The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-02
THE FARM WORKERS OF CHILE
THEY WORK FOR TWENTY CENTS a
DAY AND GET DRUNK WEEKLY.
Live I'm Huts Little Better than PIG
Pens-Their Terrible Mortality
and Wonderful strength.
Copyright. 1895. BY Frank G. carpenter.l

feudal lords upon their great estates and
number their retainers by the hundred.
They have focks of thousands of sheep, vast
droves of cattle and horses, and their cow
boys are massed like army at the annual
round-ups. They raise every year over 2S,-
100000 bushels of wheat, millions of gallons
of wine and the finest horses and best cat
tie on the western coast of this continent.
Some of them have the most modern ma
chinery, and men who own dozen <smeri-
can threshing machines are not uncommon.
Fully one-half of the population OF Chile
is devoted to agriculture, but only these
nabobs are the land owners. In the whole
United States. with it's 75 100000 inhabitants,
only $1,000 men own farms of 1000 acres and
| over. Here thousand-acre farm is little
more than a garden patch. 1 meet daily
men who have ten, twenty and thirty thou.
sand acres of land and 1 have visited 8
number of estates worth more than $1,000
OO0 1 have geography of Chile just pub.
lished. which gives the government valua.
lions of the farms of each province. There
are hundreds in nearly every state worth
over 500 co., and in the country there are
scores valued at more than million. I am
now at the little railroad farming town OF
San Rosendo, in the central valley of Chile.
| San Rosendo is about 800 miles south OF
| Santiago and about 1900 miles south Of the
| Peruvian frontier.
| In coming here 1 rode through one Of the
| chief agricultural sections of the country
| This valley is from twenty to one hundred
miles wide and about six hundred miles9
long. 1t extends from above Santiago to-
| hundreds of miles south of this point. On
the east of it are the snowy walls of the
Andes, with here and there the great cone
| of a dead volcano rising above the other
| peaks, and on the west are the lower
mountains and hills of the coast range,
their sides covered with green. Between
these almost parallel but winding walls
lies the rich valley of Chile. It's surface is
rolling and it is cut by many creeks and
little rivers. which, fed by the Andean
SHOWS, carry with them to the sea loads OF
silt so rich that it makes fat every inch
of soil upon which it drops.
In some streams, such as the Mapo, the
amount of silt is great that it is said to
coat the lands by the irrigation canals to
depth of an inch year. Other streams,
such as the Bio-bio and some streams of
south Chile, are almost as clear as crystal.
The whole of the valley north of this point
is irrigated and the country is like a vast
garden made up of fields divided by canals
along which hedges of Lombardy poplars
have grown to the height of sixty feet and
more.
Some of the estates are walled with stone
and it is only occasionally that you see
fences of wire or boards. There are no
barns standing out on the landscape and
the only buildings are the great low ram
bling structures of the owner OF the estate
and the mean squalid houses Of the labor
ers, which I shall describe more fully
further on. Oxen everywhere take the
place of horses or mules. Clumsy carts
drawn by these beasts with yolxes tied to
their horns are the farm wagons and the
plows are forced through the furrow by the
same motive power. The estates were, as a
rule well kept. I passed vast vineyards,
the vines of which, now covered with the
red leaves of winter. spotted the landscape
with fields of blood. The vines were dwarf
ed as they are in France, and in many
cases were trained upon wires Every
vineyard has. am told, its skilled French
man as superintendent. The vines are
planted in rows about five feet apart ana
oxen are used to pillow them. The Chilean
wines, both white and red are excellent,
and the amount exported every year is in
creasing. The climate of Chile is just about
the same as that of California. The same
crops and fruits are raised in both places.
and the conditions of successful farming
are about the same, save that in California
you find most Of the farms very small.
HOW ONE WOMAN FARMS.
What would one of the California women
who tells you that forty acres are more
than enough for one person to take care Of
think If she were asked to manage farm
worth a million dollars and comprising
more than eleven thousand acres? There is
a woman who owns an estate Of this size
near Santiago. She directs il herself. and
this, Notwithstanding she is now conssdSr-
ably over three score and ten. She keeps
her own books. the balances Of each page
of which run into the thousands OF dollars.
and at the same time manages all the de-
tails connected with her household and its
numerous guests. This woman is to me one
of the remarkable characters of Chile Her
name is Sonora Emilia Herrera de Toro.
She belongs to one OF the oldest families OF
Chile. and the estate has been in her fam
lily for hundreds OF years. 1t lies within two
hours by train of Santiago, and, as Is the
case with most of the wealthy farmers Of
this country the family live upon it only
during the summer months. spending their
winters in their home at the capital. It was
in company with our American minister
and his wife that I visited Madame De
Toro and had one of the most pleasant and
interesting experiences / have had during
my stay in Chile
Leaving Santiago on the train. we rode
under the snow walls of the Andes, through
hacienda after hacienda. by vast vineyards
Of blood-red vines by walled fields filled
with herds of cattle and sheep until we
came TO the station of the 'Aguila'' estate.
Here we were met by spanking team Of
bays and driven for mile or so on the
estate before we came TO the home. rhia
consisted of many long. low one-story build
ings. with roofs OF red tiles ana vida
porches aoored with brick. running about
patios and gardens. A grove ef trees at
least one hundred feet high looked down
upon It. and the long leaves OF 4 great palm
hundred years old restled welcome
40 stepped upon the porch. There were
judge. At least one hundred large roof'f.
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