210 



Doe. No. 15. 



AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES OP NICARAGUA^ 



I have already said that the natural resources of Nicaragua are inimem&f 

 but they have been very imperfectly developed. The portion of lands 

 brought under cultivation is very small^ but ample for the support of its 

 population. There is no difficulty in increasing the amount to an indefinite 

 extent, for the forests are easily removed, and genial nature needs no 

 forcing to return rich harvests. There are many cattle estates, particularly 

 in Choutales, Matagaipa, and Segovia^ which cover wide tracts of country;, 

 some of these have not less than ten or fifteen thousand head of cattte 

 each. The cattle are generally fine, quite equal to those in the United 

 States. 



Among the staples of the State, and which are produced in great per- 

 fection, I may mention sugar, cotton, cofiee, cacao, indigo, tobacco, rice^ 

 and maize or Indian corn. 



Sugar. — The description of sugar cane used in Nicaragua is a native of 

 the country, and very different from the Asiatic cane cultivated in the 

 West Indies and the United States: it is said to be equally productive 

 with the foreign species; the canes are slenderer and softer, and contain 

 more and stronger juice, in proportion to their size, than the Asiatic variety^ 

 Two crops are taken annually, and the cane does .not require replanting 

 but once in twelve or fourteen years. The best kind of sugar produced 

 from the sugar estates is nearly as white as the refined sugar of commerce^ 

 the crystals being large and hard. A large part of the supply for ordinary 

 consumption is what is called '^chancaca,^^ and is the juice of the cane 

 merely, boiled till it crystalhzes, without being cleaned of the molasses, A 

 quantity of this is exported to Peru, and elsewhere in South America. It 

 is stated that the ^^chancaca" may be produced ready for sale at $1 25 

 per quintal (101-|- lbs. English.) The most profitable part of the sugar 

 establishment is the manufacture of ^'-agua ardieiite^^^ sipecies of rum. 

 It is impossible to say, in the absence of data, what is the amount of manu- 

 facture of sugar in Nicaragua; it is perhaps enough to know that it may be 

 produced indefinitely. The export has been estimated at 200,000 lbs. 



Cotton. — Cotton of a superior quality to that of Brazil may be pro- 

 duced in any quantity in Nicaragua. As many as 50,000 bales, of 300 

 pounds each," says Dunlap, of clean and pressed cotton, have b-een ex- 

 ported from this State in a single year; the cultivation is^ however, al 

 present (1846) at a very low ebb." Considerable quantities are never- 

 theless raised, which are manufactured by the natives, but chiefly by the 

 Indians, into hammocks, sail-cloth, and ordinary clothing. The do- 

 mestic cloth is coarse^ but compact, neat, and durable. 



Coffee. — Coffee of a superior quality, and probably equal to any in the 

 world, may also be produced indefinitely in this republic; but for some 

 reason it is not very extensively cultivated. The plantations which I 

 have seen are very flourishing, and the proprietors find them quite as 



(be scarce ; but there would be no want of laboring har>d3, for the certainty and regularity of their 

 pay would attract men not only fiom all parts of this, but from the adjoining States of Costa 

 ilica, Honduras, and San Salvador also; while a judicious system &f equitable regulations' 

 would insure their docility and submissiveness. The barbarism that has been attributed to 

 this population in the wiiiings before alluded to needs no other refutation than saying that the 

 imputation is unfounded ; nor is if, nor can it be, a supposable fact that the peasantry of the one 

 country should differ very much from that of the oiher adjoimng it-~the same knguagCj habitSj,. 

 and custjiDS being comoion to both." 



