Industrial and commercial South AmericaPeck, Annie S. (Annie Smith)
History
Industrial and commercial South America
Peck, Annie S. (Annie Smith)
South America; South America -- Economic conditions -- 1918-
Lines quoted as under construction by the Peruvian Government in
1919 are that from Chimbote up the Huailas Valley to Recuay, already
referred to, which when completed will be immediately profitable, the
continuation of the road from Huancayo to Cuzco, now open 30 miles from
the former city; and the Cuzco to Santa Ana just mentioned. A short
line recently opened from Lima to Lurín, crossing the Pachacamac River,
brings two fertile valleys with their fruit and vegetables into close
connection with the capital. Lurín is but 16 miles from the suburb
Chorillos, which for some years has had railway service. The ancient
pre-Inca ruins at Pachacamac are now easily accessible.
The Longitudinal or Pan American Railway, crossing all the others,
would come in at the north from Cuenca and Loja in Ecuador, continuing
to Huancabamba, Jaen, and Cajamarca in that Department, thence down the
valley to the Santa River, there joining the railway to Recuay, which
will be prolonged to Goyllarisquisga. By this time the connection will
be complete to Cuzco, and so to La Paz, La Quiaca, and Buenos Aires.
CHAPTER XXIII
PERU: RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES
AGRICULTURE
While for centuries Peru has been celebrated as a land of marvelous
mineral riches, especially of gold and silver, nevertheless, in spite
of her desert shore, her bleak table-land, and her undeveloped montaña,
like California, her chief wealth is in her agriculture. What the
figures say about the exports is easily ascertainable; but though
corroborating this statement they do not tell all the story, since most
of the mineral production is exported, while the greater part of the
agricultural stays at home. Of the latter, sugar is the leading product.
=Sugar= grows along the coast and, where opportunity offers, up to
a height of 4500 feet; in the montaña to a height of 6000 feet. At
present most of it is raised near the coast. The Chicama Valley, famed
for its splendid estates, produces more sugar than the entire Island of
Porto Rico, and this of the finest quality. In the temperate, equable
climate, the cane matures early and may be cut all the year around.
It is unusually rich in sucrose. Some estates are 15-20 miles square,
producing 15,000-30,000 tons each; 50-60 tons of cane to the acre is
quite usual. The cane is cut and ground from 18 to 24 months after
planting, and being cut throughout the year instead of during four or
five months only, the same amount of work may be done with far less
machinery and fewer laborers. In places a two months suspension is
made, when the river is full, to attend to irrigation and to clean or
repair machinery, etc.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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