The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-10-03

67S75O


Profit at the end OF
fourth year. ...... 4,o62.oO
This estimate is made, leaving out
of consideration the cost of the land
Generally from So to S25 per acre.,
which necessarily varies according to
locality, richness and accessibility OF
transportation facilities. A small tract
costs more than large one and is diff
ficult to obtain except from the land
companies started here (MeXico City,
for the purpose of supplying lots to in
tending settlers.
There is also no charge made for
the cost of superintendent, which
would vary (from $50 to 500 month
and found) with the size of the plan
tation and the capacity of the respect
i've superintendent. Living expenses
are likewise omitted and may be as
sumed by the interested party equal to
the cost of farm life in other countries.
The returns from side crops are not
taken into consideration, which some
times help materially toward paying
expenses.
The machinery here estimated for
may be worked the first year by hand.
but by applying horse power it is suf-
ficient for the crop of 200 acres.
lowest price of ordinary Mexican coffee
only is taken into consideration, while
it may be fairly assumed that by adopt
ing an improved and modern method
of curing the product, considerably
larger price may be secured. 1t is also
we'll to add that the price of operations
such as clearing, wedding and pruning,
contemplates not the slipshod manner
in which such things are ordinarily at
tended to in some sections of the cOun-
try, but such as prevails on plantations
where all operations are conducted by
experienced managers, and with a view
of obtaining the highest results pos
sible under well systematized and or
ganiZed direction.
OF course coffee can be planted and
brought to bear in the manner usually
employed in most old districts, and
perhaps a trif1e cheaper than here esti-
mated, but the results are far from be-
ing as good, either in the early ma
turity OF the trees or in the quality of
the coffee produced, or in the duration
of the productive life of the plant
The cost and product are only brought
down to the end of the fourth year,
after which a much larger crop may
be counted on with regularity, while
under the present system of cultivation
there is good crop one year and a
lesser one the next.
SECTIONS BEST SUITED.
1t is supposed by many that the
whole of Mexico is adapted to grow
ing of coffee. That is a mistake. The
northern part of the Republic, stu
ated outside of the tropics, is temper
ate and produces the vegetation proper
to that zone. The southern part, which
linC hpt IA RI
80 min. north latitude. may justly be
called the hot country, the coffee pro-
ducing country, as rule.
Not all the places found in the torrid
zone are adapted to the development
of the coffee tree. Coffee may be prof
itably grown at an elevation of 500 to
900 metres (about 300 feet), but be-
yOnd 1000 metres it does not produce
enough to justify it's cultivation COT
fee grows well at Orizaba, but not be-
You'd toward the City of Mexico, which
is 1872 miles northwest and at an eleva-
ton of $500 feet. The climate in the
coffee producing regions is generally
pleasant, neither too hot nor too cool
The nights are especially pleasant and
refreshing, arising, it may be, from the
peculiar formation of that country and
the constant interchange of air cur
rents from the Gulf of Mexico, the At
lantfc and Pacific oceans. The produc-
ton of coffee here is like that of other
crops in the United States, governed by
the season, soil and cultivation.
INDIVIDUAL ESTIMATES.
Joseph Walsh of Philadelphia says:
The industry of coffee culture is
still in its infancy in Mexico though
the product is of a superior quality and
grading among the best grown in any
country of the world.
Mexican coffee is worth at present
from 20 TO % cents per pound in the
American market, while the average
cost of production is cents. A planta-
ton will pay from 100 to 800 per cent
on the capital invested, each tree yield
ing annually from 9 to 10 pounds.
THE value of coffee plantations in
full bearing is calculated at the rate of
81 per grown tree, single acre prOduc-
! ing from 500 to 800 trees.
The soil and climate suitable for
coffee growing are also adapted TO the
cultivation OF tobacco corn, beans. ba-
nanaS, and most tropical and sub
! tropical fruits. But among all market
able fruits the growing of which is
/ here accessory to coffee culture. the
pineapple is the least expensive and
most profitable, especially where the
planter has close and cheap transport
alton to the Gulf ports''
| In 1895 Professor Moses of The Uni
versity of California visited Mexico for
the purpose of studying it's physical
and economical aspects. In one of his
| letters he says:
AT present the cultivation OF coffee
is attracting special attention, and on
the eastern slope much progress has
already been made
Among the reasons is the extraordi-
nary profit which the production of cot
fee offers.
'The cost of its production in Mex
leo in general is between s and 10
cents per pound (Mexican), and it sells
at from % to 80 cents.
Mexico has important advantages.
She has a territory adapted in
/ soil and climate to this form OF cult