The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1883-09-28

LAND OF CACTUS AND PALM.
More About Mexico, with Especial Reference
t4 to Facts About tho Ownership
Of Land.
A List Of Golden Opportunities Whereby
Men OF Enterprise Might Coin
liz Money. Is.
MONTEREY, Estade de Nuevo Leon, Special
Correspondence. Aug. 28.-Much has been
said and written about Mexican haciendas, but
probably few people realize tho vast extent
and Unlimited possibilities Of some Of them
In the Central and Northern States of Mexico
are found estates large enough to hide our own
Little Rhody," or many . principally of Eu-
rope A million and half acres
OF this fruitful soil, which bears
everything grown in both temperate and
tropical zones, and produces two crops
- JS1sS 40 q A00V AivAo AdIAa ny uU Ll66uB 10
be despised," AZ the immortal Sairy said of
"vittles." The famous solado estate, for
example, contains over 600 square
miles. It lies partly in the States
OF Nuevo Leon. Coahuils, Zacatecas and
San Luis Potosi, on the highway to the capital
and on the line Of the new Mexican Central rail-
road. 1t has an average elevation of 1000
feet, on the far-famed central table lands of
the republic. Its boundaries extend more than
100 miles from north to south; chains of
mountains traverse it-how rich in mineral
wealth nobody knows-and fourishing farms
and mining villages are met at frequent inter-
vals The fact that all Mexico ID owned by
comparatively few individuals is the chief rea-
son for such W ide distinction of caste-the i'm
passable gulf that is fixed between rich and
poor-and why SO little progress has been made
in agriculture and manufactures. Generally,
the roprietor Of these vast estates enjoys life
abroad, or in the gay and fashionable capital;
and his poems living on the land take about as
much interest in the cultivation thereof as would
negro slaves without an overseer Beside
great possessions are death to ambition. That
is wise clause IN the Litany, SIN all time Of
our prosperity, good Lord deliver u.s." The
average New England farmer, whose few billy
acres yield nothing beautifully but stones and
blackberry briars. and who acquires chronic
limp from constant sside. hill'' labor, really
produces more in his one crop year than the
proprietor Of q Thousand acres in this land of
eternal sunshine. But then, climatic Influences
must be taken into account, as we'll as the diff
ference in temperament between the happy go
lucky Latin and the thrifty, industrious Anglo.
Saxon race. AS to the actual productivepess
of this soil, it is difficult to get reliable informa-
ton down to figures II you inquire of
Mexican how much his field or orchard
yields, the invariabe reply -accompa-
MED by shrug Of the shoulders worthy OF
French dancing MASTERS "Quien sabe?" Who
knows), or "Asi Dios quiore," las God wills y
I have ascertained that with Mexican cultiva-
tion-which means merely tickling the sur
face Of the soil, and turning on water now
and then-from twenty-five to forty bushels
OF corn are considered satisfactory yield.
The few who have tried our improved methods
of cultivation affirm that they readily produce
from fifty to seventy-five bushels to the acre,
each crop, planting the first in February, and
the second in July or August The standard
price of corn in Monterey is cents per pound
FERTILE LAND.
The principal crops in this State are corn,
barley, beans and sugar-cane-and they tell
stories almost as tall as the corn about the
marvellous growth Of the latter. Riding along
.he watercourses, anywhere in the suburbs,
.46s, sees impenetrable thickets of giant wild
I:,sSe, rivaling Jacks historic beanstalk in
Height A gentleHfas WHO owns what he calls
a "quinta pequino" Qittle garden) of 100 acres,
near Monterey tells me he bought it. in 1882,
for S22 per acre, and that the first years. yield
of only ten acres of it in suSar-cane realized
$500 Judge Golindo, resident of this city,
and one of the federal judges Of Mexico, in
forms mo that his sugar rauch was
seeded twenty-three years ago The
cane has ripened year after year more
than nine feet high, ana there has never been
any falling off in the yield. But there are
drawbacks to this fattering picture. Irriga-
at best, is essential here, and the trouble IN
this section seems to be that all the available
water has already been transferred from the
rivers to the irrigatng bitches. The water
question, which in Utah the Mormans have
regulated to the nicely Of clockwork, is here
find out" II you ask famer as to his irriga-
ton privileges, he will tell you he has mine
days WATER" 'sthirteen days. water" '.twenty
days water" as the case may be-which
turning water on his land once
for which privilege you may be sure he pays
good round sum. 1t must be borne in mind
that the rains Of heaven, like many other things
in this tropical clime-ara not to be depended
upon the just and the unjust, but at long and
always unexpected intervals, and generally
come in torrents that food the fields and do
far more damage than good. It is but reason
able logic to conclude that if this land is valu-
able only when irrigated, and il all the avail
otori aHVySr IL,
cultivation, then the country must look to i'm
proved methods to increase its cult
waited area; and as the natives have
not advanced single step in hundred
years in the way of. agriculture, it clearly
the method. Artesian wells have not yet been
tried ito my knowledge) for purposes Of irrlga-
ton, but that water is plenty, though far be-
low the surface, is proven by the numerous
very deep wells Of clear. pure water found all
over Mexico; A Mexican's howell may not
be it for cattle to live in. but it is certain to
have q good we'll. which is as much hobby
with him as fine barn is with Pennsylva-
mia farmer. The other day I visited Judge
Golindo's sugar ranch, and viewed the whole
process Of piloncille tsugar! making. The
modern frivoity of springs, with square APP
erature high up in the ar for door, through
which ingress and egress necessitated an en-
barrassing display Of hosiery conveyed US to
the spot, about five miles from Monterey.
COUNTRY sCENES
7 wish could make you see the queer scenes
en- route. The great Saddle mountsin-ap-
pearing CLOSE at hand. but in reality miles away
overshadows US the entire distance on the
right; and the bare. hot fields on the loft are
dotted with the cane-stalk huts-thatched with
Spanish dagger leaves-of the Mexican poor.
There are few large trees in this part Of Mexi-
co. and not many Of any kind-outside the
haciendas-but palm aud Spanish dagger. The
meadows bear no grass worth mentioning, but
flowers. The roadsides are lined with luxu-
RANT growth Of Towering bushes-plauted
for hedges-over which wild clematis