The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-11-24
PRODUCTS OF MEXICO.
PineappIes, Wine and CIoth-Chew-
ing Gum, LicOrice and Ramfe.

Sir Henry Dering has sent to the foreign
ONCE some practical notes on the cultivation
pineapples, ginger, "chic1e," or chewing
gum, sarsaparila, jalap, Iieorice can
atgre and ramie, says the London Stand
ard. These, together with the plants dealt
products which may be proitably cultivated
together or singly, either on large or small
scale, by persons possessed of some small
capital and DESTROYS of obtaining satisfactory
returns therefrom by investing in land in
that republic. The fault generally committed
by Mexican planters, says Sir Henry sis
the combining their attention to one kind of
cultivation on their land. If several different
crops were taken alternately, as in a system
OF rotation, or grown in different parts of the
land where soil and climate prove suitable
the planter would find himself in even a
better financial position than he generally
does now. There is scarcely a spot on any
estate, whether large or small, in Mexico
that is not capable Of giving remunerative
returns from some plant or another" In
addition to government lands there are innu-
merable tracts held throughout the country
by private individuals which it is probable
could be purchased at comparatively low
prices, inasmuch as they can never be uti-
lized by their present owners. And contracts
might be made with the government by
which immigrants settling on such lands
might receive the same exceptional treatment
accorded to those settling on government
lands. 5
Sir Henry Dering states that yuca Is to
the peon in the tropical section of the re-
public what potatoes are to the poor and
working people of Ireland. Yucca Is native
of the country, and its rise dates back be-
fore the conquest Of Herman Cortes, and it
has always formed great portion of the
food Of Of, the ancient lent and present Mexicans
especially those living in Vera Cruz OAK
AGA, Chiapas, Tabasco and Yucatan. The
returns Of yucca cultivation are immense: the
yield Of an acre contains more nutritive
matter than SIX times the same area under
wheat. The writer planted last January in
Allan, Pueblo, two rows $50 feet long, and
was told by an old cultivator that there
was enough food In that plot to feed more
than 100 people six months The Toltees
and Aztecs knew how to cultivate the pine
apple, and when the Spaniards CONQUERED
Mexico they found the fruit in the markets
of the towns on their way from Vera Cruz
to the great Tenochtitlan. From time i'm
memorial the pineapple has been cultivated
In Amatlan, town two leagues south Of
used to get their main supply. Now it Is
grown in tropical Hidalgo, Puebla. Vera
Cruz, Tabasco, Chiapas. Oaxaca, Morelos
Guerrero Sa os Meh9 fs F. cema Jalisco and
and wholesome, Sir Henry Dering saws a
fine wine and vinegar are made of the
Juice, The leaf furnishes a fiber of ex-
traordinary strength and fneness, making
1t even more valuable than the fruit The
fiber is made into ropes, cables, bindinp
twine, thread, mats, bagging, hammocks
and paper.
pineapple rope, three and half inches
thick, can support nearly three tons. A
textile fabric as fine and beautiful as silk
is made OF this fiber, too. 1t Is believed that
the fine cloth Of various colors used by the
upper classes of the Aztecs, was made Of thu
pineapple fiber. The modern Mexicans do
not manufacture it much now, except in the
isthmus, where the Zapotee Indians still make
cloth from 1t and from wild silk one
cause Of its disuse is the slow and wasteful
manner In which it is separated. Ginger is
found growing wild in various parts of Mex
leo. The returns from acre OF land vary
considerable, but when cultivated under ia
vorable conditions, the crop ought to be A. 600
pounds and upward A man having ten
acre patch ought to have an annual income
Of S. 900 to 81 900. Though for years canaigre
has been used by the Mexicans, both for