538 



MEXICO. 



in the Department of Public Works, to distrib- 

 ute fine grape-cuttings, and to encourage a 

 large interest in viticulture, with the view of 

 making Mexico a wine-producing country. 

 At Paso del Norte, northern Chihuahua, and 

 Durango and Coahuila, Mr. Parras, of the lat- 

 ter State, grows a grape from which a wine 

 is made equal, it is said, to fine sherry. The 

 Del Norte wine is made from the old Mission 

 grape. It is a good table-wine, but as made 

 now will not bear transportation. 



Cedar and Pine. The surveyors of the Ameri- 

 can and Mexican Eailvvay report that there are 

 immense forests of cedar and pine in the south- 

 eastern portion of Chihuahua. The entire 

 Sierra Madre interiors are heavily timbered. 



Bananas. Mexican banana-planters get three 

 crops a year. The plant is cultivated far more 

 easily than any grain or tuber in northern lati- 

 tudes, and the fruit is more nutritious. Even 

 in spite of the price of the luxury, the demand 

 for bananas has heretofore doubled in the 

 United States about every five years since 1860, 

 when the fruit-venders of American inland 

 cities began to invest in an occasional cargo. 

 But since the price of wheat, in crossing the 

 Atlantic, increases only two thirds, there is 

 no reason why bananas, in crossing the Eio 

 Grande, should become twenty times dearer. 

 In Western cities the poorest bananas can not 

 be Bought for less than three cents apiece, 

 while in Oaxaca a " ramo," or bunch, with 

 more than a hundred bananas of the very best 

 quality, is sold for two reals, twenty-one cents. 

 Among the wholesale planters of the rural dis- 

 tricts, u ramos " of two hundred apiece, about 

 the nutritive equivalent of three bushels of 

 Irish potatoes, can be bought for one real. In 

 slow-going fruit-barges, exposed to the seething 

 sun, about 20 per cent, spoil before they reach 

 New Orleans ; but refrigerator cars would re- 

 duce that risk to a minimum. 



The Toloachi-PIant. The toloachi-plant grows 

 everywhere in Mexico, but more thriftily in 

 the tropical lowlands of the " tierra caliente." 

 It is a harmless-looking plant, much resembling 

 the northern milk-weed, and quite too danger- 

 ously convenient in a land where suspicion 

 rules and jealousy amounts to madness. It 

 does not kill, but acts immediately on the 

 brain, producing first violent insanity and then 

 hopeless idiocy. It is whispered that poor 

 Carlotta had hardly landed at Vera Cruz, 

 on her sorrowful mission to Mexico, before 

 some of it was administered to her, and her 

 deplorable fate is cited as one among many 

 instances. Of all the dangers in Mexico, this 

 is one of the most appalling. Any political 

 enemy or jealous rival, or offended servant, 

 may thus revenge himself in a more fiendish 

 manner than with the stiletto, and with little 

 fear of detection ; a few drops of this tasteless 

 white fluid, mixed with milk or other food, 

 does its work with inexorable certainty, and 

 can only be detected by its gradual results. 



Property Rights of Foreigners. Foreigners may 



purchase, hold, and transfer lands anywhere in 

 Mexico, as well as Mexicans, excepting lands 

 of the public domain. That is, they have the 

 right so to do, but it is not practicable. It is 

 required of all notaries before whom deeds for 

 lands on the frontier are executed, to recite, in 

 the opening of the instrument, the residence 

 and nationality of the parties, and, if the pur- 

 chaser be a foreigner, to insist upon the pro- 

 duction of his permit before proceeding. Also, 

 that the fact of such permit (referring thereto 

 as being then produced) should be recited in 

 the deed, with its date. Without such decla- 

 ration, the title may be legally declared void; 

 at least, it would leave the title in grave doubt. 



Immense Estates. Much has been said and 

 written of the great extent and large possibili- 

 ties of Mexican haciendas. But probably few 

 people outside of Mexico yet realize the ex- 

 tent of some of these tracts, where a million 

 or a million and a half of acres often consti- 

 tute a single estate in the hands of one owner. 

 There are many such in Mexico large enough 

 to hide away some European principalities, 

 large enough to awaken the envy of landed 

 proprietors in the United States. These are to 

 be found in the central and northern States of 

 Mexico. The famous Salado ranch, for ex- 

 ample, contains more than 600 square miles. 

 It lies partly in the States of NY.evo Leon, Coa- 

 huila, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosi, on the 

 highway to Mexico and on the line of the new 

 railroads. It occupies the central table-lands 

 of Mexico, at an average elevation of 4,000 feet. 

 Chains of mountains traverse the estate, rich 

 in mineral wealth. The boundaries of the es- 

 tate extend more than 100 miles from north to 

 south, and flourishing farms and large mining 

 towns are met at frequent intervals. 



Sefior Antonio Asunsolo owns 650 square 

 leagues, and is part owner and administrator of 

 a tract of 1,945 square miles. He sold in 1883 

 to an English syndicate, for $550,000, five 

 haciendas, comprising 110 leagues, and the 

 stock. 



Industry in the Capital. A great impulse has 

 been given to manufacturing at the capital 

 during the past few years, and there are now 

 in the city of Mexico a great many hat-manu- 

 factories, 48 factories where dry goods are 

 woven, chiefly shawls, 22 manufacturing sad- 

 dlery, 26 silver- smiths 1 establishments, 32 met- 

 al-foundries, 12 iron-works, 7 copper-smiths' 

 establishments, 12 match-factories, 14 choco- 

 late-factories, and 10 candle-factories. 



Immigration and Colonization. The greatest 

 activity is displayed, fostered by the Federal 

 Government, to attract desirable immigrants, 

 notably agriculturists, from Italy and the Span- 

 ish possessions, and settle them in colonies on 

 the table-lands. Most of the 11,000 new- 

 comers at Vera Cruz in 1882 were of these 

 two nationalities, and 2,178 from the United 

 States. 



Commerce. On Dec. 5, 1882, a treaty of com- 

 merce and navigation was signed between 



