The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom by P. L. Simmonds

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There are very many plants and substances which have been passed over
altogether, it being impossible, within the limits of a moderate sized
volume, to bring under notice even a tithe of the valuable grasses,
timber trees, cabinet woods, fruits, &c.; and I have confined myself
in a great measure to those which either already are, or might easily
be rendered, articles of commerce, of some importance. I have shown
their present value by quoting the current prices, and brought down,
as far as possible, the statistics of each article to the close of
last year, thus rendering the work valuable by commercial references
which could not be found collectively elsewhere.

There are some articles of commerce which could not properly be
treated of in a work intended as a guide on agriculture and husbandry,
for the tropical planter and cultivator, who purposes devoting his
attention to the raising of useful crops and plants on his estate. The
forests and jungles of the tropics abound in products of an useful
character, the luxurious and spontaneous growth of nature, such as
ebony, sandal wood, &c.; but these must be sought for by a different
class of settlers; and the mahogany cutter of Honduras, the
teak-feller of India, the gatherer of elastic gums, can scarcely be
ranked with the cultivators of the soil.

I had originally intended to confine my remarks to staples of tropical
growth, but I have been induced to depart from my prescribed plan by
the importance of some of the commercial products of temperate
regions, such as maple and beet-root sugar, wheat, the grain crops,
and potatoes.

The system of agriculture, and modes of tillage, &c., of separate
countries in the Eastern and Western hemisphere, notwithstanding their
similarity of climate, are as opposite as if each country belonged to
a different zone; and yet much may be learned by one of the other.

The only essentially useful division of seasons in countries within
the tropics is into a wet and dry season, the former being the period
of germination, the latter that of fructification.

The implements of agriculture required are for the most part few and
simple, for no high tillage is necessary, the luxuriance of vegetation
being so great that most of the products of the soil will grow
indiscriminately throughout the year, and the only care of the
husbandman, after the first preparation of the soil, is to keep down
the vast growth of weeds, which might stifle the crops.

In tropical regions there is less demand for manures than in temperate
climates, but still there are many additions to the soil that may
profitably be made.

Firstly, that most important principle, which has only recently been
practically inculcated, is in too many quarters entirely neglected,
namely, returning to the soil the component parts taken off by various
crops, and which is so generally practised in all good agricultural
districts, by a careful rotation of crops. Liebig has well pointed out
this: "It must be admitted (he says), as a principle of agriculture,
that those substances which have been removed from a soil must be
completely restored to it; and whether this restoration be effected by
means of excrements, ashes, or bones, is in a great measure a matter
of indifference." Again he remarks, "We could keep our fields in a
constant state of fertility by replacing every year as much as we
remove from them in the form of produce; but an increase of fertility,
and consequent increase of crop, can only be obtained when we add more
to them than we take away." Of all natural manures, therefore, the
best for each description of plant is its own refuse, or ashes; enough
of these can seldom, however, be obtained. But, as far as they can be
restored, this principle is beginning to be acted upon by the sugar
planters of the West Indies, who employ the waste leaves and ashes of
the expressed stalk of the cane, after it has been used as fuel, to
manure their cane-fields. The vine growers of Germany and the Cape
also bury the cuttings of their vines around the roots of the plants.
The cinnamon grower of the East returns the waste bark and cuttings of
the shoots to the soil. And in the coco-nut groves of Ceylon, the
roots of the trees are best manured with the husks of the nuts and
decomposed poonac, or the refuse cake, after the oil has been
expressed from the pulp. Analysis of soils is, perhaps, not so
essential in countries where virgin land is usually in abundance, and
the luxuriance of vegetation furnishes itself, by decomposition,
abundant materials for replenishing the fertility of the soil. But
there are some substances, such as muriate of soda, gypsum, phosphate,
and other compounds of lime, which may be advantageously applied.
Guano and expensive artificial manures, are seldom required, and,
indeed, will not repay the planters for importing.

An experienced cultivator can generally judge by a superficial
examination, aided by the situation, locality, and appearance of the
soil, whether a certain portion of land is fitted for the profitable
growth of any particular plant. Depth of soil, and facilities for
deepening it, with the nature of the subsoil, so as to know whether it
retains or parts with water, are also important considerations,
because tap-rooted plants require free scope for penetrating deep into
the ground.

