This third climatic zone, embracing parts of the tableland, is capable of producing all the varieties of wheat, and does actually produce some, and the cultivation of this cereal is being extended. The maguey, or agave, is a staple product, yielding the famous pulque beverage, and indeed the lands which produce this intoxicant might well be, in the national interests, applied to the growing of wheat. The growing of the grape-vine, potatoes, beans, and other valuable products are sources of industry upon the plateau. Cotton leads in importance.
As regards the natural conditions of vegetation throughout the country, it is estimated that there exist some 5,700 square miles of dense forest, 250,000 square miles of well-timbered land, and about 500,000 square miles of uncultivated land. Mexican authorities state that "the regions of Oaxaca and Chiapas have no rival, not even Brazil, in the possibilities of production of excellent grades of coffee, in unlimited quantities; that the plateau can produce unlimited quantities of wheat, even to supply foreign markets; that Vera Cruz, Tabasco, and Tepic are capable of replacing Cuba in the quality and quantity of its tobacco; and that the northern states could supply food for millions of cattle." Yet, notwithstanding these conditions, the export trade of produce is almost nil, nor are the general methods of agriculture but backward as a rule. There are several causes for this—the lack of roads and railways, the lack of labour; and the general ignorance of the farming population. All these reasons are officially adduced, and strong efforts are constantly made by the Government to encourage agricultural development. Trustworthy information is supplied to the farmers, and seeds and cuttings of imported plants—olives, vines, fruit-trees, flax, tobacco, &c.—are gratuitously distributed.
The indiscriminate and wasteful felling of forests is now being restricted by the authorities to some extent. Great areas have already been denuded, and it is stated that this has had some undesirable effect on the rainfall in certain regions. The natives of the more remote districts—as in the States of Vera Cruz, Guerrero, &c., are abominably wasteful in timber-cutting, sacrificing whole trees for the obtaining of a single plank at times. There is a nomadic race of Indian agriculturists in Guerrero who destroy large areas of forest every year, burning the trees to plant corn upon spaces which they never use for two years in succession. These nomadic timber-destroyers are known as Tlacoleros, and they are extremely timid and superstitious in their dealings with the white men.
Mexico, like other Western American states, is a country whose agriculture depends much upon artificial irrigation. Whilst much good work has been carried out in this field, much remains to be done; and the want of irrigation works is almost as serious a drawback as the want of labour. The singular topographical formation of Mexico has robbed it of natural irrigation facilities—steep slopes facing the oceans and a high riverless plateau war against the retention and absorption of the rain-waters, and the run-off is consequently excessively rapid. Nevertheless proper storage of water in reservoirs during times of heavy rain, especially upon the great plateau, could accomplish much, and such enterprises should be exceedingly profitable, for, in certain regions, water is almost "worth its weight in silver." In another place I have made mention of the irrigation system of the River Nazas, which may be compared to the Nile on a small scale. The waters of this river, in times of normal flow, are entirely exhausted by the numerous irrigation canals which lead therefrom, traversing the plains for many miles, and conducting water to the large cotton plantations for which the region is famous. This region is known as "La Laguna," and its great area and depth of fertile soil are the result of an ancient lake-basin. So valuable is the water here that not many years ago feuds were common between the large cotton-growers of the district, who continually strove to deprive each other of the water in order to benefit themselves. Blowing-up of diverting dams and weirs with dynamite even took place, and things reached such a pitch that the Government were obliged to step in and establish a controlling "River Nazas Commission," under whose administration a proper regimen of the waters and irrigation system was enforced. Among the great estates of this region may be mentioned that of Tlahualilo, with which British enterprise is connected. The canal belonging to this company is some fifty miles long, and has a large flowing capacity, and there are numerous others of less volume. I spent some time in this interesting region, and so became acquainted with its peculiar conditions. The Nazas rises in the mountains, and has no outlet to the sea, as elsewhere described; and, dry in the dry season, its bed becomes a raging flood in the wet, a spate or wave of water filling it up from bank to bank, 300 feet wide, in half an hour. This great flood principally runs to waste in the Parras lagoon, and were its waters diverted and stored at higher elevations they would be of incalculable value in the increase of the available cotton-growing area. A project is on foot at present for a work of this nature, a barrage on the Nazas.
