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-
Peru is rich in the variety of fruit possibilities, but grapes and
olives are the only ones cultivated in a large way, with a view to
commercial profit. Olives grown in the south from imported trees are
said to excel those of Spain or California. About 70,000 pounds are
exported. The yield of oil is about 30 per cent; not enough is made for
home consumption. Large possibilities exist in this direction. Other
fruits grown are of course oranges, bananas, melons, pomegranates,
_paltas_, or _aguacates_, or as we call them, alligator pears,
fine as properly eaten, the half fruit with salad dressing inside;
_chirimoias_, when in perfection nothing better; strawberries nearly
all the year around at Lima, more like the wild fruit with delicate
flavor; prickly pears, peanuts, pears, cherries, etc.
=Vegetables= in great variety are raised, some like ours, others never
before met with. Potatoes in many varieties grow up to an altitude of
13,000 feet or more. The wild bitter tuber from which the varieties
were probably developed still grows wild. Enock says the yellow potato
(not sweet) is unrivalled for excellence, but I saw none superior to
the best of our white. Other tubers cultivated are the yam (three crops
a year), _manioc_, and others.
=Maize.= The best maize in the world, says Vivian, is grown in Peru;
but I am sure that he never ate any sweet corn in Rhode Island. Grown
in all parts of the country up to 11,500 feet, it is native, like
potatoes and cotton, and is one of the main stays of the country. Maize
and potatoes are the chief foods of the Indians. Parched corn is much
eaten on the plateau; it is most useful where bread is not to be had,
and often is to be preferred. Toasted maize is called _cancha_. Three,
sometimes four, crops are had annually. Food for man and beast, the
stalks used for fodder, it is all consumed in the country. That grown
near Cuzco is said to be of the finest quality, with grains the size of
large beans, a very thin pellicle, and very farinaceous. One district
in Lima produces 10,000 tons a year.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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