892 
THE TROPICAL AORICULTURIST, 
[June i, 189s. 
MEXICO AS A COFFEE GROWEK. 
One of the best authorities in tlie world on colTeo 
and cofl'ee raisiiift. says Amcncan Kxpoft auit Finance, X'A 
Mr. Joseph M. Walsn, the author of an able mid ex- 
haustive work on the subject and himself an expert 
dealer in coffees in Philadelphia. M'liat he 1 i»h to 
say about the suitability of Jlexico for coffee culti- 
vation, and about the quality of the Mexican j,'rown 
coffee, is therefore entitled to the lughest credence 
and the greatest consideration. lie gives his views 
in the following letter:— _ 
J'hiludcliihia, Frhmanj C, 7890.— There is no field 
for capital that I know of at the present moment 
that promises such largo returns as that of the oyer- 
Icoked 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 glow it than when it sold for 
one-half its present figures. Ifplanteiyi made money 
when the selling price ranged from do., to 10c— and 
it is generally admitted that they did make money- 
how much more can bo made, do you smipose, a.t 
loo per cent advances? The area of coffee culti- 
vation mest bo 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 cofloe culture 
cannot fail to pay large dividends on investments. 
Yet in addition to these there arc the questions of 
comparatively small outlay and cheap labour. The 
latter has been the great difficulty up to the present 
time, imt is now overcome by the use of improved 
mnehinerv and other labour-saving appliances. The 
decreased supplies from Java, Ceylon, and other coun- 
tries in the East Indies owing to what is claimed to 
bo 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 ripo 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 produotion 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 llauge, coming up 
from Porn in the south and extending north through 
Central America into Mexico, and including the 
West India 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 hemispbero. 
“ 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 the finest products of Java, and so 
excel n no.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 bo ranked with 
the average products of the former countries. While 
the most favourable cofl'ee producing district in Mox- 
ixo ore to be found on the arable lands of the Andean 
Range, excellent coffee may also bo grown on tbo 
plains of the interior as far north as Sinaloa as 
wellasontho Oulf coast from Y'ucatan to Tamanlipas. 
The great mass of Mexican territory consist of an 
elevated plateau funned by an expansion of Choter- 
dilloras, from which terraced slopes descend with a 
more or less rapid inclination toward the Atlantic 
on the oast, and the pacific on the west. This vast 
tract composes one of the richest and moat varied 
zones of the world for while its geograidiioal position 
secures to it tropical vegetation, the rapid differences 
of elevation which characterise it, afford it the ad- 
vantages of a temperate climale, thus combining within 
its limits an almost unparalleled exuberence and multi- 
plicity of natural products. 
“ T'ho differences in climate depending on the 
degrees of altitude are so m-eat that the prodircts 
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- 
enre 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, 
Mexico has no rival among the coffee producing 
countries of the world. The area adjustable to its 
profitable cultivation is almost illimitable as far as 
natural capacity is concerned, being only limited by 
the extent of land brought under cultivation. The 
coat of labour is also cheap, never exceeding 25 
cents per day'. 
“ The finest coffco in the world comes now from 
Guatemala, bordering on the little known, and until 
recently almost totally neglected States of Chia.pas 
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 oxceding, the far- 
farmed Mocha and Cordoba produces a coffee supe- 
rior in size, stylo, colour, body and'flavour 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 dovolopemcnts, 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 stablo and practical government of 
Diaz and his Cabinet, the Republic of Mexico had 
become one of the greatest and moat progressive 
countries in our continent. The era of revolution 
appears to have passed away for ever the pronuncia- 
mento exists there no longer? railroads, tolographs, 
telephones, the electric light, newspapers, and schools 
are rapidly superseding them, ' the eyes of the home 
aoekers of tho 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 bo 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 AyncvUunHt. 
• 
PlNKAPPLK-OOIOE DlOKSTB AlBUMEN. — It iS not 
generally known that the juice of the pinespplo 
oontains a proteid-riigesting ferment ; its aotion ie 
weak, it is true, for 3 oz. digest on'y 10 to 15 
grains of oosgulaled albumen, 1 ut it seta equally 
sell in acid and alkaline lurdiii, and beat in a 
mutral fluid. Tiie juice also oontains a milk- 
curdling ferment. ’When we epotk of any enzym® 
being week, it does not follow lhat tho dose of it 
must bn proportioned to ite strength ; for it is 
probable that a emsll dose will act as well as s 
largo one, by setting up the process of digestion m 
a fresh line when the digestive function of the 
stomach is impaired- Then the peptic secretion 
follows the lead. On that basis, a slice or two of 
pineapple at dinner is not a bad thing . — Chcratst 
and Druflyint. 
