190 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



countries by man's assistance of nature, Mexico will be the leader in 

 the finest fruits in the world. 



In Mexico this interesting industry is at present confined princi- 

 pally to seedlings, as but little effort has ever been given to the cull- 

 ing out of small, inferior fruit or to propagate only the largest and 

 best by budding, but notwithstanding this failure on the part of man, 

 the general average in quality is good. 



The reason that fruit 

 growing has been left 

 so dormant and limited 

 here has been for the 

 lack of transportation 

 facilities; until recent 

 years there were but 

 few railroads and the 

 marketing was con- 

 fined to the local dis- 

 tricts of production, 

 except such exchang- 

 ing as could be carried 

 on by burro trains; 

 hence there are but 

 LA VIRGINIA-TWO YEAR OLD ORANGE GROVE. few commercial or- 



chards in Mexico on a large scale, but instead we find in the yards, 

 gardens and lots of the villages and towns a general assortment of 

 trees of all ages and sizes. Now since the new era of building rail- 

 roads has made it possible to sell fruits in the distant markets of the 

 Republic and the United States the President and his Governors are 

 giving much encouragement to capital and enterprise to increase 

 Mexico's horticultural industry and bring it up to a higher standard. 

 Their efforts are being 

 well rewarded, as is 

 seen in the new or- 

 chards of budded trees 

 of standard and tried 

 varieties, that were re- 

 cently, and are now, 

 being planted by both 

 foreign and Mexican 

 capital. 



At M o n temorelos, 

 state of Nucoo Leon, 

 with a semi- tropic and 

 arid climate, on lati- 

 tude 25 degrees north, 

 and at an elevation of ORCHARD SCENE, NATIVE WORKERS. 



