501 



From the hills of Tnspan can be seen some of the spurs of the " Sierra Madre," which 

 I suppose are a continuation of the Rocky Mountains of the United States. From the 

 Telegraph Hills can be seen the perpetual snows of the peak of Orizaba, some seveaty- 

 five miles distant. In the San Juan Mountains, distant about thirty miles from Tuspan, 

 and running parallel to the coast for some forty miles, are to be found some of the 

 richest deposits of gold, silver, quicksilver, copper, &.C., that are to be found in Mexico. 

 Owing to the frequent revolutions there have been but few important explorations 

 made, and these have been by persons of small capital. Let immigration commence, 

 and it will not take long to make a small California in these mountains. Besides the 

 San Juan Mountains there are many others that are said to be very rich in silver and 

 gold. There are hundreds of petroleum-springs within a diameter of fifty miles around 

 Tuspan, but none of them are worked. While kerosene, &c., can be brought from 

 the United States at such low rates it will not pay to work these springs. Some of the 

 asphaltnm has been shipped to the United States, but the result has not been very 

 favorable. One company was formed to work some rich springs near Papantla, and 

 machinery was brought out, but the kerosene was very inferior, and could not com- 

 pete with that brought here. The failure, I think, was attributable to a want of ex- 

 perience, and proper persons to superintend the work. There are no wagon-roads in 

 this part of Mexico. All transportation is on the backs of mules. Trains of these animals 

 are constantly coming and going, bringing in the products and taking back to the in- 

 terior all the goods used. 



EDMUXD JOHNSON, 



United States Consul. 



CO-OPERATION IN AGRICULTURE. 



The question of large or small farms, like most others, has two sides' 

 Neither system of farming can have the preference under all circum- 

 stances ; each is best, both for high culture and large profit, under the 

 proper conditions. To attempt large farming with small means and 

 limited executive capacity is unwise and quite sure to be unprofitable. 

 This rule would limit farming ])ractice in this country to small areas in 

 most cases. At the same time it is equally true, in agriculture as in 

 manufacturing, that the largest return for each dollar expended is 

 obtained by systematic operations on a large scale. This has been re- 

 peatedly demonstrated in this country, as in foreign lands, and notably 

 in the West and in California. This has led to association for conduct- 

 ing the business of harvesting, thrashing, cheese-making, as it should 

 lead to steam-plowing and other farm-work, and wherever better 

 results may be secured by combining capital and labor in the manage- 

 ment of large areas in general farm-culture. 



A brief account of a co-operative-farm enterprise in England is given 

 below, and also a translation and condensation from a record of long 

 and successful experience in France, being the report of M. Victor 

 Borie to the Societe Centrale (V Agriculture de France, of the co-opera- 

 tive farm of M. Bignon of Theneuille. 



The abundant supply of capital in England, and the self-reliance and 

 marked individuality of Englishmen, make the progress of practical as- 

 sociation slower than in the neighboring country across the channel. 

 In England the agricultural laborers are not the owners of the soil, or 

 even renters of the land, though there were formerly "yeomen," or peas- 

 ant proprietors, and in Westmoreland and Cumberland a class of small 

 owners known as "' statesmen.'' Few of the land-owners of England di- 

 rect the cultivation of their lands, a third class, the " farmers," leasing 

 lands, paying a money rental, and farming more thoroughly and suc- 

 cessfully than the owners of the soil themselves. They furnish the work- 

 ing capital, which often amounts to $50 per acre, and in some cases 

 nearer $100 per acre. In France there is a large class of small proprie- 

 tors whose condition is in few respects superior to that of the English 



