People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 January 1897 — THE RICHES OF MEXICO. [ARTICLE]

THE RICHES OF MEXICO.

What th-* United States Consular Report Says of That Country’s Prospects. Mexico is not only one of the coming coffee countries, but is also a coming tobacco country. Mexico seems soon destined to wear the mantle of Havana in tobacco production, and, once secured, it is safe to predict that it will never pass away, for the soil' of the tobacco region is so deep as to be practically inexhaustible, being from 8 to 20 feet in depth, and in some places even 80 feet. Moreover, its extent is probably 100 times that of the Cuban tobacco region, when wo take into consideration the fact that, acre for acre, the percentage J of cultivated land at the present mo- I ment capable of producing tobacco of the very highest grade is greater in 1 Mexico than it ever was in Cuba in its ' best days. We can from this easily see j what will be the amount produced in I the future. Mexico’s resources in this ; direction ate practically so great as toj make it certain that it will become rich ' from its tobacco alone. No doubt the - result will be finally to cheapen Ha- i vana cigars and put them within reach; of all. Mexico will, however, even then raise the tobacco, but the cigars will, be made elsewhere. Why should not the tobacco men of the United States see their way to control this business, which is certain to assume colossal proportions? It does seem clear that if the United States will follow the initiative set by Frenchmen and French writers, the control of the traffic in Havana cigars can be centered in the eastern part of the United States, The tobacco.lands of

Mexico form an fmmense~inverted capital T, the cross stretching from Tuxtepeo (Oaxaca) and tbe upper valley of the Papalcapam through tbs southern portion of Oaxaca into the Tehuantepec highlands and thence into the state of Chiapas. The upright of the T stretches from the valleys of the Colorado and the Trinidad rivers (which form the San Juan river) eastward to the San Andres Tuxtla canton. Tbe cream of the tobacco lands will undoubtedly be found in the valleys of tbe Colorado and Trinidad rivers, but chiefly tbe latter. The soil in. those valleys is from 10 to 15 feet deep and of tbe very richest quality and is equally adapted for coffee or tobacco. It may be taken as axiomatic hr regards Mexico that the land that is good for one is equally good for the other. This, however, did not prove true in Java, and the tobacco of Java bad exactly the qualities and defects of the coffee; thus mixture is required. To the eastward of the main valley of the Trinidad river, in the transverse valleys, the soil is even deeper than 10 to 15 feet, and here one finds mahogany trees of the most astonishing size and of the finest quality, This region is called Las Mdnterias de Caoba and is very extensive. North of tbe Colorado river the soil is cntii i- 1 ly different, and here is an immeu 3 growth of live oaks—Las Encinales, In the open glade it is probable,that sugar cane could be produced as advantageously as in any part of Mexico.