New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-04-03
Letter from Ex.Gev. Harris.
THE SUBJECT OF OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES VALUABLE
INFoRMATIoN--ADvICE TO MIGRANTS.

q OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES TO EMlGRANTS. ID.
~, ooRDoyA, MEXICO, March 2, 1866.
ceivng by each American steamer an immense
number Of letters from all parts of the United
States, which my whole time, if devoted to it,
would not be sufficient to answer. These letters
show the existence of lively interest in colonies
ton in Mexico, and especially in the valley of Cor
dova. Several of the last steamers have brought
large numbers of immigrants from the United
States. The lands owned by the government in
this valley have all been taken by the immigrants
recently arrived, and were not sufficient to supply
the demand of those already here; but there are
great many large and valuable estates in the val
can be purchased of private parties on accommo-
dating terms '.
We purchased, yesterday, for some friends re-
Gently arrived, an excellent hacienda of $3.50
acres, adjoining the lands of the colony, at So 20
per acre, one-third cash, and the balance on
credit of one or two years, without interest There
is a considerable amount of sugar and coffee al.
ready growing upon this estate, and fair proper.
ton Of land cleared and in cultivation, with
number of Mexican houses on the place. In view
of these advantages, / think these gentlemen have
done better in purchasing this estate than they
would have done to have purchased land from the
government, as did, and begin in the woods with
houses to build and farms to open, etc.
The government has lands in other and desirable
localities of the two classes, ii. e.) the public
lands proper, which have never passed from the
hands of the government, and those that have
passed into private hands, been reduced to cult
walton, and consequently acquired by the govern
ment. Lands of the first class are given to immi-
grants in limited quantities, for actual and ipme-
date settlement. Those of the latter class are
sold to them in limited quantities for the same
purpose, at very low rates and on credit. The
lands upon which the colony is planted in this dis
trct are of the latter class They were sold to us
at one dollar per acre, payable in five equal annual
installments, with six per cent interest
ind al mir Of Tr,,rro
ious to settle in this valley 1t is natural that they
should, as it is beautiful, rich, healthy and high
ly productive country, very well timbered and wa
tered by several bold, clear, rushing mountain
streams, and large number of most excellent
free stone springs, with large number of Ameri-
cans already settled here. But those who settle
in this valley, hereafter, will have to make their
own arrangements with private parties, for their
lands, and my advice to those who wish to do so lis
for ten or twenty families to unite send an agent
with authority and the means to purchase lands
for them, or to examine the lands owned by the
government in other localities, and determine
sary arrangements preparatory to the coming of
the families. The purchaser of private property
is entitled to all the benefits of the DEGREES for the
encouragement of colonization.
The year is divided here into the rainy and dry
| season the former beginning in May and ending
in October. We generally have bright and beau
tiful mornings during the rainy season, though
about one, two, three or four o'clock in the even
ing, you may calculate with certainty upon a
shower, if not heavy rain. During the dry sea-
son we have occasional light showers, but not
often. * t-H '#.
The best time for planting nearly all crops here
is May, June and July. Tobacco is planted in
September October, November and December.
The best time for families to to this country
is in the dry season. and the earlier in the season
the better. 1t gives time to prepare shelter before
| the rainy season, and get ready for crop.
Families moving here should bring with them
their had PothinO and fnw T01lins' a Farm.
ing implements can be procured here with less
trouble and as cheaply as they can be transported
from that country.
Good Spanish mules and horses met
equal in size and form to the American, yet very
hardy and serviceable,) can be bought here at
from fifty to hundred dollars; inferior at from
fifteen to fifty dollars well broke oxen, and as
fine as have ever seen anywhere, at one hundred
dollars yoke In the market at Cordova beef is
worth ten to twelve cents libra (which is little
more than the American pound y corn one dollar
per bushel: flour eight to ten dollars hundred;
sugar twelve to twenty cents; coffee twelve to
twenty cents; lard twenty-five to thirty-seven and
a half cents; eggs thirty-seyen and half cents
dozen. Fruits and vegetables always abundant
and very low. Dry goods and hardware, of almost
every description, abundant at about double what
they would have cost in the United States before
the war. ...,
Vegetation is always green here, and stock does
very well through the whole year without being
fed though the higher attitudes generally produce
stock country.
This soil and climate offers better living and
larger rewards to agricultural labor than any that
have ever seen, and it presents harvest equally
rich to the enterprise of the industrious manufac-
turer or mechanic: but the man who is not willing
to work should not come to Mexico.
There is an ample sufficiency of good timber
here for building purposes, but very few mills;
hence, lumber is worth from Sc to So hundred
feet. Most of the Spanish houses are built of
rough stone and mortar, covered with tile. The
Indians live in little bamboo huts covered with
long grass.
l don't remember to have seen a brick house in
Mexico, though brick are as easily made here as
elsewhere. The fences here are generally stone
or hedge. The woods are filed with deer, SOUR
res, pheasants, and, regret to add wild cats and
panthers and Col. White, one of the survivors,
tells me the monkeys evinced disposition to take
his camp a few evenings since. The wild parrot
is seen in the forest every day. You NAV assure
the ladies that have seen but one snake, only two
or three tarantulas, and no centipede in all my
travels through Mexico, ard the flies and mus
qutos not half so abundant here as they are in
the United States; but 1 don't choose to say any
thing about leas.
We have to rely upon the native Indians chiefly
for labor. They are capable of making excellent
laborers. but they have great aversion to work.
We pay them fifty cents day, they finding them
selves, and work by the task. Labor can be OBJ
tanned more cheaply in other portions of Mexico,
and is generally obtained here at lower rates but
at this time the construction of the railroad in
this immediate vicinity has caused such demand
for labor that it cannot be obtained for less.
Having taxed you with this rather lengthy,
though plain and unvarnished, statement of the
leading features of this valley, / will not pro-
long it to tell you of the infinite variety of delicious
fruits, gaudy and fragrant flowers, or the beauties
or profits OF coffee plantation. Visit me few
years hence and you shall see and enjoy them.
Very respectfully, your friend.