Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1864-02-25
Cotton in Peru.


granted that the account is correct, it
shows that there is vast amount of
country in which cotton can be grown
very successfully besides the rebellious
states. The Southern Confederacy, like
many individuals, who have attempted to
usurp crowns and authority, has lost its
head by assuming prerogative rights to
which it has no title that COTTON"
was king: a94
But five times in the history of Brit
ish manufactures has the cotton import
exceeded the figure of 1000, 200, 600
pounds or two and half million bales
Thelast of these years was 1861. In 1862
more than half that quantity was i'm
ported and an English estimate has just
been made of moro than 1000, 100000
pounds for the year 1864, of which 72O,-
100000 or l,8OO, 600 bales is expected
from India. Does not this look like a
solution of the cotton question without
the aid Of the United States?
Even new and wild regions, where its
systematic culture was never known, are
opening up cotton trade under the ex-
banding influence of high prices. For
instance, Peru, where the plant becomes
perennial, tree 20 to 25 feet in height,
throwing out biennial crops for ten or
twelve years. This wild cotton was
bought of the Indians for six or seven
cents two years ago, though it has now
advanced to twenty, the savages being
shrewd enough to learn its approaching
value.
The Department of Agriculture has
In possession an interesting description
OF the inception Of real cotton cultiva-
tioa there, in document received thro'
the State Department, from which we
are permitted to make the following ex-
tract, relative to the enterprise of an
English gentleman, who employed a
civil engineer, Alfred Duvall, of Balti-
more, to lay out plant ation in the rich
valley of Chira.
THE valley of the Chira is a river
bottom, averaging more than two miles
in width, extending from the Bay of the
Andes, and susceptible of irrigation from
small river that winds through its
rich alluvial deposits. The Chira is
perhaps the longest river, and the val
ley presents the finest soil for the cult
walton Of cotton on the western side of
the Andes, This spotwas selected, and
bya free outlay of,capital, several hun
dred acres of land, neglected wilderness,
in an incredibly short time have been
turned into magnificent and productive
cotton lands. The water is raised by
expensive machinery and led by ingeni-
Gus devices and gigantic eauseways in
such a manner as to insure abundant
crops by. unfailing irrigation. Although
1T is not two. years since the first blow
was struck upon the virgin soil, the next
steamer, | am informed, will take to
Eng land quantity of cotton which is
valued at from $4,000 to $15,O O0.-
This is the first pickings of cotton plants
grown from seed planted within nine
months"
AT Carrasquilla, a similar gigantic
enterprise is undertaken, and nearly
completed, involving the excavation OF
a canal six feet wide, and in places cut
through twenty or thirty feet in depth
of rock, for irrigation.
In many other localities, the planting
of cotton has been successfully com
menced. The Egyptian and Sea Island
grow we'll there and the wild varities
improve under cultivation.
He refers to the Andes as being GOV.
cred here with vegetation, green as the
hills of Vermont, to The summit. Cat
tie were found ranging not far from the
main passes of the Sierra. Reaching the
summit, an immense valley forty miles
in width, stretching to the eastward to
another ridge, whose eastern face slopes
down to the plains of Brazil. In this
valley, between these ranges, flows the
river Huaucabamba, one of the head wa
ter tributaries to the Amazon.
The view is represented as beautiful
and the soil very fertile. A striking
fact was the abundance and great luyu-
rance of new varities of plants and
flowers. Scarcely less striking was the
extent of cultivation by Indians in this
region. The slopes and bottoms are al
ready cut up into plantations and gar
dens.
The climate is mild, rain frequent. the
periodical rains unfailing, and chanaels