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 OFFEE Growing 
 
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 INVESTMENT 
 
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 Copyright isyt;, by 
 H. W. Bennktt, 
 
...THE... 
 
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 Mexican Gulf Agricultural 
 
 . . COMPANY . . 
 
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 Incorporated Under the Laws of Missouri. 
 
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 CAPITAL, $100,000 PAID. 
 
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 Kansas City, Mo. : 
 
 Lawton & BuRNAP, Modern Stationers and Printers. 
 
 1896. 
 
OFRCERS. 
 
 H. W. Bennett, Presidtnt. D. J. Haff, Vice-President. 
 
 R. E. Shryock, Secretary and Treasurer . 
 
 DIRECTORS. 
 
 H. W. Bennett. R. E- Shryock. E. F, Svvinney. D. J. Haff. 
 
 E. VV. Woodcock. J. Q. Watkins, Jr. W. A. Lawton. 
 
 ADVISORY BOARD. 
 
 C. E. Moss. C. D. Parkkr. Louis Kunz. H. F. Hall. 
 
 Home Office: 
 
 100 and 101 New England Building-, 
 
 Kansas City, Mo. 
 
 April, 1896. 
 
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♦ ♦ iV1/\f^o * ♦ 
 
 SHOWING THE LOCATION OF THI 
 
 ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTE 
 
 AND THE LANDS OF THE 
 
 Mexican Gulf Agricultural 
 
 . . . OF . . . 
 
 KANSAS CITY, MO., U. S. A. 
 
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INTRODUCTION. 
 
 « « « « 
 
 ^*^HE organizers of the Mexican Gulf Agricultural Com- 
 Cj. pany were first attracted toward Mexico as a field for 
 ^^ investment, some four years ago, by the prominence 
 that Republic had attained in the financial circles of the 
 world, the large fortunes being made there, and the constantly 
 decreasing returns from home investments. While it has 
 always been known and never denied that Mexico was a coun- 
 try of vast resources and offering wonderful inducements to 
 Anglo-Saxon enterprise and capital, yet prior to 1888 the 
 investments in that Republic were comparatively small and 
 the progress' slow, owing to a lack of confidence in the sta- 
 bility of the govei-nment, on account of the constantly recur- 
 ring revolutions and other political troubles to which the 
 country had been formerly subjected. 
 
 This condition of things is now entirely changed, how- 
 ever, and there is no doubt but that the government of Mexico 
 is on a solid and stable basis and will so continue, and that the 
 time is now ripe for capital and immigration. Within the last 
 few years Mexico has made remarkable progress. She is in 
 good condition financially and socially. Over eight thousand 
 miles of railroad have been built : her harbors have been im- 
 proved ; telegraph lines connect every part of the Republic, 
 and the country is in close communication with all parts of 
 the world. Her mineral, agricultural and industrial resources 
 are being developed very rapidly, and a strong, liberal gov- 
 ernment offers every encouragement and protection to life and 
 property. 
 
 Capital invested with prudence in Mexico must necessa- 
 rily yield splendid returns, superior by far to what may be 
 expected from any other country at the present time in the 
 
same ratio, for the simple reason that any new country with 
 small competition, undeveloped resources and lack of capital 
 offers to the enterprising pioneer great advantages over the 
 limited chances of profit in old and thoroughly developed dis- 
 tricts, where capital abounds and competition is keen, and in 
 which the profits of both industry and capital are reduced to 
 a minimum. 
 
 The greatest richer of any country are derived from its 
 agricultural development, and toward this field we directed 
 our particular attention. We gave the subject of coffee cult- 
 ure in particular the most thorough and complete study and 
 exhaustive research, and sent capable men down there and 
 went ourselves for the express purpose of investigating trop- 
 ical products. We were not wedded to any locality, our only 
 desire being to locate in the best territory we could find suit- 
 able for our purposes, keeping always in mind four principal 
 considerations to guide us in our investigations. First, cli- 
 matic conditions ; second, transportation facilities ; third, cost 
 and supply of labor ; fourth, fertility of the soil. 
 
 A great deal of time and money was spent before lands 
 satisfactorily answering these requirements and possessing 
 good title could be found ; but being finally secured we started 
 in on our new enterprise, which, after two years of practical 
 experience, we find no reasons to regret. 
 
 ^di 
 
DRIGIN OF THE 
 
 The original purpose with which the organizers of this 
 Comany set out to investigate the possibilities of tropical agri- 
 culture, was in the nature of a personal search for a good 
 investment, and to ascertain if the growing of coffee in Mexico 
 was a business safe and profitable enough to warrant the plac- 
 ing of our money in a foreign country, and in an enterprise 
 from which no material returns could be expected before five 
 years. 
 
 Having found the investment a most attractive one, pos- 
 sessing to a wonderful degree the elements of security and profit, 
 we went into the business on a large scale and as a close cor- 
 poration, with no other idea than that of developing and main- 
 taining the property with our own funds and for our own 
 exclusive benefit. 
 
 The proposition offered the public was subsequently 
 embraced in our plan of operation, merely as a means of reduc- 
 ing the cost and expense of maintaining our own plantation, 
 made possible by the recent demands for Mexican coffee lands* 
 brought about as a result of the splendid exhibit of Mexico at 
 the World's Fair and the strong efforts put forth by the Mexi- 
 can Government to advertise the agricultural lands of that 
 country. 
 
 People who five years ago knew nothing of how or where 
 coffee was produced are now familiar with the methods and 
 sources of its production, and the large jjrofits to be derived 
 from its cultivation. They are also aware of the fact that capi- 
 tal, experience, and five years' time are required to bring a 
 plantation into bearing, putting the business out of the reach 
 of a large majority of those most anxious to go into it. 
 
 People of limited means cannot put their entire time and 
 capital into an enterprise which yields no income for five years, 
 
and to the man of means the life of a pioneer in a foreign 
 country is not attractive. 
 
 In other words, we found there existed a growing demand 
 for small coffee plantations, to be paid for on the installment 
 plan, and that we were in a position to supply this demand to 
 a limited extent, with advantage and profit to the purchaser 
 as well as to ourselves. 
 
 After mature consideration we decided to buy more lands 
 and make this a feature of our business, for the following 
 reasons : 
 
 FiKST. — Because it did not in any way interfere with the 
 carrying out of our original ideas. 
 
 Second.— Because, without materially increasing the cost 
 or lessening the efficiency of our management, we can properly 
 care for these other properties and thereby reduce the exjjense 
 of maintaining our own. 
 
 Third. — Because it enables us to contract at a smaller cost 
 a larger amount of labor. 
 
 Fourth. — Because, by going into the business on so large a 
 scale, we can afford to put a steamboat on the river, reducing 
 the cost of our supplies and facilitating the marketing of our 
 products. 
 
 Fifth. — Because it will enable us to get a better price for 
 our coffee ; the larger the production in any particular dis- 
 trict, the more numerous the buyers, who, as direct repre 
 sentatives of big importers in New York, Liverpool and Ham- 
 burg, are brought together at our very doors in keen competi- 
 tion. 
 
 Sixth. — Because the cost of hulling, cleaning and milling 
 our own crop can be reduced by utilizing our plant to handle 
 the output of other properties. 
 
 Seventh. — Because the Company can make a large and 
 legitimate profit out of the transaction. 
 
 Thus it can readily be seen that we derive many direct 
 and indirect advantages, and can at the same time give the 
 
 . . 6 . . 
 
investor a better plantation at less cost than he could possi- 
 bly secure in any other manner. 
 
 We state the above facts in order that our position may 
 be clearly understood and the proposition we offer not looked 
 upon as an experiment for which the public are asked to fur- 
 nish the funds. 
 
 We believe any sound reasoning person can readily see the 
 mutual advantages to all parties concerned and that the in- 
 terests of the Company and its investors are identical. 
 
 PERSONNEL. 
 
 Taking it for granted that the growing of coffee is a safe 
 and profitable business, and that our proposition affords a 
 feasible and desirable means of securing a plantation, the 
 question naturally arises in the mind of the prospective buyer, 
 " Who are these people offering this investment? To what ex- 
 tent can we rely on their representations? And what assur- 
 ance have we that our money will be honestly and judiciously 
 expended?"' 
 
 The financial standing and resources of the Company, as 
 well as the ability and integrity of its officers, can be ascer- 
 tained through private inquiry, or by means of Dun's and 
 Bradstreet's Mercantile Agencies ; also by inquiry of the 
 First National, Union National and Metropolitan National 
 Banks of Kansas City, Mo.; the American Loan it Trust Com- 
 pany, of Boston, Mass., or United States Consul-General 
 to Mexico, Hon. T. T. Crittenden, of the City of Mexico — to 
 any of whom we refer by permission. 
 
 The personnel of the officers and directors of the Company 
 is here given as a guarantee of honest and capable manage- 
 ment. 
 
 Mr. H. W. Bennett, president, is manager in this city of 
 the Woolson Spice Company, one of the largest dealers and 
 importers of coffee in the United States, selling over fifty mil- 
 lion pounds every year. Mr. Bennett has been in this business 
 
for ten years, and devoted a great deal of time and attention 
 to the careful study of coffee culture. He has an exhaustive 
 correspondence from every part of the world upon the subject 
 and has satisfied himself thoroughly that coffee culture in 
 Mexico is a sound investment and that nowhere could Itinds be 
 found better adapted to this purpose than those selected by 
 the Company, which he personally inspected. 
 
 Mr, D. J. Hafp, vice-president, is the senior member of 
 the firm of Haff & VanValkenburgh, prominent attorneys of 
 Kansas City. He has devoted much thought and study to the 
 social and financial conditions of Mexico, and made a special 
 trip to that country in connection with this enterprise. 
 
 Mr. R. E. Shryock, secretary and treasurer of the Com- 
 pany, is the head of the real estate and loan firm of R. E. 
 Shryock & Company, Kansas City, and has personally inspected 
 our property. 
 
 Mr. E. F. SwiNNEY is cashier of the First National Bank 
 of Kansas City, is well known as one of the most prominent 
 and conservative bankers in the state and has just returned 
 from a trip to Mexico. 
 
 Mr. C. D. Parker is the head of the real estate and insur- 
 ance firm of Parker, Durfee &: Co. ; president of the United 
 States Water and Steam Supply Company, and a director of 
 the Mechanics" Bank of Kansas City. 
 
 Mr. William A. Lawton is senior partner in the firm 
 of Lawton & Burnap, one of the largest printing and 
 stationery establishments in Kansas City. Mr. Lawton 
 purchased for himself a coffee plantation some three years 
 ago, has made three trips to the Isthmus and spent over six 
 months vipon and in the immediate vicinity of the lands of this 
 company, personally investigating their fertility and products. 
 
 Mr. John Q. Watkins, Jr., is well known as one of the 
 most energetic and progressive of the younger element of 
 Kansas City's business men and bankers. 
 
 Mr. E. W. Woodcock, of Chicago, is agent in that city of 
 
the West Shore Past Freight Line. He has owned a planta- 
 tion on the Isthmus for three years, and has made several 
 trips to that country. 
 
 Mr. C E. Moss is a retired capitalist and a director of the 
 Metropolitan National Bank of Kansas City. 
 
 Mr. Louis Kunz is a young man well and favorably known 
 in Kansas City, who has spent the past three yenrs upon the 
 Isthmus of Tehuantepec, where he has met with noted success 
 and is looked upon as an able and reliable authority on coffee 
 culture. 
 
 Mr. H. F. Hall is senior partner of the well known grain 
 exporting firm of Hall & Robinson, Kansas City. 
 
