48 CteOQrapbical Botes on /IDejico. 



ducting the entire cost of the land and all expenses up to the first year 

 of harvesting, will be $95,000, and each of the succeeding harvests, 

 for twenty-five or thirty years, will bring a steady income of over 

 $100,000." This is 400 per cent, per annum net profit on the invest- 

 ment. These calculations are based upon the production of a five- 

 year-old tree, but the report adds that " this product will be gradually 

 increased every year for the next four or five years." 



Cotton. We have many regions in Mexico very favorably located 

 for the cultivation of cotton. I am aware that the cotton-growers of 

 the United States hold that what they call their cotton belt has pecul- 

 iar conditions for the production of their staple, which, in their opinion, 

 do not exist in any other portion of the globe, and they believe, there- 

 fore, that nobody can compete with them in this regard. Without any 

 intention of depreciating the advantages of the cotton belt of this 

 country, I am of the opinion that there are in Mexico lands as well 

 adapted for the production of cotton as the best in this country, and 

 in some regions perhaps better ; yet, notwithstanding these advantages, 

 and although our wages are low, cotton is produced cheaper in the 

 United States, and is sold with profit by the planters for one-half the 

 price that it commands in Mexico. So great is the difference in the 

 price of this staple in the two countries that, notwithstanding an import 

 duty on cotton of eight cents per kilogram, or almost five cents per 

 pound, which is equivalent to fifty cents ad valorem, we import from 

 this country a very large portion of the cotton we manufacture. I do 

 not overlook the fact that cotton is raised here by negro labor, which 

 is considerably cheaper than white labor, but, even assuming that 

 wages in this case be the same in both countries, the difference in cost 

 is so great that some other factor besides labor must enter into the ex- 

 pense of production. 



As our cotton manufactories are increasing, more especially be- 

 cause of the protection afforded to home products by the depreciation 

 of silver, we now produce only about one half of the cotton we manu- 

 facture, and have to import the other half from the United States ; but 

 I am sure that before long we shall not only produce enough for our 

 own consumption but also for export. 



Agave. The whole central plateau abounds in many species of 

 agave, which are used for several purposes. In the eastern portion of 

 the plateau, that is, from the City of Mexico towards Veracruz, in the 

 region called the Plains of Apam, the agave yields a large quantity of a 

 white juice, similar in appearance to milk, which when fermented is 

 used as a tonic, and is an intoxicating beverage. The amount of alco- 

 hol it contains is small about 7 per cent., I believe but imbibed in 

 large quantities it is quite intoxicating. The use of this beverage, 

 called pulque, has become very extensive in Mexico, and it must have 



