Thirty years later sugar was shipped from Mexico to Peru and Spain, and the production of the commodity was maintained steadily until 1791. In that year all the cane-growing countries of western America received a stimulus from the wholesale destruction of the plantations and mills of Santo Domingo.
In Mexico natural conditions are very favorable to sugar culture, but the growth of the industry has been retarded by the primitive methods in vogue, the inadequacy of transportation facilities and political disturbances. In the seaboard states the sugar plantations are found chiefly in the rich lowlands bordering on the Pacific ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. In the Gulf states the rainfall is ample to insure good crops. The largest sugar producer, however, is the inland state of Morelos, and there, as well as on the west coast, irrigation is necessary. The higher levels do not give such good crops as the lowlands; on the latter the yield is between forty and sixty tons to the acre, and on the former it runs between twenty-five and forty-five tons to the acre. Sugar beets have been grown on the plateau with marked success. In the low, tropical regions seven or eight crops of ratoons can be raised, but on the higher lands replanting must be done every two or three years. The best-known plantations are situated on large estates that have been owned by the same families for many generations. For instance, in Morelos, where about sixty per cent of Mexico’s crop is produced, the estates are owned by non-resident families and, as a rule, managed by Spaniards. Labor is cheap and abundant, the cane is rich in juice and the sugar content is high, but the extraction in the small, crude mills is poor, the recovery of sugar, as a rule, not exceeding six per cent of the weight of the cane. There are a few large factories in Mexico where the methods and results should be more closely in accordance with modern practice.
The nineteenth century saw the industry maintained on a fairly even basis, but about 1900 an improvement was noted, as the following table will show:
| 1899-1900 | 75,000 | tons |
| 1900-1901 | 95,000 | ” |
| 1901-1902 | 103,000 | ” |
| 1902-1903 | 112,000 | ” |
| 1903-1904 | 107,000 | ” |
| 1904-1905 | 107,000 | ” |
| 1905-1906 | 107,500 | ” |
| 1906-1907 | 119,000 | ” |
| 1907-1908 | 123,000 | ” |
| 1908-1909 | 143,000 | ” |
| 1909-1910 | 148,000 | ” |
| 1910-1911 | 161,602 | ” |
| 1911-1912 | 151,735 | ” |
| 1912-1913 | 148,672 | ” |
| 1913-1914 | 130,000 | ” |
| 1914-1915 | 110,000 | ” |
| 1915-1916 | 75,000 | ” |
The effects of the internal disturbances in Mexico are plainly reflected in the crop figures. In addition to the sugar tonnage shown, about 50,000 tons of piloncillo or panela (concrete sugar) are turned out annually by the small mills and the production of molasses is large. A considerable amount of the latter is used in the manufacture of rum and alcohol.
As regards the future of sugar in Mexico, there is much to justify belief in ultimate expansion and prosperity. Labor is cheap and plentiful, there are vast tracts of rich virgin land awaiting cultivation, irrigation possibilities are great, and when the present political disorders shall have been quieted and stable conditions established, a movement forward will surely follow.
PERU
Peru is situated on the west coast of South America and extends from 3 degrees 21 minutes to 18 degrees south latitude and from 70 degrees to 81 degrees 40 minutes west longitude. Its area, including certain disputed territory, is 676,638 square miles. Physically, it is divided into three distinct regions, the coast, the sierra and the montaña. In the first, or the dry side of the Andean slope, spurs run out from the main range of mountains toward the ocean, forming extensive valleys, some of which are well watered and very fertile. The spaces that lie beyond the life-giving influence of the rivers have the appearance of sandy deserts, but they only need water to make them productive. The Andes proper occupy the sierra region, which abounds in plateaus, deep ravines, rich sheltered valleys and snow-capped mountains of stupendous height. East of the Andes lies the montaña, or wet side. It is traversed by broad navigable rivers and embraces the sub-tropical forests in the ravines and on the eastern slopes of the Andes, as well as the dense tropical forests of the wide valley of the Amazon.