 ^^ 
 
WHAT WE HAVE 
 DONE. J- J> J- J- J- 
 
 Since starting in this business, two years ago, we have 
 proven by the results of practical experience that our judg- 
 ment was good. The soil, climate and labor have been tested 
 and in no respect found wanting. Over four millions of strong, 
 healthy coffee trees and thousands of rubber, pineapple and 
 banana plants, all in perfect condition, are now growing on our 
 land, proving successful management and demonstrating be- 
 yond a doubt that the soil and climate of this district are per- 
 fectly adapted to the successful cultivation of these products, 
 particularly cotfee. Corn, rice, fruit and nearly all kinds of 
 vegetables have also been raised with remarkable success, and 
 we have learned that there is nothing to be feared in the way 
 of frost, extreme heat, drought or strong winds, nor is there 
 any disease, insect or animal to injure our products. We have 
 accomplished more work, with better results and at less cost, 
 than our previous calculations had led us to expect. 
 
 For the reasons enumerated in the first part of this 
 pamphlet, we decided, a year ago, to undertake the develop- 
 ment and care of a number of smaller plantations, and in the 
 spring of 1895 placed ou the market and quickly sold four 
 thousand acres of our land on this plan. Our experience in 
 the development and care of these properties during the past 
 year has demonstrated the advantages and feasibility of this 
 feature of our business, and that the results are satisfactory 
 to our investors is evidenced by the letters and reports of all 
 those who have visited their properties, some of which are 
 published, with the winters' permission, in the back part of 
 this pamphlet. 
 
 We have shown our ability to do this work in the best and 
 
 cheapest manner possible, by the fact that we are now caring 
 
 for plantations in our own vicinity, whose owners are actual 
 
 residents on the land. 
 
 . . 10 . . 
 
In the eighth year this income will be increased $4,000 by 
 the product of the 4,000 rubber trees alone, not to mention the 
 large increased income from the additional improvements 
 the owner will naturally make from the sixth to the eighth 
 years, inclusive. 
 
 At the present time the lowest cash value of a plantation, 
 such as the above, is $25,000 (gold), and could be readily sold 
 at that price, and this for a eo.s7i outlay on the part of the 
 purchaser of only $3,000, extended over a period of five years. 
 
 Each tract of 50 and 25 acres will have respectively one-half 
 and one-fourth of the amount of improvement on a tract of 
 100 acres, with the exception that there will be no house on 
 the tracts of 25 acres. The cost and income are proportionately 
 the same. 
 
 Prom the fact that there will be considerable vacant land 
 upon all of these tracts, the income can be largely increased 
 by planting additional coffee, rubber or fruit, or whatever the 
 planter may deem most profitable. 
 
 After the fifth year the company will care for the property, 
 harvest and market the crop for ten per cent of the profits, in 
 case the owner does not care to give it his personal attention. 
 
 Again we repeat that the above estimates as to the income 
 from these tracts is in every way a conservative one. While 
 we have figured on a yield of three pounds of coffee from each 
 tree, we confidently expect five pounds or more, for the reason 
 that they will receive from the vei"y start the best of care and 
 be given every advantage in the way of proper soil and high 
 cultivation, such as weeding, shading, pruning, topping and 
 other important and essential features. It must be borne in 
 mind that you are not getting an ordinary Mexican coffee 
 plantation, but one laid out and cared for from the start in the 
 best possible manner by men who have had years of experi- 
 ence in this business. 
 
 The present price of the grade of coffee produced by these 
 lands is to-day in New York 20^4 cents per pound, yet we have 
 
WHAT WE HAVE 
 DONE. ^ J- J- ^ J- 
 
 Since starting in this business, two years ago, we have 
 proven by the results of practical experience that our judg- 
 ment was good. The soil, climate and labor have been tested 
 and in no respect found wanting. Over four millions of strong, 
 healthy coffee trees and thousands of rubber, pineapple and 
 banana plants, all in perfect condition, are now growing on our 
 land, proving successful management and demonstrating be- 
 yond a doubt that the soil and climate of this district are per- 
 fectly adapted to the successful cultivation of these products, 
 particularly cotfee. Corn, rice, fruit and nearly all kinds of 
 vegetables have also been raised with remarkable success, and 
 we have learned that there is nothing to be feared in the way 
 of frost, extreme heat, drought or strong winds, nor is there 
 any disease, insect or animal to injure our products. We have 
 accomplished more work, with better results and at less cost, 
 than our previous calculations had led us to expect. 
 
 For the reasons enumerated in the first part of this 
 pamphlet, we decided, a year ago, to undertake the develop- 
 ment and care of a number of smaller plantations, and in the 
 spring of 1895 placed on the market and quickly sold four 
 thousand acres of our land on this plan. Our experience in 
 the development and care of these properties during the past 
 year has demonstrated the advantages and feasibility of this 
 feature of our business, and that the results are satisfactory 
 to our investors is evidenced by the letters and reports of all 
 those who have visited their properties, some of which are 
 published, with the writers' permission, in the back part of 
 this pamphlet. 
 
 We have shown our ability to do this work in the best and 
 
 cheapest manner possible, by the fact that we are now caring 
 
 for plantations in our own vicinity, whose owners are actual 
 
 residents on the land. 
 
 . . 10 . . 
 
In the eighth year this income will be increased $4,000 by 
 the product of the 4,000 rubber trees alone, not to mention the 
 large increased income from the additional improvements 
 the owner will naturally make from the sixth to the eighth 
 years, inclusive. 
 
 At the present time the lowest cash value of a plantation, 
 such as the above, is $25,900 (gold), and could be readily sold 
 at that price, and this for a ca^h outlay on the part of the 
 purchaser of only $3,000, extended over a period of five years. 
 
 Each tract of 50 and 25 acres will have respectively one-half 
 and one-fourth of the amount of improvement on a tract of 
 100 acres, with the exception that there will be no house on 
 the tracts of 25 acres. The cost and income are proportionately 
 the same. 
 
 From the fact that there will be considerable vacant land 
 upon all of these tracts, the income can be largely increased 
 by planting additional coffee, rubber or fruit, or whatever the 
 planter may deem most profitable. 
 
 After the fifth year the company will care for the property, 
 harvest and market the crop for ten per cent of the profits, in 
 case the owner does not care to give it his personal attention. 
 
 Again we repeat that the above estimates as to the income 
 from these tracts is in every loay a conservative one. While 
 we have figured on a yield of three pounds of coffee from each 
 tree, we confidently expect five pounds or more, for the reason 
 that they will receive from the very start the best of care and 
 be given every advantage in the way of proper soil and high 
 cultivation, such as weeding, shading, pruning, topping and 
 other important and essential features. It must be borne in 
 mind that you are not getting an ordinary Mexican coffee 
 plantation, but one laid out and cared for from the start in the 
 best possible manner by men who have had years of experi- 
 ence in this business. 
 
 The present price of the grade of coffee produced by these 
 lands is to-day in New York 20'^4 cents per pound, yet we have 
 
figured upon a basis of but sixteen cents, leaving a margin of 
 nearly five cents to cover any possible decline in prices. 
 The cost of production and marketing will without doubt be 
 less than five cents per pound, as calculated in the estimate. 
 
 The yield from the rubber trees is only one-half the 
 amount usually counted upon, and owing to the constantly in- 
 creasing demand and consuinption, the price of this article is 
 correspondingly ad vaneing. 
 
 The banana planters of Honduras and Nicaragua last year 
 averaged a net profit of thirty-six cents (gold) on each bunch 
 of bananas sold, and we have every advantage over that coun- 
 try in the way of quick and cheap transportation, with a 
 quality of fruit in every way equal, if not superior. The 
 planters of Florida last year realized an average net profit of 
 four and a quarter cents each from their pineapples. Consid- 
 ering the fact that the "Verde-Madura" pineapple grown on 
 the Isthmus is the finest known in the world, averaging seven 
 pounds in weight, with a small core and no fibre, and that they 
 will come into market in the United States two months earlier 
 than the Florida product, we feel that we are fully justified in 
 expecting a net profit from them of five cents each. 
 
 One very attractive featvire connected with these tracts is 
 the fact that they will be all together and lying immediately 
 around the town of " Dos Rios ," which, like the plantations 
 themselves, will be chiefly populated by Americans, giving the 
 settler who goes down there at the end of five years every 
 advantage in the way of the society and language of his own 
 countrymen. Besides, as above stated, the Company will, as 
 soon as the coffee plantations commence to bear, put up a 
 large plant fully equipped with the latest and most modern 
 machinery for pulping, curing, cleaning and sizing, thereby 
 enabling the surrounding planters to get this work done at 
 the least possible cost and avoid the expenditure of from eight 
 hundred to two thousand dollars for coffee machinery, which 
 the isolated settler is compelled to buy for his own plantation. 
 
The good faith of the Company, and our confidence in the 
 ability of the tracts to realize the income figured upon, is 
 evinced by the agreement to accept the products of the land 
 in payment of the mortgage, and the fact that we give a bond 
 for the faithful performance and carrying out of our contracts. 
 
 WHY? 
 
 After reading our pamphlet thus far, you will probably 
 ask : Why ? If this is such a wonderful country and so much 
 money can be made there —WJiy, then, does not all the world 
 rush into the production of coffee on the Isthmvis of Tehuan- 
 tepec ? Why ? Foi^ the very same reason that you yourself 
 have not done so. Either it has not been called to your atten- 
 tion, or you would prefer to make less money and live in the 
 United States, or you have not the necessary capital to wait 
 five years for a return and support yourself meanwhile. 
 
 But if you could secure some of the immense profits that 
 coffee culture on the Isthmus is bound to yield, and could con- 
 tinue to live in the United States while the plantation was 
 being cared for and brought into a perfect bearing condition : 
 when you could then migrate to the land of the Aztecs and 
 there enjoy the e-asy life and munificent income of a coffee 
 planter; if you could do this without being compelled imme- 
 diately to invest the large amount of ready cash required to 
 accomplish these results, but instead could pay for it gradu- 
 ally out of your income and at the same time avoid the great 
 risk taken by the inexperienred planter, the isolation from 
 society, and the toil and jjrivation incident to the life of a pio- 
 neer, what then ? 
 
 The Mexican Gulf Agricultural Company is prepared to 
 make all this possible for you, and on the most reasonable 
 terms. 
 
 As to the security of money invested in coffee culture in 
 Mexico, and the profit to be derived therefrom, we give you in 
 
the following pages, in a condensed form, the result of our own 
 inquiry and investigations,extending over a period of four years; 
 also a number of letters and reports covering the subject in 
 a general way and bearing directly on the merits of our propo- 
 sition. 
 
 ^S: 
 
lE XICO AS A COFF EE 
 ROWING COUNTRY, 
 
 There is no field in the world at the present time that 
 offers such opportunities for the safe and profitable invest- 
 ment of capital as that of the heretofore neglected one of 
 coffee cultivation in the Republic of Mexico. Throughout 
 the civilized world there is at the present time a rapid and 
 constant increase in the consumption of coffee, six hundred 
 million pounds being consumed last year in the United States 
 alone ; and, although there has been a very marked increase 
 in the production of this now necessary article of diet, yet 
 the supply hardly keeps jmce with the demand. 
 
 Coffee can only be successfully grown on virgin forest 
 laud, and the territory possessing the proper reqviirements 
 for its cultivation is limited and rapidly becoming more so. 
 The supply received from Java, Sumatra, Ceylon, and other 
 old districts is constantly decreasing, owing to the death of 
 the plantations from natural causes and over-worked and 
 worn out soils. 
 
 These are some of the principal reasons why Mexico is des- 
 tined to become one of the greatest coffee prodvicing countries 
 in the world, as she possesses every feature essential to the 
 successful cultivation of this product at the lowest cost and 
 with the greatest profit. 
 
 The coffee lands of Mexico are only inferior to those of 
 Brazil in extent, being far superior in the variety and quality 
 of their product, and only remain idle and unimproved from 
 lack of enterprise and capital for proper development. The 
 topographical and climatic conditions of the coffee district of 
 the lower part of the state of Vera Cruz are especially adapted 
 to the production of varieties and grades of coffee as large in 
 size, as bold in style and as rich in flavor as nine-tenths of that 
 produced in the old and celebrated coffee countries of the 
 
world ; and the adaptability and capacity of these lands for its 
 production have been thoroughly tested by more than fifty 
 years of experience in its cultivation, while experience has 
 fully demonstrated the quality of the product as well as the 
 profit to the planter. 
 
 ipdi 
 
[S TH ERE A PROFIT IN RAISING 
 ^^XICAN COFFEE > ^ J- ^ J- ^ ^ 
 
 The average price during the past twenty years for Bra- 
 zilian coffees has been over fourteen cents per pound, to which 
 must be added from three to six cents, as the relative value of 
 Mexican coffees, making the average price of Mexican coffee 
 for the last ticenty years between seventeen and tiventy cents 
 per pound. 
 
