Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1914-12-13
CANAL WILL MAKE CHILE
WINTER FRUIT GARDEN
IL VIII Furnish OF Its Very Finest
Products for JOY of Amer
lean Stomach.
VISIT TO GREAT PLANTATION
There Will lie Peaches. Plums and
Cherries for Christmas and White
Muskmcions in Midst of Snow.
Millions OF Plants.
by FRANK G. CARPENTER.

= plmns. pears aud cherries in the
Z heart OF midhinter. and great white
muskmelens when the ground is COW
cred with snow? This is what you
may expect from Chile now that the
&, Panama Canal is completed and the
war demand for, American goods is
turning our shipping that way. The
vessels carrying our wares TO Pacific
South America will furnish cheap re-
turn freights. and the prospect is that
in the near future many OF them will
come loadcd with fruit The seasons
ss6n this side OF the equator arc the OPP
/, posite OF ours. The fruit begins to
ripen here late i'll our fall, and tho
1hileans have plunls. peaches and
nears ready for the market in the
midst of our winter.
From now on Valparaiso will us
within two weeks OF New York. and
the canal has placed a South Ainerican
California, with its Summer products.
almost at our doors. The prospect
of a great exportatton OF Chilean fruits
TO the United States is agitatinS the
farmers. rhe government is invcsti-
eating the subject, and schools for
teaching fruit growing and rhe pack
inc, and expectation of fruits. src being
established Chile has long been the
chief fruit growing country of the
lower half OF our hcmisphere. 1t al.
ready has orchards OF hundreds of
acres. and its vineyards are yielding
about 50.9en,d0u gallons of wine every
year. There is no land upon earth that
has better fruit possibilities, and its
products are now TO be dropped upon
Gnclc Sans tables.
In order to give you some idea of
what this great industry may do for
the United states, have spent Il day
with Don Salvador IzquierddsS. in go
ing over his fruit and nursery planto-
lions, situated near the town Of Nos
AND about twelve miles from Santiago
3 Don Salvador is the fruit king OF Chile.
and might almost call him the Luther
Burbank OF our sister continent. He
has An irrigated hacienda otiabout 400
acres, covered with gardens md or
thards. md plantations for the raising
or flowers, plants and trees OF almost
every variety. Tie has now more than
100000 individual plants in the es-
tate, and he ships plants by the tens OF
Thousands to all parts OF Chile. and
also across the Andes to Argentina.
Uruguay and Brazil. He is not only a
grower of nursery stock, but IS like
wise n scientific breeder OF new va
rietles. Altogether he has introduced
into Chile more thin, $500 new VA
iietics OF fruits and plants and he
has himself originated by cross breed
ing hundreds of valuable trees and
flowers. Some Of his experiments have
been along the line OF creating trees
not subject 10 certain blirhts and pests.
He has already created fourteen new
varieties OF apples not affected by the
INSECT known as the schi2orcra lani-
ferh tha, is now destroying our apples
OF many parts OF. tho world. The new
Varieties arc grated onto the stalks
or ordinary trees. The insect crawls
UP the stalk, bu, IL stops where the
gratis begin. and the trees and their
frult arc found to be safe
Among the other experiments OF
senior l@quierdo ). is the elongatint:
the roots OF tho eucalyptus and other
trecs SO that they can he grown anon
the dry lands Of the toys OF the noun
tains. This is done by sprouting them
IN. pots, where the young trees are fec
with nitrate OF soda and treated in
such q way that their ROOFS arc about
-FOUR times the usual size Being plant
ia, these long roots go far down into
The soil and tap the underground laN-
ers OF water, and are, therefore, able
10 resist the drought IT Was in roc
oGnition OF this discovery that the
Royal Agricultural Society OF London
has just unanimously elected Don sal
body. -. :
Gut | cannot g:vo you i better Idea
OF the possibilities OF fruit raising in
Chile than by taking you with Don sal
"ador over his great fruit estate. We
start At the station in Santiago ana
within an hour have ridden out TO The
little station Of Nos Our way il
through the central valley of Chile,
and We see great farms and vineyards
on both sides Of 'hc railroad At Nos
we leave the train and take the pri-
Nate car line owned by Don Saliva dor
for the hacienda, which is a distance
of fiNo miles away The car is pulled
oy horse, but the Chilean driver
makes the animal so oil the gallop
We go over y road lined with poplars
= hundred feet high, by great fields in
which fat cattle are grazing, ana with :
IN short time are Oh Don Salvador's
property The estate liz surrounded by
magnificent scenery. II lies on a plain
at the foot of the mountains. slopinss
toward them Just enough to give the
fali required for the irrigation bitches.
These are fed by a branch OF the Ma
pocho River, rushing stream SO large
and swift that II not only irriGatcs tho
l,oO9 acres OF plants. but also furnishes
the electric current that runs al the
machinery. One OF the canals turns :,
turbine that gives the estate ] 90 horse
power This plant lights the hacienda
and other buildings, it runs suwin,lls
ana thrasherS ana moves tho machines
of large fruit packing and canning
establishment
Is we ride in We pass q tlIrashing
machine which is moved by this plant.
II was imported from America ana
it's noise carries us back 20 our farms
4 1T home. The grain is coming in from,
the fields IN enormous ox-carts, and
II IS fed directly from the carts 10 the
thrasher. AZ the barley pours forth
Il IL caught III buckets made of skin
by men to a great pile OF the ground.
We next walk to the sawnill near by
where the men are making lumber OFT
OF some Of the trees that Don Salvador
+ has planted within The past TWENTY
Years The soil and climate here are
such that trees viii grow twice a.
faat as IN our country. There arc
eucalyptus a hundred feet high that
are no, over fifteen years Of age ana