The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1892-02-04
The Cotton Tree.

little, but it is already a Commercial
quantity Of no mean Importance. Ac
cording to the report of the American
minister, this staple sells for ten tt
twenty-five cents a pound in the English
markets, which take the whole crop. Ir
letter to the State department, Minister
Hicks, writing from Lima, says of this
industry:
"Next to wool comes the production Of
cotton, which amounts to about s3,0OO,.
900 annually and half q pence in the
English market, while the upland brings
from five to FIVE and half pence. The
cotton of Peru grows on tree instead Of
the dimutive shrub which grows in the
southern part Of the United States. The
tree commences bearing when it is two
years old, and it continues to bear every
year for forty or fifty years. In the warm
regions of the north two crops are gath
cred every year. England takes the
whole product.
"There are three oil mills in Peru
which grind the cotton seed, and their
entire product is used in this country in
the manufacture of soap and olive oil"
Mr.. P. NJ. Columbus, the United
States consul at Psyta, lives at the mouth
of the Chira River, right in the heart of
the rich cotton region of the Chira VAL
ley. he furnishes fuller and more in
teresting account of the cotton tree, and
gives some idea of its cultivation and
manufacture. In q special report upon
this industry he says
"After five years of drought this prov
ince and State are naturally depressed in
the way of commerce and all kinds of
industry. The valley of Chira forms
favorable exception. The production Of
the valley consists principally of native
Peruvian cotton.
"Gossypium herbaceum peruyianum,
an article used very extensively in Eu.
rope for the manufacture nf woollen
goods, with which it mixes readily, on
account of its rough, strong and long
fibre, is produced abundantly throughout
the State after the rainy seasons, which
are periodical, and occur generally every
seven years, and is cultivated always
along the banks Of rivers on lowlands
irrigated by the overflow of streams. The
plant is arborescent and perennial, and,
after fully developing, continues produc,
ing cotton for five or six years in success
sion, provided there be some moisture in
the ground, needing, however, very little
of it on account of its deep roofing, thus
reaching moisture at great depths. The
system of cultivation of this plant is
quite primitive, the seeds being planted
by making holes in the ground with
spades, without tilling or manuring The
soil. The plant becomes developed and
begins to bear cotton in dry and sandy
soil about six months after planting, and
about nine months in rich and wet land.
continuing to yield at short intervals fol
FIVE or six years more in succession. II
| is wonderful to behold the same plant in
blossom, with pods, buds and cotton, all
at the same time, and giving q continual
yield for the time above stated.
"In certain seasons of the year, about
every seveu years, the rains are incessan'
here for about two months both in the
interior and on the coast, and water de-
scends in such abundance rs to almost
inundate the country. Large torrents
stream down the mountain side, the val
Of the Chira is deluged, and fat lands
within it are turned into morasses, and
morasses ir.o lakes; in word, the low
land becomes submerged aud the accu-
mulated mass of waters rush with great
force down the central valley, which
forms their only outlet. The valley
however, is wide, and the descent very
gradual. The extent of the valley
through which the water flows is from
three to four miles wide, and though it i;
nearly two hundred miles in extent, the
valley for the whole distance is almost
level. There is only sufficient descent
especially for the last sixty miles, to de-
termine very gentle current to the sea
Under these circumstances the great
quantity of water proceeding from the
mountains expands over the whole val
ley, and forms, for time, an immense
lake, extending in length across the
whole breadth of the lowland.
"The rains generally case in March
but it requires from thirty. i've to Fifty
days for the water TO disappear and leave
the land dry. As soon as that is effected
there springs up from the whole surface
of the ground which has been thus sub
merged most uxuriant and rank vegeta-
ton.
"The soil is wonderfully rich, and hal
been under cultivation by the aborigineE
from time immemorial, and its fertility
is kept up unimpsired by the slime
(limus terrae) which is abundantly depos
tied during these foundations.
"Cotton is collected, when the pods
open. by women and children, who are
paid i'll proportion to the quantity col
lected, the prevailing rates being forty
cents for every quintal-lO0 pounds
Cotton is taken from the fields to the
ginning houses, where it is cleaned and
made iuto bales of about one hundred
and seventy five pounds each. We have
five Of such establishments in this prov
ince, one in Querecotillo, on the east side
of the river, about Fifty miles in the inte
rior, owned by an Englishman two ir
Sullana, city of about 1000 inhabitant'
on the west side OF the river, about forty
i've miles from the coast, owned by ma
| t;r.o ord tuo in ToHuoca q viI1ara NJ