Guatemala, the country of the future

by Charles M. Pepper

The tierra fria, or cold zone, comprises the highlands as noted above.

The year is divided into two seasons, the winter or rainy season lasting from May till October, and the dry season. The hottest months are March and April and the coldest ones December and January. Except along the coast the average temperature throughout the year is about 72° Fahrenheit. The climate on the coast is rendered endurable by the refreshing sea breezes which blow for several hours every day. Many people who live in the uplands in the rarefied atmosphere find it agreeable and beneficial to their health to spend a few weeks every season on the coast lands. The climate would be hot and moist except for the variations caused by the mountains which oppose themselves not only to the prevailing winds but also in rainfalls to the humidity of the air. The winds are from the east and north, although along the Pacific coast there are southern and southwestern winds at certain times in the year. In regard to rainfall the general rule is that the regions confronting the moist winds from the ocean have abundant precipitation while those defended by mountain ranges from the sea winds are dry.

The climate taking the country as a whole is an unusually healthy one. Fevers are not common and when they exist are confined to the warm and humid coast regions. No peculiar climatic disease exists in Guatemala and the country rarely suffers from epidemics. This is largely due to the strict sanitary measures which are enforced by the government.

A Poetical and Practical Description.

The following account of the climate in popular language is given by a well-known authority:

"The territory of the Republic belongs to the torrid zone comprised among the intertropical countries which are exempt from the rigorous winters of the countries of Europe, North and South America, and the Far East. The vegetation which droops in the dry season recovers a marvelous exuberance in the season of the rains. In every part it is encountered then rehabited in the most splendid garb of nature. The tropical countries at this period certainly are the motherland of all the plants which are cultivated throughout the world when as in the case of our Republic there are hot, temperate and cold zones in which the vegetation is perpetual and flourishes in the regions which possess perennial springs of flowing water to moisten the cultivated lands in the season of the drouths.

"The knowledge of the climates is of the highest importance for the agriculturist. It is his guide in the experiments for acclimatizing exotic plants which he seeks to introduce into his properties.

"The climate of a locality varies through the background of the mountains, through its sloping direction, its nearness to the sea, to the lakes, and to the selvas; through the direction and the forces of the periodical winds.

"Setting out from the low coastlands and ascending to the regions of the Altos or highlands, the naturalist admires successively the exuberant vegetation of the tropics and that of the cold countries.

"On account of the topography of the territory we have in the different zones of the Republic different climates characterized by our two seasons—that of the rains, our winter, and that of the dryness, our summer; characterized too by the intensity of the heat in the low zones of the coasts and by the crisp cold in the high plateaus of our mountains; by the force and duration of the periodic winds of the Northwest which in certain regions of the Republic blow with a violence harmful to agriculture.

"The temperature in the low zones fluctuates between 26° and 35° centigrade, averaging 28°. In the zones ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 feet above sea level the temperature fluctuates between 16° and 24°, the average being 20° to 22° centigrade. In the high zones or cold lands the temperature varies from 8° to 15°, the medium being 12° or 13°. In these zones from December to the end of March the temperature drops during the night to 1° centigrade and other times to 3° or 4°.

"The rains commence in May or June and continue until the middle of November. They are most violent from July to October. In the months of September and October there are sometimes storms and copious rains which last almost continuously from one to two weeks.

"Heavy dews are numerous and at times very copious in the summer in the low zones close to the sea, the lakes and the big marshes and also in the higher zones through the condensation of the vapors which absorb the sun's rays and become more condensed on reaching the colder regions of the atmosphere.

"The northeast winds are periodical and blow almost without interruption throughout the summer and with great violence on the coasts of the north and in the eastern sections of the country. The winds on the south coast are much milder and those in the western sections are insignificant.

"Under this drouthlike action the vegetation withers in the hot and dry zones. It flourishes most in the districts which possess perennial springs of running water for fertilizing.

"In the season of the rains there are strong hurricanes of southern winds which cause damage to agriculture, but happily they are not frequent.

"From the description of the varied climates of the Republic it will be seen that they are adapted to the cultivation of the richest tropical plants and for all the agricultural and industrial produce which is cultivated in the cold and temperate zones of the entire world.

"Besides, its vegetative season is one of perpetual cultivation, and in the plantations which possess water for irrigating the cultivated lands three crops a year can be raised in the hot zones as well as the temperate regions, and two crops of the cereals, wheat and Indian corn, in the cold regions; that is to say, the feeding of 30,000,000 inhabitants is possible besides fruits for a very extensive exportation."

Aids to Agriculture.

In a country so largely agricultural as Guatemala is the measures for the encouragement of farming may be taken as a means of judging the interest shown by the government. On this point President Estrada Cabrera in a recent message said:

"Agriculture as the prime factor of our richness has been the object of special attention during the last seven years of my administration. In order to broaden and improve it there has been established in the capital the General Department of Agriculture and in the districts and municipalities Boards for the same purpose. This Department has been authorized to publish a periodical The Bulletin of Agriculture which is given over exclusively to important farming studies. Seeds and plants have been brought from other countries and distributed among our farmers in order to establish new sources of production. Strict orders have been issued to secure the cultivation of the largest areas possible and also for establishing common seed grounds. Regulations have been made for the exploitation of rubber. In every possible manner the importation of farm tools and agricultural machinery has been facilitated. Contracts have been made for the exploitation of the woods in the forests of the north. Schools of agriculture have been created in order to further the study of these subjects by the issue of special bulletins under the direction of the Department of Agriculture."