The Washington herald., 1920-04-17
WarOpenedEyes ofU.S. CottonMen
To Value of Crop Offered by Peru,
And Advantages of Direct Dealing

makes the true rough Peruvian so
suitable for mixed fabrics.
Plant sBear. Twenty Years.
The plant is remarkable, not a
bush. but a tree. 1t will live and
bear for more than twenty years,
though the largest crops are obtain
ed by replanting every six or seven
YEAR,, Left to nature. it often at
tains . height of twenty FIVE feet, a
diameter of thirty feet. and two to
three feet In trunk girth. 1t has a
root system running out twenty to
thirty feet to maturity, and far down
into the soil. so that it thrives a
year or more without water. Rain
seldom falls in the region where it
grows, but the rivers begin flowing
when the snow melts on the Andes
In February and moisture is provided
for the year by irrigation. Heavy
dews, almost equal to soft rains, also
provide moisture. There are two
crops yearly. in July and November,
and although grown in a desert cIi-
mate, this variety is planted on rich
soil, composed of silt washed down
from the mountains. For that rea-
son. and also because the plant is
found growing wild east Of the An
des, there Is q fine prospect for in
creasing Peru's. output in the rich
lands of the montana country when
railroads connect them with the
world. The irrigated coast lands.
rich enough for growing rough Pc
ruvian. are limited to extent, the
best amounting to only about 20. 900
acres. Nature made this belt ages
ago by washing down two to sixty
feet of loan. then planting it with
trees that both gather nitrogen and
yield enormous amounts OF vegeta-
Bile mold. and finally handed 1t over
to the Incas, or probably the Great
Chin before them. that mysterious
and more highly civilized race Of un-
known antiquity which the Incas
conquered.
Peru is ambitious to increase her
cotton output, not only of the rough
variety. in which she has virtually a
monopoly. but Egyptian and sea ISL
and. which are raised in other parts
of the country. Once wealthy with
her nitrate beds. which have gone to
Chile since the war forty years ago,
Peru earns her bread pretty much
by the sweat of her brow. Metals
make up her biggest export item, and
sugar and cotton come next. with
cotton now slightly in the lead. and
after that wool and hides. Only in
Arizona and China has the rough Pc
ruyian cotton been raised. The Ari-
zona experiment is declared s-s:cess-
full. with good fiber of the wool-like
type. but insignificant production.
The Chinese fiber, on the contrary.
deteriorates to a short staple like
the Peruvian "semiroUgh."
But in the effort to increase her
cotton crop Peru is doing an un-
wise thing
Only Indian Labor Available.
Virtually the only labor available
Is that of the Cholo Indians. who
make up the bulk of the population,
and who live chiefly at high alti-
tudcs. Through generations these
Indians have acquired great lung
and heart capacity, to live in the
rarefied air where the lungs and
heart of person accustomed to sea
level must do double work When
brought down into the cotton and
sugar fields near the coast they
quickly die of lung troubles.
Peru also has a virtual monopoly
in another fiber-wool of fine quality
from the alpaca and the vicuna. The
alpaca is a relative of the llama, that
curious compromise between camel
and goat, but has a shorter neck and
head. Its wool is more than eight
inches long and fetches twice the
price of Sleeps wook Peru supplies
of the worlds con-
The vicuna is wild, livinc,
in herds high in the mountains, but
has been crossed with the alpaca in
the "paco-vicuna," which Is domesti-
Gated. Vienna wool is almost as fine
as silk. and brings eight times as
much as Sleeps wool. Paco-vicuna
wool Is a new addition to the worlds
fine fbers, with the length of the al
paca and the sickness of the vicuna.
The llama also yields wool, carries
burdens. picks UP his own living on
the mountainside and can beat the
camel when 1t comes to going with
out drink. II "a to the ChoIo In