The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-07-06

on sheet or blanket. On the larger ha-
ciendas modern machinery is used. and
there are some which have steam tbrash-
ers and steam plows.
Tropical Agriculture.
The tropics of Mexico seem to be es-
pecially attractive to Americans. There
are extensive tracts on the eastern and
western sides of the country, rising from
the sea coast to the mountains. which
have every climate known TO man. The
lowlands will grow all sorts of tropieal
fruits. and higher up are coffee and
cacao. Experiments have shown that tea
can be produced, and also ginger, nutnless
and spices. There are some profitable
eacao plantations. this fruit having been
raised since the times of the Aztees. AS
to coffee, the trees thrive almost any,
where at an elevation of from 25oO 20
1900 feet. and from 800 to 1000 trees can
be grown on one acre The production of
coffee last year was about 66,0O0,GdO
pounds. The coffee costs about cents !.
pound to raise, pick clean and sack,
whereas the selling price at the planta-
tions@ for it is about IA cents pound
An acre should produce from 25o to 800
pounds
Rubber-Guayule
You have heard a great deal in the
United States about Mexican rubber.
The best lands for this crop are In the
southern part of the country. Rubber
Is very capricious. and 1t is most pro-
ductiye where there is plenty of water
in the soil, and where, nevertheless,
the dry season is long. Rubber trees
grow well in Chiapas and Tabasco, two
states which will be opened up by
the Pan-American railroad.
A most interesting form of the rub
Der now being exported from Mexico Is
that known as guayule. This comes
from a plant which grows wild on the
highlands and which is bringing In mil !
lions of dollars a year. Guayule has
long been known to contain rubber, but
the rubber in it was thought to be of
little value. 1t Is now known to be ex-
cellent. The supply, however, is linn
tied Only a little comes from each
plant. and 375,o0O tons is estimated to
be the total possible output.
The best regions are now yielding
about a quarter of ton per acre. and
although the territory where the plant
grows is large, the area where 1t can
be profitably exploited is not as great
as that of South Carolina. 1t is found
as far north as Texas. and as far south
as Pachuca, in Mexico, having a native
habitat as large as California. But 1t
is found only here and there, growing
at varying attitudes and usually on
stony ground. The rubber In the mer-
charitable plants ranges from to 10
per cent of the weight, and so far the
most of the product has been from tho
wild plants. Mr.. Salvador Madero OF
Montrey, who is largely interested in
the industry, tells me that attempts to
force the growth of the crop by irri-
cation have been failures The plants
thrive, but they yield no rubber to
speak of. I understand that s60,000,-
600 is now invested in the Industry
How Mexico Works Uncle Sans Jaws
There is another product here in
which Americans have been making a
great deal of money. This Is cbicle.
which forms the base of our chewing
gums. and of which we consunye MIL
lions of pounds every year. Chicle
comes from the sap of the sapote tree,
which Is tapped for the purpose. The
sap is collected I'm about the same way
as that of the sugar maple. save that
the trees. instead of having holes bored
into them, are cut in v-shaped incl
sions and the sap flows out into a
trough at the center and drops into
a pail at the foot of the trunk
The chlcle trees grow only in the
tropics. They are from 40 to so feet
high and they have a pear-like fruit.
IT costs little to take care of them.
They are planted at about 10 feet apart
or about 400 to the acre. and they
should continue to produce for 90 years
The chfcle industry Is now conducted
by trust operated under a concession
from the Mexican government. which
gets certain percentage of the pro-
duct In 1910 the exports of the gum
were In the neighborhood of s2.000.000,
and IL is estimated that In bulk they
We're sufficient TO have made a Wash
ington monument of solid chewing gum
blocks.