The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-11-03

and Vineyards That Mil
lions If Gallons of Wine-Elec-
tricity and Chilean Farming-The
Inquilino or Tenant-HOw He
Lives and Works. The Changes In
the Army-LabOr CniOnism Along
the West COaSt-Strike in Peru
and How the Presidents Failed to
Raise the Wages on the State Rail
ways.
copyrighted, 1914. by Frank G.. Car
penter).
Conception, Chile-For the past
week / have been travelling here and
there through the central valley Of
Chile. This extends from Santiago to
Valdivia, more than 500 miles south.
1t contains the largest and best es-
tates in the republic, although there
is an extensive wheat-groWinS region
below it in which great forests are
now being cut down and the clear
ing turned into farms.
The central valley Of Chile is n or
the garden spots of the globe. 1t will
grow anything if it can only have
water. As one of the
said to me, "All you have to do is 20
spit on the ground n drop In q
seed, and, presto, there is a tree
There is no part quite so fertile as
that. but trees do grew here three
times as fast as in North America. l
have seen groves Of eucalyptus that
are 100 feet high, and still only ten
or fifteen years Did. l have already
described my visit to Santa Ines. the
fields Of which are walled with pop
lars as high as church steeple. There
are thousands OF trees on that estate
as high as any in the eastern part OF
our country, and they have all been
planted in the past twenty-five years.
1t is the same with all kinds Of vege-
tation. In the Irrigated sections,
peach trees Deal at one n two years,
and grains and grasses, including
alfalfa, are wonderfully luxuriant.
This is SO, Notwithstanding some OF
the land has been under cultivation
for many generations. The lands
about Santiago have been titled fol
300 years. and today among then are
the world.
But before I describe the big
haciendas let me tell you q little more
about the region in which they arr
seated. The central valley is a wide
strip Of lOwland ranging in Width
from fifteen to a hundred miles, an
about 700 miles long. 1t begins abov'
Santiago, and winds its a sOutl
through about one-fourth Of Chile. o.
the east of it are the snowy walls o
the Andes, with here n there tn
mighty cone Of a dead volcano risin,
above the other peaks. and on tn
west are the lower mountains an,
hills OF the Coast range. their top
almost a desert, but their fOOthill
covered with green h avera
width Of the valley, all told, is abou
thirty miles, n its area is some
where between thosv of West Vii
ginia and Maryland. This country
settled throughout. 1t has man
large towns along the state railroa,
which runs through it from one en-
to the other. n the most of it's LAND
are divided up into large estates.
In the north these estates are a
under irrigation and it is only in II
far south that the rainfall is suff
cient to dispense with the a~rtifici
watering Of the rops Much Of tt
country is slightly rolling. 1t is CT
by many creeks and little rive
which are fed by the Andean snow
Some of these treams carry down
great deal of silt, making fat IL
lands over which they go. Othe
such as the Bio-bio are as clear
crystal from one years end to Il
other.
Riding southwark through tn
country, the scenery is far differe
from that of the richest parts of t
Union. There are crops in sight
the way, but the fields are divided
rows of tall poplars or eucalyptus
with walls of mud and stone rath
han fences. 1t is only along t
railroad that there is any barb
wire. The chief buildings to be Sc
are the great rambling structures, t
homes Of the h~aciendados. and t
mean mud-walled thatch-rOofed h,
of the laborers. There are no bar
standing out On the fields, and
elevators at the stations for stori
the grain. There are plenty of c.
tie and horses, but very few stables
outbuildingS. The weather is so IN
that the stock Craze out of doors
the year round, and his is so all
way from Santiago to the Strait
Magellan. Therefore there are
haystacks or strawstacks. Such gr
and alfalfa as are cut are put up
bales n shipped 10 the cities
north to the nitrate desert, VIII
they bring higher prices. The
mate of the central valley is alb
the Same as that &c on-a collie