The year 1860 marked an important change in the industry, which up to that time had been carried on in a very primitive manner. A large amount of fresh capital was put into sugar enterprises, new mills were built, the most approved machinery was installed and the factories were equipped with the best appliances that money could buy. The apparatus for some of the plants was brought from the United States, while that for others was supplied by European countries, so that the methods and workmanship of various nationalities are found in the Peruvian factories. No expense was spared in any department and all went well so long as the price of sugar kept up; what was easily made was liberally administered, but when in 1875 the market dropped, severe competition drove many operators into difficulties and a number of them went under entirely. The war with Chile in 1878 and the subsequent revolutionary disturbances impeded the progress of the industry, but a restoration of tranquillity came in 1895, and since then the sugar business of Peru has prospered and increased in volume. An experiment station was established near Lima in 1906 for the study of cane cultivation, irrigation problems and the improvement of yield and quality by the introduction of new varieties of cane. The manufacturing side of the question has also been gone into with great care, and much is being done to increase efficiency in that direction. Today there are 47 modern factories in Peru and 125,000 acres planted in sugar cane. Outside of these modern plants, crushing is also done in a crude manner in wooden-roller mills on small plantations that are scattered throughout the interior. The juice obtained in this way is worked up to _chancaca_[74] or _panela_ or made into an alcoholic beverage called _cañaso_ or _chacta_.