California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



I 



cnicd and prepared for market leisuaely 

 and at the planter's convenieuce. The 

 most prominent objection is tliat so much 

 time is lost before a protit begins to be 

 realized. If a planter commences with 

 sowing the seed he must wait more than 

 five years before he obtains returns upon 

 his investment, or four years if he plants 

 from the nursery, as the first year's crop 

 barely pays more than the cost of culti- 

 vation and curing. But as compensa- 

 tion for this, a plantation once estab- 

 lished yields a never-failing crop, without 

 renewal, anxiety, or uncertainty for a 

 lifetime. 



THE PROFIT IN MEXICO 



during the past few years has been about 

 100 per cent, over the cost of cultivation, 

 and 10 per cent, interest on the capital 

 invested. The period the trees will con- 

 tinue bearing as variously estimated is 

 from twenty to twenty-five years. There 

 are, howevei', trees now growing in Cor- 

 dova sixty or seventy years old, remains 

 of neglected and abandoned plantations, 

 which by pruning and cultivation are 

 yielding a fine crop. An intelligent 

 American i:ilanter in that valley claims 

 that with attention and care plants ought 

 to continue bearing vigorously for fifty 

 years. Another important feature of 

 coffee-planting in Mexico is that the lo- 

 cality of its cutivation is usually both 

 healthy and attractive — elevated above 

 the fatal diseases of the tropics and in 

 the TJresence of the most beautiful scen- 

 ery." The valley of Cordova,for instance, 

 is among the foot-hills of the great 

 mountain of Orizaba, whose peak is cov- 

 ered with eternal snow, in a rich semi- 

 tropical vegetation, and with a remarka- 

 bly equable climate, the elevation being 

 :i,000 feet above the sea. 



THE AVEE.\GE YIELD PBK TEEK 



at Cordova is estimated at about one and 

 a half pounds, inthough it is claimed that 

 with intelligent culture, pruning, and 

 manuring, the average yield in that val- 

 ley may be increased to three pounds 

 per tree. It is not uncommon to find 

 trees yielding from five to seven pounds, 

 and in very exceptional cases, from 

 twenty-five to fifty pounds each. With 

 the trees planted three yards apart each 

 way, W'ith the above-stated average, it is 

 easy to estimate the yield per acre. It 

 is unsafe to give a detailed calculation of 

 the outlay required in establishing a 

 ]ilantation or cafelal up to the time of 

 yielding the first paying crop, as much 

 depends both upon the locality, and the 

 intelligence and the economy of the 

 planter, so that published estimates are 

 apt to mislead. It may be stated, how- 

 ever, that after the plants begin to bear 

 a full crop, the cost of annual cultivation 

 u pto sale ill local market, is from 'J to 7 

 cents a pound. It is very difficult to 

 give any definite idea of 



THE PKICE op LAND IN THE C0I'TEE-(;E0W- 

 IN(; REGIONS. 



The average price, as per sales which 

 have bc(!n made in the valley of Cordova 

 beyond the vicinity of the city during the 

 past two years, has been about SKI per 

 acre, and at points out of the reach of 

 the railroad, in the same State of Vera 

 Cruz, sales have been made at $5 per 

 acre, or even less. But this has been in 

 a time of great business depression, and 

 with a revival of cnmmcrco, and a grow- 

 ing dcmaiul for coftei; lauds, the price 

 would very soon advance, possibly 50 or 

 100 per cent. In what has iirec'edcd I 

 have referred particularly! to tho coffee 

 region having the valley of Cordova for 

 its center, for the reason that it is the 

 locality at jiresent. of the greatest i>ro- 

 duction in the republic, and is most ac- 

 cessible to the American market. lint 



there are several other localities in the 

 country where the cultivation is receiving 

 considerable attention, and is assuming 

 some importance in exportation. One 

 of these localities is 



THE DISTRICT OF SOCONU.SCO, 



in the State of Chiapas, immediately 

 upon the borders of the republic of Gua- 

 temala. Hon. Mafias Romero owns a 

 plantation in that district, and the recent 

 revival of this industry there is almost 

 entirely due to his encouragement. Sev- 

 eral Americans, and other foreigners, 

 have located there, and are engaged in 

 plaeting, and quite a number of the res- 

 ident proprietors have embarked exten- 

 sively in this cultivation. Among the 

 special advantages presented in this dis- 

 trict is the cheapness of laud and labor. 

 Public or Government lands, which are 

 subject to entry by foreigners, can be 

 taken at from $20 to $2.5 per cu6ato-ia (a 

 Spanish measure of aljout 105 acres). 