 It looks as if there should be a profit when we can grow it 
 and put it in New York at from ten to thirteen cents less than 
 loe get for it per pound. The present pi'ice of medium high 
 grade Mexican is, in New York, twenty cents per pound, 
 which, upon a high estimate of cost of six cents, leaves to the 
 planter a profit of fourteen cents per pound, or nearly three 
 hundi'ed per cent profit above the cost of production, as can 
 be shown by actual experience and from reports by the high- 
 est of authority on this question. This certainly shows that 
 coffee culture is profitable, and especially so in Mexico. 
 
 Wliat is the ivorst that could happen? 
 
 Suppose in any one year that the price of Mexican coffee 
 should fall from twenty cents to ten cents per pound, and sup- 
 pose that same year the yield should fall from three pounds 
 per tree to one pound per tree ! There would still he 20 per cent 
 more profit to the planter in raising coffee than he could real- 
 ize from any agricultural pursuit in this country. 
 
 Variovis troubles, civil and international, in Brazil and 
 Central America, have had the effect of curtailing production 
 in those countries, the result of which, unquestionably, will be 
 felt for many years. Fifty years ago, one hundred and fifty 
 thousand tons of coffee were deemed ample to supply Europe 
 and America combined, but in 1848 these two continents con- 
 sumed two hundred and fifty thousand tons : in 1868, three 
 hundred and seventy-five thousand tons, and in 189.3, over 
 
seven hundred thousand tons-~more than double that of fifty 
 years before. The woi-kVs consumption of coffee is now nearly 
 nine hundred thousand tons, or one billion eight hundred 
 million jwunds i^er annum, and constantly increasing The 
 consumption in this country now being estimated at between 
 eight and one half and nine pounds per capita, while in Hol- 
 land and some of the northern provinces of Europe the con- 
 sumption is as high as twenty-two pounds per capita. When 
 we take into consideration the fact that for every acre of new 
 coffee being brovight under development, old fields are going 
 out of bearing through the natural exhaustion of the soil, it 
 can readily be seen that there is no danger of lowering the 
 price by over-production. 
 
 
ADVANTAGES OF 
 THE ISTHMUS^^.^ 
 
 One of the highest authorities on coffee culture says : 
 " The principal points which determine the value of a location 
 for the successful and protitable cultivation of coffee are cli- 
 mate, soil, labor and transportation facilities. A temperate 
 climate, within the tropics, is to be preferred at all times, a 
 certain degree of warmth and humidity combined being essen- 
 tial ; one having a mean temperatvire of seventy to eighty 
 degrees Fahrenheit, and not falling below fifty-five at any 
 time. Frost, even though it be at night and for a short period, 
 is fatal, and a drouth would be the cause of a most serious in- 
 jury to the plantation. A constant and uniform moisture, 
 either natural or artificial, together with a rainfall of from 
 seventy-five to one hundred and fifty inches per annum, well 
 distributed, are requisite and indispensable to the free devel- 
 opment of the trees. A rich, dark soil, friable and containing 
 plenty of potash, is the best. The richer and deeper the soil the 
 larger the yield and the longer the trees will continue to bear. 
 Virgin forest lard is the most suitable for coffee plantations, 
 having become naturally enriched by decaying vegetable mat- 
 ter. Flat lands holding water are fatal to profitable coffee 
 growing, while extremely steep slopes are objectionable on 
 account of the wash occasioned by rains carrying away the 
 soil and exposing the roots of the shrubs. " 
 
 All of these requirements are complied with upon the 
 Isthmus of Tehuantepec to a fuller extent than in any other 
 portion of this hemisphere. Our climate is a mild and even 
 one, with an average temperature of seventy-nine degrees 
 Fahrenheit, never falling below sixty degrees, with frost and 
 drouth entirely unknown. We have an annual rainfall of one 
 hundred and thirteen inches, evenly distributed throughovit 
 the season, which, with the heavy dews falling at night during 
 
the dry season, renders irrigation entirely unnecessary. Our soil 
 is a rich, dark earth and friable, containing a large amount of 
 potash. It is all virgin forest land that has become enriched 
 by decayed vegetable matter for hundreds and thousands of 
 years. The land is neither flat nor rough, but a gently slop- 
 ing mass of small and evenly rounded hills. Thus we have 
 every reqviirement in the way of soil and climate, with an 
 abundant supply of good and relial)le labor at an extremely 
 small cost, and the finest of transportation fjicilities. 
 
 For these reasons we say that the Chalchijapa Valley is 
 the best country in the Western hemisphere, and equal to any 
 in the world, for coffee culture. With high cultivation, the 
 soil will yield enormously a medium grade of coffee, which is 
 considered by experts the most profitable grown, having at all 
 times a ready sale among the mass of coffee drinkers. The high 
 grade of Isthmus coffee, as compared with that of other low alti- 
 tudes, is due to the superiority of our climate : the distance from 
 ocean to ocean being only a little over one hundred miles, and 
 the strong, cool sea breezes blowing more than half the day. give 
 an even, temperate climate, the same as that possessed in alti- 
 tudes from two thousand to four thousand feet above sea 
 level. 
 
 Another thing that will appeal strongly to the mind of ;i 
 conservative investor is the fact that these lands are equally 
 well adapted to the culture of rubber, cacao, nutmegs and 
 other spices, sugar, tobacco and all kinds of tropical fruits. 
 The most profitable of these products require from six to eight 
 years before bearing, but after that time call for very little 
 care, and the profits therefrom are so enormously large as to 
 appear almost incredible to any one not familiar with tropical 
 agricultvire. 
 
 Thus the planter upon the Isthmus of Tehuantepec has 
 over a dozen different ways in which to vitilize his land. It is 
 well to know that the planter can at all times be absolutely 
 independent of any one crop, with the advantage of having at 
 
all times constant employment for his labor, the lack of which 
 is the most serious drawback to coffee culture in Guatemala 
 and other one crop countries, where the demand for labor 
 during the coffee picking season greatly exceeds the available 
 supply. In high altitudes these advantages do not exist, as 
 the soil and climate will not permit, and the proper facilities 
 for cheap and quick transportation are wanting; and while 
 these higher altitudes possibly produce a grade of coffee which 
 may be a little finer in flavor and commanding a slight ad^ 
 vance in price, yet we claim, what is lost in quality tve gain 
 foiir or jive fold in quantity, to which all authorities will 
 agree. 
 
 These are some of the reasons why the Isthmus of 
 Tehuantepec is going to be, not only the greatest coffee grow- 
 ing disti'ict of Mexico, but a dangerous rival of California, 
 Florida and Central America in the production of fruits; and 
 will be known as the most prosperous, progressive and readily 
 accessible semi-tropical country in the world. 
 
 On account of the climate being one in every way agree- 
 able to the Anglo-Saxon, this country is going to be populated 
 to a large extent Ijy our own countrymen. In fact, nearly all 
 of the best land is now controlled by American capital, and 
 large portions of it being placed under cultivation. Within 
 the past twenty-four months an aggregate of over a million 
 dollars has been invested in lands in our vicinity, and a large 
 number of plantations are well under way. Kansas City 
 parties alone are the owners of twenty-one three year old 
 plantations, of from one hundred to three hundred acres each, 
 all located within a radius of fifteen miles of the property of 
 this company. 
 
LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION 
 OF OUR LAND, J- J^ J^ ^ ^ J- J' 
 
 In the lower part of the Republic of Mexico, between the 
 sixteenth and eighteenth degrees of latitude and the ninety- 
 third and ninety-fifth degrees of longitude, with the Gulf of 
 Mexico on the north and the Pacific Ocean on the south, lies a 
 little strip of land called the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The ter- 
 ritory comprising this district proper is only forty miles wide 
 and one hundred and forty-two miles across, and within the 
 northern slope of this limited area lies the Nile valley of 
 America. In no part of Mexico, or perhaps in the whole 
 world, are lands so deep and fertile, with so pleasant and 
 healthful a climate. It is well drained by flowing rivers, 
 broad and deep, whose waters are as clear and sparkling as 
 mountain streams, and wholly free from alkali or other min- 
 eral substances. Prom the lower lands of the coast, the coun- 
 try stretches back in beautiful, undulating hills to the ele- 
 vated table lands of the interior, and as far as one can see are 
 magnificent areas of rich agricultural lands clothed with 
 forests and plants in i)erpetual green. These forests abound 
 in game, and the rivers swarm with fish. Yet, until the last 
 few years, this country was, like many other parts of Mexico, 
 comparatively unknown and undeveloped. In the heart of the 
 very best portion of this small territory, so blessed Vjy nature 
 and neglected by man, are the lands of the Mexican Gulf 
 Agricultural Company, located at the junction of the Coatza- 
 coalcos and Chalchijapa rivers, fourteen miles from the 
 Tehuantepec Railway and fifty miles from the Gulf port of 
 Coatzacoalcos, both reached by navigable rivers. 
 
FERTILITY OF THE SO IL 
 AND ITS PR O DUCTS«^.^ 
 
 Lands in the central portion of the Isthmus, north of the 
 divide, are remarkable for the great depth and marvelous fer- 
 tility of the soil. Dense tropical forests have been growing, 
 falling and decaying for hundreds and thousands of years, and 
 in consequence we have a soil that cannot be excelled, if dvipli- 
 cated, in any part of the world. At no place on our land is 
 the soil, which is of a rich, dark loam, less than six, and in the 
 larger portion of it between sixteen and twenty feet in depth. 
 The rainy seasons can always be relied upon with great regu- 
 larity, which, with the numerous rivei's and their tributaries, 
 and heavy dews in the dry season, furnish an abundance of 
 moisture. This, in connection with the hot, tropical sun dur- 
 ing the day, serves to bring forth the wonderful resources and 
 fertility of the soil in a truly remarkable and almost incredible 
 manner. 
 
 Over twenty different products can be grown upon this 
 land with great profit. Among these are rubber, pineapples, 
 bananas, cacao, vanilla, sugar cane, tobacco and corn. Some 
 of the above products, however, require considerable time and 
 attention before producing. Rubber bears its first crop in 
 eight years ; cacao in live ; and a banana plantation is 
 profitable after the first year. The chief product of this 
 country is, and will be, the one with which we have to deal 
 principally, viz.: Cotfee. That coffee can be grown with great 
 success upon the Isthmus is beyond doubt, as we have the 
 necessary temperature, rainfall, depth and quality of soil. 
 Many parts of Mexico are well suited to the culture of coffee, 
 and we do not pretend to claim that we have the only soil and 
 the only climate adapted to that jjurpose ; but we do claim 
 that in no part of Mexico or the whole world can land be found 
 so perfectly adapted in every way to coffee culture, and at the 
 same tiine possessing equal advantages in the way of cheap 
 labor and transportation facilities. 
 
