Guatemala, the country of the future

by Charles M. Pepper

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 illustration 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.