HONDURAS.

Members of Honduras commission.—­Mr. Salvador Cordova, commissioner-general; Mr. Howard S. Reed, executive commissioner; Mr. Alejandro Bauer, assistant commissioner.

In the Palace of Agriculture, surrounded by a tropical bower of graceful palms and thousands of yards of long gray Spanish moss, was shown a collective exhibit of the wondrous and little known country of Honduras, Central America.  Upon all sides the visitor was confronted by most curious and interesting samples of its varied resources.  Crowds were constantly gathered about the rubber tree with its white, milk-like sap, and everyone seemed interested in the great bales of dried raw rubber, while questions, opinions, and discussions were many regarding this little known raw product.  Even the great scarlet and blue macaw, from his high perch overhead, joined in with wild screeches when the crowds got too noisy.

Curious bales of sarsaparilla wrapped in white cowhide, great clusters of cocoanuts in their thick hulls, long tables with hundreds of specimens of dug plants and medicinal barks and roots, attracted curious crowds.  The banana bulbs and stalks, 20 feet high, eleven months’ growth, with the fruit which they had produced, gave the visitor an idea of what is possible by systematic culture, as a banana plantation with the proper care will produce fifty-two crops a year, which means a cutting every week.  The consumption of the banana has increased with greater rapidity than any other fruit, and it occupies a position second to none as a food and fruit.  The sarsaparilla in its original packing case was unique, and it represented its share in the country’s exportations.  Honduras sarsaparilla has taken the highest award at the last five expositions.

The cocoanut in its fibrous hull was a surprise to many, as the market shows them only clear of the hull.  It is said that each cocoanut tree in Honduras averages about 365 nuts a year, or a nut each day.  Brazil nuts were shown, with their hard outside shell, in which some 15 to 20 of the nuts are closely packed.

Of the 400 specimens of cabinet woods which were displayed, only about 100 are known to commercial uses; the rest are awaiting development.  In this exhibit were the woods which neither burn nor float.  Lignum-vitae, which is one of the heaviest woods known to science, and used extensively in the manufacture of mallets, etc., was displayed; also the San Juan wood, which has lately been discovered, and is found extensively on the coast.  This wood is practically non-combustible, and is said to be the coming wood for car building, furniture, and interior finishing, being susceptible of a high polish.  The mahogany, for which Honduras is noted, was shown in many varieties, as were rosewood, redwood, hard pine, cedar, etc.

The exhibit of native drug plants received special recognition.  Among other herbs were the Peruvian and cinchona-bark quinine, rhubarb, vegetable wax, and many others unknown to science.  Sugar planters were astounded at the cane only three months old and 12 feet high, grown without cultivation, and stalks were exhibited 24 feet high of twelve months’ growth.  At present there is not a sugar refinery in the country.