Altogether Costa Rica, in 1892, had 8366 coffee-fincas with 26,911,078 coffee-trees, and a crop of 378,224 quintals or 17,388,704 kilograms, valued at 10,954,744 pesos.
It may be interesting to learn the amount of the coffee crops since 1883, given in sacks of fifty-nine or sixty kilograms each.
| Sacks. | Sacks. | Sacks. | Sacks. | ||||
| 1883 | 153,379 | 1887 | 218,032 | 1891 | 235,703 | 1895 | 184,825 |
| 1884 | 277,158 | 1888 | 171,898 | 1892 | 179,970 | 1896 | 195,263 |
| 1885 | 157,515 | 1889 | 215,793 | 1893 | 190,700 | 1897 | 227,582 |
| 1886 | 150,618 | 1890 | 256,576 | 1894 | 179,613 |
Another important agricultural product of Costa Rica is the banana. Its cultivation was begun on the Atlantic coast in 1879, and the first 360 bunches were shipped, February 7. 1880, by steamer “Earnholm” from Port Limon to New York.
In 1884 there were 350 farms, comprising over four thousand acres of land, containing 570,000 banana plants, from which, in that year, 420,000 bunches were obtained. Before 1879 banana plants were set out in coffee plantations to shade the young trees and shelter their berries. The bananas were used to feed pigs. The laboring classes kept a few plants, using the fruit boiled with salt, or roasted on hot coals instead of bread.
The following table shows the banana export figures since 1883:
| Bundles. | Tons. | |
| 1883 | 110,801 | 3,693 |
| 1884 | 420,000 | 14,000 |
| 1885 | 401,183 | 13,373 |
| 1886 | 595,970 | 19,866 |
| 1887 | 889,517 | 29,651 |
| 1888 | 854,588 | 28,486 |
| 1889 | 990,898 | 33,030 |
| 1890 | 1,034,765 | 34,492 |
| 1891 | 1,133,717 | 37,791 |
| 1892 | 1,178,812 | 39,294 |
| 1893 | 1,278,647 | 42,621 |
| 1894 | 1,374,986 | 45,833 |
| 1895 | 1,585,817 | 52,861 |
| 1896 | 1,692,102 | 56,400 |
Sugar cane is used largely in Costa Rica as fodder and in the manufacture of aguardiente; also to produce the raw sugar or dulce, which is consumed entirely by country people.
In 1889 sugar cane by provinces was raised on the following number of acres:
In San José on 4819 acres; in Alajuela on 5076 acres; in Cartago on 1466 acres; in Heredia on 1114 acres; in Guanacaste on 719 acres; in Puntarenas on 1471, and in Limon on 122 acres. The aggregates were 14,787 acres, and a production of 1,368,000 pounds of sugar and 18,454,000 pounds of dulce.