54 Geograpbtcal motes on 



time 7 or 8 cents a pound was considered a good price, and in 1896 

 it was sold at 36 cents. The importation into the United States con- 

 stitutes almost the entire production, and the amounts and values are 

 thus officially reported by the Statistical Bureau of the United States 

 for the fiscal years ending June 30 : 



1894. 1895-96. 



Chicle 1,903,655 lib. 3,618,483 lib. 



Value $490,438 $1,167,101 



Average 2$| cents per lib. 32 cents per lib. 



The following statement has been compiled from official data col- 

 lected by the Mexican Government, the value of the chewing-gum 

 being in silver : 



Year. Pounds. Value. 



1885-86 929,959 $ 156,402 



1886-87 1,254,853 353,641 



1887-88 1,542,794 371,673 



1888-89 2,037,783 592,810 



1889-90 1,827,131 714,242 



1890-91 2,457,653 1,284,682 



1891-92 2,494,177 703,572 



1892-93 i,757,8i3 705,167 



1893-94 2,645,722 803,019 



1894-95 1,668,636 679,367 



1895-96 3,297,371 1,527,838 



Total 21,913,932 $7,892,413 



Yuca. Yuca, or starch-plant, called manioc in South America, is 

 a bush from four to six feet high, having tubers, like horse-radish, six 

 to ten to every plant, and weighing from one to twelve pounds each. 

 It is an important product of Chiapas and may be sown at any time, 

 but it is better to do so from the stems when the rains begin, say in the 

 month of May, by opening ditches five feet apart, and planting the 

 cuttings, eight inches long, in them consecutively, leaving one foot be- 

 tween. Vegetable and sandy soil is best adapted for it, although it 

 can be planted and will thrive in any kind of land. In arid and hard 

 soil it needs plowing. If the land has been thoroughly cleared before 

 planting it requires but little weeding during cultivation. A year after 

 being sown, if the soil is rich, it will begin to yield tubers which must 

 be dug up at the time the tree begins to flower. In replanting after 

 digging the tubers, a slip is left standing and this will bear in twelve 

 months. Besides extracting the starch from the tubers, the leaves are 

 used as fodder for stock. 



Sir Henry Bering, the British Minister to Mexico, sent recently to 

 the Foreign Office some practical notes on the cultivation in Mexico of 

 the " Yuca" or cassava plant, pineapple, ginger, " chicle " or chewing- 