HEALTH AND 
 CLIMATE> J- ^ 
 
 It might be inferred, the lands being within the tropics, 
 that the climate is excessively hot, insalubrious and ex- 
 ceedingly tropical in character, but the reverse of this is the 
 case, and for many obvious reasons, notably the peculiar con- 
 figuration on the Pacific coast side, which forms, as it were, a 
 gate, walled on both sides by heavy masses of snow-capped 
 mountains of the Sierra Madre range, through which pass 
 currents of air, rendering the country they traverse perfectly 
 salubrious. Our land is directly in the course of these 
 breezes, making the climate everything that could be desired. 
 While it is hot in the sun it is always cool in the shade. The 
 nights are cool and bracing, and a blanket is necessary for 
 comfort. During the year 1895 the average temperature was 
 seventy-nine degrees, highest ninety-two degrees, lowest sixty 
 degrees. From June until August there are light rains ; from 
 August until December, very heavy rains ; December to Feb- 
 ruary, light showers ; February to June, warm, pleasant 
 weather with southerly winds. The rainfall for 1895 was one 
 hundred and fifteen inches, seventy-five per cent of which fell 
 in the night. The climate here, considering all seasons, is 
 about perfect, and one which should prove very attractive to 
 the settlers from the North, who appreciate the waste of life 
 in an arctic climate of seven months each year, when all vege- 
 tation ceases to grow and man himself can be kept alive only 
 by artificial heat, and tho farmer must toil wearily four 
 months in the blazing, scorching sun for the vmcertain crop 
 that is to sustain him during all the famine months. 
 
 The whole plain of the Coatzacoalcos river is a remark- 
 ably healthy country, and one to which an Anglo-Saxon can 
 readily adapt himself. 
 
 The government statistics for the year 1893 show that in 
 
Minatitlan (situated on the Coatzacoalcos river, thirtj' miles 
 from our land) there is a population of four thousand eight 
 hundred and seventy-two souls, and during the year the 
 deaths numbered forty-three, or an average death rate of 8.7 
 per thousand. No better proof could be offered to show the 
 healthfulness of this district. 
 
 TRANSPORTATION. 
 
 Of all obstacles to a rapid development of the resources of 
 a country or state, the want of easy communication between 
 the interior and the seaboard, or local market, is one of the 
 most serious. Cheap, expeditious and certain transportation 
 is essential. Our lands are particularly favored in this re- 
 spect, as the Coatzacoalcos river is navigable for river boats 
 the year round, by which we can send our products quickly 
 and at an extremely small cost to the port of Coatzacoalcos. 
 At the same time, if desirable, either for freight or passenger 
 traffic, our boats can ascend the Coatzacoalcos and Jaltepec 
 rivers, a distance of fourteen miles, to the station of Santa 
 Lucre tia. upon the Tehuantepec railroad, from which ship- 
 ments can be made either by the way of Salina Cruz, upon 
 the Pacific ocean, or Coatzacoalcos, upon the Gulf of Mexico. 
 This road is owned and operated by the Mexican government. 
 
 Commerce always seeks the shortest route, and as this 
 new road brings San Francisco, China and Japan ports more 
 than a thousand miles nearer New York and European ports 
 than Panama does, it can easily be seen that traffic which 
 now reaches Europe by Cape Horn and Panama will soon find 
 its way over the Tehuantepec road. This will bring steamships 
 from every part of the world to the ports of Salina Cruz and 
 Coatzacoalcos and make the Isthmus of Tehuantepec a promi- 
 nent and well known country. A number of American and 
 European steamship lines are already making these ports reg- 
 ularly, and abundant means can always be depended upon for 
 
the cheap and speedy carrying of our products to all parts of 
 the United States and Europe. 
 
 In regard to transportation, as well as cheap labor and 
 freedom from frost, we have every advantage over the fruit 
 growers in California and Florida. 
 
 Fruit-carrying ocean steamships ascend the Coatzacoalcos 
 river to Taoamichapa island, a distance of thirty-seven miles, 
 giving every opportunity for the secure and expeditious load- 
 ing of perishable fruit, and avoiding the spoilage and expense 
 of lighterage to which all the Central and South American 
 frviit ports are subject. 
 
 Bananas and pineapples can be loaded on our river boats 
 at the plantation on the evening of one day and delivered 
 early on the morning of the next to the gulf steamships, and 
 arrive in Galveston after a trip of fifty hours. This gives us 
 from three to six days' advantage over the banana growers of 
 Central America, which means a saving of a large percentage 
 of expense and loss from spoilage. 0)1 account of the dis- 
 tance saved, and being able to ship our coffee direct from the 
 plantation to New York City, we have a much smaller cost 
 for freight than any coffee- growing district in North,, South 
 or Centred America. 
 
 a^^ 
 
LABOR: DESCR IPTION, 
 SUPPLY AND COST.^.^ 
 
 The Indians on the Isthmus are the most indvistrious, hon- 
 est and peaceful in Mexico, of a mild and gentle disposition, 
 and not inclined toward war or disturbances of any nature. 
 They are very muscular, and possess wonderful endurance. In 
 color, they are lighter than our own Indians ; their features 
 are much finer, and the expression of the face more pleasant. 
 
 At present abvindant labor is available at an average cost 
 of fifty cents ijer day for afull grown man, and, if employed regu- 
 larly, from ten to twelve dollars per month (Mexican silver). 
 Women and children do a great deal of the work on a coffee 
 plantation, and during the picking season the major part of it, 
 for which they receive a much smaller compensation than 
 men. After a plantation is five years old, the owner can figure 
 his labor at an average cost of twenty-five cents per day. 
 
 Mexican silver is always subject to a large discount as 
 compared ivith gold, resulting in material advantage to the 
 planter, as all his labor is paid in silver, vhile the product is 
 sold in foreign countries for gold. 
 
 TAXES. 
 
 There are no taxes on unimproved property in Mexico, and 
 the tax upon improved property is less than in the United 
 States, and is based on the income derived therefrom. 
 
 TITLE. 
 
 This property was purchased from the Pacheco estate 
 and the title is perfect, having been passed upon by Senor 
 Louis Mendez, President of the Bar Association of Mexico and 
 one of the ablest native attorneys of the Republic, as well as 
 by our own legal counsel, Mr. D. J. Haff, of Kansas City, who 
 made a special trip to Mexico for that purpose. 
 
AN IMPORTANT 
 
 After having secured land possessing the necessary re- 
 quirements for successful coffee growing, in the way of climate, 
 soil, transportation and labor, another equally important and 
 essential feature must be supplied, viz : Men to take charge 
 of the property who are thoroughly experienced in planting 
 and caring for the trees and harvesting their products, and at 
 the same time possessing a thorough understanding of the 
 laboring element which must be employed to do this work, so 
 as to get the largest and most satisfactory returns for the 
 money expended, without causing friction and discontent in 
 their midst. 
 
 We have spared neither trouble nor expense to secure 
 what was necessary in this direction, with a result that we can 
 and do, without fear of contradiction, assure our patrons that 
 no plantation in Mexico, Central or South America has men 
 better fitted and more competent in every way to take charge 
 of such properties than the gentlemen we have secured for 
 that purpose. 
 
 This is an item of the utmost importance, and adds to the 
 many advantages people dealing with this company will enjoy. 
 They are not putting their money into the hands of irresponsi- 
 ble and inexperienced people to experiment with, bvit entering 
 into a clearly defined business transaction with a solid, re- 
 sponsible concern, so fully equipped in every respect as to 
 afford the greatest security and jirofit, with the element of 
 chance reduced to the smallest possible minimum. 
 
WHAT OTHERS 
 
 ^y^^L X 4 t^^ t^^ t^^ t^^ t^^ 
 
 In order that the probable investor may not be left entirely 
 dependent upon our judgment, we submit the opinions of those 
 in a position to know whereof they speak. Any further infor- 
 mation in this direction will be cheerfully furnished, and there 
 is in our office an immense amount of literature, covering this 
 whole subject, including Consular Reports for a series of 
 years, from all parts of the world where coffee growing is car- 
 ried on as an industry. We also have a large number of pho- 
 tographs, from which one can gain a good idea of the existing 
 condition of our plantations, as well as samples of different 
 grades of coffee produced in this locality, all of which will be 
 cheerfully shown and explained to visitors, who are welcome 
 at any and all times. 
 
EXTRACTS FROM 
 THE PRESS« jt ^ ^ 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM ''THE RAILWAY REVOLUTION IN 
 MEXICO." 
 
 By Bernard Moses, Ph. D. , University of California, San Francisco, 1895. 
 
 "Among the more general economic effects of the building 
 of railways in Mexico may be observed an increasing tendency 
 to establish and conduct productive enterprises with corporate 
 capital. A conspicuous weakness of the Spaniards in Spain, 
 and their descendants in x\merica, has been their inability to 
 form and conduct successfully industrial and commercial cor- 
 porations. 
 
 "The missionary of the modern industrial system is in the 
 field ; and through his personal solicitations, and through the 
 force of the example of corporations already organized, Mexico 
 is destined to be carried more and more into line with those 
 nations that have at present largely supplanted individual in- 
 dustry by corporate industry. 
 
 "At jjresent the cultivation of coffee is attracting special 
 attention, and on the Eastern slope much progress has already 
 been made. 
 
 "Among the reasons is the extraordinary profit which the 
 production of coffee offers. 
 
 "The cost of its production in Mexico in general is be- 
 tween 8 and 10 cents per pound, Mexican money, and it sells 
 at from 25 to 32 cents. 
 
 "The facts indicate that the present extraordinary de- 
 mands for coffee lands in Mexico have a reasonable founda- 
 tion. 
 
 "Mexico has important advantages. * * * ghe has a 
 territory adapted in soil and climate to this form of cultiva- 
 tion, and, in the Indians, an excellent body of laborers, perhaps 
 better fitted for this kind of work than the ordinary laborers 
 of any other country. 
 
 " From an examination of the statistics we get the fol- 
 lowing general results, showing the exports of coffee from 
 Mexico : 
 
In 1873 1 432,100 pounds 
 
 In 1883 18,598,^19 pounds 
 
 In 1889 21,755,956 pounds 
 
 In 1890 27,797,050 pounds 
 
 FROM'' COFFEE; ITS CULTURE AND COMMERCE." 
 
 By C. G. "Warnforcl Lock, F. L. S., Published in L-ondon in 1888. 
 
 '' Though Mexico scarcely figures in the coflfee producing 
 countries, its capacity and adaptability have been tested by 
 successful cultivation. * * * Mexico as a coffee producing 
 country has been tested by more than fifty years" experience. 
 
 * * * That coffee has not assumed the first place in expor- 
 tation is to be attributed to the same causes which have re- 
 tarded all other developments of the country. * * * xhe 
 production has been mostly consumed by the home demand, 
 which is quite large, as coffee is in general use by all classes. 
 
 * * * When the plant is five years old it gives a full 
 crop. * * * The trees continue bearing from twenty to 
 twenty -five years. There are, however, trees sixty to seventy 
 years old which are bearing a fine crop. It is not uncommon 
 to find trees yielding 5 to 7 ijounds. * * * After the plants 
 begin to bear a full crop, the annual cost of production, up to 
 sale in market, is 6 to 7 cents a pound. * * * The favor- 
 able report on sample lots sent to Europe in 1873 gave an im- 
 petus to the cultivation, since when planting continues to in- 
 crease and coffee promises to become the principal article of 
 export.'' 
 
 FROM ''COFFEE IN MEXICO: CULTIVATION AND 
 PROFIT." 
 
 By Joseph Walsh, Philadelphia, 1894. 
 
 " The industry of coft'ee culture is still in its infancy in 
 Mexico, though the product is of a superior quality and grad- 
 ing among the best grown in any country of the world. 
 
 " Mexican coffee is worth at present from 20 to 22 cents 
 per pound in the American market, while the average cost of 
 production is 7 cents. A plantation will pay from one to three 
 
hundred per cent on the capital invested, each tree yielding 
 annually from 3 to 10 pounds. 
 
 "The value of cotfee plantations in full bearing is calcu- 
 lated at the rate of Sl.OO per grown tree ; a single acre produc- 
 ing from 600 to 800 trees. 
 
 "The soil and cliniate suitable for coflfee growing are also 
 adapted to the cultivation of tobacco, corn, beans, bananas and 
 most tropical and sub-tropical fruits. But among all market- 
 able fruits, the growing of which is here accessory to coffee 
 culture, the pineapple is the least expensive and most profit- 
 able, especially where the planter has close and cheap trans- 
 portation to the Gulf ports." 
 
