A MEXICAN FARM. 
49 
When the hedges have acquired a proper height, 
they should be kept well trimmed, and if desira¬ 
ble, they may be cut into fanciful figures, which 
the English call topiary work. 
The plants for one rod of hedge set in two rows, 
and six inches apart, will cost about $1, when 
bought at $3 per hundred, and will last half a 
century and upward. B. 
A MEXICAN FARM. 
As we were disappointed in getting some cuts 
finished in time for this No., we are obligingly 
furnished by Mr. Winchester, the publisher of 
Mexico As It Was and As It Is, with a sketch of 
a farm and volcanoes in the distance, in this sur¬ 
prisingly rich agricultural country. The vicinity 
and part of the ascent to the volcanoes is thus de¬ 
scribed :— 
The southern slope of Popocatepetl appeared 
to offer our travellers the easiest ascent, and, ac¬ 
cordingly, having obtained three Indian guides 
from the Alcalde, and an escort of two soldiers, 
for the wilds of the forest, they set forth on their 
perilous journey early on the morning of the 22d 
of May. Their way led through a tangled wilder¬ 
ness of plants and trees. After passing a number 
of barrancas, the sides of which were covered with 
The Volcanoes from Tucubaya, and a Mexican Farm.—(Fig. 8.) 
beautiful pines standing out in relief against the 
bright snows above them; and being compelled 
to cut a way through the matted forest with their 
swords and Indian axes, they reached, about noon, 
the rancho of Zacapalco. The owner was absent 
from home, but they found the extensive pastur¬ 
ages round his house filled with cattle, and pro¬ 
tected by a guard from the wolves and lions with 
which the woods are infested. As there was no 
one in the dwelling to make them welcome, they 
took the liberty to help themselves to the grazier’s 
utensils, and dined most comfortably at the up¬ 
land farm. The air was chilly, and respiration 
had already become difficult. 
After their meal they bade farewell to part of 
their company, and with the Indians and two ser¬ 
vants, continued their upward course on horseback, 
notwithstanding the increasing heaviness of the 
sand. In two hours they attained the limit of 
vegetation, when they saw but a few pines, whose 
gnarled and twisted branches exhibited scarcely 
a sign of verdure. At this spot our travellers 
found a wide desert of black volcanic sand, cover¬ 
ed with fragments of pumice. The volcano lies 
about 60 miles from the city of Mexico, and after 
Chimborazo, is the highest peak on this conti¬ 
nent. 
Some small singing-birds flew by them, and the 
plants they had observed in the course of their as¬ 
cent thus far were the salvia, baccharis, acacia, 
cestrum, asclepias, iresine, arbutus, eupatorium, 
hedyotis, viburnum, coroepsis, myosotis grandiflora, 
myosotis flor. alb., stachys, lobelia, stevia, leonia- 
salvifolia, cenotera, fuchsia, and achyrophorus 
roseus. Those nearest the limit of vegetation 
were the chelone gentianoides, amaryllis minuta, 
phselia, castilleja, lupin us-vaginatus, ribes odora» 
turn, and arenaria bryoides. 
