364 Coffee Culture on tbe Soutbern Coast of Cbiapas, 



which they may pass. In the northern hemisphere, as a general rule, 

 the winds coming from the north are cold, and those coming from the 

 south hot. 



9. The Quantity of Annual Rainfall. Rains have great influence 

 over the temperature of a locality, as they render it more or less humid 

 or damp. As a general rule a greater amount of rain falls on islands and 

 on the coast than in districts far removed from the sea, in the moun- 

 tains than in the valleys, within the tropics than outside of them. 



The amount of rainfall in a locality does not depend merely on its 

 latitude, but on other circumstances, as, for instance, the vicinity of 

 high mountains abounding in trees, because elevations as well as vege- 

 tation attract clouds impregnated with water, and produce rain. The 

 rainfall also depends on prevailing winds ; when the latter pass over 

 the sea they retain a large quantity of water in the form of vapor, 

 which dampens the atmosphere or converts it into rain. 



CONTROVERSY ABOUT THE TEHUANTEPEC LANDS FOR COFFEE. 



The India- Rubber World, New York, October 15, 1893 : 

 To the Editor of the "India-Rubber World ": 



I read with a great deal of interest in a recent number of your journal, Mr. F. O. 

 Harriman's articles on " Rubber- Planting on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec," and I am 

 glad to see that he is so much pleased with his location at Jaltipan. While I think 

 that Jaltipan is a very good location for rubber-planting, and with but one exception 

 agree with everything he says in this regard, I am afraid that he is mistaken in con- 

 sidering that coffee and rubber can grow well on the same ground, or rather, that low 

 hot lands are the best for coffee. In my opinion there is no land hot enough for India- 

 rubber, or, rather, the hotter the temperature the better it is, provided, of course, that 

 it is moist or damp. But not so with coffee, which, in my opinion, requires a temper- 

 ate climate, where it will not freeze. The mere fact that coffee-trees cannot grow 

 at Jaltipan without shade, shows in my judgment that that zone is not the proper one 

 for coffee-growing, since it requires an artificial reduction of temperature. You can 

 grow pine-apples in St. Petersburg, Russia, but only in a hot-house, that is, by in- 

 creasing artificially the temperature, the only difference being that in one case you 

 increase and in the other reduce the temperature. For commercial purposes, it will 

 not do to change the conditions of nature, as the cost of production will be very much 

 increased when you have to use artificial means to alter the climatic conditions of a 

 place. I have had a great deal of personal experience in coffee-planting, and I am 

 sure that I am right in this view of it, and if necessary, could demonstrate it very 

 clearly. 



If Mr. Harriman's estimate about the yield per coffee-tree in Jaltipan is correct, 

 the place must be exceptionally good for coffee-raising. The yield per tree depends 

 mainly on the zone the trees are planted in. When they are planted in the hot zone, 

 the medium yield is from 4 to 8 ounces per tree, and when in the temperate zone about 

 one pound per tree. Isolated trees planted near houses where they have better care 

 and manure, may be found yielding in the hot zone even 8 pounds, but they are 

 exceptional cases, and could not be taken as a basis for the yield of a large plantation. 

 One pound per tree is a very good yield, as an average. The expenses of keeping the 

 plantation and gathering the crop are also smaller in the temperate than in the hot 