 FROM "COFFEE FROM PLANTATION TO CUP.'' 
 
 By Francis B. Thirber 
 
 "Mr. Willis Weaver, who made this subject a study, wrote 
 to Hon. Wm. G. LeDuc, Commissioner of Agriculture at 
 Washington, D. C, as follows: 
 
 ■' ' The yield is estimated sometimes as low as two pounds 
 to the plant, but the same cultivator who gives me this figure 
 says he is convinced that the increase of the yield indefinitely 
 is only a question of improved cultivation. A more usual 
 estimate is three pounds. The cost of production is five cents 
 per pound.' " 
 
 FROM "COFFEE GROWING IN MEXICO." 
 
 By J. P. Taylor, City of Mexico, 1894. 
 
 "Generally speaking, the Mexican planter has fewer 
 troubles to contend with in growing coffee than the planter of 
 any other covmtry, and is sure of a regular crop. 
 
 " Twenty-five years may be taken as the average of coffee 
 trees to remain in remunerative bearing. 
 
 " Estimates as to the profits vary, but the lowest of them 
 show an enormous profit, something like 100 per cent per an- 
 num on the capital employed." 
 
FROM CONSULAR REPORT TO UNITED STATES 
 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 By James J. Peterson, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, November llth, 1893 
 
 "The cost of raising coffee, after the plantation is well 
 established, will not reach the sum of 6 cents (gold) per 
 jjound, including all expenses of management, labor, interest, 
 wear and tear of machinery, etc. 
 
 "With proper care and attention, coffee trees will produce 
 from 3 to 10 pounds each year." 
 
 TRANSLATION FROM FRENCH CONSULAR REPORT 
 
 OF J892. 
 
 "Mexican coffee took the first premium at the Centennial 
 Exposition in Philadelphia. * * * Mexican coffees were 
 given the grand prize at the Paris Exposition. * * * They 
 will take the highest award at the World's Fair in Chicago." 
 
 LONDON *' TIMES/' JANUARY 4th, 1894. 
 
 "There are many healthy signs of commercial and indus- 
 trial movement in Mexico. * * * That a part of its terri- 
 tory is suitable for coffee culture is certain. There can be no 
 doubt the future of this business is a promising one." 
 
 FROM ''THE ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC." 
 
 Report Made by the Scientific Commission Under the Direction of Major 
 J. G. Barnard, U. S. Engineer, by J. J. Winiams, Principal As- 
 sistant Engineer, 1853. 
 
 Vegetable Productions. — "To present a full and compre- 
 hensive view of the botanical productions of the Isthmus, em- 
 bracing, as it does, a variety of tropical and inter tropical 
 plants so valuable and numerous as to be unequaled within 
 the same extent of territory, would exceed the usual limits of 
 a work which is designed more as a record of mathematical 
 results than a treatise on the natural resources of a country. 
 
"The distribution of plants on the Isthmus differs from 
 that of Mexico in general, insomuch that the vegetation of the 
 loftier table-lands is less distinctly marked. On the margins 
 of the Gulf and the ocean are found the usual plants of inter- 
 tropical shores, and in the middle of the Isthmus are found 
 families which vegetate favorably at elevations below 5,000 feet 
 within the tropics ; this occurring not because the elevation is 
 sufficient to wari'ant the grouith, but that the lower level of 
 the Isthmus is cooled much beloto the average temperature of 
 its latitude by the constant northeast winds, bi/ the great 
 humidity of the northern slope, and by the pro.rimity of 
 the lofty table-lands and mountain summits which, cool the 
 land in their vicinity. 
 
 "The mean annual temperature of the Gulf shore of the 
 Isthmus is 81 degrees. The summer heat is that of latitude 12 
 degrees more northerly in Africa and Western Asia, and the 
 winter heat that of its own latitudes even on lai"ge continents. 
 In other words, it has a cooler summer and more moderate 
 winter than similar latitudes, and it is this extreme equality 
 of climate which gives to these lands the beauty and profusion 
 of vegetation with which they are clothed. 
 
 "It is on the outside of the limits of the equatorial zone, 
 and its productions are those of a tropical zone, which is an 
 advantage this Isthmus possesses over any point further south, 
 lying in the equatorial zone. 
 
 "The Isthmus is placed under the 15th region, or that of 
 the cactus and pepper families, because these are the predomi- 
 nating ones found growing there. The mean temperature of 
 this botanical region varies from 68 degrees to 8i degrees Fah- 
 renheit, and includes among others the cultivated species : 
 Zea M. sorglium, jatropha, dioscorea, convolvulus, ai'racacha, 
 marautn, musa, mangofera, amoma, psidium, cocos, carica, 
 persica, bromelia, anacardium, tamarindus, citrus, passi- 
 flora, theobroma, vanilla, coffea, saccharuvi, lycopersicum, 
 cai'sicum, cajanus, arachis, opuntia, nicotinna, and gos- 
 sypium. 
 
 "The banks of the Coatzacoalcos exhibit, in a wild state, 
 the greatest abundance of coffee, and with few exceptions no 
 pains are taken to cultivate it, although the quality is ad- 
 mitted to be very superior. This neglect may be readily 
 accounted for in the universal preference which exists among 
 the natives for chocolate. The only coffee plantation worthy 
 of note is one on the island of Tacamichapa, opposite the vil- 
 lage of Almagres. 
 
" Important in value is the siphoani elastiea, or Indian 
 rubber tree, which is found in astonishing numbers thx-ough- 
 out the forests that skirt the tributary streams. Its value, 
 however, is so little appreciated there, that the gvuii is only 
 gathered for foot balls, or for some few medicinal purposes. 
 
 "In the production of fruits and leguminous plants, the 
 Isthmus perhaps stands unrivalled ; and it seems superfluous 
 to enumerate, even incidentally, the different varieties which 
 constitute either articles for food, or those deserving of espe- 
 cial culture and adapted for purposes of exportation. Yet 
 many of them claim particular notice, either for their delicious 
 flavor, abundant growth, or the nvitritive qualities for which 
 they are distinguished ; among these we find the chico-zapote, 
 lemoncilio, orange, chayote, cocoanut, lemon, pineapple (some- 
 times reaching the enormovis weight of fifteen pounds), melon, 
 mamey, chiraymoya, citron, mango, banana, plantain, guava 
 and pomegranate. 
 
 " Of the maize, frijoles, sugar, cacao, tobacco, cotfee and 
 cotton raised on the Isthmus, it is difficult to speak in terms 
 which might convey an adequate idea of the adaptation of the 
 soil and climate to their cultivation, or the perfection to 
 which they are susceptible of being brought. 
 
 " But when we reflect upon the productiveness of the soil, 
 the salubrity of the climate and the boundless character of 
 the vegetation of the Isthmus, it is not difficult to see how 
 great must be the reward which would crown the efforts of 
 an industrious planter. 
 
 "In conclusion, it is utterly impossible, even at a momen- 
 tary glance like this, not to be struck with the value of the 
 boundless riches which nature has showered into the lap of the 
 Isthmus; nor can we estimate the changes to be effected or the 
 benefits to result from their gathering, ' when its soil shall be- 
 come the emporium of commerce, and teem with wealth and 
 abundance.' Even the outline which we have traced, presents 
 but a feeble delineation of the golden harvest which is to be 
 reaped in the future. Nevertheless, sufficient has doubtless 
 been said to awaken attention to the natural resources of this 
 favored region, and to show beyond question the present and 
 prospective value of that which already exists. 
 
 Health. — "On the northeastern division of the Isthmus, 
 on the Gulf slope, where the rainy season begins in the middle 
 of June and terminates in November, the district appears to 
 be unusually healthy, and it is not uncommon to meet with 
 natives seventy and eighty years of age residing there. 
 
 , . 37 . . 
 
"The central division of the Isthmus is perhaps the 
 healthiest, a circumstance due to its elevation and better 
 drainage. 
 
 " Yellow fever has never been known to occur on the 
 Isthmus. 
 
 " I took particular care to inquire among the inhabitants 
 what were the diseases from which they mostly suffered and 
 how strangers settling among them were affected, and I ascer- 
 tained beyond doubt that not only Minatitlan, but the whole 
 plain of the Coatzacoalcos river, wherever inhabited, was a 
 remarkably healthy country. 
 
 "Not a single case of yellow fever has ever occurred in 
 Minatitlan. Nor did I learn of any dangerous form of fever 
 existing. I heard of cases of intermittent fever, which must 
 have been of a very mild type, as it was usually cured by the 
 natives themselves with remedies indigenous to the country, 
 such as bark of the palo-mulato, a tree growing abundantly on 
 the Isthmus. 
 
 "I met at Minatitlan with several individuals who formed 
 a part of the French colony, and who had resided there for 
 twenty two years. They all assured me that they had enjoyed 
 uninterrupted health. The appearance of the natives proves 
 the country to be healthy, and our small party had no reason 
 to complain of sickness during its stay. 
 
 " The conviction in the minds of those engaged in draw- 
 ing up this report, and one founded on a residence upon the 
 spot, is that the climate of the Isthmus is a mild and hea Ithy 
 one, favorable to longevity and free from many diseases inci- 
 dental to more temperate latitudes. The health of those en- 
 gaged on the survey- was unusually good during their entire 
 stay ; and although frequently by accident wetted to the skin 
 and remaining in wet clothes the whole day, and this occurring 
 on successive days, with limited food at long intervals, yet none 
 suffered in consequence — a strong proof that their health was 
 due to the favorable climate." 
 
 EXTRACTS TAKEN FROM A REPORT TO THE 
 UNITED STATES SENATE, 
 
 Of the United States Scientific Expedition to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, 
 Commanded by Captain R. W. Shufeldt, U. S. N., 1872. 
 
 "The Isthmvis presents every inducement to foreigners — 
 thousands of acres of fertile land to be cultivated, in a con- 
 
genial climate, and no obstacles or prejvidices in the way of 
 religious, social or industrial ideas. 
 
 "The soil on the Atlantic plains is a rich alluvial deposit, 
 often twenty feet in depth. This region is generally heavily 
 timbered, but occasionally open, grass covered plains are met 
 with. 
 
 "The soil is remarkably fertile and if cleared and culti- 
 vated, would yield abundantly all the agricultural products 
 adapted to this latitude and climate. 
 
 "Coffee of a good quality grows on the Atlantic slope and 
 in the central division. From what we saw of the coffee tree 
 growing in the woods and in the gardens, we came to the con- 
 clusion that the soil and climate of the Isthmus are well 
 adapted to its cultivation. We were all surprised to find the 
 coffee of so fine a flavor. It is rather milder than the Java, 
 but in flavor is not inferior. 
 
 "The Ule or India rubber tree abounds on the Atlantic 
 plains. At the present time only a small quantity of the gum 
 is collected, but owing to a large number of trees in this 
 region, and the increasing demand for this substance, the day 
 is probably not far distant when this valuable gum will be 
 raised here in large quantities for exportation. 
 
 " The pineapple is of good size and fine flavor, and limes 
 and lemons are often seen growing wild. 
 
 " There are as many as fifteen well known varieties of the 
 banana, some of which are a very superior quality. Like the 
 orange, the best bananas are found on the Atlantic plains and 
 in the central division, and they are ripe at all seasons of the 
 year. 
 
 "Oranges grow in all yjarts of the Isthmus, but those of 
 the Atlantic plain and the central division are the best. On 
 the Isthmus of Tehuantepec there is no frost to blight this 
 crop as there is occasionally in Florida and Louisiana ; nor 
 hurricanes to kill it as in the West Indies : nor are the north- 
 ers violent enough on the Atlantic plains to injure it. 
 
 " Many of our garden vegetables grow very well in all parts 
 of the Isthmus. We saw lettuce, radishes, tomatoes, string 
 beans, beets and onions gi'owing in the gardens. 
 
 " The climate is a healthful one and it is the boast of the 
 inhabitants of the Isthmus that the yellow fever has never 
 visited them. 
 
