The farmer and mechanic., 1915-07-20

TWO hands fun of the sweet golden
balls The oranges were fresh from
the trees; and they made me think
OF Los Angeles
Ii Is estimated that So. .0a0 900 or
anSes are annually shipped down the
1araguay river to Buenos Aires In
the future there will lie fruit trains
winch Will carry the oranges there
by rail- Today one of the great sights
u the country is the mountains Of
oranges on the shores of the Para |
quay. with hundreds of Paraguay girls
taxing them on TO the steamers The
oranges are brought TO the river in
carts, each of which holds about :
600 oranges. The fruit is thrown into
the carts loosely, like so many pota-
toes. and il is dumped out on the piles |
by raising the carts. just as we dump |
dlrt IN repairing the roads
The oranges are taken on board |
the steamers in baskets Of the shape
OF bread howl. \ woman will fiji
her basket. raise il to the head and
walk with it over eansway 10 the
steamer She may not touch her bur
den until she unioads it: and the
shaking of the planks and the breeze
from the river do not disturb her
The oranges are piled up on the decks
| OF the vessels. A wire netting is
| stretched around the outside like a
| fence, and you may have ten or twelve
| feet of oranges rising above the floor
! of the deck.
| I am SURPRISED at the beauty of
4 Paraguay. Much Of the country IS
like great English park with groves
scattered here and there through
! beautiful meadows. The only differ
ence is the palm tree, which is to be
seen everywhere waving is fan-like
leaves in the air. The most of the
lands are held in large tracts. There
are but few fences and you ride on
and on over plains covered with grass
seeing hills here and there in the dis
. trance. The landscape is much what
that of Illinois must have been before
it was settled. The whole country
seems to be natural park, slightly
, rolling, with vast expanses Of pasture
: | that reach on and on to the horizon
; where they are lost in the woods
There is but little cultivation. You sc
for miles without seeing patch OF
grain or a plowed field. The country
seems to be almost all pasture and
woods, much of which is the same now
E as when owned by the Indians be
I fore South America was discovered.
S Almost all the land along the rail
e road is owned by some one or other
n A great part of it is in large hold
) ings and not little is devoted t,
q stock-raising. I saw thousands o
q cattle and was told that if the grasse
IL were improved the land might sup
e port three or four times what it doe
e now. In my interview with the presi
g dent, his excellency said that Para
IS quay could feed forty or fifty millio
head Of stock. If the country bac
II of the railroad is as good as that lyin
| near it he is probably right. In som
a | places the grass is as high as you
e knees and in some as the cattle feeC
IS they stand in grass to their BELLE:
h Much Of the herding is done by COW
le boys, or gauchos on horseback. Their
e are such men at the stations. The
n all ride n ther bare feet with grea
er steel spurs strapped to the heels. T'h
or saddles are heavy. with sheepskir
on top.
"a am frequently asked as to the cos
20 Of land in Paraguay. There is plent
~ for sale, but it is increasing in valu
"a Land in the territories Of the Arger
lv tine adjoining Paraguay is now sci
ID ing at $4,000 and upward per Arge1
lv tine square league, or at about s3.5
to per acre. There are good lands
Ia Paraguay which sell low as 81 a
acre. and in the Chaco the pric'
10 are lower. The climate Of the cOul
an try is delightful, and it seems to n
ar a paradise Of the future.
es AS it is now the cattle in Paragus
or are poor. They are of a mongr
nd breed, that looks much like the Ion
nd horned stock we had in Texas a ge
n Grafton or so ago. The animals a
IT'S undersized. They will not weigh wit
Of in four or five hundred pounds of t
average stock Of the Argentine. Tt
condition will be rapidly changed. T
rv government is encouraging the impo
on tation of blooded stock. and there
of no reason why Shorthorns and Her
,es 1ordS may not De raised. ulioe
en- stahd tnat some ol tne huIhptd
.as dian cattle are being brought in.
"a to sheep l have seen none here wor
on the raising The animals are We;
ha looking. They are stunted and the
,oc wool is coarse.