the temperate and sub-tropical regions, and sweet
potatoes in the sub-tropical and tropical. Although it is found
growing wild, cacao is cultivated to a limited extent, and the product
is insufficient for home consumption. Cotton is cultivated only on a
small scale, although there are large areas suitable for the plant.
The staple product is short, but experiments have been initiated in
the Santa Marta region to improve it. Sugar cane is another plant
admirably adapted to the Colombian lowlands, but it is cultivated to
so limited an extent that the sugar produced is barely sufficient for
home consumption. Both cultivation and manufacture have been carried
on in the old time way, by the rudest of methods, and the principal
product is a coarse brown sugar, called _panela_, universally used by
the poorer classes as an article of food and for making a popular
beverage. Antiquated refining processes are also used in the
manufacture of an inferior white sugar, but the quantity produced is
small, and it is unable to compete with beet-sugar from Germany. A
considerable part of the sugar-cane produced is likewise devoted to
the manufacture of _chicha_ (rum), the consumption of which is common
among the Indians and half-breeds of the Andean regions.

Rice is grown to a very limited extent, though it is a common article
of diet and the partially submerged lowlands are naturally adapted to
its production. Tobacco was cultivated in New Granada and Venezuela in
colonial times, when its sale was a royal monopoly and its cultivation
was restricted to specified localities. The Colombian product is best
known through the Ambalema, Girardot, and Palmira tobacco, especially
the Ambalema cigars, which are considered by some to be hardly
inferior to those of Havana, but the plant is cultivated in other
places and would probably be an important article of export were it
possible to obtain labourers for its cultivation. Banana cultivation
for commercial purposes is a comparatively modern industry, dating
from 1892 when the first recorded export of fruit was made. Its
development is due to the efforts of an American fruit-importing
company, which purchased lands in the vicinity of Santa Marta for the
production of bananas and taught the natives that the industry could
be made profitable. A railway was built inland for the transportation
of fruit to Santa Marta, and is being e