 " The Indians are found settled over the whole Isthmus. 
 They are of a mild and gentle disposition, very muscular and 
 
possess, many of them, wonderful endurance. In color they 
 are lighter than our own Indians, their features are much 
 finer, and the expression of the face is more pleasing. " 
 
 ti 
 
REPORTS^ ON OUR LAND : 
 SOIL, CLIMATE, PRODUCTS 
 
 Jaltipan, March 25, 1894. 
 Mexican Gulf Agricultural Company : 
 
 Gentlemen : — In compliance with your request of March 
 2, I beg to enclose herewith my report on your land. 
 
 The property in question is situated in the State of Vera 
 Cruz, at the confluence of the Coatzacoalcos and Chalchijapa 
 rivers, fifty-seven miles by direct air line from the port of 
 Coatzacoalcos, and fourteen miles by river from the station of 
 Santa Lucretia on the Tehviantepec railway. They are bounded 
 on the north by lands of the Fortune estate; on the east by 
 Terreno de Pacheco, and the Chalchijapa river; on the south by 
 the Chalchijapa river, and on the west by the Chalchijapa and 
 Coatzacoalcos rivers, and situated in, perhaps, the most desir- 
 able part of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, near the joining of 
 the three States of Vera Cruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas. All the 
 land in this tract is good, it being perfectly clear from swamps 
 and lagoons. The river banks are high, the land is rolling and 
 slopes gradually from the river. By reason of the peculiar 
 topographical formation of the Isthmus, there is an almost 
 consta'nt interchange of air currents between the Atlantic and 
 Pacific oceans, a distance of only one hundred and forty miles 
 intervening, making the climate both pleasant and healthful. 
 Owing to the same reasons, this land is possessed of conditions 
 highly favorable to tropical and semi tropical agriculture. The 
 soil is a rich vegetable loam, very deep, extremely fertile, and 
 particularly well adapted to the successful culture of cotfee, 
 rubber and all kinds of tropical and semi-tropical fruits and 
 vegetables. 
 
 These lands are well situated in regard to transportation 
 facilities, lying beside two large and navigable rivers, render- 
 ing them undoubtedly the best watered tract on the Isthmus, 
 and possessing the most convenient, desirable and easy means 
 of transportation. 
 
 Good reliable labor can be readily obtained here at a ma.xi- 
 mum cost of $15.00 per month (Mexican silver). 
 Respectfully yours, 
 [Signed] F. O. HARRIMAN, C. E. 
 
City of Mexico, October 12, ISDi. 
 Mexican Gulf Agricultural Company : 
 
 Gentlemen :— I have completed the survey and subdi- 
 vision of the lands purchased by you, and in compliance with 
 your request beg to report the following : 
 
 These lands are well watered and drained, the river banks 
 high and free from overflow and the soil of great depth and 
 fertility. 
 
 They are readily accessible by rail and water, the National 
 Tehuantepec Railroad being but nine kilometers distant and 
 the river navigable at all seasons. 
 
 During my four years' residence on the Isthmus I have 
 conducted many extensive surveys and these lands are with- 
 out doubt the finest I have seen. 
 
 I am familiar with coffee culture in Mexico and particu- 
 larly on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and do not hesitate to 
 pronounce your lands the very best to be had for that pur- 
 pose, as well as being admirably adapted for the profitable 
 growing and marketing of many other tropical products. 
 [Signed] E. KIRBY-SMITH, C. E. 
 
 Mexico, May 30, 1894. 
 Senor H. W. Bennett, Pres. Mexican Gulf Agricultural Co., 
 Hotel Guardiola, Mexico : 
 
 Dear Sir : — It affords me much pleasure to comply with 
 your request for my opinion of your lands on the Isthmus and 
 described in your letter. 
 
 The northern half of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec is one 
 of the most fertile portions of Mexico. It enjoys all the advan- 
 tages of a tropical latitude, at the same time possessing a 
 pleasant and healthful climate. I know of no land better 
 suited for your purpose. The foreign settler will find it a 
 healthful place to live, and the Indian of that locality to be in- 
 dustrious and peaceable. 
 
 This land is admirably adapted to the cultivation of tropi- 
 cal products, especially cojfee, rubber and fruit, all of which 
 are highly profitable. 
 
 The plan upon which you propose to operate I consider a 
 most excellent one. In it I see nothing theoretical or imprac- 
 tical, and there is no reason why it should not meet with the 
 greatest success. The individual who receives his 100 acres in 
 the condition you propose to have it at the end of five years, 
 will receive property worth many times the value it costs him. 
 
and thereafter possesses a large and certain income. At the 
 same time he will have avoided all the worry, hardships and 
 toil necessary to put the land in a productive state. 
 
 To put a coffee farm on a paying basis requires capital, a 
 thorough knowledge of the business, and years of patient toil 
 and application. The profit the company will reap they are 
 entitled to, and the purchaser can well afford to allow it to 
 them. Most sincerely yours. 
 
 [Signed! ERNEST FREMY, 
 Professor of Viticulture, Agricul- 
 ture, Horticulture and Botany. 
 
 [Note. — Mr. Fremy was for many years Chief of the Ag- 
 ricultural and Botanical Bureaus of the Department of the In- 
 terior of the Mexican government] 
 
 Consulate-General of the United States. 
 
 City of Mexico, May 28, 1894. 
 Mexican Gulf Agi'icidtural Company : 
 
 Gentlemen : — I have yours of A pril 6th,propounding certain 
 questions to me regarding certain lands situated on the Isth- 
 mus of Tehuantepec, accompanied with jjrospectus of pro- 
 posed method of handling the same. I take pleasure in 
 answering the questions seriatim as far as I am capable of 
 doing. 
 
 Your first question is as follows: "Are the lands described 
 in this prospectus thoroughly adapted and desirably located 
 for the successful culture of rubber, coffee and fruit?" They 
 are, from the best and most accurate information I can obtain. 
 
 Second — The C'oatzacoalcos river is navigable the year 
 round for ocean steamers as far as Minatitlan, and for boats 
 drawing eighteen inches of water as far as Suchil, a point 
 some distance beyond these lands. I am under the impression 
 that the Tehuantepec road is going to be one of the greatest 
 commercial thoroughfares in the world, and will command a 
 very large international traffic. 
 
 Third — The climate, as far as I have been able to ascer- 
 tain, is far more agreeable and pleasant than is generally sup- 
 posed. Owing to the peculiar configuration of the Isthmus, it 
 is probably more healthful than any other portion of Mexico. 
 For a corroboration of this statement reference is had to the 
 following authorities: "The Isthmus of Tehuantepec ." pub- 
 lished by D. Appleton in 1852. "Survey of the Isthmus," by 
 
a party of United States enerineers, under Captain Shufeldt, 
 in 1872. " Geog-rafia Cliinatold^ica ,"' (Climatologieal Geo- 
 graphy) of Mexico, published l)y the Mexican government. 
 
 Fourth — " Are the Mexican laws favorable to foreign im- 
 migration?" They are, and the government is endeavoring 
 annually to make them more so. 
 
 Fifth—" What are the political conditions as to i)ersonal 
 security and protection of property?" I consider this a firm 
 and stable government, and it does all possible for the security 
 of life and property. 
 
 Sixth — "What are they likely to be in the future?" I 
 know of no reason to believe that life and property will not be 
 as safe in the fviture as at the present time. 
 
 Seventh — " Are the inhabitants of this particular locality 
 peaceable, industrious and honest, and kindly disposed to the 
 American settler? " I have been so informed. I have not 
 been on the Isthmvis myself, but have been in constant asso- 
 ciation with those who have been there frequently, and all say 
 the same thing. 
 
 Eighth — " Is sufficient native labor available, and at what 
 cost? " I am informed that it is plentiful and men on planta- 
 tions are employed regularly at from $8.00 to $16.00 per month, 
 Mexican money. 
 
 Your ninth question is : "With the figures as embodied 
 in this prospectus and after such inqviiry and research as you 
 maybe able to make, what is yovir opinion as to the practica- 
 bility, feasibility and desirability of this particular plan of 
 operation?" Personally, as you well know, I have no prac- 
 tical knowledge of the fruit or coffee business, Vjut from what 
 I can see and learn of it, this scheme impresses me as being 
 practical, feasible and desirable. This opinion of mine is cor- 
 roborated by that of people here, who are in a position to know 
 whereof they speak. Yours very truly, 
 
 [Signed] THOS. T. CRITTENDEN, 
 
 Consul-General. 
 
 FROM AN ISTHMUS PLANTER. 
 
 City of Mkxico, Sept. 30, 1894. 
 Mr. Louis Kunz, Kansas City, Mo.: 
 
 Dear Sir : — In accordance with your request, I have the 
 pleasure of giving you my views concerning lands on the 
 
Isthmus of Tehuantepec. I am going to give some practical 
 facts which can be readily verified. 
 
 Just at this moment we are at a point where we can make 
 a study of the plantations in bearing in the northern part of 
 the Isthmus, and judge of the advantages of soil, as well as 
 the abundance of the coffee crop, in order to estimate the 
 average income yearly from each plant. 
 
 On an estate called Pina Blanca, situated on the Coatza- 
 coalcos river, I have a cotfee plantation, and have seen the 
 bushes so full that I could not resist the curiosity which 
 prompted me to weigh the picking, which amounted to 10 
 and 12 povmds gross, and after drying and shelling averaged 
 over 3 pounds per bush, allowing for waste, etc. 
 
 I would also state that two years ago I sent some samples 
 of coffee to a friend in the United States, who pronounced it 
 as equal to the best Oaxaca coffee. 
 
 I am, verv truly yours, 
 [Signed] FRANCISCO GARCIA, 
 
 Jaltipan, Mexico. 
 
 Mr. Carlos C. Mordaunt, inventor of the Mordaunt 
 Coffee Huller and owner of the " Cafetal Eureka,'" at Soco- 
 nusco, Mexico, and who has refused §200,000 (gold) for his 250 
 acre plantation (only 175 acres in coffee) says : 
 
 "My bearing trees net me $250 (gold) per acre per annum, 
 after paying all expenses, the trees coming into full bearing 
 in six years from the seed.'' 
 
 ?^*^ 
 
LETTERS FROM RECENT 
 VISITORS TO ^^DOS RIOS^^ 
 
 [Translated Copy.] 
 
 Tehuantepec, January 1, 189G. 
 Senor M. H. Leiois, Manager Mexican Gulf Agrivnltin-al Co., 
 Hotel Guardiola, Mexico: 
 
 My Dear Sir : — It affords me pleasure, after spending a 
 week at "Dos Rios," and looking over the wonderful amount 
 of work done there in one year, to recommend in the highest 
 terms, the efficiency of the gentlemen in charge of yovir business 
 and my unlimited confidence in the ability of your Superin- 
 tendent, Major Clemow, to succes-ifully carry out the require- 
 ments of the best planned and thought-ovxt jn-oposition I have 
 ever seen applied to coffee or any other agricultural product. 
 
 You are also to be congratulated on Iraving secured land 
 so well adapted to coffee culture : the soil, climate, transpor- 
 tation and labor supply being perfect. I base my opinion on 
 my experience of fourteen years as a coffee raiser in one of the 
 best districts of Guatemala, where I have brought 120 acres 
 into bearing, which yields me a net income in gold of $175 per 
 acre, after paying §1.00 a day for labor and packing my product 
 150 miles on mule back. 
 
 My soil is not as deep as yours, nor is our rainfall as evenly 
 divided, nor as heavy and our climate more variable ; nor do I 
 enjoy the same advantages in the way of natural shade. For 
 this reason, yovi will undoubtedly get 3 pounds of good coffee 
 from five year old trees for twenty-five years. 
 
 Trusting you will realize all I hope for you and expecting 
 you at my "finca " next year, where my house and my servants 
 are yours, I am, 
 
 Respectfully yours, 
 [Signed] JOSE LEANDRO de CASTILLO. 
 
 Dos Rics, March .3, 1896. 
 Mexican Gulf Agricultural Company. 
 
