Coffee Culture on tbe Soutbern Coast of Cbiapas. 



planted with coffee costs, up to the time of bearing, $173.61, which is 

 equivalent to $18.83 P er cuerda, or 14^ cents per tree, while in Soconusca 

 each acre costs $107.50, each cuerda $11.66, and each tree n cents. 



The causes of the greater cost of coffee cultivation in Ceylon than 

 in Soconusco and Guatemala, are chiefly the following: 



1. Higher price of the land, which is estimated in Ceylon at $5 per 

 acre, or $528.77 per caballeria, without the cost of survey, while I have 

 estimated it in Soconusco at $50 a caballeria. 



2. The greater cost of the buildings, which in Ceylon are con- 

 structed of stone and mortar, with a roof of galvanized iron, and with- 

 out regard to economy, as their value alone represents almost a third 

 of the total cost of the estate, while in Soconusco they are made of 

 pillars of unhewed logs, with a roof of straw, and at a very moderate 

 cost. The cost of the buildings in Ceylon, according to the preceding 

 estimate, is $10,925, while in Soconusco it does not reach $1,000. 



3. The greater number of operations required on a coffee planta- 

 tion in Ceylon, such as draining, and topping, and pruning the trees. 



4. The cost of roads, the cost of the pipes to carry the coffee from 

 the plantation to the pulping house, the loss on exchange in London 

 and the loss by rice, expenses which are either not incurred in Soco- 

 nusco or are very slight. The cost of roads in Ceylon is $1,325, that 

 of iron pipes $1,250, that of exchange on London $1,920, and the loss 

 by rice $875, making a total of $5,660. 



The items which cost less in Ceylon than in Soconusco are the 

 following : 



Machinery and implements, for reasons which will be readily under- 

 stood, cost more in Soconusco than in Ceylon. The same is the case 

 with weeding; the reason of this is, perhaps, that the soil in Soconusco, 

 being more fertile than that of Ceylon, produces more weeds, and 

 vegetation is more luxuriant in the former than in the latter. 



A day's wages in Ceylon is seventeen cents (8 pence), but, taking 

 into account the losses by rice, which is sometimes bought at a high 

 price and sold at a low price to the laborers, wages may be estimated 

 at twenty cents per day. The task given to each laborer as a day's 

 work in Ceylon is not mentioned, however, and perhaps this makes up 

 for the difference in wages. 



The following table will give an idea of the difference, in the cost 

 of cultivating coffee, between Soconusco and Ceylon. 



IN SOCONUSCO. IN CEYLON. 



Land, two caballerias $100 oo $1,057 54 



Manager and overseer for three years 1,080 oo 3,7 IQ 



Nursery 52250 25000 



Clearing the ground, one cuerda 50 I 35i 



Staking " " 04 19 



