The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-06-02

q mOIGnlEnG 10 COtUu1OA5. vi Ol6
side Of this are the names of the dis.
tinguished mon the city has produced,
on another the names Of those who de
serve remcm france from their bene
factions to the city, on the third side
are inscribed the memorable events il
the city history, with their dates, and
on the fourth the elevation Of the city
above SEQ level, it, latitude and longi
tuie, it's moan temperature, with tie
highest and lowest range, its rainfall,
! and similar information. The id9a is
not a bad one. I visited the Hercules
Cotton Mill, two miles south Of the
city. Il is a large establishment with
30 600 spindIes and LOCO looms ard is
admirably managed. Il has the latest
machinery. [ inquired the price paid
for cotton and wcs told sixteen 20 SOW
enteen cents at the factory. Up in the
Mapimi county in Durango, where it
was produ2cd, the price was thirteen
and q half to fourteen and q half cents,
and later on at g cotton factory in the
snburbe of Oaxaca, six hundred miles
south of this, the superintendent in
formed me that they paid there eigh
tee to nineteen cents. In the U. S
| Consular r ports for September last,
our Consul at 4ontamoros reports cot
ton selling to the factories at Monterey
at sixteen to eighteen cents. On in
women and children f~requauted the
| games ard crowded the dealers on oil
sides. In substantial buildings close
by were gambling DOM for those
whose means qlired better accom-
mUdatioHs. Throughout Mexico wher-
| ever and whenever there is g fiesta
there the gamblers ere al Hays to be
found in full force. They pay q lic9ns3
! and their vocation is then C Jnsidered
lawful. Fifteen miles eff, built in a
narrow gorge, is the great mining Cen
ire and capital of the State, Guiana
juato. 1t is built on the steep noun
/ tain sides, and every man could look
| down his next door neighbours chin
ney, except for the fact that there is
not q chimney in the city. 1t would
be a convenience to every man here if
he could have che leg longer than the
other. The city has q population Of
sixty thousand and is nearly eve
Thousand feet above sea level. 1t is
unique in its appearance ard does not
resemble any otEes town in Mexico OF
elsewhere. The churches arc very
handsome, especially the Compania,
commenced in 1747, the cCsI Of cutting
the shelf in the rock for the fOunda-
tons Of which alone was 800, 0U0. Il
is an Uncanny eight to visit the cata-
combs here with their collections Of
human bones reaching back perhaps
Two hundred years. 1t was al Glana
jueto that Hjj8Igo in 1910 began the
Struggle for Mexican independence.
Again resumiDg our route southwark
on the Central we reach Irapuato,
where we change cara fer d trip over
the branch line to Gu2dale jara ana
are instantly sut rounded by the ven
doris Of stra y berries. The baskets o.
nice fruit are cheap enough, especially
IS the sellers ere always willing to
take half what they first ask. Their
fruit, however, has been "deaconed"-
as they say in New England for in
spection viii show til It by srm3 coin
cjdeEc3 the largest and incest straw
berries are always on top and the
smallest ones always at the bottom Of
the basket. IrtpGat0 has for its size
thirty thousand inhabitants-its full
share Of grand and venerable churches,
p;az2s, fountains, large buildings,
plain outward1y but handsome within,
as residences for the wealthy, and long
rows Of squalid dwekiEg for the poor.
From Irapuato to G ladaEa IRA, the
branch railroad runs westward|y nearly
two hundred miles through one OF the
most magnificent farming sections is
t18 world, exceedingly fertile and well
cultivated. Two crops Of corn a rear
ara readily made. When the corr is
harvested by being shocked il is either
stacked il long piles in the open field,
or housed By being placed, out of the
reach of stock, in the spreading limbs
Of scattered trees Which grow in the
fields and which seem especially in
tended for that purpose. No protec
ton is needed from rain as none falls
from Novem ser till Nay. When the
corn il housed by being pulled eff tie
stalk, Instead of being shocked, the
men throw the corn over their shout
ders into baskets strarp d to their
backs. l. seems never to have &C