The farmer and mechanic., 1915-06-08

America and the birds have carried
the seeds SO that you now hnd oranges
growing wild in the WOODS. Inc VII
iages are built in orange groves, and
there is so much fruit tnat IL oiten
rots on the ground. There are great
orange orchards, ano curing .ne sea
son a feet of fruit steamers goes IN
long caravan down to the Argentine.
At that time the banks of the Para
quay river have mountains OF oranges
piled near the wharves OF the towns,
and you see long lines of Paraguayan
girls carrying the golden frult IN DaS-
kets on their heads to the steamers.
The oranges are brought In on carts,
containing 5000 each, from the or
chards The oranges are handled ike
SO many potatoes The driver backs
his cart against one of the piles on
the banks and dumps out the fruit
lust as our workmen dump dirt in
repairing the roads. In the ordinary
season oranges are really worth lit
tie more than the dirt of our coun-
try. A cartful will sell for IS and
you can buy all you can eat for
or 3 cents.
SO far there has been no breeding
upon the fruit trees. There are but
few navel oranges and much Of the
fruit is practically wild. Neverthe-
less it is delicious. and the country
might be made a great orange grove
for the dense population that is
bound to some day populate the
southern part of this continent
Paraguay is raising good sugar cane
and it has been exporting to Ham
burg and Bremen about 1900, ,00o.-
900 pounds of tobacco a year. The
soil will grow all sorts of vegetables
and fruit, and it is believed that cot
ton and bananas will some day be
| raised for export
Paraguay is a natural stock coun-
| try. The grass is green all the year
round. Much of the country is one
| mighty park of green plains spotted
with groves. There is water every
| where, and the cattle need but little
| care, except at the times of the an
nual round-ups. SO far there has
and but few importations Of Dur
| hams, HerefOrds and ShorthOrns, as
in the Argentine and Uruguay. The
| cattle are now more like our Texas
cattle of the past. They are long
horned rangy animals, which will
fore they will do for chilled beef
Such as are now killed for their meat
are for the salederos, the flesh being
| turned into beef extract or salted
and dried for export. AS you ride
| through Paraguay you see strips and
sheets of such meat hanging upon
poles and sWaying to and fro in the
breeze, and the people seem to like
it better than the freshly killed beef
Such meat is eaten in the West Indies
Islands, in Brazil, Argentina, and, in
fact, in nearly all Of the South Amer
lean countries. 1t is used for stews
being cooked with rice, potatoes and
mandioca.
There is no doubt, however, but
that Paraguay has a great future as
a meat producer. The prices of cat
tie are rising, and, with little care
the pasturage here can be made as
good as that of the Argentine. I am
told that some trainloads of cattle
have heavy already been shipped owe,
the new railway to Buen0S Aires
and that If the stock can be bred
up, there is no reason why millions
Of head should not there find a pro
fitable market The good cattle lands
are to be found not only in Para.
quay proper, but also in various places
throughout the Chaco, and there are
now companies and syndicates who
are buying the grass lands and pre-.
pairing to stock them.
Indeed. it is in such companies tha
American capital is now becoming
largely interested. l have already
referred to Mr.. G. L. Richard o1
Tex Rickard,' as he is popularl!
known among the sporting circles O.
, our country. The business with
which he is connected is known a.
. the New York and Paraguay Com
pany, chartered in Delaware 1t ha!
a capital Of a million and a half dol
lars gold, and it owns about million
acres of land in western Paraguay
!, perhaps forty hours by steamer nortf
; of Asuncion. Its nearest large cit,
oh ic- Q
, miles up the river. The company ha
a town of its own, of the name O
: Puerto Penasco. 1t has already erect
ed seventy-five buildings, including
hotel, drug store, public baker.
and post office and Jail. 1t has it
: own police force, authorized by tn
4 Paraguay government. and it is prac
tIcally supreme in its locality