The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1897-02-18

These, together with the plants dealt
with In a previous report, form the
principal products which may be profit
ably cultivated, together or singly,
either on a large or small scale, by
persons possessed of some small CAPT.
tai and DESTROYS of obtaining satisfac-
tory returns therefrom by investing in
land in this republic. The fault gen.
orally committed by Mexican planters,
says Sir Henry, lis the combining OF
their attention to one kind of cultlva-
ton on their land. If several different
crops We're taken off alternately, as in a
system of rotation, or grown in differ
ent parts of the land where soil and
climate prove suitable, the planter
would find himself in even a better
financial position than he generally
does now. There is scarcely a spot on
any estate, whether large or small, in
Mexico, that is not capable Of giving
remuneTative returns from some plant
or another" In addition to govern
ment lands there are innumerable
tracts held throughout the country by
private individuals, which it is prob
able could be purchased at compare
lively low prices, inasmuch as they can
never be utilized by their present own
ers, and contracts might be made with
the government by which immigrants
settling on such lands might receive
the same exceptional treatment accord
ed to those settling on government
lands.
Sir Henry Deering states that yucca
IS to the peon in the tropical section
OF the republic what potatoes are to
the poor and working people of Ire
land. Yucca is a native of the country
and it's rise dates back before the con-
quest by Herman Cortes, and it has al
ways formed a great portion of the
food of the ancient and present Next
cans, especially those living in Vera
Cruz, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco and
Yucatan. The returns of yucca cult
walton are immense; the yield of an
acre contains more nutritive matter
than six times the same area under
wheat. The writer planted last jan
uary in Allan, Puebla, two rows $50
feet long and was told by an old cult
vator that there was enough food in
that plot to feed more than 100 people
for six months. The Toltecs and Az
tees knew how to cultivate the pine
apple, and when the S~painards con-
quered Mexico they found the fruit in
the markets Of the towns on their way
from Vera Cruz to the great Tenoch-
titan. From time immemorial, the
pineapple has been cultivated in Amat-
Ian, a town two leagues south of Cor
doba, from where the ancient Mexicans
used to get their main supply. Now it
is grown in tropical Hidalgo, Puebla,
Vera Cruz, Tabasco, Chiapas, Oaxaca,
Morelos, Guerrero, Michoacan, Colima,
Jalisco and Topic. Besides the fruit
being very delicious and wholesome,
Sir Henry Deering says a fine wine
and vinegar are made Of the Juice. The
leaf furnishes a fiber of extraordinary
strength and %fineness, making it ever
more valuable than the fruit. The fiber
is made into ropes, cables, binding
Irvine, thread, mats, bagging, ham
mOckS anu paper.
A pineapple rope three and a half
inches thick can support nearly three
tons. A textile fabric as fine and beau
tiful as silk Is made of this fiber, too.
1t is believed that the fine cloth of va
rious colors used by the upper classes
among the Aztecs was made Of the
pineapple fiber. The modern Mexicans
do not manufacture it much now, ex-
cept in the isthmus, where the Zapotec
Indians still make a cloth from it and
from wild silk. One cause for it's
disuse Is the slow and wasteful ann
in which it is separated. Ginger is
found growing wild in various parts
of Mexico. The returns from an acre
OF land vary considerably, but when
cultivated under favorable conditions
the crops ought to be 1000 pounds and
upward. a man having a ten-acre
patch would have an annual income
of 5000 to $1,000. Though for years
canaigre has been used by the Next
cans, both for medical and tanning our
poses, it has but recently attracted the
attention Of the outside commercial
world as a valuable source of tannic
acid. The result Of Investigations has
been to cerate a great demand for can
aigre in the tanning business OF Eu-
ropean countries, and more recently
in the leathermaking centers of the
United States. The only supply now
to be obtained Of this plant is from
the wild growth along the rivers and