I 



PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 331 



better these trees should be left to grow into good lumber and perpetuate the for- 

 ests. There is much wood of no value except for fuel enough, I should think 

 and the pine should be saved. 



FLOATING GARDENS. 



\Yhile the City of Mexico is eight thousand feet higher than sea level, there 

 are in the vicinity several lakes and marshy tracts which require extensive 

 drainage operations. The Yiga canal is one of these drainage systems, and upon 

 it are numerous barges, which transport farm and garden produce from the mar- 

 ket gardens to the city. Flat-bottomed boats, propelled by a pole, convey passen- 

 gers to the Floating Gardens. 



The gardens are located upon marsh land quite similar to the tule lands of 

 California. The soil is composed of decayed reed and grass roots, being entirely 

 of vegetable mould and quite fertile. Ditches at frequent intervals drain the 

 gardens and furnish means of communication by canoes and small boats to the 

 larger canal, and thus to the city. Here are the great market gardens, where veg- 

 etables are grown for Mexico's consumption. Here, too, are grown the magnifi- 

 cent flowers which form one of the principal attractions of Mexico City, the 

 flower market being a wonder in the quantity and exquisite beauty both of the 

 individual tropic flowers and the magnificent floral forms, which are made with 

 great taste and skill. 



Street cars also connect the city with the villages upon the Viga canal, and 

 they are well patronized. 



VOLCANO COLIMA. 



Colima, the only active volcano in North America, was in eruption. Our 

 illustration shows the mountain with a stream of vapor rising in an immense 

 column. 



I spent one day and two nights at Tuxpan, on the Mexican Central Railway, 

 taking many photographs of the volcano and of the country surrounding. 



At night the sudden explosions were accompanied with fire, and clouds of fine 

 sand were scattered for great distances, but no lava was seen. The mountain 

 has two distinct cones, only one of which is in eruption. The other is called the 

 cold mountain. 



The distance from my point of view was about ten miles. I ascended 1,200 

 feet upon a mountain near Tuxpan to procure a better view of the volcano than 

 could be had from the plain, but during most of the day the clouds gathered and 

 hung about the high peaks, 15,000 feet elevation, and seemed to be attracted 

 scarce moving for hours. At the same time the sky was absolutely clear in all 

 other directions. 



The eruptions are not continuous, but intermittent, occuring several times 

 'luring the day and night. 



Colima is nineteen degrees from the equator and is in view from a point 

 within a mile of the Mexican Central Railway station, Tuxpan. 



