154 MEXICAN COFFEES. 



times greater than in the East ; its cultivation also con- 

 stantly and immensely increasing there. 



The climatic and topographic conditions of the Ameri- 

 can continent are pre-eminently adapted to the cultiva- 

 tion of fine coffees, the great mass of coffee lands, con- 

 sisting of an elevated plateau formed by an expansion of 

 the Cordilleras from which terraced slopes descend with 

 a more or less rapid inclination towards both the Atlantic 

 and Pacific oceans. This vast tract comprises one of 

 the richest and most varied zones of the world, for while 

 its geographical position secures to it a tropical vegeta- 

 tion, the rapid differences of elevation which character- 

 ize it afford it the advantages of more temperate climates, 

 thus combining within its borders an almost unparalleled 

 exuberance and multiplicity of natural products, lands 

 favorable to the cultivation of coffee being found not 

 only on the entire Andean range but also on its sea and 

 land slopes from Mexico to Paraguay. While in addition 

 to these immense stretches of mountain range, the plant 

 is also found to flourish in the numerous valleys and 

 plains of the interior of the continent, and wherever the 

 great tablelands of the Cordilleras are sufficiently de- 

 pressed to reach the level of tropical vegetation. 



American Coffees are geographically divided into 

 Mexican, West Indian, Central and South American, and, 

 as with the products of the Old World, the commercial divi- 

 sions and subdivisions of the numerous varieties are based 

 rather on the districts of production and the ports of 

 export than upon any great material difference in the 

 appearance or even quality of the various kinds produced. 



It is also a fact not generally known to Americans that 

 at our very doors there exists the climatic conditions 



