| Departments. | Fincas. | Trees. | Crop. | Value. | Pounds per tree. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guatemala | 213 | 756,484 | 11,340.26 | $113,402.60 | 1.50 |
| Amatitlan | 507 | 5,152,900 | 45,288.76 | 452,887.60 | |
| Escuintla | 104 | 5,914,850 | 38,560.00 | 385,600.00 | 0.65 |
| Sacatepequez | 626 | 2,805,400 | 18,286.18 | 182,860.80 | |
| Chimaltenango | 47 | 3,511,839 | 27,573.26 | 275,732.60 | |
| Sololà | 82 | 2,287,525 | 27,993.52 | 279,935.20 | |
| Suchitepequez | 253 | 3,511,839 | 52,860.32 | 528,603.20 | 1.50 |
| Retalhuleu | 598 | 5,129,857 | 33,250.15 | 332,501.50 | |
| Quezaltenango | 409 | 8,903,552 | 124,779.70 | 1,247,797.00 | 1.50 |
| San Marcos | 177 | 1,595,488 | 45,115.68 | 451,156.80 | 0.40 |
| Huehuetenango | 248 | 627,276 | 7,354.94 | 73,549.40 | |
| Alta Verapaz | 265 | 3,835,084 | 2,883.25 | 288,732.50 | 0.75 |
| Baja Verapaz | 54 | 900,856 | 813.54 | 8,135.40 | |
| Peten | 101 | 18,545 | 278.36 | 2,783.60 | 1.50 |
| Zucapa | 91 | 56,410 | 182.36 | 1,823.60 | |
| Chiquimula | 1,000 | 908,670 | 6,595.52 | 65,955.20 | |
| Jalapa | 96 | 30,210 | 206.86 | 2,068.60 | |
| Santa Rosa | 560 | 4,354,428 | 26,032.45 | 260,324.50 | 0.60 |
| Totals | 5,431 | 60,301,213 | 495,385.11 | $4,953,850.11 | 0.82 |
If the figures of this table are correct, the average yield throughout the republic is 0.82 lb. per tree; in Escuintla .65 lb.; in Santa Rosa .60; in Guatemala 1.5; in Quezaltenango and Peten the same; in Alta Verapaz .75; and in San Marcos .40,—figures which show a very large number of non-bearing trees.
Coffee is planted in the shade, and the young plants require the protection of banana or other trees until well established. Plants are set ten feet apart each way, and topped when about six feet high. The Liberian variety is large beaned, and although of a lower price than the best Arabian, is more prolific, and in the lower lands, where the latter does not do well, is certainly more profitable.[53] It begins to bear the third year, produces three to four hundred pounds per acre in the fifth year, attains its maximum in the tenth, and is old in the thirtieth. Coffee exhausts the soil more than any crop except tobacco.
Cacao.—All through the forests of the Atlantic coast cacao grows wild, and even in this condition generally of choice quality. On the Pacific coast are the chief plantations, although the amount exported is insignificant (1,492 lbs. in 1884). Just over the Mexican boundary, in the province of Soconusco, grows the most celebrated cacao known; and probably careful selection of seed and cultivation would produce the same results in Guatemalan territory. Throughout the republic there is probably less cacao raised than before the Conquest, when the nib was current as money, and chocolate a royal drink. Like the coffee-tree, cacao requires protection,[54] which must be continuous, for the cacao never outgrows it; but a thin shade such as the India-rubber affords will answer very well, and in this case the madre cacao is profitable. A cacao-plantation should be in full bearing about the seventh year; and while the curing of the pods requires much care and experience, the cultivation of the trees is very simple. The many varieties and the interesting process by which the bean is prepared for market are well described in the pamphlet to which reference has been made. Plantations in the valleys of the Polochic, Chocon, and Motagua would yield a rich return. In Guatemala are several factories for preparing chocolate from the bean, and I have seen samples of very high quality. It is generally, if not always, flavored with cinnamon, and when used as a beverage is churned or beaten into froth.
Theobroma Cacao (Chocolate Tree).
- A Enlarged flower.
- B Stamens and pistil.
- C Andrœcium.
- D Petal.
- E Ovary, vertical.
- F Ovary, transverse.
- G Pod section.
- H Ripe pod.
India-rubber.—Like the cacao, the Castilloa elastica grows wild in all the coast valleys; but although the Government has placed a bounty on plantations of this very desirable tree, few have been formed. Now, as formerly, the Indios collect the gum in a very wasteful way, and soon the supply will be greatly lessened. I am tempted to quote from Juarros[55] what I believe is the earliest notice of the use of India-rubber for waterproof garments. “On pricking the trunk of this tree [ule] an abundant juice issues, which serves, as Fuentes assures us, to coat a boot, with which one can pass a stream or a swamp dryshod.”
Castilloa elastica (India-rubber Tree).