The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-01

to the nitrate desert. where they brin g higher prices. The climate of the cen . tral valley Is about the same as that of Lcwer California. save that there is less rain and in the upper part of t nearly everything. has to be irrigated. At present there are something like two and a half million acres now reached by artificial canals and l am told that it is possible to put water upon as much more The most of the nonirrigated lands are in the south. I shall write more fully of them in the future.
 Oxen everywhere take the place of horses and mules. They are yoked to clumsy carts by wooden bars tied to their horns and are driven with long goads with steel spikes in the ends. Nevertheless, the farming is we'll done. ana on many estates it is equal to that of the United States.
 Nearly everywhere the business is on a grand scale. In many parts of the val ley 200 acres is little more than a gar den patch, and the irrigated farms of 5000 and even. 1ooo0 acres are common. There is one farm of 20100 acres, and several which have 15.oo0 and more. There are some very large vineyards The estate of Lo Grmenta contains 2000 acres. and of these 200 are now bearing grapes. It has cellars with q capacity of 5U0oJ gallons of wine and 1t bottles and ship vast quantities every year. The Errazuriz vineyard, at the foot of the Andes. puts up 5000 bottles of wine n day in addition tc that which 1t stores away In casks. It ships more than coo bottles of wine every month. There is another vineyard that ships 4cocoo gallons a year.
 One Of the richest families Of Chile is that of Augustin Edwards, who is now minister from here to the court of St. James. He has one hacienda about ; miles north of Valparaiso that supplies q part of that city with milk. He has 800 milch cows, and he breeds fine dairy stock. He Is also noted as breeder of horses not only for racing. but for heavy draft. He has in his stables 75 Arabian mares, 80 Percherons and no Yorkshires. He has 10 shorthorn bulls, some of which were brought from England. Another big dairy hacienda, which also supplies Valparaiso, is that of Don Tomas East man. On that estate there are several thousand cattle, including 1000 milch cows. On the Denoso dairy farm thrre are still more. The latter hacienda has the big sest silo in the world and one of the oleerest. 1t is nothing more than great ditch $50 feet long, % feet wide and U feet in depth This is filled with rcd clover which has been trodden to pieces by driving horses over it and then lay ing it between layers of straw. The De- noso farm runs It's machinery py an elec- tric plant operated by falls two miles away. The hacienda has electric lights and the cows are milked under the rays of incandescent burners.
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 The nursery of Santa Ines is the largest in Chile. It has an electric plant run by the falls of branch of the Mapocha river. This is now furnishing 120 horse power, which Is used in the factories and other establishments connected with. the property. Everything excepting the farm ing and cultivating is done by electricity. an dthis includes the thrashlng of all kinds of grain, the saving of lumber the lighting of owners homes and the nov ing of the machines of large manufac-