 Private lands have been sold at from $50 

 to $100 per caballeria, but native land- 

 owners here, as elsewhere in Mexico, 

 have little disposition to part with their 

 estates. Continued success in coffee- 

 culture and a growing demand will ma- 

 terially increase the price. Wages are 

 reported at 25 cents per hand pel day; 

 but, of coiirse, this verj- low price could 

 not be continued with a greatly increased 

 demand for labor. The chief impedi- 

 ment to the development of this industry 

 in Soconusco is the fact that this district 

 is a disp)uted territory, claimed by both 

 Mexico and Guatemala, and until this 

 vexed question is settled, the tenure and 

 protection of property will remain inse- 

 cure. The valley of Uruajian, in the 

 State of Michoacan, has great celebrity 

 for its fertility, and for the superior 

 quality of the coffee grown there. But 

 the most noted region, especially for the 

 excellence of its coffee, is 



THE STATE OF COLIMA, ON THE PACIFIC 

 COAST, 



its products being so highly esteemed 

 that it commands a fabulous price in the 

 city of Mexico, and more distant places 

 of the republic. The planting of cofJ'ee 

 began in Colima, in ItiSH, to a very 

 limited extent, with plants obtained from 

 Costa Kico. The article produced was 

 found so superior to any other grown in 

 the country — sample lots sent to private 

 parties in Eurojie being i>ronounced 

 equal to Mocha — that in IHT.i quite an 

 impetus was given to the cultivation, and 

 since that year over one million plants 

 have been set out, which are now begin- 

 ning to bear, and the planting continues 

 to increase — coffee promising to become 

 the principal article of export, and a 

 fertile source of wealth to the State. The 

 demand for all thus far produced is so 

 great that it commands, in large lots, 27 

 cents per jionud at the plantation, main- 

 ly for consumption in the interior, a 

 small portion only being shipped to Ger- 

 many by the resident German merchants 

 on private orders. The American Con- 

 sul at the city of Colima places the cost 

 of laud, suitable for coffee plantations, 

 including water for irrigition, at from 

 $15 to $30 per acre — depending on loca- 

 tion and climate. He states that a plan- 

 tation, containing 100,000 plants four 

 years old (when the first crop is realized) 

 costs from $10,000 to $14,000 -the pro- 

 ceeds the first year being about 50,000 

 pounds, and from the fifth year onward 

 100,000 pounds or upward; and he esti- 

 mates the average net yearly gain at 

 $20,000. Colima and^sonui other states 

 have passed (piite liberal laws for the 

 couragement of ('offeu cultivation, offer- 

 ing liberal premiums for the largest crops 

 jiroduced, and exeuqiting coffee lands 

 from all taxes. With peace in the coun- 



try, and protection assured, this industry 

 would offer 



GREAT ATTRACTIONS FOB FOEEIGN IMMI- 

 GRATION AND capital; 

 and for the Mexican farmer and land- 

 owner there is no more certain or profit- 

 able enterprise in which they can e'jgage. 

 To the common people, the poor, the 

 Indian race, it presents the most desira- 

 ble source of industry. It can be planted 

 in small lots, garden plots or patches. 

 It requires no costly machinery, like 

 sugar, to prepare it for market. AVomen 

 and children can attend to the greater 

 part of the work. It is always reliable, 

 and commands a ready sale, for cash, at 

 good prices. It will lie a happy augury 

 for the country to see the lower and la- 

 boring classes more generally engaged 

 in its production, as it will give them a 

 permanent property interest for peace 

 and against revolutions, and will be for 

 them and the country a most fertile 

 source of wealth. Mexico, for three 

 centuries past, has been famous for its 

 great production and exportation of silver 

 But, in coffee alone, it possesses a far 

 greater source of wealth and prosperity. 

 Its natural capacity for its production is 

 at least equal to that of Brazil, yet the 

 value of the coffee annually exported 

 from Brazil is more than three times as 

 great as that of the silver and gold pro- 

 duct of Mexico. 



OVER-PRODUCTION VS. INABIL- 

 ITY TO CONSUME. 



A Few Facts Woitli Considering. 



For many months, says the Inkr Ocean, 

 a persistent yet utterly false outcry has 

 come from a portion of the press of the 

 country, particularly from newspapers of 

 free trade proclivities, that the long- 

 continued disorganization of industry 

 and trade is attributable to over-produc- 

 tion. As proof, we are pointed to ware- 

 houses crowded with goods which cannot 

 find purchasers; to manufacturing estab- 

 lishments running on part time, with a 

 reduced force of working people; and to 

 the multitude of laborers who cannot 

 find employment. Still, we do not see 

 how these facts support the argument, 

 because the use made of them necessarily 

 implies a direct and emphatic contradic- 

 tion of a universally admitted postulate 

 of political economy — of a fundamental 

 proposition admitted equally by all the 

 dift'ereut schools of the science — that 

 prodmiion is the only aource of wealth. The 

 allegation that we are growing poorer by 

 producing too much is to us an insolu- 

 ble paradox; for it sounds very much like 

 a man claiming that he is involved in 

 serious pecuniary embarrassments be- 

 cause he has cleared to® much money. 

