Un.  I,  1896.J  THE  TROPICAL 
MEXICAN  COFFEE  LANDS. 
A former  Ceylon  planter,  with  large  experience  in 
the  coffee  countries  of  the  world,  has  studied  the 
ossibilities  of  Mexico  as  a coffee-growing  country, 
n an  interview  printed  in  the  Chicago  Inter-Ocean 
he  says  : 
“ I joirrneyed  to  Mexico  to  inspect  the  Mexican 
lands  suitable  for  coffee  from  a business  stand  point. 
With  hardly  an  exception,  I found  chaos  reigning 
supreme,  as  far  as  cultivation  was  concerned,  little 
or  no  attempt  having  been  made  to  do  anything  but 
pick  the  crop.  After  thoroughly  inspecting  some  of 
the  newer  districts,  with  which  the  older  districts 
cannot  be  compared  for  a moment,  it  surprised  me 
that  these  older  districts  had  ever  been  taken  up  at 
all  for  coffee,  the  proximity  to  the  railway  being  the 
only  valid  excuse,  as  neither  in  climate  nor  soil 
can  these  older  districts  stand  their  own. 
“In  choosing  coffee  lands  what  should  be  looked 
for  first  and  principally  is  a suitable  climate.  Coffee 
wants  a regular  temperature  of  say,  from  tlO  to 
80  degrees  Fahrenheit  all  the  year  round,  with  a 
rainfall  of  from  100  to  120  inches,  the  latter  preferred  ; 
in  fact,  a warm  humid  atmosphere  ; when  you  can 
get  that  it  matters  little  about  the  latitude  or  ele- 
vation. It  is  true  that  the  high  elevation  bean  is 
generally  the  most  delicate  in  flavour,  but  the  differ- 
ence in  price  is  so  little  that  it  will  not  nearly  com- 
pensate for  the  difference  in  crop,  and  the  planter, 
if  he  is  wise,  will  confine  himself  to  what  will 
fill  his  pockets  the  quickest. 
“ Two  districts  specially  caught  my  fancy,  the 
one  on  the  Tonto  Eiver,  partly  in  the  State  of 
Oaxaca  and  partly  in  the  State  of  Vera  Cruz.  I 
saw  thousands  of  acres  of  magnificent  rich  loam 
covered  wiih  heavy  forest  which  could  be  converted 
into  most  successful  plantations.  These  uisuhets  are 
par-excellence,  the  home  of  the  sugar  cane.  J'ho 
district,  however,  on  ■ which  my  choice  rested,  and 
which  in  every  way  filled  my  bean  ideal  of  the  coffee 
district,  was  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  side  of  the 
Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec,  inclosed  between  the  two 
rivers,  Uspanapa  and  Coatzacoalcos,  and  intersected 
by  others.  Most  of  these  rivers  have  deep  water  and 
are  navigable  far  into  the  interior.  Within  this 
tract  of  country  there  is  a large  per  cent  of  the  finest 
coffee  lands  I ever  saw  in  my  life.  I was  thoroughly 
surprised  with  the  rich,  black  soil  and  its  uniformity ; 
he  nice,  easy  lay  of  the  land,  with  its  good  drainage  : 
ts  plentiful  supply  of  live  mountain  streams,  its 
fine  navigable  rivers,  within  easy  reach  of  the 
seaports,  where  goods  can  be  slapped  to  all  parts 
of  the  world;  its  plentiful  supply  of  fine,  robust 
natives,  willing  and  ready  to  work  ; its  production 
in  a wild  and  semi-wild  state  of  coffee,  sugar, 
vanilla,  cacao,  rubber,  fruits  of  all  kinds,  corn 
and  other  products,  and  lastly,  and  a very  impor- 
tant thing  to  the  shelter,  its  tine,  healthy  climate. 
The  residents  of  this  district  claimed  for  it  a tem- 
perature and  rainfall  exactly  in  accordance  with 
my  views  of  what  was  perfect  for  coffee  and  my 
first  glance  at  the  vegetation  verified  their  claim. 
“ The  climate  as  regards  health  being  one  of 
the  principal  things  to  thoroughly  investigate,  this 
I did,  and  I found,  first,  that  the  death  rate 
in  Minitlan,  the  largest  and  most  important  town 
in  this  district — being  also  a shipping  port— and 
seemingly  in  the  most  unhealthy  part  of  it,  is 
only  8’7  persons,  in  the  1,000  per  year,  while  the 
death  rate  of  Chicago  averages  about  18.2.  The 
old  residence  Americans  and  foreigners  speak  highly 
of  it  in  that  respect. 
•‘x\ll  over  Mexico  coffee  is  handled,  almost  with- 
out exception,  in  the  most  slovenly  manner,  being 
neither  cultivated  nor  prepared  for  market  properly.” 
[Nevertheless  some  of  the  finest  coffee  seen  in  this 
market  has  been  of  Mexican  growth. — Ed.]  “ If 
the  old  districts  give  handsome  results  with  the 
present  system,  I venture  to  say  that  in  the  district 
I'eferred  to,  on  the  isthmus,  irnder  judicious  manage- 
ment, being  essentially  a coffee  district,  which  most  of 
others  are  not,  the  results,  I think,  could  safely  be 
multiplied  by  10. 
