The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1904-09-03
WONDERFUL MEXICO.
HER SCENERY PEOPLE AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS
interesting Description Country the Rio Grande to
It's Southernmosf States-Some Inside Facts About
Rubber and Chocolate.

4
them with an arrogant assumption OF
superiority and, with Anglo-Saxon
bIuntness OF "Gringo brusqueness,
fail to accord to them at least that
need Of kindly sentiment and friendly
consideration they have a right to ex-
pect-With wounded pride and a rea-
sonable sensitiveness which foreigners
often fail to properly understand, they
withdraw within themselves, and you
so your way without the helpful coun-
sci and pointed information which
might have been yours for the asking,
! without stint or reserve.
| Our Investigations, at times, led us
| through regions remote from railroads
/ or steamboat routes or anything which
could even be properly termed road !;
| and while the torrential rainy season
is Of comparatively short duration, it
happened that these side trips were
made during the months that Jupiter
! PluYius puts forth his best efforts.
| e. was sometimes a thrilling sight TO
| see our horses battling for their lives,
at ropes length, in swimming the rush
/ ing currents of swollen rivers, and a
still more thrilling sensation to feel
1
| or shot like an arrow through boiling
rapids The Indian canoemen are
| powerful and expert, however, and 1t
rarely, IL ever, happens that q boat
| in their hands is overturned or a life
| lost. It was not SO thrilling when
we were forced to cross bridges SO in
secure and slippery that the most e1-
| pert horseman could do no more than
| loosen rein and trust his animal to
/ feel its way over (relying largely at
| the same time upon the help OF Proyi-
| dence and the provisions OF his accl-
dent policies) or, when with legs
drawn up and resting on our horses
| necks, we would carefully feel our way
| through flood-formed lagoons, to later
camp on higher ground where billed
and cooed, in festive gladness at the
approach of tender-skinned foreigners,
countless mosquitoes of splendid size
| and tireless energy. During that time
Of year, there are also in many OF the
sections through which we passed,
multitudes of .tgegen" pronounced
"he-hen.9, a diminutive, pestiferous
| kind Of gnat which, without making
| the least sound, quickly nips out a
piece of your cutiele and leaves raw,
bleeding spot about the diameter Of
small pin. A good many Of these
cause ones face to wear a very strange
and unfamiliar expression.
There are not lacking inferior soils
and undesirable locations in many
parts of the State, or unhealthy spots
and mosquito-ridden sections, just as
may be found in many parts of the
United States, and the inexperienced
or the incautious, the oyer-optimistic
and the credulous who rely too con-
idently upon the opinions or expe-
riences of one or two individuals are,
in such country, very likely to ma
terially assist in causing their own dis
appointment have in mind at this
moment one sugar planter who has
erected expensive machinery and gone
into the business on a large scale in a
locality where, On account oil the lower
proportion of saccharine matter neces-
sarily yielded by such lands, it is esti-
mated that a large percentage OF what
should have been profit will always
be lost to him Some wishing to en-
gage in planting rubber may acquire
lands much more suitable for coffee,
while some who select their lands dur
ing the drier months, when EVERY
prospect pleases and man alone is
Vile are likely to wake up on a
watery morning during the rainy sea
son to find a large portion of their
possessions in temporary lake.
On the other hand, while have had
occasion and opportunities for travel
which enabled me to traverse the
splendidly productive lands Of our own
country from the shores of the Mexi-
can Gulf to the Lakes of the North
and the Canadian border, and from the
great Empire State of the East across
the intervening fertile valleys and
plains, to the Pacific shores Of that
golden principally of our far-famed
West, the praises of whose climate
and soil and products have so often
been justly sung in rythmic verse, and
more precisely stated by prosaic stat
isticians, I am compelled to confess
that in all our wonderful country I
know Of no spot where Nature, with
rich soil, never failing moisture, and
continuous warmth, does SO much for,
and so little against, the agriculturist,
as in that portion of the State of Ia
baseo from which we have just re
turned.
The yield obtainable from sugar
cane seems almost Incredible. There is
not day in the year unfaVorable to
its growth and Development. With alb
solute certainty, it gets the moisture
and warmth it requires, and cane that
cuts fifteen feet or more for the mill
is to be counted upon one year as well
as another 1t is no uncommon thing
to see splendid stands in fields that
have not been replanted. in twenty
years / cannot but believe, however,
that changing the rows to the inter
yening earth at least once in six to
eight years would be an improvement
Such a growth as can be produced un
der these conditions yields between
forty and fifty tons per acre, and the
juice runs from eight to eleven de-
grees (Reaumel.
While outsiders have been examin-
ing lands in different parts OF South
ern Mexico and Central America,
theorizing and debating upon the sub
ject, and setting out young rubber
orchards in localities of varying merit.
experienced Mexican agriculturists
have, during the past fifteen to twenty
years, been quietly establishing groves
of cultivated rubber trees. With them
it is not matter of theory Or expecta-
ton. They have long ago settled the
question as to how the cultivated rub
Der tree compares with its wild pro-
genitOr and the thousands OF trees