The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-01-27

the rainy season and a third crop, by
irrigation, in the dry time of the year.
The present cost of cattle raising |
in the Chiriqui pastures is said to be
a little more than a dollar a head per
annum, and l am told that this can
be materially reduced if the lands
are fenced.
President Porras tells me that
Americans have begun to take up
lands and set out coffee plantations in
the northern part of the republic. DR..
Dexter, the president of the National
Institute in Panama City, a just
| set out 5000 trees, and he expects to
AVE 100, 900 when his plantation is in
full swing. There are a number OF
North American families who ave
! coffee estates near David, upon the
highlands some miles in the interior.
Some Of these are eX-employeS Of the
canal and others are outsiders who
have come from the United States to
settle. There is one large cacaO plan
tation in Chiriqui where $4,000 trees
are in bearing, and there is a rubber
estate near MONTH"; bay owned by a
New England company which has 400
square miles that will be set out in
pineappleS, and
other tropical fruits. This
owns thousands of rubber trees from
which it is annually gathering the sap.
At h present time the tomatoes
and other vegetables and fruits Of the
temperate ZOne are brought to Pana-
ma from the states. President Porras
tells me hat the highlands of Chiriqui
will raise the finest tomatoes and po-
tatOeS, and that a great trucking bus
mess might be developed which would
supply the canal traffic as we'll as nave
q large market in the tropical low
lands.
, asked the president as to his plans
for the development Of the country
: in the raising of tropical fruits. HI
J replied that the anana industry coulo
be greatly increased, n hat he lax
already begun to open up a cocoanu-
e and ivory nut industry along the Car
ibbean sea south of Porto Belo in h,
q province of San Bias coast, and to in
duce immigrants to settle there ans
a go into raising. That Who'll
: region is spotted with isl
S ands. The trees grow without cultiva
a ton, and they are sold by the Indian
to traders, who go from island to isl
and in boats.
= The San Bias Indians are semi saw
age and until now they would hav
q nothing to do with the whites. Pres
ident POrras has in some way acquire
their friendship, and they are confer
ring with the Panam government a
to it's plans for the development {
d their country. These plans include
RI town to be built on a beautiful ba
If near the mouth of the Aguada cree
70 on the Gulf of San Bias.
or AS to the Panama it
n claimed that they are the best on tt
m market, having more oil than the nu
"a Of other parts of the world. The Istl
to mus of Panama is outside the hurr
cane belt and the trees are not
-
It's some Of the West India islands.
understand that a Colon merchant
setting out $4,000 %cocoanut palms
lei Nombre de Dios, and that a grove
n 100 700 is being planted near Ain
rente bay, where the United FRI
he Company has its large holdings. 9th
hi groves are being set out in Panan
A bay and on Montijo bay, but there
Get no lane that that of t
mt San Bias coast and its thousands
err islands in the raising of this crop.
cocoanut grove will fruit about fl
ish years after the sprouts are plants
lbs and it is estimated that a grove
IN. 10000 trees a be brought into bes
by ing for about SO per tree. When m
ture the trees should each net t
owner something like a dollar I
.p- year.
.est -
During my chat with Preside
uld POrraS l aSke him to tell me alb
so the new land laws which his e,
eminent has instituted since he to
ere hold of the administration. He the
ock upon called in the secretary of pi
cad lie works, or fOmenta, Senior Ran
the Acevedo, and we chatted togetl
n a as to the radical changes which h;
oaS- been made. They affect the VIII
his land situation and promise to raDi
hat develop the Panama republic. In
reds der to understand them one must
all alize that Panama is different fr
,cial any Of the other South Ameri,
ants countries. 1t belonged 10 Colom
fed and all the lands OF the isthmus u
once the property OF the Spanish Ii
also the people holding them from him
It az lease, as it were.
ring Each landowner paid so mucl
y