Jflora. 55 



gum, sarsaparilla, jalap, licorice, canaigre, and ramie, and I shall quote 

 here from his notes on some of those products. 



The yuca is to the peon, in the tropical section of the Republic, 

 what potatoes are to the poor and working people of Ireland. Yuca is 

 a native of the country, and its rise dates back before the conquest of 

 Hernan Cortez, and it has always formed a portion of the food of the 

 ancient and present Mexicans, especially those living in Veracruz, 

 Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco, and Yucatan. It has been estimated that 

 the returns of yuca cultivation are immense ; the yield of an acre 

 contains more nutritive matter than six times the same area of wheat. 

 Ginger. Ginger is found growing wild in various parts of Mexico. 

 The returns from an acre of land vary considerably, but when culti- 

 vated under favorable conditions, the crops ought to be 4000 pounds 

 and upward. A ten-acre patch would yield annually from $5000 to 

 $7000. 



Canaigre. Though for years canaigre has been used in Mexico, 

 both for medicinal and tanning purposes, it has but recently attracted 

 the attention of the outside commercial world as a valuable source of 

 tannic acid. The result of investigations has been to create a great 

 demand for canaigre in the tanning business of European countries, 

 and more recently in the leather-making centres of the United States. 

 The only supply now to be obtained of this plant is from the wild 

 growth along the rivers and valleys of Western Texas, New Mexico, 

 and Mexico, and a fear has been felt for some time that with the con- 

 stantly increasing demand the present sources of supply must become 

 exhausted. 



Peppermint. Water mint (mentha vulgaris) thrives very well on 

 the central plateau of Mexico and in some sections of the warm zone, 

 especially along the rivulets and small lakes. There is no reason 

 why the peppermint (mentha piper ita), as well as spearmint and tansy, 

 should not grow in abundance in Mexico, as they belong to the same 

 family and require the same climatic conditions. As the oil of pep- 

 permint is very extensively employed in medicines and the arts, the 

 cultivation of this plant will be profitable to Mexico. 



Cabinet and Dye Woods. In the low, hot countries we have all the 

 cabinet woods growing wild and a great many dye woods, some of 

 which are indigenous to Mexico, like the Campechy wood, not being 

 found in other countries. It would take too long to enumerate the 

 different kinds of cabinet woods we have, and I will only say that it 

 happens with them as with our fruits, that only such of them as have 

 been introduced here, like mahogany, cedar, rosewood, ebony, and a 

 few others, are known in this country and in Europe, while hundreds 

 of other kinds as hard as those and of as fine, if not a finer grain, are 

 found in the wild woods of Mexico. 



