St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1886-05-06
A TRIP TO OLD MExICo--x.

The PuIque Interest-TOluca and Its
Farms-3OO Years Behind their Neigh
bors-PuebIa, ChOluIa and Its Ancient
Pyramid n Governors Pal
aee-A Rum into the Tropics
Although the Mexicans make little
show of drunkenness they are not
without their tipple. This they ex-
tract from the maguey, or what is
known in northern greenhouses as the
century plant. This grows here rap
idly and to extraEagant size and is set
out in rows like apple trees and there
are vast fields of it on every hand.
The principal drink extracted from
this plant is called pulque (pOOl-ke)
and is procured after the plant gets at
a certain age -four or five years. by
cutting off the centre stem and scoop
ing out a cavity in the stump. Into
this cavity juice exudes and is col
lected daily like sap from the maple
tree, only in quite different manner.
The Mexican farmer takes fresh pig
skin, stripped off whole, ties up the
four legs so his ''hauling tub" will not
leak, swings it over his back, with the
tail down, and going from plant to
plant sucks the juice which has col
lected in the cavity into hollow reed,
and then placing his forefnger over
the bottom of the reed, dexterOusly
turns the other end over his right
shoulder and empties it into the head
of the pig skin. This operation is re-
peated from plant to plant until the
pig-skin is full, when the neck is tied
up and it is ready for market. When
fresh this pulque tastes like old cider
diluted with water; when it has been
in the pig-skins too long it tastes like
sour Yeast 1t is not considered in
tOxicating, though it borders on it.
Like lager beer and all other useless
or harmful beverages, it is "highly
recommended" for whatever ills one
may have. 1t is astonishing what
quantities of this stuff is absorbed, and
by men, too, whose wives never had IA
dress and whose children never wore
either stocking or shoe. 1t is told for
fact that the Mexican railway, which
runs from Vera Cruz to the capital, re-
ceives over $1,000 day for freight on
this drink alone. At the station at
Puebla there were as many as fifteen
two and fOur-mule teams unloading
pulque at once for shipment to the
city; and this railway runs daily
"pulque train the same as the New
England roads run a weekly stock
train. Besides pulque, strong in
tOxicant not unlike brandy, is distilled,
but apparently not much used. 1t is
said that after a maguey plant gets old
enough to tap-sOme four or five years
it will run from pint to quart
day for some four months when it
gradually dries up and dies, and then
cordage, or rope is made of its fibre.
The side trip from Mexico city to
Toluca, some 80 miles out on the Ma
tiOnal railway, takes one through a
mountain range at an altitude of over
10000 feet above sea level. The ell
cheering which put this railroad
through is not unlike that which has
built the mountain railroads in the
states during the last few years, in
Guiding the road through the White
mountains. After passing this noun
tain range there appears one of the
most fertile valleys yet seen in Mexico.
1t is an exceedingly rich farming cOun
try and like all the rest is owned in
great estates. Some crops are raised
without artificial irrigation. Corn is
being planted this month with the ex
pectation that rains will come soon
enough to ensure a crop. Other grains
which are now well along are being
irrigated, for this is now the hight of
the dry season.
The Mexicans are generally farming
as their fathers did 300 years ago, and
as they are in Egypt and Syria to-day.
They are blowing with crooked sticks,
farmer holding the other end with one
hand, while he guides the oxen with
pole about IL feet long in the end of
which is a savage brad. While shall
low furrow is made with this rude i'm
plement it must be admitted that the
ground is well pulverized and there is
hnl ole f.,Yp
so far as seen. A Mexican always runs
his burrows as straight as line. How
he does it standing behind his cattle,
no one has yet explained.
Modern farm implements are being
slowly introduced in a very limited
quantity. An agent succeeded in sell
ing a man near GuanajuatO some Amer
lean plOws. He was soon notified that
they did not work as advertised. On
geing to see about the matter the agent
found that this progressive" people
had cut off one of the handles of each
pillow and were attempting to guide
them with one hand and hold their
driving-pole in the other as their fa-
theirs had At Toluca there was an
agent for American mowers and thresh-
ers. His advertising placard was in
geniOus to say the least. Besides an
illustration of his implements, in the
distance could be seen the Virgin Mary
with a nice sheaf of wheat under one
arm
On Monday, April 5, special train
left the city of Mexico on the Vera
Cruz railroad. This is known as the