630  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST.  [March  i,  1897. 
Many  persons  who  come  to  these  co'.mtries  to 
teach  I'emain  to  learn  : their  lessons  tt)o  often  are 
very  severe.  When  I lirst  arrived  in  the  neigh- 
bouring 
REPUBLIC  OF  GUATEMALA 
in  the  early  part  of  1883,  1 thought  that  the 
very  name  of  being  a Ceylon  planter  was  sufficient 
to  establish  me  as  an  authority  on  such  subjects; 
so  it  was  to  a certain  extent,  but  my  case  was 
very  exceptional  and  successlul.  But  I readily 
say  that  our  Ceylon  system  of  coffee  planting 
could  never  be  adopted  successfully  here,  where 
the  same  method  prevails  which  is  employed  in 
Brazil.  The  reasons  are  legion  in  number  and  1 have 
written  you  too  fretiuently  regarding  them.  In  a 
word  it  is  eminently  cheaper  and  simpler,  so 
much  so  that  whatever  p:iit  of  the  world  I 
were  to  go  to  prosecuie  the  coffee  industry  I sliould 
assuredly  work  on  the  lines  esiablished  in  all 
this  continent.  Accordingly  you  see  my  Ceylon 
coffee  planting  education  is  no  use  to  me. 
I am  one  of  those  who  came  here  to 
teach  and  have  remained  to  learn. 
Central  America  stands  very  high  as  a large 
coffee-producing  country.  It  is  split  up  poli- 
tically into  live  distinct  liepublic.s.  The  chief  of 
these  as  a coffee  country  is  the  Keimblic  of  Guate- 
mala. Last  year  the  harvest  reached  nearly  9U0,00U 
9uintals  (one  (juintal  is  enual  to  100  lb.  weight.) 
It  is  an  accepted  fact  that 
VOLCANIC  SOIL 
is  the  very  primest  for  the  growth  of  coffee.  Now 
Guatemala  and  its  immediate  neighbour,  .San 
Salvador,  is  nearly  altogether  of  volcanic  forma- 
tion. There  are  fully  12  distinct  r olcanoes,  rang- 
ing in  height  from  13,500  leet  to  15,000  feel 
above  sea  level.  These  volcanoes  begin  in  Mexico, 
State  ot  Chiapas,  and  exteiul  in  uniform  succession 
tliioughout  tlie  Republic  of  Guatemala  and  San 
Salvador.  They  are  all  situated  about  the  same 
distance  from  the  seashore  washed  by  the  Paciiic 
Ocean  and  not  far  inlaml.  Their  lolty  tops  look 
down  on  the  band-like  cloud  belt,  which  is 
often  seen  to  rest  more  than  midway  up  their 
sides,  like  a cotton  bandage  round  a sore  finger 
— scale  gigantic.  Not  a very  poetic  figure  of 
speech,  but  that  is  what  I thought  one  of  them 
looked  like  the  first  time  I saw  it.  The  upper 
portions  are  very  rugged  and  steep  ; at  lower 
elevations  their  bases  spread  out,  llatten  and 
broaden  and  at  the  usual  height  above  the  sea- 
level  a line  can  be  drawn  which  marks  the  lower 
limit  of  the  coffee  zone  throughout  the  district 
of  Soconusco,  state  of  Chiapas,  thence  traversing 
eiiuidistant  from  the  sea,  through  Guatemala 
and  San  Salvador.  From  this  line  reaching  up- 
wards is  the  great  coffee  belt  of  Soconusco  and 
Central  America. 
A PERPETUAL  CALM 
broods  eternally  along  this  gigantic  band.  The 
stillness  is  scarcely  ever  ruffied  even  by  a gentle 
breeze.  During  the  rainy  season,  heavy  rain  and 
thunderstorms  are  the  rule  nearly  every  after- 
noon ; but  only  in  the  afternoon.  During 
the  whole  of  my  sojourn  there  I scarcely 
ever  remember  seeing  it  rain  in  the  mornin". 
Every  morning  breaks  to  display  a perfectly 
cloudless  sky,  the  sun  shines  with  a tropical  stiength 
and  heat,  and  to  all  appearance,  were  it  not  for 
the  wel  jungle  and  muddy  roads,  one  wouiu 
suppose  that  such  a brilliant  sky  never  was 
darkened  by  a cloud,  or  its  tranquility  disturbed 
by  a storm.  After  noon,  however,  the  clouds 
gather  with  magic  lapidity,  black  and  ominous 
are  they,  succeeded  by  heavy  rain  which  pours 
down,  lining  and  swelling  the  rivulets  and  making 
everything  in  the  w'ay  of  a stream  an  impassable 
torrent. 