“ There  is  any  amount  of  valuable  timber  which 
'■au  be  made  to  pay  hausomely,  as  well  as  growing 
Agriculturist.  453 
corn  between  the  rows  of  coffee,  which  forms  a good 
shade  for  the  young  coffee  plant,  and  yields  from  sixty 
to  eighty  bushels  per  acre,  and  at  least  two  crops 
at  that  rate  per  year.  This,  at  the  local  rate  for 
corn — about  $1'25  silver,  or  about  (50  cents  American 
— would,  I think,  almost,  if  not  altogether,  clear  ex- 
penses of  cultivation.  The  outlet  to  this  district  is 
Coatzacoalcos,  where  at  present  two  steamers  per 
week  arrive  and  go  on  to  Minitlan,  load  up  and 
return  to  Vera  Cruz,  where  they  tranship  their  pro- 
duce into  the  large  New  York  and  European  steam- 
ers. This  is  necessary  on  account  of  a bar  at 
Coatzacoalcos,  preventing  any  steamer  drawing  more 
than  foru'teen  feet  of  water  coming  in.” — American 
Grocer. 
THE  FUTURE  OF  PETROLEUM  AS  A 
FUEL. 
In  an  article  contributed  to  the  ColUenj  Gnardian, 
Mr.  R.  Nelson  Boyd,  M.  Inst.,  c.e.,  discusses  the 
possibilities  of  petroleum  replacing  coal  as  a fuel 
for  general  purposes  in  this  country.  After  referring 
to  the  numerous  experiments  and  trials  that  have 
been  made  with  liquid  fuel,  including  those  of  Mr. 
Holden,  on  the  Great  Eastern  Railway,  where  several 
locomotives  are  at  preseat  running,  and  have  been  for 
a number  of  years,  with  liquid  fuel,  he  goes  on  to 
observe  that  the  adoption  of  petroleum  as  a fuel  to 
any  practical  extent  has  been  limited  to  South 
Russia  up  to  the  present  time,  and  it  appears'  that  its 
general  use  is  a matter  for  the  very  distant  future, 
except  under  special  local  circumstances. 
The  necessary  elements  for  the  economic  use  of 
petroleum  are  quantity  and  cheapness,  and  these  are 
only  to  be  fouu  i in  South  Russia — at  any  rale  up  to 
the  present  time.  The  production  of  crude  oil  in  the 
South  Russian  field  is  about  thirty  millions  of  bar  - 
rels, giving  say,  three  to  four  millious  of  baiTels  of 
residuum,  or  so  called  “astatki,”  equal  to  about  half 
a million  tons,  which  represent  in  heating  po  ver  one 
million  tons  of  coal.  This  is,  of  course,  a large  and 
a sufficient  supply  for  local  purposes,  including  tho 
steamers  on  the  Caspian  Sea  and  ,the  locomotives 
and  as  there  is  no  other  use  for  the  astatki,  it  is 
obtained  at  a low  cost.  But  this  is  the  only  petro- 
leum-producing field  in  the  world  where  circumstanees 
so  favourable  to  the  use  of  liquid  fuel  exist.  The 
Russian  oil  is  of  such  a character  that  in  the  pro- 
cess of  distillation  it  leaves  a largo  percentage  of 
residuum,  whereas  in  other  fields  .almost  all,  if  not 
all  the  distillates  from  the  crude  oil  are  applied  to 
commercial  purposes,  and  sold  at  prices  which  pre- 
clude their  use  as  fuel  except  [for  special  i^urposes, 
such,  for  instance,  as  heating  where  space  and  cleanli- 
ness, rapidity  of  lightning  and  extinguishing  the  fire 
are  dominant  over  the  question  of  cost.  But  these 
special  applications  cover  only  a small  field  of  con- 
sumption, and  in  reality,  as  a competitor  with  coal 
as  a fuel,  petroleum  is  not  in  the  market,  at  any 
rate  in  tho  country.  In  addition  to  the  high  cost 
comes  the  question  of  supply.  The  quantity  of  pet- 
roleum produ'ed  is  certainly  considerable,  but  when 
compared  with  the  amount  of  coal  raised  in  the  world 
the  figure  sinks  into  insignificance — that  is,  from  the 
point  of  view  as  fuel. 
It  would  be  difficult  to  to  estimate  with  exactitude  the 
total  production  of  petroleum  in  the  w'orld  owing  to 
the  want  of  correct  data.  In  the  United  States  the 
returns  show  over  2,000  millious  of  gallons  raised  in 
1894 ; in  Russia,  about  1,200  millions  of  gallons  ; 
and  in  Galicia,  Austria,  uO  millious  of  gallons  ; but 
the  statistics  of  other  contrics  are  very  uncertain.  It 
may,  however,  be  roughly  estimated  that  the  world’s 
production  will  amount  to  between  4,000  and  -5, OCX) 
millions  of  gallons.  A very  largo  production  has 
sprung  up  in  recent  years  in  tho  far  East,  tho  statis- 
tics of  which  are  not  easily  obtainable;  but,  taking 
the  total  production  at  5,000  millions  of  gallons— 
say,  20  millions  of  tons,  equal  in  calorific  heat  to 
40  millious  of  tons  of  coal — we  ar-rive  at  a figure 
which  represents  but  a very  small  percentage  of  the 
world’s  production  of  coal.  This  is  assuming  the 
entire  production  of  crude  oil  to  be  used  as  fuel, 
whereas  only  the  small  production  of  Russiai) 
