Middletown transcript., 1882-02-17
LIFE AT A MEXICAN HACIENDA.

, A weeks VlSlL at the naclenda OF
Tepenacasco proved one of the most
agreeable experiences of my whole tour.
The house was approached from the
main road by long lane through fields
of the purple-fowering alfalfa, larger
and harder clover ; past a dark-walled
corral, or cattle-yard; very long,
steep-roofed barracks for laborers'
quarters and by pond embowered in
willows. From distance, with its
numerous out-buildings, it had the ap-
pearance of ducal residence. 1t is
palmer when reached. the space imme-
diately in front having a farm-yard ap
pearance, and containing in the centre
a very large stone threshing-foor of the
kind in which it is customary to thresh
out grain, just as in the petios, by
troops of running horses. 1t is of rub
BILE stone, plastered and neatly white
washed a single liberal story in height,
the part devoted to the residence hav-
ing large windows, covered with graf
ings, and belfry. on top. To this are
added, on the flanks, such Il collection
of granaries and corrals that a facade
is made of probably six hundred feet in
length. Some fonts project from the
wall beside a door opening to the fam
lily chapel. Over the main entrance
door is an inscription Ei, aqueste
destjerro q sOleddd di$frunto del tesorO
de Ia pdz." In this retirement and
solitude | enjoy the treasure of peace.
Each principal granary or barn (calied
troje) is inscribed also with it's title.
They are built to keep the contents cool
and of an even temperature, with walls
of great thickness. Buttresses with
out, and with columns or piers of a
yard square, running down the centre
of the long, dim interiors, they are
more like bacilicas of the early Christ
ians than ones preconceived idea of
barn.
The buildings in the central clump, |
alone between four or five acres of
ground. The estate of which they are
the focal point is eighteen miles in one
dimension by six in the other, and con-
tains not less than forty thousand acres.
There are seventeen hundred head of
neat cattle, and other things in proper
tion. On the payroll, in the week in
which | was privileged to witness the
operations, were laborers to the extent
of eighteen hundred and fifty, men and
boys. confess to fondness for coun-
try life and with such novel domain
to explore, one must be difficult indeed
not tobe pleased. One day we mounted
on horseback to go to visit the corraIs,
where portions OF the animals are kept kept | T.
at night according to their changes of
pasture another, to the Ojo de Aqua,
a lovely spring, made mention of by
Humboldt again, to examine the diff
ferent crops again, to various white
hamlets that, like the city of Tulancin-
go, farther in the distance, dot the
plain. AT Acatlan is a most charming
dark old ruined convent, with the green
bronze bells yet hanging in the steeple. I
One day the household ensconced itself
in large wagon covered with willow
boughs, and we drove to Zupitlan,
ruined hacienda, church and hamlet :
on the estate itself, and held picnic.
A high, grassy hill, the Cerro, behind !
the house, affords wide views. We are
in the midst of level valley, with !
gentle sloping mountains on all the
boundaries. The leading crops are
maize, barley and maguey. The tlachi-
quero goes round every day, with his !
donkey carrying wine-skins, collecting
the sweet sap from the maguey to make
the pulque. He pours it into watts of
skin in his department to ferment,
treats it in his practised way for fort
night or more, and then it is ready for
sale. We see sometimes forty plough '
men come in and unyoke their teams t
of an evening. The agricultural imple- C
ments of the larger sort in use are u
American, but ploughs, spades, picks, o
and the like are manufactured at Ap- p
ulco, near by, more cheaply. There t
are interesting homemade wooden forks n
and shovels yet remaining. Among p
the rest, the veritable Egyptian plough, t
of wood, with but an iron point, is a
much more in use than the modern b
sort. And for its purpose of turning d
shallow burrows and ploughing between C
the rows of maize it appears, to tell the
truth, not i'll adapted. The ground is t.
treated by irrigation, no less than eleven G.
large dams, one of them creating a lake n
two miles long, being formed for this Il
purpose. The portions of land used c.
for cultivation are taken irregularly in W
various parts of the estate, according al
to their proximity to these. Each has CT
it's name, as Las Animas, San Antonio
the Larger, San Antonio the Less. d.
But it is a grazing country, and the m
chief industries are the raising of ami Sc
mails and the making of butter and hi
cheese. The greater part of the cattle II
Ire hornless, which is effected by sim pc
Die process of soaring the tender horn th
when sprouting, after which it does not &C
Increase. The idea is worth attention al
1y American farmers and those who lii
lave to do with the transportation of
,attle The calf here remains with it's al
mother under all circumstances. 1t is nc
/ quaint sight at milking-time to see it til
assoed fast to its mother, whose hind 10
egs are also lassoed, waiting, by no
means patiently, the conclusion of the pa
ceremony. Each of the departments as
S under the command of it's own chief, oil
md an accurate supervision and record br
- 4bo IL