CULTIVATION OF THE COFFEE PLANT Page 11

It was, however, nearly ten years later before the cultivation was on a scale approaching industrial and commercial importance. About 1816 or 1818 a Spaniard, named Juan Antonio Gomez, introduced the plant into the neighborhood of Cordoba. This city, now on the line of the Mexican and Vera Cruz Railroad, 200 miles from Mexico City, and sixty miles from Vera Cruz, is 2,500 feet above sea-level, and is situated in the most productive tropical region of the country.

Having been started in Coatepec and Cordoba, the industry was centered for a long time in the state of Vera Cruz. For many years practically all the coffee grown commercially in Mexico was produced in that state. Gradually the new pursuit spread to the mountains in the adjacent states of Oaxaca and Puebla, where it was taken up by the Indians almost entirely, and is still followed by them, but not on a large scale.

Although cultivation is now widely distributed in most of the more southern states of the republic, the principal coffee territory is still in Vera Cruz, where lie the districts of Cordoba, Orizaba, Huatusco, and Coatepec. In the same region are the Jalapa district, and the mountains of Puebla, where a great deal of coffee is grown. Farther south are the Oaxaca districts on the mountain slopes of the Pacific coast, and still farther south the districts of the state of Chiapas. Planting in the Pluma district in Oaxaca was begun about fifty years ago, and it now produces annually, in good years, nearly 1,000,000 pounds. The youngest district in this section is Soconusco, one of the most prolific in the republic, having been developed within the last thirty years. The region is near the border of Guatemala, and the coffee is held by many to possess some of the quality of the coffee of that country. The influence of Guatemalan methods has been felt also in its cultivation and handling, especially in increasing plantation productiveness. On the gulf slope of Oaxaca, there are plantations that annually produce 222,000 to 550,000 pounds. Several United States companies have become interested in coffee growing in this state, and their output in recent years has been put upon the market in St. Louis.

Two principal varieties of coffee are recognized in Mexico. A sub-variety of Coffea arabica is mostly cultivated. This is an evergreen, growing only from five to seven feet. It flourishes well at different altitudes and in different climes, from the temperate plains of Puebla to the hot, damp, lower lands of Vera Cruz and Oaxaca, and other Pacific-coast regions. The range of elevation for it is from 1,500 to 5,000 feet, and it is satisfied with a temperature as low as 55° or as high as 80°, with plenty of natural humidity or with irrigation in the dry season. The other variety is called the "myrtle" and is widely grown, although not in large quantities. It is distinguished from arabica by the larger leaf of the tree and by the smaller corolla of the flower. It is a hardier plant than the arabica and will stand the higher temperature of low altitudes, thriving at an elevation of from 500 to 3,000 feet above sea-level. Mostly it is cultivated in the Cordoba district.

It is claimed by many that the Mexican coffee of best quality is grown in the western regions of the table lands of Colima and Michoacan, but only a small quantity of that is available for export. The state of Michoacan is especially favored by climate, altitude, soil, and surroundings to produce coffee of exceptionally high grade, and the Uruapan is considered to be its best.

Trees flower in January and March, and in high altitudes as late as June or July. Berries appear in July and are ripe for gathering in October or November, the picking season lasting until February.

Trees begin to yield when two or three years old, producing from two to four ounces. They reach full production, which is about one and a half pounds, at the age of six or seven years, though in the districts of Chiapas, Michoacan, Oaxaca, and Puebla, annual yields of three to five pounds per tree have been reported.

Since the World War American buyers have shown greater interest in the Tapachula coffee grown in Chiapas.

Mexican Coffee Picker, Coatepec District

Porto Rico. Coffee culture in Porto Rico dates from 1755 or even earlier, having been introduced from the neighboring islands of Martinique and Haiti. Count O'Reilly, writing of the island in the eighteenth century, mentions that the coffee exports for five years previous to 1765 amounted in value to $2,078. Old records show that in 1770 there was a crop of 700,000 pounds and that seems to be the first evidence that the new industry was growing to any noticeable proportions. For a hundred years, at least, only slow progress was made. In 1768 the king, of Spain issued a royal decree exempting coffee growers on the island from the payment of taxes or charges for a period of five years; but even that measure was not materially successful in stimulating interest and in developing cultivation.

Porto Rico is a good coffee-growing country; soil, climate, and temperature are well adapted to the berry. The coffee belt extends through the western half of the island, beginning in the hills along the south coast around Ponce, and extending north through the center of the island almost to Arecibo, near the west end of the north coast. But some coffee is grown in the other parts of the island, in sixty-four of the sixty-eight municipalities. Mountain sections are considered to be superior.

The largest plantations are in the region which includes the municipalities of Utuado, Adjuntas, Lares, Las Marias, Yauco, Maricao, San Sebastian, Mayaguez, Ciales, and Ponce. With the exception of Ponce and Mayaguez, all these districts are back from the coast; but insular roads of recent construction make them now easily accessible, and there is no point on the island more than twenty miles distant from the sea.

Receiving and Measuring the Ripe Berries from the Pickers, Mexico

From the Sierra Luquillo range, which rises to a height of 1,500 feet, and from Yauco, Utuado, and Lares, come excellent coffees; and, on the whole, these are considered to be the best coffee regions of the island. A fine grade of coffee is also grown in the Ciales district. Figures compiled by the Treasury Department of the insular government for the purpose of taxation showed that for the tax year 1915–16 there were 167,137 acres of land planted to coffee and valued at $10,341,592, an average of $61.87 per acre. In 1910, there were 151,000 acres planted in coffee. In 1916 there were more than 5,000 separate coffee plantations.

Originally the coffee trees of Porto Rico were all of the arabica variety. In recent years numerous others have been introduced, until in 1917 there were more than 2,500 trees of new descriptions on the island.

The virgin land in the interior of the island is admirably adapted to the coffee tree, and less labor is required to prepare it for plantation purposes than in many other coffee-growing countries. It is cleared in the usual manner, and the trees are planted about eight feet apart, an average of 680 trees to the acre. The seeds are planted in February; and if the seedlings are transplanted, that is done when they are a year or a year and a half old. The guama, a big strong tree of dense foliage, is used for a wind-break on the ridges; and the guava, for shade in the plantation. Plow cultivation is generally impossible on account of the lay of the land, and only hoeing and spade work are done. Pruning is carefully attended to as the trees become full grown.

Flowering is generally in February and March, or even later. Heavy rains in April make a poor crop. Harvesting begins in September and extends into January, during which time ten pickings are made.

SINGLE PORTO RICO COFFEE TREE IN FULL BEARING, PROPPED UP WITH STAKES

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