Guatemala, the country of the future Part 3

In districts where the mean alt.i.tude is 4,500 feet a different sort of protection is necessary in order to shelter the coffee leaves from the northern winds which blow during the months of December, January, and February. In these high alt.i.tudes the ranges of hills form the best natural protection. To bring the coffee plant to full production from five to seven years are required, though after two years the bush will produce about two pounds of the berry annually. The coffee plants are raised in nurseries and afterwards transplanted to the cafetales or coffee plantations. The critical season for the crop is the blooming period. A heavy rainfall while the trees are in flower will seriously damage the plants by was.h.i.+ng away the pollen and thus preventing fructification. This period lasts three or four days when the blossoms fall and the cherry or berry begins to appear. The cherry reaches maturity in October and is ready for gathering and pulping, that is, for the removal of the outer sh.e.l.l and pulp. After this process it is washed and carried to dry, spread out in brick paved yards exposed to the sun.

The grain is known as _pergamino_, or sh.e.l.l coffee, after the removal of the red pulp, while it retains the inner white or yellow parchment covering. After this parchment is removed it is known as _oro_, clean coffee, and this is the common commercial term.

So many elements enter into the cost of planting and bringing to maturity a coffee plantation that it is difficult to estimate the expenditure necessary to ensure a given profit. Experienced coffee growers are guided largely by their knowledge of the local conditions and requirements. However, a reasonable amount of capital in the beginning is necessary and many investors possessing the capital prefer to buy fincas or plantations that are already producing.

The government of Guatemala lays an export tax of one dollar in gold.

Germany takes the bulk of the Guatemala product, though Great Britain is a large buyer and the United States is receiving larger quant.i.ties from year to year. With the increased facilities for transportation there would appear to be an excellent opportunity for dealers to make a specialty of Guatemala coffee in the United States, for the article once introduced would be sure to have an increased consumption.

SUGAR AND OTHER PROFITABLE PRODUCTS.

In 1890 Guatemala was producing barely enough sugar for its own consumption. In 1904 it exported 6,000,000 pounds to the United States.

New Orleans is the nearest market, though s.h.i.+pments also may be made to Brooklyn. The product consists of white loaf sugar, panela or coa.r.s.e brown cakes, from which the cane rum is made, miel or mola.s.ses, and mascabado, or inferior grades. The sugar cane is of excellent quality and the production is abundant, especially along the hot coast districts. The departments of Escuintla, Amat.i.tlan, and Baja Verapaz are the districts in which the largest areas are under cultivation. As a rule the small sugar mills are crude and modern machinery has not been introduced to a great extent, although the largest plantations are already supplied with the latest improvements. With the introduction on a larger scale of modern machinery and the latest processes the sugar industry would be certain to afford satisfactory profits.

Cacao of a very high quality is produced in Guatemala and the native article commands much higher prices than that produced in other countries and brought to Guatemala for sale. The productive regions are the _tierras calientes_ or hot coast lands. The princ.i.p.al cacao producing districts are Escuintla, Suchitepequez, Solola, and Retalhuleu. The bean is most productive at an alt.i.tude of 800 to 2,000 feet. In some cases the shrub produces a pound of beans every four months and after reaching maturity it is said to produce without interruption for one hundred years.

Notwithstanding the superior quality of the Guatemala cacao the industry has not been carried on systematically, possibly because five or six years are required to secure the first crop. In the last year the total output was only 34,000 pounds, but the steady demand for cacao and the certainty of good prices justifies the investment of capital which can await five or six years for the first returns. The gathering of the cacao beans requires very little machinery and few laborers. Chiefly care must be taken not to hurt the bean or almond when breaking the fruit wherein they are contained. One day of fermentation must then be given to them, after which they remain exposed to the sun for six or eight days, when they are ready to be sent to the market.

