Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-29
cuautla Queer Old Town.

80 per cent OF the exports and imports or
the republic go through that city.
Cuautla Queer Old Town.
Cuautla Is queer old town. Tradition
says It was much larger and more imDor-
tant before the conquest than It has ever
been since. 1t was an Aztec metropolis
Tho Spaniards took possession In 1905. and
since that date II has been a very pros
porous agricultural section as well as the
scene OF much political history. 1t has
been hesieged again and again during the
war or Independence. when. tradition says,
food was SO scarce that cats were sold for
70 and lizards for 81 and 81 each.
The most striking thing in Cuautia Is the
railway station, the oldest building used for
that purpose In the world-an ancient
church and monastery with tower cloisters
and walls just they used to be three
hundred years ago. The church is now a
freight warehouse: the monastery is used
for offices; the garden In which the monks
used to mediate is the train yard. This
was one of hundreds of churches contis-
Gated by the government after the fall of
Macmillan. and was decided to the railway
company among the ether inducements
which brought 1t here. The company pro-
poses to restore the walls. the roof and the
ancient garden by taking up the rails and
replanting 1t with flowers and trees.
Cuautia is surrounded by beautiful or
chards, and plants and vegetation seem to
run rot. for there is an abundance Of
with glorious flowers, and in the garden of
the hotel We found a vine called the
"Buganilla,' which made a pyramid of
crimson blossoms sixty feet in diameter
and about twenty feet high
Plantation Three Centuries Old.
We drove out to the Santa Inez planta-
ton, owned by the Reyes family which is
the oldest as well as one of the most pro-
ductive places in the valley. The road was
dreadful 1t evidently had not been re-
paired since it was originally built in the
time of the conquest, but was lined with
picturesque matched cabins inclcsed by
hedges of cactus and shaded by groves of
orange and lemon trees
The administrator told us that they had
been making sugar on the Santa Inez plan
tatfon for 80 years Finding the cane
growing wild in the vicinity, the Spaniards
began to cultivate it shortly after the con-
quest, and the land has been producing
ever since without pound of fertilizer.
The cane has to be replanted every two
years, however, and the soil is allowed to
rest one year in five. The hacienda In
cludes $4,000 acres; there are 300 poems on
the place, and they produce an average of
-1o'Vo arrobas. weighing twenty-five
pounds each, of sugar year.
TntS is only of five great sugar
haciendas at Cuautla 1t is the Oldest but
two others are larger. Mr.. Cafderon has
100000 acres and Vicente Alonzo has sew
eral, embracing about 10000 acres. The
latter is the largest independent sugar pro-
Queer and one of the richest men in Mexico,
employing more than 1900 men and max
ing nearly 23,UCo0O0 pounds a year.
South of the city, at the hacienda
Cuauixtla. Is illustrated in an interesting
way the manner in which the relations be-
tween the church and state are now con-
Quoted In Mexico. This plantation of 800
Gee acres, much of it in cane produces more
sugar than any other in Mexico, and it be-
longs to the church. Everybody knows that
the profits OF it's cultivation are paid over
to the archbishop. But the law prohibits
the church from owning property that Is
nor used for religious, charitable or educa-
tonal purposes hence the title In law is In
the name of joaquin Aroz, a priest who
was formerly an eminent lawyer in the City
OF Mexico, and married and raised family
before he went into orders. Feeling call
to the priesthood he bestowed his property
upon his wife and family and went to Rome
with letter from the archbishop to the
pope. After several years of study no was
granted a divorce from his wife and was
ordained into the priesthood.
Garrisoned by Four Regiments.
The Tenextepango hacienda of $780, 900
acres is owned by Ignacio de la Tor, SON
in-law of President Daz and a Spaniard
who belongs to one of the most prominent,
wealthy and aristocratic families of Mexico.
He got the plantation at a low price about
fifteen years ago, when the country all
mere was INFESTED Win DanQ1tB.
The secretary of war sent down four regi-
ments OF soldiers. who remained two years
and exterminated them. Mr. de la Tor be-
gan to cultivate sugar about three years
ago and Is now producing several hundred
thousand pounds a year. He Is extending
his planting rapidly, and the pace will soon
be one of the most productive in the coun-
try
There is a story about almost every plan
tation on the railroad between Cuautla and
Puebla. great deal of history has been
written in these valleys. One of the first
things the Spaniards did when they occu-
pied the country was to pave road more
than three hundred miles from Vera Cruz
to the City of Mexico. It was fourteen
feet wide and was laid with blocks Of stone
the entire distance Resting places, for
tificationS and churches were located at
convenient distances for the protection of
travellers against Indians, bandits and the
evil one. Several of these churches, now
$50 years old and more. may be seen from
the car windows Some of them are in Il
good state of preservation, and are used
for service daily.