A due supply of water is of vital importance to most crops--and
therefore the extent and periods of the fall of rain are essential to
be known, as it is not always possible to resort to irrigation. The
quantity of labor required for previous tillage, cultivation, and
harvesting of different crops, and the available supply, are primary
essentials to be considered before entering upon the culture of any
staple product, however remunerative it may appear in prospective.
Facility and cost of transport to the nearest market or shipping port
are the next desiderata to be ascertained, as well as a careful
estimate of the cost of plant or machinery necessary.

It may be desirable at the outset to make a brief enumeration of the
countries lying within the different zones, and the agricultural
products of which come, therefore, more especially under the notice of
the tropical planter.

Meyen, in his division of the horizontal range of vegetation into
zones, extends--

1. The equatorial zone to fifteen degrees on both sides of the
equator. In this division we shall find the Cape Verd Islands, Sierra
Leone, Ascension, and St. Helena, the Republic of Liberia, the
European and native settlements in the Gulf of Guinea, and on the
western Coast of Africa, Abyssinnia, Zanzibar on the East Coast,
Mocha and Aden in the Red Sea, the northern portion of Madagascar, the
Seychelles, the Madras Presidency, Northern India, Ceylon and the
Nicobar Islands, Sumatra, Siam, Malacca, Singapore and the Straits
Settlements, Cochin China, the Phillippine Islands, Borneo, Celebes
and the Moluccas, Java and Madura, Banca, the Johore Archipelago,
Timor and the eastern group of Islands, with New Guinea, a large
portion of Northern Australia, the Marquesas, Society's and other
oceanic islands. In South America the Republics of Peru, Bolivia,
Ecuador, New Granada, and Venezuela, British, French and Dutch Guiana,
and a large portion of the empire of Brazil; Trinidad, Barbados, and
most of the islands in the Carribean Sea.

This zone has a mean temperature of 781/2 to 821/2 Fahrenheit.

2. The tropical zone reaches from the 15th deg. on each side of the
equator to the tropics in 23 lat. The mean temperature is 731/2 to 783/4
deg. Summer temperature 801/2 to 86 deg.; winter temperature in the
eastern coast districts, 59 deg.

In this region is comprised the following countries:--Sandwich Isles,
Canton, in province of China, Burmah, Calcutta, and a portion of the
Bengal Presidency, the Bombay Presidency, Madagascar, Mauritius and
Bourbon; the southern portion of Brazil, Cuba, St. Domingo, Mexico,
and Central America.

3. The sub-tropical zone extends from the tropics 23 to 34 deg. of
latitude. There are a number of tropical fruits in this region. The
winters are mild and vegetation is green throughout the year. In the
northern division of the zone palms and bananas grow on the plains. In
this region is comprised all the extreme northern portions of Africa,
coasting the Mediterranean, comprising Algiers and the Barbary States,
Egypt, part of Persia, Cabool and the Punjab; the greater portion of
China, Lower California, Texas, the South-Western States of America,
the Bermudas, the Cape Colony and Natal, New South Wales, Southern and
Western Australia--the Government settlements in the Northern Island
of New Zealand, the largest portion of Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and
the Argentine Republics, the Provinces of Brazil from St. Paul to Rio
Grande, Madeira and the Canary Isles.

To define accurately the conditions of temperature which a plant
requires to maintain it in a flourishing condition we must ascertain
within what limits its period of vegetation, may vary, and what
quantity of heat it requires. This most remarkable circumstance was
first observed by Boussingault, but unfortunately we do not as yet
possess sufficiently accurate accounts of the conditions of culture in
the various regions of the earth, to enable us to follow out this
ingenious view in all its details. His theory is, that the time
required by a plant to arrive at maturity is as the inverse ratio of
the temperature; therefore, knowing the mean temperature of any place,
and the number of days which a plant takes to ripen, the time required
at any other point more or less elevated, can easily be ascertained.
Peter Purry, a native of Switzerland, who settled in Charleston in
the eighteenth century, in a memorial to the Duke of Newcastle, then
Secretary of State, sets out with this postulate, that "there is a
certain latitude on our globe, so happily tempered between the
extremes of heat and cold, as to be more particularly adapted than any
other for certain rich productions of the earth; among which are silk,
cotton, indigo," &c.--and he fixes on the latitude of 33 deg., whether
north or south, as the one of that peculiar character.