The name Tlahualilo, a liquid-flowing aboriginal designation, means "The Devil"! The river gives life to dozens of large cotton-growing haciendas, whose owners have become millionaires, as a rule, thanks to this miniature Nile of the Nazas. In this region scientific canal construction has, of late years, been well carried out, but formerly methods were very primitive. On one occasion I was riding with a hacendado friend over his estate, when we crossed the bed of a canal—dry and unused—which wound over the plain. "What is this?" I asked. In reply he informed me that it had been designed to irrigate a large tract of land, but the levels were wrong. In earlier times there were no engineers in the region, and irrigation canals were made by the primitive method of continually pouring water on the ground, or opening a little furrow and letting it run, and then following its course with the construction of the canal! This had been done, but for some reason an error had been made at the starting-point, and the whole work rendered useless. In justice to this primitive method of canal-levelling it must be stated that successful aqueducts were generally made, although naturally their course was often exceedingly tortuous and much longer than would have been indicated by the theodolite and level of the engineer.
In the tropical parts of Mexico water is also of great value at times for the irrigation of sugar-cane, as important an industry as cotton, and long lines of canal are constructed for this purpose, but under greater difficulties, due to the broken nature of the ground. Conditions of this nature are found in the State of Morelos, on the Pacific slope, where I stayed for a period, and great tracts of rich soil are irrigated for cane, and are exceedingly profitable. In the future a vigorous and scientific development of irrigation will greatly increase the agricultural wealth of the country in all its sections. Agriculture on a large scale is very profitable, and the owners of haciendas are generally men of wealth and position.
A Mexican country house, or hacienda, is often a picturesque and interesting habitation. It is not, however—like such residences in England—only a dwelling-place and home, but is at the same time a centre of industry. Surrounding it are great plantations of sugar-cane, cotton, maguey, or other agricultural products which the particular region may afford, and the great outbuildings comprise the warehouses, machinery sheds, and indeed the whole plant for the treatment of the product, whilst, near at hand, are the numerous huts of the peones, or agricultural labourers, to whose work the cultivation of the estate is due. The house itself is often of quaint aspect, and of some architectural pretension; Moorish-looking arches and cornices, and turrets and columns, balconies and verandas, generally of solid masonry in the wealthy haciendas, are set there to defy all time. Indeed, many of these have already resisted the ravages of centuries, and the great thickness of the walls arrests the traveller's attention. The roofs—flat in some cases—are generally covered with red pan-tiles dug and baked near at hand. Perhaps a small chapel adjoins; aqueducts and stone channels convey a sparkling stream of water from the canal communicating with the distant river, and a profuse garden surrounds the whole.
In this great garden are all Mexico's tropical fruits—pomegranates, oranges, limes, chirimoyas, ahuacates, figs, grapes, and a host of others, and you may wander beneath their grateful shade and take your fill. Above them, perhaps the tall, slender columns, and graceful, feathery foliage of the cocoanut palms rear. And over all is the blue dome of the Mexican sky. It is a peaceful scene, not without something of allurement.
The interior ménage is more primitive than that of European houses, and often presents a singular whole in its abundance and crudeness combined. But hospitality ever reigns there, and the foreigner is always welcome. The production at present of Mexico's staple articles of agricultural nature is as follows:—
Cotton.—Before the time of the Aztecs cotton was cultivated in Mexico, and cotton-spinning carried out. The quilted cotton armour of the natives excited the attention of the Conquistadores, and they even adopted it themselves. Mexico has lands of cotton-producing adaptability, it is stated, greater than the United States; nevertheless she imports cotton therefrom in considerable quantities. The consumption of raw cotton in the country is estimated at more than 100,000 bales annually, of which half is produced in the country, principally upon the Nazas, the yearly value of whose crop amounts to some two millions sterling. Other states, however, also produce cotton, or are capable of large production. The total value for the recent annual production is given at about £3,400,000.