892 THE TROPICAL AQRICULTURIST. [June i, 1892. 
MEXICO AS A COFFEE GROWEE. 
One of the best authorities in the world on coffee 
and coffee raising, says Amcncan Export and Finance, is 
Mr. Joseph M. "Walsh, the author of an able a,nd ex- 
haustive work on the subject and himself an expert 
dealer in coffees in Philadelphia. What he h«s to 
say about the suitability of Mexico for coffee culti- 
vation, and about the quality of the Mexican grown 
coffee, is therefore entitled to the highest credence 
and the greatest consideration. He gives his viewa 
in the following letter : — 
"Philadelphia, Fehruary 6, IS90.— There is no field 
for capital that I know of at the present moment 
that promises such large returns as that of the over- 
looked and much rejected one of coffee cultivation. 
Among my reason for this statement may be men- 
tioned its high market price now, and the fact that 
it costs no more to grow it than when it sold for 
one-half its present figures. If plantei^s made money 
when the selling price ranged from 8c., to 10c— and 
it is generally admitted that they did make money- 
how much more can be made, do you suppose, at 
100 per cent advances ? The area of coffee culti- 
vation mi^st be increased to meet that increasing 
-demand for the commodity in this country parti- 
cularly, for here the per capita consumption of 
pure coffee is larger than in any other country 
on the globe. When prices are high we cannot do 
as dealers did in Europe— reduce the price by reducing 
the quality— by the mixture of chicory, rye, date 
stones, and burnt figs — because the American con- 
sumer insists, and justly too, in buying his coffee 
in the bean. 
"For this reason if for no other coftee culture 
■ cannot fail to pay large dividends on investments. 
'Yet in addition to these there are the questions of 
comparatively small outlay and cheap labour. The 
latter has been the great "difficulty up to the present 
time, but is now overcome by the use of improved 
niachinerv and other labour-saving appliances. The 
decreased' supplies from Java, Oeylon, and other coun- 
tries in the Bast Indies owing to what is claimed to 
be the worm disease rot and other causes of a like 
nature, but which is in reality due to an overworked 
and worn out soil make the time ripe and favour- 
able for a new departure in coffee culture in this 
country. 
, "It is a fact not generally known to Americans 
that on their own continent, nay at their very doors, 
there exists the agricultural capacity and climatic 
conditions for the production of all the coffee that 
is required for consumption in the United States, 
and in addition, to supply Europe eventually. Along 
the entire length of the Andean Range, coming up 
from Peru in the south aiid extending north through 
Central America into Mexico, and including the 
West Indii Islands, there is every facility and oppor- 
tunity for the successful and profitable cultivation of 
coffee, rivalling, if not actually excelling in quality, 
the much vaunted products of Java and other coun- 
tries in the eastern hemisphere. 
" The topographic and climatic condition of Mex- 
ico and Central America are especially adapted for 
the production of varieties as choice in bean and as 
rich in flavour as tlie finest products of Java, and so 
excel n-ne. tenths of that grown in the latter country, 
which, were it not for the fact of being grown on 
that Island, would not deserve to be ranked with 
the average products of the former countries. While 
the most favourable coffee producing district, in Mex- 
ixo are to be found on the arable lands of the Andean 
P.ange, excellent coffee may also be grown on. the 
pliiins of the interior as far north as- Sinaloa as 
well as on the Gulf coast from Yucatan to Taniaulipas. 
The great mass of Mexican territory consist of an 
elevated plateau funned by an expansion of Choter- 
diUeras, froni which terraced slopes descend with a 
more or less ra))id inclination toward the Atlantic 
on the east, and the pacific on the west. This vast 
tract cornpOHCH one of the richest and most varied 
/.ones of the world forwliilc its goograiihical position 
soctn'CB to it tropical vegetation, the rapid differences 
of elevation which characterise it, afford it the ad- 
vantages of tt temperate climate, thus combining within 
its limits an almost unparalleled exuberence and multi- 
plicity of natural products. 
" The differences in climate depending on the 
degrees of altitude are so great that the products 
including coffee comprise all that are to be found 
between the equator and the polar circle. Its adap- 
tability to the production of fine coffee has been 
thoroughly tested by more than fifty years of experi- 
ence in its cultivation, which experience has fully 
and satisfactorily demonstrated that in profit to the 
planter as well as in the superiority of its product, 
IMexico has no rival among the coffee producing 
countries of the world. The area adjustable to ita 
profitable cultivation is almost illimitable as far as 
natural capacity is concerned, being only limited by 
the extent of land brought under cultivation. The 
cost of labour is also cheap, never exceeding 25 
cents per day. 
" The finest coffee in the world comes now from 
Guatemala, bordering on the little known, and until 
recently almost totally neglected States of Chiapas 
and Tabacco, in Southern Mexico. Excellent coffee 
is now grown, but in limited quantities in the for- 
mer, and coffee of very fair quality in the latter 
this too without the aid of intelligent cultivation or 
modern appliances for hulling or properly the bean 
for market. On the district of Toepic is grown a 
coffee rivalling, if not actually exceding, the far- 
farmed Mocha and Cordoba produces a coffee supe- 
rior in size, style, colour, body and^flavoui to many 
of the much vaunted Java growths. The product of 
Oaxaca excels that of Jamaica and Ceylon, while 
the product of Michocan equals the finest of the 
Maracaibo varieties, or the best of the East India 
coffee so much prized in English markets. 
"That Mexico has not heretofore assumed first 
place in point of production and exportation of coffee 
and that rank to which its merit entitles, it 
is due to other causes than to unadaptability of the 
soil and climate, limited capacity of area, quality, 
or profit to planters. It is attributable alone to those 
that have so long retarded all the other agricultural 
and commercial devolopements, among which may 
be mentioned the civil disorders, lack of knowledge in 
intelligent cultivation, modern methods in curing, 
and scarcity of capital to prosecute the industry in 
a successful and profitable manner. 
" Under the stable and practical government of 
Diaz and his Cabinet, the Republic of Mexico had 
become one of the greatest and most progressive 
countries in our continent. The era of revolution 
appears to have passed away for ever the pronuncia- 
mento exists there no longer? railroads, telegraphs, 
telephones, the electric light, newspapers, and schools 
are rapidly superseding them, the eyes of the home 
seekers of the world are turning towards the rich 
possibilities of a country so long dormant and await- 
ing development. In a very few years from now, the 
rich and fertile plains of Mexico will be peopled 
by a population as energetic and progressive as they 
who built of and made progressive the erstwhile wild 
and uncultivated lands of our western country." — 
Indian Agncultunst. 
■ 
PiNEAPPLE-JDicE DIGESTS Albdmen. — It is net 
generally known that the juioe of the pineapple 
contains a proteid-digeating fermrnt ; its action is 
weak, it IS tru9, for 3 oz. digfpt on!y 10 to 15 
grains of ooBgulate'l f lbnimpn, I ut it sets equally 
veil in acid aod alkaline media, and beat in a 
reulrBl fluid. Tlie juice elpo contains a milk- 
curdling fermtnt. When wo spetk of any enzjme 
being weuk, it doe^ not follow that the dose of it 
must ba proportioned to its strength ; for it is 
probable that a tmsll dn&e will act as well aa a 
large one, by setting up (he process of digestion in 
a fresh line when ihe digestive function of the 
Btomaoh ia impaired. Then the peptic seorption 
follows the lead. On thpt basis, a slice or two of 
pineapple at dinner is not a bad thing. — Chemist 
and Druygis^. 