The following Table, showing the climate, duration and production of
certain plants cultivated in tropical America, is from the proceedings
of the Agricultural Society of Grenada. The second, column gives the
altitude in English yards above the level of the sea. The third, the
mean temperature by Fahrenheit's thermometer. The fourth, the average
time required to commence bearing. The fifth, the number of plants in
a Spanish "fanegada" of 170 varras, about 153 square yards. The sixth,
the average duration of each plant. The seventh, the average produce
of each plant in the year:--

-----------------+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
|Level of |Mn. Temp.| Time |No. of| |Average
|the Sea, to|Deg. Min.|Required|plants|Years |produce
-----------------+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
Cacao | }|81.17 |61/2 | 1,156| 40 |11/4 lb
(_Theobroma |587 yds. }|46.00 |yrs | | |per tree
Cacao_) | }| | | | |
+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
Plantain {|630 yds. to|81.17 | 9 mths.| 3,613| 30 |50
(_Musa {|1077 |46.00 |91/2 " | | |plantains
Paradisiaca_) {| |40.61 |11 " | | |
+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+---------
Indian Corn {|1077 |81.17 | 90 days|28,900|Annual|238 for
(_Zea Mays_) {|1260 to |40.61 |110 " | | |every
{| 1890 |36to37.80|120 " | | |seed
{|2880 |25.20to27|180 " | | |
+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
Manioc or {|1077 |81.17 |10 mths |28,900|Bicen-|One
Cassava {|1195 |40.61 |12 " | |nial |cassava
{| |43.00 |120 days| | |weighing
{| | | | | |3/4 lb.
{| | | | | |1/4 oz.
{| | | | | |starch
+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
Coco nut | 630 |81.17 |5 yrs. | 452| 60 |4 bottles
(_Cocos | |46.00 |6 " | | |oil per
nucifera_) | | | | | |tree
+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
Tobacco {| 630 |81.17 |150 days|28,900|Annual|1/2 lb.
(_Nicotiana_ {|1077 |46.00 |170 " | | |_dried_
_tabacum_) {|1980 |40.61 |180 " | | |to each
{| |33.30 |225 " | | |5 plants
+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
Cotton {| 630 |81.17 |61/2 mth |28,900|31/2 |1/2 lb.
(_Gossypium_) {|1077 |46.00 |7 " | | |nett
{|1415 |40.61 |71/2" | | |per
{| |34.61 |9 " | | |plant
+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
Coffee {| 230 |47 |24 mths | 5,300| 45 |11/2
(_Coffea_ {| 630 |46 |25 " | | |lb.
_Arabica_) {|1077to 2250|37.80 to |28 " | | |per
{|2453 |39.60 |36 " | | |tree
{| |33.30 | | | |
+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
Sugar cane {| 630 |84.17 |11 mths.|28,900| 5 |10 percnt
(_Saccharum_ {|1080 |46.00 |12 " | | |sugar
_officinarum_) {| |41.40 |14 " | | |upon the
{| | | | | |weight
{| | | | | |of the
{| | | | | |raw cane
+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
Indigo {| 90 |48.60 |21/2 " |57,800| 11/2 |70 plants
(_Indigofera_ {| 630 |46.00 |3 " | | |produce
_tinctoria_) {|1077 |40.61 |31/2 " | | |1 lb.
{| | | | | |coloring
{| | | | | |matter
+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
Potato {|1080 |38.70 |140 days|116,600 |41/2
(_Solanum_ {|1980 |33.30 |165 " | |Annual|lb each
_tuberosum_) {|2700 |27.00 |210 " | | |plant
+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------
Wheat {| 567 |42.30 | 80 " |57,800|Annual|37 for
(_Triticum_ {|1170 |38.70 |100 " | | |every
_aestivum_) {|2520 |32.99 |120 " | | |seed
{| | | | | |planted
-----------------+-----------+---------+--------+------+------+--------

The plantain bears at 1,529 yards, in a temperature of 61 deg.
Fahrenheit, and requires fifteen months, but its cultivation is of
little benefit in so high a latitude. It is the same with the cassava
root. The cane at 1,160 altitude, in a temperature of 66 deg., gives
no sugar; and indigo at 1,620 affords no coloring matter.

