THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
8i 
Atra. 2, 1897.] 
cigars are preferred as being milder. This was a 
great injustice to the Mexican importers, who are 
most careful on these points. The enigma was 
solved by the discovery that Mexican tobacco ripened 
with remarkable rapidity, and that Glares berame 
“ Oscuros ” during the short transit from Vera Cruz 
or Tampico t.o New York. The remedy was clear. 
It was to import the leaf and manufacture the 
cigars under climatic conditions that would pro- 
long the ripening process. This led to a very brisk 
demand for leaf tobacco, and the Indians in the 
tobacco belt of Mezico were so foolish as to add corn 
shucks, grass dirt, and even stones to add weight to 
their bales; especially was this so in the case of that 
bought and shipped to Germany. The consequence 
was that there was a reaction, and the buyers for 
foreign houses would not look at any tobacco that 
did not bear the inspection brand of some well-known 
French, German, or Mexican house. Then the 
Indian growers were in despair and offered their 
tobacco for the price of seedling tobacco. American 
buyers jumped at the price and thus the exportation 
to the Onited States for 1893-94 re ched the figure 
of 382,767 pounds, as against 70,107 pounds for 
1891-92, but this was not maintained. Practically 
no wrapper tobacco is grown in Mexico. The leaf 
is all “filler.” This is a virtue to those who like a 
strong cigar, easily smoked, but it is a defect for the 
general confumer who likes a milder article. When 
cigars were mostly made in Habana the wrapper 
was “Yara,” and not the “ Vuelta Abajo,” for that 
very reason. A comparison for the prices paid for 
Mexican leaf tobacco by the various importing 
countries may be of interest. Germany, the chief 
importer, pays 37 cents per pound; the United 
States, 33 cents; England, 39 cents ; Belgium only 
29 cents, and France, only 25 cents per pound. The 
finest Mexican cigars go to Habana at one dollar 
67 cents per pound; England gives 94 cents for 
Mexican cigars ; France one dollar 19 cents, and 
the United States, 88 cents. In Mexico the soil is 
so deep that it is not necessary to plant a crop of 
corn after the crop of tobacco, and instead, the 
growers raise a second or seedling crop. After 
the plant has been cut, a stalk or chute springs 
abundantly, and from this stalk or chute spring 
small and very mild leaves, about the size of a man’s 
hand. These are utilised by the manufacturers of 
cigarettes. To the factories in the country this 
tobacco is sold at from 2 to 5 cents a pound.. The 
cigarette tobacco is excellent and its reputation is very 
good. Colombia and Peru buy it in constantly in- 
creasing quantities at from 6 to 9 cents per pound, 
and Gautemala buys at 6 cents. All of the Central 
Americans and some of the South Americans buy 
the Mexican cigars and pay an average of 1 dollar 
5 cents per pound. In a word, says Consul 
Crittenden, Mexico is not only one of the coming 
coffee countries, but is also a coming tobacco country. 
Mexico seems to be destined to wear the mantle 
of Habana in tobacco production, and once secured, 
it is safe to predict that it will never pass 
away, for the soil of the tobacco region is so 
deep as to be practically inexhaustible, being 
from 8 to 20 feet in depth, and in some places 
even 30 feet. Moreover its extent is probably one 
hundred times that of the Cuban tobacco region, 
when we take into consideration the fact that acre for 
acre the percentage of cultivated land at the present 
moment capable of producing tobacco of the very 
highest grade is greater in Mexico than it ever was in 
Cuba in its best days; we can from this easily see 
what will be the amount produced in the future. 
Mexico’s resources in this direction are practically so 
great as to make it certain that it will become rich 
from its tobacco alone. No doubt the results will be 
finally to cheapen the “ Habana ” cigars, and put 
them within the reach of all. The tobacco lauds of 
Mexico form an immense inverted capital T, the 
cross stretching from Tuxtepec, (Oaxaca) and the 
upper valley of the Papaloapan through the southern 
portion of Oaxaca into the Tehuantepec highlands, 
and thence into the state of Chiapas ; the upright of 
the T stretches from the valleys of the Colorado and 
the Trinidad rivers (which form the San Juan river) 
eastward to the San Andres Tuxtla Canton. The 
cream of the tobacco lands will undoubtedly be found 
in the valleys of the Colarado and Trinidad rivers, 
but chiefly the latter. The soil in these valleys is 
from 10 to 15 feet deep, and of the very richest 
quality, and is equally adapted for coffee or tobacco. 
It may be taken as axiomatic as regards Mexico that 
the land that is good for one is equally good for the 
other. To the eastward of the main valley of the 
Trinidad river, in the transverse valleys, the soil is 
even deeper than 10 to 15 feet, and here one finds 
mahogany trees of the most astonishing size and of 
the finest quality. This region is called Las 
Monterias de Caoba, and is very extensive. Trans- 
portation is one of the most important questions 
which the planter in Mexico has to consider. In the 
Trinidad region he is close to the National Tehuantepec 
Railway, and he can also raft down to Vera Cruz, which 
town is reached by the small river steamers that 
ascend the river from Talacotalpam. He has two ports, 
Coatzacoalcos and Alvarado, Whenever the Railway 
from Corodoba reaches Tuxtepec, it will undoubtedly 
be extended to Juili on the Theuntepec line, and 
must traverse the Trinidad region, so that on the 
score of transportation one is reasonably assured 
being amply provided for in the present, with 
the probability of still more accommodation in the 
future. 
— 
NUTMEGS.* 
The author of this book begins by saying how 
interesting he found the study of the Nutmeg-tree 
both true and false, during a period of eight years 
spent In the Eastern parts of the Malay Archipelago 
and in New Guinea. There these trees enjoy a cli- 
mate exactly suited to them, and there, in conse- 
quence, is situated the centre of their distribution. 
’There also they take the same relation to botany 
that Birds of Paradise do to zoology. 
The claim of the Nutmeg for consideration as 
an article of commerce is connected with a series 
of romantic stories of its discovery in times long past 
of the fierce war tint raged among European countries 
for their commercial rights, of the combat for mono- 
poly that ended in the extermination of the natives 
and the break-up of the greatest merchant-company 
that has ever existed. All this eventful history is 
interwoven with the stillness of every grove of Nut-meg 
trees, and with the grand scenery of every inland 
lake. 
With such words as these, the author commences 
a work which is, in its way, unique. He proceeds 
to treat of the history of the Nutmeg previous to 
the discovery of the Banda Isles, of the use that has 
been made of it in poetry, and of the philological 
history of the various names for Nutmeg and Mace. 
The second part of the book is devoted to the 
cultivation of these spices, and includes a large amount 
of cultural detail and history. We are told of the 
strenuous endeavours made by the Dutch East India 
Company to preserve the monopoly, and how finally 
they were forced to relinquish it ; and the author 
further reminds us of the exertions that were made 
with more or less success to induce the Nutmeg- 
tree to flourish and become naturalised in other 
localities. Dr. Warburg notes that at Syon House, 
Middlesex, very large fruits have been brought to 
perfection. It would be interesting to learn whether 
this tree is still flourishing. [No, it was removed 
some years since. Ed.] In an appendix to this 
section of the book is a tabular epitome of the cul- 
* ''Die hhishatnusK-." the Nutmeg, its history, botany, 
cultivation, trade and value, also its imitations and 
sui'rogate. With a treatise on the cultural history 
of the Banda Isles. By Dr. O. Warburg. With three 
heliogravures, four liihographic plates, one map, and 
twelve illustrations in the text. (Leipzig, Engelmann, 
1897, 8vo, xii., and 628 pages. Price 20 marks.) 
