No. 2. 



Mexican Farming. — Vermont Farming. 



43 



some meat, but in cooking it shrinks into not 

 more than a quarter of its original quantity; 

 the difference consists of foreign or diseased 

 matter, which passes off" in the process." 



These are facts notorious to some of our 

 citizens, and should be understood by all, 

 particularly tho>e who feel an interest in 

 the health of the community. The subject is 

 one of deep interest, and the press, as the 

 faithful ouardiaris of the welfare of our citi- 

 zens, sjionld not be silent on the subject. 

 Let it be shown to those who are now un- 

 mindful of the fact that the above is, in a 

 great m;ijority of cases, the base and villain- 

 ous compound — the baneful and poisonous 

 article purchased and used as "pure milk," 

 and put into the mouths of our friends and 

 our children; and further, that this very 

 drug, for it cannot be called by a better 

 name, is a most prolific cause of disease and 

 death among a great part of the younger 

 portion of the community. We say to all. 

 Beware of Distillery Milk Slops ! 



Mexican Farming. 



At the New York Farmers' Club on the 

 20th ult., a person by the name of (Jregg, 

 said that his acquaintance was with North- 

 ern Me.xico, Saltillo, Monterey, Chihuahua, 

 and where sheep are raised to a large 

 amount, whence the city of Mexico obtains 

 mutton. He understood and believes that 

 five hundred thousand of these sheep are 

 annually driven from Northern Mexico, south. 

 This breed is excellent for its mutton. He 

 never tasted better, and very little as good. 

 The sheep are quite small, not more than 

 half the size of the common sheep of the 

 United States. Their fleeces are hardly 

 finer than goat's hair, and are only used for 

 coarse purposes. The wool hair is four to 

 six inches long — some say it is a hybrid of 

 sheep and goat. The animals are furnished 

 in many cases with two pairs of horns, 

 sometimes a few of them are found with 

 three pairs. These sheep are generally 

 valued at about one dollar each, and their 

 mutton sells for three or tour cents a pound. 



Ill Northern Mexico there is no tillable 

 upland. None butvallies and river bottoms, 

 lands which lie so thai they can be irrigated, 

 are used for cultivation. Hogs are not used 

 to any considerable extent — they are chiefly 

 used for their lard. The moat of goats is 

 very commonly used by the lower classes — 

 and tnutton by the higher classes. 



Their cattle are rather smaller than those 

 of our western country, and are remarkable 

 for their long horns. He had seen many of 

 them three feet in length. Indian corn is 



raised everywhere — cotton, wheat and sugar 

 also are raised in considerable quantities. 

 He saw some of the largest sugar cane 

 growing near Monterey. He had seen stalks 

 well jointed for eight feet in length, and they 

 were about six inches in circumference. The 

 sugar cane of Cuba is larger, but it grows 

 seldom more than two or tliree years from 

 the root, while the Mexican cane grows tour 

 or five years in succession from the root. 

 The agricultural implements of the country 

 are very badly contrived. Their plough is 

 made of a couple of sticks of wood, seldom 

 pointed with iron, drawn by oxen pulling by 

 their horns. Common labourers are the 

 same poorly paid — generally run in debt to 

 the landlord, and not allowed to leave him 

 in debt — which they are usually unable to 

 pay. The pasture on the uplands is very 

 fine, for where the grasses are dried up by 

 the season they constitute fne feed as hay. 

 The farms are fenced by chapparel — a term 

 signifying a thicket. They make no butter, 

 but a good deal of poor cheese. He never 

 saw a Mexican have a churn. Some of our 

 Yankees at Saltillo, who were connected 

 with a cotton factory there, make and sell 

 butter to good account. The markets at 

 Saltillo are well supplied, but the great body 

 of the people live poorly. They chiefly sub- 

 sist on cakes made of Indian corn — and on 

 beans. They use lime in boiling water to 

 hull their corn, and then grind the grain to 

 a paste, between two stones — something as 

 a painter grinds paint. They make it into 

 small round cakes, called Tortillas, and 

 bake them on a piece of sheet iron, if they 

 have it, or on a stone. Great crops of In- 

 dian corn are raised in the valleys of Mon- 

 terey, Chihuahua and Mondova. JPine wheat 

 is also raised all the way from Saltillo to 

 Chihuahua. They get thirty and forty, and 

 sometimes fifty bushels to the acre. They 

 say that they sometimes get mi hundred 

 fold ! 



He said at Mier, some two years ago, an 

 iron plough was introduced, but that it was 

 brought before the Inquisition and sentenced 

 to have its wood work burned and its iron 

 thrown into the river. 



Vermont Farming. — The largest farm in 

 Vermont is said to be that of Judg-e Meech, 

 at Shelburn, eight miles .south of Burlmgton. 

 A correspondent who has been over it, says 

 this year he will mow over 500 acres and 

 cut 1000 tons of hay. He keeps 300 sheep, 

 and has now 400 head of neat cattle. A few 

 days ago he sold fat oxen enough to amount 

 to the sum of $2460 He has also sold this 

 season 1000 bushels of rye. 