SECTION I.

DRIED LEAVES, SEEDS, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES USED IN THE PREPARATION OF
POPULAR DIETETIC BEVERAGES.

No substances are so essentially necessary to mankind, or form such
important articles of commerce, as those which we come first to
consider, the dietetic products--cacao, coffee, tea, and sugar. The
consumption of these in all civilized countries is immense,
notwithstanding that in many they have been fettered with heavy fiscal
duties. The investigation of the culture of the plants from which they
are obtained, and the manufacture of the products, is a very curious
object of research.

CACAO OR COCOA.

The chocolate nuts or seeds, termed cacao, are the fruit of species of
_Theobroma_, an evergreen tree, native of the Western Continent. That
commonly grown is _T. cacao_; but Lindley enumerates two other
species, _T. bicolor_, a native of New Granada; and _T. Guianensis_,
with yellow flowers, a native of Guiana. The seeds being nourishing
and agreeable to most people, are kept in the majority of houses in
America, as a part of the provisions of the family. By pressure they
yield fatty oil, called butter of cacao. They also contain a
crystalline principle analogous to caffeine, called theobromine. The
common cacao of the shops consists generally of the roasted beans, and
sometimes of the roasted integuments of the beans, ground to powder.
The consumption of cacao in the United Kingdom is about three millions
of pounds annually, yielding a revenue of L15,500. Few tropical
products are more valuable or more useful as food to man than cacao.
It is without any exception the cheapest food that we can conceive,
and were it more generally employed, so that the berries should not be
more than two, three, or, at most, six months old, from the time of
gathering (for, if kept longer, they lose their nutritive properties),
even a smaller quantity than that usually taken in a cup would
suffice: in fact, cacao cannot be _too_ new. The cacao beans lie in a
fruit somewhat like a cucumber, about five inches long and
three-and-a-half inches thick, which contains from twenty to thirty
beans, arranged in five regular rows with partitions between, and
which are surrounded with a rose-colored spongy substance, like that
of water melons. There are fruits, however, so large as to contain
from forty to fifty beans. Those grown in the West India islands, as
well as Berbice and Demerara, are much smaller, and have only from six
to fifteen; their development being less perfect than other parts of
South America. After the maturation of the fruit, when their green
colour has changed to a dark yellow, they are plucked, opened, their
beans cleared of the marrowy substance, and spread out to dry in the
air. In the West Indies they are immediately packed up for the market
when they are dried; but in Caraccas they are subjected to a species
of slight fermentation, by putting them into tubs or chests, covering
them with boards or stones, and turning them over every morning to
equalize the operation. They emit a good deal of moisture, and lose
the natural bitterness and acrimony of their taste by this process, as
well as some of their weight. Instead of wooden tubs, pits or trenches
dug in the ground are sometimes had recourse to for curing the beans;
an operation called earthing. They are, lastly, exposed to the sun and
dried. According to Lampadius, the kernels of the West India cacao
beans contain in 100 parts, besides water, 53.1 of fat or oil, 16.7 of
an albuminous brown matter, which contains all the aroma of the bean;
10.91 of starch, 73/4 of gum or mucilage, 0.9 of lignine, and 2.01 of a
reddish dye-stuff, somewhat akin to the pigment of cochineal. The
husks form 12 per cent, of the weight of the beans. The fatty matter
is of the consistence of tallow, white, of a mild agreeable taste, and
not apt to turn rancid by keeping. It melts only at 112 degrees Fahr.,
and should, therefore, make tolerable candles. It is obtained by
exposing the beans to strong pressure in canvas bags, after they have
been steamed or soaked in boiling water for some time. From five to
six ounces of butter may be thus obtained from a pound of cacao. It
has a reddish tinge when first expressed, but it becomes white by
boiling with water.

