228 Agricultural Gazette of JV.S.W. [M<n\ 2, 1908. 



iufonnatioii ic^ardinL;' tin' |>(\sts of a^ricult uic, which I Iklnc iccoidcd for niv 

 report, but will not cnlari^'c upon here. 



Actiiii;" upon the a(l\ict' of Piofcssoi- Ilcri'cra, and armed witli e-rcdt'utials 

 from him to the dcfe Political, or Chief Ma<;istrate of the ditlerent districts,. 

 I left Mexico City, on the 15th November, for Puebla, reach in_if there late in 

 the afternoon, where T en<ra<,'ed an interpreter and visited the (Jovernor'* 

 Secretai'v, who gave me letters to the President of the University of State, 

 where there was a small collection of Mexican insects, and with a letter to- 

 the Mayor of Tehuacan, left for that to\va at fi a.m. on Sunday morning, 

 reaching theiv at midday, and met two of the chief laiicli owners of the town 

 and went to the fruit market. Here 1 was told that a white grub often 

 destroys a great deal of the maize by gnawing off the roots. Maize, barley, 

 and fruit are the chief crops grown by irrigation, but hardly anything is. 

 exported. On the 18th November 1 left Puebla for Orizaba, and leached 

 that town at 3.30 p.m. the same afternoon, where I obtained an intei-preter 

 and called upon the Judge of the district at the Court House, who gave me 

 letters to the managers of the two lai'ge plantations in the neighboui'hood, 

 San Antino and tJalapella, which I visited next morning, going through the 

 orange orchards which were free from scale and fruit fly, but badly infested 

 with melanose, and, as the oranges are not used for sale, they are much 

 neglected. Drove through coffee plantations and sugar cane, visited the 

 mill, a very primitive affair, with one pair of rollers, the sugar is all made up 

 into loaves ; the loaf sugar of three grades ; a large amount of raw spirit is- 

 also manufactured. In another orchard visited I noticed a very curious 

 mandarin oi'ange tree, with short sessile leaves, almost like holly. 



On the 20tli I left for Vera Cruz, passing through large tracts of coffee 

 grown under shade trees and banana plantations, between Orizaba and 

 Cordoba. Ari'iving at "Vera Cruz the same afternoon I found an interpreter, 

 and called u])on the Chief Magistrate, wlio advised me to go down to the 

 tropical country of the Isthmus, and offered to give me a letter to his bi-othei-, 

 the owner of a large ranch and plantation ; this I accepted. 



Finding there was a boat going down the coast to Coatxacualas, 1 made 

 my arrangements to leave, and though the boat was advertised to leave early 

 in the day, did not get away till dai'k. After a smooth passage of about 

 100 miles, arrived at the mouth of the river at midday, when I found an 

 Indian with a canoe, and engaged him to row me up to Signor Ignacio Velos, 

 about six miles up a lagoon, and arrived there that evening. Here 1 spent 

 two very interesting days, where the estate consists of 6,000 acres of rich 

 tropical land, growing vanilla, coffee, and oranges. He also supplies the 

 town with milk, and grows coral gi-ass on the swampy land, which he cuts 

 and sells in bundles for the town horses. He has 500 cocoanut trees, and is- 

 ]ilanting out more. His cattle are chiefly of the ^Mexican type, but he has 

 iiM])oi-ted four tine Holstein bulls from California, and is a very enterprising- 

 man, (hi Sunday night I returned to the town, and on Monday morning 

 left Coat.\acualas for San Lucrecia, the junction of the train from Vera Cruz 

 and Salona Cruz, on the Pacific Coast. Here T had to remain until 5 a.m. 

 next morning, when I took train to Vera Ci'uz, and arrived there that night. 

 The following day I packed up, and took- my passai^c in this boat for Cuba, 

 and Jamaica, leaving the c-ity at (! oclock yesterday. 



I ha\'e, itc, 

 (Sgd.) AN'ALTEU W. F1U)(K4ATT. 



To The Hon. ^linister for Agriculture, 



Sydney, New Soutli Wales. 