 Gentlemen :--To those who douhtt the adaptability of the 
 Isthmus of Tehuantepec to the successful culture of coffee, I 
 will say that on the plantation of Dos Rios I to-day saw coffee 
 trees twenty-one months old from the seed, well loaded with 
 berries and counted 96 beans on one branch measuring one 
 
foot in length, and a visit to the different sections of the plan- 
 tation showed the younger plants in a thrifty condition. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 [Signed] G. C. SANBORN. 
 
 [Note. — Mr. Sanborn is a member of the Chicago Board 
 of Trade, and has lately returned from a trip to the Isthmus.] 
 
 Dos Rigs Plantation, 
 Isthmus of Tehuantepec, May 15, 1895. 
 Mexican Gulf AgriculUiral Company : 
 
 Gentlemen:— Complying with your request, I deem it only 
 justice to you to give you my opinion from observation and in- 
 spection of your "Dos Rios" lands. 
 
 I have been most agreeably surprised, and as an old and 
 experienced coffee planter. I may be allowed to say that yovu- 
 lands are eminently suitable for coffee growing, and certainly 
 in that respect are superior to anything I have seen in Mexico, 
 after a thorough inspection of the districts of Jalapa, Coate- 
 pec, Cordoba, Orizaba and the State of Oaxaca ; your soil 
 being rich and fertile and covered by a forest, the character of 
 which marks it out as " par excellence " of fine coffee country. 
 Your water transportation seems to be first-class and all that 
 can be desired. 
 
 Judging from personal experience, and the appearance of 
 both natives and foreigners, I should say your climate is 
 good, and only small personal inconvenience arising from a few 
 insects, which are indigenous to all open tropical countries, 
 and will be certain to be removed by the clearing of the forest 
 from the land. 
 
 If this letter will do any good in removing the effects of 
 the scandalous reports against the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, it 
 will have served the purpose of the writer, which is certainly a 
 disinterested one, and I wish you every success in your splen- 
 did enterprise. Yours faithfully, 
 
 [Signed] GEORGE MARR. 
 
 City of Mexico, March 13, 1896. 
 Mexican Gulf Agricultural Company: 
 
 Gentlemen: — In answer to yovu- request for my opini(m on 
 the land and conditions surrounding your " Dos Rios "' property. 
 
beg to state that I have spent two years in Mexico, and have 
 seen a great deal of the country, and after a personal visit to 
 " Dos Rios " consider the land very fine and well adapted to 
 your purposes. In fact, I consider the Chalchijapa and Chima- 
 lapa districts the best I have seen for coffee. 
 Yours truly, 
 
 [Signed] H. C. DINKINS. 
 
 [Note.— Mr. Dinkins is the General Agent of the A. T. 
 & S. F. Ry. in the City of Mexico.] 
 
 Dos Rigs, Mexico, Feb. 18, 1896. 
 Mexican Gulf Agricultural Company: 
 
 Gentlemen: — After a residence of one year at Buena Vista, 
 near San Jvian Evangelista, during which time I have put in 
 60 acres of coffee on my own plantation and given the subject 
 much careful consideration, my opinion may possibly be of 
 some interest to you and yovu- investors. While I did not see 
 all of your extensive improvements, my visit to "Dos Rios" has 
 convinced me beyond any doubt that you have most excellent 
 land for coffee, rubber and other similar products, and I have 
 never seen anywhere better plants or better work than I have 
 found on every piece of work I saw there. 
 Yours very trvily, 
 [Signed] ETHELBERT EKINS. 
 
 Santa Lucretia, 
 Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Feb. 1, 1896. 
 
 Mexican Gulf Agricultural Company : 
 
 Gentlemen: — I have no hesitancy in saying that I think 
 you have been most fortunate in securing what I consider to 
 be one of the most desirable pieces of land on the Isthmus for 
 the successful cviltivation of coffee, rubber and other tropical 
 products, both as regards transjjortation facilities and the 
 quality of the soil, which certainly is p>(i^" excellence, as is evi- 
 denced by the phenomenal results obtained from your nursery 
 of coffee plants. This is no visionary statement on my part, 
 as I have spent nearly three years on the Isthmus, the larger 
 part of which time has been devoted to coffee culture. I have 
 examined each and every tract planted by your company and 
 consider the work done in a highly efficient manner, which if 
 continued as commenced cannot help but produce wonderful 
 results. Yours truly, 
 
 [Signed] LEE WEBER. 
 
 . . 48 . . 
 
Plantation Solo Suchil, 
 Isthmus of Tehuantepec, March 10, 1896. 
 
 Mexican Gulf Agricultural Company: 
 
 Gentlemen : Complying with your request, and having a 
 number of personal friends among your investors in the 
 Chalchijapa valley, I take pleasure in testifying to the fitness 
 of the "Dos Rios" plantation for the growing of coffee, cocoa, 
 rubber, etc. Moreover, being a frequent visitor at "Dos Rios" I 
 have had opportunity to watch the progress of development of 
 these properties fi'om time to time and can say that all work 
 from the niirseries to the clearing and planting has been done 
 in the best possible manner, and that no one visiting your prop- 
 erty can help being pleased and impressed with the result ac- 
 complished during the past year. 
 
 With a knowledge of the different sections of Mexico, 
 acquired during the past three years, and a residence of one 
 year on my own plantation near " Dos Rios," I am now more 
 firmly convinced than ever that these lands are among the 
 very best and most desirable in the Republic and possessed of 
 transportation facilities equal to any. The climate is pleasant, 
 not too hot nor too cold, and perfectly healthful. Indeed, I 
 have enjoyed my life here as a planter and have not the least 
 doubt of our success. Very truly, 
 
 [Signed] R. O. PRICE. 
 
 Bethesda, Tenn., Jan. 23, 1896. 
 
 Mr. M. H. Lewis, Kansas City, Managerr,3Iexican Gulf Agri- 
 cultural Company : 
 
 Dear Mr. Lewis : — In answer to the many enquiries that 
 I constantly receive regarding the development of plantations 
 on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, it has been gratifying to me 
 to be able to refer explicitly to the progress made by your 
 Comyjany, under your direction. As my faith in coffee culture 
 continues to grow and strengthen with study and investiga- 
 tion, I can but commend most heartily the foresight and enter- 
 prise that you have displayed. 
 
 Your flourishing nurseries and young coffee plantations 
 were as fine as any I saw on the Isthmus during my recent 
 trip, and the promise they hold for the near future is, I think, 
 most flattering. 
 
It is surprising to see what American pluck and energy 
 has accomplished in one year. 
 
 Accept my congratulations on your present work and 
 future prospects. Yours truly, 
 
 [Signed] F. A. STEELE. 
 
 rv0\5CN@^o 
 
STABILITY OF THE MEXICAN 
 GOVERNMENT. J- J- J' ^ J> j^ ji> 
 
 Consolidated 
 
 Kansas City Smelting and Refining Companv. 
 
 General Office. 
 
 Kansas City, April 18, 1896. 
 Mr. D. J. Haff, Vice-Pres., Mexican Gulf Agricultural Co. 
 
 My Dear Sir: — I comply willingly with your request to 
 state my view of the stability of the Mexican Government 
 and the safety of investments in Mexico, for the reason that I 
 look upon Mexico as a most promising field for investment of 
 capital. 
 
 Myself and a coterie of friends, who have for a period of 
 over fifteen years invested together, first began to look up 
 Mexico in 1886, ten years ago. Our investigations were most 
 thorough, and convinced us so absolutely of the great advan- 
 tage and safety of Mexican investments that we have, since our 
 beginning, placed in Mexico and in business connected with 
 Mexico, about $4,000,000. We have not had a single case of 
 oppression from government — except our own — in our dealings 
 with Mexico. We have had neither losses from individual nor 
 corporate dishonesty. Our property, and it embraces railroads, 
 smelting works, mines and lands, has never been burdened 
 unjustly, titles have been found perfect, and contracts easy 
 and secure of enforcement. The Government of Mexico, we 
 have found equal to the task of enforcing all rights of persons 
 and property. I have not the slightest hesitation to say that 
 I deem property as safe in Mexico as in the United States. 
 I am, my dear sir. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 [Signed] A. R. MEYER. 
 
 President. 
 
LETTERS FROM A FEW 
 OF OUR INVESTORS. J- 
 
 Adolf Lange, 
 Druggist and Pharmacist, 
 Cor. 4th and Shawnee Sts. 
 
 Leavenworth, Kansas, March 21, 1896. . 
 Mexican Gulf Agricultural Company: 
 
 Gentlemen : — When I purchased my one hundred acres 
 of coffee land at "Dos Rios," I regarded the transaction simply 
 as a venture ; a few months after, having heard from parties 
 who had seen that portion of the Isthmus, so many fine reports 
 of its resovirces and promising future, I began to think of my 
 venture as a good speculation, and resolved to see the country 
 myself, and, as yovi know, I have just returned from there. 
 The result is that I now regard my possession on the Isthmus 
 as a safe and very likely to prove a highly profitable investment. 
 
 I am fully convinced of this, having seen with my own 
 eyes coffee growing to perfection in your immediate neighbor- 
 hood on land apparently not near so well adapted for coffee as 
 your lands. 
 
 To judge from the hundreds of acres of coffee yovi have 
 already planted and the several millions of coffee plants in your 
 nurseries and which will before many months, find their places 
 in the plantations under your charge, it is safe to predict that 
 "Dos Rios" will, in a few years, send millions of pounds of 
 choice coffee to market, affording handsome incomes to the 
 fortunate owners of the plantations. 
 
 I found the climate very agreeable and healthful, the 
 natives clean, peaceaVjle, polite and industrious and all con- 
 ditions mvich better than expected : in fact, I found everything 
 exactly as represented in the literature issued by your Company, 
 your work in good and efficient hands, and being carried out 
 in conformity with your promises. 
 
 I thoroughly enjoyed the four weeks spent at "Dos Rios " 
 and already look forward with pleasure to my contemplated 
 trip there again this coming winter. 
 
 I have just written to your Superintendent, Major Clemow, 
 thanking him for the many courtesies received at his hands 
 and wish also to here express to you, gentlemen, my thanks for 
 favors extended. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 [Signed] ADOLF LANGE. 
 
MiNATiTLAN, E. cle V. C, Feb. 21, 1896. 
 E. W. Woodcock, Esq., Chicago, III. : 
 
 Dear Sib : — I have been living on the Isthmus for over a 
 year, having in charge several coffee plantations. 
 
 Lately I had the pleasure of paying a visit to "Dos Rios," 
 where the Mexican Gulf Co. are operating extensively. 
 
 I took particular pleasure in looking over the work being 
 done and I am pleased to inform you that I found everything 
 being pushed forward vigorously and in a most able and effi- 
 cient manner. 
 
 The topography and climate of the country are all that 
 could be desired for coffee raising and I firmly believe that 
 with the improvements now going on, the Isthmus will be one 
 of the best coffee producing countries in the world within a 
 few years. 
 
 My experience of eight years on the Malabar Coast, 
 Madras Pres., India, entitles me to express an opinion, which 
 may be of interest to parties who, like yourself, are investing 
 down here. I am, dear sir, very trulj' yours, 
 
 [Signed] W. I. BROWN. 
 
 Mexico City, March 12, 1896. 
 Mexican Gulf Agricultural Company : 
 
 Gentlemen: — I have just retvirned from your " Dos Rios" 
 property and found it a most beautiful country. I was sur- 
 prised to find so many improvements, as I exjjected to have to 
 live with the natives, bvit on the contrary was entertained as 
 nicely as here in the city. Your superintendent escorted us 
 over the lands planted to coffee and we were highly pleased 
 with the condition, as well as the prospect. He undoubtedly 
 understands his business in ijreparing the ground and plant- 
 ing coffee. There were several nursery beds under construc- 
 tion, besides a great many in fine plants. They were looking 
 fine. We were informed that there would be about 3.000,000 
 trees for transplanting. I found the lands a deep, dark loam, 
 clay subsoil and covered with a heavy growth of timber, just 
 the kind for coffee growing. Besides coffee, we saw there 
 fine pineapijles, bananas and garden vegetables of all kinds, 
 growing in fine condition. We met several American families 
 living on and cultivating their respective lands at Dos Rios, 
 and all were very well pleased with the country and its future 
 prospects. 
 
