Of farinaceous plants, mention must be made of the plantain, potato, and manioc, the first named being to the coast-dwellers what corn is to the people of the uplands.[1] It is wonderfully prolific, producing on a given area more nutrition than any other known plant.[2]
Occasional efforts have been made to develop the cultivation of various vegetables, in the desire to increase the supply of aliments for the poorer classes, but these attempts have been attended with little result.
Equally unsuccessful have been steps taken to revive the cultivation of cacao, which in colonial times fell to insignificant proportions.[3] The attempt, however, has checked to some extent its importation from other countries, which in former years was considerable.[4]
The future cultivation of the coffee shrub affords a more favorable prospect. This plant was introduced
- ↑ Five kinds are cultivated in Mexico; namely, the platano grande, plátano dominico, plátano guineo, plátano manilo, and plátano manzano. Busto, Estad. Rep. Mex., i. 1st pt, 5.
- ↑ Humboldt calculated that half a hectare planted with the plátano grande — called by him the plátano arton — will support 50 men for a year, while the same quantity of ground in Europe would not yield wheat enough to support two men. Essai Polit., 366. Its cultivation is attended with little trouble and trilling expense. The plant is propagated from its suckers. These are set in rows at a distance of about ten feet apart. When the fruit is gathered the stem on which it has been produced is cut down and left to decay upon the ground, constituting a fertilizer of the richest kind. New shoots from the root continually supply the places of their predecessors, whose duty and existence are completed with the maturity of the fruit.
- ↑ In 1823 a law was passed exempting new plantations from taxation for 10 years. The tree is chiefly cultivated in the state of Tabasco, where it has been the object of special protective laws, which have had the effect of increasing its culture in that portion of Mexico. Mex., Guia Hac, iv. 24-6; Mex., Mem. Agric., 1843, 12; 1846, 32; Siliceo, Mem. Fom., 68; Dublan and Lozano, Ley. Mex., vii. 474, 521; Mex., Col. Leyes, Jan.-Aug. 1855, 222.
- ↑ During the years from 1825 to 1828, 35,000 quintals worth $461,033 were annually imported. Mex., Mem. Aqric, 1840, 33. In 1856 the importation still represented $120,391 worth. Mex. Mem. Geog., Bol., Ep. 2a, i. 308. The production of cacao in 1879 amounted to the value of $1,140,050, of which sum $880,000 represents the yield in Tabasco for that year. Busto, ut sup. During the decade ending June 30, 1880, $1,306,329 worth of this bean was imported into the U. S. Brocklehurst, Mex., 96. The tree, like the cotton and indigo plants, is indigenous. The finest quality of cacao is produced in Soconusco, the reputation of which was so great that in colonial times a certain number of cargoes were annually sent to Spain for the use of the royal family in conformity with an order from the king. Robles, Prov. Chiapa, 33-4. Its production in that district is now small, and confined to the natives. In Chiapas, the price varies from 2, 4, and 5 to 6 reales a pound, according to the abundance or scarcity of the crops, of which there are two a year, one in May and the other in Sept. The price in the Mexican capital varies from 5 reales to 10 reales per lb. Mex. Financ, March 14, 1885, 373-4.