This  is  a true  description  ot  the  climate  which 
prevails  ixi  the  Pacific  sloiie  of  Central  America, 
and  differs  so  veiy  widely  from  that  where  I am 
at  present  situated  that  I must  describe  it  also. 
Today  is  the  2(jth  December  and  it  is  just 
EIGHT  DAYS  SINCE  I SAW  THE  SUN. 
Two  days  ago  it  rained  27  hours  incessantly — 
never  stopped  a moment.  Today  w'e  have  no 
rain,  but  the  whole  sky  is  ob.sciued  by  dense  clouds. 
How  many  more  tlays  may  pass  before  I shall 
see  the  blessed  face  of  the  sun  I know  not  ; but 
this  I will  say  : that  I am  very  credibly  in- 
formed that  it  not  infrequently  happens  that 
the  sun,  is  obscured  for  15  and  20  days  con- 
secutively, particularly  at  this  .season  of  the  year. 
The  previous  8 days  was  entirely  the  reverse  : the 
sun  rose  in  the  morning,  unclouded  sky,  and  bright 
and  cheerful  was  the  whole  day  for  9 consecutive 
days.  Here  we  seldom  have  thunder.  I cannot  say 
I ever  heard  any  during  the  9 months  that  1 have 
been  here.  Can  anything  be  more  opposite  or 
different  than  the  display  of  the  two  climates 
between  this  place  ami  the  Paciiic  slope  of  f.'entral 
America.  Vet  there  are  coffee  plantations  here 
which  grow  and  thrive  wonderfully.  The  soil  is  a 
very  deep  rich  friable  loam  of  volcanic  origin. 
When  I lirst  w'ent  to  Guatemala,  March  1883, 
the  coffee  showed  a magnificence  and  a luxuriance 
of  growth  and  redundancy  of  foliage,  that  I had 
hitherto  been  a stranger  to.  From  8 to  12  pounds  of 
coffee  was  not  unfrequently  picked  off  single  trees. 
But  in  the  early  “ nineties  ” 1 noticed 
A GREAT  CHANGE 
particularly  in  8oconusco  and  the  district  in 
tJuatemala  calleil  Tumbador,  which  immediately 
adjoins  JSoconusco.  The  coffee  trees  seemed  to 
have  lost  their  great  and  exuberant  vigor.  Their 
luxuriant  foliage  was  decidedly  lessened,  and  in 
their  stead  an  unhealthy  sickly  appearance  had 
taken  its  place  ; the  leaves  were  more  scattered 
on  the  ground  than  on  their  proper  place  on  the 
treest ; the  young  wood  especially  would  appear 
weak,  was  withered  and  black-looking  from  the 
ends  leading  toward  the  trunk.  In  speaking  to  a 
friend  of  mine,  a wealthy  planter,  he  acknow'- 
ledged  the  difference,  and  said  it  was  most  marked. 
“ They  don’t  seem  to  me  to  have  half  their  former 
luxuriance  of  growth,”  is  what  he  said  to  me. 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  I soon  found  out  what 
the  cause  was.  I noticed  what  to  me  was  an  old 
and  familiar  face.  The  underpart  of  the  leaf  I 
noticed  was  semi-perforated.  They  were  spotted 
all  over  with  the  same  marks.  No  wonder  that  I 
was  frightened.  I thought  I had  discovered 
HEMILEIA  VASTATRIX 
beyond  all  doubt.  My  fear  and  anxiety,  however,  I 
kept  carefully  to  myself;  and  to  make  myself 
absolutely  sure,  I collected  and  prepared  botnni- 
cally  a little  box  of  the  diseased  coffee  leaves 
and  despatched  them  to  the  Director  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution  of  Sciences,  AVashington,  United 
States,  North  America,  giving  him  at  the  same 
time  a description  of  the  coffee  trees,  as  well  as  a 
comparison  of  what  they  were  years  before. 
The  following  is  the  reply  which  he  sent  to  mj’ 
letter,  w'hich  1 feel  assured  will  be  read  with 
great  interest  by  all  planters  as  well  as  all 
those  who  have  capital  invested  in  Soconusco  amt 
Guatemala 
Smithsonian  Institution,  United  States  National 
Museum,  Washington,  May  22iid,  Iti'.ri.  Mr.  W.  J. 
Forsyth,  Chiapno,  Mexico.— Dear  Sir,— The  coffee  tree 
