No. 7. 



Mexican Agriculture. 



215 



Mexican Agriculture. 



The following remarks on the Agriculture of Mexi- 

 co, at the time of its invasion by Cortes, in the early 

 part of the sixteenth century, we take from tlie first 

 volume of Prescott's History of the conquest of that 

 country, lately published. For some further statements 

 in relation to the American A\oe^Jigave Americana. — 

 which it will be seen is noticed below, — see page 36, of 

 last volume of Farmers' Cabinet. — Ed. 



An enlightened spirit applied to agricul- 

 ture, raises it from a mere mechanical drud- 

 gery, or the barren formula of traditional 

 precepts, to the dignity of a science. As 

 the composition of the earth is analyzed, 

 man learns the capacity of the soil that he 

 cultivates; and, as his empire is gradually 

 extended over the elements of nature, he 

 gains the power to stimulate her to her 

 most bountiful and various production. It 

 is with satisfaction tiiat we can turn to the 

 land of our fathers, as the one in which the 

 experiment has been conducted on the broad- 

 est scale, and attended with results that the 

 world has never before witnessed. With 

 equal truth, we may point to the Anglo- 

 Saxon race in both hemispheres, as that 

 whose enterprising genius has contributed 

 most essentially to the groat interests of hu- 

 manity, by the application of science to the 

 useful arts. 



Husbandry, to a very limited extent, in- 

 deed, was practised by most of the rude 

 tribes of North America. Wherever a na- 

 tural opening in the forest, or a rich strip of 

 interval, met their eyes, or a green slope 

 was found along the rivers, they planted it 

 with beans and Indian corn. The cultiva- 

 tion was slovenly in the extreme, and could 

 not secure the improvident natives from the 

 frequent recurrence of desolating famines. 

 Still, that they tilled the soil at all, was a 

 peculiarity which honourably distinguished 

 them i'rom other tribes of hunters, and raised 

 them one degree higher in the scale of civ- 

 ilization. 



Agriculture in Mexico, was in the same 

 advanced state as the other arts of social 

 life. In few countries, indeed, has it been 

 more respected. It was closely interwoven 

 with the civil and religious institutions of 

 the nation. There were peculiar deities to 

 preside over it ; the names of tlie months 

 and of the religious festivals had more or 

 less reference to it. The public taxes, as 

 we have seen, were often paid in agricultu- 

 ral produce. All, except the soldiers and 

 great nobles, even the inhabitants of the 

 cities, cultivated the soil. The work was 

 chiefly done by the men ; the women scat 

 tering the seed, husking the corn, and 

 taking part only in the lighter labours of 



the field. In this they presented an honour- 

 able contrast to the other tribes of the con- 

 tinent, who imposed the burden of agricul- 

 ture, severe as it is in the North, on their 

 women. Indeed, the sex was as tenderly 

 regarded by the Aztecs in this matter, as it 

 is in most parts of Europe, at the present 

 day. 



There was no want of judgment in the 

 management of their ground. When some- 

 what exhausted, it was permitted to recover 

 by lying fallow. Its extreme dryness was 

 relieved by canals, with which the land was 

 partially irrigated; and the same end was 

 promoted by severe penalties against the 

 destruction of the woods, with which the 

 country was well covered before the Con- 

 quest. Lastly, they provided for their har- 

 vests ample granaries, which were admitted 

 by the conquerors, to be of admirable con- 

 struction. In this provision we see the 

 forecast of civilized man. 



Among the most important articles of hus- 

 bandry, we may notice the banana, whose 

 flicility of cultivation and exuberant returns 

 are so fatal to habits of systematic and 

 hardy industry. Another celebrated plant 

 was the cacao, the fruit of which furnished 

 the chocolate, — from the Mexican chocolate, 

 — now so common a beverage throughout 

 Europe. The vanilla, confined to a small 

 district of the sea-coast, was used for the 

 same purposes, of flavouring their food and 

 drink, as with us. The great staple of the 

 country, as, indeed, of the x'Ymerican conti- 

 nent, was maize, or Indian corn, which grew 

 freely along the valleys, and up the steep 

 sides of the Cordilleras to the high level of 

 the table-land. The Aztecs were as curious 

 in its preparation, and as well instructed in 

 its manifold uses, as the most expert New 

 England housewife. Its gigantic stalks, in 

 these equinoctial regions, afford a saccharine 

 matter, not found to the same extent in 

 northern latitudes, and supplied the natives 

 with sugar little inferior to that of the cane 

 itself, which was not introduced among 

 them till atler the Conquest. But the mira- 

 cle of nature was the great Mexican aloe, 

 or maguey, whose clustering pyramids of 

 flowers, towering above their dark coronals 

 of leaves, were seen sprinkled over many a 

 broad acre of the table-land. As we have 

 already noticed, its bruised leaves afforded 

 a paste from which paper was manufactured; 

 its juice was fermented into an intoxicating 

 beverage, pulque, of which the natives, to 

 this day, are excessively fond ; its leaves 

 further supplied an impenetrable thatch for 

 the more humble dwellings; thread, of which 

 coarse stuffs were made, and strong cords, 

 were drawn from its tough and twisted 



