Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-07-19

Roiu, SILVER and tin, FUR OF the vicuna and chin
chilla, sleeps wool Chiefly alpaca, guano.
sarsapariila and spices. Formerly the wealth
OF the land lay in the mines, though these
are still very little developed. The best min
eral districts lie at long distances from the
cultivated provinces, almost the sole means
OF transport being beasts Of burden. Potosi,
once 30 celebrated for it's silver mines. lies at
an elevation of $1,000 feet above the sea. and
has present population of about 1900.
Oruro, at the same altitude, supplies its miners,
as does also Potosi with wheat, -four corn,
barley, meat and other necessities from the
market Of Cochabamba. The latter important
city, with its population of 10000 or more, lies
near the eastern plains, and, though at an ele-
Walton OF over 900 feet, has a most delightful
climate. The citizens of Cochabamba are
mostly half-breeds Of the Quichus race, thriv-
ing and industrious. but not famed for honesty
or sobriety.
The richly wooded region known as Yungas
is really the southwestern limit of the great
Amazonian forest. Watered by numerous
tributaries of the Madeira river system, il sur
passes most South American lands in fertility
and natural resources. If the projected rail-
way around the Madeira rapids is ever CON-
pleted 1t may enliven trade, as then the rich
agricultural country east of the Cordileras
VIII have easy access to the nsvigsble ANA
IONS, and thence By that great water way to
the Atlantic.
THE AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES
OF Bolivia comprise but three articles of conse-
quence, viz: coffee, chincona bark and cocoa.
The best coffee comes from the valley OF the
fungas. Though a very small white bean il Dos
sesses peculiarly delicate flavor and commando
higher price in market than any other. The
narrow valley, however, produces 12OOO arro-
bas year (25 pounds to the arroba), or about
one,fourth OF Bolivia's supply. The province
oi maprl produces three times as much, but
Its coffee brings less money. being of inferior
quality. The average value of Yungas' yearly
crop ls lOO,0O0 pesos aurana, or 81, 900 boiiyi-
anas, the dollars of the country. A bolIvi-
ana, by the way, is worth twenty-five
cents less than the ''sor' (dollar) of
ferui and the Bolivian peso is worth % cents
less than the boliviana, while every American
aoiar In gold or paper commands $3.50 in
BOLIVIAN currency. TO transport the Yungas
Gomez over the mountains to La Paz costs the
producer about two bolivianas and forty cents
per qulntal The average price of coffee at
La Paz is "a bolivianas per hundred weight,
while from the coast to Europe, all the way
around by sailing vessel, it Is only one bo-
hviana. Luckily there is no export duty on
Gomez, though at present barely enough is
grown Tor home consumption. Doubtless the
output Will soon be greatly increased, many
OF the largest chIncona planters are now plant
ing coffee instead of the quina tree, since the
latter has become literally "a drug on the
market"
PRODUCTION OF COFFEE.
Though the coffee bushes of this section sell
dom yield SO profusely as those of Costa Rica,
Mexico, &C., they begin bearing remarkably
early, bush two years old averaging half a
pound at picking, while an eight-year old
tree yields about two pounds. Rice, bananas,
pineappies, cocoa and sugar cane flourish be-
side the coffee, and among other useful products
OF the tropic wildernesses may be found the
copal Tree, whose resin is SO easily extracted.
1t Is used by the Indians for q variety of pur-
poses, including the lighting of their huts.
The production of chincona bark, or cascarilla
as 1t Is here called. from which the aikaloid
quinine is extracted, was for many years Bo-
hvlas most important industry in the agricul-
tural line; but during the last four years it has
proved Improbable, owing to competition In
Java and che British provinces in southern
Asia. That class of Individuals known at
hone as ''smart Alexis" are found
even In this out-of- the-way corner Of Gre
alton. One OF these is a certain Senior Shu-
croft, who was heavy planter of cascarilla a
few years ago, prosperous and presumably
happy. One unlucky day the idea struck him
OF sending q quantity of quina seed to his
home Rovernment-that Of Holland-thereby
getting himself into the papers and winning
the gratitude Of posterity. In uncalled-for
generosity he sent q very large amount of
seed, with minute directions for its treatment
derived from his own experience, and the sug-
gestion that experiments be made in Java
The remarkable success of chincona in that
island led the British government to encour-
age its planting in India, and already the bust
ness Is ruined everywhere by over-production.
Mr.. Shncroft received little gold medal from
the Dutch king in acknowledgment Of his en-
terprise, but at the same time he lost all his
fortune by having made valueless his own ex-
tensive cascarilla plantation.
DIFFICULTIES OF TRANSPORTATION.
Bolivia can never compete with those coun-
tries that now take the lead in chincona pro-
duction, because of her immense disadvantage
in the matter Of transportation. All her pro-
ducts must cross the successive cordilleras of
the Andes on their way to the sea, mostly on mule
osek, AZ cost OF transportation not less than
eleven bollvianas per hundred weight, an ex-
pense five times greater than that of carrying
it from the coast around Cape Horn to Europe.
On the other hand, the bark produced in
India and Java yields only two-thirds as much
sulphate OF quinine az that grown in this part
OF the world. Fully nine-tenths of Bolivias
cascarilla is OF the red variety, known as quina
morada As an example of the rapid depre-
citation in the price of bark may be mentioned
the Erickson plantation, which was valued at
l,5OO,o0o boiivianas five years ago and is now
offered for sale at less than quarter of that
amount, but cannot find purchaser
The number OF quina trees now under cult
Walton in Bolivia is said to exceed $4,000 600
about two-thirds Of them being in the prov
ince OF Mapiri, near the northern border, whose
Yungas cultivates half million trees and a
great many are grown in the Benz province,
farther to the east. 1t is impossible to get any
reliable statistics regarding Beni's productions,
because they all go to the eastern coast of the
continent via the Amazon and its tributaries
Indeed, there are no printed statistics of any
kind concerning Bolivia's exports or imports,
and no history of the country was ever written
except one small and very incomplete edition
In Spanish published forty years ago.
TREATMENT OF cHINcoNA
A. to the treatment of chincona-at this
distance from the equator IL will not grow at a
greater elevation than 5000 feet nor lower
than 5000. The seeds, which are sown in beds.
are 90 very small, lighter than the ightest
them away, necessitating great care in the
handling. When the plants are about one foot
high they are transplanted five or ak feet
apart to the sunny side Of . mountain. 1t is
asserted that virgin soil is absolutely necessary
and that the addition of any kind OF fertilizer
would be ruinous Twice every year the earth
between the trees is slightly disturbed by the
primitive plows Of the country, and that il an
the cultivation" they require. At the age of
eight years the trees are ready to strip, or il
the owner is hard up, as is usually the case. n
part OF them may be utilized sooner and young
plants put in their places. In some sections
1t 10 customary to remove from each tree about
quarter OF its bark every year, bat here the
tree Is cut down to the ground, its trunk and
and larger limbs peeled and the smallest
branches carefully scraped clear to the leaves
An eightyear-0ld tree yields from twelve 10
fifteen pounds of bark, which in the present
depressed state Of trade ID worth only about
seventy-6ve cents.