 The greater the quantity of things pro- 

 duced in the_United. states, the greater 

 must be the aggregate of wealth. When 

 the results of the census of 1870 had 

 been declared, the figures were received 

 with pride and exultation, as showing 

 signal progress in the accumulation of 

 property through the activities of pro- 

 duction, and as indicating a nnn-e rajiid 

 increase of wealth than in the previous 

 decade, notwithstanding the vast waste 

 and destruc:tion of both values and lives 

 during a protracted and great civil war. 

 It now seems to l)o in order among a cer- 

 tain class of people to deplore such a 

 movement of tho productive forces, ac- 

 celerated in pace, as a misfortune, and 

 as the true source of the existing stagna- 

 tion of business in this country. Such 

 a position is extravagantly nonsensical. 

 Nothing should be i)lainer than that 

 over-productitm cannot take place so 

 long as human wants for the things pro- 



duced remain unsatisfied, and that each ) 

 persons share in the general work of \ 

 production supplies him with the means 

 of gratifying his needs or his desires. 

 Are the masses of our people to-day so 

 fully furnished \vith these articles of con- 

 venience, comfort, or luxury of which it 

 is said there is an over-production, that 

 they feel no lack? Unless this be so, 

 there must be under-consumption, not 

 over-production. If there are hundreds 

 of thousands of individuals who would 

 like to own a piano, or a sewing ma- 

 chine, or a new suit of clothes, or what 

 not, but cannot afford the purchase be- 

 cause .they have lost employment and 

 wages, or because the profits of business 

 have fallen off, then the glut is only 

 seeming, not real. 



In 1^72, when there was a great abun- 

 dance of all things, very much greater 

 than now, and production was exceed- 

 ingly active, there was not any complaint 

 of an overwhelming surplus. What is 

 now the matter is under-consumption 

 Some 2,000,000 men and women are 

 compulsorily idle, who then were regu- 

 larly employed. The earnings of these 

 people amounted probably, as a total, to 

 $5,000,000 a day, or to $1,000,000 a 

 year. This purchasing power, vast in 

 the aggi'egate, has disappeared from the 

 marts of trade, depriving of a market a 

 vast quantitj' of articles thiit otherwise 

 would have been purchased and con- 

 sumed. Production itself declines be- 

 cause of this expensive failure of demand. 

 Restore the lost purchasing power, in 

 the shape of wages paid for daily work, 

 then what is unreasonably styled over- 

 production would vanish. For a while, 

 what would need to be termed under- 

 production would supersede the so-called 

 over-production. If all the idie laborers 

 could be set at work, and kept at work, 

 the industrial movement would soon get 

 safely on its legs to stay there, and thrift 

 with contentment would once more visit 

 a stricken land. The rapid circulation 

 of commodities, attainable only through 

 steadily employed labor at good wages, 

 constitutes the material prosperity of our 

 national life. Meantime, enough things 

 are not produced to satisfy the wants of 

 the people. There are more mouths to 

 be fed, more backs to be clothed, more 

 feet to be shod, more heads to be shelt- 

 ered, more bodies to be warmed, and 

 more minds to be instructed, in 1876, 

 than there were in 1872 ; yet the quantity 

 of things produced is smaller. The 

 over-production is apparent, not real — 

 constructive, not actual — a ratio between 

 production and the crippled power to 

 consume, not between production and 

 the urgent needs of consumers. 



OVER-PKODUCTION OF BOYS. 



The Napa Betjisler makes the following 

 hit: 



The most common explanation of the 

 prevailing hard times is, "over-produc- 

 tion." The market is said to be glutted 

 with goods, and the manufactories more 

 numerous and of greater capacity than 

 the demand warrants: which of course 

 makes the investments unremunerative, 

 and juoduces hard times, as a natural 

 result. The vineyardists and orchard- 

 ists of California are in a di- 

 lemma similar to the one which is vexing 

 tho Eastern manufacturers. They are 

 producing more fruit than Ihey can sell 

 profitably, and the efteet is unpleasant. 

 The hoodlum nuisance is exjilaiucd and 

 in a measure excused, on the ground that 

 there is not work enough for the boys to 

 do, and hence they run at large, and 

 give Satan a chance to find something 

 for their idle hands to do. Now, if dull 

 times and hard times have been caused !■> 

 over-production, as so many assert, i 

 wcnild onlv make the times all the hard 