The beans, being freed from all spoiled and mouldy portions, are to be
gently roasted over a fire in an iron cylinder, with holes in its ends
for allowing the vapors to escape, the apparatus being similar to a
coffee-roaster. When the aroma begins to be well developed, the
roasting is known to be finished, and the beans must be turned out,
cooled, and freed by fanning and sifting from their husks. The kernels
are then to be converted into a paste, either by trituration in a
mortar heated to 130 degrees Fahr., or by a powerful mill.[1] The
cacao tree resembles our dwarf apple tree both in body and branches,
but the leaf, which is of a dark green, is considerably broader and
larger. The nuts are of the color and about the size of an almond, and
hang eighteen to thirty together by a slender stringy film, enclosed
in a pod. A ripe pod is of a beautiful yellow, intermixed with crimson
streaks; when dried, it shrivels up and changes to a deep brown; the
juice squeezed from the mucilaginous pulp contained in the husks of
these nuts appears like cream, and has a very grateful taste of a
cordial quality. The nuts have a light pleasant smell, and an
unctuous, bitterish, roughish (not ungrateful) taste. Those of
Nicaragua and Caracas are the most agreeable and are the largest;
those of the French Antilles, and our own West India islands, are the
most unctuous.

The Mexicans, in preparing the chocolate paste, add some long pepper,
a little annatto, and lastly vanilla; some add cinnamon, cloves and
anise, and those who love perfumes, musk and ambergris.

The finest American cacao is said to be that of Soconusco, but the
principal imports are from Caracas and Guayaquil, which is of a very
good quality. The province of Barcelona, adjoining Caracas exports
annually from 200,000 to 300,000 cwt.

The very large shipments from Guayaquil are shown by the following
return. Of this quantity Spain takes the largest portion, Mexico the
next, and England receives but a very small quantity.

Cacao exported from Guayaquil:--

lbs.
1833 6,605,786
1834 10,999,853
1835 13,800,851
1836 10,918,565
1837 8,520,121
1838 7,199,057
1839 12,169,787
1840 14,266,942

The exports of cacao from the port of La Guayra, has been as follows
in the years ending December 31.

Fanegas.
1850 40,181
1851 47,951
1852 54,083

Five fanegas are equal to one English quarter. The price of cacao was,
at the close of 1852, sixteen dollars the fanega.

The province of Caracas, according to Humboldt, at the end of the last
century, produced annually 150,000 fanegas of cacao, of which
two-thirds were exported to Spain, and the remainder locally consumed.
The shipments from the port of La Guayra alone averaged 80,000 to
100,000, or nearly double the present shipments. In the early part of
the present century the captain-generalship of Caracas produced nearly
200,000 fanegas, of which about 145,000 were sent direct to Europe.
The province of Caracas then produced 150,000 fanegas; Maracaibo,
20,000; Cumana, 18,000, and New Barcelona, 5,000.

The vallies of Aragua, in the province of Caracas, those of Cariaco,
Campano, of Rio Caribe and the banks of the river Caroni, in Spanish
Guiana, produce excellent cacao in abundance.

The tree there bears fruit in four years after it has been planted,
the following year still more, and increases in fecundity until the
ninth or tenth year, when it is in full bearing.

The banks of the Magdalena, in the vicinity of Santa Martha and
Carthagena, are famed for the excellent cacao they produce. "This
tree," says Bonnycastle (Spanish America, vol. 1, p. 257), "is
indigenous, seldom exceeds the diameter of seven inches, and is
extremely beautiful when laden with its fruit, which are disposed on
short stalks over the stem and round the great branches, resembling
citrons, from their yellow color, and warty appearance. The leaves are
attenuate, stalked, drooping, about a foot long and three inches
broad, elliptic, oblong, pointed, slightly wavy, entire, and very
smooth on both sides; with one mid-rib and many transverse ones,
connected by innumerable veins. The petals of the flower are yellow,
the calyx of a light rose-color, and the flowers themselves are small
and placed on tufts on the sides of the branches, with single
foot-stalks, about an inch long. Its fruit is red, or a mixture of red
and yellow, and about three inches in diameter, with a fleshy rind
half-an-inch thick; the pulp is whitish and of the consistence of
butter, containing the seed; these seeds are generally twenty-five in
number in each fruit, and when first gathered are of a flesh color,
and form a nice preserve if taken just before they are ripe. Each tree
yields about two or three pounds of fruit annually, and comes to
maturity the third year after planting from the seed; it also bears
leaves, flowers, or fruit all the year round, the usual seasons for
gathering being June and December. The excellence of the Magdalena
chocolate may be attributed to the moist nature of the soil, as the
plant never thrives where the ground is hard and dry, or cannot be
irrigated."