Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 1.djvu/69

Rh Maize may be cultivated to almost any extent in Mexico: but a great deal of the land which was devoted to this purpose before the Revolution, has been neglected since 1810, in consequence of the suspension of mining operations, which regulate the demand everywhere, except in the immediate vicinity of the great bishoprics, and the capital.

Some idea of the consumption in the mining districts may be formed by the fact, that, in Guănăjūātŏ alone, fourteen thousand mules were in daily use, all of which were fed on maize, straw and zăcātĕ, the maize-stalk dried, of which all animals are fond. There was a similar demand, in a more or less extended circle, around each of the other mining towns, so that the agricultural prosperity of the country depended in a great measure upon the prosperity of the mines; while the labours of the miner, on the other hand, were never carried on with such facility, or to such an extent, as when a succession of favourable years, by placing an abundant supply of agricultural produce, at moderate prices, within his reach, enabled him to augment his establishment in such a manner as to reduce even the poorer ores with profit. A great rise in the price of maize, affected the mining interests almost as much as a rise in the price of quicksilver; and, were a table drawn up of the years most productive in mineral riches, they would be found to tally exactly with those which are recorded as most abundant in the agricultural annals of the country. But