The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-02-24

| believe, in the British Meseum In
London.
l find the desert Of Peru wonderful
~ interesting. Parts of it are rocky.
like much of the Sahara. ard many
parts OF II have as fine sand as that
which surrounds the pyramids on the
banks of the Nile. In some places
the sand gathers in drifts or great
mounds and these mounds are in the
shape OF a crescent. They are made
of millions OF millions Of little grains
OF sand not as large as a mustard
seed, which the winds roll up over
the top of the crescent. These sand
pounds travel always in the direc-
ton OF the winds, which are here to-
ward the NORTH. They clint over
the Mills n make their way through
the valleys. They will not stop for
roads or railroads. and they are the
terror Of the civil engineer. Some of
the railways that cross the desert
AVE been swallowed up by them
again and again, and i, is impossible to
keep them back by such
ments as our snow sheds or fences.
They have to be shoyeled out for tho
trains to pass, and the track be relaid
until they have @one on
Such sane hills often cover he
paths of the desert. and the blowing
sand frequently blots out the land
marks.
l have spoken of Paita as a port
that will furnish cuisines for the
Panama canal. The town has a rail
road to the Piura valley, which is
about sixty miles inland: and | an,
told that this DAD might be extended
a distance Of 400 miles over the An
des and onnect with the Marano,,
river, one of the great tributaries Of
n Amazon. This extension would
put Paita in close connection with
the upper Amazon valley; it would
bring Il OF the nos fertile parts Of
South America right at her door, an.
make it a feeder for the Panam;
canal.
AS it is now, the Piura valley prom.
sizes to furnish a big export of cot
ton. 1t is there that grow the fam
Gus native cotton Of Peru, a cottol
which brings s or I cents a pount
more in u markets than that W.
: raise in America, and that is shipped
to the United States by the thousan,
:. of bales. The native Peruvian cottol
> is sometimes called vegetable wool
: 1t has a long fiber, and it is very Xix
. wool in it's texture. We use it t
mix with wool for the making of hats
: hosiery and underwear. 1t is aid t
' give the cloth a liner luster and t
:, render it less liable to shrink.
Indeed, this land seems to be tn
home of the cotton plant. 1t wa
growing here when Pizarro came, an
= people who lived long before tn
q Incas. The native cotton grows on
tree which will cOntine to yield fe
y twenty years after plantig. 1t
= usually at it's best at three years, az
u after hat it begins to decline. tt
"" common method of planting is to p,
the seeds in the ground with a sticl
and let the trees reach a height OF s
or eight feet. After that they al
cut back from year to year in orde
- hat the crOp may be the more east
- gathered. On other plantations
- single sowing is allowed to d. *
- several annual crops. The cotton b.
. gins to ripen about ten months aft
y it is planted, and the principal vie,
- is obtained when the plants a.
- twenty months old.
- The picking is lone by the nati'
y men, women and children, who al:
- sort the cotton by color before it
- ginned. I say by color, for much
- this Peruvian cOttOnAS brown OF re
." The brown cotton INC White cote
- grow on the same tree; and the
- may be brown and white lint in Il
same boil. The colored cotton
~ largely sold to the Indians, who u
-. it for their ponchos and halnmocks.
g In addition to this native Peruvis
cotton, they are now growing Anne
" lean upland cotton and Sea Island &C
9 ton from American seed. The Sea |
land cotton has but a small acreae
:. and it's production is confined to Sc
eral small valleys. The American &C
ton will yield here for three yea
no without ~repianting. At present t
a u cotton exports OF Peru amour
something like 100000 bales year
III About $4,000 bales Of this product
consumed at home. There are sew
cotton factories scattered here a
ll there Owe the country, five Of the
W being in the city Of Lima.
~ The Peruvian steamer upon viii
a. [ am sailing has brought here u
~ bargeiOads of galvanized iron pipe a.
III Of eight-inCh COaSt-iron castings I
the Lobitos oil regions up the Goa
ne The pipe comes from the Nation