I 



PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 323 



Manufacturers of farm implements will do well to study the needs of the 

 Mexican farmers. Oxen are the sole draft animals of the country for farm 

 work. The men have for many generations driven the cattle as they now do. 

 The ox bow is attached to the head and horns of the animals. Energy is trans- 

 ferred from the driver to the team through the medium of the needle-pointed 

 "pica," or prod. One hand is required to handle this instrument of energy, while 

 with the other the plow is manipulated. Of what use, therefore, are two handles 

 to a plow ? An American cannot handle an improved plow with one hand. How, 

 then, can a Mexican ? 



To sell plows in the Republic of Mexico one must be devised which is suited 

 to the slow motion of the ox and the man. It must be balanced so that with 

 one hand it may easily be manipulated, and then skilled workmen, not mere sales- 

 men, must be sent to Mexico to teach the farmers how to use them. The man- 

 ufacturer who is wise enough to build an implement suited to the needs of this 

 people, and instruct them in its use, will lay the foundation for a profitable and 

 permanent business. 



WRONG IMPRESSIONS OF MEXICO. 



When we see the rude implements and ancient customs, it is asserted that 

 Mexico is far behind the civilized world. This, in some respects, is true. Yet in 

 the four centuries' experience in the art of irrigation and in the laws secured for 

 the management of her forests Mexico is far in advance of the United States, 

 while in her structures of masonry we can learn much from her experience. An 

 exchange of ideas would be profitable for both nations. Some of our agricultural 

 schools could learn much from the farmer and irrigator of the Republic. 



FORESTS. 



Officials of the Republic who have carefully studied the subject mention that 

 there were forests on the tablelands and that rainfall was much greater years ago 

 than now. Tradition says that the Spaniards cleared away these forests, since 

 which the rainfall has ln-cn greatly diminished. Certain it is, there are now no 

 extensive forests on the great plains of Mexico. 



There are the remains of great systems of reservoirs for irrigation, with aque- 

 ducts of brick supported upon arches, which still remain, where the water was 

 carried through tunnels and over valleys for long distances, but by reason of 

 droughts and decreased precipitation- these are now of little or no use. 



Forests cannot exist without water. Regular and copious rainfall cannot 

 prevail without a production of forests. Aridity is invariably accompanied by 

 scant shrub growth, fir entire absence of plant life. 



When it is considered that Mexico, especially the Southern portion, is narrow, 

 with large oceans on either side, lying in a tropical region where evaporation is 

 constant and extreme, the questions naturally arise: Why is there not greater 

 precipitation ? Why are there not large trees and dense forests, which always 

 accompany moist tropic conditions? In his history Prescott relates that at the 

 time of the invasion there were large and dense forests which were not uncommon 

 upon the higher tablelands. 



