354 PLAN FOR GROWING CORN. 



worse conducted, method of obtaining their 

 services for the government. 



The Alcalde submitted to my inspection a 

 plan for grov^ing corn in the vicinity of 

 Ibague. He had obtained the names of 

 many of the most respectable families in the 

 neighbouring districts. He divided it into 

 fifteen shares, of two hundred dollars each, 

 one of which I took, suggesting some alter- 

 ations and improvements, which he adopted. 

 He proposed only to sow a part of the plain, 

 in the first instance; having, however, secur- 

 ed the option of having the whole. He had 

 found from experiments that the soil was 

 well calculated for agriculture, and had pro- 

 duced excellent grain. About one hundred 

 and thirty years since, these plains were 

 all corn-lands, and the superiority of their 

 produce such as to incur the jealousy of the 

 Viceroy of the kingdom of New Grenada ; 



