286 
TtlE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Oct. 1. 1898. 
the crops are heavier, but tl e owtli of wee ls is 
tremendous and the extra cost of weeding counter- 
balances the extra crop. When I came to this 
district some three years ago, my neighbour, who 
has gone in for sugarcane, hail near his house 
about 25 coffee trees that had been planted by the 
Indians at least 20 years ago. Tliey had never 
had any attention at all and iie was about to cut 
them down as tliey were unsightly, having three 
or four stems and a mass of old wood. They yielded 
that year three lb. on an average ot clean cotl'ee. 
I asked to be allowed to prune a few of them to 
demonstrate what pruning would do. I pruned four 
of them and was informed by four embyro 
American cott'ee planters that they certainly would 
give no crop next season. The next crop was 
carefully gathered from three of them (the fourth 
was so heavily laden with ciop that two-thirds of 
it broke down), dried and cleaned and they averaged 
13i lb. per tree. Last year Mexico producol 
14,817,662 kilos colfee, value .$9,876,532. / have 
seen no leaf-disecise or heard of any. 
CACAO. 
I have seen no regular cacao srove here. The Mexi- 
cans plant cacao, coll'ee '.nd rubber all together ; 
and except a casual chop|)ing down of wee<ls give 
them no attention, but gather v. hat crops I'rovid- 
ence sends them in a contented spirit. I have 
seen a number of trees under these circumstances 20 
to 25 feet in height, bearing 5 lb. to 7 lb. per tree. 
The local value is 60 to 70 cents per lb. for the 
cacao nigra and 70 to 80 cents for the cacao 
Colorado ; the latter has the very finest flavour and 
if well cured should sell as high as the best in the 
European markets. The only eneniy is tiie squirrel 
and a beetle— both easily destroyed. 
RUBBER 
grows wild all over this district and 
is tapped by the Mexicans in the most barbarous 
manner, the trees being hacked with a machate as 
high as they can reach ; and the only wonder to 
me is that they do not bleed to death long before 
they do. It grows readily from see<l and the 
cost of forming a grove is small. 1 he under- 
bush and smaller trees only need cutting down 
at a cost of some ?2 to §2.50 per acre. 
The ground is chopped with a hoe and three or tour 
seeds are dropped at whatever distance apart it is 
proposed to have your trees. I intend myself 
planting seed at stake 6 ft. \ 6 ft., and when three 
years old, bleeding to death from root every 
alternate tree which will leave the permanent 
grove for regular tapping. The rubber produced 
from the trees destroyed will pay all the cost 
of grove. Rubber sells locally from 75 to 85 cents 
l)er lb. as crudely prepared by the natives and 
at that price a giove will yield S^SOO to $300 
annually per acre. 
SUOiARCANIO. 
On account of the import duty, the manufacture 
of sugar and white rum pays well in Mexico, 
but of course the capital required is very much 
larger than for coffee, cacao, rubber, etc. The 
cost of clearing the land so as to be cultivated, 
by ploughs, alone costs §!50 to $60 per hectare 
(2§ acres), but it will if properly cultivated yieli 
profitably for 5 to 7 years without replanting. 
On these rich lands a hectare will produce 80 
tons oi cane, which yields 90 per cent of juice, or 
of white sugar 300 to 400 lb. or of panela fdark 
sugar) 600 to 800 lb. or aguardiente (rum) 15 to 20 
eailons per ton. The local price fcj white suf ar 
per 25 lb. is $2, panela fl-75, aguardiente (rum; 
60 to 80 cents per gallon. The cost of producing 
being about the same as any West Indian Colony. 
TOBACCO 
is largely grown in this canton and brings a good 
price. A hectare (2J acres) | roduces Irom 2 2 
to 30 arobas(per aioba = 2o lb.) of the finer kinds of 
leaf worth in the local market tl8 to 112 per aroba 
which leaves a goo<l margin of profit ; tlie 
coarser kinds produce much larger crops, but the 
value of course is lower which equalizes matters. 
1 may here say that some Dutch tobacco growers 
from Sumatra, after looking all over Mexiw, 
have ju!jt bought 1,800 acres ot land adjoining 
mine on which to grow tobacco for the Amster- 
dam market. 
VANILLA 
grows well and is in great demand and might be 
grown on the shade trees amongst the coflee, 
cacao or rubber as a side crop. The laige num- 
ber of hummirig-birds here render the lttlx»r of 
artificial fertilizing of the Howers unnecesbary 
to a very great extent. 
KIIIKK I'l.ANT^^. 
There are many in Mexico : last year heneqnea to 
the value of ?7, 500,000 was exported. It is isaid 
a machine for the extraction of hbre from lainie baa 
just liccn perfccte<l ; if ^uch is the cas* there 
siiould be money in that. 
CARDAMOMS AND OINUKB 
both should pay here, every condition of soil and 
climate being suitable. 
OK FOODSTL'FKS, 
maize, rice and beans all produce large cro|)6with 
little cultivation; and fruits, the banana, orange, 
lime, avocate, mango, pouoa, melons, pine apple ami 
many others Vegetables I have grown of every 
kind except Irish potatoes. So much for tropical 
Mexico on the high plateaus. The 
MAGUKY 
{Agave Ama-ic(ma)\>\fLnX. is the chief product : it is 
planted 10 by 10 or 12 by 12 ft. and at eight years 
old each plant yields SIO worth of pulque, the drink 
of Mexico. Pure, it is a refreshing and wholesoue 
drink, but as sold in the Mexican drink shops forti- 
fied with a plant called " datu stramonuni." A 
few drinks will make the niost peaceful peon 
"lighting drunk." Some of the large haciendas liave 
300,00<i plants tapping from 20,000 to 30,000 a 
year, barley and wheat are sown between the 
rows ot maguey. The value of the maguey pro- 
duced in 1896 was $6,768,002 and Mexico city alone 
daily consumes 280, uoO litres of pulque. 
THE CLIMATE 
here is good. June and July have av eraged 78° 
at mid-day and 68° night. The hottest day 
in three years was 96° and the coldest night 
58°. The average rainfall 87 inches is well 
distributed over eight months, and there are 
showers and exceedingly heavy dews during 
the other four months. But Mexico has all kinds 
of climates (that of Guadalajara being simply per- 
fect) and all kinds of lands. In fact the large or 
small capitalist can hardly go wrong in tropical 
agriculture here if he has a knowledge of the bu- 
siness. Our rivers afford easy and cheap trans- 
port, and are full of fish, turtles and alligators. 
Game is plentiful, but on account of the dense un- 
dergrowth 
HUNTING AN» SHOOTING 
aie somewhat difficult. There are tapirs, three 
kinds of deer, two kinds of peecari hogs, 
two kinds of pheasant and (from Nov. to 
Feb.) ducks and geese without number in the 
lagoons and marshes. Jaguars pumas, and 
panthers can be got by looking them up : four of 
the latter made calls on my live stock at various 
