Omaha daily bee., 1914-08-16

ton lands OF the future. The people have
been experimenting with seed from
America and Egypt and they find that
they can grow cotton all the way from
5000 or 1900 feet above the sea down
ward Indeed some good cotton Is being
raised In the depressions OF the high
plateau OF the Andes and on the slopes
that lead down into the valleys. Some
has been grown even at two miles above
the sen, This is the case near Cuzco,
Peru. When l called on the governor OF
that province and asked as to the agri-
cultural development Of the Andean
region he told me that they we're sue
cessfully experimenting with cotton and
tea. He brought out some cotton balls
which he had produced on his own farm
near Cuzco The staple was compare
lively short. but the lint was beautifully
white and silky. That cotton was planted
In January and IL was ready for picking
In August The governor said that tea
did very well. and that he believed the
mountainsidts lining the valley OF Cuzco
might some day be covered with tea
gardens. So far. the bushes have been
grown only in small way. The seed
has been imported from Japan and China
The plants are easily grown. and, as the
labor used costs only about Is cents a
day, II IL thought that the business can
be made profitable one.
One OF the reasons for the tea expert
ments has been the hope that II might
take the place Of the coca shrub, which
is now being grown at comparatively low
profits, on account of the fall in the
price OF cocaine. There are vast tracts
in Peru and Bolivia devoted to the grow
I'M ~ r,1a tvl, In ffu ba {q mi
unlike tea, II thrives In tho temperate
regions Of the western plateaus. 1t is set
out in plantations. and the third year
after sproutlng Il is ready to crop The
leaves are then stripped from the shrub
and dried flat They are then put up in
bags. and brought TO the cities where
they are pedded out to the natives.s
All of the Indians chew coca leaves,
and the demand for them Is enormous.
Every farm hand has to have them. and
an allowance of coca is a part OF the
contract with all the miners The coca
leaves are also shipped to Europe and the
United States TO be manufactured INTO
the cocaine of commerce.
Great Rubber Country.
Among the products OF eastern Bolivia
are rubber and outline, Bolivia has been
producing millions of pounds OF rubber
every year and there are rubber camps
scattered all along the tributaries of the
Amazon. Just now these camps are in
bad way on account OF the competition,
the rubber of South America 10 having
with that Of Ceylon and Malaysia. which,
although cultivated, can be produced at a
far less cost than that of the wild trees
OF eastern Bolivia.
For a similar reason there is also a fall
ing off In the product OF the cinchona
tree from which comes our quinine. Qun-
Inc is often called Peruvian bark. 1t first
came from Peru, but later from the trees
that grow wild In this country. For a
long time Bolivia and Peru had a mon
opoly of the quinine production, and in
order 10 hold II they forbade the sending
of cinohona seeds away from the country
taken TO Ceylon and other parts of India
| Plantations were started there and within
few years the Indian quinine was COM
| peting with that OF South America. Later
still the seeds were carried to Java, and
now Java is producing most of the quinine
OF the world In the meantime, the prices
have steadily fallen. The bark which in
1882 brought something like 50 a pound in
Bolivian money. now sells for a bagatelle,
and the cultivated plantations that we're
set out here are run at a loss.
FRANK G. CARPENTER