150 AGRICULTURE. 



the common shovel plow. What is equally 

 worthy of remark is, that these plows are 

 often made exclusively of wood, without one 

 particle of iron, or even a nail to increase 

 their durability. 



The hhores and milpas (cultivated fields) are 

 often, uideed most usually, without any en- 

 closure. The owners of cattle are obhged to 

 keep herdsmen constantly whh them, else 

 graze them at a considerable distance from 

 the farms ; for if any trespass is committed 

 upon the fields by stock, the proprietor of the 

 latter is bound to pay damages : therefore, in- 

 stead of the cultivator's having to guard his 

 crop from the cattle as with us, the owners 

 of these are bound to guard them from the 

 crops. Only a chance farm is seen fenced 

 with poles scattered along on forks, or a loose 

 hedge of brush. Mud-fences, or walls of 

 very large adohes, are also occasionally to be 

 met whh. 



The necessity of irrigation has confined, and 



doubt will continue to confine 



principally to the valleys of the constant-flow- 

 ing streams. In some places the crops are 

 frequently cut short by tlic dr}dng up of the 

 streams. "Where water is abundant, however, 

 art has so far superseded the offices of nature 

 in watering the farms, that it is almost a ques- 

 tion whetlier the interference of nature in tlie 

 matter would not be a disadv^antage. On the 

 one hand the husbandman need not have his 

 grounds overflowed if he administers the wa- 

 ter himself, much less need he permit them 



