coffee cultivation. The lanes, lined on 

 each side with cifdaks, presented a most 

 agreeable sight. The pure white blos- 

 soms, clinging close along the branches 

 half covered wnth bright green leaves, 

 gave the trees the appearance of being 

 sprinkled with snow, and the perfume- 

 of the flowers, almost equal to that of 

 orange blossoms, loaded the air with its 

 fragrance. The flower falls, leaving a 

 round green berrj', which ripens iu seven 

 or eight months, changing when ripe 

 into a red color. Each fully formed 

 berry contains two grains, though some- 

 times it contains only one grain, which 

 is sounded or oval-shaped, called by the 

 Mexicans caracoliUo. On account of the 

 different times of flowering, 



THEPICKING on GATHERING SEASON 



lasts for three or four months, each tree 

 having to be carefully gone over three or 

 four times by hand. This is the most 

 tedious and difficult process of the whole 

 cultivation. It cannot bo postponed, 

 must be done carefully, and requires an 

 extra number of laborers, but women 

 and children can bo employed at low 

 wages. The first process after picking 

 is to dry the berries, which is iloue by 

 exposing them to the sun, when they 

 shrivel and change to a black color. 

 They are then put into a mortjir, and 

 the grains hulled or beaten out with a 

 pestle. The crude process of fanning it 

 out by hand or winnowing, though some- 

 times a fan-mill is used. The coflee is 

 afterwards picked over carefully, grain 

 by grain, by hand, and selected, and it 

 is then ready for sacking and the mark- 

 et. Up to the present the "doctoring" 

 process of artificial coloring or bleaching, 

 as in some countries, has been resorted 

 to here. 



THE PROCESS OF CURING 



after gathering the crop, is in a most 

 primitive state in Mexico. It presents a 

 fertile field for Yankee ingenuity to in- 

 vent instruments and methods to facili- 

 tate the process, or for enterprise to 

 avail the inventions in use in other 

 countries. And although it has been 

 grown here for so many years, the coffee 

 cultivation in Mexico may yet be consid- 

 ered in its infancy, as it is only begin- 

 ning to receive the attention of intelli- 

 gent and scientific cultivators, so that 

 great improvements may be anticipated 

 both in the cultivation and curing. Ex- 

 perience has, however, proved that it is 



A CERTAIN AND RELIEBLE CROP. 



So far its cultivation at Cordova has de- 

 veloped no disease of plant or berry. 

 Insects do not attack it. It is very little 

 affected by the climate, as in the locality 

 of its production there is no frost; and 

 although great drouth may diminish the 

 crop, it does not destroy it. The flower, 

 when in full bloom, is sometimes broken 

 off by severe winds, but this seldom di- 

 minishes the yield. The crop is also 

 I clean and comparatively easy to cultivate. 

 I After the cafetal is once in full bloom the 

 i cultivation is easy. Only at the pick- 

 ing season is there much urgency re- 

 quired. Once gathered the crop can be 