Trusting other investors will, like myself, be able to view 
 their investments personally, as they will be better pleased, I 
 remain. Yours truly, 
 
 [Signed] F. H. GORTON, 
 
 Crawford, Neb. 
 
 S. Jackson, 
 Arpartado 34, 
 Buyer : Hard & Rand, N. Y. 
 
 Orizaba, Mexico, Dec. 13, 1895. 
 Wm. Leitch, Esq., Kansas City, Mo. : 
 
 Dear Sir :— I have your favor of the 6th inst., and am 
 pleased to say that the coffees marked H. R. T., No. 1 and No. 
 2, listed by New York, are Tehuantepec coffees, which I bought 
 on the Isthmus last May. I bought this lot through my 
 Oaxaca representative and it came from Tehuantepec proper. 
 
 Coffee raising on the Isthmus is not experimental, and 
 while I have never been there, the accounts I have of that sec- 
 tion from my buyers and other reliable sources are very flatter- 
 ing, and in a few years it promises to be quite an important 
 section. Quite a number of Americans are located there and I 
 believe a Kansas City syndicate or company are operating there 
 on quite a large scale. While in St. Louis a few months ago, 
 I was interviewed by several who contemplated investing in a 
 company being organized by some wealthy American resident 
 in Mexico City, and on my way there recently I met and trav- 
 eled with a Mr. Halsey, of St. Louis, who, with four friends 
 from New York, were en route to settle on the Isthmus, with 
 the intention of raising coffee and rubber. 
 
 Last year I met Mr. Lionel Garden, Her British Majesty's 
 Consul, of Mexico City, who was returning from the Isthmus. 
 He spoke in very flattering terms of the section and assured 
 me he would invest there. While your tract is a small one, I 
 should say your investment is a good and safe one, and, with 
 proper management, will in a few years yield you a fine and 
 paying interest. 
 
 Like yourself. I am not a builder of air castles, yet I am 
 convinced of coffee raising here proving a profitable invest- 
 ment. My jjosition here as buyer and manager for Messrs. 
 Hard & Rand keeps me closely occupied and my every moment 
 is devoted to their interests, yet if I had any assurance of my 
 being here for the next five years I would not hesitate for one 
 
moment to invest in coflfee raising, which seems very safe to 
 me, especially so long as this covintry is on a silver basis and 
 one can raise their products on this basis and sell them for 
 gold. 
 
 As my name forcibly implies, I am a Southerner and com- 
 menced my career with Messrs. Hard & Rand in my native 
 city. New Orleans, where I was formerly connected with S. & 
 Z. for twelve years in their coflfee department. I am pleased 
 to be of service to you and will gladly serve you in any way I 
 can. My sole interests are in Mexican coflfees and I wovild ap- 
 l^reciate any efforts on your part to keep them moving for our 
 different ofl&ces. Very truly yours, 
 
 [Signed] S. JACKSON. 
 
 [Note. — Copy of letter from Mr. Stonewall Jackson, buyer 
 for Messrs. Hard & Rand, New York City, to Mr. Wm. Leitch, 
 manager Hard & Rand's branch office, Kansas City, owner of 
 a 50 acre tract of our land. Hard & Rand are the second 
 largest importers in the United States.] 
 
 Kansas City, June 11, 1895. 
 
 Mexican Oulf Agricultural Company: 
 
 Gentlemen : — For some time I have intended to write you 
 in regard to my trip with party of investors to your coflfee lands 
 on the Isthmvis last January. As a pleasure trip, it is the 
 most novel and entertaining that I have ever had the pleasure 
 of taking, far more so than the one to California. 
 
 In regard to the Isthmus as a field for investment, I think 
 your plan makes of it a splendid opportunity for any one. The 
 way tropical products grow there makes it the most prolific 
 spot the mind can conceive of. I am more than well pleased 
 with my investment and only wish I could see my way clear to 
 increase my holdings, which I hope to do at the earliest possi- 
 ble moment. I feel confident that any one who will take the 
 trouble to visit the plantation will return enthusiastic and 
 thoroughly satisfied with their venture. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 [Signed] R. V. ANDERSON. 
 
Leavenworth, Kas., June 6, 1895. 
 Mexican Gulf Agricultural Comjxiny : 
 
 Gentlemen : — With regard to investing in Mexican coffee 
 lands, will say that I consider the investment a good one, and, 
 as yovi well know, purchased a fifty acre tract after returning 
 from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The proposition your 
 company makes I consider the best one I know of, and it is by 
 far the safest. 
 
 I never tire of talking about the pleasant trip I had with 
 your party in Mexico, last January and February, and trust 
 we will all meet there again next winter. For myself, I should 
 like to spend every winter on my coffee ranch at "Dos Rios." 
 
 Yours trvilv, 
 [Signed] CHAS. S. STEVENS. 
 
 Dos Rios, Dec. 20, 1895. 
 M. H. Lewis, Manager Mexican Gulf Agricultural Company: 
 
 Dear Sir : — About the first of last November I came to 
 the Isthmus with vay family to occupy the land which I ob- 
 tained from your company. My land is situated about half 
 way between the movith of the Chalchijapa river and the 
 town of "Dos Rios." Myself and family are much pleased 
 with the location. Our house is about completed, and we are 
 now occupying it. The coffee and other crops which I had 
 the company plant for me before my arrival are in good condi- 
 tion and looking well. We are j^leased with the Isthmus, and 
 especially this part of it. The soil and the lay of the land 
 here agree entirely with your Company's prospectus, which I 
 saw liefore deciding to come to Mexico. From my observation 
 during the comparatively short time that I have been here, I 
 am convinced that the soil is very fertile and is especially 
 adapted to coffee culture. The thrifty condition of the coffee 
 plants in your nurseries, the strong growth of plants already 
 set out in the lands which you are improving for those who 
 have invested here, and the bloom now showing on the plants 
 not more than two years old, at "Dos Rios," are good vouch- 
 ers for your claim that these lands are coffee lands i^ar 
 excellence. 
 
 We are within five days of Christmas and we can hardly 
 realize that this is winter, when the thermometer stands 
 somewhere about 70 most of the time, and we feel sorry for 
 our Iowa friends, who must now be shivering in their winter 
 garments. 
 
Permit me to thank you for the many courtesies which 
 we have received from you personally, and from Mr. Clemow, 
 the superintendent, and from all the officers and employes of 
 the CoiTijjany with whom we have come in contact. 
 Respectfully, 
 
 [Signed] F. W. MOORE. 
 
 Kansas City, Mo., April 16, 1896. 
 Mexican Gulf Agricultural Company : 
 
 Gentlemen : — I have just returned from the coffee plan- 
 tations at " Dos Rios," and having perused letters from other 
 tract holders, feel that it is hardly necessary to do more than 
 to say that I consider their statements fvilly justified by facts. 
 Respectfully, 
 [Signed] J. WITHAM NORTON. 
 
 r 
 
^^* t^^ t^*' 
 
 «^ <^ e^ 
 •t tt 4 
 
 BETWEEN 
 
 THE CITY OF MEXICO 
 AND VERA CRUZ 
 
 f be IHexican Railway £o., CM. 
 
 eiT* «^ <i5* 
 e^* <^* e^* 
 
 «^*' e^* e^* 
 ft^* <^* €^^ 
 
 e^ <^ «^ 
 «^ e^ «<?• 
 
 <^ e^ e^ 
 9^* t^^ ^^ 
 
 e^* f^* t2^ 
 
 jt ^4 .^-t 
 
 Is the only standard gauge road, 
 
 and is the Sccnic Ciiic Of Hortb flm 
 
 CriC4 « « passing through Agave 
 plantations, from which ^'Pulque" is 
 extracted, close by the famous Aztec 
 Pyramids and the majestic moun- 
 tain, 'Tico de Orizaba/' The 
 mountain scenery is wonderful and 
 enchanting — nothing in Switzer- 
 land or the Rockies equals it. 
 For descriptive literature, address, 
 
 W. G. WALTER, 
 
 Supt. of Traffic, 
 CITY OF MEXICO, MEXICO. 
 
The 
 
 Mexican Central 
 
 RAILWAY 
 
 Requests Your Attention for a Moment. 
 
 When you go sight seeing, go where there are sights to see. Mines, 
 mountains, monkeys, macaws and manati; cascades, catacombs, castles, caves, 
 canons, cotton, cane, coftee, and cactus (all kinds). 
 
 Look at the clouds from the top and so see the silver lining. You can do 
 it from our trains; we go above them in places. 
 
 Tropical forests and snow-clad volcanoe; are well worth looking at. 
 Orange groves, rice fields, sugar plantations and coffee farms are well worth 
 studying (if you want to make money). Anybody can raise corn, wheat and 
 beans; that is why they are so cheap. Grow something that is worth some- 
 thing when you have it raised. 
 
 The Mexican Central Railway, with its 2,000 miles of track, taps the high- 
 lands and the lowlands; it crosses the mountains and reaches the sea at Tam- 
 pico. Every variety of land and climate is found tributary to it. It has the 
 only Pullman Palace Buffet service in the Republic. Its Palace Sleeping 
 Cars cross the border without change. It is standard gauge in everything. 
 
 Tourist Excursion tickets to Mexico are on sale at all coupon ticket offices 
 in ihe United States and Canada every day of the year, at greatly reduced 
 rates, allowing nine months limit from date of issue with stop-over privileges 
 within final limit, on going and returning south of the Rio Grande. 
 For further information address, 
 A. HOFFMAN, 
 
 General Passenger Agent, City of Mexico. 
 W. D. MURDOCK, 
 
 Assistant General Passenger Agent, City of Mexico. 
 M. H. KING, 
 
 Assistant General Passenger Agent, Chicago, 111. 
 C. E. MINER, 
 
 General Traveling Passenger Agent, St. Louis, Mo. 
 T. R. RYAN, - Commercial Agent, St. Louis, Mo. 
 J. H. SNOW. 
 
 Traveling Passenger Agent, Fort Worth, Tex. 
 J. F. DONOHOE, - Commercial Agent, EI Paso, Tex. 
 "W.C.CARSON, - Eastern Agent, New York City. 
 A. V. TEMPLE, 
 
 Manager Bureau Information, City of Mexico. 
 
ZSLSJLSLSiSiSi ol 
 >oo< 
 
 C 
 
 he only Standard fiaufle cme 
 
 between the Unltea States and 
 
 g Principal Cities In IHexIco. ^ ^ tt 
 
 £^ Only Ciltt rnnning Pnllman Palace 
 
 S Buffet Sleeping Cars between the mm 
 
 gg States and City of Ittexico without change at 
 
 u3 the border. «««« « « ««« )°2 
 

 99/* 
 
 'W7 E advise persons going to 
 
 MEXICO 
 
 TO TAKE THE 
 
 Santa Fe ^ 
 ^ ^ Route 
 
 
 VIA 
 
 EL PASO. 
 
 Comfortable Service is assured. Pullman 
 Palace Sleepers Chicago and Kansas City to 
 City of Mexico. -J^ ^ -J* 
 
 The Picturesque Scenery of Colorado, New- 
 Mexico and Old Mexico is a noted feature of 
 this Route. ^ ^ J^ 
 
 The Santa Fe is the shortes t line from prin- 
 cipal Eastern cities. 
 
 ■J*. ^* S 
 
 For descriptive literature, ticket rates, etc., 
 address G. T. Nicholson, G. P. A., A. T. & 
 S. F. Ry., Chicago. 
 
 
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184 
 
 84 
 

 
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 BINDERY INC. 
 
 ^ SEP 84 
 
 \»viiJ^ N. MANCHESTER, 
 ^5S^ INDIANA 46962 
 
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