Book I. AGRICULTURE IN NORTH AMERICA. 189 



the world. Secondly, on account of the stock of people being generally British, and 

 speaking the same language. The only objection we have to America is the climate, 

 the long and severe winter, and the rapid and hot spring and summer. Equally good 

 land, and nearly as cheap, may be had in the south of Russia and in Poland, as in 

 America ; but who that knows any thing of the governments of those countries, or even 

 of Germany and France, would voluntarily put themselves in their power while the 

 United States are accessible ? Who would live in a country of tyrannic nobles, often 

 very deficient of moral principle ; and of a peasantry little better than hogs, and not so 

 well fed and lodged as that animal is in England ? Who would live in a country of 

 passports, of spies, and swarming with beggarly gentry, wohlgeborne, hochwohlgeborne, 

 edilgeborne, hochedelgeborne, &c. ; and where exists that precious article hochjagt; being 

 a description of game which no man may pursue under the rank of prince ? Who would 

 emigrate to Hanover if he could settle in France ; and who would go there if he could 

 accomplish the voyage to the United States ? 



1 149. Van Diemans Land and New Holland, next to the United States, are perhaps the 

 most desirable places to go to ; and they are superior to America in climate ; but no man 

 is safe under a delegated and distant administration of government ; and, besides, if a man 

 is to leave his country, it seems prefe-r' le to emancipate himself at once from all the good 

 and evil of the old world state of society and government, and plunge into a new and 

 superior order of things. No person, however, should determine on so important a step 

 without making himself, as far as practicable, master of all that has been said, written, 

 or done on both sides of the question. For this purpose he may consult what has 

 been published by Parkinson, England, Fearon, Wild, Birkbeck, Cobbett, Mellish, 

 Helme, Dwight, Hodgson, and a variety of others. 



Subs EOT. 2. Present State of Agriculture in Mexico. 



1 1 50. The climate of this extensive and recently revolutionized country is singularly 

 diversified, between the tropical seasons and rains, and the temperature of the southern 

 and even middle countries of Europe. The maritime districts of Mexico are hot and 

 unhealthy, so as to occasion much perspiration even in January ; the inland mountains, on 

 the other hand, present snow and ice in the dog-days. In other inland provinces, how- 

 ever, the climate is mild and benign, with some snow of short duration in winter ; but 

 no artificial warmth is necessary, and animals sleep all the year under the open sky. 

 From April to September there are plentiful rains, generally after noon ; hail storms are 

 not unknown ; thunder is frequent ; and earthquakes and volcanoes occasionally occur. 

 The climate of the capital, in lat. 1 9*^ 25', differs much from that of the parts of Asia 

 and Africa under the same parallel ; which difference seems to arise chiefly from the 

 superior height of the ground. Humboldt found, that the vale of Mexico is about 6960 

 feet above the level of the sea, and that even the inland plains are generally as high as 

 Mount Vesuvius, or about 3600 feet. This superior elevation tempers the climate with 

 a greater degree of cold ; upon the whole, therefore, it cannot be regarded as un- 

 healthy. 



1151. The surface of the country is diversified by grand ridges of mountains, numerous 

 volcanoes, some of which are covered with perpetual snow, cataracts worthy of the 

 pencil of Rosa, delicious vales, fertile plains, picturesque lakes and rivers, romantic 

 cities and villages, and an union of the trees and vegetables of Europe and America. 



1152. The soil is often deep clay, surprisingly fertile and requiring no manure except 

 irrigation. In some places it is boggy or composed of a soft black earth, and there are 

 barren sands and stony soils in the elevated regions. 



1153. Of the agriculture of Mexico some account is given by the abbe Clavigero and 

 the baron de Humboldt. According to the first author, agriculture was from time 

 immemorial exercised by the Mexicans, and almost all the people of Anahuac. The 

 Toltecan nation employed themselves diligently in it, and taught it to the Thechemecan 

 hunters, With respect to the Mexicans, we know that during the whole of their pere- 

 grination, from their native country Atzlan, unto the lake where they founded Mexico, 

 they cultivated the earth in all those places where they made any considerable stop, and 

 lived upon the produce of their labor. When they were brought under subjection to 

 the Colhuan and Tepanecan nations, and confined to the miserable little islands on the 

 lake, they ceased for some years to cultivate the land, because they had none, until 

 necessity and industry together, taught them to form moveable fields and gardens, 

 which floated on the waters of the lake. 



1154. The method of forming floating fields, and which they still practise, is extremely simple. They 

 plait and twist willows, and roots of marsh plants, or other materials, together, which are light, but 

 capable of supporting the earth of the field firmly united. Upon this foundation they lay the light 

 bushes which float on the lake, and over all, the mud and dirt which they draw up from the bottom of 

 the same lake. Their regular figure is quadrangular; their length and breadth various; but in 

 general, they are about eight perches long, and not more than three in breadth, and have less than a 

 foot of elevation above the surface of the water. These were the first fields which the Mexicans owned 



