Page:About Mexico - Past and Present.djvu/351

Rh there is not a plant of any zone or of any soil which cannot flourish within its borders. All European cereals are at home on the table-lands, with the fruits and the forest-trees of other temperate regions. In the forests below one hundred and fourteen varieties of timber suitable for cabinet-work have been counted, with seventeen kinds of oil-bearing plants and several valuable species of gum

trees, of which the india-rubber variety is a specimen. Sugar is a staple crop, and coffee, introduced during this century, is very productive. The government has recently ordered two millions of fast-growing trees to be planted within four years. Among these is the eucalyptus, which flourishes well in the lake-regions of Mexico.

The people are mostly vegetarians; maize and beans,