CHAPTER IV. 



Agriculture — Agricultural Products 



AGRICULTURE DRY AND RAINY SEASONS. IRRIGATION YIELD 



OF CORN LANDS. COLONIAL RESTRICTIONS. COLONIAL DE- 

 PENDENCE BAD INTERCOMMUNICATION ARRIEROS. CORN 



LANDS DIFFERENT KINDS OF CORN IN MEXICO MODE OF 



CULTIVATION PRODUCTION VARIOUS USES OF CORN. BA- 

 NANA MAINOC RICE. THE OLIVE VINE CHILE PEPPER 



TOMATO FRIJOL MAGUEY. MAGUEY ESTATES. MAK- 

 ING PULQUE. ALOES CACTI. 



Sun, seasons, temperature, soils and moisture are the chief ele- 

 ments of agricultural success or failure, according as they are bene- 

 ficially harmonized or unfortunately disunited. In our geological 

 and geographical descriptions we have already indicated the rapid 

 changes of temperature in Mexico experienced by rising gradually 

 from the sea shore to the summit of the table land, and passing 

 through the tierras calientes, templadas and frias. This is the 

 origin of the variety of Mexican productions and the reason why 

 the pine and the palm are encountered upon the same parallel of 

 latitude ; but the fertility of Mexico is very much governed by the 

 moisture with which it is annually favored, and for which it is 

 obliged to rely chiefly on the clouds. The Mexicans are not ac- 

 customed to separate the year as we do into the four seasons of 

 spring, summer, autumn and winter, for the variation of tempera- 

 ture scarcely authorizes such marked distinctions of climate ; yet 

 they divide the twelve months into two grand divisions of El Es- 

 tio — or the dry season, and La Estacion de las aguas, or the rainy 

 season. The latter commences about May and lasts usually four 

 months, whilst the dry season comprises the remainder of the year. 



The curving shores of Mexico along the gulf and interior high- 

 lands gather and hem in an immense body of vapor, which is car- 

 ried on by the trade winds and condensed against the cold and lofty 

 inland mountain peaks which rise above the limit of perpetual con- 

 gealation. This occurs during the dry season whilst the sun is at 

 the south. But when the power of that luminary increases as it 

 advances northward, and until it has long turned back again on its 

 southern course, these vapors are dissolved by the hot intertropical 

 air and descend, almost daily, in fertilizing showers. The forma- 