One of the most profitable of future industries in Guatemala undoubtedly is that of banana culture. There are vast productive regions on the Atlantic slope and these are certain to be cultivated since the building of the Northern Railway insures opening up the lands by giving access to the New Orleans market within the time that is necessary for gathering and s.h.i.+pping the fruit. The annual production is now about 800,000 bunches, of which one-half are consumed at home and the balance s.h.i.+pped to the United States. It is estimated that within a year after the Northern Railway is completed the s.h.i.+pments to the United States will exceed 750,000 bunches per annum and will soon amount to 1,000,000 bunches.

Tobacco is produced in a number of districts and there is much suitable soil for it, but up to this time it has been raised only for local consumption. Rice is also produced in the hot coast lands. Cotton is grown and experiments have shown that the Sea Island cotton thrives in Guatemala.

RUBBER CULTIVATION AN INVITING FIELD.

For investments of capital that is willing to wait returns there is no more inviting field than the cultivation of india rubber, which grows wild in Guatemala. Each year the demand for rubber increases and the price rises. The coast regions where the wild tree flourishes are especially adapted to the cultivation of the product. The subject has been given very careful attention by the Guatemalan government, which caused investigation to be made by scientists who were familiar with the native agriculture. The result of these investigations has been published from time to time.

The wild gum tree is tall with smooth greenish white bark. The milk which is the mercantile product is contained princ.i.p.ally in the fibres which are attached to the woody portion of the tree between it and the bark. The milk contains about 60% of water and other substances, while the remaining 40% represents the salable product. The climate most appropriate for the growth of the rubber tree is that of the hot coast lands at an alt.i.tude not exceeding 1,500 feet. The yield of the cultivated rubber trees has been estimated as high as three pounds yearly from the sixth year, but the best authorities do not think that the trees should be tapped before the ninth year and then the grower should be satisfied with an annual yield of two and a half to three pounds of milk, which will insure one pound of rubber.

An estimate of the cost and probable yield of a rubber plantation as made by Senor Horta, a leading authority, was that a plantation of 100,000 trees would require ten caballerias (about 1,100 to 1,200 acres), and would have cost after ten years about one dollar per tree.

This expense could in part be met by secondary cultivation. According to the calculations one crop after ten years should produce double the amount expended in that time.

The government encourages the cultivation of rubber, a decree having been issued in 1899 which provided that for every 20,000 rubber plants of four years of age and planted after the date of the decree the owner should receive one caballeria (112 acres) of uncultivated national land.

The government, however, does not endorse nor recommend the promotion of rubber plantations by stock companies which seek chiefly to sell the stock among small investors in the United States. All such schemes should be carefully investigated before the shares are bought and the leading facts in regard to rubber production, including the necessity of a period of at least ten years for the successful development of a plantation, should be kept in mind.

BOUNTY FOR HENNEQUEN.

The soil of Guatemala in the opinion of experts is especially adapted to the cultivation of fibre plants of which the most valuable is hennequen or hemp. Maguey or wild hennequen grows in various localities, particularly in the eastern districts, where there is a large area which it is believed can be brought under profitable cultivation for commercial purposes. President Estrada Cabrera, in order to encourage the cultivation of hennequen, has provided that a bounty shall be paid to the cultivators of the plant, the scale of payment being graduated according to the size of the plantation. Since it takes from four to five years for the plant to mature the cultivators are allowed to receive one-half the bounty two years after the hennequen is planted and the balance at the end of the four years. A bounty is also to be paid for the exportation of each 100 pounds of hennequen and the machinery necessary on the plantation is to be imported free of duty. As a further inducement to engage in the cultivation of the fibre the natives who produce hennequen are to be exempted from military service in a proportion fixed relatively to the number of acres under cultivation.

This experiment with hennequen is especially important in view of the fact that soil which is not suitable for coffee, sugar cane or cacao is thought to be especially well adapted to this plant.

