The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-03-28
MEXICO
Continued from page nine.)

hook 10 the cheap lands Of Mexico roi
the cattle ranches Of the future. here
large ranches may be oought ioi
prices ranging from fifty cents &c
.hree dollars, gold, per acre. In the
northern tier Of Mexican states there
are millions of acres of land adapleo
20 cattle breeding. On account o. Tue
.Ong dry seasons it would not pc pos
,ible to fatten them Tor marhet' uu'
.hev can be brought up 10 the
feeder" point with remarkable sue
cess.
The losses from the rigors of win
ter in Mexico are slight,
to only one per cent, even III Iii
huahua. which is the only state nav
ing a real touch OF winter. Inc dls-
lance from the Mexican cattle ianuS
10 the corn belt of the United States
is NOT so great as to prohibit the
raising of the American beef supply
in Mexieo and its preparation TOR
market in the United states. me
United States will not allow cattle to
come from the eastern part OF Mex
leo. through the Laredo and Eagle
Pass gateways, because Of a quaran-
tine against fever. But Amer
lean cattlemen are taking hold Of the
cattle business in Mexico n the
eradication of the Texas fever tick
probably will follow.
In Mexico the staple God products
are corn, WHEAT III DcdllS. iliSiC
are millions of acres of land in the
republic suitable for the cultivation
of these crops. The selling price per
bushel is just about double that in the
United States, while the cost of the
lane and labor is less than half as
much as in the United States. AS the
t~ortilla, or corn cake, is an article OF
everyday diet. corn is demanded in
large quantities, and the value Of the
annual crop is greater than that or
any single product of Mexican soil.
Coffee is one of the important crops
of southern Mexico, the state of Vera
Cruz alone having an annual produce
ton of about 100000 600 pounds. The
coffee incas. or plantations, of Colima
in west Mexico, supply the coffee that
is used on the table Of the emperor
of Germany. The total coffee crop of
the country is worth about 100000,
gold, Il year.
Coffee trees grow best in an altitude
of from 1000 to 5000 feet and re-
quire ground within the tropics. With
the cocoa tree, coffee is the most par
ticular of all cultivated crops. The
elevation of the ground must be pleas
ing. the latitude must be satisfactory,
and in addition to this it refuses to
flourish either in the sun or the
shade. SO it becomes necessary to
plant some other tree with it, usual
~ the banana c%Ocoanut or rubber
tree, any one of which is a dividend
producer on it's own Ordi-
narily about six hundred coffee trees
are planted per acre. and the yield
acre. 1t costs about $3.50 per hun
dred pounds to get coffee ready for
market. and the selling price is
about So, Anne rican money.
Banana culture is one of the most
profitable Of all agricultural activities.
Wv I. x%
ground planted in bananas will yield
more human food than any other crop.
1t produces forty-four times as much
as the potato and 131 times as much
as wheat. 1t is said that there is
no better banana land in the world
than that along the Gulf Coast south
Of Tampico. Banana experts say that
a banana plantation can be made to
a for itself the first year. It is
estimated that a 250-acre plantation,
with so, 900 trees on it, will produce
$4,000 punches of bananas of full
size, nine months after being planted,
which bring twenty-five cents, gold,
each.
The southern gulf coast of Mexico
is famous the world over for the ex-
cellence of its tobacco. Many a con-
noisseur of cigars declares that the
smoking qualities of the tobacco
raised in the C~oatzacoalcos valley are
VIaot w lie e 1hdI SoOo cfSI p1o-
duced. In fact, it is a practice of
Havana manufactures to buy Mexican
tobacco and make from it cigars which
are sold as straight Habanas.' The
average yield per acre is perhaps s.
600 pounds. with an average market
value of fifteen cents, gold, per pound
The cost of growing and curing is
one-half the selling price, leav-
ing a net profit per acre Of upwards Of
two undre dollars.
sugar cane is easily grown here
and at the same time is a most proft-
able crop. The average farmer. who
comes to Mexico and thinks to. make a
fortune in a few years from d crop
he has never grown, will miss it un-
less that crop be sugar cane. Here
the rules Of growing are so easy and
the operations SO simple that any one
who can grow wheat or corn success
fully can scarcely make a failure. It
is usually most profitable for the small
{VrnWnr fn 1Oo1fn noor a 1oroa mill