14 MEXICAN RESOURCES. 



REAL ESTATE IN MEXICO. 



It is as true now as twenty years ago, when Sartorius (a German by birth, a 

 keen observer, and long a resident in Mexico), wrote, that the soil of the 

 Republic of Mexico is, for the most part, in the hands of private individuals and 

 corporations ; comparatively little is State property, and this little chiefly in the 

 northern districts. Mexico is a conquered country; the original conquerors selected 

 large estates, and were confirmed in the possession of the same by the Spanish 

 government. The original Indian possessors were included in these grants, as 

 serfs; but they were suffered to retain the soil they cultivated, on paying rent. 

 Subsequently a law was promulgated for the protection of the Indians, that the 

 country round each village, to the distance of six hundred yards, measured from 

 the church, should belong to the community. Many villa-ges and towns which had 

 fought as allies against the Aztecs, not only retained their lands, but were even 

 rewarded with the confiscated lands of their neighbors. Churches and convents 

 were endowed with landed estates, and whenever a spot was discovered without an 

 owner, some Spanish ofiicial, soldier, or priest, soon managed to obtain it as a fief. 

 The soil being thus partitioned out, it was natural for large estates to become the 

 property of individuals, especially in the northern, less populous provinces, where 

 the conquest gradually proceeded, and the leaders had leisure to acquire the con- 

 quered lands for themselves and their followers. The large estates in Mexico are 

 Aacieiidas, which, when intended for agriculture, are called haciendas de labor, and 

 when for cattle-breeding, Iiaciendas de ganado. 



The agriculturists and graziers of Mexico belong by descent to the Creoles and 

 Mestizos, and are its most independent class. " They are," continues Sartorius, 

 "conservative, attached to old habits, to patriarchal customs, to discipline and 

 order in the house, religious, honest, and hospitable, but at the same time frugal." 



SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 



In some states, as Vera Cruz, Oaxaca, Tabasco, Guerrero, Jalisco, and Mexico, 

 three harvests may be annually secured. The yield varies from a return of forty 

 for one planted, to three hundred ; but the general return is about a hundred and 

 fifty for one. In the hot climate of the coast and in some portions of the interior 

 seeds and grains may be kept from eight to ten months, in the temperate region 

 from eighteen months to two years, and in the cold regions as long as four years. 



The rainy season commences early in June, and lasts until the autumnal equinox. 

 Frosts are frequent on the northern frontier in winter, and in other localities of 

 great elevation. Hailstorms also occur in the colder regions, but not with fre- 

 quency. Throughout the country it is more necessary to guard against drouth than 

 excessive wet. Irrigation is needed, and largely used when practicable, all over the 

 country. Should the rainy season be greatly retarded, the crops suffer, and are 

 sometimes entirely lost. The hour of work in the hot climates are, for a day labor- 

 er, from five in the morning to eleven, and from three in the afternoon till seven; 

 in the temperate and cold regions they are from morning to evening twilight, with 

 two to three hours' rest for breakfast and dinner ; on some haciendas the laborers 

 have daily tasks which they complete at their discretion. The workmen are paid 

 weekly, every Saturday evening or Sunday morning. The men received, before the 