The number of medicinal plants produced in Guatemala is infinite. One scientist gives a list of 339, which includes many balsams and the aromatic plants, such as sarsaparilla and vanilla. The conditions of vanilla cultivation are similar to those in Mexico. The vine after five years is in full bearing and will produce from 15 to 40 beans. It is estimated that a five-acre vanilla plantation will yield sufficient income to render its owner independent, but this is only by the most careful attention in cultivation.

MANY VARIETIES OF VALUABLE WOOD.

There are said to be 150 kinds of Guatemala wood which are commercially valuable, and the number of species exceeds 400. The timber area includes the littoral forests in a narrow belt along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts; the humid forests mixed with the prairie fields which cover the plains from the foot of the Andean Cordilleras to the Pacific; the moist forests of the hot zone and the temperate zone found along the foothills of the volcanic chain and in the northern and eastern parts of the country; the humid forests of the cold zone; the pine and oak forests in the upland plains; the savannas and chaparral consisting of small trees and bushes; the savannas with pines along the Atlantic coast and the savannas of the cold zone on the highest tablelands of the mountain.

In the report of the Intercontinental Railway Survey Lieutenant Hill gives a list of trees found in southeastern Guatemala which is another ill.u.s.tration of the varied timber resources of the country. The list is as follows:

Aconacaste, conacaste, guanacaste--a light brown wood rather soft and resembling inferior walnut.

Amarillo--yellowish, hard, plentiful, strong; lasts well in water or ground; used for pillars and girders in native houses.

Cedro--reddish, easily worked; used much for boards, not very strong, warps easily.

Caoba--mahogany.

Chichipate--hard, fine-grained; used in wagon-making.

Chiche--straight grained; lasts well above ground.

Chico--straight grained; takes high polish.

Granadillo--dark brown, strong, plentiful; good for construction.

Guachipilin--good for construction.

Guapinol--hard, resembles oak in texture.

Jicaro--bears gourdlike fruit; plentiful on llanos, used in making saddle-trees.

Laurel--resembles chestnut; used for furniture.

Madre cacao--hard, takes fine polish; good for posts.

Mario or Palo Colorado--a fine wood somewhat like mahogany.

Matilishuate--grows large and straight; used for wagon boxes.

Mora--dyewood.

Jocote de Fraile--handsome wood, takes high polish.

Ronron--fine, hardwood, takes high polish.

Tempisque--reddish, resembles mahogany in weight and texture.

Volador--fine tree, tall, straight trunk; good for bridges and roofs.

With such a vast wealth of timber the importance of the railway projects which open up the forest regions and make the markets of the United States and Europe accessible will be appreciated.

ENCOURAGEMENT TO LIVESTOCK INDUSTRIES.

Cattle raising and dairy farming are among the most profitable agricultural industries of Guatemala, while horse-breeding also can be made to pay unusually well. The native horse is small but very strong and is tireless. The race horses and others obtained through the crossing with foreign breeds imported from the United States and from Spain, England and South America have given most satisfactory results.

Dairy farming especially in the vicinity of the cities yields large dividends. The cattle are largely three-quarters or half-bred natives and Holsteins and Durhams. The pure native cows give much richer milk than the imported stock, but they yield a very small quant.i.ty. The milk of the thoroughbred imported cows is thin, owing probably to the unsuitable nature of the fodder, and thus the half-bred cows are the most profitable.

The highlands of the interior afford very fair grazing for cattle throughout the year. The climate is mild and equable and the stock can remain in the pastures from January till December, while no losses are suffered from severe weather in winter. Most of the country is well watered. The native mules are superior to the horses for long journeys or heavy loads and as a rule they command higher prices. Pigs are raised with little difficulty and fetch a high price, since pork is one of the favorite foods on many of the plantations and in the villages inhabited by Indians. The hogs are allowed to run loose and feed on nouris.h.i.+ng roots, acorns and maize. The sheep industry is capable of development at the hands of experienced sheep-raisers. There are many flocks and the quality of both the mutton and the wool is capable of improvement.