44 6eo0rapbical motes on flDejico, 



similar to gum-arabic, dragon trees, and the almacigo or Callitris 

 quadvalvis, from which sandarac is extracted. Among the oil-bearing 

 trees and plants, of which there are seventeen varieties, are the olive, 

 cocoa palm, almond, sesame, flax, the tree yielding the balsam of Peru, 

 and others. There are fifty-nine classified species of medicinal plants, 

 and many more are mentioned by botanists as still unclassified by 

 science. 



Of the many delicious fruits which grow in the tropical regions, 

 only a few the pineapple, the banana, and the cocoa-nut are known 

 in this country, the orange being rather a semi-tropical fruit. The 

 others require, as all fruits do, cultivated taste, and, therefore, if im- 

 ported here would not find a market. Even those which do come here 

 are of very inferior flavor, owing to the fact that they are cut green so 

 as to prevent their decay during transportation, and they, of course, 

 have a less agreeable taste than in the place where they grow. Of the 

 banana, for instance, we have about twenty varieties, some of which 

 the richest in my opinion grow to a size from twelve to fifteen inches 

 in length and from two to three inches in diameter. 



We can raise in Mexico all the products of the world because we 

 have all climates, from the perpetual snow to the burning sun of the 

 equator ; but it would take a great deal more space than I can dispose 

 of in this paper, to mention all the agricultural products we can raise, 

 and I will, therefore, confine myself to only such as I think are now of 

 more importance. 



Coffee. Mexico has many localities well suited for the raising of 

 coffee, and the production of that berry can in the future be very 

 largely increased. In the proper locality, namely, zone, ground, and 

 climate, coffee can be raised on a large scale at comparatively small 

 cost, affording always a large profit, whatever may be in the future its 

 price in foreign markets. 



I have had personal experience in coffee-raising, having made a 

 coffee plantation in the district of Soconusco, in the State of Chiapas ; 

 and I took especial interest in visiting other plantations, both in Mexico 

 and Guatemala, where coffee had attained a large development. My 

 experience has shown me that the best zone for coffee is located between 

 one and five thousand feet above the level of the sea, as coffee is not a 

 product of the hot but of the temperate zone. On the highlands, as a 

 rule, the quality of the coffee is better and the yield large, while the 

 lowlands give an earlier but smaller yield. There are coffee planta- 

 tions in Mexico, almost down to the level of the sea, which are yielding 

 coffee, and from that to the elevation of six thousand feet, producing 

 also a very good quality of coffee. For further information on this 

 subject, I refer the reader to a treatise on coffee-raising on the south- 

 ern coast of the State of Chiapas, which T published in the City of 



