the line takes a northwesterly direction, and, passing the station of Chico (344 kilometres), reaches Irapuato (353 kilometres). A diligence connects at the latter town with La Piedad and Barca, and thence to Lake Chapala. The population of Irapuato is about 12,000.
The track now ascends in approaching Villalobos (370 kilometres), and the next station is Silao (383 kilometres).
SILAO.
Population, about 10,000; elevation, 6,910 feet.
Hotel.—Hidalgo. Also an excellent restaurant kept by a Frenchman opposite the station.
The town lies in a district where two crops of wheat and maize are grown annually. Irrigation is necessary, however, and the water is commonly raised from the ditches by a rude bucket-wheel worked by man-power.
The wheat-harvest is thirty-five and forty for one, and sometimes even as high as fifty or sixty to one. In the farms that are properly irrigated, the wheat is twice watered: first, when the young plant springs up in the month of January; and, secondly, in the beginning of March, when the ear is on the point of developing itself. Sometimes even the entire field is inundated before sowing. This method resembles the mode of cultivation of the cereals in lower Egypt. (Vide p. 95.)
A branch road leads to Guanajuato, 23 kilometres distant. This town is situated in the low range of mountains that forms the northern boundary of the plain. The intervening region has an undulating surface, and very little vegetation except the nopal. The branch track runs northeasterly, and the upward grade is heavy. It was finished in November, 1882. The line is built as far as Marfil (18 kilometres). At this station, both stage-coaches and horse-cars connect with Guanajuato, 5 kilometres distant. The fare in the former is 25 cents for each passenger
