The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-01

just north of where I now am. 1t grows
in the river valleys after the sevens years
rain, which there is much heavier than at
Pacasmayo. AT such times the rivers flood
the country, bringing down rich slime from
the mountains, and when the rains have
ceased every one starts to planting cotton.
The demand for labor is such that many
people go there at the time of the rains for
the work which they know will be needed.
The wages paid are from % to 80 cents for
a day of ten hours. Raising this cotton
may be called the luxury of agriculture.
The soil is so rich that the plants do not
need manuring or tillage. The ground is
not plowed, but holes are dug for the
cotton seeds with a spade, and the seeds
covered up. A plant soon sprouts and the
planters know they are sure of three good
crops within the next year or SO. The first
crop natures in nine months and the others
follow. After these three crops there are
irregular crops from the same plant or tree
for a number of years. The trees grow to
a height of fifteen feet and more. All that
is necessary is to keep them trimmed and
pick the cotton. In the lands along the riv-
er which can be irrigated the crops are
regular, and from two to three crops a
year are common. The cotton ripens, in
AIGh S4lOQl VI LlO yCdlg Ain
you see buds, blossoms and cotton wool on
the same tree at the same time. In the
irrigated lands the cotton yields 300 and 400
pounds to the acre, and it is estimated that
the growing and baling cost about 81 gold
per bale. This cotton is very valuable 1t
now brings 10 cents a pound, and has
brought as high as % cents. 1t outsells any
other cotton on earth. for it is used as
wool The fhar iG mora HLa u-O0l than
cotton, and when it is ginned it would easily
pass for wool. 1t is used by the manu-
facturers of hats, hosiery, and underwear,
to mix with wool, and is said to give the
articles into which it goes finer luster, a
better finish, and to render them less liable
to shrink. The fiber is longer than any
other except the Sea island and the Egyp-
tan cotton. 1 am told that the area in
which it will grow is limited. Peru is now
raising considerable white cotton. The
first seed planted came, / am told, from
Egypt, and the product is said to be very
goods
SUNSET ON THE PACIFIC.
I almost despair of giving you a picture
Of the country along these little irrigated
valleys of Peru. Nature has painted things
differently here than in any other part OF
the world. Now you imagine yourself in
Egypt; at the next step you think of the
highlands of Mexico, and again are in
southern California or on the Pacific coast
of Asia. The very sky is different. l am
stopping here with Mr.. B. Fl. kaufflnann,
an Ohio man, who came to South America
twenty odd years ago, and who now has the
largest shipping and importing business of
this part of Peru. His house is on the
beach, and waves roll in with a surf like
+Io@ 80 Ia~+4 C;4r -, Co,n May TNxyar
evening the sun sets upon the waters be-
fore US in a blaze of color such as 1 have
never seen elsewhere. The tints are more
gorgeous than those of the Indian ocean.
and more soft and beautiful than those of
Italy or Greece. Such colors nave never
been put on canvas, and such scenic effects
are unknown in our part of the " |. The
changes of the sun at it's setting Won
derful. 1t looks twice as large in clear
air as at home, and as it sinks do en- to-
ward the sea the waters seem to pull it to
their surface, so that it assumes the form
of a. balloon. the lower end of which is
slowly submerged. A moment later the top
spreads out and you have a great golden
dome resting on the dark blue horizon. 1t
sinks lower, and the waters turn to gold
and silver and to the most delicate tints of
purple and red to match the soft bright col
ors of the skies. Last night, just before
the sun went down, we had double rain
bows in the Andes, though there was no
sign of rain here on the coast. The air is
so clear that you can see twice as far as in
the eastern parts of the United States, and
though it is now midsummer the heat is not
oppressive, and We have a steady sea
breeze every afternoon. There is no better
climate anywhere than this, and nature,
Notwithstanding the desert, has done much
for northern Peru.
l have never been in a and that has so
many varieties of fruits. We had nine
different kinds at our last dinner, all of
which were raised near here. There are
oranges, bananas, lines n lemons grow
ing almost side by side with peaches,
apples and pears. There are grapes as
hard and as luscious as those of California;;
cherries, plums, dates and figs. There are
watermelons and muskmelons, ava
mangoes and cherries. We nave also the
alligator pear, which has a flesh that looks
and tastes not unlike fresh butter and is
eaten with salt. Then there are the palta,
thetumbo and the papaya, and in some
places there are c%ocoanut and other species
of palm trees. In every little town and at
every railroad station there are women
peddling fruit, and the prices are such that
you can buy all that you can eat for a very
few cents. The coffee l drink here is made
from berries which come from the coffee
plants of a plantation near by, and the
sugar with which it is sweetened is ground
out on q sugar plantation not ten miles
away. Our milk and butter come from the
COWS on Mr.. Kauffmann's plantation, and
we have all sorts of vegetables from the
markets of Pacasmayo and the farmers
nearby. FRANK G. CARPENTER
SECESSION sCHOOLHOUsE.