

CHAPTER VIII. 



Agricultural prospects of the Isthmus — Its Natural Productions — Cot- 

 ton — Sugar- Cane— Tobacco — Plantains, Bananas and their Culti- 

 vation — Fruits — Chirimoyers — Pine Apples — Alligator Pears and 

 others — Medicinal Products — The Natives' Antidote for Snake 

 Poison—Castor Oil Plant — Ipecacuanha, Sarsaparilla, &e. 



It is not much likely that the Isthmus of Pan- 

 ama will immediately become, to any very great ex- 

 tent, an agricultural district ; yet, probably, nowhere 

 would the earth yield a greater variety of her useful 

 products than here. Nor is it hardly possible that 

 greater inducements could be presented to the culti- 

 vators of the soil than are now offered on this Isth- 

 mus, not only from the present and increasing 

 demand for such products, but from the bountiful 

 harvest that could be obtained from the richly pro- 

 ductive soil. It will take a long time before the 

 public will view this little neck of land in any other 

 light than a very objectionable portion of the earth, 

 to " get over" on the way to California ; yet it is 

 worthy of a much more general consideration. 



Of the agricultural productions of this country 

 but little can be said, for but little is known about 

 them, and that little, many times, is vague and un~ 



