New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-04-12
MEXICAN RESOURCES.
ON THE EDGE OF THE HOT LANDS,
AN UNDEvELoPED coUNTRY-A DEFICIENT
WATER sUPPLY-LAND TENURE AND PEoN-
AGE-REGPRoCITY CAN BE OFFERED
ON GENEROUS TERMS.
IrRoMAsrAFv CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE,


ON GENEROUS TERMS.
lFRoMAs STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF THE rRrBuSE.I
Patzcuaro, Feb. 23.-This picturesque old town,
the western terminus of the Mexican National Rail-
way, lies on the border Of the hot lands on the
downward trend to the Pacific coast. II is q
convenient locality for studying the agricultural
resources Of the Republic, since the tropical and
temperate zones practically meet here. The
Uruapan coffee district, from which the choicest
Mexican mocha is produced, is distant only a
days mue-ride, and some Of the most successful
sugar plantations are in this quarter of Michoa-
can. The slopes Of the mountains and the bot
tom lands from Patzcuaro In one direction to
Colima and in the other toward Acapulco are
admirably adapted for the cultivation of each Of
these tropical products This immense district
Is the richest in resources and the least, devel
oped in Mexico At the same time it is flanked
by the best wheat and corn lands of the main
plateau days ride from Morelia to Patzcuaro,
followed by an EXCURSION to Uruapan in the hot
lands, will reveal all the important agricultural
industries, and also the obstacles TO be overcome
before Mexico can be converted into rich and
prosperous farming country The grain fields Of
the temperate zone are separated by grazing,lands
onering rich pasturage for cattle and sheep, and
Dy vineyards OF mangueyes, from which both
pulque-the Mexican wine-and one of the best
fibres are obtained. Forests of fir, oak and pine
| are followed by clumps of olives and cedar, and
| further along by royal palmettos, ebony and
| rosewood. Orange groves are constantly seen,
with patches of wild cotton on the borders of
| woods. Then come the coffee plantations heavily
| shaded with bananas and further down fields of
| sugar-cane and indigo, and orchards with all the
varied fruits of the hot lands. It is an eXtraor-
| binary transition in verdure and zone char
acterlstics which passes before the travellers
eyes In the course of q few hours: bat the rough
est of wagon-roads from Lake Patzcuaro to the
| town and then the muletrail leading to Uruapan
will remind him that he is in a country where
facilities for transportation are still lacking not
outstanding the railway progress of recent years
The coast belts narrow and uninhabitabe
but on the slopes of the mountains on the Pacific
side, as well as at Orizaba and Jalapa on the
Gulf side, coffee, sugar and tobacco lands of
| the highest productivefesS. Here are regions of
the greatest promise, which practically have not
been explored. At Cuernavaca, not fifty miles
| from the city Of Mexico, sugar-cane grows re-
| marKaDly well, and short distance from PATTI
cuaro one of the best cofIees of the world is
produced, while Guadalaiara is on the edge of
the famous Colima hot lands but the railways
stop at these outposts and long stretches of the
| most fertile of the hot lands of Mexico remain
closed to agriculture and trade. From Cuerna-
vaca it is weeks mule-jOurney over the noun
| ta1ns to Acapulco. From Guadalajara to San
Bias there is hardly anything more than mule
track, and to Colima and Manzanillo there is
weeks journey by diligence, horse and mule
From PatzcIaro to Colima there are no regular
means of communication, although the Mexican
National operates railway from the terminus
m hQ md hos 1ino Ill +lo
way-one of the most promising of the many
| railway plans in contemplation. These are
| the only routes from the capital to the coast
and not one of them is considered safe against
attacks from mountain marauders. The ports
| on the Pacific are all desolate and ruined towns,
| languishing for the trade which railways only
can supply Coffee and sugar are carried down
the mountains or into Patzcuaro and Guadalajara
| by mule. The coffee lands of the four great
States Of Jalisco, Michoacan, Guerrero and Oaxaca
are virtually undeveloped. The railways must
first be built and then the richest agricultural belt
of the republic will be opened Most of the
processes for making sugar are of q primitive
! kind and highly improved milling machinery is
unknown Wooden cylinders are still moved by
horsepower, and the sugar is crystallfzed from
| the old-fashioned muC-pies. The large invest
ment of capital required for successful cutiva-
| tlOn OF cane prevents the development OF this
industry Coffee raised in banana junges is
the best crop of the hot lands The most re-
munerative agricultural export in the temperate
zone is the fibre of the maguey
| Mexico, like every other Spanish American
country, has agricultural resources capable of ex-
traOrdinary development; but those who have
travelled widely from the railway lines and are
conversant with the conditions and drawbacks are
not disposed to take very hopeful view of the
| future of its farming industries. The range of
productions is great and there is vast expanse
of rich and varied soil cleared of timber and avail
able for general agriculture. The tropical belts
| thanking the coasts luxuriate in perpetual Sum-
mer, and the main plateau is favored with tenn
perate climate and twelve months of genuine spring
| weather without frost or cold winds. The OBJ
staces TO Successful agriculture are partly natural,
but largely the result of social and agraran ten
denotes. The water supply is deficient throughout
| the elevated tableand forming nine-tenths Of the
arabic territory. Mexican farms are largely de-
pendent upon artificial irrigation for their pro-
ductiveness Water has to be collected and stored
in reservoirs during the rainy season for dstribu-
ton during the dry season. In the temperate
zone the possibilities of agricultural development
are restricted by the resources for irrigation. A
|
his water-rights enable him to irrigate from the
| main bitches. Often his only vested right to the
land is the privilege, which has been either in
herted or purchased, of having fixed amount Of
water per day during the dry season. The great
haciendas in the interior are largely waste land
owing to the impractcability Of obtaining water
supply for general agriculture. This is the chief
natural obstacle to the development of farming
industries and it is one which seems insuperable
| since there are no large rivers, very few inland
lakes and tracts of forest land of limited extent
| To this is added system of land tenure and
pauperzed labor which offers the most unfavor-
able conditions for successful farming. The coun-
try is divided into immense plantations, owned by
small number Of rich MeXicans. Land taxes are
very light in town and country alike, and estates
have been retained by highly favored class from
generation to generation. A hacienda which does
not number many square leagues in extent and
include among its resources twenty or thirty miles