23 



There are also large quantities of two species of water-bugs sold in the 

 same manner in the markets. They are collected like shrimps, with nets, in 

 the swamps and marshes ; but they are sold to feed the mocking birds, the 

 common cage bird in the Mexican home. Another interesting insect is a, 

 black fly (Ephydra /dans), the larvae of which swarm in such quantities in 

 the waters of Lake Texcoa, that when they pupate, the pupae are collected 

 in bags and used as manure to fertilise the adjoining lands. At certain 

 seasons, these flies swarm out in such clouds that they cover the railway track 

 and stop the trains. 



Another curious insect food is the caterpillar of a Hesperid butterfly, 

 which lays her eggs upon the leaves of the Argave americana. These cater- 

 pillars burrow into and feed in the tissue of the leaf, and are cut out, placed 

 in little boxes made out of a section of the thick leaf, and sold as a great 

 delicacy. , There were many different kinds of native and tropical fruits 

 aninas, sapotes, alligator pears, long-stalked pink passion fruit of very poor 

 quality, called a granada, and many other curious things. While in the 

 offices I obtained the following reports, somewhat behind-hand as statistics, 

 but the latest compiled, of the different products of Mexico up to 1900 : 

 The maize crop of that year was worth 87,000,000 Mexican dollars (value, 

 2s.) ; the barley crop, worth 7,000,000 dollars. In 1899, the coffee crop, 

 chiefly grown in the Vera Cruz district, was worth 10,000,000 dollars. In 

 1900, nearly 7,000,000 dollars' worth of pulque was produced from the Argave 

 americana ; but in the good season of 18U9, 15,000,000 dollars' worth was 

 made. Thousands of acres of the country are devoted to the growth of this 

 aloe, from which the sap of the budding flower-stem is collected, and after 

 being carried down the hills in pig skins, is fermented in casks. This pulque 

 is the national drink of the bulk of the Mexicans. Besides pulque, there is 

 also a strong spirit made from this juice, which is valued at over 4,000,000 

 dollars a year. 



The sugar crop was valued at 23,500,000 dollars. At Gutapella Estate, 

 noar Orizaba, later on, I saw them making sugar. The machinery and 

 crushing plant were very old-fashioned, and all the sugar turned out was 

 made in conical loaves, weighing 18 kilos each (45 Ib.) ; these loaves, in three 

 grades, were more or less grey to brown in tinf, and valued at from 12 to- 

 16 cents per kilo. They also made a very strong spirit from the sugar at 

 this mill. 



The cotton of Mexico is grown in a strip of country across the cfntre, in 

 the districts of Coahuila, Durango, and Tepic. At Puebla, and some of the 

 Southern States, cotton was started a few years ago, but in consequence of 

 the appearance of the cotton boll weevil, it was not continued. The Depart- 

 ment have no laws or regulations against this pest, except a quarantine 

 against any seed from Texas. 



At Ameciameca, in the gardens round the palace at Chapultepec, the 

 different public parks, Tres Marias, Tlalpam, and Guardaloupe, I spent some 

 time with Professor Koebele studying scale insects and other pests. 



Among the interesting desert plants that came under my notice was the 

 rubber plant, known to the native as the " Guayule " (Parthenium argen- 

 tatum) ; it is a stunted little shrub that grows in the northern deserts, and 

 is collected for the large amount of rubber contained in the bark. The shrubs 

 are pulled up, roots and all, tied up in bundles, and packed down on mules to 

 the nearest railway station, and shipped to the United States, where the 

 rubber is extracted. The Americans are exploiting the country, and with 

 this wasteful method (as the guayule is a very slow-growing shrub) the 

 product will soon be exhausted. Another is the G : ant Cactu?, which, growing 



