Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/593

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TOBACCO, OLIVE, AND VINE.
573

tempts to reëstablish the monopoly.[1] The result was that its culture spread gradually over the greater part of the country, although the districts of Orizaba and Cordoba in Vera Cruz still retained their former lead, till finally rivalled by Jalisco.[2] Nevertheless, the production, though greatly increased, is little more than sufficient to meet the home demand, and the exportation of tobacco is insignificant as compared with that from Habana, the United States, and Brazil.[3]

The liberal policy introduced after the independence has not had a similar effect on other products of the soil. Olive culture was relieved in 1810 of the restrictions which hampered its development; yet it has made little progress, though exempted from imposts in 1823; and it was only in Guanajuato that it met with any attention, about 7,000 arrobas of oil being annually produced in that state.[4]

It was little letter with viticulture, though exempted from taxation by the law of October 1823. There were a few vineyards in Puebla and Oajaca, but it was only where the expense of transportation precluded competition by imported wines that those of native manufacture became of any importance, the district of Parras, in Coahuila, being the most famous locality.[5] Vast tracts of land in Mexico are suitable

  1. The law of 1829 will be found in Mex., Col. Leyes, 1829–30, 27-32. Details of the discussions about the reëstablishment of the monopoly in Mex., Dictámen, Mexico, 1831; Mex., Legisl. Mej., Jan.-June 1858, 31-3; Esteva, Apunt., 87-9; Mex., Mem. Fom., 1366, 77.
  2. In 1979, Jalisco produced tobacco to the value of $710,000; Vera Cruz, $884,376; and Yucatan, $229,503. The total value of the production for the same year was $2,006,153. Busto, ut sur., i., Cuad. Agric., no. 30.
  3. In the fiscal year 1873-4, leaf tobacco to the value of $66,866, and manufactured to the value of $35,520, was exported. The corresponding figures for the year 1977-8 were $58,882 and $31,260. Id., i. 4a pte, 97.
  4. Busto, however, gives the total annual production in the republic as only 2,210 arrobas, worth $27,629. Id., ii, 426. A full treatise on the cultivation of the tree will be found in Geog., Soc. Mex., 2d Ep., i. 933–17. Lately the government has endeavored to give an impulse to this industry, and in 1885 the governor of Aguascalientes was notified by the department of fomento that 83,000 olive plants would be sent to be planted in that state by any one who might wish to set them out. Mex. Financ., June 13, 1885, p. 165; Diario Ofic., 16 En., 1883.
  5. The parent of these vineyards was that planted by Hidalgo at Dolores, in Guanajuato, at the beginning of the century. Mex., Mem. Fom., 1866, 62; Hist. Mex., iv. 109, this series.