Page:A Study of Mexico.djvu/131

Rh in June and lasts about four months, there is a plentiful rainfall for Central and Southern Mexico; but in Northern Mexico the rainfall, for successive years, is not unfrequently so deficient as to occasion large losses, both in respect to stock and to crops. For the remainder of the year, or for some eight months, little or no rain falls, and the climatic characteristic is one of extreme dryness. During the most of the year, therefore, the whole table-land of Mexico is mainly dependent for its water-supply upon a comparatively few springs and storage-reservoirs; and Agriculture can not be generally carried on without resorting to some form of irrigation. One rejoinder to what may be an unfavorable inference from these statements has been the counter-assertion that "in the immediate neighborhood of the large cities enough grain is raised by irrigation to keep constantly more than a year's extra supply ahead to provide against a possible failure of crops"; and, further, that the storage capacity of the existing reservoirs of Mexico might easily be increased, and thus greatly extend the area of land capable of cultivation. But, admitting this, how great must be the obstacles in the way of developing any country where there is a liability to an almost entire failure of the crops from drought; and where the small agricultural