MEXICO. 



583 



rior demand grows each year, and has greatly increased since railway 

 building began. The higher prices in the United States have increased 

 the export that way. Then the local demand has been doubled by the 

 coming of so many Americans to the border towns. These demands 

 which have raised prices so greatly have made the "rancheros" more 

 careful to increase their stock, and will in time cause some improvements 

 in methods of handling. 



DISEASES. 



There are various local diseases which occasionally attack these cat- 

 tle, but I have not succeeded in getting any reliable information. While 

 the reports promised me on these diseases are not to hand yet I have 

 been unable to hear of anything like pleuro-pneumonia. The diseases 

 which I have heard of are local, and, being caused by lack of water or 

 grass, or from heat, are not infectious except for the time and place. I 

 have not learned of any losses which would exceed twenty per annum in 

 one thousand, except such as were obviously caused by bad weather or 

 lack of water or grass. 



CATTLE WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 



The following weights and measures are from actual experiments, and 

 while of course other animals would vary, these were fair average ani- 

 mals of each class, five or six years old, and may be considered a fair 

 average. The weights and measures are American : 



SOIL OP NORTHERN MEXICO. 



The mountain ranges in Northern Mexico are of the sa.me formation 

 as the Eocky Mountains in the -United States, of which thiey are simply 

 the southern continuation. 



The soil is strongly impregnated with limestone deposits; near the 

 coast are found large saline deposits. The ^^vegas" or low bottom lands 

 are alluvial deposits. Some, particulariy near the Eio Grande and Gulf 

 of Mexico, are black, waxy, and very fertile. Others in the higher pla- 

 teaus are sandy or gravelly. The ranges, or grass lands, are thinly cov- 

 ered with soil, with, in many sections, large quantities of stones. 



The coast portion of this State, Tamaulipas, extends back, say, 50 miles 

 and is particularly good for cattle. The first plateau is considered good 

 pasture for horses. Farther back the country is divided into valleys' 

 by hills and mountain ranges. The nopal and other varieties of the 

 cactus family are found all over Iforthern Mexico. There are large sec- 

 tions where stones, cactus and thorny shrubs cover the thin soil, so that 



