Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 1.djvu/71

Rh slope of the Cordillera, experience has shown that, from, perhaps, too great a luxuriancy of vegetation, the ear will not form.

About Jalapa, (678 toises above the level of the sea) it is severely sown to be used as green forage for cattle. At Perote (530 toises higher) it seems to find its proper level, and continues from thence without interruption towards the north, where a less degree of elevation is required, in every succeeding parallel, to produce it, until, in California, it may be found in the lowest valleys. On the Table-land, want of water is the great difficulty with which the farmer has to contend: wherever the ground affords any facility for irrigation, his crops are sure to succeed, but where this is not the case, the natural fertility of the soil becomes almost a secondary consideration; as the success or failure of the crop depends, entirely, upon the timely commencement of the rainy season. In Mexico our division of the year into four separate periods, is unknown. They have no distinction but the Rainy season, (Estacion de las aguas) which commences about the end of May, and lasts four months; and the Dry season, (el Ēstīŏ) which comprises all the rest of the year.

The rain begins on the Vera Cruz coast, and spreads gradually from East to West, in the direction of the trades; but its commencement is very uncertain, and whenever the dry season is prolonged beyond the middle of June, the Cerealia, and the maize, suffer severely, unless artificial means are employed